This week it was announced that @James Iles, is stepping back from his weekly NamePros Blog article to concentrate on other things, including his own domain name information site at JamesNames.com.
James has made a huge contribution to the domain name community through his 847 posts on the NamePros Blog. He has kept us informed of major sales, looked at techniques and strategies, interviewed guests with an important message to share, and so much more.
So today, as a tribute to James, I wanted to highlight some of the content he has shared on the NamePros Blog.
Most-Read: The Vivo.com Sale
James’ most-read post, with 153,000 views, was on the sale of
DuckDuckGo Gets Duck.com
His second most-read article, with 98,000 views, was about the transfer of the domain name
Inside Interview Series
James conducted a series of interviews “focused on talking to end users who have acquired high value names.” He called the series Inside Interviews. You can get the tone of the series from this interview, with the buyer of
I Sold Tesla
Most investors know that Elon Musk took many years to eventually secure the domain name
We.com Sells for $8 Million
There were hints based on a brokerage fee that the superb domain name
Go Big or Go Home: $20 Million Domain Investment Fund
To progress rapidly in domain name investment you need startup funds. In an exclusive interview, James talks to the principal in an “investment group (that) will be acquiring over $20 million worth of domain names in 2016.” The investor was not quite 20 at the time! As a bonus, he is a member of NamePros. Catch the 2016 article: Exclusive Interview with a $20 Million Dollar Domain Investment Fund.
Those Were The Days
In his Domain Data series, James explores statistical data on various domain topics. Recent investors will wish they were around 6+ years ago when they read this article: Domain Data: How Much Is a One-Word .COM Worth? Spoiler: a lot more now!
Outbound Walkthrough
Many of James’ articles have dealt with the practicalities of a successful domain operation. For example, more than 30,000 people have viewed An Outbound Domain Sales Walkthrough. Earlier he had looked at the important question Who Should You Contact?
Expert Exchange
James started the Expert Exchange, in which he interviews outstanding investors and brokers. The most read in the series was an interview with James Booth, one-half of the brother duo of @BoothDomains. Catch the full interview with James Booth here.
Another great Expert Exchange interview was with @Nat Cohen of Telepathy.
Frank Schilling was interviewed in this Expert Exchange in 2016.
In 2016 James interviewed Daniel Negari, best known as founder of the XYZ registry.
Many other greats in domain investing have been interviewed in the Expert Exchange series.
How Do You Determine What a Domain Is Worth?
In this Expert Exchange compilation James asks some of the greatest minds in domain names, How Do You Determine What a Domain Is Worth?
Ring.com Sale
James had earlier interviewed Jamie Siminoff in the NamePros Blog.
Do You Have 4001 Things To Do Today?
I had somehow never heard this story before researching for this article. Even if you have 4001 things to do today, make time to read The Story of an Accidental Domainer That Started With a $23,000 Sale!
Things To Check Before You Buy A Domain
James wrote 8 Things to Check Before You Buy a Domain Name back in 2016, but the list is every bit as relevant today.
12 Common Domainer Mistakes
On a similar theme, James put together a great list 12 Common Domainer Mistakes. More than 10,000 people have checked it out.
5 Ways To Track Down A Domain Owner
GDPR made it more difficult to find the owner of a domain name. In 5 Ways To Track Down A Domain Owner, James offers some helpful approaches. This is particularly applicable for those who do private domain name acquisitions.
Five Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Domaining
This article is gold: Five Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Domaining.
10 Tips for New Domain Investors
New investors, be sure to check out 10 Tips for New Domain Investors.
Single-Word Animal Domain Names
Animals are popular in brand names, and in 2019 James looked at how some of the best single-word animal domain names are used. Check out How Animal Domain Names are Used.
Simple Tool to Build Domain Lists
In One Simple Website to Help You Build Domain Lists, James covers a helpful tool, TextMechanic. Among other things, you can combine a set of suffixes with a word to generate a set of domain names to check registration status.
The tool is a perfect complement to last week’s NamePros article Making A List… And Updating It Often.
How To Perform Outbound
A series James conducted in 2019 with @Mike Robertson, Director of Business Development at Fabulous on outbound sales is frequently cited on NamePros. The series covered all aspects of outbound domain name sales, from initial research to closing the deal. Here are the links to the four parts in the series.
In What Are Your Top Tips for Outbound Domain Sales? James collates ideas from some of the most successful domain name sellers.
Extensions Startups Use
One of the trends that James has followed through the years in his Domain Data series is on the extensions being used by YCombinator startups. For example, see Just 66% of YCombinator's Class of 2018 Use .COM. I see James has extended the series at JamesNames.com.
How Are Million Dollar Domain Sales Being Used
James looked at how names that sold for one million dollars or more were being used. You can catch part one here, and the series concludes with part two. One of the most surprising findings was a $2.4 million, 2-letter
Why You Can't Let Social Media Control Your Brand
James wrote this article a couple of years ago, but Why You Can't Let Social Media Control Your Brand is particularly relevant today.
