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Who paid $500,000 for Gamesforgirls.com, the top-selling domain so far in 2011?

Games for Girls

One thing is for sure: Bill Kara of Hallpass Media didn’t pay $500,000 USD for the casual games domain name, gamesforgirls.com. 

While the buyer may not be known as of yet, the seller is.  As pointed out by Jamie Zoch over at DotWeekly, what is known, is that the domain name was sold by Garry Chernoff, of NetIncome Ventures Inc, an established domain investment and web development company.

Casual gaming domain sales create buzz

Like the buzz the domain industry had in early 2010 after cookinggames.com sold for $350,000 to Bill Kara, the price paid for gamesforgirls.com in early 2011 is sure to be the topic of many discussions after the owner is revealed.

I contacted Bill Kara, the CEO of Hallpass Media, which operates one of the largest networks in the United States ) including Girlgames.com (a site roughly estimated by Compete to receive nearly 400,000 unique visitors per month), to see if he was the buyer – after speculation by many that he may have purchased the domain despite owning girlgames.com. 

And the answer was as I expected: No.   

So who paid $500K for gamesforgirls.com?

At the time of this story, the domain name still remains in Sedo’s Domain Transfer Escrow Service according to Whois, so we won’t know anything until the name is in the hands of the new owner. 

But you can bet after the new owner or website is revealed, it’ll be reported quickly.

Readers: Who do you think purchased the domain?

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News Video Games

CookingGames.com makes a splash in its short time online, outpacing other Hallpass Media properties in traffic

cooking games

Cookinggames.com is outpacing other Hallpass Media entertainment properties in visitor traffic according to the latest Compete rankings.

When the domain name CookingGames.com sold in January 2010 for $350,000 through NoktaDomains, casual gaming was suddenly the talk of the town, with many domain investors clamoring over the price in the blogs and forums.  The online comments ranged from disbelief to shock.

Bill Kara, the President of Hallpass Media, even wrote a guest post on Larry Fischer’s blog over at DirectNavigation.com titled: Amazing Guest Post by The Purchaser of CookingGames.com – A Must Read

Bill started the story with the following statement: “If you think Hallpass Media paid alot for cookinggames.com (350k) then you might be surprised at what we paid for stickgames.com…”

How has 2010 been for CookingGames.com?

Well, according to a rough estimate by Compete, the site that launched just over six months ago has experienced a +3,993.05% change in yearly traffic, with nearly 400,000 unique visitors per month (395,348 to be exact, as  of Nov. ’10).

Hallpass Media Traffic

For those of you that still haven’t seen what the Cooking Games web site is all about, you can better appreciate the site’s draw by visiting the Most Popular Games section and as the site says, bake a delicious treat for a birthday, wedding, anniversary, special occasion or just whenever.

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News Video Games

Bill Kara’s Hallpass Media soft-launches casual gaming crown jewel: Dressup.com

dressup

Hallpass Media has soft-launched its “crown jewel” Dressup.com, a casual gaming website loaded with dress-up games.  The categories of games available range from world tour to celebrity, to careers and fashion, to family and makeover, along with a section that highlights the newest and most popular dressup games.

The launch of Dressup.com, is undeniably one of Hallpass Media’s most anticipated website launches.  

As I wrote earlier this week, Bill Kara’s Hallpass Media entertainment network is one of the largest in the U.S., and the launch of dressup – will certainly improve its ranking.  Parked, Dressup.com received nearly 60,000 unique visitors per month, according to a rough estimate provided by Compete.

Developed, the site stands to quickly increase its traffic as users immerse themselves in gameplay.

Casual gaming is a huge market and dress up games are one of the most popular types. 

Want to dress up one of your favorite celebrities like Justin Bieber or Ashley Tisdale?  You’re in luck.  Dressup’s celebrity section lets you catch up on all the Bieber fever and more.  You can get Justin Bieber to sing, dance, act all on Dressup.com.  Here’s a look at another megastar that you can dress up: Ashley Tisdale.

dressup ashley tisdale

According to Dressup.com:

With hundreds of unique Dressup games, this is the best place to get creative and design your own great styles! We offer almost every type of Dressup game you can think of and add more every week.

We have so many different Dressup games, there are so many things to do! Discover cultures and styles from all over the globe as you take our World Tour! Do you wish you could be a stylist for the stars? Get your favourite VIP ready for the red carpet with our Celebrity Games! Browse around our Job Fair and find your perfect career or just relax with the family in our Kids section.

FPS Networks

If you’re wondering how Bill Kara gets it all done, he is also the CEO of FPS Networks, a full service design and programming studio with over a decade of experience in Internet consulting.

FPS Networks owns and operates a network of websites reaching over 4 million unique viewers monthly. As an owner of multiple website properties and a vast portfolio of domain names, we are constantly evolving and learning. We bring this industry experience to our clients and as a result are able to provide solutions which are cost effective and efficient. Our office is located in Edmonton, Alberta Canada and we employee 23 full time programmers, designers, and engineers enabling us to provide a one-stop shop for all our clients needs.

Expect Dressup.com to gain top internet search ranking, like many of Hallpass Media’s launches in 2010.  CookingGames.com for example, ranks # 1 in Google for the search term: cooking games.  VirtualPets.com, another casual game site launched in 2010, has also landed on the first page of Google search results for the keywords: virtual pets. 

Hallpass Media is building a best-in-class network with all of its properties, so check out Dressup.com during its “soft launch”.

You can also follow Dressup on Facebook, to get the latest updates on the web site and games.

Categories
News Video Games

Bill Kara’s Hallpass Media Entertainment Network, one of the largest networks in the U.S.

Hallpass Media

Hallpass Media, a collection of casual gaming websites owned and operated by Bill Kara, is now one of the largest networks in the United States.

According to Quantcast, the Hallpass Media network which includes websites like StickGames.com, Hallpass.com, GirlGames.com and more, is currently ranked #1,381 in the U.S.

Unlike rough estimates provided by sites like Compete, Hallpass Media’s network traffic is directly measured by Quantcast. 

Since first tracking the network of sites back in January 2009, traffic has quickly climbed to nearly 4 million visitors per month, reaching nearly 3.8 million visitors globally in October 2010.

Soon enough, Bill Kara will be unveiling the crown jewel of Hallpass Media: Dressup.com.  According to a rough estimate by Compete, Dressup.com (which is currently parked) receives nearly 60,000 unique visitors per month.

While an exact date for launching Dressup.com is not known, fully expect to see the Hallpass Media network to soar in the Quantcast rankings.

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News

Tablets.com to provide reviews, buying advice, news and more for tablet enthusiasts

ipad games

It’s been only a month since Aron Meystedt of XF.com acquired the category-killer domain name Tablets.com

So what’s in store for one of the hottest gadgets and domain names on the market?

Bill Kara of Hallpass Media whose casual game network receives over 3.5 million visitors monthly, suggested back in early November on Fusible that Tablets.com: “should make a comparison engine and do some peer rankings to really get the SEO juice going.   I don’t think a blog is the best use of this type of domain IMO…”, he commented.

Aron responded that the blog is just temporary, and plans were underway for a comparsion engine and more. 

If you’ve visited Tablets.com recently, you’ll know the search is on for writers to write reviews, articles, news, buying advice, information and more.  Literally, anything about tablets.

Whatever site is ultimately launched, right now tablets.com continues to show up on page 1 of Google for the search phrase ‘tablets’, and ranks above Apple, Amazon, RadioShack, Best Buy and other popular sites that sell tablets.