Here's
the The Lowdown from
DN Journal,
updated daily to fill you in on the
latest buzz going around the domain name
industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson.
DNForum
Owner Adam Dicker Stars in New Video Blog, Edwin
Hayward Launches Offensive Against .UK Proposal
& Sedo's Dave Evanson Announces Big .CO.UK
Sale
One
of the most popular sessionsat
the 2012
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference, held at Fort
Lauderdale Beach, Florida earlier this
month, featured DNForum.com
owner Adam Dicker dispensing advice on
how to turn domains into money making
businesses. It's something Dicker has been
doing successfully for years and at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. he detailed exactly how he does
it. Attendees busily scribbled down notes on
everything he said and the session generated a
tremendous amount of buzz when Dicker left the
stage.
If
you were not at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. (or if you were
and want to hear a lot more of what Dicker has
to say) you will be delighted to know that he
has just launched a new video blog at TheArtOfTheName.com.
Dicker promised that the 10-minute introductory
video used to launch
Adam
Dicker
TheArtOfTheName.com
the
free site today would be followed by many
more and he immediately began making good on
that promise with a second video on finding desirable
content for your sites.
Adam
has been very successful in this business and it
is great to see someone with his level of
expertise give back to the community (especially
new domain investors and developers who are
always seeking reliable guidance) in such a
generous way. A video blog requires a big
time commitment, but if Adam can juggle the
task along with his many other endeavors, his
new site will rapidly become one of the
industry's most valuable resources.
Edwin
Hayward
Adam
wasn't the only one launching an
important new site this week. Another
industry veteran, England's Edwin
Hayward, raised the curtain on a
well-written and researched site at MyDomainNames.co.uk
opposing Nominet'scontroversial
plan to allow second level
registrations (at a far higher cost) on
the .UK ccTLD ( for instance
example.uk). Such a move would instantly
devalue corresponding third level
domains in the long establishedand
globally recogniized .CO.UK
extension (such as example.co.uk).
In
a 26-page paper that can be
downloaded here
(.pdf file), Hayward made several key
points, just a few of which are noted
below:
The
internet is big business and hugely
important to the UK economy (8.3% of GDP)
with all of that based on third level
British domain names (like example.co.uk).
Most
businesses use .co.uk, and 93% of UK
names are .co.uk.
Proposed
.uk names will not be offered to
the owners of .co.uk (e.g. the BBC would
not automatically get BBC.uk).
Existing
domain owners will have to prove
that they are entitled to the matching .uk
domain name, or buy it at auction (if
it hasn't already been taken by a trademark
holder).
The
direct cost to UK businesses will be at
least £50,000,000 per year, and
associated adjustment costs could run to £billions.
Other
countries went about the same process quite
differently. In every previous case,
existing domain owners were given
priority ahead of other interests.
Visit Edwin's
site for more critical information -
the most important being what you can do to
protest the current deeply flawed proposal.
Speaking of
.co.uk (and a perfect example how
valuable that extension can be), Sedo's
Dave Evanson (who won T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s
Broker of the Year Award this year) announced
on his Facebook page today that
he has just sold WebHosting.co.uk
for $500,000 (once verified that
will rank as the second biggest sale of 2012
year to date in any
extension).
Congrats
to Dave on the latest of several
blockbuster sales he has handled this
year. When you're hot, you're hot!
Sedo's
Dave Evanson (center) receiving the 2012
Broker
of the Year Award from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founders Rick
Schwartz & Howard Neu.
(Photo courtesy of Barbara Neu)
Domain
Name Market in Doldrums? The Back Story on
Today's Article in the San Francisco Chronicle
A
new articleabout
the domain name aftermarket titled
"Internet
Domain Name Market in the Doldrums"
was published by the San Francisco
Chronicle today. I was quoted
extensively in the article by author Carrie
Kirby who called for an interview in
the course of researching the subject.
Domain sales piqued Carrie's interest
because the ultimate geodomain
representing the Chronicle's
state, California.com, has just
been put on the market with DomainHoldings.com
representing the seller.
More
often than not, mainstream business
press articles about domains get a lot
of the facts
For
sale sign on California.com
piques the San
Francisco Chronicle's interest
in the domain market. Image
from Bigstock
wrong
and end up with a portrayal of of the
topic that is far removed from reality.
When I saw the headline on the Chronicle
piece, my first thought was "here
we go again." However, I
also knew that headlines - meant to grab
attention - are usually written by an
editor, not the author of the piece, so
I wasn't ready to write it off for that
reason alone.
That
was particularly true in this case because I
knew Ms. Kirby had been very thorough in asking
questions and follow-ups to make sure she
understood the complicated topic as well as
anyone could in the course of a half-hour
interview. I told her that with the Great
Recession high end sales have fallen off in
recent years - but the ultra high end is
not the market. Mid-range sales have been
booming and in fact we saw a
double-digit increase in median sale
prices in the latest quarter compared to a
year ago (a fact I reported at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 and will be detailing in our
latest monthly newsletter that will be out later
this week). Ms. Kirby accurately reported both
of those points in her article but the headline
writer missed it.
I
didn't see any factual errors or misquotes of
anything I said in Ms. Kirby's piece, a pleasant
surprise that is unfortunately a rarity in most
mainstream reporting on domains. It is not an
easy subject to understand and a lot of
reporters, under deadline pressure, won't make
the effort required to get a handle on it before
they write an article. I appreciate that she
took the time to get it right.
Aside
from the headline, the only other thing
from the article that really jumped out
at me was the wildly comical
quote from a Forrester Research analyst
named Jeff Ernst. Commenting on
the impending arrival of hundreds of new
TLDs Ernst was quoted as saying,
"initially only large
companies will take advantage of the new
top-level domains, but eventually even
midsize companies will all have their
own domain endings, leaving .com to
smaller and less Internet-savvy firms."
All I can
say to that is Really?! How
could any company be less internet
savvy than to abandon .com - the extension that is
synonymous with the
Internet? That status was reached after
hundreds of thousands of businesses
spent billions of dollars in
advertising making it so - a scenario
that no new TLD will ever duplicate. If
this silly comment is indicative of the
"research" work done at
Forrester, something is seriously wrong
there.
Sweet
Dreams Are Made of This: BREE & David
Castello Meet Eurhythmics Star Dave
Stewart
In
my last
postI
told you about the rapidly rising rock trio
fronted by BREE
(and featuring Domain Hall of Famer David
Castello in his dual role of
drummer and BREE's manager) being nominated for Nashville
Musician of the Year in the prestigious 2012
Rawards Indie Arts Awardcompetition.
I wasn't expecting to re-visit the topic so
soon, but before moving on
wanted
to pass along yet another example of how
exciting things are getting for the Castello
Citiies Internet Network exec
and his talented leading lady - guitarist/
singer/songwriter BREE.
Last
night Eurhythmics co-founderDave
Stewart hit Nashville for a tour
stop with his current band (as music fans know,
Dave and partner Annie Lennox had a
massive string of major hits). David and BREE
caught the show at The Mercy Lounge where
Stewart played on the same stage BREE will play
on in the RAWards semi-finals on the
night of November 15, 2012.
