A Biker's Domain

Got a kick out of seeing this article on www.domainingblog.com with the title "Cards.biz Sells for $11,750 to Make it the Highest Reported Dot Biz Sale of the Year-To-Date". It's just another domain that I sold to a friend cheap to send funds to the ex-wife. I've sold so many on the low down like this one just to see them resold at 20 times the price and then end up on Ron's www.DNjournal.com top sales charts. By the way, Ron had once told me that he wouldn't be in the business if I hadn't bot the first 20 domain names he had for sale. I'm glad I did too, as he's one of the stars in the industry now. Actually, if it wasn't for my ex-wife, I wouldn't have the title of the biggest seller of alternative extension domains (.info, .biz, .us, .ws etc) in the market. I guess that's something huh? But you can't eat the crown.

There will be a story in the November issue of Business 2.0 (out on the 28th) titled "Master$ Of Their Domain$" and the slug line "Forget condos and strip malls. Domain names, the real estate of the Web, have been delivering far greater returns. How some of the savviest speculators on the Net are making millions from their URL portfolios."

Should make interesting reading. Ron from our industry trade publication "DNjournal.com" had this to say about the upcoming article "I think it will draw a tremendous amount of attention from investors because it talks about this previously unknown industry where tens of millions of dollars are changing hands every year. The writer (Paul Sloan) details how the whole PPC system works (complete with a diagram) that makes it very easy for non-domainers to grasp. A lot of mainstream business people will be slapping their foreheads when this comes out, going "how did we miss this!"

I think we haven't seen much in the way of covergae of this industry from the main investment publications for a couple of reasons. First, the domainers make their living thru advertising that might otherwise go to those same publications, so why would they want to draw attention to a competitor? Second, the investment industry has yet to slap these new types of investment into packages that they can then resell to the general investing public thru a hedgefund or some other traditional vehicle. With public companies now spending hundreds of $millions on domain portfolios and the introduction of venture capital firms, this could all change very quickly.

Axel F. "Biker Frog"

I picked up a few domains focused on the BIG time trend towards using videos in websites and blogs. With more and more people having high speed access, combined with the success of devices like the Ipod or cellphones (with the ability to download and play short clips) it's a move that can't be ignored. Axel (above on the top left) became a quick star over in the UK and headed over to the US back in September. Watch the video HERE for a kick. Too close to a cartoon clip of a biker being chased by the "man" for me to not have to smile. Think you will too. I see that some top blogs that incorporate video from news tv do very well, such as www.CrooksandLiars.com that gets 200,000 views each day. I've also seen a few of my parked names picking up traffic, such as www.SkaterVideos.com We'll see if I can move in quick enough to take advantage of this stuff. Could be fun too.

There was discussion today on the forums about LaPorte Holdings (NameKing) letting a large number of typo versions of trademarked domains expire and drop. Several Domainers that do this kind-of typosquatting were talking about being "amazed" that the company would let these "valuable" names go, and their scramble to bid at the auctions on them. The company was hit by a court order to pay out 6 $figures in a TM settlement, and a post said that a notice was put out by Enom that the registrar arm of LaPorte would not be acting as a drop catcher for "Club Drop" anymore. Appears that domainers that had names with them are also having problems getting access to transfer.

Actually I'm glad to see some of these slimeballs get hit with these court actions. Typosquatters give the rest of us honest Domainers a bad name. I've posted my feelings about this in the forum threads involving the squatters and even added a suggestion to the advisory board (I'm a member) that a seperate forum be created for those dealing in this type of stuff, and that a notice be attached that the majority of the Domainers on the main forum do NOT condone typosquatting. In the past I've been absolutely hammered by the typo crowd (mostly foreigners) who don't like me calling it for what it is. Outright theft.

It also amazes me that the registrars, drop catchers and auction houses that trade in these Trademarked names are allowed to continue and profit. How is it that a Domainer that pays Snapnames, Pool, or Enom large amounts of money ($thousands) per trademark typo name can get hit by a court action and fined, when the service that sold him the name goes unscathed? These companies know they are basically selling the means (tools) by which these thiefs operate to steal from the real trademark owner.

.ES
Spain's Domain

Well, I'm having a bit of fun watching the ruckus as the registry for the .ES country code top level domain (ccTLD) opens up the extension for anyone to reg. As expected, the landrush is frustrating the heck out of the participants (I'm not in yet) even though us old hands warned them about all the pitfalls. You know it's got to be rigged every way but Friday. I'm sure Bribes are common, and fraud of course just like in the .info rollouts. Heck, I'd be interested in participating if I felt the thing wasn't "fixed". I see some of the guys reporting that their credit cards have been hit for big bucks for "pre-reg" fees way over and above what they had ok'd. Reminds me of the $thousands I lost to unscrupulous registrars (mostly foreign) in the previous extension landrushes. Some registrars are probably just taking large $fees and probably won't bother to even submit 1 name. Happened in the .info release. Well, I'm going to submit for only 2 names tomorrow directly thru the registry just to see what happens. Best check their time difference. Bets that I won't get the names? Will let you know.

I see the GoDaddy products discount code "David" pop up on threads all over the various forums now. I know where it first came from and what inspired it. So I thought I'd post a little contest on Adam's www.DNforum.com and RJ's www.NamePros.com just to see if anybody else has a clue or even cares for that matter. I offered a reward in the currency of each forum to the first poster with the right answer. I doub't they could even call GoDaddy and find out the right answer. If they don't get it pretty soon, I'm gonna reveal the answer in this here blog. Not that it's really a big deal, but sometimes NOT getting the final answer drives some of us domainers even crazier than we already are.

