It has arrived. July 2, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, Goals, internet, technology.Tags: blogging, blogs, Domains
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The Domain Columnist Blog is officially open, which means that this blog is officially RETIRED. Henceforth I shall be known as the “Domain Columnist” and the “unemployed alcoholic” blog shall be referred to as the “legacy blog”
Dear Readers: Kindly, update your bookmarks and look for me to begin posting on the new blog in the coming weeks. Of course, it will take a few days to get started… pick the right theme, install the right plugins, create a page structure, etc. But I expect the blog to be fully operational in a few days’ time. I am really looking forward to covering the industry, important news and developments, and business strategies with a strong focus on domaining, web development, and internet marketing in general. This is a very dynamic, and fast-changing industry, and with the introduction of the DOMAIN COLUMNIST blog, I expect it to become a premier industry news and information resource, with quality content and original commentary.
Talk soon!
The name of the game is radically changing (excellent read below – promise!) June 28, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, Investing, internet, marketing, trends.Tags: domaining, Domains, icann, internet, registration, tld
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The most recent cataclysmic event that shook up the domain industry is too important to go unmentioned in this blog, so here I am, making yet another attempt to write a FINAL post for this blog before I start my new one. ICANN’s decision to allow unlimited number of top level domains (TLD / web address extensions) will have a profound impact on the industry over the coming decades. What surprises me most is that authors and commenters on the top industry blogs seem to be dancing around the most important consequence of this. All I hear is “WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE DOT COM?” when they should already be thinking outside of their DOT COM box. The point is that soon enough, the name of the game will change from DOT COM, to *gasp* HOW DO I OWN AND PROMOTE MY OWN TLD?…especially as far as the biggest players are concerned. The dot com? Well, it will not disappear. Most likely, the “marginal” domains bearing this extension will lose much value as registrants begin opting for other extensions in order to have a more meaningful web address instead of going with this “status quo” TLD as a safe haven. Don’t get me wrong, the dot com will never become a dinosaur, nor will there be an extinction. The top dot coms will probably remain most valuable. There are too many financially powerful entities heavily invested in this one extension to let it fade away – this will not happen, or at least it will not happen fast.
So yes, my own goal over the next couple of years will be to control my own TLD… maybe even two or three. There will probably be a few hundred, maybe a thousand or so possible extensions that would be worth applying for with ICANN. I am still not 100% sure about how the process will work, and probably neither is ICANN at this moment, but visit their website for details and updates. These marketable TLDs will be, of course, short, generic, and highly commercial terms that other people would WANT to register their domains under!!! The two best thing to come out of all of this, I think, are (1) that it will probably make domaining much more popular and accessible, and (2) make the URLs of the future more meaningful, and hence memorable and brandable. Sooner or later, dot com will no longer be the “default” extension that pops into people’s minds when they go online and search for information. People will begin asking… “so what does COM stand for anyway??” My money’s on later though. This is indeed the dawning of a new era… though we might have to wait a while to see its day.
P.S. I can’t wait for Kesmodel to update his book to Domain Game 2.0 with commentary on how the industry will be affected by ICANN’s decision.
I JUST CAN’T STOP WRITING ON THIS BLOG!!! June 23, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, curious finds, internet, trends.Tags: aggregators, copyright, Domains, news
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Man, this sux. Just found a site linking to a whole bunch of my domain-related posts… availabledomains.biz
Looks like a news aggregator where half the screen space is articles re-posted from legitimate blogs such as mine, and the other half is Google ads… Discovering schemes like this one is really de-motivating to people like myself to keep writing and offering original content to the world. I run one blog, where all or almost all of the posts are my own, but this joker aggregates domain news from across the internet, gets huge traffic because of the sheer amount of replicated content, and probably rakes in tons of adsense cash… I swear to god, it looks like there’s not one bit of original content on this entire website… Never once did the owner ask permission to reprint my articles… Where’s the love? Where’s justice???
Well… at least he seems to have a link back to the original sources. What more can you ask? I guess this is a site I’ll just have to write off as “clever web development” in my book, though the webmaster is risking serious legal trouble by reprinting content without permission, if his activities are discovered by someone who cares about this more than I do at this time…
Fuck it. I’m going to bed.
