Month: January 2011

Categories
News

Reinvent’s Group buying site GoodNews.com heads to Edmonton

Good News Edmonton

Kevin Ham and his staff at Reinvent have been staying busy the last couple years developing their network of domain names into independent businesses through their lab.  But the last week has been even busier for Reinvent’s Kevin Ham, who is reported to have purchased ThreeWords.me, the viral web app created by Mark Bao. Now add to that the expansion of Reinvent’s group-buying site GoodNews.com into Edmonton (or #YEG on Twitter, which refers to the airport code for Edmonton International).  

In a message posted to Twitter, the company writes, “We’re super busy in the office today getting prepared for launching @GoodNews_EDM tomorrow!”.

GoodNews.com is a little different than other group buying sites.  The site’s motto has evolved over the past few months into, “Good Deals + Good Businesses + Good Causes = GoodNews.com”.

How does GoodNews do this? 

According to GoodNews.com, “To accomplish this, we’re working with local businesses to put together amazing deals, and then pairing every deal with a meaningful local cause. A portion of the proceeds from each deal purchased goes directly to the cause. Now it’s easy for all of us to donate and contribute to our local community.”

With group buying a hot business in 2011, the competition is fierce.  But GoodNews seems to be making a difference with its first expansion into another major city from Vancouver to Edmonton. 

Owning and operating Vancouver.com has helped GoodNews.com grow in its short time online within Canada.  Now with the site offering daily deals in Edmonton starting tomorrow, it looks to be competing with GroupOn and other major players in the group buying space.  Despite GroupOn having a huge footprint worldwide, one thing the group buying giant might not realize is that Reinvent has a network of over 600,000 category killing domain names at their disposal to market and advertise their business.

Vancouver and Edmonton are just the beginning 

If the number of Twitter and Facebook pages GoodNews has set up is any indication of the company’s plans for expansion, Canada is just the beginning. 

The company has both Twitter and Facebook pages set up for Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and several other cities within in Canada.  But other pages are also springing up in other countries like Sydney, Australia.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Activision misses out on Modern Warfare domain names, ModernWarfare4.com still hostage

Modern Warfare 3 Ghost

There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the next Call of Duty game title. 

It is being rumored that Activision will be releasing its next title in November 2011, and there are plenty of gaming blogs and news sites thinking it will be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, focused on a character named “Ghost” who appeared in Modern Warfare 2.

With all the buzz swirling around, I thought it would be interesting to see what memorable Modern Warfare domain names Activision owns.   

Surprisingly, what I found is that Activision doesn’t own many.

Modern Warfare

ModernWarfare.com isn’t owned by Activision.  The domain is registered to Goran Blagus and sits parked.  According to a rough estimate by Compete, the domain receives anywhere from several hundred to several thousand unique visitors per month.

On Friday, October 15, 2010, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed by Activision for MODERN WARFARE, as reported by Trademarkia.  

Modern Warfare 2

ModernWarfare2.com is actually owned by Activision – and it’s not surprisng that the company somehow got its hands on this name considering Modern Warfare 2 is one of the best-selling games of all-time.

Modern Warfare 3

Activision wasn’t so lucky with ModernWarfare3.com.  What could possibly be another record-breaking title, isn’t owned by the company.  A disclaimer at the bottom of the page reads, “Modern Warfare 3 .com is a 100% unofficial fan site dedicated to the Modern Warfare series.”

Modern Warfare 4

ModernWarfare4.com is one of the most interesting domain registrations by far.  It’s yet another domain not owned by Activision, but in this case, the owners made news headlines when they threatened to hurt a clown if the game development studio behind Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward, didn’t play ball with their demands.

A message at the top of the site reads:

Welcome to the ModernWarfare4.com Website. It would appear that Infinity Ward forgot to purchase this domain. No worries – We have good care of it.

There has been huge amounts of controversy about our actions. We won’t go into details here, (but to read part the story, click here, then google for any more..) – what we will say, is that the domain was purchased by the UK based gaming community ZiiP. We have been wondering what to do with it for a while now.. threatening to hurt this clown that you see unless IW played ball…

Sadly, it would seem IW don’t like clowns. They appear not to like PC Gamers either, as we were (like scores of others) extremely disappointed by there lack of dedicated server in the release of Modern Warfare 2.

We are not bad people. Therefore, we have decided to compromise on our previous demands of fast cars and cheap hookers in exchange for the domain. Instead, we would like IW to implement dedicated servers into MW2 for the good of the PC gaming community. We don’t want IW.net. It wasn’t asked for.

