February 8th, 2010 by Elliot
When you have secured a deal to purchase a domain name, especially one that has significant value, you need to do your due diligence. The most important research you need to do is to ensure the domain name is owned by the party that you think owns it, and the second is to make sure traffic/PR/directory listings and all other promises can be met.
In my opinion, ensuring a domain name is owned by the person/company you believe owns it is the most important thing. Having a Domaintools account allows me to search the Whois history for a domain name. If you are ever unsure of whether a domain name is rightfully owned, you should contact the previous owner to confirm that the name was sold. Phone calls are generally the best way to confirm it, although having an email record is also important.
You can sometimes use the Whois information to make sure a domain name is able to be sold by the contact person. Because some companies use their web developer or tech support company (or person) as the contact, even though you are dealing with the contact email, that person may not have rights to sell the domain name. If you are unsure or have questions, visit the website and contact the company directly (by phone). You can also Google the registered owner and contact the company c-suite offices or the executive listed.
Verifying other things like stated traffic, page rank, inbound links, or other promises is also important. You can ask to test traffic on your servers for a week to try and confirm that it’s “real” traffic and not bot traffic. You can also use free traffic check services like Alexa or Compete. There are a variety of ways to check page rank (like the Google tool bar or many websites that can be found by searching “page rank checker” in Google). Finally, inbound links can be checked on Yahoo’s Site Explorer.
Do your due diligence before buying a domain name. A few extra minutes of research can save you a lot of money.
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February 8th, 2010 by MHB
As you all know Godaddy.com ran 2 ads during the SuperBowl.
According to USA Today’s Ad Meter which tracks viewers opinions of all the ads on the big game, Godaddy’s commercial’s fumbled the ball.
Out of the 63 commercials USA Today tracks, the Godaddy.com ad featuring Danica Patrick getting a message, ranked 63rd while its other commercial ranked 60th
Ouch
Compare that to Google’s ad which ranks 43rd or Flo.TV which ranked 36th.
Cars.com gets the 12th spot, Monster.com ranked 10th and e-trade.com is the highest ranking internet company commerical with the baby ad (one of my favs) at #7
Personally I thought the Godaddy.com ads were fair at best and certainly seem to be getting old and cold.
I know they generate a ton of publicity with their rejected ads but they should come back with a fresh take for next year if they want to improve their marks and try to beat an 88 year old Betty White’s who commercial currently ranks number 1
February 8th, 2010 by admin
Tata Consulting Services’ (Indian IT outsourcing company) tcs.com domain name/website had it’s DNS hijacked yesterday with the hijackers putting a simple “for sale” sign up according to theregister.co.uk.
The firm managed to get their name back today but only after getting the hackers quite a bit of publicity from various security/hack sites.
The for sale text asked for all inquiries to be sent to abed_uk@hotmail.com.
Ironically, tcs.com prides itself at being a supplier of web security services.
February 8th, 2010 by admin
The Georgian registry has announced it has reached a landmark 8,000 active domain names – recording a 12.5% annual rise in registrations according to Kate Chkhikvadze of FinChannel.com.
In a world well sheltered from the everyday hustle and bustle of real domaining, Georgian domain names cannot be traded – which explains the minuscule number of names registered in a country of 4.3 million people.
“In Georgia we do not have cases of selling domain names from private individuals,” says Ia Peradze, administrator Read more »
February 8th, 2010 by Elliot
Most domain investors would probably agree that the results of live domain auctions have been pretty weak recently. Aside from a few strong sales that have taken place, most auctions haven’t produced the results people hoped to see. I’d like to discuss problems I see in part one and give my advice to improve live auctions going forward.
In no particular order, here are some of the reasons I believe domain auctions haven’t been successful recently.
- Lower PPC payouts and poor economy affecting domain investors’ spending ability
For a few years, live domain auctions were dominated by some of the wealthiest domain investors. Many of these people and companies were spending money that they earned from PPC revenue. With payouts down across the board, there is less money to reinvest.
Likewise, with the economy in the tank, there is less financing available for domain buyers. People can’t refinance their homes or other property as easily, and ultimately it means less money to spend on domain names. In addition, people are more reluctant to spend money on domain investments, favoring a stronger liquid position to stay protected.
- The same domain names continue to be offered for sale.
