Why You Should NOT Get Into Bed With Google …. Yet

With the news that Adsense for Domains is now available to all publishers, it may be tempting to think “Screw my parking company – I’m leaving and going direct”.

Before temptation takes over and you jump into bed with Google, think about what you are doing:

Weakening An Industry – Ending Collective Bargaining

Parking companies negotiate rates with Google. Think of it as collective bargaining in the context of a union. What Google has essentially done, is to commence a breakup of an industry, which in the long run will weaken it. If you look at past behavior, I’d suggest they will:

• Establish their own rules
• Decrease payouts over time once they get a handle on where the traffic is

Landing Pages Not Optimized

• The Google landing pages are not going to convert very well (see the image below). I’d assume they will update them over time but right now you might be better off financially, by not moving.
• Parking companies spend $$$$ on optimising landing pages, getting the right graphics, colours etc.. so the page can convert. Its in the parking companies interest for your portfolio to work. If they make $$, you make $$$.

Customer Support

• If something goes wrong, or if I have a question, I know I can call my Account Manager and get a response within 24 hours. Good luck in getting this from Google.

Long Term Strategy and Intent

So how does Google monopolise Internet traffic increase profits? Google analytics knows about your traffic flows. Adsense and Adwords tracks advertising and what you click on. Google search knows what you search on, GMail knows the contents of your emails. All this information is stored and used by Google. The big unknown for Google is obviously anything outside its network. In this case its direct navigation (type it in traffic).

What happens long term when Google knows where your traffic is coming from and decides to alter search results, payouts and change traffic flows? If your domains depend on links from other sites, why wouldn’t Google cut YOU out, because you are the middleman!

Domains You Can’t Park With Google

In case you didn’t know, Google has restrictions on the keywords found in a domain. “Terms in the URL may not contain or be related to any of the following:

• Pornography, adult, or mature terms. This includes, but is not limited to, any terms that refer to or suggest nudity, partial nudity, sexual imagery/acts, lewd/graphic or profane language.
• Violent or racially intolerant language or any other form of hate speech directed against an individual, group, or organization
• Excessive profanity
• Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia
• Gambling or casino-related content
• Weapons, such as firearms, ammunition, balisongs, butterfly knives, and brass knuckles
• Beer or hard alcohol
• Tobacco or tobacco-related products
• Prescription drugs
• Promotion of an illegal activity or an activity that infringes on the legal rights of others.
• References to tragedies or other sensitive current events
• Any other terms that are illegal, promote illegal activity, or infringe on the legal rights of others.

Summary

I believe that competition is good. Some of the greedy parking companies will probably reduce their % as people will start to compare going direct with Google vs the parking company. That’s good for the industry.

Right now I wouldn’t do anything. It’s a “wait and see” approach for me. The big question is will Yahoo and MSN follow?

Dubya Bush Library Domain Sells For $35k

A web development company (Illuminati Karate) paid $3,000 for GeorgeWBushLibrary.com in March 2007. The domain was later sold for $35,000 to Web developers hired for the George W. Bush Presidential Library project in Dallas.

Nice profit! Oh and yes I’ve checked for obamalibrary and its variants are registered.

Source: UPI.

Desperate Times Lead To Increase In Domain Name Spam

It seems that the people sending the domain name postal mail spam have stopped for Christmas; time now to prepare for the electronic kind. Watch out kids, here it comes!

In order to educate consumers and protect the marketplace from this type of activity, I thought I’d post two examples that have recently popped into my inbox.

I’m just presenting the facts – judge for yourself.

Exhibit A – ZipDomains

I received the email below from i...@zipacquisitions.com. Their website (zipacquisitions.com) diverts to zipdomains.com and has i...@zipdomains.com as the contact.

Both domains are registered to:

Zip Domains i...@zipdomains.com. 233 Middleton Rd. Glenside Wellington 6037 NZ and have a US phone number +1 206-202-1813. Of course I had to call it – its just an automated answering service.

If you check out their website, there is a DNOA logo. However, neither email address can be found in DNOA profile lookup, yet they display the certified reseller logo on their site, without the link.

