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I was disappointed that Dad.net did not make the DomainTools live auction with a reserve price of $35k. However I came to accept that perhaps it was a dislike for the extension, and perhaps they felt it was overpriced. I scanned the list today and was surprised to find Test.net listed for $25k. I suppose I am having a harder time understanding how Test.net has made the list where Dad.net did not. Granted there is a price difference, but my metrics suggests Dad.net is better than Test.net.

This will be the second time we have submitted domain names to DomainTools for auction. Their last live auction failed to secure any sales of the 7 domains we had listed. This time with 5, we are hoping to see better results.

Justin

DomainTool is having a live online auction on the 3rd of January 2008 to start the year off right. The list has been scrutinized by quite a few domainers. Most of them failed to get a domain on that list. I think the list itself is diverse with both great names, and some that leave me scratching my head (Dont get me started on .name) However, I am pleased to say that 5 domains from the NameBio portfolio have made the cut.

• CuttingHair.com - $10,000 Reserve
• WorkRemotely.com - $8,000 Reserve
• FishAustralia.com - $2,000 Reserve
• SweetGifts.com - $6,000 Reserve
• PrinterCleaners.com - $1,000 Reserve

I look forward to reporting the results of the auction, and to see if any of them sell and for how much! Congrats to all who made the final cut.

On afternic’s blog - they announced yesterday that they will be auctioning off the 4th largest registrar’s expiring domain names, much in the same fashion SnapNames does business. This is a smart move for NameMedia, as it gives them a new stream of revenue, that costs almost nothing to maintain. Im surprised that SnapNames or NameJet wasn’t able to persuade Melbourne IT to do business with them.

Sedo held a dot mobi auction sponsored by mTLD (The .mobi registry) to auction off the premium mobile domain names (Music.mobi, Games.mobi, ect).  Here is a summary (Written by Sedo) of what transpired:

“On December 5, 2007, the third and final .MOBI auction was scheduled to close on Sedo’s domain auction platform. In line with the previous two .MOBI auctions, the available domains garnered significant attention and received many competing bids in the seven days the auction ran. The domains received so much attention in the final moments that Sedo’s auction servers crashed before the completion of the auctions, rendering our system incapable of processing many validly submitted bids, including proxy bids set by user’s using the feature to automatically bid up to a maximum amount, and sending out winner notifications in error.”

Several people who were bidding on these domain names, recieved notifications that they had won. Then shortly after, received notifications, letting them know that the domains were getting an extension, due to the reasons cited above. They ran the auction and again the domain names sold, this time for much higher. (Sedo got on the phones and starting calling up their big buyers).

However, Sedo has decided in order to be fair - they will re-run the auctions again. Not only will the winners of the first auction not get the domain, but now the winners of the extended auction will not get the name either. I think its quite ironic that if we win an auction at Sedo - were expected to pay for the domain name, but when Sedo sells a domain name and the price isnt quite what they had hoped, they simply extend the auction or re auction altogether. Shame on Sedo for this weak practice.

At no point in time, have I ever pretended to be a developer. A good developer, is worth his weight in gold. However, I have dabbled here and there with little basic sites (mostly, html) but more recently I wanted to see if I could take a popular keyword domain and see If I can rank it well with decent content. I chose the domain VintageWatchLot.com (because the term Vintage Watch Lot, gets about 8,000 searches per month).

I put up a wordpress blog, as thats about the only thing I can do and began customizing and adding content. This was about 2 weeks ago, and since then - it is now ranked #1 on Yahoo for the terms “Vintage Watch Lot” and “Vintage Watch Lots”. I intend to add more content today, and more adsense. Im curious to see how well the domain will perform this way, as opposed to parked.

On another interesting note. ClickItOut.com went up a few weeks back, with nothing more than a title and an image. It is now ranked for a few of its terms “Domain Consultation Services”… Im curious how well it will do once I get around to actually finishing that site!

Well, unfortunately our hosting situation isnt a perfect one. We moved NameBio over to Hostgator when we released version 3 to provide more reliable and faster service. But like all things, stuff happens. Thanks to a “clerical” error on HostGator’s side - we went down for about 12-14 hours yesterday, but all is well and were backup and running today. Sorry for any downtime to our loyal users!

Justin

Update: Within hours of DomainTools postig of the tattoo offer (as reported by me yesterday) someone stepped up to the plate and has volunteered to get the job done. Im curious to see the follow through. I’ll update you as I know more.

You read the title and were like, “wha?”…

Me too. Apparently DomainTools announced on their blog today that they would offer a free trip to Seattle (Hotel and Airfare) for the first person willing to come in and get a DomainTools logo tattooed on them. They would also get DomainTools gold service, free for life. Although mostly amusing, Im curious to see if anyone jumps on this offer.

Although there not the first company to jump into the Tattoo Marketing niche, they are the first “Domain” company Ive heard of to do it.

(This is a posting that I initally wrote on Namepros, but wanted to share it here as well)

Much has been hyped about many new trends in domain investing. In this thread Im going to explore the trends that I think are real, and the ones that are superficial or illusions. I invite discussion and debate on this topic.

Trends: The Rise of the LLLL.com

The LLLL.com is an interesting monster in itself. Representing hundreds of thousands of domain names. It has become the domainers currency as of late and the truth is that it will continue to gain ground on its older cousin, the LLL.com.

What LLLL.com’s are worth investing in? Primarily ones which form an easily pronounceable base or have premium lettering and good patterns. These names are solid for acronyms and new brand names. These type of domain names are easy to recall and quick to type - making branding much eaiser, and requiring less work.

Which LLLL.com’s will turn out to be busts? LLLL.com’s with random poor lettering. Domains containing x, z, q - ect. These names although should gain some ground - not enough to make the hold worth it. There are substancially better investments then this class of domain.

Illusions: The hot streak of .mobi

Earlier in 2007, Apple released the iPhone. A cell phone with a built in browser that allows for reasonable download speeds, and easy browsing. This phone also has built in wifi to connect anywhere there is a hot spot. Making mobile websites no longer limited to small bits of data.

.mobi came too late. In 2008 expect to see more hot spots, and more cell phones on the market that emulate that browsing technology and wifi connections.

In addition, without solid development and marketing of this extension, consumers will continue to never hear of it. Most of those large domain purchases at Sedo were from domain investors not developers or those “end users”.

Trends: More Live Auctions

Expect 2008 to be a great year for new domain companies and new live auctions. More and more domain investors are becoming disenfranchised with their current options and their is room for vast improvement.

Many of the companies who were only doing online auctions in 2007 - will be opening the doors to live auctions in 2008 because there is plenty of room for growth.

Trends: Expect more international investments

As domain investing continues to become more and more acceptable, watch as international groups (outside the US) take advantage of a weak dollar and invest in generic domain names.

The dollar continues to under perform, and its a perfect time for European investors to take advantage and start buying from US portfolio holders. Some excellent value can be purchased at a steep discount.

Illusions: The End of Parking

Domain parking is far from dead. With click fraud running rampant, and advertisers demanding better results - domaining is changing. The current model of advertisers buying visitors will continue through 2008 although expect revenue to decrease.

Domain Parking firms are learning that type in traffic is nice - but so is SE traffic. They will be working hard in 2008 to release better SEO pages and more unique content. Expect imrpoved parking this next year.

Agree? Disagree? Always want to hear your thoughts. Please share your expectations for 2008….