DomainersEdge said:
I'm the actual owner of godfather.com. Katya works with me. I really appreciate this conversation string and I agree with verbster that this is a very interesting discussion on domain valuation philosophy. We own a lot of domain names but this is probably the premier name in the portfolio. I am a sedoPro member already (thanks for those who sent Katya invitations via PM) but haven't done anything other than the basic parking with this or any of our other domains.
Any suggestions on what should be done with this domain? Is anyone out there particularly good at taking a killer domain and squeezing out a lot more revenue? If so, I'd certainly be interested in talking with them.
Just to add my two cents on the valuation philosophy... For me, the most important factor (although certainly not the only factor) is sustainability of traffic. There are domains which produce a good amount of residual traffic because of LP. These domains can be valuable, but it is likely that the traffic from these domains will decrease over time and making any kind of long term bet (even 12-18months) is a bit risky. On the other hand, domains which produce traffic due to direct navigation (like godfather.com) have significant innate value. Traffic 'should' grow over time, not shrink.
As I said earlier in the thread, were the domain name mine, I'd develop a slick site containing info on crime bosses past & present, living & dead. With that kind of natural traffic, Adsense should bring in just as much revenue as Sedo parking provides, or more. TM issues should be minimalized as well, because you're using the generic term as your base of content.
I agree that buying linkpop domains is a somewhat risky business. That's why buying a large variety of well-researched names is important. I've won some and lost some (the largest to the City of Paris, AAARGGGHH). My portfolio revenue grows on some names and shrinks on some, but I'm making a lot less mistakes than when I started this crazy game.
I have domains that are type-in and lots of LP domains as well. I easily get the uniques that you do and after all the sales and revenue I've made, I'm riding on about a $600 investment. I make $200+ per month which, right now, is a massive 400% return per year. Plus, I will be riding free in 3 months. By then I believe my traffic and rev will still produce $200 a month. Now I just need to do this about 20 times over. After reg fees, I'll be making in a year what you make in a month :o but I'm having fun and learning more all the time!
Although the days of straight reg'ing a name that gets 1000's of type-ins from day one are over, there are still names with pure type-in traffic available for reg fee. I just reg'd 3 names that should get around 200 uniques per month as a group. I understand that this is nowhere near 15,000, but 50 more like this and I've got a great "direct-navigation" portfolio as long as there are clicks to go with the traffic.
Now go and develop that name so we can all take a gander!
