What we didn’t know at the time is that there would be individuals from different regions driving over 100 miles to join us.  What started off as the Los Angeles Domaining Group has quickly developed into the Southern California Domaining Group.  Boasting a total of 35 members, 12 members attended our first meetup.  This was by far an incredible turn out, much more than we had previously anticipated.

Our first meetup took place at a landmark pub called Casey’s in Downtown, Los Angeles.  The setting for our first meetup couldn’t of been better.  The manager of the pub extended a favor by reserving a small room for us to conduct the meetup within.  As the night started Morgan and I witnessed members starting to trickle in.  The first two members to arrive to the meetup were Ron and Oscar.  There story alone should be a headline feature.  Ron went from selling domain names on eBay to generating a six figure income by using the Snapnames platform.  Oscar was Ron’s banker!  Ron is now teaching Oscar the ends and outs of the domaining world.  They drove all the way from San Diego to attend our meetup.

As the night progressed Morgan Linton provided an insightful presentation about his company.  Everyone had the option to pick Morgan’s mind with an extensive Q & A session.  This lasted for quite some time.  It doesn’t hurt to have such a session when two representatives from Domain Sponsor and the CEO of Freshdrop.net are in the room.  The irony here is no one presented themselves as big business, everyone truly treated each other with mutual respect.  An employee from Ernst and Young was even in the room.  He has a passion for domaining and that goes to show you can have a successful career and still partake in the domaining industry.

As everyone shared there ideas, appetizers, business cards and all out passion for domaining I couldn’t help to be inspired!  As some of you may know I am a strongly driven person!  Being surrounded with other people who share my passion kicks me into overdrive.  DomainSponsor was kind enough to sponsor our group by fronting half of the bill.  This is something that was not planned!  The two representatives did this out of pure generosity and we thank them for it!  There are plenty of more details about our first domaining meetup to share but I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves.  If you are interested in joining the Southern California Domaining Group, feel free to join us on www.meetup.com/domaining and if you are a California domainer and would like to network with other domainers within this wonderful state visit cadomaining.ning.com!

Morgan Linton prepares to give an intuitive presentation to the Southern California Domaining Group.

Members get to know each other over appetizers and drinks!

Our first Southern California Domaining Group picture! You might notice a few familiar faces in 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!  For those of you who might of tried to email us at the info domain, we were in the middle of moving the blog to a new hosting provider and some how that email was never recreated.  That problem has been fixed, so email your heart away!

What makes me laugh out loud about this domain is the seller’s choice of title.  “ANT.IVIR.US — Million Dollar Domain! LLLL .com” Can this be anymore misleading?  Is the seller really trying to imply that this domain name is worth a million dollars?  To make it even worst the domain has been listed with the following picture:

The picture alone provides enough comic relief to last you through the day.  I guess this seller appeals to those ignorant chumps who purchase how to get rich kits off of late night infomercials.  Here’s the wake up call you chumps have been waiting for, this domain name is not worth anywhere close to a million dollars!  In fact the domain name is losing value right now.   If it continues at this rate the winning bidder might actually be paid ten dollars to take the domain!  Ever heard of a lemon when it comes to used cars?  This is a domain lemon and stay far away from it!

“It is perfect for any web company or domainer who would like to hold onto a domain until they find an end buyer.” Another statement which is completely out of control.  Perhaps they meant end-user?  For those who wind up bidding on such a domain name, good luck finding an “end buyer“!

1.  Have we marketed the group enough to our target audience?

We want both domainers and end-users to come to the meetup.  It will help balance the group out, allowing for more intuitive question and answer session.

2.  Should a section be reserved at the venue just for our group members?

Since we picked a bar and the meetup is relatively early in the evening, I have not reserved a section.  I am still debating on if this will even be needed for our first meetup.

