The goal of the Domain Distribution Network created and managed by Fabulous is to encourage end-users to purchase higher value domain names than they ordinarily would have considered. When a potential domain buyer searches for an unregistered domain name (at Godaddy for example), a list of Premium Domains appears, giving the searcher an opportunity to buy a better domain name than what they intended to find with their search. According to the DDN site:

There are approximately 6 million domains available for resale in the general market. Initially the DDN feed will offer over 500,000 of the highest quality domains available for resale. The average resale price of these domains is over 100 times the price of a new registration, and registrars typically average over $150 net revenue per domain sale.

Although this is a great opportunity to upsell an interested and presumably educated buyer, I think much more can be done to inform and educate end users about, and encourage end users to purchase generic domain names.

I think it would be in the best interest of the domain investment community and a company like Fabulous, BuyDomains.com, or an otherwise motivated company to sponsor workshops or seminars focused on teaching end users about domain names at industry specific tradeshows. I frequently see advertising agencies and consultants sponsoring lunch seminars at tradeshows to show how their particular company can help maximize advertising dollars. I believe if a company like Fabulous sent Dan Warner to teach a group of entrepreneurial business people how a generic domain name can help their business, it would be beneficial to the company and to the domain business at large. Let’s take the New York International Gift Fair as an example. If there was a Domain Distribution Network sponsored luncheon showing the advantages of owning a name like CheapPresents.com over SallysBirthdayPresents.com, the end users would “get it.”. Heck, this luncheon/seminar could be followed with a sale of targeted, well-priced domain names that could offset the cost of sponsorship and attendance. I bet there would be a residual impact as well when attendees return home after the conference to see what other names they can find using the DDN.

Small business owners are accustomed to dealing face-to-face with account representatives from the companies with whom they do business. Much of their business is done with a handshake in person at a tradeshow - especially when opening a new account with a supplier. For the most part, this is impossible to do on the Internet. To many small businesses, learning how to successfully operate with the help of the Internet is a daunting challenge. Why not meet with these business owners in person, make them feel comfortable and win their business? All of this can be accomplished by attending industry specific tradeshows.

A second idea I have to sell domain names to small business end users is to advertise industry specific domain names in industry specific publications. Kevin of BigTicketDomains.com did this on a broader scale in the Wall Street Journal. While this was a good idea and a nice starting point, I believe more success could be had if we target specific publications. If a group of domain owners with names in a specific industry got together and paid for a quarter page listing in that industry’s trade publication, I believe the results could be much different. I have been compiling a list of publications in various industries. I would be willing to share this with any interested parties - just drop me a line.

Ultimately, the more domain names that are developed into brands and websites, the better for the entire domain investment business. A few months ago, I noticed a Hermes store was opening on Wall Street across from the New York Stock Exchange. A few weeks later, I noticed a Tiffany’s was opening down the block, and two weeks ago I saw a Thomas Pink shop was opening very close as well. These were all preceded by the development of upscale condominiums in the Financial District. The point is that the more small businesses that develop generic domain names, the more others will want to emulate them and do the same. This will certainly increase the value of our premium generic domain names.

Small business owners are much more likely to develop domain names if they understand more about how a domain name works. I believe if we educate them, they will be much more inclined to buy our names. The platform has been created - now we must reach out and let the end users know where and why they need to be looking.

After viewing the Moniker silent auction results, I found quite a few surprises:

In my opinion, there were a few good deals to be had. I believe the following domain purchase was an absolute steal for the price at which it sold:
Illustrate.com

I was surprised nobody picked up the following names, as I thought the reserve prices were more than fair:
Finances.com - $500,000
Whiskey.com - $470,600
Handhelds.com - $58,830

Another surprise to me was how much stock in numerics seems to have dropped. There were many NNN.com numeric names that seemed to have reasonable reserves ($5,890) but didn’t sell - 634.com , 547.com, 481.com, 643.com, 493.com, 342.com, 441.com…etc. There were also a few NN.com names that had higher reserves but didn’t sell. It isn’t very often that pure numeric .com names come onto the market, and I was surprised a speculator didn’t grab them.

I was also somewhat surprised that more .mobi names didn’t sell. I am not a big believer in this extension, but after reading how vigorously this extension has been defended by its supporters, I am surprised there wasn’t more action on them. Quite a few people have been posting that they made xxx% profit so far and still have quite a few .mobi names in their portfolios. If these people felt strongly about the extension, I would have thought they would be willing to reinvest and buy some of the names. One would think that reinvesting in a few of these names could have led to a round of “aftershocks” that followed when Rick Schwartz paid $200,000 for Flowers.mobi.

