More Lies and Coverups

This is a great analysis of the Schwartz / Ruddell issue in which an employee allegedly accessed a Moniker customer’s account.

The article goes deep into the ethics and what you REALLY agree to when you register a domain name.

Federal Judge Rules On Contributory Cybersquatting

Instructing people to register a trademark-infringing domain name is just as unlawful as registering a domain name that infringes someone’s trademark, according to a ruling by U.S. Federal Judge Ricardo Martinez.

Check out the article and analysis on contributory cybersquatting at Kikabink News.

New Email Scam – Domain Recovery

The email below was sent to our whois contact for a particular .net domain that we own.

It states that the organisation has “secured” the “.com version of your domain”. In fact they have done no such thing. The .com is available for anyone to register at any registrar.

If you click on the link, it takes you to a page asking you for US$99 and to pay via Paypal. This is essentially 10 times the asking price of a .com domain name.

We are posting this here in the hope that people will find it and not fall victim to this misleading conduct.

————

Hi,

Recently, we contacted you to inform you of the upcoming availability of DOMAIN.com. We are happy to inform you that right now the .com version of your domain is secured by Simple Domain Recovery and is available for purchase at our page.

What we do is take different measures to help you promote your brand on the Internet. Little things’ effectiveness can compare to securing .com to a domain with any other extension. Everyone knows .com, a lot of users will intuitively seek you at .com extension so don’t give a chance to anyone else to use that advantage of yours.

There are third parties who may be interested in your domain. Many people out there reserve .coms to existing sites and domains in order to make profit of ‘em. We may sell the domain to any of these persons and businesses but this is you who decides whether or not we do so. Please choose one of the following:

Secure DOMAIN.com right now!
Let it go (unsubscribe).

Best regards,
<name omitted>
Simple Domain Recovery,
<email omitted>

What Do You Want To Know?

Just a quick note to say that I’m “coming out of the bunker” and will be speaking at Ed Dale’s Challenge Conference on Saturday 26th. If there is anything specific that you want me to cover on the topic of domain investment, please feel free to post a comment or contact me privately.

This is one of only TWO conferences that I’ve agreed to speak at this year. Nothing is off limits, so hit me up with some questions and I’ll see you there.

Isn’t It Time Bloggers Declared Conflicts Of Interest?

In the mid 90′s the news media was having a heart attack (behind closed doors) about the Internet. Many journalism purists believed that people wouldn’t read websites, largely because they were not trusted and Internet wasn’t far reaching. In general, the news media believed that the people behind those early websites were not journalists, didn’t have an industry code of conduct, didn’t check their facts, reported recycled press releases and the list goes on. Around 1997/98, the term blogging popped up and has since become mainstream.

Today, many bloggers have earned the trust of the public and some earn a good living from blogging. Unfortunately in some spots, the same old dodgy tricks remain. Using the domain investment industry as an example; it’s extremely easy to sit back and watch the “dance” between the companies (advertisers, parking companies, registrars, auctions and conferences) and the bloggers.

The heart of the issue is around separating out commentary (opinion) from advertising, special interests and those who seek to influence discussion.

Here are a few areas to watch out for:

Scenario #1 – The (Fake) Expert

Many bloggers in the domain investment industry pretend they are experts. Every day we read about an “exciting journey” into the world of domaining (which is fine in itself), BUT where they step over the line is providing advice to newcomers. It’s simply “the blind leading the blind”. Most bloggers are wondering blind in the wilderness, lost, without a clue, yet they are taking it on themselves to advise newcomers. Its a recipe for disaster, because when newcomers accept their advice, the results can be financially devastating for them!

Late last year I had one person call me (in tears) describing how they lost their life savings because a domaining blogger (that they met at a conference) told them to buy a LOT of domains from a specific extension. They were told to buy up big, quickly “turn them around” and flip them. I’m not going to name the blogger or the extension, but I’d note that the extension the person told them to buy, was a HUGE advertiser on their website.

Scenario #2 – Advertising Conferences

This is a textbook “rinse and repeat” that many domain auctions and conferences use as as a part of their marketing strategy:

Step 1 – Blogger writes an article (or FB post) in advance, about an upcoming conference. Banners go up on their website.

Step 2 – Blogger attends conference, gets taken out after hours (by the conference organizer) and “entertained”. eg: dinner, nightclub, the Playboy mansion.

Step 3 – Blogger hangs out with speakers, interviewing them and asking lots of questions about “how they do it”. This content is often “reused” later for how to articles, videos or a $97 PDF.

Step 4 – Blogger takes a few photos of the speakers (and themselves) during the event to post up on Facebook.

Step 5 – Blogger arrives home and reports on how fantastic the event was.

All the newcomers to the industry believe him (because they dont know any better) and sign up for the next conference. What a great investment for the conference organiser!

