Archive for January, 2010
Buying then Parking Pricey domain names like Russia.com for $1.5M, how long will this last?
Russia.com. Ticket.com. Server.com. Luck.com. All of these names were purchased months and months ago for a lot of money. Russia.com sold for $1.5 million near the top end while luck.com sold for $675,000. Server.com sold for $770,000 back in Aug. 2009. We are talking about a lot of money and in some cases these names still show a GoDaddy Parked page.
If you search NameBio, you’ll find other top dollar names that were purchased for well over $500,000 still sitting parked – months and even years later.
We understand there is probably big plans or a long term strategy for many of these names, but to simply keep the domain name parked, particularly on a GoDaddy page, doesn’t seem like the best marketing strategy.
Investors versus End Users
Now, for domains that are purchased by companies that buy high and sell higher and higher as Investors, or monetize the names for their long term strategy with third party ads, it’s one plan.
But for organizations who invested a large part of their capital into acquiring the domain name as part of their business and marketing strategy, only to have the name sit parked because there was no vision on what to do next, doesn’t seem like money well spent.
CookingGames.com sells for $350K to Hallpassmedia; Best “CASUAL GAMES” Sites; CEO talks about BUY
One of Hallpass Media's former properties that they ended up selling -- AddictingGames.com - gets over 5 million unique visitors per month. While they no longer own that property, their success stories don't stop there.
CookingGames.com sold for six-figures as reported by Ron Jackson’s DNJournal and the news has sparked a lively discussion on the internet, especially among domainers. The Seller cashed in BIG TIME and as Larry Fischer over at DirectNavigation.com has pointed out, the extremely high sales price shouldn’t be such a shock.
The new owners over at Hallpassmedia own the casual games industry by acquiring and developing premium GAMES domains.
Shortly after Larry’s post went online, Bill Karamouzio the CEO of HallpassMedia commented several times on the blog offering great insights into domaining and the GAMES niche.
Domaining is not very well known outside of its circle, it would seem online gaming is even less known within the domaining circles even though gaming and online gaming are a huge part of the internet. Google trends and many other sources all show the growing trends in casual gaming…
You can read the full discussion thread over at DirectNavigation.com for lots of great information.
More About Hallpassmedia
Bill runs Hallpassmedia which dominates the casual games industry online with category-killers like WordGames.com, CoolGames.com, and the list is long. According to the site’s About Page:
HallpassMedia is designed to be a one stop network for all your online entertainment needs. We continue to build out our portfolio of premium domain names with targeted content, regular updates and a user experience that is unmatched by other websites. Our goal is the become the largest independent entertainment network online!
The Hallpassmedia web site has tons of useful information – ranging from industry news about the GAMES space online to lots of background information on the company as well as their domain names, domain development projects and much much more.
HallPassMedia’s Developed Sites
GuyGames.com
StickGames.com
WOrdGames.com
GirlGames.com
TacticsArena.com
Hallpassmedia has the formula for continued success with their properites. Thanks to Bill for commenting, we’ve made a correction. If you’d like to know more about AddictingGames.com – here’s the scoop straight from the Hallpassmedia site:
In 2004, using private capital, FPS Networks purchased the domain AddictingGames. Within 3 months of redevelopment FPS Networks had increased traffic by over 600%, catapulting AddictingGames into one of the top 5 casual gaming sites worldwide. Attracting the attention of many VC firms and entertainment networks FPS Networks decided to sell the site to Atom Entertainment (now part of MTV Networks) in 2005. AddictingGames continues to be one of the worlds largest casual game websites and FPS Networks has worked with the MTV team for a smooth transition and continuous growth.
Some of HallPassMedia’s Properties Under Development
newgames.com
coolgames.com
juegosgratis.com
dressup.com
animation.com
bakinggames.com
cartoondoll.com
dolldressup.com
draw.com
fightgames.com
makeupgames.com
playgirlgames.com
playkidsgames.com
quizgames.com
sillygames.com
virtualpets.com
Will Tsavo Media be the next Demand Media? Check out their “Less than killer” domains but Popular Sites
TechCrunch and others have asked the same question over the years – is Tsavo Media the next Demand Media?
Tsavo media who own and operate a wide variety of domain names and web sites from Manolith.com to WealthyGeek.com and PlusPets.com to RealTVAddict.com. While literally none of their web sites run on category-killer domain names, that certainly hasn’t stopped Tsavo media from month in and month out, getting over 30 million users to visit the company’s network of sites.
You might argue that Tsavo Media is nothing like Demand Media, but their model of building up sites with content and monetizing them through traffic and advertising is much the same. And they’re doing it with less than killer names.
Sites like ThinkFashion.com have as many as 226,000 visitors per month. Guide2CreditCards.com might only get about 3,000 visitors per month, but imagine the payouts.
