SS.com Sells for $1.25 Million

Posted by Kyle Eslick on March 18th, 2008 | Category and Tags | 0 comments

I know I’m a little late on covering this sale, but in case you missed it, it looks like Geaney.com recently acquired SS.com for $1.25 million.

Sound like a lot for a LL.com domain? Probably. But according to another report, it looks like the very next day they turned down an offer of $2.5 million for this same domain. Others are kicking themselves for letting this one get away at that price, which I think goes to show just how solid of an investment an LL.com is. Just imagine the possibilities for it!

Here are some examples of possible uses that are listed for the domain:

SuperStars.com, SuperStar.com, SmartStocks.com, SmartStrategy.com, SmartStrategies.com SmartSpecies.com, StraightSex.com, SeeSiberia.com, SoccerSeries.com, SingStar.com, SuperSuccess.com, StarShots.com, SpaceStars.com, SpaceShuttle.com, StarService.com, SleepSound.com, StopSnore.com, SafeSex.com, SafeSecurity.com, ShortSkirts.com, SpiritualSpirituality.com, SecureServers.com, SecureServer.com, SpiritualSenses.com, SafeSecurities.com, SexySkirts.com, SexyShoes.com, SexSlaves.com, SexSlave.com, SwimSafe.com, SneakySounds.com, SneakSpy.com, StarSeries.com, SportsStars.com SuperSeven.com, SuperSix.com, SexyStrippers.com, StripSearch.com, StarSearch.com, SexStories.com, SuperSaturday.com, SuperSunday.com, SunSet.com, SunSets.com, StarSpace.com, SunSystems.com, StreetSearch.com, SaySorry.com, SuperSeries.com, SportsSeries.com, SuperSmooth.com, SuperStrategies.com, SexySingles.com, SmartSoftware.com, SystemsSoftware.com, SmartSearch.com, StraightSingles.com, SecretService.com, SexStars.com, StreetSmart.com, SmartSoft.com, SpeedSearch.com, SuperSearch.com, SmartSystems.com, SpecialServices.com, SocialSecurity.com

And that is just a small number of the possibilities…

If I had to guess, I would think that this sale will cause a domino effect among LL.com domains, although not necessarily at that high of a price. They are possibly one of the best investments a domainer can make.

Both LL.com and LLL.com domains have tremendous branding potential, and large corporations with long names are needing a smaller and more managable domain to operate under. The value of both are only going to continue to go up in the coming years.

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Domain Name Age and the Google Sandbox

Posted by Kyle Eslick on March 15th, 2008 | Category and Tags | 0 comments

In the past we’ve talked a little bit about domain name ages and helping your website to avoid the Google sandbox. The basic idea is that Google has a natural penalty called the Google sandbox for all domain names that have been registered for a short period of time. The exact time frame is unknown, but is believed to be between 6 months and 18 months, with the majority of people thinking it is closer to 6 months. This was added as a way to fight off spammers who register a domain, use it for 3 months, then move to a new domain for another 3 months, etc.

Unfortunately, this causes a penalty for websites/blogs that are launching a legitimate site, causing many serious developers that know about the sandbox effect will pursue aged domains when setting up a new site, especially ones that come with Google PageRank. This is good for us because it creates a potential end-user sale for a domainer.

I’ve noticed many domainers seem to forget to factor in things such as PageRank and domain age when determining the value of the domain name they are selling. These are very important and can add a lot of value to your domain. If you want to read more about domain ages, there is a great write up over at URL Academy called The Age of a Domain Name. The post includes some great tips for avoiding the Google sandbox!

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Firefox Extension: Easy Domain Lookup

Posted by Kyle Eslick on March 12th, 2008 | Category and Tags | 1 comment

Firefox users rejoice! Today I ran across a post over at DotSauce giving us the heads up on a new Firefox extension called Domain Lookup.

So, what does this baby do? This domain allows you to select text anywhere in your web browser, then right-click (or CTRL+SHIFT+D) to search for that phrase on your favorite domain registrar, including sites like Moniker and GoDaddy. This extension also comes with a preference menu so you can edit out top-level domains that you aren’t interested in.

Here are a few screenshots provided by the author:

I don’t register much anymore off the public registry, but I’ve given this extension a try and think it is pretty useful! I will definitely be keeping it installed in my browser.

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Record Domain Sales: Fund.com For $10 Million in Cash

Posted by Kyle Eslick on March 12th, 2008 | Category and Tags | 0 comments

Wow, where to begin. According to several reports, yesterday the biggest public domain cash-sale in history was completed, resulting in Fund.com selling for close to $10,000,000.00 in cash. While Sex.com was believed to have sold for more, that information was never publicly disclosed.

Is it just me, or is that price a little high? I can see why Porn.com, Sex.com, Business.com, etc. have all sold for so much. But Fund.com? I guess this goes to show that when domainers own a name that someone needs (or desperately wants in this case), they really have to pay you your price. Upon completion of the sale, the buyer actually changed this companies name to Fund.

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Tips For Contacting Domain Name End-Users

Posted by Kyle Eslick on March 10th, 2008 | Category and Tags | 0 comments

The way the world of domain names has been going, if you aren’t one of the top dogs who started grabbing names a decade ago, you probably either need to start developing your domain names or starting pursuing end-users for your domain names.

There are a variety of ways to go about this, but I’ve always felt it was best to examine Google’s search results for your keyword domains and attempt to contact various sites that are competing under those keywords. You may also want to pay attention to what sites are paying to advertise under those keywords, as they might be the most likely to have interest in the domains.

Before contacting end-users, you’ll probably want to spend some time working on drafting up a generic e-mail where you can just fill in the blanks with the companies information. Here is an example of an e-mail I’ve used in the past:

Hello, My name is <<Your Name>> and I am the owner of the domain name <<Domain Name to Sell>>. I am currently in the process of selling this great domain name and thought you might be interested. You have a very impressive site and I’m sure that you can see the value in having a premium domain name when competing for the best search results, especially in the competitive <<keyword>> industry.

If your company is interested in bidding on this domain name, please feel free to contact me with any questions or for any additional details.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
<<Name>>
<<E-mail Address>>
<<Phone Number>>

How do you go about approaching end-users?

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Domainer’s Excel Spreadsheet

Posted by Kyle Eslick on March 9th, 2008 | Category and Tags | 0 comments

Just a quick post to say that if you prefer to use Microsoft Excel to manage your domain portfolio, I ran across a pretty good one over at Namepros. You can find it here.

According to the author, this spreadsheet entitles you to the following benefits:

——————–
Columns :
——————–
- Date
- Number of domains in each sale.
- Domain Name(s)
- Price (what i paid for it)
- Sold Price
- Profit ($)
- ROI (%)
- MarketPlace (where i sold it, ex: Sedo, NamePros, etc..)
- MarketPlace Section (ex: Sedo auction, Sedo “counter offer” ,Fixed Price (forum), etc..)
- Type (if available, ex: LLLL.com, Generic Domain, etc..)
- Notes (ex: if renewed, etc..)