To quote one of my all time favorite movies, here’s how I sometimes feel dealing either with n00bs or experienced, pestering domainers when snatching up expired domains {quote slightly alterted}:

There has been too much violence.

Too much pain.

But I have an honorable compromise. Just walk away. Give me your domains, the gtlds, the cctlds, and the whole backorder list, and I’ll spare your lives. Just walk away and we’ll give you a safe passageway in the wastelands. Just walk away and there will be an end to the horror.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082694/quotes

Oh, Humungus, you have such a way with words…

C’mon, Shoprunner.. us old grizzled internet vets — we recognize your logo… tsk tsk tsk

kozmo vs shoprunner

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Driving back to ATL from Asheville NC, I witnessed this gem on I-85 southbound:

[enlarged & cropped shot:]

Domaining & Development – Like.A.Boss.

And like Aaron might say on Good URL Bad URL, this domain might need to exit – - stage left.

Good Lordy.. Exactly 5 years I’ve been doing this.

Domaining.

5 {shakes head} years.

My first exposure was the expired domain market, and I remember my first auction well.

I was on the tail end of a bachelor party to Key West. We were driving back to Miami to catch our flights. We were in a rented mini-van. I was in the back seat. Headed north on the Seven Mile Bridge.

My Treo 650 browser was loaded. The domain was ArtHistory.net.

Not the prettiest name around, but that ain’t what I was after. I wanted its traffic. Traffic to monetize somehow.

The auction was winding down, and last second bids were beginning to roll in.

Bidder ‘meteng’ jumped in at $412, and so did I.

We both played ping pong up to $525.

Bidder ‘shimo’ said hello at $600.

‘Vaxis’ chimed in at $777.

I jumped back in at $1,005.

New bidder ‘xinamesx’ and I dance a tango up to $2,013.

I become lone bidder at $2,063 – until ‘border’ shows up.

They wanted the name as much as I did – apparently for the traffic as well.

We slap it out up to $2,513.

and take a breather..

We resume & exchange insults up to $3,500.

At this point, in the car, I’m talking to this bidder out loud.

“Give it up, you sum bitch.”

They didn’t seem to hear me.

The bid rose to $4,100.

Still just ‘border’ and me.

Weeks in advance, I had run the back-end numbers hundreds of times, but to center myself, I decide to do again. Projected traffic levels, guesstimate CTR, expected earnings, rough repayment schedule, parking vs development.

The name & bid level are still within my window.

I place a $5k bid, which raises the price to $4,200.

4 minutes left. Then 3.

Then 2, 1, and zero. ‘Border’ passes & I win for $4,200.

My congratulation email comes. And a phone call as well for confirmation on my first purchase.

I’m still in the backseat. I answer. On the other end?… is Nelson Brady. From the auction house – SnapNames.

He called to verify my new account and confirm I was real & not (you guessed it) a shill bidder.

That was my first domain as a domainer.

And now I’m 5 years in.

Over $100k personally invested.

Bootstrapped with +/- $5k of last months acquisition debt to pay off.

And still going. Lord willin’. For just one more day : )

Step 1: Receive gift of Virginia Peanuts for Xmas.

Step 2: Eat Peanuts.

Step 3: Realize how damn good Virginia Peanuts are.

Step 4: Type VirginiaPeanuts.com into a browser.

Step 5: Cuss when I discover someone owns it.

Step 6: Parlay anger when site & domain appear acquirable.

Step 7: Contemplate how many people search for Virginia Peanuts online.

Step 8: Search on Google Keyword tool to find out.

Step 9: Realize the numbers are large enough to run a small side mini-business on the niche.

Step 10: Search on Google to see how many advertisers there are for ‘virginia peanuts’.

Step 11: Smile when there are lots.

Step 12: Re-visit VirginiaPeanuts.com.

Step 13: Smile after realizing it’s hardly monetized (one advertiser who sells Virginia Peanuts).

Step 14: Search Whois to identify the owner.

Step 15: Cuss when I discover the one advertiser owns the site (ie. it won’t be cheap).

Step 16: Pull ripcord, stare blindly at the Xmas stockings on the mantle.

Step 17: Wonder who owns ChristmasStockings.com…

Step 18: Rinse, repeat.

