Fact is most every domainer has a limited budget, limited resources and most importantly – limited knowledge of what makes a good geo site (away from what another domainer is doing that looks good).  Of course, we have exceptions (like the Castello Brothers) but for the most part its one geo owner copying what another geo owner is doing.

Remember, until the domain owner bought the domain they were never really in the business of marketing a destination so there is a lot to learn from tourism boards and government agencies who have been around for years.

Its not necessarily a bad thing to copy and learn from other geo owners since many elements certainly will be almost mandatory for any site but to stand out and maybe gain a step ahead of existing sites around the same destination you (as an owner) need to search for that magical piece, something which gets people to remember and want to explore at first visit.

Check out www.tourisme-montreal.org

Yes, a domain most of you would not register (but that’s the difference between developers and domainers)

3 elements from this example which should be of great interest to any geo domain owner are

(1)   Video … play the Montréal in two minutes.  Love the French or not, you want to go!!

(2)   Local Buzz from Montreal insiders.

Just launching a geo site … you should probably bet that a lot of people have blogging about your destination long before you even owned the domain.  Embrace these people!

(3)    Gay/Lesbian/ Alternate Lifestyles – remember, it’s these groups that have the MOST disposable income - don’t leave them out.

Happy 4 Juillet aux Américains et heureux tardive Canada à tous les jours

———————————————————

Canada MUST WATCH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Well, sadly many people prefer tweeting to sex (or any physical contact with the real world) but those guys never really could get laid anyway. So today we bring both groups a little fun - from the wild and crazy hedonism.com to tweeters.com for the geeks.

Snapnames has quite a few great domains dropping over the next little while. Some of our top picks include:

penispump.com
hedonism.com
porntv.com

tweeters.com

and not so sexy but still good names.

basementcontractors.com
driverlicense.net
localgrants.com
remortgagehome.com
xmasholiday.com

Enjoy and Happy July 4th to the Americans.

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

First, for new investors you have to understand that many people (not all) who blog about domains every day have no idea about development but are simply in love with posting.  In fact, they use blogs as outlets to bitch about others, provide personal updates to the readers they think they have and basically just sleep better knowing they told a few people what they did today. Of course, there are exceptions (like Michael Berkens who is not just an experienced domainer and respected legal counsel but also an avid fan of drinking grey goose in a bathing suit somewhere in Costa Rica) but for new investors you really need to understand who is really experienced versus who likes to talk.  In general the amount of time it takes to develop will leave little or NO time to blog so if you see someone’s face re-appear each and every day with silly posts its probably a good idea to think hard about exactly what this person is doing in the domain world which gives him authority on a topic. Is he just addressing his thoughts on topics (so its not actually factual but merely opinon) or do they actually practice what they preach?  If I was starting out my desire would be to learn from those who have developed … not those who have read about it.

I’m not being critical of anybody specific but you see (much like FOX news) people actually believe what they see on a small screen in type. Add some pictures, its more credible and as Chef Patrick (I think) said .. add some sexy women and bingo, people will read anything you have to say.

How does this relate to new TLD’s.

Very much.  I think Berkens and Andrew Allerman wrote about .tel reaching 200,000 registrations – some questioned is this good while others reserved judgment for the count after first renewals.

Let’s revert to .asia, .eu, .info, .us, .biz – almost all of the extensions outside of .com, .net and .org.

Lets be honest – they are ALLL miserable failures (some ccTLD’s not included .. .co.uk one of the great ones)

There are only two groups who will succeed with these names.  First, of course, the registries. They get your money every year. Second, developers … yes, I said developers not domainers.

While some domainers were holding out for ridiculous prices (hey, add 5 zeros and we have a deal) people with real talent basically said seeya and bought another extension and now have sites with great SEO, traffic and revenue.

This is a cycle that happens OVER AND OVER with every new extension.  .NYC will fail – they will all fail for domainers except the handful who get a lucky name or those domainers …. Nope, I mean registries who auction off the premiums with high reserves to (now I say) domainers who will never get their money back.

In theory a .nyc extension is valuable but when it costs millions to get an extension nope – it’s a failure.  Let’s do some math.

There are probably 5,000 names that have any value in a .nyc extension but lets say 10,000.  Even at a high registration price of $100 a year that’s a lousy $1,000,000 in renewal revenue per year and that’s before the split to the registrar, annual license fees etc. Hell, the owners of .nyc extension can’t even promote the brand with this kind of cash.

