LLLL.com Marketing

[gwkg]

I plan on some direct marketing to locate buyers for some of my LLLL.com and am looking for data and quotes related to LLLL.com to help show the value of short domain names to people who aren't familar with the market.

It would be nice to a have a reference thread everyone can skim through when they need some info to include in their sales copy.

Be sure to attribute the original author. Besides, marketing copy always looks more credible when its referenced.

Here's some from Reece's Press Release, Short Domain Names Hold Enormous Investment Promise (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/07/prweb1103314.htm)

Ever increasing Internet penetration will greatly increase the desirability of short domain names, making an investment in short domain names among the strongest appreciating internet investments for many more years to come.

"It's like 1999 all over again with the prices of short domain names up as much as 4000% since 2002. With worldwide Internet penetration hovering around 20% and mobile phones outnumbering computers 4 to 1, there's still a lot of upside potential," suggests Berg who recently turned a $12,000 investment in four letter .com domain names (known in the domain name business as LLLL.coms) into upwards of $70,000 within six months.

"Easy money," says Berg, referring to how little work was actually involved in making this profit.

18 Tips For Choosing a Good Domain Name (http://www.domaininformer.com/guide...s/08072118TipsforchoosingagoodDomainName.html)

To make the domain name memorable and easier to type, try to keep it as short as practically possible.

Short domain names reduce the possibility of typing errors and reduce the risk of sending the user to a type squatting website (a website that is intentionally created to benefit from misspellings in your domain name).

 

[ecalc]

If targeting end users, I'd think twice about likening today's market to 1999 or highlighting the recent 4000% price run up. End users don't buy domain names with intent to resell. The internet penetration, mobile device growth and short name elegance sales pitch is easier for the end user to swallow.

1999 was the last full year of a multi year bull market in stocks. Many people remember the subsequent hard correction and associate it with tech stocks and the internet. In retrospect, 1999 and the next several years were good times to buy strong domain names, but emphasizing 1999 and the recent 4000% run up suggests to end users that they may be buying at a top. If you insist on a price trend sales pitch, explain that the market has recently corrected and great names cost less today than at any time in the last [insert time frame here].

These remarks apply to end user sales, not sales to domainers who may regard 4000% price run ups as a good reason to buy.

 

[-REECE-]

Agree with ecalc. For endusers, I think www.classydomains.com is a classy example

You could throw in a few lines on how short domains are memorable, great for companies/startups (give some examples like Apple purchasing Me.com or the success of Bebo), etc.

If targeting end users, I'd think twice about likening today's market to 1999 or highlighting the recent 4000% price run up. End users don't buy domain names with intent to resell. The internet penetration, mobile device growth and short name elegance sales pitch is easier for the end user to swallow.

1999 was the last full year of a multi year bull market in stocks. Many people remember the subsequent hard correction and associate it with tech stocks and the internet. In retrospect, 1999 and the next several years were good times to buy strong domain names, but emphasizing 1999 and the recent 4000% run up suggests to end users that they may be buying at a top. If you insist on a price trend sales pitch, explain that the market has recently corrected and great names cost less today than at any time in the last [insert time frame here].

These remarks apply to end user sales, not sales to domainers who may regard 4000% price run ups as a good reason to buy.

 

[Shasta]

I plan on some direct marketing to locate buyers for some of my LLLL.com and am looking for data and quotes related to LLLL.com to help show the value of short domain names to people who aren't familar with the market.
.....

Here are a few ideas...
LLLL.coms are Easy to Type
LLLL.coms are Easy to Remember
LLLL.coms are Ideal 4 Cell Phone Users
LLLL.coms are great for redirects to long URLS
LLLL.coms are small enough 4 License Plates
LLLL.coms are much cheaper than LLL.coms
LLLL.coms are cheaper for print advertising, and especially classified ads than longer domain names.
LLLL.com acronyms are easier for non-english speakers to spell correctly than keyword phrases.
LLLL.com domains may continue to raise in value as millions more people come online each year.

If I can think of anything else, I'll post it later.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SALES!!!

 

[-REECE-]

Rep added -- very good post :tu:

Here are a few ideas...
LLLL.coms are Easy to Type
LLLL.coms are Easy to Remember
LLLL.coms are Ideal 4 Cell Phone Users
LLLL.coms are great for redirects to long URLS
LLLL.coms are small enough 4 License Plates
LLLL.coms are much cheaper than LLL.coms
LLLL.coms are cheaper for print advertising, and especially classified ads than longer domain names.
LLLL.com acronyms are easier for non-english speakers to spell correctly than keyword phrases.
LLLL.com domains may continue to raise in value as millions more people come online each year.

If I can think of anything else, I'll post it later.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SALES!!!

 

[gwkg]

I agree that end users don't buy with the intent to resell and going back to 1999 probably isn't the best strategy, but I still feel I need to explain why a $10 domain now costs hundreds of dollars to people that probably don't even know an aftermarket exists.

The fact that something is going to increase in value is rarely a negative selling point.

---

Does anyone know where there are any graphs or data showing

1. The price relationship between LLL.com and LLLL.com
2. The average price of LLL.com and/or LLLL.com, month by month

Does anyone know the date that LLL.com sold out?

 

[-REECE-]

LLL.com sold out in 1999 -- not sure on exact date. 3Character.com is a good source for month-by-month LLL.com prices.