3.  What will be the turnout ratio for the meetup based upon those who have RSVP’d yes versus those who actually show?

This is an important point!  I have organized a few meetups in the past which focused on other subjects and there were always a couple of no shows.  This is something that I will pay close attention to during the beginning stages of building this group.  Currently we have  at total of 9 people who have RSVP’d yes and 3 that have RSVP’d maybe.   We even have two members driving all the way from San Diego to attend the meetup!

All of these questions were settled by an article that I read in the December 2009 / January 2010 Inc. magazine.  The article is entitled “Networking Sick of canned keynote speeches?  Try an unconference.”  This article describes how an event such as a conference is actually arranged by attendees as opposed to the normal top down approach.  There are no agendas, pre-printed materials or canned speeches!

During the initial stages of formulating the Los Angeles Domaining Group I would not mind for our meetups to follow a similar path.  If a member has an idea, I want the member to feel free to announce it to everyone and if the topic flows in that person’s direction, then by all means the spotlight is theirs.  This format will allow us to engage the group in a manner where everyone feels comfortable and confident to communicate!

There’s nothing more stale than having a group, where no one talks!  We want everyone to have the opportunity to speak, provide insight or even simply ask a question.  Therefore the meetup will be a bit of a learning experience for both Morgan and I.  We are using this period of time to determine what will work and what needs to be thrown out of the window.

In conclusion, I am very excited about the fact that we were able to spread the word about this group in such a short amount of time.  If you are in the Los Angeles area and would like to attend the meetup, feel free to RSVP here.

A few months ago I thought about writing a blog entry in regards to this subject.  The curiosity was sparked while researching the various domaining tools currently available on the market.  While searching for the specific tools on google, links to torrents sites  were returned.  These links would lead you to titles such as the following:

AntsSoft.Domain.Inspect.v1.7.Beta.incl.keygen

Domain Punch Professional v1 0 102204 WinALL Incl Keymaker-CORE

Your Expired Domain Program v4.2.WinALL Cracked

I find this very interesting and this is the reason why.  I and many other domainers have written that our industry does not have enough main stream exposure.  One thing that I have learned over my years of being an Internet Entrepreneur is you can judge the popularity of an industry, product or service by taking a look at the black market.  If the black market has found the need to bootleg or pirate tools which pertain to your industry then there is indeed an audience willing to receive these items.

The fact that the domaining industry has such an audience shows me that this industry is much larger than I previously anticipated.  None of these tools which are readily available on the black market are priced more than $130.00 for a single license.  That brings me to the main point of writing this entry.  Regardless if people are pirating domaining software or not, I can say that if our industry does indeed have limited exposure this is a sign that things are definitely changing.

If the black market has started to offer the tools that we as domainers use, then we are definitely headed in the right direction.

For those that might misquote or misunderstand what I am saying, please think about this matter before you judge this topic.  I am in no way condoning piracy on any level and I feel that the legal aspect of software licensing should be taken serisouly.

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!

LOL!  Excuse me for laughing while I type this entry, but this is hilarious.  With all the controversey surrounding Tiger Woods, there are a number of people out there, including domainers trying to flip this into a quick profit.  In the auction seller’s own words “Tiger Woods Premium Domain Name - Cash In Now! It’s Hot” and “Tiger Woods Domain Name - Huge Money.”  The seller even entices bidders with a free push to the winning bidder’s GoDaddy account.  Last time I checked pushes were free to begin with,  so what is this seller referring to?

To laugh a little louder the seller included a golf clip art graphic, making this auction even funnier!  Now my comment for the seller of this auction, please tell me this is a complete joke!  If this is a joke then sir I have to commend you on the humour.  I thought it was funny from the minute that I saw your auction headline in my search results.

Now if this is not a joke and you are truly trying to con some poor bidder into purchasing such a domain, then please tell me this was one of those late night registrations where you tipped a few too many back. ;)  This has drunken domainer written all over it. To be fair you have thoughtfully priced the domain name by setting the starting bid to $12.95.  This is quite an interesting number, perhaps you are trying to recoup your reg fee?