David
said it was a fantastic show and a night that
got even more interesting after the
curtain fell. Stewart met BREE and David after
the show and wound up spending over an
BREEwith Eurythmics Co-Founder Dave Stewart
last night (Thursday, Oct. 25) in Nashviile.
hour
chatting with BREE about her music and
various artistic endeavors. Stewart, who has
worked with a long line of music superstars
including Bruce Springsteen, Tom
Petty and Mick Jagger, seemed to be as captivated by the
talented newcomer as those who have seen her
play live have been.
Though
his new musical adventures have kept David from
spending as much time as he used to with his
many domain industry friends, he still stays in
touch and he and BREE are obviously in verygoodcompany these daysas
they continue a journey that seems destined to
end in stardom.
BREE,
drummer David Castello and bassist Maryk McNeely
tearing it up in Nashville.
You've
Gotta BREElieve! Hot New Artist
Managed by David Castello is Breaking Out
I've
been keeping you up to dateon
Domain Hall of Fame member David Castello's return
to the musicbusiness ever since the Castello
Cities Internet Network(CCIN)
co-founder moved to Nashville (CCIN owns Nashville.com)
in the summer of 2011 to manage the career of
upcoming singer/guitarist/songwriter BREE
and play drums in her raucous rock trio (all
while David remains active in CCIN
affairs).
BREE
with Maryk McNeely (left) and David
Castello (right)
on the set for their "Whisky"
video filme at The Standard in Nashville last
spring (You can see
the video here).
BREE
and her band have made tremendous progress since
then (their video
for "Whisky" has passed 386,000
page views on YouTube) and they appear to
be on the verge of a major breakout.
The latest milestone was reached Tuesday when
BREE was nominated for the 2012 RAW
Nashville Musician of the Year Award.
The
national RAWards Indie Arts program is a
massive undertaking that recognizes outstanding
new artists in multiple disciplines
across the U.S.Three to five semi-final
nominees are selected in each craft (music,
film, fashion and many others) with the nominees
then taking part in a November 15th showcase
in their city (54 shows across the nation
on the same night!). The Nashville
showcase will be held from 7pm-midnight
November
15th at the Mercy Lounge at One Cannery
Row. The local community will cast a live
vote as will three local judges, invited by
RAW. Those combined votes will determine who
will represent their town in the RAWards
Finals that will be held in Hollywood,
California in January.
If you visit BREE's
artist page on the RAW website you
can listen to two songs she just recorded with
legendary producer Bob Ezrin's engineer
Justin Cortelyou: "I'm The
Boss" and "Nothin' But
Trouble." You can also view BREE's new Electronic
Press Kit (EPK), directed by Marcel
and filmed at the Mercy Lounge, The Tracking
Room and other well known locations in downtown
Nashville - or if you just can't wait to see it -
click play on the screen below.
Jacob
Fedosky's Fast Track From Teenage Domainer to
Corporate Director of Domain
Development
One
thing I've always lovedabout
the domain business is that it offers great opportunities
to everyone. You hear about age
discrimination in mainstream business but
I've never seen it here. What I have seen is
people ranging from 17 to well over 70 that have
done well in in this industry. Take 19-year-old Jacob
Fedosky for instance. Jacob started
buying and developing domains in high school and
continued to do so after heading to Texas
Tech for college.
Some
of you may remember Jacob as the original owner
of the Teen Domainer blog that he later
sold to Brian Diener. Jacob started
another blog at DotJake.com before moving
to his current home at JacobFedosky.com.
Now, he has taken yet another step in his domain
career, having accepted a corporate position
as Director of Domain Development for Houston,
Texas based web development company Vessio,
LLC.
Since
being founded in 2006 Vessio has deployed
hundreds of websites and dynamic components for
a global list of companies and organizations of
all sizes. Just a couple of weeks ago the
company released anewdomain
development service aimed at domain
owners who want to move beyond parking.
Jacob
Fedosky Director
of Domain Development Vessio.com
Fedosky
said that after researching the current
solutions being provided in the market,
Vessio has identified the positive and
negative aspects and tailored a unique
service that is accessible and
manageable for domain name owners to
execute. “Other providers tend to have
a single template and each minisite they
churn out has a different color scheme
and header but the general feel of the
site is the same," Fedosky said.
"We’re completely customizing
each site. Other providers also fill
their minisites with sub-par content.
Vessio has partnered with a high
quality content provider so our
developed websites give visitors the
information they came to find. With
customized designs and quality content,
we’re turning domain names into authoritative
websites.”
Fedosky
added, “As parking revenues continue
to fall, domain portfolio owners need a
viable solution to earn money from their
domain names. Other providers have tried
to solve this problem but they have done
so in a way that isn't scalable. Vessio
isn't developing “minisites” –
we’re developing actual websites that
provide real value to both domain
owners and consumers that access the
websites. While we still utilize
AdSense for our clients, we
don’t depend on it. We also
integrate a number of affiliate links
and ads. By incorporating several
revenue streams into each site, Vessio
keeps developed domain names from
appearing spammy and in turn produces
results."
Vessio
can add “for sale” banners on websites they
develop and Fedosky promised competitive
pricing and special incentives on bulk
orders, so if this is a direction you are
interested in exploring Vessio may be worth a
close look.
Rook
Media and The Water School Bring Crowd Sourced Philanthropy
to Domain Parking
Our
regular readersknow
that I have been a long time supporter
of The
Water School, a life saving
charitable organization that, largely
due to the tireless efforts of domain
veterans Gregg
McNair and Richard Lau,
has come to be regarded by many as the unofficial
industry
charity. Both serve on The Water School
board and Richard devotes additional
time to the organization as its
Executive Director.
Individual
and corporate donors in our space have
raised funds totaling well into six
figures for the organization that
provides an inexpensive, easy and
effective clean water solution
that helps eradicate disease in
developing nations.
The Water School’s simple 3-step
process to purify water can guarantee an
individual clean water for life
at a cost of just $10. The fast
growing program has already helped over 400,000
people across Kenya, Uganda
and South Sudan.
Rook
Media Co-Founder Simon Pupo
with two children he
visited with while touring Water
School operations in Kenya.
(Photo by Richard Lau)
Today
I'm happy to be able to tell you about a
new program called Clicks for Clean
Water that has been launched by Rook
Media in association with The
Water School. The program, for the
first time,
makes it possible for domain owners to
donate a designated portion of their PPC
earnings directly to the Water
School.
As
many of you know, Rook Media is an up
and coming new domain monetization company
based in Zurich, Switzerland that
was founded in 2010 by four well-known
industry veterans; Daniel Law, Joe
Higgins, Martin Andersson and
Simon Pupo. They've thrown their
company's weight behind The Water School
by making it possible for anyone who
parks at Rook Media to set up an
automatic donation to The Water School
from their monthly earnings.
Martin
Andersson, who serves as Rook Media's
Chief Strategy Officer, said, "It
literally takes only a handful of clicks
to guarantee someone access to clean
water for life. The $10 that we’d
spend on a drink could change
someone’s life dramatically.
Domainers, our partners, are already
some of the most generous people
that we know, and we’re proud to work
together with them and Water School to
make clean water a reality for more and
more families."