— Start Of Email —

Subject: edited-out-for-privacy.ORG

Our company specializes in acquiring expired domain names to help individuals and businesses protect their brand online.

The domain name edited-out-for-privacy.COM is expiring and will be available to the public very soon.

We noticed that you own edited-out-for-privacy.ORG and felt that you may be interested.

We can assist in trying to acquire the domain name, as there are likely many interested parties competing for it.

We do not charge upfront, and the fee if we are successful is only $199 USD.

If you are interested, please let us know by December 10 at the latest.
— ends —

I own the .org and the .com is currently in PendingDelete status. So if I say “yeah go ahead”, they just backorder it for me. Who knows…get a few ignorant customers and it might be a nice little earner.

Exhibit B – Register.com

I received an email from register.com with a subject line of “Keep edited-out-for-privacy.COM  Up and Running”.

You can see the graphic below showing “Renewal Notice” in big orange letters. The only thing is that my domain name wasnt due for renewal for another 7 months! But hey, I can pay you $35 for a .com! Now that’s a bargain if I’ve ever seen one!

The ethical issue here is…. a person reading this may think its a domain name renewal notice (therefore thinking their domain is going to expire) and they should pay register.com $$$$. In countries that have relatively mature consumer protection laws (such as Australia) such an email may be regarded as misleading and deceptive conduct. Its important to note that I’m not a lawyer, this is just my opinion – based on receiving this email.

Have you noticed an increase in spam? Post a comment and let us know!

Cry Baby Domainers Locate Godaddys Warehouse

To the left is a secret photo taken inside a leading domainers office. The photo was taken after a recent blog post which alleged that GoDaddy is warehousing domains.

If you look at clause 9 in the ICANN Registrar Agreement it states “Registrar shall abide by any ICANN-adopted policy prohibiting or restricting warehousing of or speculation in domain names by registrars.” As ICANN does not have any adopted policies in this regard, it can’t actually enforce anything.

So, welcome to the world of commercial reality where companies set up subsidiaries to hold their assets. In the case of Godaddy, its been alleged that Standard Tactics LLC performs this activity.

DomainerIncome has recently learned that a rogue group of blonde domainers is heading down to New Mexico to find the actual warehouse belonging to Standard Tactics LLC. Best of luck with the trip.

Blackcherry.com Auction at TDU

Going through my TRAFFIC videos and noticed blackcherry.com.

Tip: Have a listen to the “comedy gold” at the start.

The People At Traffic DownUnder 2008 – Part 1

A number of attendees have asked for copies of my photos. I’ve got a “Traffic DownUnder 2008″ set at Flickr. Go crazy kids!

Here we have myself and Ron from NamePros as well as Jessica and Jen. Of course, as the night progressed, more red wine, white wine, cocktails and beer was consumed.

Then Jonathan Frakes dropped by to say hello. Given the fact he was drinking VB (and I’m not in the movie) I thought it was worthy of posting. Incidentally, Jonathan had a great speech at TRAFFIC; and for those that don’t know him, he is one hell of a nice guy. I’ll post the presentation as soon as I receive it.

Enjoy

Aftermarket Premium Auction – LIVE from Traffic DownUnder 2008

Here we go – live from TRAFFIC. All names are in US$ including .com.au’s

• exhilarating.com – starting price $3,500 – SOLD $3,500
• hunting.com.au – starting price $1,850 – SOLD $1,850
• DentalPolicy.com – starting price $500 – SOLD $500
• JobListings.com.au – starting price $3,000 – passed in
• HispanicKids.com – starting price $500 – passed in
• UnderGraduate.com.au – starting price $500 – SOLD $1,500
• BirthStoneJewelry.com – starting price $400 – SOLD $500
• NightScape.com – starting price $3,500 – SOLD $3,500
• BusinessFirms.com – SOLD $500
• 2o.com – starting price $8,5000 – SOLD $8500
• camp.com.au – starting price $351 – SOLD $2,600 (Congrats Dan)
• newTLD.com – starting price $1,800 – passed in at $1,500
• stealin.com – no reserve – SOLD $101
• IndianaHome.com – starting price $1933 – passed in at $1,800
• migrant.com – starting price $3,500 – SOLD $3,700
• jackets.com.au – starting price $200 – SOLD $3,000
• PersonalChauffeur.com – starting price $102 – SOLD $202
• barbecuing.com.au – starting price $500 – SOLD $500
• blackcherry.com – starting price $6,000 – SOLD $6,000
• landdownunder.com – starting price $1,100 – SOLD $2,100 (ausadmin)
• essays.com.au – starting price $150 – SOLD $1,600 (Dan)

