Francois Carrillo is best known for the creation of Domaining.com, the go-to news aggregator in the Domain Investing world. If you look at other industries like affiliate marketing, SEO, startups, etc. there is nothing like this. This one site has without a doubt changed the Domain Investing space forever and I’d venture a guess that it is the most-visited site in the industry.

Francois has continued to innovate with Domaining.com adding things like user accounts, seamless sponsored advertising, and great options for customizing the feeds that you see. Sure, Francois could have probably just launched v1 of the site and never iterated but like a true entrepreneur he is always doing things to make the experience better for the user.

Look at any successful startup and you’ll see iteration as one of the key factors to their success. Iteration isn’t easy, it involves studying user behavior, paying someone to write code, testing, fixing bugs, the list goes on. It’s a lot less work to iterate and many sites lose their luster by failing to iterate and provide more and more for their users. Iterate in the right direction and you build brands that stick.

However, like many entrepreneurs one project is not enough and Francois went on to build Cax.com. This domain sales and auction platform made a major innovation, they provided price valuations for each domain, along with an expected ROI. Of course many investors are weary of valuations and just want the data itself, and Cax has that too. Like Domaining.com Francois has continued to iterate with Cax adding seamless integration into eCop.com, an innovate escrow service that Francois also created.

Earlier this year Francois released Dofo.com, a tool to aggregate all the different services Domainers use all in one place. I use Dofo everyday and don’t quite know how I live so long going from site to site. Once again, Francois looked at what sites Domain Investors use and made a free tool that we’re certain to see continue to iterate over time.

Now Francois has taken another step forward with Dona.com, a Domain Registar with twist, UDRP insurance. Once again Francois is paying attention to what is going on in the space, and seeing UDRP’s spiraling out of control, he’s created a one of a kind solution.

Francois doesn’t just build brands, he builds brands that stick, and he does this by studying the market, his users, and building what they want. Then he continues to innovate so that users are consistently delighted by new features that make their experience better. When you’re building a brand, or two, or ten you have to be so careful not to stop innovating and even more importantly, to pay attention to the user.

The Domaining space has seen a lot of brands come and go, some stick some don’t. Francois is batting 1000% right now making brands that stick and solid customer development and continual iteration is a key reason for his success. Whether you’re building a brand in the Domaining space, the mobile space, or any other niche out there you can learn a lot from watching what Francois does. Hats off to Francois for making Dona.com, another great innovation in our space, as always I’ll be watching, learning, and using this and many of his new brands to come.

(Photo Credit)

I am excited to share my latest flip with all of you which I think does a great job of illustrating how much opportunity there still is in this space, even if you’re starting out this year. I’ve heard far too many people say, “all the good names are taken” or “the top guys bought all domains in the 90′s so there’s no opportunities for the rest of us.” This just isn’t true, in fact I think the opportunities are only growing as are the tools for finding them. Opportunity is everywhere, you just have to know where to look, and what to look for.

First let’s get the raw numbers and dates out in the open. I purchased Summon.com for $3,500 in February of this year from an end-user who had owned it for some time. The name didn’t expire, and wasn’t for sale on any major marketplaces, I sought it out myself because I liked the name and wanted to use it for a project.

This first step is one that’s important to highlight that I think many new Domain Investors miss. Yes, there are some great opportunities in the expired domain market, auctions, etc. but there are also plenty of great names, taken by normal people, who could sell them for a price far below what you’d buy them for on the open market. Finding these isn’t easy but tools like DomainTools can make it possible and honestly without DomainTools I don’t think this deal would have happened because I would have never emailed the owner in the first place.

DomainTools can save you a lot of time by showing you how many other domains a person owns. Someone that has hundreds or thousands of domains is most-likely an investor so expecting a rock-bottom or even fair price is usually out of the question. Couple this with the monitoring and research tools they offer and you should see why $50 is absolutely nothing for what they offer.

