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20:13
The tradition of spoofing Go Daddy’s .CO commercial has continued in 2012. Name.com posted this humorous video of Denver Broncos star running back Willis McGahee in a spoof of Godaddy’s “Body Paint” Super Bowl commercial.
With all due respect to McGahee, I prefer the Godaddy commercial starring Godaddy girl Natalia Velez.
20:01
I think my favorite day of the year is Super Bowl Sunday, especially when my New England Patriots are playing. I don’t ever miss a Pats game, even when I’m on vacation. Anyways, here’s a brief Super Bowl Sunday update.
- I don’t know about you, but it’s been strange seeing some Super Bowl commercials released prior to the game. When my team isn’t playing, I enjoy watching the game but particularly enjoy seeing the special commercials companies make for the big game. It’s a bit disappointing to see them ahead of time.
- Keeping with the Super Bowl theme for a moment, I learned that Doritos held another contest to allow people to submit videos for one of the company’s Super Bowl commercials. One of the five finalists is called “Doritos crash the dog park,” and they are using DoritosDogPark.com for the commercial url. If this one is the winner, it will be interesting to see if DogPark.com gets any traffic. I wrote an article about the Doritos Dog Park commercial on the DogPark.com blog.
- The .ME auction is underway at Sedo, and it ends on February 9. I probably won’t be bidding, but I will be following along just in case I see any good values there.
- Nice to see that premium domain listings will be on Go Daddy during the Super Bowl. As I recall last year, they took down premium listings, which was a bummer for domain investors, since that’s likely the highest traffic day of the year. Feel free to report any GD premium sales tomorrow. Would be neat to see if there’s a lift.
- I like Guy’s comment on Shane’s post yesterday – “talk about the nursery more too.” Running a business is in Shane’s blood, and I think we can all learn a lot from his experience managing employees, inventory, and a brick and mortar business. Shane “gets” the domain business, and I wish him all the best as he focuses on his domain business.
- One final note. I am not sure if I mentioned it yet, but I am a big Patriots fan, despite having lived in New York City for the last 10 years. Let’s go PATS!
21:02
I was going to write this long comment/rant in response to a couple of the comments left in the Moniker sale post, but I believe it merits its own post. I can only imagine the domain registrar business would suck if the primary target audience is domain investors.
As a domain registrar catering to the needs of domain investors, there are a whole lot of downsides and few upsides that I can see. You have demanding and time consuming clients (like me) who only wish to pay just above the actual cost for the domain name, so the profit margin is slim. You also need to have tech support and customer support staff, and that certainly isn’t cheap. When there’s a problem, people are quick to complain on forums and Twitter, without regard for the people working behind the scenes.
From a legal perspective, the company would frequently face litigation from other companies who claim the registrar is contributing to trademark disputes, although I don’t know if there has been a case where a registrar has lost. There are ICANN compliance and regulation issues to deal with, and many registrars need to send representatives to ICANN conferences. All of this is super expensive, considering that customers only want to pay a few cents premium over cost for their domain names.
There are also significant technology costs to consider, since domain investors want an advanced user interface that performs well and is easy to use. In addition, there are hackers who are always trying to find ways to hack into the company’s database to steal credit card information, user information, and of course, domain names. These are additional expenses.
One reason end user-centric registrars like Go Daddy, Name.com, and Network Solutions have seen success and continue to have success is that their end user customers buy add-ons like hosting and storage. These products and services have significantly more robust profit margins, driving profitable revenue for the registrar. Most domain investors don’t buy these additional products.
With all of these costs, a domain registrar needs to have massive scale, and that isn’t easy to achieve, especially with some of the factors above. I really wouldn’t want to be in the domain registrar business servicing domain investors like myself.
17:41
By this point, I would bet you’ve heard of Lana Del Rey. Lana has a new album called Born to Die, and here’s the video of her singing her hit song Video Games last night on the Late Show with David Letterman. I know it’s not domain name related, but there are a lot of people within this industry that know Lana and support her. Congratulations to her family and friends… last night’s performance was exceptional.
