discuss Should like names have their own marketplace?

Don't get overwhelmed making websites. Start with a domaining one, and list your whole portfolio. Next make a site about something unrelated, but you like writing about. Now you have a domaining website and life besides domaining!

bmugford said:

I would pick a different domain. "Realtor" is a major trademark issue that is protected aggressively by NAR.

Brad

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I like to use the real Tor to access realtor.com

maybe you could use "realator" like in Santa Clarita Diet

Found this infographic, I believe it was published around 2013. Dated, but interesting info...it would be interesting to
1. see if the original author is still here on NP somewhere - I'd give you credit, but dont know who you are. I know the graphic is from Dropmining (com) but it not an active site (haven't checked DomIQ yet).
2. update the info, if possible, with current sales & see if it is worth digging deeper?

It looks like the sample size was only 1.4K ish sales, still interesting.

Here was the analysis take away or finding the author came to:

"It turned out that only 3 metrics were consistent statistically significant influencers of how much an expert domainer was willing to pay for a domain; exact match search volume, the number of other extensions registered for a domain and whether was the domain a .com."

SORRY, edited so a giant infographic wanst taking up screens. see attachment.

Thanks @DnameAgame! So that was for sales to expert domainers and not end users right? Nonetheless interesting. Would be interesting to see if anything changed now.

Bob Hawkes said:

While seeing the point of view of @MarketingStrategies.com that you can spend a lot time on a site and it might have no return at all, I think I could see, if it was fast and easy and cheap enough to do, that it could be valuable, if you concentrated in a few narrow niches. I think the test is whether if someone was Googling a term like "company names xxxx yyyyy" or "xxxx domain names" would find your site with domains suited to the xxxx or yyyyy niche. I have been successful with the latter form in getting to the top of page one today on Google for example with "biotech domain names" (without quotes) but many others I am nowhere in the top 5 pages. I am pretty SEO beginner, so i am sure that others could achieve much better.

But the number one priority, before anyone even thinks of a specialized marketplace, should be to have a working and good lander. Nothing else is nearly as important as that in my opinion.

Bob

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Bob..."landers" are more for buyers/endusers looking for you. Lets say for example the "Savor" domain portfolio I've been accumulating. I'm reasonably sure no one in Manhattan is probably looking for the domain, SavorManhattan.com However, I do know there are plenty of publishers and developers in Manhattan of all sorts of magazines and websites. I could have the best looking lander in the world, and if no one sees it, it's moot. This is where the typical domain business model will be changing imho. I'm use to targeting an audience/consumer and selling them.

Eric Lyon said:

I never said to sponsor or pay for a booth.

The wife and I found that attendees at free events are there for a reason and if your model/asset is a solution to their reasoning to be there, then you have a potential buyer.

The free 100 to 1000 attendee events all over the country are crawling with niche specific investors/startups hungry for solutions to every day scaling and branding problems.

If one is shy and can't strike up 20 conversations about a niche asset in the same industry as 500 people interested in that industry, they probably shouldn't be trying to sell anything and might want to hire someone less shy and more outgoing.

A booth is cool for bigger brand exposure, but free engagement with hundreds of niche targeted people works too, free.

To each their own though.

Everyone does things different.

What works for one may not work for another.

For perspective, think about how many domains are sold between attendees at namescon that didn't get a booth. Obviously namescon isn't free admission, but the point is the same.

If you have a steel mill asset and in a room of 500 steel mill prospects at a steel mill event. Don't you think 1 or 2 of that 500 might be interested in an asset related to the niche they came to the event for in the first place?

Like a website. An ad about baseball won't convert well on a swimming website. But it will on a baseball website.

1 + 1 = 2

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I agree Eric...."free" exposure is likely better than "paid" exposure. However, to be able to interact with thousands of realtors and builders at a single venue you will most likely have to pay for the exposure. I don't think it's a "to each his own" sort of thing, but rather affordability. From your suggestion, I now plan to do "both". Thanks!

bmugford said:

I would pick a different domain. "Realtor" is a major trademark issue that is protected aggressively by NAR.

Brad

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Thanks Brad, but I already knew that. I know you thought you were passing along sage advise, but due to my association with real estate brokers, one of who is a friend and investor in me and my company, I knew about the NAR's trademark for Realtor® early in this game. Finally Brad, I know you and your "old time" domain allies think I have a lot to learn about the domain industry, but I think I know just enough about business in general to teach you a thing or two...or three or four

Again, I'm pretty sure I would have caught my mistake, but thanks for being my personal safety net

ThatNameGuy said:

I could have the best looking lander in the world, and if no one sees it, it's moot.