I was looking at a number of different domain options for this project, wanted a one-word .COM, and wanted something I could get for a fair price. I looked at ten names and Summon.com was the only one that wasn’t owned by someone with a zillion other domains, so I sent the owner an email. We discussed pricing and he said he’d be happy with $3,500, a few days later I was the proud owner of the name.

As my team started working on the project, offers started to come in on the domain at the rate of about 2-3/week. Most were low-ball offers but I always responded politely ince you never know who your buyer is. I’ve heard many stories of offers starting at $500 and ending in the six-figure range so I’ve learned never to be rude to anyone making an offer, plus I’m a nice guy so it’s really just not my style.

In April an offer came in for $2,000 and after a bit of negotiation I was able to get the buyer up to $20,000. He wasn’t able to pay it all right away but said he could put a down-payment in May 1st and pay the rest off over the next few months. I put together a contract, we both signed it and that was it, I was certain I had sold the domain for $20,000. May 1st came along and no first payment, so I emailed the buyer, no response. Send another email on May 2nd, still no response. By May 5th I realized this buyer, despite being great at the initial communication and signing a contract just dropped off the face of the planet.

By this point the team was working on other projects and I had the name listed on Sedo and Afternic so I decided to wait until the next offer came in. Then, two weeks ago I was contacted by Rich Green from Afternic, there was a buyer and after a bit of negotiation we settled on $17,500.

Afternic has been my favorite domain listing service for three reasons; they have a huge network so your domain gets in front of millions of eyeballs, their transfer process is always smooth, and most importantly they hire great people like Rich who go above and beyond. From the moment the offer came in Rich was on it with prompt communication and excellent follow-up. I was able to call him on the phone and immediately get him on the line, this kind of peace of mind is why Afternic is #1 in my book, they hire great people like Rich.

The payment and transfer process with incredibly smooth and I was excited to see Summon.com as the #1 reported sale from Afternic last week, a first for me! Posts like this is what my blog was created for, to share my experiences in the Domain Investing world with all of you. I hope this post shows many of the new investors out there that the opportunity in 2012 is still huge, you just have to take the time to do the research and buy quality names.

Thanks for reading and as always I welcome your comments, comment and let your voice be heard!

As Domain Investors we live in a small ecosystem that most people have never heard of. While many new Domainers talk about coming late to the game, no matter how you slice it, we’re all still early, at least in my opinion. Still, that being said, some people are starting to wonder if the landscape is getting ready for a dramatic change that could send our world into chaos. Things like new gTLDs, Apps, and mobile are going to change the landscape for sure, but I think it’s for the better, and here’s why.

Let’s start with new gTLDs. First and foremost, if you haven’t read Frank’s post about new gTLDs, read it now. I personally think that most new gTLDs will fail, but some will be successful, very successful. This success will change the landscape and I think that the .NET’s and .INFO’s of the world will lose value. Now is not the time to stockpile a bunch of alternative TLDs. Now for .COM I can only see it getting stronger and like Franks says:

You can expect  .COM prices to continue to act as a value benchmark against other viable second level names in the new spaces. (Frank Schilling)

This is what I think .COM will become, the benchmark. New gTLDs that do well will be able to tout things like, “We are seeing sales at 75% of the price of a .COM” and that beats .NET, .INFO, .BIZ and many others right away, bam! Landscape changed, but lots of opportunity still for investors all over the world.

Let’s not forget ccTLDs, remember, .DE is the .COM of Germany and these dominant ccTLDs will continue to be dominant as well. In short, gTLDs will change the landscape and so investments strategies need to change. I made the change last year and it has changed my life. This year I have been a part of close to $800,000 in deals, some my own, some as a broker, all .COM.