Whatever it is, you my friend have earned an LOL from me!  Be proud of yourself as this might just be the only publicity you get for your eBay auction!  Until next time!

Enough mushy talk, let’s get on with three presents not to get a domainer for Christmas!

1.  A Domain Name

A word of advice, before buying a gift for a domainer!  Do not make the mistake of purchasing a domain name that you think the domainer would like.  I don’t care if you had good intentions in doing so!  This act alone might actually spark a conversation you might not want to have during the holiday season.  Save yourself the time and despair by staying far away from such an idea.

2.  A Pre-Paid Legal Membership

Where to begin with this.  So your significant other or friend occasionally speaks about the legal aspects of domaining.  You figure, since there are so many legal concerns I will purchase my favorite domainer a pre-paid legal membership and they will get all of the legal counseling there heart desires. WRONG! Pre-Paid Legal services are a joke when it comes to the domaining world.  The advice that such a service provides you with could actually cause your favorite domainer more problems then anything else.

3.  A GoDaddy T-Shirt

Just because a few of us tend to use the GoDaddy website, doesn’t mean we want to sport the brand!  I might upset a few people with this, but isn’t the GoDaddy brand a bit corny?  I mean the marketing obviously works for the company but has anyone actually been impressed with the quality of commercials that have been released? I could go on and on with this!

I tend to utilize GoDaddy to register domains for cheap prices.  I haven’t found a service which has cheaper domain registration coupons then GoDaddy.  Other then that, you won’t find me at your local restaurant or bar wearing a GoDaddy t-shirt!

If you want to buy a domainer a t-shirt make sure there is a Moniker logo located on the front of it.

So there you have it!  Three presents to stay far away from this Christmas!  Don’t even think about getting a domainer these three things!  You’ll thank me later for it.

It all started in May of this year. I was browsing through one of the many magazines I tend to receive and ran into a short blurb about “Educational Solar Kits.” Looking a little further into these solar kits, I discovered that these items were being utilized to teach kids about solar energy. The products worked so well that kids had no idea they were actually learning important concepts about solar energy!

Since I was acquiring product based domain names at that time, I decided to check the google keywords tool and see if anyone had been searching for that term. After seeing that there were some steady searches being conducted for the term, I decided to register it. Good thing I did! Once the domain was registered a few weeks passed by and I moved forward with installing wordpress, a wp ecommerce plugin, and the vanilla cart theme.  Google then indexed the term and the organic traffic started to flow.

I then proceeded to sign up for the eBay partner network to generate affiliate sales using the website. After eBay accepted me I added a few products to the website (easier said then done!) and struggled a little bit with configuring external links in conjunction with buy it now buttons. This turned out to be a huge bug with the entire wp ecommerce system, one which still hasn’t been completely fixed as of yet! Once I realized that adding products manually to my site was not efficient, (fast forward several months) I decided to look for a new solution.

So what did I find?

I found a script called TWP Auctions and guess what!  The script is free and very easy to setup.  I plan on writing a future blog entry about the exact steps I took to develop EducationalSolarKit.com, but for now I want to say that the script provided me with the right platform to launch a site which runs itself.

In the end I was able to develop an internal process for creating efficient minisites.  This process is one that I will continue to use for future product based domain developments.  There are still a few issues I am working out with the current platform, but most of the issues pertain to visual elements caused by the theme that I have selected.

We have decided to organize a Los Angeles based domaining group to network with local domainers, share ideas and ultimately expand awareness about the domaining industry.  Both Morgan and I are eager to open the doors of the group to domaining professionals and end-users.  As a domainer, I have personally recognized that end-users are a key asset to the domaining community and educating them will only move our beloved industry forward.

Members will be able to meet one another, exchange ideas and have a great time at a landmark pub in Downtown, Los Angeles.  Make sure to bring your business cards and network with fellow domain enthusiasts, while enjoying  great food and spirits!  For more information on the Los Angeles Domaining group feel free to visit our meetup page:  www.meetup.com/domaining