www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Ckz_O6oE0

DAD’s -- Ya, we serious rock with style LOL!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZa7hU6tP_s

©2010 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The .Co registry has send me a 4th round of results for the ongoing .Co domain name Land Rush Application auctions.

(you can see previous results here, here and here)

The results are this time around is another record; $514,000 in sales on just 90 domains.

WOW

AutoGlass.co lead the way selling for $53,000.

Closely behind are two great legal domains, DuiAttorney.co and DuiLawyer.co which went for $44, 500 and $43K respectively.

As a holder of a large legal portfolio I couldn’t be happier with the result (I did NOT buy either of these, nor was I in the auction)

Some interesting Geo domains sold.

We had a separate post on Boulder.co which sold for $17,000.  Colorado.co sold for $7,900; a huge ski area telluride.co sold for $5,100 (I like that one better than Colorado.co) and durango.co went for just $2,800.  The auction for Denver.co is just starting today.

Once again these are closed auctions which only include those who made a land rush application for each of the domain in auction.

Since they are in closed auctions, not opened to anyone but the applicants, it could be fair to assume that prices of these domains were in an open auction would be higher.

No doubt that .Co remains the biggest story in the domain industry this year.

Congrats to all buyer.

Here is the full list provided by the registry:

Sure – there are lots of domains around which “could” be worth $1 million or more with the right development but for the last decade most domain owners have been living inside the parking closet so when it comes to attending Rob Monster’s EPIK development conference do you even know what questions to ask?

There is no doubt Rob has put a tremendous amount of time, money and energy into building a conference worthy of starting to build a bridge between domain ownership and development for interested parties however does this mean simply by purchasing a conference pass and showing up you will get all the answers?

Sadly no.

The amount of success any conference attendee will have is based on two things.

One is the promoter’s ability to attract a crowd, choice of events and access for attendees to immediate tools which can help improve the goals for which they are attending – Rob has done this!!!

The second is what YOU do.

Yes, quite likely if a conference is deemed great by the majority and you fly home thinking it was just another expensive party then you failed as an attendee. The conference did not fail you.

So next week when domainers gather in hoards to attend a conference produced by one of the most successful people online gather your cheat sheet well in advance and look around for answers to these questions about development:

# 1) Find SMARTER People

Remember the words “If you want to play chess never play someone you can beat”

This is critical to maintaining your seek for knowledge during the EPIK conference or any other. Sure, there are a lot of people around you can have drinks and make new friends with and its ok to do this but don’t stand in the corner talking to another guy who has never developed hoping to find the magic formula for online success. Try to get an attendee list and hit people up who have more experience than you. Chances are you are not going to know their names from the domaining world so don’t be afraid to Google them even if you’re 10 feet away. It’s not considered stalking yet.

# 2) Narrow Your Domains Down

Instead of solving the Mass development issue, identify the most interesting group(s) of your domains and try to speak in more defined discussions. Think about the difference between these 2 conversations “I have 3,000 names – how can you help me develop them” or “I have 200 real estate names – any ideas how to get these online”.

Not only does this show the beginning of a plan vs. needing someone to hold your hand it actually helps people who have experience in that sector want to speak with you more. Most development lessons can be carried over from one sector to another.

# 3) Give Rob a Hug

It would be kinda funny to have 1,000 people give Rob a hug over a couple days so this tip is for my humor more than yours (Please report any hugs given below)

# 4) Expectations

Do you know it can often take six months or a year to fully realize the SEO value of a domain name previously parked? Ask others about general expectations about rankings and when to start seeing traffic results.

# 5) Affiliate Revenue Options

At a developers conference they are bound to be people making money through affiliate programs so ask about what programs are good AND what programs are bad. Get contacts at these companies since direct payouts are a lot more than simply signing up online.

