Rick Silver was recently introduced by Rick Latona as the new panel moderator for upcoming Traffic shows. I had the opportunity to meet Rick (and his wife) at the Traffic Amsterdam conference, and I think Rick Latona made a great choice.

Rick Silver’s company, N49 Interactive, owns one of the best portfolios of generic .CA domain names, and almost all of them are developed, revenue producing websites. Some of his company’s sites include Dining.ca, Maids.ca, Resorts.ca, Schools.ca, Advertise.ca, Decorators.ca, and many, many more.

Right after the conclusion of the conference, I asked Rick if he’d be willing to do an interview on my blog since I hadn’t had the chance to interview someone whose done so much with so many fantastic generic domain names. He agreed, but due to both of our hectic schedules, we only just recently touched base about this.

It will be great to have Rick Silver at upcoming Traffic conferences – both because of his domain knowledge, but also because of his development expertise. Thanks to Rick for agreeing to the interview!

EJS: How do your generic domain names compare to the big brands in search engines, and how do .ca names compare to .com in search engines?

RS: Google and other search engines definitely give weight to the URL in determining rank. Just as generic domains have credibility with a human assessing a site, so too does Google give credit to generics. Take 2 plumbers; one with the URL JoeandSonsPlumbing.com and the other using PlumbersToronto.com. Assuming both sites have somewhat
equivalent content and link popularity, I would bet on PlumbersToronto.com to achieve the higher rank.

n49 network sites like AutoGlass.ca and Weightloss.ca often out rank big brands like YellowPages. Google is pretty good at returning actual plumber’s websites or niche sites in the particular vertical. Google doesn’t always want to put big brands like Yellow Pages or Home Depot at the top.

.ca’s domains and ccTLDs in general perform better when searching within the country. So .ca domain names tend to have an advantage on Google.ca vs. Google.com. It’s important to note that Google will redirect Google.com to Google.ca or Google.co.uk if it detects that one’s IP address is in that country.

EJS: Is there an opportunity for domain investors to utilize the platform you’ve built with their names?

RS: The n49 platform has been designed to allow partner domains provided they are generic .ca names that represent a category of products or services.  Typo domains or simple generic words don’t fit our model. Our ultimate goal is to provide targeted and meaningful content at generic .ca domains under a common umbrella that would promote direct navigation and provide a way to connect consumers with businesses.

In 2010, one of our goals is to replicate what we have done in Canada globally by providing a platform that allows for the rapid and mass development of generic domains on a global scale centred around connecting people with products and services.

EJS: What did you enjoy the most about TRAFFIC Amsterdam, and if you could add something to the show for the future, what would it be, especially now that you are the official moderator?

RS: Aside from the networking, the parties and meeting other domainers from around the world, the show was an eye opener for the vast opportunities in the global domain space with ccTLDs and also IDNs. Currently only a select few know the various ins and outs of acquiring country code domain names. This is the new frontier of domaining. Sure .com is king, but it’s no longer a .com world. It’s a ccTLD world. In addition we sold 2 domains at the auctions netting about $35k!

Going forward, I would like to see TRAFFIC provide greater depth in the seminars and on the panels. I come to these shows to learn something new and to discuss what strategies others are using that might work for me, and clearly improving monetization and development are key topics. And don’t talk developing unless you are prepared todiscuss SEO, CMS, UCG, building community etc. So there’s a lot to talk about.
EJS:  What do you think is currently the biggest threat to the domain investment business?

A (perceived) lack of integrity continues to dog this industry. When a guy like Arlington calls it a “Dirty Business” it doesn’t help promote investment in the industry. People would not buy stock if they didn’t trust the stock market. And while the sector, and certainly the value of domains have begun to command respect, it’s unfortunate that the actions of the few cast a shadow on the morality of the entire industry.
EJS: What do you think is the best opportunity in domaining right now and into 2010?

RS: Well first off I think that some form of development is the best way to increase the value and monetization of select domains, but as for the acquisition of domains here are my  TOP OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN DOMAINER:

a. Overabillionpeople.in – because India is experiencing massive growth and because they all speak English there and because only Jeff (and a few others) get it.

b. itsyourcctld.us – hello America! .us is your thing. One day you will get it. When I search on .com (from Canada) I figure I’m
searching the world, not the USA.

c. Justovertheboarder.ca – Sure Canadian presence requirements keep out the riffraff but really it’s so easy for the serious domainer to establish a presence. .ca is undervalued for sure. But of course I’m biased.

d. CategoryGeo.com – There isn’t much low hanging fruit in the .com world unless you have big bucks or are prepared to invest and develop. I do see a trend toward people using more hyper local keywords in searches and so domains like PlumbersArea.com, where area could be as small as a neighborhood. Plus even plumbers are wiseing up to the internet and are often buyers of such domains.

As I blogged about last night, I was able to buy DropSideCribs.com and DropSideCrib.com last night for registration fee. There is currently a large consumer recall for drop side cribs made by a company called Storkcraft, and over a million cribs are impacted sold at most major retail stores.

Michael Sumner from MiniSites.com suggested I put together a quick mini site, and I agree that a mini site would be a good way to go. This would allow me to be indexed in Google, which would have probably been unlikely with a parked page. The downside is that I am not an expert designer/developer, and it would have taken me a few hours to put something small together, and it just wasn’t worth my time.

I then thought about another option, which would allow me to develop a pseudo mini site. I contacted Craig Rowe of WhyPark and sent him a couple articles I wrote along with a stock photo I bought for a dollar.  He quickly whipped together a WhyPark website. Instead of simply parking it with Parked.com, I have given the site a chance to be ranked in Google and Yahoo, and we’ll see how it goes.

As the first LuxuryNames.com auction on Snapnames draws to a close in a few hours, I want to share my favorite domain names that are currently in auction. Some of these names already have bids, and they are going to sell, so if you’re interested, you should check them out ASAP (no affiliate links):

• TeethCleaning.net – $259
• SEOPrograms.com – $575
• FiveStarRestaurants.com – $1,550
• CowboyHats.net – $1,800
• DefenseLawyers.org- $2,400
• DefenseAttorneys.org – $2,400
• AdjustableHomeLoans.com – $1,500
• MoscowVacations.com – $1,500
• TaipeiVacations.com – $500
• CapriVacations.com – $1,000
• MonteCarloVacations.com – $900

To best navigate the entire auction, choose the option to show 500 auctions on one page. This will save you time so you don’t have to refresh your page. Also, because all auctions are ending at the same time today (3:15pm EST today), you might consider getting your bids in early so you don’t miss out!

Richard Whitney, a person whose Whois information I’ve come across many times, reached out to me yesterday to solicit feedback on one of his developed websites. Richard began investing in domain names in 1997, and he has quite a gems.  Richard is looking for constructive criticism and some content feedback prior to launching his site.

Here’s a note from Richard, and I will chime in with some feedback soon:

My name is Richard Whitney, some of you may know me and some may not, I have been involved in the domain business since 1997. I own several thousand domain names and have bought and many throughout the years.

Back in September of 2008 while reading the Wall Street Journal, I came across an article entitled How to Handle “I Hate Your Company.com”. I liked the domain name so much that I contacted the owner and bought it. I thought that it would go well with I Love Your Company.com so believe it or not I hand registered the name. I noticed that most of the major corporations are going after names such as walmartsucks.com, ibmsucks.com etc.

With a bit of hesitation, I launched iloveyourcompany.com/ihateyourcompany.com, a safe haven for people to talk about companies that they love and hate.

I am eager to make this work and would love any and all feedback, negative or positive. I need help populating the site as well, so if you would be kind enough to help populate, it would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Richard Whitney