Water
School Executive Director and veteran
domain investor Richard Lau added
"Rook Media is a valued partner of
The Water School and, being in the
domain industry first-hand, I would
recommend their services to anyone.
Also, being involved with The Water
School, I want to say how excited we are
to welcome the crowd-sourced
philanthropy that Rook is
integrating directly into their
parking platform.”
Just
some of the Rook Media team members who
have gotten behind the company's Clicks for Clean Water campaign to raise
funds for The Water School: (L to R) Joe
Higgins, Ash Rahimi, Martin Andersson, Dona
Dorn, Simon Pupo, Ed Russell
and Matthias Müler.
DOMAINfest
Global Gets a New Name and Joins T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Las Vegas in Opening Registration for 2013 Shows
That Will Run on a Revamped Playing Field
In
recent yearsOversee.nethas
been steadily broadening the focus of
their DOMAINfestGlobal conference
to include a wide variety of website
development, marketing, monetization and SEO
topics - a makeover that has transformed
it from a pure domain conference into a one stop
Internet business summit. As I've said
before, I think that is a smart
move that positions the already popular show for
even greater growth in the years ahead,
especially with its home base being Los
Angeles, a city that is a hotbed for
Internet business and start up activity.
The
show fully embraced its expanded mission today
by announcing the event has been renamed Webfest
Global with the upcoming February
2013 event, the 7th in the series, the first
to carry the new banner. In tandem with the name
change, Oversee has opened show
registration (with a $1095 early
bird rate that is good through December 31)
and posted the preliminary agenda
for
the event hat will run February 5-7 at
the Fairmount Miramar Hotel in Santa
Monica, California - a lovely oceanfront
venue that hosted the last three DOMAINfest
Global conferences.
Domains
will still have a prominent place at Webfest
Global with the first day of the conference
devoted to domain related topics, but the
re-positioning of the show leaves the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference, the originator of large scale domain
conferences back in 2004,
as the last globally focused pure domain show
still standing. That's a far cry from just there
years ago when we covered six different
domain conferences on both sides of the Atlantic
in one six-month
span. An inevitable shakeout
followed with the survivors now commanding clearly
staked out ground that should serve them
well for many years to come.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.,
who just closed their lone 2012 show
last week on Florida's Fort Lauderdale Beach,
will run twice in 2013. They will be
returning to Las
Vegas for the first time in
three years for a show that will run May
29-June 1 at the Bellagio Hotel.
Registration
for that highly anticipated event opened
Wednesday with a $995
early bird price in place on the first 50
tickets.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
will also hold their traditional South
Florida show in October 2013 when it
will return to the Ritz Carlton on Fort Lauderdale
Beach.
Domain
investors and developers employ a wide variety
of money making strategies. Some prefer more
passive approaches like PPC, affiliate marketing
and sales, while others are all about developing
their domains into full blown businesses. With
the way the conference scene has shaken out it
is now much easier to identify a conference that
best suits your individual needs.
Those
who try to cover all of the bases will
still turn up at both Webfest
Global and T.R.A.F.F.I.C., as well as at
some of the many excellent regional
conferences around the
world. There is only so much money to go
around though, so those with a specific
strategy and/or a limited budget can zero
in on the one that is most closely
aligned with their own objectives.
One
thing has not changed though.
That is the incomparable value you
get from meeting others in the space face
to face. I've been watching
conference events unfold for close to a
decade now and I firmly believe there
Scene
from the speed networking session
at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 last week in
Florida.
is no one
thing you can do to more quickly
accelerate your business than get
out there and make the kind of personal
connections that can only be made by
getting to know your peers by speaking
with them eye to eye. There is no
better place to do that than in the
unique networking environment that
today's top conferences provide.
New
Protrada Partnership Promotes Domain Investing +
Larry Fischer & Bill McClure Brew Up New
Business
While
I was awaycovering
the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 conference at Fort
Lauderdale Beach, Florida I didn't
have a chance to pass along several news items
that crossed our desk during the show's run.
I'll round those up for you in my two or three Lowdown
posts, beginning with this one.
For
starters, Protrada.com,
who was represented at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. by Founder
& CEO Troy Rushton and Business
Development Manager Louis Munck,
announced a
new partnership with internet marketing
thought leader, coach and teacher, Alex
Mandossian. The partnership is part
of Protrada's ongoing effort
to get word about the value of domain names out
to the mainstream business world.
Mandossian
is a recognized internet marketing expert in
hosting online training and coaching
sessions. He speaks at seminar stages around
the world, reaching thousands of people
monthly. Rushton noted, "Partnering with
Protrada.com's
Troy Rushton and Louise Munck
at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 last week in Florida.
Alex
enables us to reach new global audiences and
advocate domain trading to people who are
looking for new investment opportunities beyond
traditional asset classes."
Screenshot
from an Alex Mandossian
video on his MarketingOnline.com
blog.
Mandossian
said, "Internet marketing can be
hard work and domain trading is new and
very exciting to people outside
the domaining industry. The feedback
I’ve received from my coaching team
and our students is overwhelmingly
positive, as our current audience of
internet marketers are hungry to get
involved with “low risk, high ROI”
marketing opportunities. Domain trading
is the perfect fit and an ideal
new way to expand sales and profits for
internet marketers."
In
addition to live seminars, Mandossian
and Rushton are organizing a series of virtual
seminars and training events for
Protrada’s current members as well as
new audiences.
One
of the people we missed most at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
was industry veteran and leading investor Larry
Fischer who had to cancel at the last minute
after back pain prevented him from flying (been
there, done that and it is no fun). On
the same day we left for Fort Lauderdale Beach,
Larry and Bill McClure (who was at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. with his lovely wife Jammie)
announced the launch of a new joint venture at
HerbalTea.com.
The
site was developed to sell and serve the
most widely consumed beverage in the
world to at home and office consumers.
Fischer and McClure believe that due to
an increasing consumption of tea in the
United States, the "tea
time" was right for a premier
online store. According to the Tea
Association, in 2011, Americans consumed
well over 65 billion servings or
3 billion gallons of tea.
Larry
owns the domain name while Bill owns a
national online
Larry
Fischer (left) and Bill McClure
HerbalTea.com partners
coffee
distribution company based at www.Coffee.org.
McClure’s team sourced the more
than 100 varieties of tea, grown
around the world, that are featured at
HerbalTea.com. With these two putting
their heads together, this business has
a great chance to score big in
the beverage market.
Closing
Day Photos & Highlights from the 2012
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference on Fort Lauderdale
Beach
The
2012 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferenceclosed
Wednesday morning (October 10) with a
Farewell Breakfast at the Ritz
Carlton Hotel on Florida's Fort
Lauderdale Beach. In my last
post from
the
Ritz I left off with the names of those
who won the 2012 T.R.A.F.F.I.C Awards
that were handed out Tuesday morning
(I'll have more on the Awards including
photos of all of the
winners in a comprehensive show
review article that will be out by
the end of next week).
Today
let's resume with what happened over the
final 24 hours of this year's big
show. During the Awards Brunch I
presented a report on current sales
trends in the aftermarket based on
data we use to compile our weekly
domain sales reports. I'll
be detailing those numbers for you in
our October newsletter
that will be out later this month.