When was the last time you heard a speech at a conference and said to yourself:

“Wow, this is going to really increase our profits – I can’t wait to get back to my hotel room and try this on our business right now!”

It might have happened once if you are lucky. What did you do with all that info you accumulated at the last conference you went to?

Scenario #3 – Fake News Sites

A “domain news site”, simply copies and pastes press releases sent to them from parking companies, conferences and auctions. They recommend products from vendors who advertise on their site (or simply pay them $$$ directly from their marketing budget). Next time you see a domain news site promoting something, check out if there are any ads (for their blog or related products/companies) on the site they are promoting. Sooner or later you will start to see how these companies start to permeate each other.

Scenario #4 – The Paid Review

There is a growing number of bloggers who have contacted us, asking if my organisation can PAY THEM to write a story about our products and services. The answer has always been “NO” – we don’t engage in such practices. The first time it happened I was in shock! Many years ago I genuinely (somewhat naively) believed that these people were educating the market! The funny thing is – when these guys do a blog post about something, we know exactly who has paid them off. Now we can clearly see who are the ethical companies (who we will engage with) and who are the ones to avoid.

Scenario #5 – Ads That Look Like News Articles

Blogger writes a long winded over-the-top story about how someone within company X is such a great guy (insert academy awards speech and mix with lots of back patting). What they are doing is promoting the interests of their sponsors & advertisers. What is more likely is that the sponsor has paid them to write that story. Alternatively, they will receive something in return. Perhaps an increasing in parking revenue, discount domain pricing or VIP treatment at the next conference?

FTC Guidelines

To some of you, this might be history repeating itself. In 2009/10, we wrote several articles about the FTC Guidelines, including one specifically about Affiliate Marketing. The message for the domain investment industry is – Do you really want the gaze of the FTC upon you? Do you really want to tempt fate and bring about industry regulation?

Time To Get Real

Isn’t it about time that these people started telling the truth?

* Most are not experts, they don’t even come close.
* They have 9-5 jobs – the point being that they give the impression that they do this full-time.
* They work for a vendor because they simply failed when it came to actually “doing it”.
* They make “money on the side” by ads on their blog and promoting affiliate products to their mailing list.

Newcomers to the industry need to know who is “the real deal”, and who the fake, phony, pretenders are. Some people might say “too bad“, “buyer beware”, “its their problem if they lose their $$$“, but here’s the deal; our industry is still in its infancy. It needs some strong, honest people who are going to stand up to this systemic corruption and call it out. The industry needs to grow and move away from the stigma / popular perception of “domaining”. It can’t afford to continue to “burn and churn” people.

Think about this:

1. You wouldn’t get legal advice from someone who wasn’t a lawyer.
2. You wouldn’t undergo surgery from someone who didn’t have experience as a surgeon.
3. You wouldn’t get someone to build your house who “calls themselves a builder”, but has never built a house before.

Then why are you listening to these people? Make 2011 the year that YOU will change. Stop reading their blog, delete their RSS feed and unsubscribe from their newsletter.

Save your $$$ (donate some of it to charity), save your time (talk to your family instead) and go and enjoy life (get some exercise). You will be glad you did.

When Offline Marketing Fails

This massive billboard caught our attention recently. It lasted a few weeks (on a busy highway) and is a textbook case of what NOT to do when it comes to promoting your website. This would have a cost the company a truckload of money.

What’s wrong with it? Look at the ad for 2 seconds, then scroll down (so you cannot see the ad anymore) and answer these questions:

1. Who is the company?

2. What is the name of their website?

3. What are the features of their product?

4. What action am I supposed to take?

So…how many questions did you get right?

For the record, we don’t know the company, but can only assume they were brainwashed by some dodgy Internet marketers with a degree in hair product. It’s a real shame, as small business can get the wrong impression that “this internet thing” doesn’t work.

Unprecedented com/net/org Pricing For 48 Hours

It takes a pretty exceptional deal for us to promote anything. However, given this deal, we just had no option. We simply couldn’t keep it from you, so lets make it quick.

com/net/org transfers to Namecheap are $3.99 for 48 hours. The Offer begins Sunday, February 6th, at 12AM EST/5AM GMT and ends Monday, Febraury 7th at 12AM EST/5AM GMT.

The coupon code is BYEBYEGD and yes, that is an affiliate link.

I know we have saved you a truckload of $$$$. Post a comment and let us know how it goes.

Top 7 Tips For Protecting Your Domain Searches

It seems that every five minutes, someone comes up with a new domaining website or software product that claims to help domainers and Internet marketers. In reality, what actually happens is that:

a) People pay a small amount of $$ for the software – it doesn’t work and they lose their money;

b) Their keyword /domain research is misused;

c) Their identity is stolen and then sold to organized crime.

Over the past few months the industry has seen a number of these examples and the problem is getting worse! As such, I thought I’d provide some tips to help people protect their domains, keywords and future business ideas!

