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.

Auctions Crack Down On Shill Bidding

Domain name auctions are now starting to give the appearance of cracking down on non paying bidders.

Last week, Dynadot send me an email regarding users that were shill bidding in their expired auctions. Here is a picture of one such user:

Dynadot stated: “Effective immediately, if an auction order is not paid, our system will automatically ban the user from participating in any future auctions.”

Following hot on their heals, I received two email from Snapnames about an hour ago saying that the auctions for domainster.com and fullsize.com will be run again. Yes, I was in both auctions and was amazed by the sudden price increase towards the end.

Lets see how this one goes.

J.P. King Auction – No Show For 2,600 Domains

An auction at the Fairmont on Nob Hill in San Francisco of over 2,600 Internet domain names almost took place on Thursday!

The names that were up for sale Thursday belong to Craig Harrison, an entrepreneur from Fort Collins, Colorado.  Many end in realestatelistings.com, representing states, cities and suburbs in the United States and overseas. Harrison thought the auction would attract upscale buyers, picking San Francisco for its proximity to Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Seattle. Unfortunately, the event at Fairmont did not go to plan.

“I had to have the courage to keep spending the money,” said Harrison, who remembers sitting at his computer for four days and using three or four credit cards. He spent about $35,000.

Perhaps the names weren’t as valuable as they seemed. “Had we had premium names, like toys.com, there would have been an auction,” J.P. King said as waiters in the Fairmont cleared trays piled with sandwiches from the empty room.

Source: SFGate.

GreatDomains (Really?) – May 2009 Auction

I just received this email about the May auction and I have to say, I was not impressed. If you want domainers to buy at auction, are you really going to open up your email with this sentence:

“With a new wave of college graduates entering the workforce, now is the perfect time to acquire a quality domain name to drive traffic to your online business.”

Does that make you want to buy domains at their auction? No – it makes me stop and think “What logic is behind this?”. Now call me harsh (and maybe it was because I haven’t had my morning coffee yet, but get real. Its May, and depending on where you live on this planet, you probably don’t call it college and their graduation might not happen mid-year. But what the hell does this have to do with getting me to buy your domains anyway?

Purely out of frustration (and a little bit of domainer OCD) I went over to their website anyway and checked out what they had to offer. My take is… if you like 3 letter domains, dive right in. I don’t (can’t fathom paying £3,150 for mje.com) but that’s just my preference.

The auction is run by Sedo, so you can buy at Sedo directly or on the GreatDomains site (same thing). Here are a few good ones.

• shirts.net – Sedo or GreatDomains
• bellyring.com – Sedo or GreatDomains
• babyclothing.com – Sedo or GreatDomains
• permit.net – Sedo or GreatDomains
• end.net – Sedo or GreatDomains

Let me know how you go.

I’m Not Participating In The Recession

Hi, I’m Simon and I have a problem. Its been 10 days since my last blog post and I’ve got a confession. I have relapsed and went back to reading Domaining blogs!

I know what you are thinking…. how could he do this? It’s betrayal of the highest order! But you know what? I’ve discovered something…. the usual people are continuing to post drivel (some think its “ohhhh so controversial”) many others appear to actually believe the world is coming to an end.

Its the GFC! No, its not KFC, its got a G in it… no its not the Georgia Football Club either… its the Global Financial Crisis. Global, being stuff outside America? Think of it as all the ccTLD’s, but not .us! Got it now? Good.

This week I went on a bit of an auction binge and purchased a few great names including roses.us. Why? Because people are selling them!

That’s right, its time for the rest of the world to sweep up some quality domain names. With €1 Euro being worth more than US$1.35 – now is the time (although so was mid 2008 when €1 was worth US$1.59).

Here at the Domainer Income Corporate World HQ, I’m sitting by this lake pondering all those opportunities that arise in a recession.

For example, people buy more lottery tickets, they actively seek out cheaper goods. Its not that people arent buying, its just that how some people make those purchases has changed. They might buy less expensive items and expect a greater, faster  ROI. All of this creates opportunity.

Crisis? Recession? Meltdown? Not in my part of the world.

Slept In, Missed The Auction, But Found Some More Names….

