Sunday Updates & Tips

Hope you’re having a nice weekend. I’m still in the midst of the move to Massachusetts, living in New Hampshire temporarily until our house is ready and we close on it. Dealing with a home sale and home purchase has made me realize just how much more easy it is to transact in the domain space.

Here are some things I’ve found interesting over the last few days and a few tips. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

  • Check out this article on TechCrunch involving a company that recently endured a domain name theft. According to TC, the story “involves crisis management, blackmail, investigative research, payoffs, a clever thief, and points to potential problems with the domain name registry system that could affect anyone with a website.”
  • If you live in the northeast of the US and are expecting the storm named Sandy during the next couple of days, here’s a quick tip. Place your NameJet and/or Snapnames backorders in advance in case you lose power. You may also want to bid in advance (if you generally bid manually) and allow the auction houses to place proxy bids on your behalf.
  • People keep asking if I am concerned about Google’s EMD update. The short answer is “no.” I don’t think the update targeted EMDs in general, but it did target EMDs that were used for minimal websites hoping to take advantage of the keywords. I think targeted EMD .com domain names still hold considerable value, and any weakness in aftermarket sales is related to the economy rather than Google changes.
  • If you don’t have a mastery of a particular language, I would recommend not registering domain names in that language unless you have an expert helping you. I’ve seen many confusing registrations that make no sense, and it’s likely due to language issues. I don’t register Spanish or French domain names because I know that my knowledge of those languages is severely limited.
  • An acquaintance emailed me this past week with a screenshot sent by one of his customers. Apparently, his website was blocked as “mature content” although he specializes in gourmet food sales. One other thing I saw was that Google briefly listed DNForum as “may be compromised.” You should always check for abnormal traffic patterns that may indicate a problem. Customers may not always make management aware of issues, especially if they don’t have a business relationship.
  • When it comes to evaluating others’ domain names on various forums and blogs, I think constructive criticism is far more effective than other type of negative comment. I’ve grown thick skin, but I don’t think other contributors should be subjected to rudeness simply for sharing. Maybe I’ve forgotten this a bit along the way, but I will try to do a better job of being constructive.
Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

15 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Elliot! is domaining your full-time job/occupation, or is domaining your only source of income?? I am just curious, because Iam not making any money. Can you give me some tips???

  2. “One other thing I saw was that Google briefly listed DNForum as “may be compromised.””

    Hey Elliot,

    I submitted that notice to DNF. Catching it was a fluke really. For me Google is still showing as the site “may be compromised”.

    Not sure if I’m looking at a cached page though.

    I’m sure they are looking into it and can hopefully resolve it.

    That kind of a link could really hurt a business.

    It’s definitely something people who derive a lot of their online income via a website need to watch out for.

  3. Hello mr elliot,do you Hotels plus cities domains are hot? Such as HotelsZagreb.com,HotelsAlbany.com,etc.I need your comment

  4. Yes, I do think it behooves us all to act civilly to each other even with our difference of opinions.

    Domaining has certainly gotten bigger on the radar in recent years as more people learn about it.

    Us “old timers” can attest to that. And also to seeing newcomers fall into the pitfalls and traps that we clearly see.

    I’ve upped the due diligence and vetting of new acquisitions recently as my philosophy has shifted from lots of “guppies” to fewer, but bigger fishes. The super shark.

    It’s nice to “shoot the bull” with like minded people around these here parts, so I gotta say “thanks” to Elliot for having this blog.

  5. I see that Bing and Yahoo update their search system to get the piece of cake that big Google ‘s just dropped ..EMD advantage …my new web get thousands of visitors even not ranked by G

  6. It’s key for companies to have a good domain name which is why they will pay big bucks for one, even multiple domain names for forwarding and marketing purposes like blog1stop.com or domain1stop.com , thanks for the tips

    • Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but no one in his right mind would buy “blog1stop.com” or “domain1stop.com”.

      And I say that with sincerity. You need to really go about your domaining venture differently if you’re gonna make a go of it.

      There is not a SINGLE domain on your list that I would accept if you offered it to me for FREE.

      As echoed by others on Elliot’s blog, domaining is not a crapshoot. All you’re doing by registering these worthless names is making the registry and registrars rich. It’s like a license for them to print free money for themselves.

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