I wrote the piece below here on this blog when it was DomainShane.com 10 years ago. Yes 10 years ago. Lets see how they stood the test of time
Everyone has their opinions and I’m never afraid to share them. At the same time, I’m also not afraid to change them if at some point I think I am wrong (unless I’m arguing with my wife and then I fight it out and make up all kinds of fake data to support my claim). After 6 months of getting to know the domain industry (I’ve been in for over 10 but didn’t make much effort to meet anyone) and the people within, here are 10 opinions I’ve gathered.
1. Generic keywords domains are tough to build a company around. They work well to drive traffic to a home site or as a stand alone site of the company, but on their own they are very tough to brand. This isn’t to say it can’t be done. The best chance is if you are completely web oriented company. If you look at the top 500 companies in the US and none (or very few) have a generic name, they all have brand names. On the flip side, many of them own the generic in their category that leads to their products.
I would write the same thing today. Category killer make a great brand but you only get one per category
2. There are too many Domain Conferences. Something is going to have to give. Having three (four if you count affiliate) in 5 weeks is probably too much for the average domainer to attend. It also is very costly. Over the course of the year, if you attend all the conferences you could easily spend 10-15K after you pay for rooms and travel. People are going to start choosing particular events so the event coordinators are going to have to do a good job of reaching out and pricing correctly to make sure the numbers stay high.
Not the case any more. Parking decline killed the conferences
3. ICANN is not looking out for your best interest. They are in it to make money and to make sure they protect their own money making entity, not you. It’s ironic that domainers keep ICANN’s pockets full by aimlessly registering each and every new tld that comes out and yet they are the same group that complains about the new tlds that come out. I asked ICANN a simple question at TRAFFIC, “are there any price limits that a new tld can charge” . I was furious I had to spend $500 to keep someone from squatting on my trademark with the .cm, an obvious release on their part to catch typos . Tina Damm was gracious but replied “I can’t answer that at this time”. To think that they haven’t come up with limits tells me that they really don’t care.
Even more true today
4. Like the rest of the world, 90% of the domainers are incredibly nice people and the rest of the 10% are pompous. The latter know who they are. I’m a very outgoing person and get along with pretty much everyone, but for every 9 great people I met at TRAFFIC there was always that person that gave me the “who the hell are you” look and brush off. Those people are probably OK people but down the road I will always remember the first impression.
I still kind of agree but now after 10 years they are now polite to me
5. I don’t get the hiding your identity that goes on with a few of the people or companies in domaining. If you have to hide your name or what you do, then you are probably doing something wrong. You only need privacy if you are famous or controversial. If you are going to lose you job, your family, or your friends if you reveal your identity then you are probably doing something you shouldn’t. Hiding your identity doesn’t make you a douchebag but it might make you a little shady.
Still agree
6. 90% of domainers have no idea how to make money doing this. They sit on a ton of names, most of which are junk, and hold on them to them for a long time. Most domainer’s portfolios should be under 50 names. Flipping or building each one. They should be generating cash flow, each and every month through revenue or flipping. If you are not, you’ve just found a very expensive hobby.
7. Dot biz is undervalued. I don’t even own a single dot biz but I still know that they are undervalued. It is a tld that absolutely works and companies are starting to register more and more of them. I think it is much more valuable than .ws or .cc. (let the .biz spamming begin)
8. As a seed investor in your company I would rather you buy an easy to remember domain name on the cheap and save the money for building infrastructure. Save the 200K on the category killer domain and put that money work elsewhere. If the company makes it or makes it big you can buy a great name later. You may find that you don’t need it. If you have tons of cash you can skip this one but then again you don’t need my seed money do you?
9. Most people in this industry spread themselves too thin. Many of the investors are undercapitalized and don’t have the resources or management abilities to hire on additional staff to help them with their projects. Domainers that used to buy and park are now forced to become webmasters, designers, and salesman. Hiring these people costs money and so they try and do it themselves. There are some fantastic names that could bring in tens of thousands of dollars in revenue but the owners don’t have the resources to do it and won’t allow investors. That’s why I think #6 is so important. Work with a few names at a time…..focus.
10. Domain Ad sales is hot. All the salespeople from traditional media are out of work and a lot of websites need salespeople. A domain owner spends a lot of money having a great site built and then what? He needs a sales staff. People are using middlemen to fill ad space but 40% (the middleman’s cut) of 100K in ads is a big chunk to give out. Put a bunch of like sites together that you own and it’s the way to go. Big business is starting to understand the internet and if you can put together a creative package with lots of eyeballs you can certainly go direct right now and keep all the money for yourself.
