My spanish is not great so can anyone help?

At snapnames, there is an auction for calculohipotecario.com starting May 6th 

Translated a few times using online tools - it shows to be mortgagecalculator.com in spanish - Am I right ….

We do not buy spanish names but for those of you who do - this is a great name (if the translation is correct).

Like most domainers, I get a rush when bidding at auctions however are drops always worth more?

I tend to think many great deals get scooped up by the few smart domainers who understand what a good domain is and how to look beyond simply what is hot for today. Whether or not a domain has dropped or expired is only one element in a names value.

Take for example the domain - LowMortgageQuotes.net

This domain is at auction on SnapNames right now and ends tomorrow. Reserve price is $99.

If this name was at NameJet it would probably have a dozen bids and be somewhere around $5-600 at the end of the day if not more. It’s not a great name but it is a worthy enough name to bid on at this price.

(as I post this there are NO bidders on the name)

Traffic is one thing but you have to wonder at price points this low why people don’t scoop them up. I honestly think NameJet is making everybody lazy. Let’s just look at the domains with bids on them - saves everybody time. Maybe it does, but it also helps you miss the great deals.

Funny world and a funny industry - but the smart will survive.

A great website was just launched by Randy Charach  - visit  synergydomainclub.com.

Great place to see faces, interact, blog and more. Well done.

About a year ago I looked up the first domain we ever sold. Strangely enough there were ads on the site … who would have thunk …. 

What I found interesting was this name (which was hand registered by me in 1998 and sold in 2000) had a WHOIS record showing the domain was created in 2002.

Funny, I sold this name a couple years before it was officially created. 

Using the domain history tool at DomainTools it was easy to find the creation date of 1998 but this is our business so we know how to find information. End users and buyers sometimes take the WHOIS information for face value and try to negotiate for a better price since the name is not that old. A good domain can be a day old or 10 years old - it really doesn’t matter. If mortgage.com was registered yesterday we (and most of you) would still pay a suitcase full of cash for that name today.

If you have development plans then its wiser to spend time researching how a domain fits in your overall business plan than focus on minor details such as age.

A good domain is a good domain.

What is new becomes old.

It’s as simple as that.

At some point every business owner (not just domainers) look to sell or “exit” the business. In this industry it seems many people are building and building portfolios so someday they will “exit” by selling the entire portfolio to a buyer.

Is this really a valid exit strategy?

It certainly sounds great but it’s also the elusive dream for many domain owners as portfolio buyers are few and far between – at least those that want to pay a fair price.

Keep your head out of the clouds (visit every now and then) and spend time developing a real exit strategy – one which is deeper than simply finding the right buyer. Remember, if you can’t find someone to pay $100,000 for your portfolio today what makes you think you have a better chance of selling a bigger portfolio for $2,000,000 (using the same logic) down the road. Sure, it’s possible but money gets harder to find the higher you go.

Develop an exit plan that contains multiple exit points. Build a smaller portfolio with some great names, have some developed sites, create a brand within a specific sector. So many options but each one will be an exit point in your overall exit plan.

All kinds of exit strategies exist but the question is – do you have one?

Acronyms. I love them and hate them but when it comes to finding a website it sure would be nice for owners to spend the extra 6 bucks and register the domain in its full format.

Go ahead and brand the funky little acronym, spend thousands on television ads, cute letterhead and glossy business cards but for the love of (insert your higher power here) please spend an additional $6 to register the long version. You can even forward it to the short version – it’s not rocket science..

Yes, Denny – this is for you

We have a long hit list of domains constantly watched for price deals, development signs, ownership change etc. One we had on our list was celebritygossip.net (no idea what happened and why we did not purchase the name since the price was extremely fair - win some, lose some) however today we realized this name was a little goldmine.

According to compete – celebrity-gossip.net (yes, the hyphen version in .net) receives over 250,000 visitors a month. Further research shows it’s on the first page of results in Google for the term “gossip”.