21:19
I’m sure you’ve already read the news that Moniker and Snapnames were acquired by KeyDrive in a private transaction. I am very surprised that neither Oversee.net nor Key Drive sent an email to Moniker / Snapnames clients, and I don’t see anything that would indicate that either company issued a press release to announce the news yet.
I have met a few employees of KeyDrive, although I don’t know a whole lot about the company, aside from some of its business assets and location. For some people, having a registrar whose European corporate “home base” will come as good news, while others may not wish to have their domain registrar located outside of the United States (keep in mind that the .com registry is of course located in Virginia).
Technical support and customer service are both important to me, and I don’t know anything about the support or service that will be given by KeyDrive. At one time, I knew I could send an email to Bari Meyerson, and she would handle any issue very quickly. That changed in recent months, and I was then required to submit everything directly to Oversee.net support.
With all of this said, I am wondering what your immediate thoughts on the sale are, and if you plan to use Moniker going forward.
18:59
Startup America is a privately funded, highly touted organization with three goals: “Provide valuable resources and connections to help young companies grow. Support regional startup ecosystems throughout the country. Recognize startups as the drivers of our economy and their founders as American heroes.”
The organization, chaired and co-founded by America Online founder Steve Case, is sponsored by heavy hitting companies and organizations like The Case Foundation, American Express, Dell, Intuit, and Microsoft. According to the organization’s website, it has put together over $1 billion in financial commitments to support the growth of startup companies and entrepreneurs in the United States.
It was just announced that the organization is moving from its long, StartupAmericaPartnership.org domain name to the far more memorable and manageable S.CO. Terms of the deal were not released, but ownership of S.CO is still in the name of the .CO Registry, so it may not have been bought by the organization.
Press Release below
Washington, DC – Feb. 2, 2012–The Startup America Partnership today announced that it has rebranded from www.StartupAmericaPartnership.org to the short, memorable web address S.co, making it easier than ever for startups to find the site, register, and access more than $1.2 Billion in partner offerings focused on helping them grow. Thanks to a new partnership with .CO Internet, registered Startup America firms can now also acquire their very own .CO domain name at no cost for one full year.
“Being able to build a business on a simple, meaningful domain name that people can remember is so important for young companies and we’re excited to now offer that opportunity to our startups through our partnership with the .CO team,” said Scott Case, CEO of the Startup America Partnership. “I’m also personally looking forward to saving millions of keystrokes per year with our new web address!”
The .CO web address has been attracting the attention of the startup community, with more than 1 million .CO web addresses registered in the year since its launch. In rebranding to S.co, the Startup America Partnership joins the ranks of other leading organizations that are using .CO domain names to more easily connect with their audiences, including Twitter (t.co), Angel List (Angel.co), The Founder Institute (FI.co), Om Malik (OM.co), and 500 Startups (500.co), among others.
“As a startup ourselves, we’re incredibly inspired by the work that the Startup America Partnership is doing to help young companies to grow – giving entrepreneurs the tools they need to drive the economy forward,” said Juan Diego Calle, CEO of .CO Internet. “By giving our fellow startups free access to their perfect .CO domain names, we hope to inspire the world’s next generation of great businesses to build the future online.”
Earlier this week, the Startup America Partnership celebrated its one year anniversary as fourteen Startup Regions across the country hosted events to celebrate entrepreneurs and highlight local startups. Young companies in these regions and throughout the United States should register now in order to access a personalized online dashboard, with which they can connect to resources and find the most relevant offerings based on their specific needs, stage of growth, and location. They also have access to an exclusive online community of other founders and startup team members where they can interact with Partnership representatives, share best practices and support their fellow entrepreneurs.
Whether upgrading from an existing web address or starting an online presence from scratch, effective today, Startup America Firms will also have access to register a free .CO domain name for one year.
For more information about the Startup America Partnership, please visit www.s.co.