But see here’s the tricky part.  I think its safe to say that a very high percentage of the initial registrations (which is were the ONLY momentum exists for any of these TLD’s) will be bought by speculators for PPC traffic – THEY ARE not buying to resell but purely for type in traffic.  Since almost none of these new extensions will have ANY type in traffic you betcha … the window to resell (to another domainer) will be limited and closed very quickly hence high lost renewal fees and ultimately another failure.

How does this relate to those who blog.  First and foremost – stop reading about new extensions and how they are great investments and focus your time on reading about development, SEO, online marketing etc.

If you watch the local news for a half an hour you will start believing everything they say – no more than reading blogs from people who are really only trying to sell names day after day.  When .nyc fizzles I am sure they will hype the next .stupid to come along.  Affiliate revenue, quick flips, “quality deals” from a reputable domainer … same shit, different extension.  You are not buying value – you are buying hype.

As for keyword domains.

These are the names developers value more than anything else. .com, .net and .org.  It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out.  Keyword domains will continue to rise because they have development value but stick to the extensions that are proven.

Owning mortgage.me or sexy.nyc is only cool if you have the money to build it otherwise stick to the proven winners – there is no reason, no need and certainly no benefit to your wallet or the internet by trying to reinvent the wheel time after time with new extensions.

They are all failures – and will continue to be time after time.

Some will agree – some will disagree .. but ask yourself … whos a seller and whos a developer??

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Today – after years of many of us preaching – you can now DOWNLOAD your search results.

This single addition will improve prices for domains, heat up competition and provide sellers greater opportunity to sell more names.  If you want to talk about a million dollar link then this is it.

What else?

How about 500 results per page

A default search that “contains” the keyword you want (instead of suggesting some names only to miss out on many you really want)

Filters are improved with maximum pricing now an “input” field instead of a choice of pre-defined ranges by the snap crew.

Seriously, these upgrades rock.

For sellers there is even more.

You will have your own storefront!

Ok, I’m sure there is more to come in another release later but the base has been built!!!!

Request the unique ID of your seller account and promote the hell out of your link. No website needed, it’s a simple URL to access your entire inventory – you can even add your affiliate ID if you participate in the affiliate program.

Examples are:

1. With your name source only (e.g. all of your inventory)
https://www.snapnames.com/store/seller.action?ns=10

2. With namesource & affiliate code
https://www.snapnames.com/store/seller.action?ns=10&aff=4307

3. With namesource, affiliate, and domain name:
https://www.snapnames.com/store/seller.action?ns=10&aff=4307&dom=momma.net

These go to Monikers names but if you insert your unique ID in the url you can see how the initial storefront will look

SnapNames is becoming more than just the best auction house around – its quickly becoming the SINGLE best source to help domain owners buy and sell domains.

Check out the new features when you get a chance.

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

All 20 of our key drop picks (not TRAFFIC submitted names) are below:

20000.com
BankForeclosure.org
BestEscort.com
CarLoan.org
FlightTravel.com
FloorPlans.net
GirlfriendFilms.com
GreekRestaurants.com
HomeownerInsurance.org
KVG.com
Late.net
LoseWeight.org
LimousineCars.com
MarriageBlog.com
MGL.com
Momma.net
OnlinePorn.net
RedWines.net
RVW.com
WeddingPlanners.net
XPhone.com

Enjoy !

P.S.  pretty sure xphone.com is a private sale but well worth inclusion and warning - it is currently an adult themed landing page.

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Trumpet.com is at $29,458 with still over 24 hours left to go.

HomeLoans.net is worth only 18k - amazing. Sure, trumpet.com is a great name but its a brandable name, and in the less favorable singular version plus how many trumpets can you sell online?

A lot more mortgage leads thats for sure.

Yesterday’s auction for HomeLoans.net has really left me with a headache so take what you know and throw it out the window because development is a whole new game for many of you obviously and baby there are deals to be had - My opinion, buy as many quality finance, real estate and legal domains as you can today because these prices will not be around forever but the leads will be!

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Do any of you understand lead generation or are all your plans wrapped up around Adsense Ads?

How many of you were, are or know a mortgage broker?

The sale of this domain at Latona’s auction at the TRAFFIC convention should make all of you turn upside down and say what the hell was I thinking. I am so pissed about this sale (VERY HAPPY for the buyer) that I need to give some of you a basic 101 class in math.

$18,000 … shit, less than shit for many of you.

If you are serious about development and have an iota of how to SEO correctly and put together a lead gen site (like insurancequote.com) this domain would rocket to the top of search engines. In fact, I would be willing to even say that it would make it to the top 5 in MSN purely because homeloans.com does not even resolve and MSN favors matching keyword domains heavier than Google.

