discredit.org

These are the top ten mistakes that I’ve made as a domainer. I’ve decided to turn this list into a series where I will explain one point at a time. I feel these points are important and if I can teach someone else not to make the same mistakes then I consider this list a success. It’s important to learn from your mistakes and its also important to note that some of these points I am still continuing to learn from!

1. Spending Too Much Time On The Computer

2. Not Staying Focused

3. Registering Domains Only To Drop Them A Year Later

4. Giving Up Prematurely

5. Not Having A Solid Marketing Plan

6. Spending Too Much Time On Development

7. Not Having A Blog Directed At My Target Audience

8. Trying To Do Everything Myself

9. Underselling A Domain Name

10. Paying For Traffic

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year, in celebration of this I asked my artist to draw a Happy Halloween message. He said that it’s the “cool cat” in the hat. When I received the image in my email I had to laugh as it caught me off guard.

If you see this guy walking around in your neighborhood make sure to hand him a few crisp $100 bills. In the spirit of Halloween I want to wish everyone a safe and fun time! Happy Halloween!

1. Domainer Mardi Gras 2010

This conference has me written all over it. Domaining, Bourbon Street, drinks and the infamous beads. What more could you want from a conference about the domaining industry? New Orleans is a great place to enjoy yourself.

I consider this to be a domaining conference / vacation. Domainer Mardi Gras takes place from February 11th, through Saturday February 13th, 2010. I’ve been to New Orleans before and I can personally recommend everyone go at least once. Its an experience that you will remember for the rest of your life.

2. T.R.A.F.F.I.C 2010 (Las Vegas)

Ever since I became a domainer, I always planned on attending a T.R.A.F.F.I.C conference. What makes this even more attractive is the the fact that they are holding this conference in Las Vegas! Since, I am a resident of Los Angeles, Vegas only takes a few hours to get to by car.

Turns out a couple of friends and I were actually planning a trip to Las Vegas for January, if it works out then you might see me at the conference. T.R.A.F.F.I.C 2010 Las Vegas takes place at the Hard Rock Hotel from January 21st to January 23rd.

3. DOMAINfest 2010

This convention happens to take place around fifteen minutes from where I live and would be the perfect opportunity for me to network with some of the domainers in my local area. If you haven’t been to Santa Monica, California then ‘ your chance.

With accommodations at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel you will have the opportunity to enjoy the best in what Southern California has to offer. Fortunately, if I do decide to attend this conference I will simply hop in the car and commute to it! DOMAINfest 2010 takes place from January 26th - January 28th, 2010.

I purposely didn’t write much information on the conferences themselves. I will do this once I find out if I will be able to attend them. These conferences are full of great networking opportunities and as we all know networking is key in this industry.

This year at T.R.A.F.F.I.C New York, domainers from all across the world participated in Rick Latona’s live auction. The auction platform was setup in such a way that domainers could participate on and offline. If you had the pleasure of visiting the event you were right in the middle of all the action.

If you couldn’t attend the event, the you had the chance to participate via a web application labeled Proxbid. The format worked quite well and the auction brought in great numbers across the board. Here are the top 5 domain sales for the auction thus far:

1. Rio.com - $450,000

2. Whiskey.com - $185,000

3. SchoolLoans.com - $137,500

4. iAuction.com - $50,000

5. Porn.co.za - $45,000

5. Boy.com - $45,000

If you are a resident of this friendly planet called earth then you have probably seen this creature on your TV screen. This lovable character is currently used as one of the main mascots for GEICO, an insurance company based out of the United States.

As always something caught my attention in regards to the company itself. Perhaps it is the domain name which they readily make available on countless marketing campaigns. A few days ago I received a letter in the mail from this company, showing me that I could save money on my auto insurance needs.

I took a further look at the letter and positioned in the top right corner of the header, what do I see? Well a domain name of course! The letter to simply put it states that if I want to receive a free quote on insurance then visit geico.com for more information or call (800)947-AUTO. Great way to provide the prospective lead with options. Geico.com is listed a total of five times on the front of this marketing letter. Twice towards the header, twice in the body and once towards the footer.

The domain itself is used almost as a standard dictionary word. For instance in the first sentence of the letter it states “DO NOT discard this letter without first visiting geico.com. You’ve got to admit there is something alarming yet catchy about this phrase. They were very clever to end the first sentence with the geico.com domain. It flows well and is easy for you to remember. You can’t help but to want to see what they might offer you in terms of a competitive quote.

On the back of the letter the geico domain name is listed a total of four times. In one case they actually provide a direct url to geico.com/local for you to search for a local office near you. Last but not least towards the bottom of the letter you can see an email which references another geico domain name which is marketingremoval@geicomail.com. This seems to be a common trend with a few of the domains that I have featured in our domain spotlight tuesdays. Designating one domain name strictly for email. We saw this in the case of maglite as well.

I might implement a similar strategy when mailing prospective leads about a product or service. I figure using the geico letter as a template might actually convert a few leads into clients. For those of you who would like to view the letter I have included a scanned copy of it below. I would of taken a picture of it but it looks like my trusty OLYMPUS C-3020 Zoom is currently experiencing some technical difficulties. It might actually be time to replace this old camera with something new!