Top Topics Series
Over the past few years, James has concentrated on the Top Topics series. Each weekly edition, normally published on Sunday, highlights popular and important NamePros discussions from that week. I find the series a really helpful way to keep up to date. Here are a few I wanted to highlight.
This Top Topics article from 2017 covers how to find trending names, how long to sell a name, how much it costs to operate a new extension, and an interesting legal fight over a name.
This 2021 Top Topics covered risks to using catch-all email, among other topics.
This 2019 Top Topics covers a particularly important set of topics, including losing 5-figures to fraud, what to do after buying a domain name, trademark risk, and how to respond to ‘how much?’
This 2021 Top Topics covers the rise in
James’ First 5-Figure Sale
James usually writes about sales by others, but in this article he relates the story of his own first 5-figure sale: The Story of My First Five Figure Sale From a $69 Purchase.
James Ask Me Anything
James conducted a NamePros Ask Me Anything in 2019. From what he does in his spare time, to the biggest sale he has brokered, learn a lot more about James!
James Last Top Topics
James’s last Top Topics, published Oct 30, covered the
The new writer for the Top Topics series is @Acroplex. He brings 30 years branding, naming, web and journalism experience to the position. You can catch his first Top Topics, that includes trying something drastic, and the
Thank You
Thank you James for an incredible ride through more than 800 NamePros Blog posts. Your articles have been interesting, relevant, soundly researched, useful, and superbly written. Countless investors have honed their strategies and skills through your writing. Through the interviews and stories, you have introduced us to some of the key people in the domain world.
I personally want to thank you for your help as I began to write for the NamePros Blog. It was great to meet you in person at NamesCon 2019 in Las Vegas. Very best wishes for your future endeavours.
You can continue to follow James’ posts here at NamePros @James Iles. His Twitter handle is @jamesiles, and his domain name information site is JamesNames.com. You can also catch James on some recent Domain Sherpa episodes.
It is my understanding that although leaving his weekly column, James will continue to write occasional contributions to the NamePros Blog. I very much look forward to those articles.
James has made a huge contribution to the domain name community through his 847 posts on the NamePros Blog. He has kept us informed of major sales, looked at techniques and strategies, interviewed guests with an important message to share, and so much more.
So today, as a tribute to James, I wanted to highlight some of the content he has shared on the NamePros Blog.
Most-Read: The Vivo.com Sale
James’ most-read post, with 153,000 views, was on the sale of
Vivo.com for $2.1 million back in 2016. He didn’t just report the sale, first revealed by George Kirikos, but looked at the name, buyer and seller to illustrate why the domain name fetched that price. DuckDuckGo Gets Duck.com
His second most-read article, with 98,000 views, was about the transfer of the domain name
Duck.com to the DuckDuckGo search engine. This story is made more interesting since Google had held the name. Jamie Zock, @DotWeekly, is credited by James with first suggesting a transfer had taken place. Inside Interview Series
James conducted a series of interviews “focused on talking to end users who have acquired high value names.” He called the series Inside Interviews. You can get the tone of the series from this interview, with the buyer of
furniture.co.uk for $650,000. The story is more interesting because the buyer is a domain investor himself.I Sold Tesla
Most investors know that Elon Musk took many years to eventually secure the domain name
Tesla.com. James interviewed the seller of Tesla.com. This article has been read more than 50,000 times.We.com Sells for $8 Million
There were hints based on a brokerage fee that the superb domain name
we.com had sold for a lot, but James dug a bit deeper, revealing both the price and buyer of We.com. Go Big or Go Home: $20 Million Domain Investment Fund
To progress rapidly in domain name investment you need startup funds. In an exclusive interview, James talks to the principal in an “investment group (that) will be acquiring over $20 million worth of domain names in 2016.” The investor was not quite 20 at the time! As a bonus, he is a member of NamePros. Catch the 2016 article: Exclusive Interview with a $20 Million Dollar Domain Investment Fund.
Those Were The Days
In his Domain Data series, James explores statistical data on various domain topics. Recent investors will wish they were around 6+ years ago when they read this article: Domain Data: How Much Is a One-Word .COM Worth? Spoiler: a lot more now!
Outbound Walkthrough
Many of James’ articles have dealt with the practicalities of a successful domain operation. For example, more than 30,000 people have viewed An Outbound Domain Sales Walkthrough. Earlier he had looked at the important question Who Should You Contact?
Expert Exchange
James started the Expert Exchange, in which he interviews outstanding investors and brokers. The most read in the series was an interview with James Booth, one-half of the brother duo of @BoothDomains. Catch the full interview with James Booth here.
Another great Expert Exchange interview was with @Nat Cohen of Telepathy.
Frank Schilling was interviewed in this Expert Exchange in 2016.
In 2016 James interviewed Daniel Negari, best known as founder of the XYZ registry.
Many other greats in domain investing have been interviewed in the Expert Exchange series.
How Do You Determine What a Domain Is Worth?
In this Expert Exchange compilation James asks some of the greatest minds in domain names, How Do You Determine What a Domain Is Worth?
Ring.com Sale
Ring.com is frequently cited as a perfect example of a company that became much more successful, and valuable, after a domain name upgrade. James was one of the first to cover the sale: Did Jamie Siminoff Pay $1 Million for Ring.com? Yes!James had earlier interviewed Jamie Siminoff in the NamePros Blog.