So, the owners of a hyphen domain name (a .net) have done a great development job to realize a bucket load of organic traffic yet they made a big mistake and never purchased the non-hyphenated version. Celebritygossip.net is a true generic name so the new owner will benefit from a lot of traffic driven by one company’s misfortune.

What does this tell you?

• With the right development even hyphen names can get you a lot of traffic (not just .com)
• If you own a hyphen name do a quick search today (not tomorrow) and see if the non-hyphen version is available.

As for those who acquire domains, don’t forget to check and see if the hyphen version is currently in use. You may be pleasantly surprised.

You have to love this business. Where else can you make money in your underwear? It doesn’t matter what you wear to work because a computer is your connection to the world – not a physical office.

Warning: It’s a scary vision to imagine all domainers in their underwear so I will assume you all look like Kate Beckinsale for the moment.

Many of us are lucky enough to earn a living in this business so when dealing with other companies (raising investment capital, offering services, negotiating a deal, applying for a loan, etc..) how many of you use the royal “we” – the one meaning your company. ”We” certainly sounds better and helps portray your company as a real business rather than a one man show. However when can using the word “we’ become a bad thing?

Most small business (one man shows) will use “we” every time they connect with a bank, apply for credit or talk to a potential customer  - such as ”we” can provide this or “we” are doing that.  All is fair in using the word “we” but at some point you must revert back to “I”.

If you have built a truly successful business and looking to raise investment capital it’s important to lay all your cards on the table. In this case it means coming full circle back to “I”. After all, it’s your success, your hard work and your company - No “we” involved. Investors should be convinced to invest in you and not some fictional “we” that will only lead to confusion.

Mark my words - after a 10 minute presentation using the word “we” instead of “i” a smart investor would look at you and say - who is we?  I’m pretty sure you would rather answer questions about the business plan than explain how you just streched the truth (hmmm… thinks a potential investor… what else did he stretch?)

Using the word “we” is fine but when you can revert back to “I” then you know you did something right – in your underwear.

As a further follow up to the recent SnapNames upgrade, below is another shortcut to find some quality domains. Much like the “bidders” shortcut we mentioned a few days ago you can also sort by minimum bids with just a few clicks.

(a)  From the home page, leave search box empty - hit go
(b)  double click “minimum bid” so it’s sorted from high to low

Starting to fall in love with a drop / auction service again - been way too long ….

Happy Domaining to all….

100,000 good names.

Not a chance.

When a large portfolio owner announces the sale of 100,000 names it sounds like jumping ship but it’s not like that - in any way, shape or form.

As I said in an earlier post:

“Over 98% of the portfolio just added to Afternic by iReit is JUNK! - Complete and useless domains your blind grandmother would not register nor be able to spell if Bob Barker was promising a gold house behind door number 3. It’s simply a collection of tens of thousands of typos, possible trademark problematic names, unbrandable words, hypens, meaningless phrases and utter junk with a few good names thrown in to help with a press release”

Quite frankly I have no idea why anybody announced this - it certainly does not help iReit in selling the names. All it does is verify big players are selling their junk and trimming portfolios to only include premium names. It’s no longer about quantity but quality - wait … that is exactly the way it should be.

So I ask, iReit dropped a few hundred (not 100,000) good names in the marketplace - what’s the big freaking deal?

You want real names – watch the featured domains on the homepage of SnapNames, search NameJet daily & read the blogs for private sales.  The deals are out there - this market was not just flooded with great names.

Take a look at some of the “killer” iReit portfolio names listed for sale below. My Amex is ready - Where do I sign up

12-1.com
122122.net
12-25.com
1-mood-disorders-light-therapy-circadian-rhythms.com
1-obsessive-compulsive-disorder.com
1-website-promotion-webmaster-resources.com
4-albuquerque-real-estate.com
4always-n-forever.com
desi-india.com
design-wap.com
dgtop1.com
dgs-fxp.com
d-guo.com
dgw3.com
dgxinc.com
duda-messer.com
ebook007.net
ebook-bay.com
e-clas.com
ec-leao.com