# 6) Mingle and Mix it up

Do not stay in a small circle. When you register its possible to meet a few people right away and simply stay in this group all weekend. Mingle and mix it up. A few minutes of charm will get you a long way and you can always call everybody next week. Meet as many people as you can. Of course, if you meet an incredible sexy blonde probably a wise idea to just leave the conference altogether or stay up in your room for three days – certainly no judging here.

# 7) How Much Money do you need?

Money makes the world go around or does it? Many developers start out with just a few hundred dollars and parlay money earned into thousands and then more. Part of attending a developer’s conference will also be to manage or create cost expectations for development. Ask about the different options for development. You can always upgrade your site design later. Find a balance between your budget and the options available.

# 8 What da heck is Web Development?

Seriously, this is not a joke question.

A lot of domainers think mini-sites are domain development but they are really not to any respectable developer. Inquire about the elements of development including web design, content production, link building, revenue generation and more. Ask questions like “Who writes the content”, “What platform should I use”, “How do I build links” and more. There are many SEO experts who are familiar with every aspect of building out a name attending the EPIK conference.

Buy them a drink and get some answers or buy them a case and maybe get them all.

# 9) Stand Tall – Do Not be Shy?

It’s ok to respect other people because of their accomplishments but at the end of the day we all put socks on and eat breakfast the same way. Do not be afraid to speak to anyone. In fact the best way to approach someone you feel shy about is to comment on a particular project they own or have built, compliment them and then ask a question about web development and that particular project. Trust me, people love to talk about themselves.

# 10) Schedule a Future Call

Ask people if its ok to schedule a longer call after the conference. A lot of people run their lives by blackberry and calendars so if you find someone who seems interesting enough to have a conversation with then politely ask to schedule a chat in the future. Once the meeting is scheduled then you can slowly make your way to next guy and don’t worry – they will do the same.

Conferences are not only fun and practical but one of the reasons why people fly thousands of miles a year to attend conferences is because they have a formula for extracting the information they want from the attendees. You should do the same.

Have any more tips … feel free to post them here.

©2010 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Frank Schilling published an editorial recently that was well received, even proclaimed to be the most important post of the year. I would like to respectfully disagree and provide my own perspective.

Frank crafted an interesting metaphor between the early days of oil drilling and the present day perception of direct navigation domain name traffic. Direct navigation is when people type in a domain name instead of doing a search. This type of traffic is extremely targeted. On most generic words it flows in daily by the barrel full.

The editorial did not necessarily apply to me personally because my domain names do not receive any significant amount of traffic. So dismal in fact, that I have stopped parking entirely. That’s the hard reality that many domainers who got their start around or after the .COM bubble or may not have capital to invest in generic domains.

However, hope is not lost for the countless domainers who do not have a steady supply of black gold.

Like the mythical Alchemist’s Stone that transmutes common metals into pure gold, we can transform virtually any domain name into a source of traffic by developing it.

Development through content creation, marketing and web design enables you to transform an “undiscovered” domain into vibrant virtual real estate. We can essentially create our own streams of traffic through a little hard work and know-how.

The future of our industry is heading towards web development, lead generation, affiliate marketing, direct advertising and paid content. Trade-in that parking account for a content management system and start working towards building your empire of truly developed websites.

I believe we can overcome the challenges and time-constraints to make this work by innovating and adopting the latest technologies. Quality websites built today will become the leading destinations of tomorrow.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Corporate America.

They still have a lot to learn when it comes to domain names.

A reader informed me that they were in the auction for MySpace.co and that the domain sold for $25,000.

The whois record now confirms that Twentieth Century Fox, which is owned by NewsCorp, which also owns MySpace.com, is the new owner of the domain.

Of course as the trademark holder, Fox could have just applied for the domain in the Sunrise period for around $300 and gotten the domain.

Moreover, one would think that they would have had a very good chance of getting the domain through a WIPO proceeding for 1/4 of the price they paid at auction.

