Month: October 2010

An article that appeared in The New York Times earlier this week entitled “Marijuana Web Names Snapped Up, in Case of Legalization” has fueled dozens of articles around the subject of domain names and marijuana because of next week’s vote on Proposition 19, the California ballot measure that would legalize marijuana.

While Proposition 19 is not a subject I really care to discuss, the article featured quotes from two prominent members of the Domaining.com blogging community, Shane Cultra of Domain Shane, and Mike Berkens of The Domains – two of my favorite bloggers within the Domain industry.

Shane, who doesn’t buy and sell adult related domains, was quoted by The New York Times as saying: “There is tremendous investment opportunity there”, referring to buying up marijuana-related domain names.  But marijuana-related domains aren’t something Shane is investing in. 

As the article points out: “In late September, Shane Cultra, 41, was bidding in an online auction for the domain smokingmarijuana.com when suddenly he stopped, midclick. “I asked myself, do I want to be in that business?”

Mike Berkens, one of the most well-respected bloggers in the Domain industry, points out that domain names mixed with politically charged topics can be lucrative.  That is, if the politics go the way of the domain name.

…Mr. Berkens thinks marijuana domains could be a good investment; he sees the political momentum moving toward legalization and decriminalization. “We own gaymarriage.com,” said Mr. Berkens, who is also president of Worldwide Media, a company that owns some 75,000 domains, 57 of them marijuana related. “That’s another one of these politically charged hot topics, heavily dependent on politics.”

Dozens of news articles spring up online

As a result of the story that appeared in the widely published news source, dozens and dozens of articles have been written since.  Here’s a look at a handful.

Marijuana Legalization Stocks – Benzinga

Get your pot-related URL now – CNET

People buying up pot-themed domain names – VatorNews

Marijuana web domains snapped up ahead of California legalisation – Joe.ie

1,000s of marijuana domains registered in US – silicon republic

‘Our first task was to set out and find the best possible domain names that would be instantly recognizable with the product or service they offered. Next, we began taking the ideas and suggestions from our broker friends, pilots, aircraft owners, product manufactures and various other people in the aviation industry and implemented them into our first website to display used airplanes: UsedAirplanes.com. ‘

That’s how the story of Mark Horne’s company, Flying Online, got started with domain names. 

But that was just the beginning.

The Company History page and the Executive Bio page of Founder & President Mark J. Horne tell the whole story behind the company’s early beginnings through the acquisition and development of category-killing domain names (UsedAirplanes.com, Flying.com, UsedAircraft.com, Aircraftforsale.com) which have been a major factor in the company’s enormous success.

Here’s a look at the company’s history, which is still ‘taking off’.

The date was April 21, 2007. The place was Lakeland Florida. The event was the annual Sun-N-Fun. Several manufacturers and two aircraft brokers were talking to Mark Horne (our President) about various topics related to flying. At some point Mr. Horne explained what he had done in the Internet industry. Soon thereafter a question was asked of Mr. Horne: “Could you develop an effective and inexpensive online solution for our business?” Mr. Horne gave his word that he could and the rest is history……in the making.

Several months of research followed with the conclusion that the online aviation industry was made up of some really well done print and video publications but it was also very fragmented online.

Our first task was to set out and find the best possible domain names that would be instantly recognizable with the product or service they offered. Next, we began taking the ideas and suggestions from our broker friends, pilots, aircraft owners, product manufactures and various other people in the aviation industry and implemented them into our first website to display used airplanes: UsedAirplanes.com.

Thanks to the hard work of our development team, Laura Thompson and the support of our many friends throughout the aviation industry UsedAirplanes.com launched in July, 2009. Since this time, it has become highly trafficked and known as one of the most user-friendly websites to display aircraft for sale anywhere digital data can be viewed (desktops, laptops, digitalpads, smartphones etc.).

As the success of UsedAirplanes.com was becoming apparent, we had the opportunity to purchase the domain name Flying.com as well as its website. The press quickly termed Flying.com as a “category killer” domain name referring to its high-value within the space. What made this property and domain name extra special was the fact that it came with the conveyance of over 15 years of established rights. Flying.com will be consistently releasing new versions of the website as they are developed.

In May, 2010 we were very fortunate to have the opportunity to purchase UsedAircraft.com. This purchase was unique because it came with what brokers described as, “the best reputation for customer service and run by a very high class organization.” This domain name perfectly complements our UsedAirplanes.com property as well as meets our criteria of having a name that is instantly recognizable with the product it offers. We will launch our version of the website in late October 2010.

In September, 2010 good fortune came our way once again when, after a year of communicating with the owner of AircraftforSale.com he agreed to sell us his domain name. This acquisition gave us the instant ability to own a website that has a domain name that is identical to the highest searched keyword (search term) in the aircraft for sale space. In fact, over 200,000 people each month go to a search engine and search for “aircraft for sale.”

Since virtually every aviation enthusiast and aircraft buyer is now part of the new media (digital) generation, we will strive to continue to acquire and own the best possible domain names, produce the most user-friendly and technologically advanced websites and mobile applications (apps), remain strong and focused in all the social media channels and whenever possible look to the future and help shape it.