About the Startup America Partnership
The Startup America Partnership was launched at the White House in response to President Obama’s call to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. The Partnership is bringing together an alliance of major corporations, funders, service providers, mentors and advisors working to dramatically increase the prevalence and success of high-growth enterprises in the U.S. AOL co-founder Steve Case chairs the Partnership and the Kauffman and Case Foundations are founding partners. American Express OPEN, Dell Inc., Intuit Inc., and Microsoft are sponsors. The Partnership will identify, measure and report on the effectiveness of cross-sector collaboration in support of entrepreneurial ventures and its effect on job creation and growth.For more information on the Partnership, visit www.s.co and follow us at www.twitter.com/startupamerica and www.facebook.com/startupamerica.
8:04
I sold BirdSupply.com on Wednesday, and since I paid for the Domaining.com headline for 24 hours, I figured I would post a few other domain names I would like to sell. If you have an interest, please post “sold” and the first to post will be able to purchase the domain name using Escrow.com (split fee). Prices have been reduced from their previous price points if they had been listed before.
PS: I’ll make you a special offer. If you buy any of the domain names below and the New England Patriots win the Super Bowl on Sunday, I will give you a 5% refund on your purchase once the payment has been sent to me by Escrow.com. So, if you buy AmherstRealEstate.com for $3,000 and the Pats win, I will send you $150 back once your payment has cleared.
Prices are valid for 48 hours!
0:12
I am selling BirdSupply.com, and the purchase price is $4,500. This special price is available for the next 72 hours, so if you want to buy this name, please let me know ASAP. the domain name was created back in 1998 and is currently registered at Network Solutions.
Obviously, I believe BirdSupply.com can be used by a bird supply company or someone who wants to sell bird supplies. I would imagine you could set up an affiliate account at one of the large pet supply companies and create a store. I am not interested in building any additional websites right now, so I am selling the domain name. The first person to post “sold” will get to buy this domain name using Escrow.com.
You can have a look at some other Supply.com domain names to see some in action:
21:12
Sedo’s Great Domains auction ended last week, and the auction netted over $115,000 in domain sales. I was a bit surprised that Zimbabwe.com didn’t sell at its reduced price. I guess it might be tough to monetize. Don’t forget to check out the Sedo 2011 Market Study when you have a chance.
The full list of sales is below.
goldchains.com 32000 USD
economize.com 10099 USD
sucre.com 10000 USD
mayan.com 9000 USD
balletshoes.com 8500 USD
gentler.com 5100 USD
interviews.net 5000 USD
vxz.com 3600 USD
adgame.com 3400 USD
rechnung.com 3150 EUR
nn.biz 3150 USD
moroccan.com 2650 USD
aux.net 2175 USD
am.tv 1999 USD
replay.tv 1650 USD
grandchampion.com 1337 USD
tradeaccount.com 1300 USD
ill.net 1210 EUR
inspires.me 1200 USD
pron.org 1099 USD
tobago.org 910 USD
shoppingmall.co.uk 550 GBP
tall.me 509 EUR
segelflug.com 509 EUR
iraonline.com 499 USD
complement.me 440 EUR
zahlung.com 411 EUR
transfermoney.net 387 EUR
stretch.me 353 EUR
cred.net 350 USD
tear.me 310 EUR
zmi.org 265 USD
akef.com 205 USD
visitjapan.net 200 USD
thesedays.co.uk 200 EUR
photoid.co.uk 200 GBP
mutter.tv 200 EUR
loanus.com 160 USD
aides.net 160 USD
colibri.net 150 USD
fregaderos.es 149 EUR
buyerhub.com 110 USD
upuy.com 110 USD
eroticgirls.net 100 EUR
uduy.com 100 USD
travelshow.tv 100 USD
flights24.org 100 EUR
paytv.tv 85 GBP
18:30
Sedo has released its annual 2011 Market Study with insight into the domain market and activity during the last year. The full market study pdf can be downloaded (for free) by visiting Sedo’s website.
Off the bat, one of the most impressive figures is Sedo’s total sales for 2011: sales volume totaled $84,431,965. According to the company, “.co and .me entering the top ten sold top level domains (TLDs) for the very first time.” The company also offered additional insight into pricing strategy, especially as it relates to Buy It Now pricing and the SedoMLS Network.
Here are several highlights from the just published report:
I have not read the full report yet, but it’s something I plan to do very soon. I think the information in the report is invaluable and can help you buy and sell good domain names.