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^^^ Agree 100% with this, but the lander is critical for those who might guess your name and more importantly for those who have been alerted to your name in some other way, like a trade show, personal mention or social media, and go back to check.

I personally believe it is important to do all 4 things:

1. have a good lander,
2. get listed on the usual marketplaces (for those who do use them - I agree they are not user friendly or as popular as they need to be),
3. have a reasonable website that will increase chance of people finding your names through vague searches on keywords and names or domains,
4. do other things such as trade shows, social media, etc.

Since 1 is easy and free to do, and helps support the others, I recommend it as priority 1. Fully realize others may think differently.

Bob

ThatNameGuy said:

Brad....i understand you're speaking from "personal experience", but while my "personal experience" comes from different industries like financial and healthcare, each of these industries were receptive to both proactive and reactive marketing. I've never said your reactive style doesn't work, but I have more confidence now that I've partnered with an experienced website developer and internet tech savvy pro, that my proactive style will work. This isn't to say I won't be employing both proactive and reactive strategies...I'd be a fool not too, and I think you know by now, I'm no fool

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My experience though is actually in the domain field. It involves actual buying and selling many domains over many years. It is reality based, not theory based.

Just because you have some experience in another field doesn't mean it will translate well to domains. It is an entirely different field.

Brad

ThatNameGuy said:

Thanks Brad, but I already knew that. I know you thought you were passing along sage advise, but due to my association with real estate brokers, one of who is a friend and investor in me and my company, I knew about the NAR's trademark for Realtor® early in this game. Finally Brad, I know you and your "old time" domain allies think I have a lot to learn about the domain industry, but I think I know just enough about business in general to teach you a thing or two...or three or four

Again, I'm pretty sure I would have caught my mistake, but thanks for being my personal safety net

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Cool, so your are knowingly using a trademark that belongs to another party.
Best of luck with that.

On a side note, even outside the TM issue that domain is not even that great anyway.
I am sure you can do better that a 3 word, 25 character domain.

Brad

ThatNameGuy said:

Finally Brad, I know you and your "old time" domain allies think I have a lot to learn about the domain industry, but I think I know just enough about business in general to teach you a thing or two...or three or four

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if you feel that way, then why even ask for advice?

imo...

bmugford said:

I would pick a different domain. "Realtor" is a major trademark issue that is protected aggressively by NAR.

Brad

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In all due respect this is exactly what I said, "I plan on using something like RealtorandBuilder.domains for my Marketplace." I already thanked you for your sage advise, but you don't seem to get it. I'm sure I understand trademark law just as good as you do because I've trademarked three names of business I started via Legal Zoom. It's cost me about $300 each, but the average attorney like my new buddy John Berryhill would have charged me $2,000. Regardless, I know you enjoy berating me, but I can handle anything you throw at me

In case you don't understand my response, I DON'T INTEND TO REGISTER THE NAME RealtorandBuilder.domains all thanks to you

biggie said:

if you feel that way, then why even ask for advice?

imo...

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Oh, did I ask for advice? I think when I started this thread I chose "discuss" as the format, and I believe there's a difference

Bob Hawkes said:

^^^ Agree 100% with this, but the lander is critical for those who might guess your name and more importantly for those who have been alerted to your name in some other way, like a trade show, personal mention or social media, and go back to check.

I personally believe it is important to do all 4 things:

1. have a good lander,
2. get listed on the usual marketplaces (for those who do use them - I agree they are not user friendly or as popular as they need to be),
3. have a reasonable website that will increase chance of people finding your names through vague searches on keywords and names or domains,
4. do other things such as trade shows, social media, etc.

Since 1 is easy and free to do, and helps support the others, I recommend it as priority 1. Fully realize others may think differently.

Bob

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Bob...I think I said in a previous post that I too intend to do it all. And btw, from past experience I know it will always be a "work in progress". Anyone who thinks their way is the only way either has their head in the sand, or has a different agenda. Thanks for participating in the "discussion"

This is a rehashing of Bulloney’s (OP’s) idea of business plans on landing pages specifying what the domain might be used for.

As I said then and say now it’s usually best to for the most part leave it up to the potential buyer what the name means and what it should be used for. Otherwise you’re hemming the domain in to a specific use or niche and might actually turn off a potential buyer who had a completely different idea in mind.