Now for Apps. First let me reassure you, the sky is not falling, but yes, just like new gTLDs apps will change the landscape. Where I think Apps really hit domains is local. Here’s the example I find the most relevant. I’ve been traveling around the world for eight years now, before I had a smart phone I would go to Google to search for restaurants and bars in each city I visited. Now I honestly don’t think I’ve done a search for a restaurant or bar all year, I use AroundMe – it’s an awesome app that shows all the restaurants and bars around me. Of course I can also use Yelp or a whole host of other apps. I don’t have to type anything, it just reads in my locations, I click on “Restaurants” and there they are.

Add the fact that Google has really screwed up the local space with Google Places results and there isn’t much room for domains. Now I know that people are still doing well with geo-domains, and there’s still a place for them, but I think that apps do have an impact on local and it’s only getting stronger. That’s all I’ll say about local, agree or disagree I know over 100 people personally who now use Around Me or a similar app, and all of them used to do the same thing through a Google search.

Now for mobile. I’ll keep this short and sweet here because honestly, I don’t have a clue how this will impact the space. All I can tell you is that every year more and more people access the Internet through mobile phones. This is a space that is still evolving, both the phones themselves and the people who use them. What I do know is that mobile will change the domain space, but something tells me .COM will still be king.

Okay, now it’s your turn, I’ve said enough, what do you think? Comment and let your voice be heard?

When I was in 7th grade our school gave out free planners for us to help organize our schedules. Of course as a 7th grader you really don’t have a very hectic schedule, but having a planner just made you feel a bit more organized. I can still remember what it said on the back of the planner in big block letters, “If I plan to learn, I must learn to plan.” While I don’t think I even cracked open my planner back then, the catch phrase has stuck with me and I think it is highly relevant to Domainers.

I see many new Domainers start-off by doing rather than planning. They read an article about buying expired domains or hand registering based on keyword data and they jump right in. There’s nothing wrong with trying things out or giving a particular strategy a shot, but without a plan you may find yourself lost in the sauce a few months down the road. I get a lot of emails from people that seem to be at the same stage, they bought a bunch of domains and now they want to make some money. That’s great, but if you never set any goals, you might not be as far along as you think you are.

So I thought to get this week started-off right, let’s talk about setting firm goals to make sure your business is on track. It can be all too easy to get lost in the tactical day-to-day rather than focusing on the strategic. The problem is, if you don’t take the time to be strategic, the day-to-day might just be a waste of your time. It all comes back to planning, if you want to make money buying expired domains – awesome, you should, but you need to set goals so you have something to strive towards.

Goals should be clearly defined and based on metrics. Stay-away from goals like “Try to sell more domains this month” and stick to a number that you can look at towards the end of the month and definitively say either, “I hit my goals” or “I missed my goals.” However without goals, you never know what you’re trying to achieve. Below are three goals you should set right now for June (that’s right, start planning early):

1. Revenue from Domain Sales – how much money do you want to make selling domains? Start with something reasonable, if your highest sales month is $500 don’t be ashamed, but don’t set a goal of $1,000 this month since you’ve never actually hit that goal. Start-off with something you know you can do and make sure you can do it over and over again before increasing your target.
2. Revenue from Monetization – how much money do you want to make monetizing domains? Once gain, start with something within reason and put a firm number down so you can look at the end of the month and see if you hit your goal.
3. Domain Purchases – last but certainly not least, don’t let your spending get out of control, set goals for how much you want to spend and stick to it. If you’re only making $1,000/month total in your business, don’t spend $3,000 on domains unless you’re okay running at a loss (which you shouldn’t be). Too many new Domainers get used to just buying more and more domains, set a maximum and stick to it. Once you start hitting your revenue goals you can increase this number but wait until you’ve proven to yourself that you can make money with the domains you’ve already purchased.

Doing this level of planning takes less than five minutes and will help you be more realistic with yourself. If you miss a goal, don’t beat yourself up about it, instead ask yourself if the goal was too aggressive, or if you didn’t do what was necessary to hit the goal, then course correct and make it happen! Just remember what my 7th grade planner said because it still rings true, “If I plan to learn, I must learn to plan.”