ModernWarfare5.com and ModernWarfare6.com are both registered at the time of this story.  

You won’t find any available domain registrations until you reach ModernWarfare7.com.  However, chances are good Activision won’t ever get to 5, 6, 7, or whatever – given that its Infinity Ward game studio is in shambles and it’s rumored that a futuristic Call of Duty could be the focus of its next series.

Categories
News

No luck for Zeerk: Fiverr clone just won’t sell for much on Flippa after owner paid $52,000 in 2010

Zeerk Fiverr Clone

Fiverr.com, the internet site that lets people sell gigs for $5, has led to a number of clones in its short time online.  Several scripts have also been created for webmasters to clone the popular business model.  But as far as the clone sites that have been springing up on line in recent months, Fiverr.com still remains the model to beat in the micro-gig space, much like GroupOn has become the 800 pound gorilla in the group buying space.

One clone site in particular, Zeerk.com, has been plagued with bad luck since its original owner successfully sold the site on Flippa for $52,500 back in early November.

Since transferring to its new owner in November, Zeerk.com has been listed twice more on Flippa, both ending in failed auctions.  The most recent auction ended just over a week ago on January 13 after the listing failed to meet its reserve price.  The highest bid came in at $19,000, far below its original purchase price of $52K.

A week before that, Flippa reported the site had sold for $74,999, in what was already known to be another failed auction at Flippa, after a disgruntled Flippa user made a bid for $1 less than buy-it-now price.

These failed auctions are good examples of what high dollar sales reported at Flippa, don’t actually pan out.  Even the alleged sale of Free-counter.com for $61,000 reported by domain blogger Morgan Linton, left his readers skeptical, given that the Flippa seller claims to make $8,000 a month in profit. 

Zeerk.com: Why won’t it sell?

I’m no expert on this issue, but a quick glance at the comment threads on past listings reveals what Flippa users think about the auctions.

Why pay $50,000 or more for a website, when you can pay a couple hundred bucks (or less) for a clone script and get your own Fiverr-like site up in no time? 

Agriya, a web development company that produces a variety of clone scripts, appears to have developed one of the more popular Fiverr clone scripts that is used by several sites – including GigBucks.com which apparently sold on Flippa back in August for $5,500.

Gigbucks

Others on Flippa, seem suspicious as to why the Zeerk.com owner is selling the site so fast, as the seller (who goes by TheGreatFX on Flippa) claims to have no time and to be leaving the country in which they live.

“Why are you selling the website within 2 months that sounds very fishy. Coming to USA does not make a big reason for selling it in 2 months timeframe”, writes Flippa user Negotiator. 

While some suspect the site is plagued with problems and more question the site’s revenue and traffic claims.

Whatever happens with Zeerk.com on Flippa, I’m going to watch to see whether it goes up for sale again.  Despite Zeerk running into a string of problems, the micro-gig space looks to have a lot of potential.

Categories
News

Could Dirt.com really sell for $5,000,000 on Flippa? Rumor is NewsCorp is interested

Dirt.com

It sounds like a pretty wild rumor, and for now that’s all it is.  

A reader tipped me off that the owner of Dirt.com, who put the name up for auction on the internet site Flippa for $3MM, might be entertaining a deal with NewsCorp – who is considering selling off its social networking site MySpace.

The story of Dirt.com started back in September 2010, when the domain name sold on GoDaddy for $100,000. 

For months, the owner displayed a “Coming Soon” page, until December when the name went up for auction on Flippa.  Despite the big payment and obvious construction of a website, the owner decided to auction the property, because in his own words:  “I recently sold my Company and have decided to take a hiatus for thirty-six months to travel and focus on Foundation and Charity Work.”

Less than a week after listing the name over at Flippa, a website was unveiled. 

Whether the owner was creating buzz for the pre-launch of Dirt.com or whether he truly was headed off to do charity and fundraising (as I wondered back in December), whatever the case is now it seems he has definite plans for a website and charity work – that is, if the domain name doesn’t sell for $5,000,000 – 50 times its purchase price.

Yesterday, Yessman (the owner’s Flippa username) posted a message on the sales page that  gave more details.

Since so many people are watching this domain sale on Flippa, and there has been so much speculation and rumor on the internet in various forums and Blogs regarding the sale, it may make some sense to lay out a few discussion points about the domain, the site, and the sale at this time.

