Domaining – The Service

September 25, 2008 1 Comment

I’ve been dealing in domains since around 1998 but I didn’t know I was, I sold a dot com for around £250 a few years later after the dot com bust, I only owned a handful of domains and was offered money, it paid my mortgage that month so I took it. The domain was for me. Trust me if I had been dealing in domains since 1998 properly, I’d be rich – even if I got around to knowing what I was doing, I’m self taught so takes a while. I’m lazy, I like women, liked drinking, football etc…

I got into domains after I ran out of ideas in affiliate marketing, Autumn of 2005, my mind just went blank after crazy frog and the thousands I made with that mad little f**ker, didn’t know what to do so as I had amassed seventy domains through development I turned my head to domaining, back in the days of deleting, I watched that site 24 hours a day and flipped domains to buyers and end users at a bargain £500 a time, domainers and affiliates in hours and days for hundreds providing a service, I have an eye for the catchy and generic, I’m good at what I do.

I’m still in affiliate marketing but barely, I don’t know the people, don’t keep an eye on merchants but I revisit the networks a few times a year. I work a few hours a week on domains, several, I’m a tag holder, I catch professionally and secure domains within seconds after they drop, I made the investment, I pay the membership, I pay the fees to be a part of a community that a year or so ago before I flew to Russia for a summer of love, was a lot easier to enter and compete than it is now, domaining not Russia or the girl.

The decision by Nominet’s board to delete deleting.co.uk changed domaining overnight and whilst I was one of the most vocal as my income was sorely affected, the decision was never over ruled and people just got wise and took the step up, I went away for eight months, came back and found I had to invest to compete. It took me a while to figure that out as well. These days I lose money not on the deal but trying to make it go through faster, lost £1000 on ClimateWorks.co.uk, £250 on another, saw a LuckyYou.co.uk enquiry go from £750 to £500 to £300 in a month – I won’t be letting that happen again.

In so many years I’ve only ever had one complaint and that was from a group of solicitors who thought I was someone else, they ended up paying me also. Domaining is a service and this is what I explain. A thousand or more or less domains drop a day, they can go one of two ways, go unregged or be caught in seconds or hand regged in hours or days. Dozens of us scan lists every day to see what’s dropping, either lists we make ourselves or from third parties. 15% or more of domains are re-regged the same day they drop.

How do we choose? there’s a variety of ways, people scan the domains for backlinks and overture, possible signals of traffic for parking or other uses. Generic one or two words stand out for themselves, many domainers are developers and can attract business by way of having a good stock of useable, marketable domains to build websites on, I supply developers who have clients as well as end users with new or existing projects. I have references as long as your arm and a client list to match.

I select on the basis of name alone, sometimes I research, I don’t own scanning software nor have the ip addresses or computers to run the list twelve times over in 24 hours, yet I know what to do to get there because I’m self taught and intelligent – but usually a year behind. A contradiction? Domainers go for traffic, catchy, memorable but very few of us go into trademarks, yet that’s where the money is on parking and yes selling back to previous owners who failed to renew.

In parking and with near typo trademark domains – I and many others steer clear of such registrations, occasionally we do land a domain that may or may not be closely termed to another, such an incident can and will occur when chasing good names. One reason for writing this article is you can reg a generic domain and it can run close to another exisiting site but generic alone should stand you in good stead, no point regging LloydsTSBbank.co.uk not only did they merge again and your domain is worthless but if that aint cybersquatting I don’t know what is but the silly buggers do it time and time again and put us good domainers in a bad light but who am I to say what they should or shouldn’t do to turn a few quid.

Take Cruises.co.uk and Cruise.co.uk – neither party would ever win action against the other, it’s not impossible but it would be highly silly, even talking of buying or selling to each other would be legitimate, is the world now saying you can’t sell your own asset and at a profit? that’s where the law can get cloudy, rights, tms but generics are usually a safe house and legitimate whether for resale or development purposes. I tend not to research buyers before catching, as with 1000 domains dropping daily you can only spend so long looking for the two or three to catch each day, whilst looking after my own client’s interests at the same time. But that’s not to say I don’t take a peek at other company interests.

Firstly you the reader and we need to acknowledge the domaining business then differentiate between cybersquatting and domaining, domaining for development or resale, all assets are saleable. To say otherwise will make you look stupid, to suggest giving a domain away for free when it has value is also equally silly, at the end of it all we have bills to pay and a company has money to spend on acquiring assets, marketing, traffic building, new business etc. and sometimes I forget that as I’m too nice for this business. 

Ask one affiliate company what I did for them, a great three character domain for their company which they appreciated so much they didn’t even make a donation, that’s where being helpful gets you, I may have gone without food for a week after being nice. Fellow Millwall fan James Galvin can reveal that story. Being nice doesn’t put food on the table, being fair may supply crumbs making you friends, being business like and mature, realising a business exists and domaining exists may dent the pocket a little bit but respecting each other’s interests and needs is a sound foundation to build upon.

Where am I going with this? well I’m pissed off. Domainers aren’t a business enemy. I’m fed up of so called cybersquatting baiting, I provide a service, I invest my time and money in developing domains and at the same time matching domains after the fact to end users and businesses who may well benefit from a little more targetted traffic from generics – I’d be silly not to do the best I can to double, triple or times one hundred the value of the asset I hold. Hands up, I own up, I contact end users because I can’t be arsed waiting 45 years for them to contact me, I’d go broke because business does not know how to look after their interests and do not use their sense to employ me to look after them.