The
bottom line from the sneak peak I gave
the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. audience is that the total
$ value of reported domain sales
rose slightly from the previous quarter
while the number of transactions
and the median sale price both
rose dramatically. While we are seeing
very few six-figure and up sales, tons
of mid-range (four and five
figure) sales are being made.
DN
Journal's Ron Jackson updating
the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. audience on
current
aftermarket sales trends Tuesday
morning.
Also
during the brunch, Frank
Schilling (who won his third Domainer
of the Year Award that morning) gave a well
received presentation detailing the revolutionary
new iPhone based domain sales platform
that his company, DomainNameSales.com
has just rolled out. You
will be happy to know that you do not
have to park your domains with Frank's InternetTraffic.com
(a program that has been limited to higher
quality portfolios) to use the DNS sales
platform. Anyone can download the app from Apple's
App Store and start using it now (there is
no version for Android phones and none is
planned at this time). You can see a video with
more details on how it works here.
Frank
Schilling of DomainNameSales.com telling the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. audience about
the company's new turbo-charged mobile domain
name sales platform.
The
business day continued with a noon session on Monetizing
Your Domains in Different Ways that
featured four experts on topics including PPC,
lead generation and development.
In
between sessions, attendees visited the various
company booths set up in the exhibition hall
located immediately outside the conference
rooms. That gave guests a opportunity to meet
account representatives face to face, see
demos of the company's latest products and get
any questions they had about a service answered
on the spot.
Afternic's
Neil Kavanaugh answers Brian Wick's
questions at the company's exhibit hall booth.
Back
inside the conference room, another session got
underway at 1:30 Tuesday afternoon on How
to Turn a Category Leading Domain Name Into a
Category Leading Business. This session
featured experts fromBankRate.com
and BankAds.comwho run successful financial websites.
BankRate.com's stable of sites includes CreditCards.com
and several others built on category defining
domain names. They also offer popular affiliate
programs.
(Left
to right) BankRate.com VPs Hanno Damm
and Michael Ricciardelli, moderator Howard Neu and Sean Sullivan of BankAds.com,
at their Tuesday afternoon session.
The
final business session of T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 was the always popular Meeting of the
Chiefs (Session 2, following an
initial session on the opening
day of the conference with a
slightly different line up). This session,
featuring eight well-known industry leaders drew
a large crowd, continuing a trend we saw
throughout the week - sessions that were some of
the most well attended we've seen in
years.
Tuesday
afternoon's Meeting of the Chiefs
featured (left to right): Michael Berkens
(TheDomains.com), Adam Dicker (DNForum.com),
John Ferber (DomainHoldings.com),
Michael Gilmour (ParkLogic.com), Dr.
Chris Hartnett, Ammar Kubba
(Thought
Convergence), Jeff Gabriel (DomainAdvisors.com)
and Daniel Law (RookMedia.net)
While
that was the final business session, a lot of networking
(the most valuable aspect of any domain
conference) was still to be done. The
closing dessert and coffee party Tuesday night
was a perfect spot for that.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 attendees got in another round of
networking, along with some
great coffee, desserts, beer and wine at the
show's Closing Party Tuesday night (Oct.
9).
As soon as
the official Closing Party wound down another
one got started in a
16th floor suite at the Ritz. That was
the DomainAdvisors.com
late night party hosted by PPX
International Chairman Gregg
McNair. These events, held on most
conference nights, are always fun and
you never know what you will see
next.
The photo
at right is a prime example. Who would
have expected a disco party to
break out led by veteran domain industry
attorneys Brett Lewis (at far
left) and Ari Goldberger (in the
black T shirt at right), showing off
their best John Travolta Saturday
Night Fever era inspired
moves.
The
Domainadvisors event ran until about 4am
Wednesday morning but Diana and I
threw in the towel around 1:30.
Brett
Lewis and Ari Goldberger
really do
have Moves Like Jagger!
I
wanted to catch at least a little rest before
the final event of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 -
Wednesday morning's Farewell Breakfast.
This is more than a breakfast, it is a
chance to spend a final couple of hours with
people who have become close friends, reflect on
the great week that was coming to an end and
make plans to meet again.
The
composite photo above from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012's Farewell Breakfast Wednesday morning
(Oct. 10) features - In the top row, left to
right - DomainHoldings CEO Jason Boshoff,
Norway's Truc Tran, Protrada.com Founder Troy
Rushton and Protrada's brilliant Business
Development Manager Louise Munck.
In the midde row at left: Two former DNJournal.com
Cover Story subjects - Rob
Grant and Dr.
Chris Hartnett. In the middle row at
right: three of the people who make
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. happen - Kimberly Howard, Barbara
Neu and Ray Dillman Neu. In the
bottom row: T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder - Domain
King Rick Schwartz (facing the camera at far
right), holding court at a corner
table.
For
myself and most I talked too, this was an
exceptionally productiveT.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference, one that certainly whetted the
appetite for the late May 2013 show that
will have the conference returning to Las
Vegas for a highly anticipated event at the Bellagio
Hotel.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founders Rick Schwartz and Howard
Neu, their wives Alina and Barbara,
Ray Dillman Neu, Kimberly Howard
and Danny Pryor are all to be commended
for the enormous amount of work they put into
making T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 such an enjoyable and rewarding experience
for their guests. The current challenging
economy makes it harder than ever to stage a
profitable show but their approach has always
been to do it first class or don't do it all,
regardless of the cost. That's has allowed
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. to maintain the support needed to
run 23 consecutive shows with planning
for #24 already underway.
Photos
and Highlights from the First Full Day of
Business at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 Monday October 8
After
opening Sunday eveningwith
a series of social
events, the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012
conference being held at the Ritz Carlton
on Florida's Fort Lauderdale Beach got
down to business Monday (Oct. 9) with a
full slate of business sessions during the day
and the show's official party at Pier 66
Monday night. The first panel discussion
featured eight company executives who offered
their opinions on the current Health of the
Industry and the prospects for the future.
Monday
morning's Health of the Industry panel
featured (left to right): Michael Gilmour
(ParkLogic.com), Ted Olson
(Afternic), Brad Lemire (Sedo), Jeff
Gabriel (DomainAdvisors),
moderator Howard Neu, investor Chris
Hartnett, John Ferber (Domain
Holdings), Ron
Jackson (DNJournal.com) and Steve
Cheatham (JuiceCow.com).
The
next session focused on the new gTLDs
that ICANN expects to begin approving in
the next year or so. As you would expect there
were varying degrees of enthusiam for the new
gTLD program and how they might impact the
current supremacy of .coms. Panelists
included .com proponent Michael Mann
(DomainMarket.com) and three executives with
financial interests in the new gTLD space, Monte
Cahn (RightOfTheDot.com), Michael Berkens
(RightOfTheDot.com) and Daniel Schindler (Donuts.co).
Michael
Berkens
(RightOfTheDot.com), at left, and Daniel
Schindler (Donuts.co)
were among the four panelists who offered their
vews on new gTLDs Monday morning.