In any event, failing to protect your intellectually property for pennies on the dollar with a simple sunrise application is inexcusable and having to pay $25K for something you could have gotten for $300 is either pure neglect or outright stupidity.

Speaking of Stupity, even after spending that $25K to acquire the domain they could have gotten for $300, the domain isn’t even resolving to MySpace.com.

Although the domain seems to have quite a bit of traffic, with an Alexa ranking of 700K, Fox hasn’t even updated the Name Servers and the domain is going to a parked Network Solutions page.  I’m sure Net Sol is enjoying the extra revenue.

With hundreds of new extensions on the horizon, Corporate America better start getting a better understanding of the domain space or at least hire a domain company to advise them (I can recommend one right offhand)

)::

In my opinion, it’s the buyer’s responsibility if he buys a stolen domain name, and all buyers should perform due diligence on a domain name before making the acquisition or risk losing his investment and domain name. Just like with physical property, if a purchase is found to be stolen, the person in possession of it will probably lose it and will likely not see his funds returned (I am sure there are cases where this isn’t true – especially when something is bought in good faith, but it’s an assumption).

There are a lot of seemingly obvious clues that can be seen when a stolen domain name is offered, including ridiculously low price, top domain name offered by a new member of a forum without any previous feedback, or someone emailing you in private with a too good to be true offer. While not all of these necessarily mean a domain name is stolen, they are clues that a buyer should note and should set off red flags.

A buyer should use the Whois History tool offered by DomainTools to see if there are any suspicious changes in the Whois data. For example, if a Whois record seems to remain the same for 10 years and the most recent change notes a simple email address update while the rest of the record is the same, that is a big red flag.

A couple of years ago, I was emailed by someone offering a pretty good domain name at a great price that looked to be owned by a lady in New York, although the contact email had recently changed. I was able to get in touch with the lady shortly after domain investor Richard Lau had already done the same, and she was able to recover her domain name by contacting the registrar. Had I not done due diligence, I could have bought this name, which surely would have been taken from my account and given back to the rightful owner once they determined that it had been pilfered from her account.

Due diligence is especially critical when you are purchasing intangible property like domain names.

Related posts:

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Richard Kirkendall and Richard Lau photographed by Kamila Sekiewicz at DOMAINfest 2010

As DNN has learned the buyers of the DomainName.com registrar and customer base sold by DomainConsultant, are non other than Richard Lau of DomainManager.com and Richard Kirkendall of NameCheap.com. The two, also known as “The Richards” partnered up on the purchase and are planning to transform the company into a new brand.

Richard Kirkendall told DNN about the purchase: “We’re excited about the acquisition of DomainName.com and plan to launch a premium registrar geared towards domainers and business. It will operate as separate brand from Namecheap. With all the features: dns, whois privacy, webhosting, SSL at extremely competitive pricing.”

According to information provided by the company NameCheap now has 1,5 million names under management for their clients. DomainManager provides free DNS for over 53,000 domains according to Zone File records.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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I was going through some old emails yesterday and I found the email I sent to colleagues announcing that I was leaving the company to start a new position at AIG. I thought I would share it here because I think it’s somewhat humorous.

Hi Everyone,

As many of you know, today is my last day at Wunderman.  My life-long dream of becoming a professional basketball player has finally come true.  After years of practice, I have officially been signed by the New York Knickerbockers of the MBA – not the National Basketball Association, but the MBA – (Midget Basketball Association).  For those of you who are unaware, we play Tuesdays and Thursdays at Madison Square – the Park, not the Garden.  I know that the life of a professional athlete is one filled with money, alcohol and groupies, but I certainly will not forget all of you.

All kidding aside, I wanted to take a moment to tell you all how much I have enjoyed working with you.  I have learned so much from all of you, and am lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you….

Working at Wunderman was a great experience for me, and it allowed me to work on the agency side of the advertising business, which was helpful in my next job. Some days I actually miss working for a fun company like Wunderman, but the advantages of self-employment certainly are great!

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