Should the government regulate the internet? (read: How much should the government regulate the internet?) June 22, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Business, Domains, Fulfillment, Goals, Inspirational, Life, Society, curious finds, internet, self-improvement, technology, trends.Tags: Domains, government, internet, regulation
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Let *THIS* be my last blog post… something to think about.
Lots of people (49%) seem to think that the government has a duty to police the digital universe, according to Rasmussen Reports (a story I “dugg” today)… The article is filled with other insightful statistics about internet usage and regulation. I’ll leave the analysis up to you.
The U.S. government already *IS* regulating the net, to a large extent. Many of you probably remember a situation where a domainer had various domains disabled by order of the government because they were pointing to sites advertising travel to Cuba. The guy wasn’t a U.S. resident, nor was he marketing to U.S. consumers. He did make the mistake of registering his names with U.S.-based registrars though (it was Enom, to my best recollection…), and our relations with Cuba are still “so-so” , to say the least.
More regulation on the way? Perhaps the Snowe Bill push was a prelude to that. Historically, a country has rarely gotten any “freer” after it established a federal government, save for revolutions and other such cataclysmic events. Deregulation rarely follows the establishment of a central government. Is China a potential counterexample to that trend? Time will tell.
What all this means for domainers, who knows anymore… too many moving parts and variables to venture any long-term guesses… as the wise man says, hope for the best, plan for the worst.
ANOTHER PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, ENJOY THE INSPIRATION:
Kesmodel’s domain book… June 19, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Books, Domains, internet, popular culture.Tags: Books, culture, Domains, internet, kesmodel
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…is finally available on Amazon for about $30. Cool beans, just ordered a copy. “The Domain Game” by David Kesmodel is, apparently, a well-researched documentary on the rise of the domain industry, covering the success stories of today’s biggest players in domaining, including Schilling, Ham, Chernoff, and many others. The book has gotten good reviews from bloggers in the community and I too am really looking forward to this read.
Hopefully the publication will shed some light on this niche industry and attract more attention to our world with the general public.
Will make another post about this once I finish reading it, if there is anything new to add.
Afternic reveals top 10 domain name categories June 6, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, internet, trends.Tags: afternic, broker, domain, IT, sales
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I am a member of Afternic. Today they sent me an email with a list of most searched categories for domain names in their inventory of over 3 million listings. The are as follows:
1. Fashion & Apparel Specials
2. Real Estate
3. Home Improvement
4. Internet
5. Movies
6. Software
7. Food and Drink
8. Professional Services
9. Music
10. Travel & Tourism
Personally, I probably would not have guessed that Fashion and Apparel would occupy the first position on a most searched for list, seems a little out of place. IT is another outstanding category. Basic living necessities such as food and real estate occupy other leading positions. Entertainment is in high demand as well. This list is important. It should affect your personal domaining strategy, how you position your entire portfolio, as well as individual developments within it.
This week’s focus of MY attention… May 27, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Business, Domains, Goals, internet, self-improvement.Tags: blogs, Domains, thinking
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I will be dwelling on the concept of “concenrated effort” this week. Don’t ask, this is just a note to self… Random thought: Is it healthy to think of life as an RPG? Is it worth spending weeks or months power-leveling your skills such as speaking, writing, coding, etc? In many RPGs if you concentrate your effort and attention on certain skills with specific goals and standards, you seem to reach your goals faster. Is this true of life as well? Are you better off being totally focused on certain aspects of life or business for brief periods or is it better to keep switching between tasks frequently?
In other news… DNXpert’s Domain Blogging Contest is in full swing… Lots of prizes ($9k worth!) to be given away, and lots of aspiring domain bloggers gunning for them. I do hope I win something! Also, it’s not too late to sign up and enter, since DNXpert keeps track of all tasks assigned to be completed on the original contest post. Not only is this great for promoting our industry in the blogosphere, but you are also getting the name of YOUR own blog out there as you complete the tasks, and especially if you end up winning something!