Approaching an end user and suggesting that this domain might be good for you is one thing (and is nothing new anyway @Eric Lyon it’s just - outbound) - but putting your domain or domains into specific niche marketing packages as OP describes is something else.

xynames said:

For some domains it might not be a bad idea to decorate your landing page for it with some ideas for its use. You know, saying ____.com is the perfect name for any _____ , _____ or _____ business. But you gotta be careful to be broad minded with your pitch because otherwise your promotions might backfire and actually dissuade a buyer.

For EXample if you go all out and claim that a certain domain is the perfect name for an ice cream business and the potential buyer was thinking of using the name for a hedge fund, your promotion might give him great pause. “Hmm, so ICE CREAM is what comes to mind when you think of this domain? Maybe it’s not such a good name for a serious finance venture.”

By the same token even a one page business plan implies a focus on a specific direction - a specific use - for the domain. It goes even beyond saying that this domain is great for the ice cream business it gets into an analysis of exactly why it’s good for that and how best to put that ice cream business into action.

In short, I’d be against any marketing or promotion for a content-less domain that ends up hemming it in towards any single direction or focus. In the end the name stands on its own.

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ThatNameGuy said:

I agree Eric...."free" exposure is likely better than "paid" exposure. However, to be able to interact with thousands of realtors and builders at a single venue you will most likely have to pay for the exposure. I don't think it's a "to each his own" sort of thing, but rather affordability. From your suggestion, I now plan to do "both". Thanks!

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Leveraging both is a good idea if it's in your budget. Sure. My suggestion for that would be to try to find the free events first and use them as a test run before doing paid ticket or booth purchase events. That way you can work all the bugs out of a presentation and get a solid template/rebuttals memorized for the niche industry the events are in. This should help increase potential at the paid events without losing too much of the event investment.

xynames said:

Approaching an end user and suggesting that this domain might be good for you is one thing (and is nothing new anyway @Eric Lyon it’s just - outbound) - but putting your domain or domains into specific niche marketing packages as OP describes is something else.

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Sure, I covered niche packages a bit in a previous comment as well.

Yes, it makes perfect sense: https://www.namepros.com/threads/creating-a-domain-portfolio-that-converts.1011469/

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xynames said:

This is a rehashing of Bulloney’s (OP’s) idea of business plans on landing pages specifying what the domain might be used for.

As I said then and say now it’s usually best to for the most part leave it up to the potential buyer what the name means and what it should be used for. Otherwise you’re hemming the domain in to a specific use or niche and might actually turn off a potential buyer who had a completely different idea in mind.

Approaching an end user and suggesting that this domain might be good for you is one thing (and is nothing new anyway @Eric Lyon it’s just - outbound) - but putting your domain or domains into specific niche marketing packages as OP describes is something else.

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You're probably not aware of this, but I've not only started, named and operated dozens of businesses since college in 1970, I've also consulted startups through my local University, Old Dominion University. You claim to be a lawyer, and I'm not about to tell you how to be a lawyer. I'm a businessman with 10 times your experience in business, yet you seem to think you know more about business than I do.

I was going to provide several examples of how "suggested" business models can match up with a name, but I'm sure you wouldn't understand Furthermore, I guess students getting degrees in law, architecture, healthcare administration, management, journalism, design, and web development know exactly what they want to do, and would be highly offended by my my professional ideas and suggestions

Keep your critique flowing xynames...it only makes me a better domainer, and a better person. God Bless you my domain brother

Buloney, we discussed this before - pull up old threads. You have never sold a domain name, you have never sold a domain name as an asset to business, maybe you ran a successful biz in the 70ies, Great for you. But stop offering terrible advice and calling yourself an expert.

The only thing you are going to do is bankrupt, some people, who think you have any understanding of what you post.

Have your opinion, promote it, but dont lie and say you have branded and sold countless biz deals, that never involved a domain as a consideration, as someone who sold domains.

Please stop willfully promoting ideas (as an actual expert) when you are so far from it.

P.S. Buloney, you may want to look into your Trade Mark filling for "that name guy" - not showing up in basick TM searches.

DnameAgame said:

P.S. Buloney, you may want to look into your Trade Mark filling for "that name guy" - not showing up in basick TM searches.

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Brian..i don't think I ever gave you the impression I filed a "registered" trademark application for ThatNameGuy™ However, if I had and it was approved, it would read; ThatNameGuy®. Do you know and understand the difference? You might want to ask the legal beagle around here John Berryhill for an explanation. I'm sure he can help you

It's really a shame we couldn't get together in the Annapolis area when you came to DC. Maybe we can meet in another life. Cheers!

