No they haven’t hit any milestones or won any major awards, what Abdu Tarabichi and Domainsville have done is stick around. Something that many sites haven’t done over the years. I appreciate anyone that puts in hard work over long periods of time. Anyone can try something and then dump it. It takes a special person to stick with something that is on the fringes of popularity. And I mean that in a nice way. We all start on the fringe but it takes time to grow into mainstream popularity.
Abdu and I have had our words over the last year because I called the site an aggregator and he took offense. Whether or not he now realizes why people come to the site is moot. The fact is he continues to improve the site and it’s obvious his goal is to give more information to the user and not push his own wares. Not that there is any problem with that. That’s what sites are for, to make money for the owner. I imagine in time Abdu hopes to do exactly that.
In his mind the site is better than domaining.com, his biggest rival, and in some areas it is, but I appreciate the effort being put in, and enjoy a few of the blogs that appear on the site that aren’t listed elsewhere. But you know the main reason I go to the site? To see the top 5 posts list on the right side.
I love stats. I love knowing what people want to read. It’s a great learning tool. I also like to see how my posts are ranking. If not what are they reading? It’s a simple concept but it’s my favorite part of the site. I usually play a game by going to domaining, trying to guess the top 5 posts and then go to domainsville and seeing if I was right. Yes, I’m easily amused. My least favorite part of domainsville.com? It’s slowest loading mobile site on the internet. It scrolls like a 1995 website. On my iPhone its virtually unusable. It could be my phone but I’m guessing its slow for most people.
So congrats to Abdu. Keep up the good work. Competition is healthy for all and keep trying to carve your own little niche in this industry. Everyone has their place and I’m glad you continue to carve yours.
Nice post.
His site (and Domaining too!) would be infinitely better if he were to also include conventional media sources such as the WSJ, USAToday, NY Times, Fortune, Business Week, and more. All of these regularly offer stories involving domains, yet such are not included. Instead, only a handful of writers seem to always end up in there.
Thanks for the mention, Shane! We’re always finding new ways to make “the city” more attractive. A mobile friendly version of the site is in the works. Domainsville loads pretty well on the iPad, but we definitely need to prepare something for smartphone users.