Edited to add: The answer was that the "David" code came from the first GoDaddy radio show, and was inspired by the host "David Lawrence". Heck, if you were to listen to the archives of that first show, you'd even get to hear my voice asking GoDaddy's CEO Bob Parsons some pointed questions.

It's all foreign to me. Here I am posting to my "Blogger" blog and yet, this week (on the sly), I checked out their competitor "Movable Type" (MT). I was motivated by the Cartel's interest in a blog model for our Locations niche as well as for the possible use in my Bankruptcy case studies for the suits.

Why not just stay with "Blogger" you say? Well, I was concerned with not having the use of what they call trackbacks on rss feeds. You see, those trackback things are rumored to aid in search engine optimization by placing a link on the site where an article originates. Well, things didn't go too smooth. Heck, I came out of pocket again just to try to make setting things up as easy as possible. Nothing doin. I even went thru a partner of MT for hosting, that supposedly provided experience and the install of the commercial setup. What I wanted (naive) was to pay my fees for the hosting and install and be ready to start posting away with research/content I'd amassed. What I got instead was what looked like some kind of challenge game for coders. I wasn't ready to give up on it even after 3 days (and nights) straight of just trying to get a template working. With the lack of sleep, I was starting to get a bit ticked. Even with years of experience with website addresses and the like, I can definately admit I'm still "Lo Tech". Heck, I even turned it over to Weenie and she messed with it the last night, only to leave me a note in the morning saying she could only get some basics done. That's it, I give up. I'll be calling the host tomorrow and telling them if they still want me as a long term client, they will need to set the prog up and install ALL of the plugins or whatever they call them. Then I'll just remove what I don't want and go from there. Seems to me that all these things should be "drag and drop" wysiwyg and people like me should never ever see (let alone need to learn) a single piece of code. Well, I'm back to my "Blogger" and who knows, maybe they'll implement the trackback thing at some point and I'll be happy.

Back in black
I hit the sack
I've been too long I'm glad to be back
Yes, I'm let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging about
I've been looking at the sky
'Cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cat's eyes
Abusin' every one of them and running wild

CHORUS:
'Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black

Back in the back
Of a Cadillac
Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack
I'm in a bang
With a gang
They've got to catch me if they want me to hang
Cause I'm back on the track
And I'm beatin' the flack
Nobody's gonna get me on another rap
So look at me now
I'm just makin' my play
Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way
CHORUS

One of my compadres (Costa) over at http://www.USforum.us is working on a new business model and hoping to help make a name out of the .us extension. He plans on a social networking / community for bands/artists/users, close to myspace.com but on a more professional and ecommerce driven note. He already has put together 6 million pages of content and the site will launch in December 2005, planning to be the most visited .us site to date. Already, music.us gets 3 million page views a month and this is growing WITHOUT memberships. I was pleasantly surprised to also see that Google shows at least 10,400 backlinks already for the site and it’s not even done. Nice looking site too, check it out! http://www.music.us/ “Costa” is Contantinos Roussos of Los Angeles. Now with the success of that site following the great http://del.icio.us/ it has to speak well for the potential success of a Cartel partner’s (Mr. Blonde) upcoming site Business.us and who knows, could even inspire me to lofty levels with Bikers.us.

“Fans' rant sites rankle as many as they amuse”

Found a story today (by Terry Hutchens of IndyStar.com) talking about a company that has set up a site selling domains that call for the dismissal of several college football coaches. At redshirted.com, Nebraska followers can buy the FireBillCallahan.com domain for $250, while a similar url for Iowa's Kirk Ferentz is running $150. For $100 you could have addresses for Virginia's Al Groh, Washington State's Bill Doba or Kansas' Mark Mangino. The hatchet already has fallen on former Indiana coach Gerry DiNardo, but you still may purchase that domain for $100. Or, for the bargain basement price of $50, you could own FireTerryHoeppner.com.

This is not an entirely new idea, Google any current coach, and odds are you'll come across ones just like http://www.firetiller.com/ -- where disgruntled Purdue fans go to bash Joe Tiller. There are also numerous domains for sites named YankeesSuck.com or RepublicansSuck.com etc. but I found the idea unique in that these “fire” domains actually call for an action. A step up perhaps or would a step down be more descriptive of the trend? Those that don’t agree with the suggested firings, tend to get pretty upset about these sites, but Former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie said he doesn't understand the fuss. "If you're in this profession and you let something like that bother you, you're too thin-skinned,'' Davie said. "I look at it more of being an entertainment thing and almost like a tongue-in-cheek thing sometimes.'' Supporters of the current coaches are now taking steps to buy these names as a defensive move (similar to the corporations). Firejimtressel.com was founded in support of the Ohio State coach. Open the site, and it reads, "Fire Jim Tressel? Are you NUTS? This domain is parked to keep it out of the hands of folks who shouldn't be trusted with kitchen utensils, let alone Web sites."

The names come with the one-time purchase fee and only cost around $10 per year to maintain. Cheaper than getting a megaphone for the game and more likely you’ll actually be heard too.

It's come to my attention that a group of People/Companies holding some of the best (and most valuable) .info domains have NOT had to pay a renewal fee for years, and the registry says "may not have to pay for 5 or more years into the future". Plenty of them out there just like Mortgages.infoThese tier 1 infos were taken with false sunrise claims back in the landrush, are known as fraudulent by the registry, and are continually renewed for free. The crooks continue to have the full use of them to display whatever.When questioned about the theft, some of these people readily admit to the action. When the registry (Afilias) is questioned about it, and about their inaction over the years in the face of it, they respond that they "don't handle registrant issues, as they only work for the registrars". In fact the only phone lines provided to the registry "are provided only for the use of the registrars". Registrars holding the registrations do NOT respond to emails. Nor does ICANNt for that matter. Who is it that represents the registrants (domainers) in this industry we fund again?