Weird to think I’ve been buying websites & domains since 2005.

Back in those days, to identify sites to acquire, I’d simply run a few searches on high volume terms or phrases and rummage through the organic results to identify potential targets (a method that worked then and still works today).

I preferred ugly sites – design wise. Ugly sites that were poorly monetized. And coded in flat HTML, cause my coding experience was non-existent (and ain’t much better today). Database driven sites scared me. Sites designed in MS Front Page were my friend.

I used $10k from a home equity line to purchase my first site. And I got lucky. The re-designed, monetized site paid for itself in 6 months. I only wish it still performed at that level (it’s since fizzled).

But I learned — this game works.

From there, I expanded into buying sites from all over – Flippa, DMOZ, eBay, etc. And that worked too.

As time wore on, though, I craved an easier way to research. For a somewhat automated method of site review.

Enter StumbleUpon.

A perfect match.

I set up an account, select my interests (or types of sites I’m interested in acquiring), then start stumbling.

The result is a slide-show of possible site acquisitions – assembly line style.

Enter one interest at a time if you wanna dive deep into a category. Or enter 100 and sample a rainbow.

Sit back. Relax. Wait for the site to come to you : )

As much as I’d like to be a Mega Memory type of person, I’m not.

To compensate, I lean on short cuts. A lot.

DK from PurposeInc was nice enough to invite me to Think Tank this year, and once the attendee list grew and grew, I thought it’d be helpful to create an ‘all-in-one-image’ I could save in my mobile phone for easy attendee reference. Once I created it, though, I thought it might be helpful for the other folks to use – cause meeting a lot of new people at once can be daunting.

So that’s what I’ve done. Images are below. (If you’re using an iPhone (and don’t know already), simply load the image, tap and hold the image, and select save. The image’ll be in your gallery at that point. It’s a whole lot easier to view that way vs loading from the web.)

And if you’re headed to the event, grab me and say hello. I’m pretty easy to spot being 6’8 with red hair : )

[click the link below to view full size image..]

link to largest image here:
http://www.searchbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/thinktank.jpg

(smaller image below)

Step 1: Scour online articles reviewing top 10 locations or hot spots. In this instance, I stumbled across a recent article on Yahoo reviewing ‘The Worlds Most Beautiful Lakes‘

Step 2: (In this case) Check each lake names .com availability on InstantDomainSearch.com. If it shows as available, double check on GoDaddy (IDS sometimes throws false positives)

Step 3: Google the Lake names. Mainly to research. Me, I try to make sure there’s some sort of commercial component to the area. Real Estate, a landmark, tourist trap, etc. In this example, I was drawn to Peyto Lake (PeytoLake.com) in the Banff National Park in Canada. Per wikipedia :

During the summer, significant amounts of glacial rock flour flow into the lake, and these suspended rock particles give the lake a bright, turquoise color. Because of its bright color, photos of the lake often appear in illustrated books, and area around the lake is a popular sightseeing spot for tourists in the park.

Me likie…

A photo for those wondering:

(Courtesy Travel Alberta)

Next, I dig and discover Banff National Park welcomes over 5 million visitors every year.

Me likie alot..

Tourism means nearby hotels. Tourism meals nearby restaurants. Tourism means camping. etc etc etc.

Step 4: $ Buy the domain $. Which I did : ) PeytoLake.com

Now, I realize I ain’t gonna retire on this domain. And it ain’t a domain I’m gonna flip and pay off my mortgage.

But it ain’t half bad imo. A $7.87 investment, all-in. Parked at Sedo.com for now.

I find a handful of domains like this every year. For every 5 I buy, I’ll sell one which’ll pay for all plus lots more.

And hell, it’s fun. My eternal treasure hunt.

If you like it as much as I do, dig through the remaining lake names on that list, cause there’s one still left to register : )

{That might possibly be my longest post title of all time… but I digress…}

My domain (acquisition) game doesn’t really revolve around category killers or home runs. Really, it revolves around mini-category killers. Strong doubles. I love ‘em.