So – you have a top domain selling for one of the MAIN lead generation industries of the economy. Housing market slow or not people are still getting mortgages day after day and unless you know something I don’t mortgages will never end – People will always need them.

How about that lesson in Math?

For Domainers

$18,000

$40 revenue per lead – You need to generate 450 leads over the lifetime of this domain to breakeven. Yes, just over 1 a day for the next year then you have an annuity for life.

For End Users

Have a mortgage license?

3 mortgages. Yes, 3 freaking mortgages to break even.

SOOO many mortgage brokers specialize and close $500,000 mortgages day after day. You should net around 6k on a $500,000 mortgage as a broker (after the split and assuming 2 points which is average) – don’t like .. then make it 6 mortgages .. big fucking deal. You have an annuity for life.

If I knew this domain was in auction believe me I would have paid a lot more than $18,000 and I’m pissed I didn’t see it. Not sure if it was a late addition but man – it was not there when I looked a week ago .. or maybe it way … I just missed it.

Domainers talk about developing and talk about how much money they are making but this sale, this very sale goes to show that either (a) many have no freaking idea how to develop anything more than a mini-site with some Adsense Ads and (b) many – even auction houses (which to their credit is not always their job – the platform, the event is their job) are too lazy to contact end users and have NO IDEA how to translate the value of such a great domain to main street.

If any of you were salespeople before .. good salespeople … you could walk into an office and sell $1,000 worth of goods by selling the manager on how much benefit your product could bring in terms of savings, increased productivity and more.

Why the hell can’t we do this with domains like this?

Companies are still spending money – banks are still advertising – mortgage companies are alive believe it or not.

Are so many people caught up in the circle of selling to one another that a brick wall is formed where development is only what domainer A tells domainer B?

Do we have NO confidence in our ability to sell to end users that you have to gauge value based on what another domainer would pay?

NAMES like this are GOLD but apparently many of you have no idea what gold looks like.

Only 2 weeks ago I wrote about the case of MortgageCalculator.net where the owner SEO’s correctly and bang .. 20,000 or more visitors EVERY month. Sure, somebody commented about the back links but I had that domain for 7 years and very few back links ever existed. Most back links were formed after the site was live.

Spend $18,000 and in six months have even a quarter of that traffic coming from home loan traffic and you break even in 30 or 60 days.

Seriously, the math here is so insane. It is NOT long term math !!!

Not a 5 year plan – not a 10 year plan – maybe a 1 year plan at the MOST!

For those domainers who truly have no idea but only to listen to the industry leaders for guidance - Was it not Frank Schilling who said that homeloans.com – in his opinion – was worth maybe $3-5 million?

And the .net is worth 18k?

Jesus – I need to go confession tonight because I am cursing at everyone and for a non-practicing Catholic boy this is a BIG thing.

This sale is embarrassing for you, for the industry and more importantly for your ability to understand development. Hell, where were the mini-site SEO experts – these guys (who supposedly know SEO) had to see a value much more than 18k in this domain.

As I have said many times over …

The INDUSTRY is BIGGER and better than ALL of us.

If we can not showcase and find end users for PREMIUM domains like HomeLoans.net then we all need to go back in to our hole and rethink why the hell we are here and what we need to do to move forward.

For those who are thinking I am being negative about the industry in general I am NOT - in fact, we are more bullish on domains than ANY OTHER investment right now – but I am kicking you all for letting this go. Domains like this do not come around often and if anyone .. anyone .. disagrees with my math about how to make your money back with this domain then just close your browser and go home as I do not have the time of day to even speak with you.

There is no over analysis needed – 18k is a pittance for this name.

Shame on all of you, Shame on the auction house, Shame on me.

Have nothing else to say on this.

May the Adsense gods cut your knees off one day and then you shall realize what fools are for not learning to develop quicker.

—————————————-

P.S.  If any of you want to come back but wait its a .net … just be quiet and read a book about developing.

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This brings me to ask the question to all of you – Why are you here?

Are you here to sell a service to the 5,000 people or so who live and breathe domains daily or have something a little more that might attract all those who domain part time?

Are you here to sell a few names and wait for those lotto numbers … oops, I meant big sale to retire from?

Are you here to further the industry or just ride what ever is hot at the moment?

Again – why are you here?

I will assume most of you have some answer but does your answer have an end game. 5 years from now how do you expect to evolve within the industry or will you just wait for the industry to evolve then jump on board?

I can name dozens of people right now building empires. Some have been doing it for years, some are rather new but all parties have aggressive, targeted and well planned development with an end game that is far bigger than most can imagine.