The vital importance of user-generated content and user-driven development… May 26, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, advertising, internet, marketing, seo, trends.Tags: cms, collaboration, community, content, development, drupal, joomla, ning, web
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Perhaps I am a little “late to the party” in this respect. Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but this realization has just struck me now, on this Memorial Day morning with such a vivid clarity like it has never occurred to me before. The time of the “my little corner of the universe” web page has come and gone, perhaps it was never even here to begin with. The whole point of the internet is collaboration, not seclusion. The thing is, unless you own a short, generic, top-of-the line domain (the ones that go for $100k+ nowadays), you will not be reaping substantial profits in the web business without thorough development that attracts, marinates, and retains traffic. I speak of community building of course… It has never been easier to create a community-oriented resource online. There’s Ning, there’s all kinds of PHP CMS utilities (joomla, drupal, nuke, etc.), there’s always forums and chat-rooms you can quickly integrate… if you’re too lazy to do that, start with setting up a survey script with a new question every day, week, or month, depending on what your current traffic stream is and how creative you can be. Even if your website has a ton of really great information, it is not likely to be successful on today’s web without an obvious, attractice, COLLABORATION element that would encourage your audience to stick around and contribute to the growth of this web resource.
Even when some of the most popular virtual destinations for the masses were seemingly one man operations such as Maddox’s and Tucker Max’s dirty humor pages, a collaboratie outlet for their visitors to rant, vent, and argue was ever-present, be it Tucker’s forum or Maddox’s beloved “hate mail” pages…
Ultimately, this should all result in a “stickier” website with a more interested audience, a peer-reviewed informational resource that’s richer in content, and just a more fun web place for visitors to “hang out” at, instead of a one-stop, one-click mile marker for the blazing internet traveler.
That’s all for today… Now let’s party. If you gained any useful insight from this or any of my other posts, please let me know. If it’s complete rubbish, do notify me of that as well. We’re all trying to get better, and we’ve all got to start somewhere… My current craft of choice is writing at this time, and if you’re not a bot, your honest input is much appreciated. Best wishes to all.
Sumo.com for $150k, yay or nay? May 25, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, internet, sports, trends, valuation.Tags: appraisals, Domains, sales, sumo, valuation
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Domain name valuation will remain one of most controversial topics in the internet business for years to come. Today’s question is whether Sumo.com is worth 150 thousand USD. The most obvious answer is YES, because that’s what someone just paid for it on Sedo. However, it is interesting to me to try to figure out WHY someone would pay such a price for this one. At first site (haha funny! I bet I’m the first person to say that!), it would seem that the buyer overpaid, but let’s look further.
Let’s start with the basics. “Sumo” is a CVCV that’s fairly easy to type in on my keyboard. It could work as an abbreviation for a four-word company name, or it could be a category website related to the sumo style of wrestling.
Let’s further assume that the proposed site will be one that’s related to the sport. Where could commercial value come from? A purely informational site with ads would not make enough money to cover such a large up-front expense. Hence, some sort of product or service must be offered on the website. Sumo equipment? Possibly. Sumo lessons? Perhaps. Could it be a wealthy sumo gym/club owner trying to cement a solid brand identity for his establishment, possibly franchise his business nationwide? I really have no idea… We start running into problems when we consider the potential audience. The sport is most popular in Asia, and is only practiced professionally in Japan (according to Wikipedia), a country of some 130 million people (not very much on the GLOBAL scale). Sumo is not an Olympic sport either. Will the acquisition be worth it in the long run? If I knew who the end-user is, perhaps I could have a better idea about this one…
Lastly, we must remember that sports domains ARE indeed some of the most sought-after on the internet. Live Current / Communicate.com, for example, turned down a $6M offer for domain Cricket.com, which is yet to be developed. Of course, the prospective audience for this one is much greater than for sumo.com, but so it seem is the difference in perceived value.
So, is sumo.com really worth $150k? If I had an extra 150k laying around, I probably would not take it. But I am clearly not the guy that’s about to start a nationwide franchise of sumo gyms and stores in Japan. If such a guy does exist, he would be at the top of my list of “Likely to gain the most value from owning sumo.com”
There are always multiple ways of looking at things, and usually good arguments can be made to support several side of every story… The market will prove you right or wrong. The market is the ultimate authority.