Next,
in what proved to be one of the most popular
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. sessions in years, DNForum.com
owner Adam Dicker, in a solo interview
conducted by DomainSherpa.com's Michael Cyger,
provided invaluable advice on how to properly
select domains and build profitable niche and
authority websites using WordPress. Adam
gave out detailed tips that attendees could take
home and immediately put to revenue producing
work.
Adam
Dicker (right) giving his advice in a well
received interview
conducted by Michael Cyger (left) at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Monday.
The
business day continued with Declan
Dunn's highly anticipated Keynote
Address. Dunn, the author of Net Profits:
How to Win the Internet Game, is one of
the world's leading experts on afiliate
marketing and he opened a lot of eyes to new
ways domainers can increase traffic and make
more money.
Animated
keynote speaker Declan Dunn gave domain
owners a new perspective
on the best current ways to increase site
traffic and monetize visitors.
At 3pm
it was time for T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s live domain
auction. In recent years, results from live
auctions have been underwhelming at all
conferences. Unfortunately, sales at this
one (approximately $100,000) did not
reach the level T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founder Rick
Schwartz had hoped for after revamping
the name selection process in an effort to
reverse the downward trend in live auction
sales.
A
scene from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s live domain
auction Monday afternoon (Oct. 8).
The
first day of business closed with
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s always popular Speed
Networking session. The oportunity to meet
one on one with dozens of other industry
professionals at a single event has paid huge
dividends to many participants over the years,
making it one of the show's most consistently
popular sessions.
A
scene from T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012's Speed
Networking session Monday.
With
the day's work done, it was time to party and
the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party is
always top notch. This year's party in the
revolving rooftop restaurant at Fort
Lauderdale Beach's Pier 66, sponsored by
Michael Mann's DomainMarket.com,
was no exception. DomainMarket executives Chad
Bennett and Sonia Martinez Doubet
joined Michael and his fiancée,
Tiffany, in welcoming guests to the big
event.
Michael
Mann and his fiancée,
Tiffany Reynolds, welcomed guests
to the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party at Pier
66 Monday night.
Elvis
was in the building! In a major party
highlight, a world class Elvis Presley
impersonator appeared just before midnght
and wowed the crowd. Bob & Trudie
Olea (center) were obviously thrilled
to get an up close and personal view of their
idol.
Elvis
inspired others to swivel their hips
including a domain industry duo that
looked good enough to compete on Dancing
With the Stars. Two of our
favorite CEOs (and genuinely nice people)
NameMedia's Kelly Conlin and Oversee.net's
Debra Domeyer, joined forces to bring
the house down. I just wonder if it is
really fair for two people to be
able to do so many things well. If
you are going to be exceptionally smart
and an inspirational leader that is
fine, but do you have to be a great dancer
too? That's just rubbing it in!
The Party was
a great way to cap a highly productive and
entertaining opening day at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
As I write this Tuesday sessions are still
underway. I'll have photos and highlights
of those for you in tomorrow's post. I do
want to pass along results from the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Awards brunch that was held this
morning (with more photos of that to come
Tuesday). The winners were:
NameMedia
CEO Kelly Conlin and Oversee.net
CEO Debra
Domeyer delighted the crowd by hitting
the dance floor at
the official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Party Monday
night. (Photo courtesy
of Barbara Neu, as is the Elvis photo
above and the Frank
Schilling shot below)
Best New
Monetizing Solution - Domain
Power.com
Best Overall
Domain Solution
- Sedo
Best Domain
Blog:
DomainSherpa.com
We Get It
Award: Sales
Force
Broker of the
Year:
Dave Evanson (Sedo)
Developer of
the Year:
Alan Dunn (DomainHoldings)
Sponsor of the
Year:
Escrow.com
1st Annual Bandit Berkens Goodwill
Ambassador Award - Judi
and Michael Berkens (Judi
gave an emotional acceptance speech that
had everyone tearing up)
Domain Hall of
Fame (TWO new members are added each
year):
Michael Mann and Chad Folkening
Domainer of
the Year: Frank
Schilling (his
third win in this category)
Frank
Schilling (center) receiving his third
Domainer of the Year Award from
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu Tuesday
morning (Oct. 9)
In
addition to receiving his thrd Domainer of
the Year Award Tuesday morning, Frank
Schilling unveiled a truly remarkable new
mobile sales platform (now
available for iPhone only through Apple's
App Store). You do not have to
park your domains with Schilling's InternetTraffic.com
to use the company's revolutonary new DomainNameSales.com
platform. It is open to everyone.
You can see a video with more details here.
Opening
Day Photos & Highlights from T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 Sunday in Fort Lauderdale Beach,
Florida
After
two daysof
pre-show networking,
the 2012 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference
officially got underway Sunday (Oct. 7) at the Ritz
Carlton Hotel on Florida's Fort
Lauderdale Beach. The registration desk
opened at 12 noon and by mid-afternoon cabana
row and the pool deck was taken over by domain
investors.
Many
of the more than 300 domain investors from
around the world in Fort Lauderdale
for
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 converged on the
pool deck at the Ritz Carlton Sunday
afternoon (Oct. 7).
At
6pm the show's first official event, the welcoming
cocktail party got underway in the Ritz's
4th floor concourse overlooking the Atlantic
Ocean.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012
attendees enjoying the opening night cocktail
party Sunday evening.
Veteran
domain investor Roy Messer (left) and
investor/developer
Braden Pollock at the opening night party.
The
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. party ran until 8pm but the
evening was just getting started as
several invitational corporate events at nearby
beachfront locations got underway soon after the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. party wound down. DomainSponsor
had a private dinner for some of their clients, NameJet
welcomed guests to a party at the Casablanca
Cafe and Afternic had a well attended
soiree at the Exit 66 night club.
A
scene from NameJet's Sunday night party
at the Casablanca Cafe.
Afternic's
party helped the company publicize a
series of new developments at the popular aftermarket
service, including a
partnership with Domain.com, a
completely revamped Afternic website and
hints of other major initiatives to
be announced before the end of the
year.
The
Domain.com deal was part of an
exclusive partnership with Endurance
International Group, a top
ICANN-accredited registrar and provider of
web hosting and online services to small
and medium-sized business, that was
officially announced today. Endurance will
join the Afternic reseller
network, incorporating Afternic’s
massive inventory of fast
transfer-enabled domains on
several Endurance brands including
Domain.com.
Afternic COO Jason
Miner, who was on hand to welcome
guests Sunday night, said
“Endurance International Group is one of
the top three largest registrars in
the world and we’re thrilled to have
them join Afternic. Our mission is to connect
sellers of premium domains with
buyers anywhere in the world."
Frank
Schilling of DomainNameSales
(center) and
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder Rick
Schwartz (right) were
welcomed by NameMedia VP Bob
Mountain when they arrived
at Afternic's party at the Exit
66 night club Sunday night.
A
scene from the Afternic party at
the Exit 66 night club
Sunday night on Fort Launderdale Beach.
The
top executives from Afternic and parent
company, NameMedia, including one
of the best CEOs in any business, Kelly
Conlin, were on hand to chat with
their guests. Kelly told me that the
company's recent upgrades are also being
accompanied by streamlined branding as
Afternic across their sales and
monetization offerings (the AfternicDLS
name will be retired).
