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Regular
readers know that I like to
keep tabs on offspring of well-known
domainers who are making a splash in
their own chosen fields of endeavor (in
fact one of them, Evan Ross, was
featured in this column yesterday).
The domain business has always had a
"family feel" to me (probably
because fellow domain investors are the
only people who understand exactly what
it is we do for a living!). Over the
years, while getting to know a lot of
domainers I've also become acquainted
with some of their kids and gotten
interested in watching them excel at
what they do too.
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One
of the most successful kids to
come out of what we might call
the "domain industry gene
pool" is Heather
Hartnett, daughter of Dr.
Chris Hartnett (who was the
subject of our June 2008 Cover
Story). The
interesting thing about Heather
is that in addition to her
success in the mainstream
business world, she is a
domain investor too.
In
her professional life Heather specializes in
marketing and communications on behalf of web-based start-ups, non-profit organizations and an array of new media.
She is currently the Director of Communications for the
David Lynch Foundation and
David Lynch Foundation Television
(DLF.TV), the online TV channel and media company that showcases the good works of the not-for-profit
Foundation founded by the award
winning movie director, producer
and writer. |
Dr.
Chris Hartnett & his daughter
Heather
at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West 2008 in
Las Vegas. |
Now
Heather also has a cool new website of
her own at Heather.TV
that includes some great content
including her celebrity interviews with
people like Sheryl Crow, Beach
Boys lead singer Mike Love, Moby,
Ben Harper and others.
Chris
told us how he recently landed the
Heather.tv domain to serve as Heather's
home base (her new site just launched on
April 18th). "Ray Neu
(yet another second generation domainer)
sent me an email a few weeks back and
told me that Heather.TV was for sale in
the SnapNames DOT TV auction,"
Chris said. "So I put in a bid and
loaded up the gun with a bunch of
gunpowder just in case someone else
named Heather was going to try and out
bid me! Well I lucked out and it was a
whole lot cheaper than a year's college
education which I had planned to spend
to get Heather her name if I had
to. Of all the DOT TV's we own, and we
have a few good ones, this is by far my
favorite!"
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Chris
added, "Heather is the TV
interviewer to the stars,
ranging from the Beach
Boys to the Beatles
and she jumped on the Russell
Brand band wagon long
before anyone in this country
really knew who he was and now
he has two of the top three
movies playing in the USA."
Chris
also filled us in on Heather's
background as a domain investor.
"Heather started
buying domains when she was 11
years old and she was the
one that got me to start buying
ORGANIC domains long before most
were even into organic food,"
Chris said. "We were living
in Europe at the time and
by 1996 all of Europe was
starting to label food with
Organic. Heather said "hey
dad, why don't you buy organic
domain names?" Some 300
names later I realized that she
had a very good idea
there. They are in great demand
now and my wife Linda and
I went to the Organic
Health |
Heather
Hartnett |
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Food
Show in Los Angeles in March
and everyone wanted to buy our
domain names. Come to think of
it Ron, I really should
listen to the kids more often!,"
Chris said. |
Chris
added, "My daughter Kristen
got me into the Jewelry and Gemstone
Domains in 1998 and my wife Linda got me
into the Global Domains in 1996 and my
daughter Grace is the one who
told me to get into the DOT TV's in the
first place - just before the Demand
Media May 2007 DOT TV auction
- because she read about it on
Demand Media Founder Richard
Rosenblatt's Facebook Page.
The kids all friended him early on
because of MySpace. Actually when
you stop and think about it, without all
those women in my life, I wouldn't have any
decent domains!," Chris laughed.
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Elsewhere
today, a number of our readers have
their own reseller accounts with
well-known registrars or hosting companies that
allow them to easily set up their own domain
registration or website hosting business. Directi's
Reseller
Club is one of the biggest providers
in that space with over 65,000
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resellers
currently
in their system. A lot of their growth has come
from innovative promotional offers like one they
announced today that is open to both current and
new clients.
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The
latest incentive program is a Race
Ahead With .BIZ contest
offering $20,000 in cash
prizes. The money will be
divided up between resellers
who have the highest number of
.BIZ Registrations and
those with the highest growth
rate in .BIZ registrations
between May and July 2011.
The contest was divided into
those two categories to make
sure that all resellers have a
shot at the cash. Even new
resellers can win by increasing
their Growth Rate over
the three months contest period.
CEO
Bhavin Turakhia said,
"We feel these contests not
only help incentivize resellers
to increase numbers but also
encourage a healthy spirit of
competition. It definitely makes
things interesting!"
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The
'Race ahead with .BIZ' contest runs
through July 31, 2011. To opt-in for the
Contest and for more details, visit http://www.resellerclub.com/promos/dotbiz. |