I believe many of these names will move now that the auctions have ended. Domain investors know the owners are interested in selling, owners know the domain investors at TRAFFIC thought their prices were too high, and I bet some compromises will be made to close some deals once.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070627/20070627005337.html?.v=1

In the largest-scale Web site launch of its kind, Marchex, Inc. today announced that it has launched more than 100,000 of its local and vertical Web sites, publishing more than one billion Web pages of content, features and functionality for consumers looking for local services and information online, along with highly targeted local advertising inventory.

It would be very cool if they used an automated program to generate this unique content. This would open up an opportunity for domain investors with similar names to put our names on their platform and share the revenue. I know my names like FloridaRadiologists.com would have a higher CTR if contact information for actual radiologists in Florida was presented instead of the random Florida links, completely unrelated to radiology, that now show when you visit.

Back on June 1st, in an article about the Domain Distribution Network that was created by Fabulous, Frank Schilling noted:

Folks, this is a game-changer. Ask your registrar, if they are opted into this system.. Or better yet, get your own registrar.. Because based on what I’m seeing here, nothing is going to expire anymore in future and your names are going to become much more valuable — Heck .. many of your best names are probably still sitting in the available pool right now, unregistered!! Go!

What sells?…
Any product or service with cityname: Delawarehomedecoration.com, toledoplasticsurgery.com, fargoplumbers.com, losangelestrashremoval.com (this style of regional name is the hottest seller)

Since I have been a buyer of these types of names for some time, I have noticed a definite decrease in the amount of names like these that are available. Many people may have purchased the names simply to resell on the DDN, however, if Marchex were to open this opportunity up to individual domain investors, everyone would be a winner:

Example: Direct navigator is looking for the phone numbers of a few radiologists in Florida.
Direct Navigator —-> Types in FloridaRadiologists.com into his browser and finds a doctor in his area.
Marchex —> Paid for the click, shared with domain owner
Domain Owner —-> Paid for the click
Doctor —-> Receives phone call from potential patient

To me, it looks like a win/win situation for everyone. Perhaps other parking companies will become more than just parking companies and solve how to do this across all parked domain names. This will change the game for certain.

I recently purchased the following names:

InvestingSite.com
HealthWebsite.com
ComputerScanners.com

In my opinion, honesty is one of the most important qualities in negotiating a domain sale. Since a majority of the domain investment business is done online, the important handshake and face to face encounter is eliminated. If a potential buyer or seller catches you being dishonest, you can kiss your deal goodbye. You may be the most sincere and kindest person in

A couple of weeks ago brought the passing of Rabbi Nardus Groen, the grandfather of a close friend of mine. Having met Rabbi Groen a couple of times in Florida, I briefly knew him as a kind man who was very generous to his family and friends. It wasn’t until his funeral a little over a week ago that I learned just how heroic of a man he truly was.

Originally from The Netherlands, Rabbi Groen was one of the few Jewish people who learned how to operate a gun in the beginning of World War Two, fearing the advancement of the German Army. Unfortunately, there were many members of the Dutch Jewish community who disagreed with this, and criticized Rabbi Groen for his actions. As the threat of the German army began to spread, Rabbi Groen joined the Dutch Underground, a group of men and women who did what they could to help save their fellow countrymen during the war.

In 1940, the Germans began to persecute Jews living in the Netherlands, ultimately killing around 75% of the Jewish population. One day, Rabbi Groen was responsible for guarding the Jewish Hospital, which was lucky enough to have evacuated the patients, but still had a large amount of Jewish nurses who hadn’t had a chance to escape. Upon hearing that a group of Nazi soldiers were approaching the hospital to either kill or capture the Jews, Rabbi Groen ushered the nurses into a small room, donned a Red Cross armband, and stood outside the room to greet the soldiers. When they asked who was in the room, Rabbi Groen calmly responded that he was guarding a group of nurses, each of whom had the highly contagious and deadly Scarlet Fever. Fearing the germs more than hating the Jews, the Germans fled the hospital and the nurses were saved.

For Rabbi Groen, not only did he save the lives of a large group of Jewish nurses, but he also saved the life of his future wife Sipora. Rabbi Groen and Sipora went on to live a wonderful life together for 63 years, and had several children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I know this isn’t a domain name related story, but with the permission of my friend Justin Groen, I wanted to share it with visitors to my blog.

http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/christmas-on-th.html

Reading Frank Schilling’s blog got me thinking about buying holiday-related domain names right now. Oftentimes our minds think about specific types of domain names because they are triggered by seasonal events. We think about acquiring shopping and Christmas-related names in October, November and December, and we think about beach related names in July and August. Well, it’s time to turn that upside down. Just like it’s better to buy a new pair of skis in the spring rather than in the fall, it’s the same way with domain names. There is no way you’ll find a bargain buying a high traffic Christmas name in late fall. Also, you won’t even have time to build a website in time to capitalize on the traffic (if that’s your plan).