Domain of the Day:
Quote of the Day: “If someone does not smile at you, be generous and offer your own smile. Nobody needs a smile more than the one that cannot smile to others.” – Dalai Lama
Park.io Names at Auction or Dropping
CoinFest.io The type of name that would be on .io in my opinion
Launch.sh Good keywords and hacks have sold for $150 and up on .sh
HRM.io Great letters. Human Resource Manager
Loophole.io I can see an app being named this. Helps you get out of stuff
Pully.io Tools and items like this make great brand names. I expect quite a few to be bidding on this one
Goat.gg Because you know gamers want to be know as the GOAT
Namejet, Sedo, Snap, and other Names Up for Auction
DailyMovers.com 14 years old. Great name for a stock market analysis or technical chart site. Met reserve under $200
Reliability.org One of the most important things in the world. Reliability. No reserve at only $300 at press time
CountryProperty.com Farmland or just a place out of town to relax. 23 years old and Godaddy valuation of $9K
DigitalTechnologies.net Ends today. No reserve and under $25 Dot com sold for $4800
5X1.com Surprised how many bids this one is getting. Although it is 3 character
DoShit.com As good of a call to action as I’ve seen
Hos.tel The only .tel I’ve ever seen I think has value
GiftDesigners.com 21 years old and no bids
Atedo.com 19 years old 5L.com with no bids
Politico.net Might have a fight with Politico.com 1998 birthday
BossMob.com Sounds like a new video game. No bids
LVideo.com Last night I took an L but today I bounced back
CreativeLiving.com People love life hacks and other unusual things. 1996 birthday
GZV.com , QKU.com, QZE.com, and XJU.com We’ll find out what they lower end of LLL.coms are at. If they met reserve
WeNeverSayNo.com Great marketing name. Insert slutty person joke here
DHHC.com Good store of value in this one. Sounded like Yoda there
AlongTheWater.com I see this as a good water front real estate name. No bids
StormWarnings.com The singular would be worth more. The old owner had it listed at $1999 buy it now
CentralTower.com 1997 name. Registered in 11 other tlds
Godaddy Domains With Bids
N57.com You know I LOVE these types of names. Short, memorable and I think they make great brands. They’ve also held or increased their value over the years
Zmon.com The second best amount of bids after N57 above
SuccessMarketing.com Because FailMarketing just doesn’t have the same ring to it. 1997 birthday
HarveyAwards.org Tons of backlinks. I imagine its not for the Harvey Weinstein awards
XFK.com I cringe when I see an LLL.com expire. Somebody is dead or will want to if they found out what it sold for
SolarLantern.com I see this more as a product than a company. But still has some value
ExtraFancy.com My favorite name on the list. Its so much more than fancy
CitySwipe.com Hopefully it will as good as DigitalTown. Look at the stock on DigitalTown. oh boy was that something
HealthPlanners.com everyone needs to have some healthcare names in their portfolio
BuildingDemand.com One of the most important parts of marketing
105666.com Chinese aren’t scared of 666
Kode.org How the cool kids spell code
Edmondo.com Godaddy values this at $8K It’s an Italian Males’s name
FireSwirl.com Cool sounding brand. Then again I like all brands with the words fire in it
FollowersCheap.com Amazing but people still buy followers
DragonMetals.com Metals and dragons go togethers perfectly
Omoco.com Nice sounding 5L.com brand
AllRugs.com 1999 domain. I am pretty sure I know what they’re going to sell here
Unforsaken.com We know the word but it seems like a site a boomer would have. 1998 birthday
WorldSense.com I see a Greta type site. Green, save the planet stuff
FilterWorld.com There is certainly no lack of filters to sell. Pretty much anything that his liquid or air passing through has a filter
Godaddy Names With One or No Bids
The Rest of the Godaddy Names With Bids
16944.com
37891.com
AgriComm.com
ArabSports.com
BaalShemtov.com
Beading-Design-Jewelry.com
BiotechCareerCenter.com
Bitx.net
BoxerRescueFoundation.com
ClaimSoft.com
CommandmentsOfYhwh.org
CreativeCounseling.com
CryptoLibrary.com
DigitAltogether.com
DrericdaiterMD.com
DriverForce.com
ElevatedProducts.com
FakePhoneText.com
Felipenasr.com
FierceFinanceIt.com
FierceHealthFinance.com
FireflyConfections.com
Flavrs.com
GeographicTravels.com
GrowingColorado.org
Hyeway.com
IceFox.net
JusticeSnows.com
KeltOnResearch.com
Lifes.net
MaxisMinis.com
mrcashflow.com
NetWorthStat.com
NoCodeApps.com
OranGenChiStory.org
OrthodonticSpecialist.com
OutletDeals.com
PainDivision.com
PalmerStores.com
PhoenixWeddings.com
PK19.com
Pornlix.com
PowerTrekk.com
ProblemSolution.com
profesyonelmedyum.com
ProjectHelpingHands.org
QPush.com
Radioazzurra.org
Radiobotareufm.com
ReadingConnect.net
Reinform.com
RotationMedical.com
RottenWifi.com
Sanwood.com
Scot.org
SeattleInfoGuide.com
SeeSarasotaLive.com
SendPluto.com
Soldem.com
SunshineHealthFoodStore.com
TennisKits.com
TheArkAnimalRescue.org
TheInstituteForCannabis.org
TheVegetableGarden.info
TinyVices.com
UrrValleyHotel.com
VinBid.com
VXNX.com
WeekendGourmet.com
Wickedest.com
Zevado.com
Zikacareconnect.org
ZJCP.com
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