• Card-Processing.com – starting price $500 – SOLD $800
• BikeRims.com – starting price $1,500 – SOLD $3,000
• SurfingLessons.com.au – starting price $135 – $2,200
• GourmetStores.com – starting price $300 – $1,200

• camera.co.uk – starting price $15,000 – SOLD $35,000
• CheckRegistry.com – starting price $51 – SOLD $101
• InsuranceOffers.com – starting price $350 – SOLD $1,600 (hawkmoon)
• shout.com.au – starting price $1,000 -  SOLD $1,000 (Dan)
• ThisDay.com – starting price $24,000 – Passed In
• Veg.as – starting price $201 – SOLD $350
• SafariAdventure.com – starting price $400 – SOLD $1,800
• refrigerate.com starting price $3,500 – SOLD $4,500
• BookTemplates.com – starting price $0 – SOLD $550
• DownloadIt.com – starting price $5,000 – SOLD $5,000

• Income.info – starting price $600 – SOLD $2,100 Ron Jackson
• CheckoutLane.com – starting price $151 – SOLD $151
• StartingCapital.com – starting price $1,100 – SOLD $1,300
• BusinessFinancials.com – starting price $150 – SOLD $1,400 (Eastbeck)
• iUS.com – starting price $25,000 – Passed in.
• rules.com.au – starting price $51 – SOLD $700
• sello.com – starting price $4,000 – passed in
• nocalorie.com – starting price $51 – SOLD $400
• PassYourTime.com – starting price $300 – SOLD $300
• Carpenters.net – starting price $6,722 – passed in
• Toons.com.au – starting price $500 – SOLD $500
• LightGauge.com – starting price $1 – SOLD $301

We have taken a 5 minute break due to computer problems with the auction provider.

There appears to be a sync issue with online bids vs bidders in the room.

• ImageViewer.com – starting price $1,500 – SOLD $2,400 (Eastbeck)
• CreativeSoftware.com – starting price $300 -  SOLD $500
• DigitalVideos.com – starting price $5,000 – passed in
• Jeweller.com.au – starting price $1,557 – SOLD $9,200
• Athletic.com.au – starting price $2,000 – passed in
• HotMag.com – starting price $51 – SOLD $500
• ebon.com – starting price $1,995 – SOLD $1,995
• HandicapShop.com – starting price $450 – SOLD $800 (hawkmoon)
• Southwest.asia – starting price $51 – SOLD $101 (eastbeck)
• ExamServices.com – starting price $2,000 – passed in.
• Knit.com.au – starting price $101 – SOLD $700
• ClearanceHouse.com – starting price $2,000 – SOLD $2,000 (eastbeck)
• TaxDownloads.com – starting price $101 – SOLD $151
• Laughter.com.au – starting price $2,000 – passed in
• Coed.com – starting price $50,000 – passed in

The auction skipped a number of items to focus on .com.au domain names. Continues:

• MensClothing.com.au – starting bid $750 – SOLD $4,000
• CDs.com.au – starting bid $750 – SOLD $2,000.
• branding.com.au – starting bid $330 – SOLD $2,500
• authentication.com.au – starting bid $500 – SOLD $500
• Pollution.com.au – starting bid $228 – SOLD $3,000
• enter.com.au – starting bid $2,000 – passed in
• plans.com.au – starting bid $300 – SOLD $2,700 (dougs)
• parasailing.com.au – starting bid $150 – SOLD $1,700
• dirtbiking.com.au – starting bid $500 – SOLD $500
• JetSkiing.com.au – starting bid $101 – SOLD $2,000
• Bake.com.au – starting bid $306 – SOLD $800 (Narkov)
• broadcasting.com.au – starting bid $1,500 – SOLD $2,000
• up.com.au – starting bid $971 – SOLD $2,500 (Narkov)

It appears that other bids come through after the gavel dropped.