You’ve probably noticed that Tsavo Media looks a lot like MoxyMedia, who we’ve written about in the past. And there’s a reason – Tsavo Media acquired select assets from MoxyMedia back in 2008. Both companies are backed by American Capital and as you navigate both company’s sites and domains you’ll see a lot of overlap.
Whether Tsavo becomes the next Demand Media, you have to be impressed at what they’ve achieved and it’s inspiring to any Domain Name fan given the names they’re using to run some of their most popular sites.
Sure, they have capital backing them up, but instead of using all their cash to buy a few good names, they’ve built something much bigger.
A Sample of Tsavo Media’s 300+ Websites and Blogs
Lumagardening.com
PlusPets.com
Twithority.com
Occassions365.com
theFlowersCatalog.com
thebeBddingcatalog.com
theGlasswareCatalog.com
DpDigest.com
DiscoverFame.com
HomescapeKitchens.com
Kidglue.com
StatusClean.com
Manolith.com
ThinkFashion.com
TechSerious.com
WealthyGeek.com
BirdfeedersDirect.com
BarbecuesandGrills.com
Daymix.com
theProductDepot.net
OneHealthyLifestyle.com
RealTVAddict.com
Texty.com
Guide2Creditcards.com
LumaPoolsandHottubs.com
Triolix.com
Travel-wise.com
MoneyPowercenter.com
Infodingo.com
About Tsavo Media
The consumer sites, informational properties and social media blogs in the Tsavo portfolio focus on highly searched categories including technology, finance, education, home & garden and lifestyles. Our websites offer helpful facts and guidance, news, commentary and professional services to the millions of people who visit our network. We deliver highly rewarding experiences to today’s digital consumers through innovative relevancy initiatives and quality content.
Through careful planning and aggressive talent acquisition, we’ve assembled one of the top teams of Web professionals in the world. By prioritizing creativity and a strong sense of community, we’ve created a dynamic atmosphere and a thriving company culture that facilitates the success of our cutting-edge projects.
“Snooki” from MTV Jersey Shore: You Never Know Which Domain Names You Own Will Be Catchy
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi has created herself a brand that continues to receive buzz. And the catchy name has certainly increased the value of the related domains.
Whether you watch reality shows or not, you’ve probably heard something about Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi. Snooki (often incorrectly spelled Snookie, is the self proclaimed “guidette” from Marlboro, New York.
She made big headlines in the NEWS when a man punched her in her face during a bar confrontation that was aired on MTV’s Jersey Shore. She got the name “Snooki” in middle school. According to Wikipedia, “her friends called her “Snooki” after the character “Snooki the cootchie crook” from the film Save the Last Dance because she was the first of her friends to make out with a boy.”
While we don’t own Snooki.com or Snookie.com, catchy names like this have been the interest of many domainers for years and year. Take a look at Mocus.com – the brand names nursey, and you’ll find dozens of catchy names listed for sale. The prices range from $2,000 all the way up to $60,000 for loli.com.
The keyword snookie had 246,000 Exact Local Searches in December. Snooki had just under 15,000, while Snooki only had 260 [Globally]. If you take a look at Compete, site traffic for the domain name snookie.com has gone from zero in March 2009 to well over 1,000 unique vistors per month as of December 2009.
While Snookie.com has been enjoying an increase in type in traffic, it remains parked but listed for sale. Snooki.com is a broken page. If you take a look at the website a few years ago, it was a full fledged web site for a cartoon cat character and the site offered downloads and other merchandise, but it’s no longer online.
What’s the Point of this story?
The reason we bring this up, is that you just never know what’s going to happen with certain domain names you own. While it can become costly to hold onto domain names that others turn away, events and people could change things. Your next domain name, even a hand registered one, might be that catchy name or phrase that some upcoming individual or company really wants.
Nationwide Insurance Buys NationwideSeries.com for $6K for NASCAR Series; MORE SEDO Sales
Nationwide Mutual Insurance purchased the domain name NationwideSeries.com for $6,000 at Sedo’s GreatDomains. Nationwide Insurance has been the title sponsor for the NASCAR Nationwide Series events since 2008.
The events are NASCAR’s second most popular racing series, supported by more than 75 million fans, including 2.7 million who annually attend NASCAR Nationwide Series races — according to information taken from Nationwide’s web site.
Owning the domain name gives Nationwide the chance to build an online presence to promote their partnership with NASCAR and create a community for fans to go that is completely focused on the racing. With a separate media platform, Nationwide can build in social media, fan pages, statistics and much more to draw in thousands of visitors.
Related Nationwide Series Domain Tidbits
Nationwide Insurance also purchased NASCARNationwideSeries.com on Jan. 15th, 2010.
Nearly every other TLD of the phrase NationwideSeries is available for hand-registration. Looks like Nationwide is only focused on owning the dotCOMs in a number of variations.