7 Steps To Protecting Your Identity & Your Business

1. Don’t use “bid sniping tools” or websites that provide automated bidding at auction.

Note to auction newbies -> WAKE UP! There is no advantage, it’s a gimmick!

2. Don’t hand over the passwords to your registrar or auction accounts.

That’s right – dont disclose your Namejet, Snapnames, Godaddy passwords to ANYONE – including a website or software tool! The risks should be obvious:

* The people that run the website / tool (whoever they are) can spend your $$$, under your name, with a 3rd party! Who do you think is going to be liable when it all goes horribly wrong?

* They have access to your bidding history (see your portfolio, sell the info, target your interests).

* They have access to you credit card details (self explanatory)

* They have access to your personal information (identity theft)

* You may have breached the auction companies Terms and Conditions, therefore your account could be shut down!

If you have disclosed your account passwords to a website or software tool, login RIGHT NOW (to the registrar or auction company) and change your password. Use different passwords for different accounts. That way if one is discovered, you can minimise the damage.

3. Don’t use SEO / Keyword Research Software to find or check for domain availability.

Although you might be familiar with (or might have met) people that recommend or have developed your SEO software, the question you need to ask is

* Does the software use a 3rd party to check the domain availability?
* Is this a 3rd party in another country?
* Does the 3rd party monitor, store or record your searches?
* What is the state of their Information Security?
* What does their Privacy Policy say about how they use AND protect your information?

When it comes to checking for domain availability, use your domain registrar. For example: Namecheap or Godaddy.

4. Don’t Use Keyword-Based Email Alerts

Some of these domain finding sites/software products include “email alerts” to notify their users when domains become available that match a keyword they are looking for. Again, a great source of information for Internet marketers. They can register similar domains, sell you their mates products (and get a commission), not to mention blatently copy your ideas. Don’t do it!

5. Read The Privacy Policy

If you are searching for existing domains to buy, look at the website Privacy Policy first! Seriously – go and do it! You will see first hand how they claim to handle your information. Does it provide specific details?

6. Do Your Research – Who Are These People (Really) ?

Anyone can call themselves a “domainer” but very few people do this full-time as their single source of income.

There is also a big difference between people that earn their $$$ by speaking at conferences, and those that actually “DO IT for a living”.

If you are using a website or downloadable software, who is running it? How long have they been in business? Are they just a couple of crazy kids running it out of their bedroom? If its a “plugin” for existing software, don’t assume the parent company has done their due diligence. Find out the (real) story behind the integration. You will be glad you did!

7. Whois Privacy

As soon as you register a domain name, enable whois privacy. Yes, I’ve said this for years and I sound like a broken record – but it works. In addition, don’t undermine your whois privacy by discussing your domain name acquisitions on Facebook and Twitter – keep it confidential!

Thats it! Feel free to post your thoughts, hints and tips! I hope this helped some of you – particularly newcomers to the industry.

TRUenergy Lets Electricity.com.au Expire

Energy giant, TRUenergy has let their domain electricity.com.au expire. The company provides gas and electricity to over 1.3 million household and businesses throughout Australia.

The domain electricity.com.au was bought at auction a few minutes ago for AU$30,933 by Pacific Octane.

Is Groupon Rewarding Bad Behaviour?

A couple of guys allegedly copy your business model in another country. They register the ccTLD version of your name, they register the company name in their country, then they try to register the trademark.

What do you do? Do you pay them to go away or take them to court?

This recent post on the Groupon Blog describes how the company “reluctantly” offered “Gabby and Hezi Leibovich about $286,000 for the Groupon.com.au domain and trademark”. In my view, this is rewarding bad behaviour.

Yes I understand the Mr Nice Guy approach of offering them something and having them go away quietly. Obviously “Plan B” was to “sick the members onto them” – with Groupon advising its customers to get on Facebook and:

“post a note for Hezi Leibovich, politely asking them to accept the $286,000 (which we are still willing to pay) so we can get on with business.”

Groupon – this naive “strategy” (if there was actually a strategy) has generated you negative publicity and set a clear precedent. Not good.

Speaking generally, the problem with this approach is that “copycats” are desperate, dishonest oxygen thieves. They are after a quick buck and wouldn’t have a clue about innovation. The Groupon approach (which is completely logical), incorrectly assumed that these people could be quietly bought out.

When you sit and think about it, we see this all the time in almost every marketplace. Think about the Internet Marketing industry. How many dodgy products are out there? What about the domain investment industry? Notice any dodgy copycat products pop-up lately? Do they look familiar to you?

The question is, do you support the “good guys” or do you back the dishonest ones? Make your mind up and accept it. Call it fate, karma, whatever you want. It’s your decision – you have to live with it.

If I was a Groupon customer, I’d be supporting them, not some copycat site.