Our geo domains – some have commented about PPC traffic, back links, archive.org results – etc. I laugh when I hear these questions. Some of those domains have traffic, others we have NEVER EVER placed in a parking account – WHY?  Parking to me – and I understand general opinion is not with me – is so secondary in our end game that it doesn’t matter. If you have to worry about losing out on that $20 click one day or want to analyze 5,000 domains to try to find some pattern that may bring you $500 a month in revenue then you are missing out on the entire point of being in this space.

Sure, parking and small time sales may make you feel all fuzzy inside having Google pay for your Volkswagen or make your grandmother smile now that you can afford to take her to an extra bingo game every week but your plan – your plan to evolve and grow .. Where is it?  Again, why are you here?

First – you have to stop thinking like a domainer.

I’m not saying domaining is bad but the biggest people in this industry and even some of the smaller people claim they do not want to sell to domainers. Many would say they think its because of price but its not really price – It’s the valuation methods many domainers use which have ZERO correlation to end-users in the real world.

Names which are “aged” (sorry, that’s the biggest joke in my book), or names which have no archive.org results or no back links - There are a ton of valuation methods but as some berry nut said on thedomains.com a few days ago (you’re alright berry guy – you made me laugh) pretty much summed it up about the domain auction for raspberry.com

I’m too tired to be searching and copying and posting quotes but in a nutshell he asked how can a bunch of domainers who know nothing about berries try and value this domain.

Spot on – the crazy berry guy was right.

If we are trying to price a domain for liquidity within our circle of people then sure – common sense tells you to factor all those factors in to secure some liquidity but you see the berry guy was telling everyone to basically learn more about the berry industry and you’ll see exactly how cheap 16k for that domain was.

No ONE is jack of all trades but many domainers pretend to be. You own a name about hotdogs then you are a hotdog king but here’s the sad reality.

Most are shitty salespeople.

Acquiring a domain name, searching keywords, analyzing trends – man, this is geek world galore but it DOES not make you a salesperson.

Putting names on SnapNames, selling names on SEDO, letting them ride at Afternic – these are not examples of what real salespeople do.

Real salespeople take courses; understand markets and cold call the hell out of companies.

When was the last time you cold called???

How many names did you sell this month?  Thought so.

By not selling to endusers on a constant basis many seem to be trapped in these archiac valuations of domain names since the only market they could actually break into was …  other domainers. Of course, many of you sell domains to end users but come on… how hard do you really try. Do you remember selling credit cards over the phone when you were 16 or cold calling your neighborhood to help elect the latest crook .. oops .. congressman.  Man, its these events where you made 30 calls an hour. Domainers who own possibly millions of dollars in end user names just wait … order a pizza … wait … wait more … wheres the remote … oh goodie, snapnames auctions are happening for 10 minites … cool … back to pizza.

Obviously, many of you do more than this but do you do all you can do?  If not, why are you here?  Do you expect to be still at your desk in 2 years looking at drop lists?

I love success stories more than anybody. You can be my enemy but give it a good go and win you will always have my respect. It’s those that talk about the industry, those that complain about account reps week after week, and those that do the same thing today they were doing 3 years ago. Its those people I ask – why are you here and where are you going?

I love this industry but the industry DOES not have to love us. It will grow and change and many will complain but you – yes, you with the red shirt on – what’s your plan?

Love all of you but think about it – maybe today you will do something different.

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Tomorrow is the first day of our GEO domain auction test and believe me when I say its a test. I can name 100 of these domains we will never let expire but we are looking at the big picture and trying to determine if its worth our time to showcase names before they expire.

One such name that will stay in our vault is SantaBarbaraHotelRates.com

Geo names are hot and they always will be - Remember AustinDWILawyer.com that went for $17,000 at NameJet or more recently MarylandCarInsurance.com for $3,288 (afternic) … if you’re not sure of the Geo market then names like SantaBarbaraHotelRates.com are top tier names to start.

We are giving away this domain at $19 - stand alone we would not sell it for less than $2,500 but again, we are mixing some good ones in with some ones we will let expire since this is a test.

For those who do not know Santa Barbara - how do I say this … you need to be a millionaire to live there. It is a magical place where people honeymoon, get away for romantic weekends and more. The number of hotels in Santa Barbara and surrounding areas … the number of EXPENSIVE hotels … is stunning … check out BacaraResort.com just as one example.

If this name doesn’t sell then I will have to question the logic of each and every one of you since obviously you’re playing by a whole different game than we are.

So bid now and bid early - don’t make me post about this again :-))

View the list of names in auction here

©2009 Newfound Names LLC. All Rights Reserved.