TheHotLap.com, a separate website focusing on news, photos and features about the Nationwide Series, gets as many as 9,000 visitors per month.
Other Notable Sales Recently at Sedo
implant.eu 5,010 Euro
podium.com 7,900 £
crystalblue.com 11,300 $US
usagardener.com 8,250 $US
betin.com 10,000 Euro
burj-al-arab.ru 7,000 $US
fastnacht.de 5,950 Euro
annonce.net 8,000 Euro
jordanien.de 17,850 Euro
daviderossi.com 9,350 $US
photobox.dk 7,000 Euro
musik-total.de 9,520 Euro
About the NASCAR Nationwide Series
The NASCAR Nationwide Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. It is promoted as NASCAR’s “minor league” circuit (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization’s “big league” circuit, the Sprint Cup. Nationwide Series races are frequently held in the same venue as, and a day prior to, the Sprint Cup race scheduled for that weekend, encouraging fans to attend both events.
The series was previously called the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series. In December 2006, NASCAR officials confirmed that Anheuser-Busch, parent company for Busch Beer, would not renew its sponsorship of NASCAR’s No. 2 series after the end of the 2007 Season.
Rick Latona Launches WeBuyWatches.com; Aggressive AdWords Campaign, Hits 4K+ Visitors
Rick Latona does nothing small. Rick and his staff keep constantly busy in the Domain Industry. Rick created a brand to reach consumers with his launch of Vino.com, and he has recently launched WeBuyWatches.com.
The web site looks sensational and the Adwords Campaign is aggressively targeting consumers. The web site hit over 4,000 visitors in December since going online in November and if you type in phrases “buy my watch” or “sell watch” or “cash for watches”— WeBuyWatches.com is at the top of Google’s Sponsored ads.
Elliot over at ElliotsBlog.com has posted a nice follow-up to our story with more information and an interview with Rick Latona about the newly launched website.
How WeBuyWatches.com Works
We paid a visit to the site and pulled this information from the How It Works page.
WeBuyWatches.com, our goal is to make selling your luxury watch as easy as possible. Here is how we do it…
Step 1: Fill Out the Form to the Right
Step 2: We Will Contact You
Step 3: Print Out Shipping Label, Drop Off Package
Step 4: Inventory Process
Step 5: Watch Appraisal
Step 6: YOU GET PAID!
Blogging about Domain Names: Landing Big Sponsor National A-1 Advertising on Fusible.com
NATIONAL A-1 PAYS TOP DOLLAR FOR PREMIUM DOMAINS, FOCUSING ON THE BEST OF BOTH GENERAL AND ADULT-ORIENTED NAMES.
While our aim is to make money developing and selling domain names, we also have a lot of interest in blogging about the industry and our own experience as domainers.
We’re still figuring out the whole domaining thing – but we’re enjoying it. While we don’t make money full time with domain names, we spend a lot of our free time blogging about them, typically about topics that interest us as we learn more and more on how to improve the way we do things.
This week, we landed a big advertiser on our website: National A-1 Advertising, one of the most talked-about and most exciting domain companies — who own some of the best properties on the web like free.com, girls.com, pizza.com, cash.com and literally thousands more of the same top caliber.
National A-1 is in a rare class of Domain-related companies who certainly bring buzz and attention to the industry.
It’s a very generous sponsorship and we are grateful for it.
And a BIG THANKS goes to Francois for his fantastic platform (http://www.domaining.com/) that allows domainers to reach out to the masses.
If you have a premium name – not just a great name – for sale, National A-1 offers top dollar.
DomainingTips SnapNames Auction Nets $66,295 Falls Short of 6-Figure Goal; Valuate Appraisal $58,145
The auction held by Andrei over at DomainingTips in conjunction with SnapNames netted $66,295. Here are the results based on the closing numbers that we took a snapshot of.
necklace.net $10,145
offended.com $9,075
dullard.com $7,550
hydronicheating.com $7,265
armchair.net $7,240
epilator.net $7,240
fleetinsurance.com $4,940
management.mx $4,940
tuning.mx $4,940
petferrets.com $1,680
personalorganisers.com $980
chromeshocks.com $300
As we wrote about earlier, Andrei has a HUGE project planned and his goal was to raise six figures in cash selling his domain portfolio over at SnapNames. The auction which just ended minutes ago, had a dozen names meet their reserve.
It should be interesting to see if Andrei will move forward with his plans, considering the auction finished strong, but fell short of his six figure target. According to Valuate.com, Andrei’s names that did sell finished slightly higher than the Valuate.com appraisal.