Back in April I wrote an article about a new content writing services I was trying out called Media Piston. I’ve now had over a month to use the platform and I have to say I’ve been very impressed and it’s quickly becoming our go-to source for articles. I started-out by placing template orders, these are simply orders that follow a certain format. The turn-around time was great but what really impressed me was the quality. The articles were well-written and you could tell the writers really put in the time to make them right, and rightly so since you can “favorite” writers and assign them directly to projects in the future.

I tested the Template Order with 12 different articles for three different sites and every single article was top-notch – awesome! This week I am taking the “Custom Order” for a spin which is a bit more expensive but allows you to specify the style and other details along with getting access to their top writers.

The platform itself is simple and well-designed so creating orders is quick and the backend system for viewing and managing your orders is easy to understand. I’ll be honest, I like it a LOT more than TextBroker so far, from interface to article quality it has won on all counts so far.

I’m looking forward to checking-out the Custom Orders and will of course share my experiences with all of you. Until then, back to your normally scheduled Sunday programming.

]]> http://morganlinton.com/small-business-sunday-update-on-my-experiences-with-media-piston/feed/ 1 http://morganlinton.com/weekend-musings-17/ http://morganlinton.com/weekend-musings-17/#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 19:08:51 +0000 Morgan http://morganlinton.com/?p=5742

Hello and welcome to another weekend musing here on MorganLinton.com. It has been another amazing week and with a lot going on this weekend I’m going to keep this extra short and sweet this time:

• On Thursday we announced the integration of appraiso into Protrada! I knew this was going to be big but it turned-out to be even bigger than we had expected, it was hard to keep up with the emails coming in and new users signing-up. I will be covering all the details of the launch along with sharing all the great articles written about it early next week. If you haven’t yet seen the integration it is incredibly slick, here’s a screenshot of the integration in action:

• I sold a domain for $17,500 on Afternic last week. I’ll be doing a full post on this and hopefully sharing the domain I sold if I can. As usual Buy Domains/Afternic went above and beyond with great communication and a nice smooth transaction. Special thanks to Rich Green – you rock!
• ICANN had a regional meeting here in LA and it was awesome to catch-up with some of the people who were in town. We had a blast last night out on the Sunset strip, still could use a few more hours of sleep though!
• There were two absolutely must-read posts written by two leaders in our industry, if you haven’t read this, stop what you’re doing and read them right now:
• In New gTLDs, The Only Certainty is Change (Frank Schilling)
• Are you a $50 or a $500 “Domain Waiter” (Rick Schwartz)
• Last but certainly not least, I wrote an article about my thoughts on the Facebook IPO that has been getting some great comments. If you haven’t read it yet I’d be very interested in hearing what you think too!

And there you have it, my musings for the day. I hope you all had a great week and have a great weekend!

I’d like to start this post by saying I am absolutely not an expert by any means in evaluating stocks or IPO’s. While I have been an investor for years and done well with some stocks like Apple, BP, and Iomega when they launched way back in the day I would still call myself an absolute beginner when it comes to stock investing. So take what I’m saying more as market analysis rather than real business analysis, which for many will mean very little. Still, I have some strong opinions here and I want to get them out.

MorganLinton.com is about “Life In A Web 3.0 World” a world where I believe Facebook is a key player. I’ve been following what all the zillions of analysts have been saying about Facebook and how the valuation could be ridiculously too high. They could be right, but I think they’re wrong, and I think the examples they are using of similar companies could not be more far off. So here we go.

First let’s talk about the emotional investors. Yes, Facebook is invoking a lot of emotions in people and there are those who want to own the stock just for the sake of owning the stock. I don’t see anything wrong with this if these people are investing with money they don’t care about. We spend money based on emotion all the time and if it makes you feel good, and it’s not money you need to live on, go for it, that’s not why I’m investing in Facebook but it is a factor that I think will impact the price over the first 1-2 weeks.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s talk about Groupon and LinkedIn and why these are terrible comparisons to Facebook. I have read so many articles where analysts use the decline in Groupon and LinkedIn stock as a barometer for the current state of IPOs. For me this honestly seems incredible naive and I’d like to talk about why.