Once
the Afternic party wound down well past
midnight, the hardiest night owls made
their way to PPX International
Charman Gregg McNair's suite at the
Ritz where things were still going strong
when we left at 1:30 Monday morning.
Gregg's traditional late night gatherings
insure that sleep is the one thing
that is in short supply at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
NameMedia
CEO with T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder Howard
Neu at the Afternic party Sunday night
at Exit 66.
Rick
Schwartz (right) and Howard Neu welcoming
attendees to T.R.A.F.F.I.C.2012
Monday morning (Oct. 8).
As I write
this, the first full day of business is
underway after show co-founders Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu
officially kicked things off with their
welcoming comments this morning (Oct. 8)
at 9:30. Today's agenda includes four
business sessions (one a 10am Meeting
of the Chiefs: Health of the Industry
panel discussion that I will be part
of).
The day will
close with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s live domain
auction followed by a speed
networking session. The official
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. party, sponsored by Michael
Mann's DomainMarket.com,
will be held tonight. I'll have photos and
highlights from all of the Monday activity
for you in tomorrow's Lowdown post.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Pre-Show Photos & Highlights from Fort
Lauderdale Beach Saturday - Show Opens This
Evening
The
2012 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conferenceopens
this evening (Sunday, Oct. 7) with a 6pm
welcoming cocktail party at the oceanfront Ritz
Carlton Hotel on Florida's Fort
Lauderdale Beach. Many people arrived early
for two days of pre-show cabana networking and
social activities Friday and Saturday (see the Friday
highlights here). The fun
continued Saturday under gorgeous blue
skies.
The
Ritz Carlton Hotel - Fort Lauderdale Beach -
Site of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012
I
snapped the photo of the show venue above early
Saturday morning from the beach in front of the
hotel. You can see it was a postcard perfect
day. Saturday's activities were centered around
the 7th floor pool deck and cabana row
that sit atop the lower section of the hotel.
The
view from cabana row at the Ritz - taken
Saturday mornng
shortly before show sponsors arrived at their
cabanas to welcome guests.
Later
Saturday morning Diana Jackson stopped by
the Above.com cabana
to chat with Above.com's Director
of Domain Services Victor Pitts.
On
the pool deck, Ray Neu (left) and two
beautiful "T.R.A.F.F.I.C. cops" were
on hand
to welcome guests with a glass of
champagne or a mimosa and fresh fruit.
Skenzo's Vishal Manjalani (at right) was one
of the first to arrive.
Diana
and I spent the day on the beach, by the Ritz
pool and visiting friends on the deck and in the
cabanas with the pre-show crowd steadily growing
each hour as guests arrived from around the
world. By the time the show officially opens
this evening, more than 300 attendees
will be on hand. Most will stay until the
conference ends its run with a farewell
breakfast Wednesday morning (Oct. 10).
The
Ritz is ideally located with dozens of shops,
bars and restaurants just steps away on Fort
Lauderdale Beach Boulevard. Saturday is
college football day in America, so several Florida
Gators fans spent a few late afternoon hours
in local sports bars watching the Gators beat Louisiana
State 14-6 in a battle of two teams ranked
in the nation's to 10.
Some
of the more adventurous guests spent the
afternoon on a deep sea fishing trip -
the first ever for several visitors.
DomainInvest.lu's
Freddy Schiwek relaxes with a
mimosa after his long flight from Europe
to South Florida.
Saturday
was a perfect day for deep sea fishing
and these T.R.A.F.F.I.C. attendees
took full advantage of the friendly weather to
spend a great day at sea.
(Photo courtesy of Steven Kaziyev).
CityMediaGuide.com's
Steven Kaziyez (right) with one
of the fishing guides on Saturday's deep
sea expedition
After
their trip the fishermen and women
returned to the Ritz with tales of the one
that got away (as well as several bags of
those that didn't)! With limited storage
options at the hotel, much of the catch,
after being cleaned and fileted by crew
members, went to T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder
Howard Neu's freezer, so locals might
want an eye out for an invitation to a big
fish fry after the show.
Saturday
evening was open to explore Fort
Lauderdale and many did just that, with
small groups heading off in every
direction to sample the area's waterfront
restaurants and clubs. With most within
easy walking distance, it was a breeze to
hit multiple locations. Stops included Whiskey
Blue and Lulu's among others.
A
group of early T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 arrivers
that made at stop at Lulu's Saturday
night
included Bob Olea (at center hugging hiw
wife Trudie). Bob, who is a commercial
airline
pilot, was profiled in our July
2012 Cover Story. (Photo courtesy of
Steven Kaziyev).
The
crowd at the Ritz will be growing throughout the
day today when most attendees will be getting
into town. The cabanas and pool deck will be
open all day with the show regstration desk
opening at noon. The first full day of business
gets underway Monday morning at 9:30
with opening comments from conference founders
Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu. I'll
have photos and highlights from Sunday
activities including tonight's welcoming
cocktail party for you in my next post tomorrow
from Fort Lauderdale Beach tomorrow.
First
Photos and Highlights from the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012 Conference in Fort Lauderdale Beach,
Florida
The
2012 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference doesn't
officially open until tomorrow evening (Sunday,
Oct. 7) when the kickoff cocktail party will
welcome over 300 domain investors from around
the world to Fort Lauderdale, Beach,Florida
where the show is being staged at the oceanfront
Ritz Carlton Hotel. However, several
dozen early birds were already at the show venue
Friday for the first of two days of pre-show
cabana networking.
Two
of the first people Diana and I saw when we
arrived a little after 4pm were newlyweds Daina
and Morgan
Linton. They have a lot of exciting
things going on including a groundbreaking new
startup at
Daina
and MorganLinton with Diana Jackson at
the Ritz
Carlton on Fort Lauderdale Beach for
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012
FashionMetric.com
that is drawing investment attention from some very
heavy hitters (you will hear more about that in
the near future).
If
you were at last
year's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference at
Fort Lauderdale Beach, you will recall that a
freak once in a lifetime rainstorm pounded the
show venue through its run. The weaher Friday
was beautiful and this time around the
forecast calls for more of the same throughout
the week. The welcome return to Florida's normal
weather pattern at this time of year will give
show goers a chance to really appreciate the spectacular
oceanfront setting.
Friday's
ocean view from the 7th foor pool deck at the
Ritz Carlton Hotel on Fort
Lauderdale
Beach where the 2012 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference will run through next Wednesday (Oct.
10).
Another early
arriver was DNForum.com
ownerAdam
Dicker (who was inducted into
the T.R.A.F.F.I.C Domain Hall of Fame
last year). In a very gracious gesture
Adam invited about two dozen people who
got into town Friday to dinner at Shula's
On the Beach last night a spot that is
part of the highly regarded chain of
steakhouses started by legendary Miami
Dolphins head coach Don Shula).
It's a good thing Don wasn't there to see
the surprise gift Barbara Neu had
for Adam - a necktie representing the
rival Dallas Cowboys, who happen to
be Adam's favorite team.
It made for a
especially memorable first night in Fort
Lauderdale surrounded by domain industry
friends, great food and even better
people.