LLLL.com prices weren't very stable until December 2007. Not much data available to graph and to be honest, the graph would look pretty ugly, going practically straight up on it's way to February 2008 and then plunging afterwards.

I agree that end users don't buy with the intent to resell and going back to 1999 probably isn't the best strategy, but I still feel I need to explain why a $10 domain now costs hundreds of dollars to people that probably don't even know an aftermarket exists.

The fact that something is going to increase in value is rarely a negative selling point.

---

Does anyone know where there are any graphs or data showing

1. The price relationship between LLL.com and LLLL.com
2. The average price of LLL.com and/or LLLL.com, month by month

Does anyone know the date that LLL.com sold out?

 

[gwkg]

Thanks, http://3character.com/priceguide.html has what I was looking for.

I can say that there isn't enough data available for four letters, since it hasn't even been a year since they sold out. But here are the minimum wholesale prices for 3 letters.

July 2005 $1300
July 2006 $2500
July 2007 $3850
June 2008 $7600

This shows that once the supply is gone, the prices continue to rise.

This isn't directly related to LLLL.com but it shows the demand for domain names is going to continue to grow.

According to the report by Jupiter Research, the total number of people online will climb to 1.8 billion by 2012, encompassing roughly 25 percent of the planet.

The fact that most of the growth is going to come from non-english speaking countries, can further the argument that there will be a continuing increased demand for short domain names.

The company sees the highest growth rates in areas such as China, Russia, India and Brazil. Overall, the number of users online is predicted to grow by 44 percent in the time period between 2007 and 2012.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/79192,quarter-of-the-planet-to-be-online-by-2012.aspx

 

[ecalc]

Google challenger cuil is in the mainstream news today. For those counting, cuil has 4 letters.

Founder Costello's Irish heritage inspired Cuil's odd name. It was derived from a character named Finn McCuill in Celtic folklore.

cuil.com - registration creation date: 30-dec-1999

 

[Shasta]

....LLLL.com prices weren't very stable until December 2007. Not much data available to graph and to be honest, the graph would look pretty ugly, going practically straight up on it's way to February 2008 and then plunging afterwards.

Reece is 100% correct, these would not look very good on a monthly graph right now. However, with some internet sleuthing you might be able to find some individual sales and show the dates they were first registered, then, show any related sales.

Also, a word of advice...sometimes I make a mistake and state something like these were all registered in November of 2007. However, I have to catch myself on that one because they were actually all registered for about a year by a large .com company. However, due to the bubble burst, shortly after 9/11 they let them all drop rather than paying to renew them.

Thanks, http://3character.com/priceguide.html has what I was looking for.

I can say that there isn't enough data available for four letters, since it hasn't even been a year since they sold out. But here are the minimum wholesale prices for 3 letters.

July 2005 $1300
July 2006 $2500
July 2007 $3850
June 2008 $7600

You have to be careful when using past graphs of non 4 letter domains because LLLL.coms MAY NOT follow in that same upward swing. While we are hoping they will, only time will tell. However, if your still interested in using graphs like the one above, here are a couple that I made. They probably are not 100% accurate, but it did take me some time researching the amounts.

L-L.com Sales History
2001 L.L.com $7
2002 L-L.com $75
2003 L-L.com $150
2004 L-L.com $300
2005 L-L.com $600
2006 L-L.com $1200
2007 L-L.com $1800
2008 L-L.com $2500

LLL.com Sales History
2000 LLL.com $50
2002 LLL.com $250
2003 LLL.com $500
2004 LLL.com $750
2005 LLL.com $1500
2006 LLL.com $2750
2007 LLL.com $5000
2008 LLL.com $6500

Google challenger cuil is in the mainstream news today. For those counting, cuil has 4 letters.

Founder Costello's Irish heritage inspired Cuil's odd name. It was derived from a character named Finn McCuill in Celtic folklore.

cuil.com - registration creation date: 30-dec-1999

Thanks for sharing that. "Ex-Googlers launch rival search engine-
Developers of new engine say it offers a more comprehensive way to search the Internet."

ECALC raises a good point, perhaps you could also talk about the popularity of LLLL.com domains as both acronyms and web 2.0 names. Mention Cuil.com, eBay.com, Sohu.com, ESPN, bido, etc.. Reece also has a good thread in this forum titled "Alexa likes LLLL.coms", which is more about short domain popularity, however, perhaps you could use some of this info as it pertains to LLLL.coms as well.

 

[gwkg]

General domain investing article:
Masters of our domain(names), the cash cows of the internet
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20060306_122704_122704

http://www.dmueller.com/benefits-of-generic-domains/

Domains are a lucrative investment vehicle. In fact, domains go up in value faster than any other commodity on earth.

 

[ecalc]

The dmueller link is a good assessment of generic domains and high quality targeted traffic, however his claim that "domains go up faster than any other commodity on earth" is vague and irresponsible without a time frame. Past performance is easy to cherry pick. Bullish optimism can be supported by credible reasoning, but the suggestion that a particular investment will outperform all others for an indefinite period going forward borders on fantasy.

 

[gwkg]

I used some of the tips posted to make these ads

http://charleston.craigslist.org/bfs/773569887.html
http://louisville.craigslist.org/bfs/773755820.html