I have not once heard a friend of mine say, “I keep getting distracted and spend hours flipping through Groupon deals.” Or, “I love being able to browse Groupon deals on my train ride home.” The same goes for LinkedIn, have you ever heard anyone say to you, “I think I’m addicted to LinkedIn?” or “I can’t go a day without checking my friends updates on LinkedIn?” My point here seems obvious to me which is why I’m surprised so many analysts don’t seem to get it.

Facebook is nothing like Groupon or LinkedIn. The way users interact with these services is completely different. LinkedIn and Groupon aren’t occupying hours of people’s time a day, or even more than a few minutes a day. Facebook is different, it’s something that people use constantly, at work, on the train, at home, on their computer, iPhone and iPad. This is a huge difference and makes this IPO in my humble opinion nothing like the Groupon or LinkedIn IPO.

Last, but certainly not least, let’s talk about Facebook Advertising. This is a hot topic for everyone since it’s how Google has been printing money for a long time now and admittedly so, Facebook hasn’t yet figured it out. Here’s the thing though, Facebook has way more data than Google will ever have about their users. While they certainly have not yet unlocked the secret to how that data can translate into more effective advertising for companies, that doesn’t change the fact that they have the data, and they are one smart company. Just because they haven’t made the breakthrough yet, doesn’t mean they won’t and at the end of the day I think it’s leveraging this data and doing it the right way that will make all the difference.

So take a break from looking at all the financial data, or comparing Facebook to companies like Groupon or LinkedIn and let’s say it like it is. There has never been any company in the history of the world with the same kind of data, and same kind of user-base and stickiness that Facebook has. This means that looking at other companies to understand valuation, or what might happen after the IPO is really just a shot in the dark because this isn’t anything like other companies.

I am making a sizable investment in Facebook myself, but I’m waiting until all the buzz dies down so I can see what this is going to settle at. Also, while I am making a nice-sized investment, it’s not money that I need and if Facebook goes to $0.000/share my life will not change in any way shape or form. Is it a risk? Absolutely, but I’m not doing it based on emotion, I’m doing it based on a belief that what Facebook has built is more than just a company like Groupon or LinkedIn, they’ve embedded themselves into people’s daily lives and if they unlock the power of the data they have and put it to good use in the advertising world, I think the reward is incredible.

Buying expired domain names is a great way to pick up some good deals on domains that could make great development or resale candidates. Many of the top investors buy expired domains every month and have been for years, people like Frank Schilling, Michael Berkens, and many more. The problem is, many new investors see other people bidding on an expired domain and instantly assume its a great deal.

Like any investment strategy doing your research is absolutely critical, otherwise you could end-up spending a nice chunk of change on a big pile of junk. The key to buying expired domains that make real investments is research. However by research I don’t just mean search volume and CPC, I mean really digging deeper to understand what you’re buying.

Here are some tips for doing the due diligence you should be doing every time you’re evaluating an expired domain purchase:

1. Who owned the domain before you and what did they do with it? It is absolutely critical to understand the history of a domain name you’re buying, just because it was registered in 1998, doesn’t mean it has a clean history. If the previous owner used the domain to run a scam business, or to spam millions of people, you may be inheriting their problems. The best way to research the history of the a domain is to use DomainTools and look at the WHOIS history.
2. Does the domain name violate any Trademarks? Before you buy any domain, expired or not, you should make sure it does not violate an trademarks. This takes under a minute and is completely free, simply go to USTPO.gov and see if there are any active trademarks on any of the words or phrases in the domain, if there are, stay far far away.
3. Do the keywords in the domain get any search volume? Whether you’re planning on developing or selling a domain search volume is an important factor to take into account. If nobody is searching for the keywords in your domain, what makes you think it would make a great development candidate, and heck, why would anyone want to buy it?
4. How competitive is the niche? This applies more to development than anything but it’s still important to consider no matter what you plan to do with the domain. Do a Google search for the keywords in the domain and see who comes up. If it’s all Google Adsense or Google Local followed by major brands you probably don’t stand a chance to get on the coveted page one. If you can’t this means a savvy buyer also knows they can’t so it might not be as great of a purchase as you’d think.
5. What is the TLD of the domain? If you’re not buying a .COM you should make sure you understand the market you’re buying in. Just because you saw a great .IT sale the other day doesn’t mean that every .IT name you buy is going to be worth a fortune. Be very careful when buying outside of .COM and make sure you look at past sales and have an idea of what the value might be. Tools like Estibot can help you get a ballpark figure for what the keywords might be worth and how that changes based on TLD.

As always I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to share your own tips for buying expired domains or comment on any of the tips I’ve listed above. Comment and let your voice be heard!

Hello and welcome to a little weekly segment I’ve decided to call WordPress Wednesday’s. People always ask me what WordPress themes I like so as per usual I like to turn these into a post rather than just share this information with one person. For my first WordPress Wednesday I thought it would be fun to share three of my favorite Business Themes.

WordPress can be an excellent way to build a professional looking site for your business that is easy to update, and best of all, looks good. Let’s face it, too many businesses have old, junky-looking websites, many don’t realize that something like WordPress could completely revamp their site without a lot of work. Of course using a business theme doesn’t mean you have to be boring, I’ve picked out three of my favorite creative business themes that can really make your corporate site look a little less corporate and a bit more fun. The themes below are all top-notch in my opinion and for under $100 they cost a heck of a lot less than hiring a web developer to revamp your site.

Empire – WooThemes

Empire is a slick yet simple business theme. It literally takes under an hour to completely configure and the front slider looks great if you have a nice high-res image (think $10 or less on iStockPhoto). I really like that they have the “Get In Touch” section on the front of the page. Great spot in the upper right-hand corner to give a personalized touch by introducing visitors to your team. Like all WooThemes you don’t have to write a single line of code and the customized dashboard module is incredibly easy to configure.

Envisioned – Elegant Themes

While this theme may be a bit too artsy for some companies I think it looks incredibly clean. There’s something about the simplicity of this theme that’s always really spoken to me. It is intended as a theme for a personal blog but I think it would make an amazing theme for any business that builds websites, takes photos, videos, etc. Let’s face it, some of the standard business themes don’t quite fit for the more creative companies out there, this one does and it looks great with a simple text logo.

Momento – ThemeForest

This is another very visual business theme and a great one for any company looking for a more Web 2.0 look. The three text boxes underneath the photo are great for focusing the visitor on the three key items you want your customers to focus on. The navigation at the top doesn’t steal the show allowing your visitor to focus on what’s important. Theme Forest themes are great but not a good choice for beginners so if you’re just starting out I’d stick with one of the others I’ve mentioned above.

Note: I do have affiliate links in this post for these themes. If you feel like cutting me out of the equation simply visit the site directly. 

One of the newest and most active blogs to enter the Domaining Blog space this year was DNFBlog.com written by Puranjay, a domain investor and blogger. The blog launched in January of this year and quickly ramped up with 58 posts in March and 61 in April. The blog covered a variety of topics from industry news to tips and tricks for investors.

In April they added a video intro that launches every time you go to the site introducing the blog and DNForum itself. I found the video a bit cheesy but at the same time can understand the value of it for new visitors who might not know much about the blog or DNForum. Since the focus of this blog was educating new Domainers I could definitely see this making them feel more comfortable.

Now it looks like the blog has gone dark with no posts coming out since May 1st. I was a fan of this blog and thought it was a great addition to the community, now the question is, what happened to DNFBlog?