IMO it is not worth it for small portfolio. You mentioned 50 or more domains for home category, that is small number, if you have 500 or more domains related to one niche then it might be worth it to create separate website for them.

Better is to create one website and showcase domains by category, you can create a good looking coverpage with grid images and overlay text to represent categories you have.

The problem of multiple websites instead of 1 website is that it is time consuming, more expensive and harder to manage.

Also biggest challenge is SEO, if you have one website it will be a much easier task. you will need SEO to drive traffic to your website otherwise nobody will know about it.

Ostrados said:

IMO it is not worth it for small portfolio. You mentioned 50 or more domains for home category, that is small number, if you have 500 or more domains related to one niche then it might be worth it to create separate website for them.

Better is to create one website and showcase domains by category, you can create a good looking coverpage with grid images and overlay text to represent categories you have.

The problem of multiple websites instead of 1 website is that it is time consuming, more expensive and harder to manage.

Also biggest challenge is SEO, if you have one website it will be a much easier task. you will need SEO to drive traffic to your website otherwise nobody will know about it.

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Thanks Ostrados...like you I'm an entrepreneur, and I agree "50" domain's is probably too small for a niche portfolio. However, I use to own and operate a business where each of my employees managed portfolio's that ranged anywhere from 100 to 500 records/claims. Many times due to the nature of the portfolio, the individual that managed fewer records/claims generated more income and made more money for themselves than the individual that managed 500 records/claims.

Ostrados, i think comparing me to the "average" domain investor is a whole lot like comparing apples and oranges. That's not to say bigger is necessarily better, but it offers a lot more opportunity "if" it's done right. A very successful friend of mine use to say that he would rather grow in "profits" rather than grow in "size". There's a lot to be said for that, but I'm much more of a big picture guy.

To give you an example, I own about 150-200 domains that would fall under the category of financial services, real estate, home building and mortgage lending. I have plans to hire individuals with knowledge of these areas to sell domains to "end users". I've identified states in the US where individuals will sell both National names and state and local names. Due to the size of the real estate market alone I've worked the numbers to justify at least a dozen agents who can stay very busy selling domains, and it's my plan to compensate them anywhere from 25% to as much as 50% of the sales they make. You only need to know and understand real estate commissions to understand the compensation plan I'm emulating.

Regardless, thanks for the inquiry Ostrados

JayT said:

Don't get overwhelmed making websites. Start with a domaining one, and list your whole portfolio. Next make a site about something unrelated, but you like writing about. Now you have a domaining website and life besides domaining!

Click to expand...

JayT...i thought I was pretty specific about creating cookie cutter templates for each of my specialty niche portfolio's. I think where you and other domainers don't understand is, you think it is "I" who will be doing all the work. Now that I've partnered with an experienced web developer and tech savvy guy, in six months I'll be looking for a CEO and administrator to manage my business. It sounds to me like you and many of the others here are solo domainers who are so use to domaining your way you just can't see the potential I see.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I envision a totally different path

DnameAgame said:

Buloney, we discussed this before - pull up old threads. You have never sold a domain name, you have never sold a domain name as an asset to business, maybe you ran a successful biz in the 70ies, Great for you. But stop offering terrible advice and calling yourself an expert.

The only thing you are going to do is bankrupt, some people, who think you have any understanding of what you post.

Have your opinion, promote it, but dont lie and say you have branded and sold countless biz deals, that never involved a domain as a consideration, as someone who sold domains.

Please stop willfully promoting ideas (as an actual expert) when you are so far from it.

Click to expand...

Brian...i just realized I'd only responded to your inquiry about the symbol ™ vs. ®, and I hope you understand the difference.

Now on another note, I planned last August to do a joint trade show presentation with the registry that owns the .Golf extension at the Worlds Largest Amateur Handicap Golf Tournament in Myrtle Beach, SC. That didn't happen for a number of reasons, but the registry chose to do it with me not only because of my knowledge of golf, but because I own about 80 pretty good .golf domains like; target.golf, laser.golf, and focus.golf (where the #4 golfer in the world Brooks Koepka attributes his FOCUS for his success,. and this isn't just what I'm saying, you can find Brooks on Youtube saying it himself). Also because I have a lot more experience doing trade shows than the registry. Note, the registry and I are back on again to do the joint venture this August. Anyone reading this may want to come to Myrtle Beach later this summer and check us out Send me a PM and I'd be happy to share the details.