Lately I’ve been thinking a great deal about my current domain portfolio. I have always had trouble ranking my domain names because I am an equal opportunist and feel that each one of the domain names that I have acquired are equally important. Well I have decided to get rid of that mentality at least when it comes to domaining and prioritize the domain names which I feel deserve to hold the top five positions.

5. CreditNews.us - I was lucky to grab this domain name while scanning a drop list. The domain name pretty much speaks for itself.

4. EducationalSolarKit.com - I didn’t even know these existed until I picked up a magazine and read a small article about them. Apparently these solar kits are quite popular with kids who are interested in learning about renewable energy.

3. AutoInsuranceClaim.net - Great domain name, easy to remember could be implemented as part of a marketing campaign for car insurance.

2. FreeCreditReportScore.net - Sound familiar? Well of course it does it, who can forget about the catchy commercials for another similar domain name. This is another domain name which I received off of a drop. Can you believe it!?

1. Infomercials.info - This is my favorite domain name currently in my portfolio. It is also a domain name which I won off of a bido auction. I paid a considerable amount for the domain and have big plans for it. It might be developed and it might be sold, only time will tell with this investment!

Lately I’ve been inspired to develop a few of my ideas into full fledged business ventures. Although I won’t reveal the domain names for these ventures, I will give a glimpse into the ventures themselves and shed a little light on why I’ve decided to work on these projects.

The first venture deals with one of my side jobs (gigs) computer repair. While working on this part-time for myself I have been able to generate a supplemental income. The demand for this type of business has been so strong that I am teaming up with my cousin to partner on a computer repair business with an interesting twist. What is the twist you may ask, its one that I can not reveal and will not reveal until everything is up and running. This is still a new space which has plenty of opportunity to grow. The idea was convincing enough for me to strike a deal with an investor who will be backing the company with an investment of $xx,xxx.

The second venture I am working on pertains to geo domains. These aren’t your everyday geos. Most people tend to register state or city domain names. I went ahead and registered community based names, some which are district related. Why did I do this? Because I saw an opportunity which had not been tapped into as of yet. There are a few communities in my local area which need a web presence and I lplan to bring it to them in the best manner possible. I have studied what Bruce Marler was capable of doing with Missouri.me and I plan on doing the same on a smaller scale. He and the Castello brothers definitely get the power of a geo-based domain name and they also realize that with the right development, marketing and sales you can give birth to a business one geo at a time.

Last but not least, I had the opportunity to meet with a fairly well known record producer. He happens to be a childhood friend of mine and has produced tracks for artists such as Snoop Dogg, B2K and a number of other chart toppers. My business partner had the idea of creating a site which would allow people to license the producer’s collection of beats. In the meeting he stated that he has around 750 tracks for us to utilize on the website. This idea in itself is one that I am truly looking forward to developing. Since his music is unique and he is constantly sought after for production, this is pretty much a no brainer. There are a great deal of artists out there who could use a site like the one we are in the process of developing.

As you can see I have my hands full and that’s the way I tend to like it. There are also other projects which are currently on the table that I will discuss later on down the line! As these websites are developed you will be sure to hear a great deal about them.

The comic is a little late this week. This time it is my fault, but I have a good reason why it was delayed. I am currently in the process of remodeling my office here in Los Angeles. This is a great transition for me because I have decided that I no longer want to work out of my home office. There’s something about leaving the house which allows you to think a little clearer. The only downfall will be the Los Angeles traffic, since my office is located on Wilshire I tend to get the grunt of that. Anyhow now you know the reason so without further delays lets get to part 2 of Kentucky Seizes Gambling Domains!

For those of you who missed what happened in part 1 feel free to click here! As always if you have any ideas for a future comic strip feel free to submit them to info@dnpimping.com or call us at (909)257-PIMP and if chosen we will give you a $20 GoDaddy.com gift card!

Today I received a mailer from How Magazine. I currently subscribe to the design magazine to stay up to date with the graphic design world. As some of you may know I am a graphic designer at heart and have worked on several different projects ranging from album covers to websites. You can view some samples of my work here.

The domain name featured on the mailer is HowConference.com, which in my opinion is a bit long. Regardless of its length the magazine does a great job promoting the 20th annual How Design Conference. The conference itself takes place between the dates of June 6th and June 9th (2010) in Denver, Colorado.

Great design, informative information and a memorable domain name. Doesn’t get much better than this, with the exception of the domain’s length.

Back in September 2008 we heard about the commonwealth of Kentucky seizing gambling domains. In January of 2009 the Kentucky Court of Appeals stated that the state does not have the jurisdiction to seize Internet domain names which pertain to gambling. Since this has been a hot topic we decided to turn this into a comic strip. Enjoy part one of Kentucky Seizes Gambling Domains!

As always if you have any ideas for a future comic strip feel free to submit them to info@dnpimping.com or call us at (909)257-PIMP and if chosen we will give you a $20 GoDaddy.com gift card!