There are a limited amount of top quality domain names that are openly available for sale. Many domain investors don’t wish to list their names for sale in a public venue and/or don’t want to set a price for their prized assets. Domain names are on the market longer, and consequently, even good domain names are allowed to be placed in different live auctions with the hopes that someone bids. Oftentimes, these domain names don’t have lower reserves, and they just sit on the shelf like day old milk. At one time their inclusion made a splash. Now it’s just embarrassing to see the same names at the same prices being auctioned in different venues.
- People have ridiculous sales expectations.
Let’s face it. Everyone thinks their names are hot shit. No matter how many times Monte or Rick will hammer their sellers asking for reserve price reductions, many people are reluctant to do so. Gone are the days when a bidding war will ensure a domain name sells for what it’s worth or more. People don’t want to lower their price to a point where one bid will lead to a very bad sale.
Domain owners have lost faith that buyers will show up, and they are unwilling to drop their reserve prices. Auction houses are either desperate to keep certain names in auction with the hopes of drawing some interest (while locking down exclusivity) or they are praying that the needy end user just happens to show up, with all senses lost after being hit in the head with a bag of money.
- Long exclusivity periods.
People like myself like to sell domain names quickly. I buy as low as possible and sell as high as possible, as quickly as possible. If I have a $20,000 domain name, I can’t/won’t take a chance and lock it up for 60 days because I need to move my inventory to generate much of my income. If the name doesn’t sell, I can sell it on my own, but I am obligated to pay a 10-20% commission. Some people may opt to not honor an agreement, but that’s certainly a reputation killer if not a legal problem. With lower sales rates, it’s not a guarantee that a domain name will sell at auction and it’s more difficult to justify a long period of exclusivity.
On the other side of the business, auction houses need to lock down these domain names. They can’t afford to spend time and effort selling a domain name if the name isn’t committed to them. I know for a fact that the auction houses work hard to sell domain names before and after auctions, so it’s not fair to not commit.
- Too many auctions and lists not revealed until just before the auction.
There are so many auctions these days that people wait until the last minute to decide where to submit their domain names. This causes domain auction houses to scramble at the last minute to find buyers. Domain buyers have very little time to review their lists. I know the first live auction happened when people simply put names up on a white board, but times have changed and more money goes into buying a domain name.
- End user buyers aren’t showing up.
Perhaps this is due to the above issue where lists aren’t finalized until the last minute, but it doesn’t appear that end users are showing up as much as they should (has always been an issue). I know that the domain auctioneers spend time contacting potential buyers, especially when it comes to high ticket names, but as any domain investor knows, it’s tough to get end users to buy. They have to want a specific domain name at the offered price at the time that it’s auctioned.
In addition, end users may not trust domain auctioneers as much as they would trust other auction companies who are more well-known. This industry is still young, and end users may not be familiar or comfortable bidding at a domain auction held by a company whom they’ve never heard about. The registration process (and maybe previously a fee at Traffic I think) could also be a deterrent. Further, Snapnames still doesn’t allow remote bidding from a Mac (unless it has Windows).
- Cronyism and friendships can impact auctions
In the domain industry, there aren’t thousands of active investors. There might not even be several hundred – I really don’t know. Compared to other industries, this one is pretty small and there are a lot of people who are well acquainted with each other. Many auction participants are both buyers and sellers. Auction companies want to accommodate their best clients, and sometimes that means accepting domain names that shouldn’t be in auction – or should be priced lower.
- Too many domain names in auctions.
There are far too many domain names accepted in the live auction, and even more in the silent auction. I know a 4 hour auction isn’t unusual in the car world, but with sales down, it seems to drag on forever. Likewise, it’s difficult for buyers to wade through thousands of silent/extended auction domain names. People don’t want to put low reserves on domain names that might get a couple of looks and maybe one bid.
- Automatic entrance into silent/extended auction.
It seems that most domain names that are submitted to the live auction but don’t make it are relegated to the silent/extended auction. IMO, these auctions are stuffed with bad domain names, and it makes it difficult to find good ones at good prices. Truthfully, I barely even look at the extended/silent auctions, and I am sure others feel the same way. As a result, domain owners are reluctant to put low prices on domain names that might end up seen by just a few people.
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Ultimately, I think people really lack confidence in live domain auctions right now. As a result, there are lower quality domain names with higher than acceptable reserve prices. In an effort to stem the bleeding, more (lower quality) domain names are being auctioned in the hopes of a sale, and buyers and sellers are frustrated. I don’t think most of these issues are new, but they are exacerbated by other factors.
Tomorrow, I will post some of my suggestions for how to improve domain auctions, but I would like to hear what you think about the current problems with domain auctions.
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