Let me share with you another story about a local registry/registrar Dominion Domains, LLC that owns (5) new extensions; .homes, ..autos,.boats, .yachts and .motorcycles. Dominion.Domains is owned by Dominion Enterprises (formerly Landmark Communications that owed The Weather Channel) who owns the domain Homes.com that is probably worth ten plus million dollars because of the 4 Million homes that are listed for sale on their website....don't believe me, check it out for yourself. Now what I'm about to share with you and other readers SHOULD blow your mind. About a year ago a local TV celebrity and I met with the GM of the local registry and suggested we might work together to promote his extensions and yes, my domains. Fast forward to about six months ago, and I had bought to give to the this registry the domain DominionDomains.com because I thought they should own it to match up with their domain name Dominion.Domains. When I did this I emailed the GM telling him that I had bought the domain(cost me $8.50) to give him/them. And in the same email, I told the GM about a .homes domain I might be interested in buying that was for sale for $195 at the time. The domain was HomeSweet.Homes, and I told him how and why I thought it would be great name. Now go back to a few months ago when Dominiion.domains re-released the .homes domain so that other registrars like GD could sell it. Since that re-release I've accumulated about 100 pretty good .homes names like; Sonoma.homes, Hitech.homes Shamrock.homes, Omni.homes and Sweetheart.homes. Then when I checked with GD to see if I could buy HomeSweet.homes I learned the registry had held it back as a premium domain I guess? Wait, the story gets better.....about the time I attempted to acquire the name from GD, I get a call from a consultant from Chicago who was coming to Norfolk, Va to help Dominion.Domains start a full fledged registrar similar to GD. He asks me, "Richard, do you still own the domain DominionEnterprises.com?" To which I said, yes, but I tried to give it to your new boss, but he said he didn't want it. Then he asked, "can we have it now?". To which I said sure, and transferred the name from my GD account to Dominions. Keep in mind I didn't charge them for a damn thing. Then the story continues to get even better...I go to Dominions site and search/inquire about the name HomeSweet.homes and a message comes back saying "HomeSweet.homes is reserved, contact us for more information".Well I did, and the GM at Dominion sends me an email back saying "Richard you can buy it, but it's now $64,000". After getting back in my chair, I registered the domain name, DomainEthics.com for I considered this to be the most "Unethical" thing that's happened to me in 50+ years of being in business. The saga still isn't over, when I told the consultant what had transpired, I get another email from the GM saying we should talk. I think he was a little surprised that I would "only" talk to him face to face, eye to eye, man to man So we then meet at a local Starbucks about six weeks ago where he asks me, "Richard, do you really think I'm unethical?"
To which I said, YES! Now get this...he then offers to give me the domain to which I refused. When we parted company, he really didn't want me to share this story about ethics, and I attribute it partly to what I refer to as the "Nature of the Beast"....the domain industry However, I'm sharing the story now because it needs to be told.

This ALL ties into this thread titled, "Should like names have their own marketplace". I'm personally aware that Dominion is planning to sell their "Premium" domains like HomeSweet.Homes at Realty trades shows where it would make perfect sense for us to partner, but I doubt seriously that will happen, mostly because I wouldn't work with them unless somehow they were to make amends. However, I do plan to compete with them at trade shows and via the internet because my "Premium" domains will sell for less than 50% of what they're trying to sell their "Premium" domains for. If you need to ask how and why I can do that and still be profitable, you really need to get a better grip and understanding of the domain industry.

That's all folks, today is Palm Sunday in my religion, and for those of you who don't know the story about the Last Supper and this guy they call Jesus, my belief is ALL ABOUT risk vs. reward, very similar to what I've been saying about the domain industry. Enjoy your day

ThatNameGuy said:

JayT...i thought I was pretty specific about creating cookie cutter templates for each of my specialty niche portfolio's. I think where you and other domainers don't understand is, you think it is "I" who will be doing all the work. Now that I've partnered with an experienced web developer and tech savvy guy, in six months I'll be looking for a CEO and administrator to manage my business. It sounds to me like you and many of the others here are solo domainers who are so use to domaining your way you just can't see the potential I see.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I envision a totally different path

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Yea okay well 20 websites wont sell domains. See, it's not a matter of it being doable. It's the fact that it's unnecessary. Would be better have 1 and rank it but you know everything!