1. As mentioned in the description, I am an Internet Entrepreneur. I have just sold my Company and the reason that I wish to sell the dirt.com domain name is that I am planning on taking a hiatus for thirty-six months to travel and focus on my Foundation and Charity Work.

2. Thankfully, I have no financial need to sell Dirt.com at this time. However, due to the recent interest in Dirt.com from buyers throughout the world, it would have been foolish for me not to test the waters in selling the domain name versus building the business I had planned for it. This is why I have placed the domain up for sale on Flippa. Any good business person would look at all available options, and that is exactly what I am doing here.

3.. The business that I have planned for Dirt.com is to build the World’s Largest Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment Site. If I do not sell the domain, I will proceed to build the site out as I continue my Charity Work. I will also donate a portion of the dirt.com advertising proceeds to the ASPCA, The Humane Society, and PETA.

4. I am willing to sell the domain now as there is an opportunity cost in building out the World’s Largest of anything. If I do not get a buyer now, I will proceed to build out the Site, and sell it down the road after it is has reached the metrics in my business plan. I will continue to do my charity and foundation work, but will obviously have to spend time, energy, and effort, building out Dirt.

5. At that time, the value of the site with be more than the 5 Million asking price today…Substantially More. There currently is a site up where the domain exists. Already, people in Hollywood are talking about Dirt.com, and we haven’t even gotten busy yet! Weather i sell it now for the 5 Million asking price, or sell it later for much, much more, is simply a matter of what is called “Opportunity Cost”. Any serious Entrepreneur following this sale will understand the concept.

6. It has been reported throughout the web that the new owner of Dirt.com (me) purchased the domain for $100,000 just a few months ago.
Is the site worth 50 times the purchase price (if the reports are true)?

The answer is best served with a question…

…Name a more brand-able domain name available in the world right now…especially in the Entertainment Space (Which happens to be a Multi-Billion Dollar Space)…YOU CAN”T

If the rumor of NewsCorp partnering or buying Dirt.com becomes reality, it would be interesting to find out whether its listing on Flippa had anything to do with it. 

It would be even more interesting to see the final sale price.

Have a story tip? Submit it here.

Categories
News Video Games

YourMomHatesthis.com: How some video game companies use domain names to market titles

Your Mom Hates This
Real Moms react to footage of Dead Space 2 video game. Photo courtesy Electronic Arts

In early November, the domain name yourmomhatesthis.com was privately registered at GoDaddy.com. 

Electronic Arts has now launched a big marketing campaign using the domain name to create buzz for its third person shooter video game Dead Space 2, which is being released on January 25.

If you haven’t seen the marketing campaign yet, which captures the reactions of Moms watching the video game, it certainly is creating a lot of buzz.  Kotaku has a funny story by one Mom upset at the stereotype that Moms hate violent video games.  “I’m a mom and I don’t hate “Dead Space 2.” You know what I hate? Stereotyping”, writes Winda Benedetti. 

Not only did Electronic Arts develop a creative marketing campaign centered around “Your Mom Hates This”, they made sure to register the domain name and launch a web site.   Surprisingly though, EA didn’t register YourMomHatesDeadspace.com – which was registered earlier this week by a “BE Ads” in Florida. “Your Mom Hates Dead Space” is the headline used in many of the game’s online ads, including Google Adwords.

Activision ran a similar online campaign that began in late 2010, not centered around Moms, but around a somewhat controversial domain name: murderyourmaker.com, which it used to create buzz over its Prototype 2 video game.  The domain name now redirects to prototypegame.com.  The use of the word ‘murder’ in its marketing campaign drew the attention of many, as I wrote about in December.

Shocked Reactions

The shocked and disgusted reactions in the “Your Mom Hates This” campaign look legit – and for good reason.  The game is rated M for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, which gave the following summary:

This is a third-person action game in which players assume the role of an engineer (Isaac Clarke) who must fight his way through hordes of aliens aboard a space station. Players use futuristic weapons (e.g., plasma guns, flamethrowers, electrified spikes) to kill a variety of mutated creatures—attacks generally result in cries of pain, dismemberment, and large spurts of blood. Some cutscenes depict close-up views of characters getting stabbed in the face by blades and needle instruments. Several environments depict mutilated bodies, as well as blood-splattered floors, walls, and ceilings. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” can be heard in the dialogue.

You can watch the video below and see the Moms’ reactions.