Over the past week or so I’ve observed a number of premium names in the drop process. While not unusual I was surprised at how low they went for.

I’ve always maintained that now is a great time to buy domains. Those that are focused on the short term (or need cash to pay off their mortgages) are selling or simply not renewing. Those with cash (who are buying), have less competitors in auctions because some people don’t want to spend.

Here is an example of a name that went for more than $2,300 this morning over at NameJet. It was InternetMarketing.org. To be honest, I was in the auction but decided to sleep in on Sunday. The drop times are not that attractive to those outside the USA.

After I got up and had a coffee, I decided to have a look over at Snapnames and found some great domains with low starting prices. Check them out:

• tuition.com – $60 min bid
• corporateevents.com – $79 min bid
• rentalpackages.com – $79 min bid
  
• punishable.com – $79 min bid
  
• socialiser.com – $59 min bid
• letteropener.com – $79 min bid
• ferriswheel.com – $79 min bid

My favorite is of course tuition.com, followed by ferriswheel.com. Tuition is highly searched on, just think of all the college students! People are addicted to going on FerrisWheels, so having FerrisWheel.com might be a good novelty / niche site.

Luv.Me For A Price

Not a week goes by where I’m not sent portfolios to buy, auctions to promote, conferences to go to. Such is life. What was unusual about today was that I received an email from someone who actually did their homework! As such I thought it was worthy of a post.

luv.me is for sale at Sedo and is currently at 5,600 EURO. That’s quite a lot of $$ love for a .me.

Anyway, what got my attention was the research they sent through. At first I thought the person was a domainer, but then I found out that the domain is currently owned by two partners of Brands-and-Jingles, an advertising firm. Here is a cut down version of what they sent through:

• Date.me went for $70,000
• Love.me went for $32,000
• A three-letter domain is the shortest you can have with .me
• It sounds better as a statement

According to Wikipedia, Luv or LUV may refer to:

• Luv (song), a song by Janet Jackson.
• Luv (television series), a BBC sitcom.
• Luv, a Broadway play and 1967 film.
• The Dutch pop group Luv’
• The Chevrolet LUV, a “light utility vehicle”
• Linux Users of Victoria (http://www.luv.asn.au)
• The New York Stock Exchange symbol for Southwest Airlines
• The IATA airport code of Dumatubin Airport in Langgur, Kai Islands, in the Maluku province of Indonesia
• Large unilamellar vesicle: a type of phospholipid bilayer micelle.
• The L*u*v* color space, a perceptually uniform color space used in computer graphics
• A heart-shaped friendship token used on Bebo that can be giving out daily
• The windward or “upstream” side of a dune; compare “alluvial”
• Lava (Ramayana), a son of Rama in Hindu mythology

What do I think? Its a good name, very brandable, short, sharp and probably going to end up being a dating site. Best of luck with the bidding. Would I buy it? If I was planning to run a dating site, absolutely.

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.

Premium Domain Auction at Traffic NY 2008

A few days ago the guys at Moniker sent me a list of premium names that are up for grabs at the opening night auction for Traffic NY. The auction is taking place on Thursday, September 25 at 3 p.m. EDT (noon PDT) at the New York Marriott, Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, NY.

Here are a few that I like:

• Ad.com
• Adware.com & Adware.net
• BirthdayPresents.com
• CancerResearch.com
• Cleaning.com
• FootballJerseys.com
• Pay.com
• Rebate.com, and Rebates.com

I’m sure I’ve seen pay.com and rebates.com somewhere before though. Ad.com, adware.com and pay.com should be HUGE. Lets wait and see!

1000 High Quality .ca Names Go To Auction

MyID.ca is holding a domain name auction.

The first round ends on Friday May 30, 2008 at 1:00 pm EDT, so go over there now if you want to take a look.  At this point in the auction process there are approximately 80 domains which include names such as:

• CV.ca
• Diploma.ca
• Fling.ca
• Income.ca
• Pharmacies.ca
• FloorTiles.ca
• Eyeglasses.ca

Just yesterday, AccountingJobs.ca received the highest bid of $599, meeting its reserve price. Check out the .CA Auction Blog for more details.