Valuate.com Appraisal: $58,145
Here’s the breakdown of Valuate’s appraisals, by domain:
Necklace.net $25,000
FleetInsurance.com $7,200
Offended.com $6,100
HydronicHeating.com $5,500
Armchair.net $4,300
PersonalOrganisers.com $3,300
PetFerrets.com $2,200
Dullard.com $2,100
Epilator.net $2,000
ChromeShocks.com $380
Management.mx $35
Tuning.mx $30
Can He Do It? Trying to Raise Six Figures from Domains, Quickly
Andrei, from DomainingTips.com, has a HUGE project planned. Now all he has to do is raise six figures in cash selling his domain portfolio over at SnapNames. The auction which has a little more than 1 day left, already has nearly $50,000 in bids with only 10 names catching bids so far. The top bids include names like Necklace.net for $9,645 and Dullard.com for $7,550.
If you questioned whether you could raise cash quickly if you own similar names to Andrei, the final auction prices later tomorrow will erase all doubts. Despite all the negative publicity in recent months about SnapNames, the auction platform is going strong.
The need to raise cash for a HUGE project might be the one of the most interesting aspects of this auction. Good luck to Andrei!
Why’s Andrei Selling?
Simply put, in Andrei’s own words: “I’m launching a HUGE project (the most important thing I’ve been involved with since I started making money online) and need low 6 figures at the very least in order to make things happen. Will I include a case study on the blog? Of course, stay tuned!”
Bill Karamouzis Embraces GAMES domains; Purchased StickGames.com for $100K; One Savvy Domainer
Bill Karamouzis, the CEO of Hallpass Media has created quite a buzz recently in the Domain Community over his purchase of the domain name CookingGames.com for $350,000. Bill even wrote a guest post on DirectNavigation.com that shared the story of another one of his web properties StickGames.com – a domain name that was previously owned by one of the “hardest, most stubborn, and least motivated sellers on Earth” – as Bill puts it in his guest blog.One can only guess who that might be…
Why Pay $100K for the Domain Name StickGames.com?
The answer is easy: there’s literally hundreds of thousands of people who enjoy playing “stick games” online. Originally when Bill approached the owner about acquiring the name, the owner wanted $250,000. How’d the deal go down?
The domain was getting tons of traffic (confirmed between 1000-1500 type in a day) and the owners after our first contact wanted 250k for the domain, no stats and no revenue figures to be provided. I knew the domain was making nothing for them though, by using automated parking technology I could see all the ads were displaying “stick” game type stuff. Like hockey, skating and ads of this nature. I knew the disconnect was there and viewers were coming to play games and being shown hockey ads so the click through rates must have been nil. I countered offered with a final offer of 100k after a few weeks of back
and forth they relented….
StickGames.com Today
While the games market, like the dating market, is very competitive, he was still willing to a six-figure amount for the name. Bill writes:
It was alot of hard work and networking with many more factors then I’ve been able to list, but the point is a good business plan, hard work and the right assets in this case strong generic domains have helped us in a very crowded and competitive market. We are on track to recover our investment cost in the next 3 months, during one of the worst recessions of our time. Still deals to be had, still many opportunities to be had. Best of luck everyone one!
StickPage.com, a fully developed website with stick figure movies, stick games and more, is a major competitor to Bill's StickGames.com web site -- pulling in over 600,000 unique visitors per month.
The phrase “stick games” gets about 135,000 Exact Local Searches. That’s a lot of interest, and likely a lot of type-in traffic. Since launching the stickgames.com web site — from the low X,XXX visitors to nearly 100,000 visitors per month according the December 2009 metrics on Compete.
And there are a lot of even smaller competitors trying to grab a piece of the Stick Games market; from theStickGames.com, to OnlyStickGames.com and even StickGameAddict.com. TheStickGames.com and OnlyStickGames.com, both receive about 8,000 visitors per month.
Type in the phrase stick games — and stickgames.com owns the top spot, but the list of web sites dedicated to stick games goes on and on and on. From stickflashgames.com to freestickgames.net.
We even did some available domain searches to see if there was anything worth hand-registering, but we didn’t find anything. Names like StickFigureGame.net and FunnyStickGames.com were two names we considered, but passed since we don’t know much about the GAMES market.
If you’ve played a few of the games on the StickGames.com website like “Stick Figure Penalty 2″, they’re pretty fun. In Stick Figure Penalty 2 you actually get to choose how you want to die, ranging from a large nail gun to a chainsaw. The disclaimer states, “not for the faint of heart”.
We can see how these online games, particularly stick games, can be addicting.
By the way, AddictingGames.com was one of Bill’s original properties that was sold to MTV Networks.
In 2004, using private capital, FPS Networks purchased the domain AddictingGames. Within 3 months of redevelopment FPS Networks had increased traffic by over 600%, catapulting AddictingGames into one of the top 5 casual gaming sites worldwide. FPS Networks sold AddicitingGames to Atom Entertainment (now part of MTV Networks) in 2005. AddictingGames continues to be one of the worlds largest casual game websites and FPS Networks worked with the MTV team for a smooth transition and continuous growth.”