Do You Have 4001 Things To Do Today?
I had somehow never heard this story before researching for this article. Even if you have 4001 things to do today, make time to read The Story of an Accidental Domainer That Started With a $23,000 Sale!
Things To Check Before You Buy A Domain
James wrote 8 Things to Check Before You Buy a Domain Name back in 2016, but the list is every bit as relevant today.
12 Common Domainer Mistakes
On a similar theme, James put together a great list 12 Common Domainer Mistakes. More than 10,000 people have checked it out.
5 Ways To Track Down A Domain Owner
GDPR made it more difficult to find the owner of a domain name. In 5 Ways To Track Down A Domain Owner, James offers some helpful approaches. This is particularly applicable for those who do private domain name acquisitions.
Five Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Domaining
This article is gold: Five Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting Domaining.
10 Tips for New Domain Investors
New investors, be sure to check out 10 Tips for New Domain Investors.
Single-Word Animal Domain Names
Animals are popular in brand names, and in 2019 James looked at how some of the best single-word animal domain names are used. Check out How Animal Domain Names are Used.
Simple Tool to Build Domain Lists
In One Simple Website to Help You Build Domain Lists, James covers a helpful tool, TextMechanic. Among other things, you can combine a set of suffixes with a word to generate a set of domain names to check registration status.
The tool is a perfect complement to last week’s NamePros article Making A List… And Updating It Often.
How To Perform Outbound
A series James conducted in 2019 with @Mike Robertson, Director of Business Development at Fabulous on outbound sales is frequently cited on NamePros. The series covered all aspects of outbound domain name sales, from initial research to closing the deal. Here are the links to the four parts in the series.
- Part 1 The Basics.
- Part 2 Finding Potential Buyers.
- Part 3 Contacting Prospective Buyers.
- Part 4 Negotiating and Closing the Sale.
In What Are Your Top Tips for Outbound Domain Sales? James collates ideas from some of the most successful domain name sellers.
Extensions Startups Use
One of the trends that James has followed through the years in his Domain Data series is on the extensions being used by YCombinator startups. For example, see Just 66% of YCombinator's Class of 2018 Use .COM. I see James has extended the series at JamesNames.com.
How Are Million Dollar Domain Sales Being Used
James looked at how names that sold for one million dollars or more were being used. You can catch part one here, and the series concludes with part two. One of the most surprising findings was a $2.4 million, 2-letter
.com domain name that, at the time the article was written in 2017, was being redirected to a 5-letter .top name. Why You Can't Let Social Media Control Your Brand
James wrote this article a couple of years ago, but Why You Can't Let Social Media Control Your Brand is particularly relevant today.
Top Topics Series
Over the past few years, James has concentrated on the Top Topics series. Each weekly edition, normally published on Sunday, highlights popular and important NamePros discussions from that week. I find the series a really helpful way to keep up to date. Here are a few I wanted to highlight.
This Top Topics article from 2017 covers how to find trending names, how long to sell a name, how much it costs to operate a new extension, and an interesting legal fight over a name.
This 2021 Top Topics covered risks to using catch-all email, among other topics.
This 2019 Top Topics covers a particularly important set of topics, including losing 5-figures to fraud, what to do after buying a domain name, trademark risk, and how to respond to ‘how much?’
This 2021 Top Topics covers the rise in
.vc extension sales, whether singular or plural is better, hand registration, and the make.com sale. That name is in the news once more at NamePros this week: Next is buying Made.com.James’ First 5-Figure Sale
James usually writes about sales by others, but in this article he relates the story of his own first 5-figure sale: The Story of My First Five Figure Sale From a $69 Purchase.
James Ask Me Anything
James conducted a NamePros Ask Me Anything in 2019. From what he does in his spare time, to the biggest sale he has brokered, learn a lot more about James!
James Last Top Topics
James’s last Top Topics, published Oct 30, covered the
reactive.com sale at DropCatch, the RCB.com sale, what companies you trust, and what to do when a previous owner wants their domain name back. The new writer for the Top Topics series is @Acroplex. He brings 30 years branding, naming, web and journalism experience to the position. You can catch his first Top Topics, that includes trying something drastic, and the
sports.gg sale by Logan Flatt, among other topics. Thank You
Thank you James for an incredible ride through more than 800 NamePros Blog posts. Your articles have been interesting, relevant, soundly researched, useful, and superbly written. Countless investors have honed their strategies and skills through your writing. Through the interviews and stories, you have introduced us to some of the key people in the domain world.
I personally want to thank you for your help as I began to write for the NamePros Blog. It was great to meet you in person at NamesCon 2019 in Las Vegas. Very best wishes for your future endeavours.
You can continue to follow James’ posts here at NamePros @James Iles. His Twitter handle is @jamesiles, and his domain name information site is JamesNames.com. You can also catch James on some recent Domain Sherpa episodes.
It is my understanding that although leaving his weekly column, James will continue to write occasional contributions to the NamePros Blog. I very much look forward to those articles.
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