For example, piety and I slugged it out recently on NameJet for the domain name Laramie.com. A solid little geo city domain name centered on a college town in Wyoming. Approximate population is 25k, but once you throw in the University, that number quickly grows closer to 45k+… and the name itself is unique to Wyoming… and to boot, it’s a mini vacation destination… and so on.. not a homerun like Atlanta.com is.. but a nice solid double. (piety beat me out for it – won it for $6,599)

So when those domain auctions pop-up, ones where I might have an outside chance of winning, my entire psyche changes..

I become antsy. Fidgety. Consumed. And I lose sleep : )

I research all historical records of members participating (at least records I have access to). I wanna know how aggressive or bankrolled those individual are. (ie. if NJ bidders po3kjd5nf4b or ebatcave are present, I become concerned)..

Once I determine a rough guesstimate on cash I’d need to win said auction (Lord willing), I begin to lay in place my auction disaster preparation.

Well, maybe small scale disaster preparation.

Preparation in case my electricity goes out. Preparation if internet goes out. Preparation if a crazed ex girlfriend is taking batting lessons on my car my computer crashes. Everything I can possibly conceive..

So many steps, actually, I thought it’d be interesting to chronicle each one.

Here we go (in this case, I’ll use a NameJet auction as the example):

• Electricity Goes Out / Internet Goes Out

I make sure to have my iPhone handy, pre-loaded with NameJet, fully charged up, and logged in, and auction page loaded up.

• Computer Crashes

I’ve got an old spare junky PC, and it serves as my drone during these coveted domain auctions. And similiar to electricity & internet, I’ve got NJ full logged in and loaded. Computer crash be damned.

• Browser Freezes (Firefox)

I keep Chrome & Safari open, fully loaded with NJ & auction.

• Internet is Up, NameJet seems Down

I jump on http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ to see if it’s localized. Sometimes I’ll Skype friends to see if it’s up for them. I’ll then fall back on iPhone, or drone computer. If that don’t work, I’ll get on the horn and call my wifer/bro/friend to have them login through their computer and bid for me.

• Cat Jumps on Computer

Sounds dumb, but cat owners know it happens. So when I’m participating in a coveted auction, the Cat Patrol is removed from the vicinity.

• I forget / become distracted

I’d like to say this doesn’t happen, but it does. To counteract my limited brain capacity, I set up 2 or 3 alarms to go off 20 mins or so before end of auction. One alarm on my iPhone. One on my Google Calendar. And sometimes one on my old-timey kitchen timer.

• Auction Goes on For Hours

The recent ($131,400 sale) auction of huddle.com on NameJet went on for hours (a little over 2hrs, if I’m correct).. To prepare for these marathons, I block off a rough two hour window around the auction. No visitors. No chit-chat. No errand running. No consulting. Just me & computer.

• TV’s on and Maury’s About to Read the Results of a Paternity Test

I hesitantly turn TV off so I can concentrate.

Now, of course, to truly avoid all these problems, I could simply place my absolute top bid days in advance, then step away and skip last minute bidding… but..

what’s the fun in that?

]]> http://www.searchbound.com/disaster-preparation-for-extremely-important-domain-name-auctions/feed/ 1 http://www.searchbound.com/worthwhile-domainer-twitter-feeds/ http://www.searchbound.com/worthwhile-domainer-twitter-feeds/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:24:13 +0000 Peter http://www.searchbound.com/?p=680

Thought I’d share a short list of some helpful twitter feeds targeted to the domain name industry..

http://twitter.com/adamstrong

http://twitter.com/ronsheridan

http://twitter.com/RonJackson

http://twitter.com/DomainKing

http://twitter.com/DotSauce

http://twitter.com/skydd

http://twitter.com/fmichlick

http://twitter.com/RoyalBobbles

http://twitter.com/Bobbleheads_com

http://twitter.com/DomainNameWire

http://twitter.com/Frank_Schilling

http://twitter.com/TimSchu

http://twitter.com/EpikDotCom

http://twitter.com/Sedo

http://twitter.com/DomainShane

http://twitter.com/elliotsblog

http://twitter.com/GoodURLBadURL

http://twitter.com/overseenet

http://twitter.com/DOMAINfest

http://twitter.com/adamdicker

http://twitter.com/Berkens

http://twitter.com/yofie

http://twitter.com/westerdal

http://twitter.com/ChefPatrick

holler if I missed any, or feel free to mention others in the comment section..

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