DNXpert Domain Blogging Contest! May 19, 2008
Posted by unemployedalcoholic in Domains, internet.Tags: blogging, blogs, contest, Domains
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DNXpert has just launched an awesome contest for blogging domainers. Lots of awesome prizes will be given away a month from today, totaling almost $9k in value!
Here is a complete listing of what’s up for grabs:
- $700 in cash from We Build Pages who offer Link Building Services. ($700 value)
- $200 credit deposited into NameDrive domain parking account courtesy of NameDrive.com. ($200 value)
- $100 Godaddy Gift card from instantdomaintool.com. ($100 value)
- $100 credit in Bidvertiser account. ($100 value)
- $100 cash from WordPressFreelance. ($100 value)
- $50 cash from Ades blog ($50 value)
- $35 Cash from Tim Schroeder of eMonetized.com. ($35 value)
- $35 Cash from Web Hosting Reviews. ($35 value)
- $30 Cash from Life is colourful. ($30 value)
- 1 Market Leverage promo pack consisting of: MarketLeverage iFlip (digital camera), MLRewards card ($50), MarketLeverage USB Pen, MarketLeverage Polo and hat, MarketLeverage/Nike duffelbag. ($350 value)
- 2 x Market Leverage promo pack consisting of MLRewards card ($25), MarketLeverage USB Pen, MarketLeverage Polo and hat, MarketLeverage/Nike duffelbag. (2 x $220 value)
- 3 x Market Leverage USB Pens with $10 ML Rewards card. (3 x $35 value)
- 6 months subscription to MarketMotive.com. ($1794 value)
- 1 hour of SEO Consulting from Todd Malicoat from stuntdubl.com. ($500 value)
- 1 year’s PRO Subscriptions membership to FreshDrop.net. ($395.40 value)
- 5 x 1 license of the software product Domain Name Pro (5 x $64.95 value)
- 3 months membership at Aaron Wall’s SeoBook course. ($300 value)
- 3 x 1 copy of the Domain Graduate ebook. (3 x $87 value)
- 5 x 1 exclusive list of 100 expired domains from DNXpert.com (5 x $50 value)
- 6 months premium clustered hosting at iMountain.com (6 x $39.95 value)
- 2 months VIP membership at ClickMojo ($200 value)
- 15 minute one on one phone coaching session with Simon Johnson from Domainer Income ($200 value)
- 2 year subscription to DNSstuff pro tools. ($139 value)
- 1 x 100 domain parking account at WhyPark.com ($99.95 value)
- 1 copy of the Revenue Domains Exposed ebook ($97 value)
- 2 month subscription at Wordze.com ($90 value)
- 3 x 1 copy of the Domaining Manifesto ebook. (3 x $27 value)
- 1 copy of Wordze’s Guide to Keyword Research & Niche Wealth Building! ($80 value)
- 1 copy of a single use license of Brian Gardner’s Revolution blog theme of the winners’ choice ($79.99 value)
- 1 copy of Optin Comments WP plugin. ($77 value)
- 1 DNForum.com Platinum membership. ($59.95 value)
- 1 yearly subscription to Gold Account at iwebtool.com ($59 value)
- 3 x 1 copy of the Killer Domains ebook (3 x $17 value)
- 2 x 50 available domains from WordFuse.com (2 x $24.95 value)
- 1 featured listing on Sedo’s homepage for 1 domain. (worth $39)
- 1 DNForum.com Gold membership ($19.95 value)
- 1 Month DomainNews.com Newsletter Sponsorship – Top Position Advertizing ($500 value)
- 2 months 160×90 ad on ClickFire.com homepage (2 x $200 value)
- 1 Month text link on JustDropped.com search pages ($100 value)
- 1 month text link at DomainNameWire.com ($60 value)
- 1 month of 125×125 banner advertising on Winning the Web ($50 value)
- 1 month 125×125 banner advertising at DNXpert.com ($50 value)
- 1 month 125×125 banner advertising at DotSauce.com ($40 value)
- 1 month text link on blogaboutyourblog.com ($10 value)
- 1 copy of Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger ebook ($16.49 value)
To enter, you’ll have to sign up for the DNXpert Newsletter, and start blogging about their contest to help spread the word and get other domain bloggers involved. Prizes will be awarded through a raffle on the 19th of June. Check out their official contest post for more info, and good luck to all!
