Sunday Updates & Tips

With the long weekend for Memorial Day in the United States, and the TRAFFIC conference on its heels, you might see a lag in response time from domain investors and companies. If you are traveling this weekend or for the conference, I wish you safe travels.

Here are some updates and tips:

  • Some of the deals from the charity auction have already closed, and most others are pending payment. If you’re a buyer or seller and have questions, contact me and I’ll get you an answer.
  • People often ask me if I am buying names. I am always buying great names. Here are a few recent acquisitions from the past week or so: Runs.com, Ulster.com, VideoYearbook.com, and MethTreatment.com. There seem to be quite a few good deals to be had these days.
  • There are 11 tickets remaining for the Boston domain investor meet up sponsored by Afternic and NameJet. We are meeting at 5pm at Game On, followed by the Red Sox game. You can get a ticket to the event by donating $30 to One Fund Boston and sending me the receipt for confirmation. NameJet and Afternic are picking up the tab for drinks and the game.
  • When searching for domain names to acquire privately, I often come across non-functioning email addresses in Whois lookups. While this can be a bit frustrating, especially on domain names I really want to purchase, it’s certainly a good sign that nobody else has been able to contact the domain owner either. Don’t let non-functioning email addresses and phone numbers stop you from getting domain names.
  • If you have spare time and want to read some interesting articles, check out the DN Journal archive some time. I recommend starting with the cover story archive.
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

16 COMMENTS

  1. I usually find non functioning email addresses on some domains I want to buy as well. One quick way to get that sorted out is to report the domain to ICANN at http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints/whois/inaccuracy-form

    ICANN will inform the registrar who then will contact the registrant. I just wait for the updated info, then fire an email right after. I have had other people’s domains suspended then eventually deleted using that technique on the domains that are not updated on time (GoDaddy is very strict on that). In some cases, it was just a matter of waiting for the domain to drop šŸ™‚

    • Simply stated: When you register a .US domain, you’re bound to Neustar’s NEXUS agreement for .US. If you are not compliant, then the domain is taken from you. Does that make sense to you?

    • I know what the rules are, I just don’t agree with your tactic of using that rule to your advantage at the expense of the domain owner.

      Make an effort to track the owner down and make an offer.

  2. Elliot,I remember listening to your Tip 4 in an interview you had with Michael Cyger of DomainSherpa in which you’ve stated that you love ‘Mailer Daemon’ Notices. Thanks.

  3. MethTreatment.com is not that great of a domain name. This is coming from an individual who writes medical content and owns several good searched medical domains that produce traffic.

    However, you may find a buyer for that domain since you probably have an end-user in mind that deals with that type of treatment. There is not a lot of searches for anything related to meth.

    Searches do matter because people will not visit unless you write relevant content. There is not that much to write about meth unless it’s “meth” or “meth addiction”.

    • The treatment business is extremely competitive. I think the name is worth $5-10k, which would be a profitable sale for me. Keep in mind, in the last month and a half, EatingDisorderTreatmentPrograms.com sold for $7,500 and EatingDisorderTreatmentCenters.com sold for $11,500 (NOT my sales). I’ve privately sold a few treatment related names in the last couple years, so I know the market a bit.

      This name probably won’t sell for 5 figures, but my guess is it will lead to a profitable sale.

    • @Elliot,

      The comparative sales are for overpriced domains with extremely low searches. They will require extensive work to deliver leads. Trying to bank on the two long-tailed keywords is ineffective.

      If the end-users plan to gain leads, they must advertise for keywords that are actually searched in the “eating disorder” space. Just because the domains sold that contain “treatment” does not suggest that any treatment domain can sell around that price.

      I can see if the domains are relevant in high demand medical treatments. None of these domains mentioned here are going to create immediate leads. The real search value for “Meth Treatment” is 260. The end-user must be creative to create leads. They won’t get them banking on the keywords.

      In your case, “meth addiction” would be a good target. Any person who has meth addiction can find meth treatment. The cost to advertise for meth addiction is expensive and may be too risky to capture those type of leads.

      I would sooner target treatment such as anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and other related fields where there are better leads.

  4. Ulster.com is the star domain there.

    Lots of companies use ulster as there brand name and of course its a solid Geo.

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