DNForum.com
owner & Dallas Cowboys fan Adam
Dicker
gets a surprise gift from Barbara Neu
- a Cowboys necktie!
Above:
Adam Dicker (at front left) chatting with
Rick & Alina Schwartz at Shulas On
the
Beach Friday night. Adam took two tables
full of domain investors to the popular
restaurant.
Below:
At our table (left to right) Howard Neu, Judi
Berkens,
Michael Berkens and Barbara Neu, as
always, made things interesting!
After
dinner, as people were starting to head out,
Barbara said "Wait a minute, let's get a
group picture in front of the bar." I
told here that trying to get domain investors to
all go in the same direction at one is like herding
cats - but she can be very persuasive
and sure enough, within seconds, everyone
was in place for the photo below snapped
by a member of Shula's fine staff.
Can
you tell these people are happy to be on
Fort Lauderdale Beach for T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012?
Many
more people will be arriving at the Ritz today,
a day that will be filled with more casual
networking around the cabanas and spacious pool
deck. There will also be an afternoon deep
sea fishing trip and those who signed up for
that are eagerly anticipating their ocean
adventure. I didn't see anywhere in our room to
put a fish if we caught one so we are going to
hang out at the pool, cabanas and on the beach
in what is shaping up to be another beautiful
day in paradise. I'll have photos and
highliights from today's activity in a post for
you Sunday morning.
People,
Companies & Events in the News: T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
2012, Phil Corwin, Verisign, David Castello
& BREE
Several
bases to touch today.In
48 hours we will be on our way to Florida's
Fort Lauderdale Beach for the 2012
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference that will
be held at the oceanfront Ritz Carlton
Hotel. There will be two days of pre-show
cabana networking at the Ritz Friday &
Saturday (October 5 & 6), followed by
the conference that runs Sunday evening
(October 7) through Wednesday morning
(October 10).
The
final show
schedule has been posted at
the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. website. If you keep
up with industry news, you have already
heard about a lot of the show's
highlights like the live
domain auction, keynote
speaker, T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Awards, etc. There is one
conference event that
People
from all over the world will be at the 2012
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference. Above Norway's
Truc
Tran and Braden Pollock of Los
Angeles enjoy the
Farewell Breakfast at last year's show
in Florida.
hasn't
gotten the attention it deserves - one
that happens to be one of my favorites. It
is the only thing on the closing day
schedule, Wednesday, Oct. 10 - the Farewell
Breakfast. Business has all been done
and people are usually ebullient over a
productive week spent with so many
like-minded people in a world class
location.
That
makes for a very upbeat and enjoyable
atmosphere where you can go from table
to table and say your final goodbyes to
friends new and old. The only downside is
you will hate having to say goodbye to so
many people who have become more than
business associates - people who have
become true friends. It's one of
the great things about our business. Very
few people in the world really understand
it, so those who do feel a special kinship
with each other.
I'll
have daily updates from
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 in this column
starting this weekend. I
hope to see many of you there and
for those who will be making the trip to
Florida I look forward to seeing you at
the beach.
Two
days after T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ends Phil
Corwin, the Legal Counsel
for the Internet
Commerce Association,
will be in Toronto to
speaking about intellectualproperty rights in new
gTLDsat a Policy
Conference for ICANN's
Non-Commercial Users
Constituency (NCUC). Phil
will be part of a panel
discussion scheduled to get
underway at 11:30am Friday,
Oct. 12 with new ICANN CEO Fadi
Chehadé set to address the
audience immediately after
lunch.
Phil's
panel will also include Bertrand
de la Chapelle representing
ICANN's Board of Directors, NCSG
Representative to GNSO Council Rafik
Dammak and dotGay's Avri
Doria.
Phil
Corwin
Verisign
has released their latest
quarterly Domain
Name Industry Brief
covering the 2nd quarter of
2012. The period ended with
with more than 240 million
domain names registered across all
Top Level Domains (TLDs). That
represents a 3.1% increase
from the previous quarter. This is
also the 6th consecutive quarter
that has seen registrations rise
by at least 2%. Registrations have
grown by 25.5 million,
an 11.9% jump, year
over year.
The .com and .net TLDs
administered by Verisign reached 118.5
million names combined at the
end of 2Q-2012 which marks a 7.8%
increase over the same quarter
in 2011.
The
number of Country Code
Top-Level Domains
(ccTLDs) registered at the
end of 2Q-2012 was 100.3
million, rising 5.7% from
the previous quarter and soaring
18.5% from the same
quarter a year
ago.
Ever
since David Castello
moved to Nashville
a little over a year ago
to manage the career of
upcoming rock star BREEand play drums in
her three-piece band, we
haven't seen as much of
the Castello
Cities Internet Network
co-founder as we would
like. However, the
musician/domain honcho
is still successfully
juggling CCIN business
(along with brother
Michael),
providing the backbeat
for Bree and staying in
touch.
As
busy as he is, it looks
like David's work with
BREE is about to add a lot
more to his plate.
Now that BREE has
written a treasure trove
of irresistible tunes
and the trio has several
great recordings in the
can, a big promotional
push for BREE is
getting underway. It
started Monday with the
release of an
attention-grabbing Electronic
Press Kit video
by veteran director Marcel
that you can see on YouTube
(Marcel also did BREE's
butt-kicking video
for "Whisky"that, as of this
writing, has over 372,000
views).
BREE
and David Castello
When
the inevitable tour takes place
David and BREE may be coming to
your city. In the meantime,
David's friends in the domain
business can look at David's
detour to Nashville (where CCIN
owns Nashville.com)
the way we do - we haven't
lost a friend, we've gained a
rock star. There is a lot of
upside there too. You just know
that when BREE and her band are
on the cover of The
Rolling Stone, David
will sneak in a plug for domain
names!
More
Advice on Choosing a Domain Broker (or
Becoming One) From the Guy Who Brokered the
Biggest Sale Ever Reported
Over
the weekendwe
published our latest Cover Story:
Domain Brokers: How to Choose One and What it Takes to Be a Successful One.
We invited all 13 of the brokers that were
nominated
for the 2012 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Broker of
the Year Award (that will be handed
out at the conference
coming up next week in Fort
Lauderdale Beach, Florida) to
comment for the story. With the busy
schedules and high priority obligations
that people have, I never expect a 100%
response rate to any interview request
and don't give it a second thought when
I don't hear back from everyone.
After our
story was published I learned that DomainAdvisors.com
President Jeff Gabriel, whom I
had invited to comment, never received
the email I sent
(an
increasingly common problem with today's
spam epidemic resulting in both email
clients and ISPs mistakenly flagging too
many legitimate messages as spam). As
the guy who brokered the most expensive
domain sale ever reported (Sex.com
at $13 million) I knew our
readers would love to hear what Jeff had
to say and was happy to have him send
along his comments so I can share them
with you.