You need to be at least two or three seasons ahead of your target acquisitions. If you want to create a Christmas themed portal, now is the time to buy (well, probably a month or two ago), but you get the point. I attend the NY International Gift Fair with my parents in the Spring when they are buying for the holidays, and the big retailers are doing the exact same thing. It’s important to think like consumers, analyze like marketers and act like businessmen.

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-0062.html

John Berryhill, a highly regarded domain attorney, was kind enough to reference this important UDRP case that may impact domain owners. The facts of the case are:

1) Original registrant sold CreditKeeper.com, a name that he registered in 2001.
2) UDRP was filed by HSBC Finance Corporation, as they have two registered trademarks for “Credit Keeper,” one granted in 2004 and the other in 2005, both of which were filed and approved after the domain name was created.
3) Respondant argued that he should be allowed to keep the name as it was registered prior to the TM, and those rights of the original registrant should be passed to him.

Attorney Berryhill argued that the new domain owner acquired all rights of the domain name, including the important rights that existed because the registration pre-dated the trademark approvals:

The Respondent contends that it acquired all rights to the domain name under a certain

While leaving the restroom at TRAFFIC on Thursday, a gentleman held the door opened for me, and I introduced myself on the way back to one of the panels. I learned that he was from Baltimore, and after a brief conversation I found out that he bought and sold Jewish-related and Hebrew domain names among other business pursuits. When he asked if I had any of these names, I responded that I owned one that I hadn’t done anything with and was willing to sell it.

Rewind a few months…
When I originally purchased the name, I told a close friend of mine that I would give all of the proceeds to his non-profit Jewish organization. My friend is the Rabbi who runs the Mitzvah Tank organization in Manhattan, and he has one of the biggest hearts out of anyone I know. I’ve seen him give money out of his pocket to help people in need and he is always willing to lend an ear and give advice.

Back to the conference…
My new acquaintance asked me what my asking price was for the name. When I told him the story about the sale going entirely to tzedakah, he made a very generous offer for the name. I accepted the offer, and my company will match his offer to double the contribution. It certainly wasn’t my highest financial value transaction, but it was definitely the highest value transaction I’ve had, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I made a new friend in the process.

Although there are several things I consider when selecting a domain name to target for acquisition, I believe the most important thing is the generic nature of the name. I believe that owning a generic, industry descriptive domain name is the most important thing someone can do to build their online business. It is even more important to own a generic domain name in a smaller niche industry, especially if an industry leader does not exist.

In my opinion, if you are entering a market without a dominant industry leader, the greatest thing you can do for yourself and your business is to purchase a generic name that describes the industry in the shortest way possible. To illustrate my point, let’s take an industry that is well established with many industry leaders. For example, let’s say you want to check out the score of the Red Sox game. Chances are good that you wouldn’t go to BaseballScores.com, but instead, you would either hit up ESPN.com or RedSox.com knowing that you will find the score of the game, box score, and maybe even a summary. Sites like these are dominant industry leaders, so although a generic domain name is good, it would still be difficult for your company to thrive with huge competition already fully developed and well known by web users.

However, let’s say you are interested in buying a flag for Independence Day. If you were to directly navigate to a website, chances are good that you might go to AmericanFlags.com, as there isn’t a well-known industry leader in the flag business (to my knowledge). AmericanFlags.com surely receives a good amount of type in traffic from patriotic Americans (and probably from anti-American people as well). This traffic is inherent with the domain name, and the company doesn’t need to expend advertising dollars to attract these highly motivated visitors who want to buy American flags. There is nothing better than when a customer knows exactly what he wants, and he finds himself on a website that can provide the product for him.

The other distinct advantage of building a business around a great generic domain name is that it is easier for a business with a generic domain name to get higher search engine placement than a company with an unrelated “brandable name.” To continue using the example from above, AmericanFlags.com has top placement in Google for “American Flags.” This is a HUGE advantage for an online company like this because consumers who choose to use a search engine instead of direct navigation will see the company right at the top of the unpaid search results, and many will trust this company, without knowing anything else about it. There is a good deal of comfort in a consumer’s mind knowing that they are clicking through to a company that is built around the term they are searching.

Could the people from AmericanFlags.com be successful without this domain name? The answer is probably yes because they have a great leader and team, however, it would have been more difficult and much more expensive.