• saws.com – starting bid $52,000 – SOLD $52,000
• privateresort.com – starting bid $1,500 – SOLD $1,700

As we ran out of time it was reported that the auction will remain open post this event for online bidders.

TRAFFIC DownUnder 2008: My Thoughts So Far

The staff and management at Fabulous have put on a fantastic show thus far. The entire team should be congratulated. Like everyone, I had my own thoughts on what it would be like, and the organizers have more than exceeded my expectations.

At this point, I want to say another “thank you” to all the people who have taken the time over the past few days to post comments on the blog and email me, with their appreciation for covering the conference. Out of all the emails and comments, I’m constantly being asked one question “What do you think of the conference?” Even though it’s close to 1.30am, I thought I’d give you a run down.

Here are some of the pros and cons for me. Now I’m not someone that goes to all the domaining conferences. I’d never previously attended a TRAFFIC conference, I’m not a conference junkie, so please factor that in when you read the following:

Pros

• The venue is great – accommodation, gym, facilities, food, staff, the lot. The above picture was taken from my room, it looks out over the ocean. You can hear the waves – very peaceful.
• The quality of the speakers and their presentations is quite good.
• There was something for everyone as the presentations were aimed at all levels of knowledge. This was spot on, considering the cross section of domainers; some are techos, others have very limited or no technology skills, others are more business focused.
• You get to meet everyone in person. The people on NamePros, DNF, company CEO’s, their sales and biz dev guys.
• Great representation across the industry. eg: Sedo, Parked, NameDrive, Moniker, Namejet the list goes on.
• You get to ask all those questions directly to the people who can answer them. For me, some of those tricky parking questions I’ve been thinking about for months, have now been answered – its a big relief.

Cons

• The weather – its raining again! We can’t control that unfortunately.
• There are a very small number of people with very big egos. You just have to laugh.

So, would I go to another conference? Yes, without a doubt. Although I’d want to make sure it was some months away from this one. As domainers, we need to ensure that we actually DO the things we talk about, otherwise its just noise.

Most important of all, we all have limited time on this planet and need to prioritise and ensure that we focus on the things that matter. For me, domaining is a means to an end. Domaining shouldn’t consume your life, so stop reading this and go talk to your family, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, parents, friends or someone that matters to you. Tell them you appreciate them.

Richard Moore: CEO, Dark Blue Sea – Financial Modeling

Richard Moore is the CEO of Dark Blue Sea. Given the fact DBS own Fabulous, it was a very interesting insight into how they apply financial modeling.

Domain name portfolios have:

• Two revenue streams. 1.Advertising – monetizing the direct navigation traffic. 2. Domain sales
• One expense – Registration cost

Modeling Advertising Revenue

• Advertising revenue = volume * price
• Volume is the number of unique visitors. Search volume data (google, wordtracker)
• “Heartbeats” (Overture with extension)
• Price is the amount received per unique visitor. For example, bid price data and number of advertisers.

Five Different Types Of Prices

• Wholesale price. eg:$100
• Flipper price. eg:$200
• Retail price – one that would list through a sales channel
• High retail price – portfolio owners who say they will sell for $X
• Very high retail price – An astronomic price for a domain name

Modeling Probability of Sale

• Actual number of sales divided by size of portfolio
• Depends on sales strategy (flipper -> 50%, retail 1% to 4%, very high retail 0.01%).
• Optimal strategy is average sales price * probability of sale – restocking cost

Restocking is if you sell a domain, can you go out on the retail market and buy another?

Jackson Hopkins From DDN Talks Sales & Aftermarket

Jackson Hopkins is the CTO of Domain Distribution Network.

• Fabulous has a target of 2% inventory turnover
• How to price half a million domains?

Single parameter analysis

Segment, ROS%, Traffic Multiple, Traffic $/D, Sales $/D, Total $/D

Finding Retail Buyers

• Maximize number of eyeballs
• Explain why they are buying
• Close the transaction quickly

Summary

• Try and sell some names
• Find the right price
• The buyer will find you