Jeff
Gabriel
President, DomainAdvisors.com
The first
question I asked all of the brokers was what
attributes they think a domain
seller should look for in a broker to
have the best chance for success? On
that point Gabriel said, "Looking
for a broker who is trustworthy,
tenacious and receptive goes without
saying. What a seller might not think to
consider, is the brokerage behind the
individual and how they will work
together to maximize the seller’s
success. When a client hires
DomainAdvisors to sell a name they are
getting a brokerage as in a team
rather than an individual broker. We
work together frequently discussing
active opportunities, negotiation
strategies, brainstorming to generate
lists of potential buyers and
collaborating to formulate a plan for
success."
"Teamwork
is a powerful thing. Our team does not
end at DomainAdvisors. We include our
client as part of that team as
well," Gabriel added. "We do
our best to understand what the
expectations are of our clients then do
our best
to
meet and exceed their expectations. We
understand that the seller has stayed up
at night dreaming of the limitless
possibilities their asset could deliver
to the rightful owner, and we want to
hear about it. Those ideas can lead to
additional possibilities, and potential
new buyer pools."
"DomainAdvisors
brokerage has had much success working hand in
hand with others in the brokerage community. I
can proudly say that in just the last few months
we have worked directly with DomainNameSales,
BuyDomains, Moniker/SnapNames, Media
Options, Domain Holdings, Alan
Hack and Toby Clements to bring
several mutually beneficial opportunities to
fruition."
Jeff
Gabriel with some of his DomainAdvisors.com
teammates at the 2011 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference on Florida's
Ft. Lauderdale Beach. (Left to right) Gregg
McNair, Amanda Waltz, Jeff Gabriel and Tessa
Holcomb. (Photo courtesy of Barbara Neu)
Domain
sellers often think all they need to do is list
their names with a broker, but Gabriel said you
can greatly improve your chances of making a
sale by going a step or two further. "The
more information a seller can provide for
us the better," Gabriel said.
"Any information about the name, the
industries it falls into increases our chances
of selling their domain and meeting their
expectations. The seller also needs to set
their expectations ahead of time. What are
their expectations of a broker? How involved do
they want to be in the process? How often do
they want updates?"
As
illustrated in our Cover
Story, there are a lot of
good brokers out there, so I asked each
what attributes they thought set
them apart in a very completive
field. Gabriel said, "Anyone can
make cold calls, send email blasts, and
write postings on social media. The
question is, “How effective are
they?” What kind of message will
that broker provide to a potential
buyer? Do
they
have the know how to navigate past
gatekeepers, all the way up to the
board room? Most importantly, can they create
value? Do they follow up? Are they
afraid of hearing no 99 times in order to
get that yes on the 100th call? I can
confidently say our brokerage team
consistently demonstrates these attributes
in a positive fashion and is eager to take
on any new challenge. It’s these
qualities that have earned DomainAdvisors
the opportunity to work on some of the
world’s most premium domain names
including Music.com, Quote.com,
Pay.com, Stocks.com, Yoga.com,
Dragon.com and more."
We
had one last question. With strong demand for
brokerage services, more people are interested
in becoming brokers themselves. What
skills and/or qualifications do you think a
person needs to succeed in the brokerage
business today? Gabriel replied, "I think
one of the greatest things about our business is
that domain brokerage isn’t hindered by the regulations
surrounding similar careers including commercial
real estate brokerage or lending. This allows
us, as domain brokers, to practice anywhere
in world, and contact buyers in any
jurisdiction. On the flip side, the lack
of regulation can result in, short cuts,
questionable business practices and unfavorable
results meaning my guard always has to be up
and we have to take extra steps to ensure that
every “T” is crossed an “I” is dotted.
Someone who isn’t afraid to admit when
they’ve made a mistake, is open to learning
new strategies, can take rejection and
criticism, and most importantly, upholds the
highest of ethics, has the recipe for success
in domain brokerage as a career."
Gabriel
closed with a relevant quote from Mark Twain
- "If you tell the truth you don't have to
remember anything."
If
you missed our Cover Story, you can hear how
nine other leading brokers answered these
questions here.
Nominet
May Offer .UK Domains That Cost 800% More Than .CO.UK
- Says It's Not About the Money
When
you think of British domain namesyou
think of .co.uk, a widely used,
globally recognized extension that
enjoys high registration rates (more
than 10 million have been
registered) and commands very
respectable prices on the domain
aftermarket. Nominet,
the
governing body for the .UK ccTLD,
has used .UK efficiently and effectively
in the past by sub-dividing it into
second level domains .co.uk, .net.uk,
.org.uk and several others (with
consumers then registering third level
names like internet.co.uk).
Apparently not a believer in the old
axiom, "if it's not broke, don't
fix it," Nominet is now
considering opening up second level
registrations (such as internet.uk)
under a program they are calling
direct.uk.
Naturally,
such a development would immediately devalue
the millions of .co.uk domains held by
British businesses and individuals who would
need to try to acquire the .uk version to
protect their online identities. Unfortunately
the Nominet proposal
(.pdf file) provides no grandfather clause
to protect those registrants - and, oh yes, even
if they were successful in getting the .uk
version of their .co.uk domain, they would have
to pay 800% more annually for the UK
version (about £20 for the .uk compared
to around £2.50 for the tried and true .co.uk).
Nominet's
Director of Operations, Eleanor
Bradley, told the BBC
the idea was "not a money making
exercise" (perhaps the 800%
rate hike just makes it look that way).
Bradley said, "any additional
earnings derived would be passed onto an
independent trust to invest in improving
internet access and
security."
Despite
the high cost and necessity
for so many to buy the .uk version of
their names, the word "any"
would seem to incredulously infer that
there may not be any additional
earnings from what the BBC described as
"The scheme" in the
first two words of their article about
the proposal.
Now
the word "Scheme" may not have the
pejorative connotation in the Queen's English
that it is does in America's admittedly
adulterated version but it's not a compliment
on this side of the pond where the dictionary
defines scheme as "a plan for achieving something, especially something illegal or dishonest."
I am certainly not saying it is either of those
but I do question the wisdom and fairness
of the idea.
If
you are so disposed, you can question it too
as Nominet has opened a public comment
("consultation") period on the
proposal that is open until January 7, 2013.
You can respond to the consultation either by
completing an online
form, by downloading
the consultation and emailing your
comments to [email protected]
or by requesting a hard copy of the
consultation from [email protected].
You
can also view a video of Ms. Bradley
explaining more about the proposal here.
It is Nominet's position that
offering .UK would come with several security
benefits including verification to
check a registrant has a UK address,
daily monitoring for malicious
software
and
viruses, and a digital signature which
minimizes the risks of a domain name
being hijacked. These measures would be
supported by a trustmark to give
consumers a clear sign that it was a
verified domain name. Nominet said the
features would be expected to "help
guard against cybercrime...and play an
important part in creating a trusted
space for businesses and consumers."
I'm
sure they will get an earful on the proposal
over the next three months. I just hope their
consultation doesn't follow the model we have
seen so often in ICANN public commentary
exercises where the public comes out
overwhelmingly opposed to something, only
to have ICANN go ahead and implementit
anyhow. That will quickly earn you an F
in Credibility 101.
If
you've been out of the loop lately, catch up in the Lowdown
Archive!
We need your help to keep giving domainers The
Lowdown, so please email [email protected]with any interesting information you might have. If possible,
include the source of your information so we can check it out (for
example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
elsewhere).