So I act in advance of their interests to which I expect them to pay a fee for the domain I reap for them which they may utilise in the near future. I come across approximately fifty companies a week who fail their board members, directors and employees, bank manager, families and the local vicar through their lack of online internet business acumen. If I told you that I can look after your business interests online with regards domains, would you understand why or how I could do that? Seven out of ten of you just said no in unison.

If the answer is no, then you need someone like me on your side not against you, I work for your interests but too many people in this world, the UK inparticular expect everything on the cheap or for free just because their knowledge and ability with regards their own business and activities is questioned. They could learn a lot from their European counter parts whose knowedge is leaps and bounds above most directors in the UK when it comes to online assets.

Someone like me or me, takes the initiative to buy domains as an investment on the drop for their own portfolio and development plans with a view to resell to any company that enquires - both site and domain, however as is my right I may well wish to sell an asset early on if the opportunity should arise. No? Yes of course.

Domainers and most clients can differentiate between cybersquatting and domaining, recent articles on Lehman Brothers bank mergers and associated domains being regged were spot on, that’s cybersquatting, absolutely no use for the domains whatsoever, not generic, names of companies with no legitimate use unless of course your name is a double barralled Barclays-Lehman.co.uk highly unlikely but possible.

The cloud of quandry comes about when a company uses a generic name in the first instance and then expects to be able to own every plural, singular, hyphen, extension thereafter, did they really think about the company name beforehand? and the issues that would follow, where do their rights start and begin? how far are they willing to go to protect their rights? and how is it that only when I try to aid a company in their quest for world domination do they notice the domain ever existed in the first place and expect to own it themselves? and for free or on the cheap, I need food to survive can we please remember that!?! Please!! Although when I was in Russia I survived for days on Vodka and her beautiful brown eyes.

Ethics and morals, it’s always been a sticking point for me, where do they begin and end in this business, how do you supply a service to a company before they need it or before I myself know they even require help or an acquisition and I’m not in a position to ask first and find out later, I have 30 minutes before the drops begin and if I ask in advance I may lose any future sale or business if they decide to go for the domain themselves, how does a domainer operate with their hands tied? how can you watch out for a company and prospect for business, whether that’s to make a quick quid or build a long term relationship?

I didn’t have a plan for this article, I’m simply fed up of domainers turning on themselves trying to find a way of how to do business and not dirtying other domainer’s names, I wish to find a way of doing business without upsetting a director or trader who has gone online without the full knowledge of what they do and what they should be looking out for, only for it to end in tears when I contact them to offer a service, for them to go irate or feel shut in a room with only two routes - stay in happy or pay to get out with asset in hand, who knows they could be happy as well with a new friend looking after their interests.

So I found something they may wish to own, that they’ve never seen before or couldn’t purchase before as it was owned by another company, that’s good right? yes? no? have you seen the cost of domains on the resale market? and compared it with my offer? and here I am working for you and for myself and you’re kicking the shit out of me, why? born with a silver spoon in your mouth, don’t expect to be approached in this manner?

What is it that gets your backs up so much? I didn’t target your company, I bought a domain for my own interests and whilst looking after my own interests and wishing to put food on the table, decide money up front this week would be better than money in two months when I finally get the asset working for me. This isn’t aimed at one person, it’s not even really to do with one prospective enquiry, I simply do not understand why businesses aren’t more domain aware and why when approached they expect a domain for free or threaten action to which I usually say, “pppwwwwbbbbbbb” or want it on the cheap, does the length of this article not tell you how valuable this service is to people and companies? and to my livelihood.

There’s many things I can do for your company if you were to ask me beforehand, I can watch sector domains, related domains dropping, I can contact you in advance, I can try to get said domains on the drop and do price agreements beforehand, I can broker… I can look after your domains, make sure you renew and in a timely fashion, I can look after your interests and warn you of events and outcomes before they arise, I can advise of rights you may have and if I don’t know, I know others who do. These are all things I can offer before the fact.

Sounds reasonable? Yet if I approach a company with a domain I plan to develop for resale or a website that I’ve developed with a domain in tow for sale, I’m a cybersquatting scumbag. I do not and will never agree with that assumption as the terminology does not apply to me. I seek out domains that are of value to me and my business as assets, I provide a cost effective service to end users, domainers and yes affiliates and a wide range of clients who accept I offer a service and I’d like you to understand what domaining offers your company. Please talk over your concerns with me rather than feel I knew you existed weeks before and made a plan of attack.

Yes I want to make money, I don’t want to marry your daughter and become your future son in law but building a business relationship would be a clever idea for both of us. Do you know, the best people I like are the ones who know what they want and what their online business is doing and where it is heading, I don’t like an easy sale, selling World-Cruise.co.uk wasn’t easy but they understood the need for negotiation and at £250 they took the piss however I was happy.

On the other hand Worky.co.uk went for £4600 in the end after a few hours talks, please understand why I exist, what mine and your needs are and instead of shooting across the border like Pakistan and America, pull up a chair, have a chat and let’s find out how we can each benefit from my line of business, which funnily enough is here to help and assist not cause you a trip to A&E and financial ruin at Wallmart, sorry Wall Street. Noapta Buna. Email domaini@hotmail.co.uk somn usor

 

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