GreeceTours.com at Sedo domain auction – 3 hours to finish

You may know that ChinaTours.com was sold for $200,000 by Rick Schwartz a few months ago.

Now GreeceTours.com is at Sedo domain auction (3 hours to finish) at a fraction of the price of ChinaTours.com.

Visit the auction here.

Dirrect Sedo link is as follows.

https://www.sedo.com/auction/auction_detail.php?auction_id=120003

EVE Gamers Raise $45K Online for Japan

The EVE online space science fiction gamers have something to be proud of, moving almost $45,000 to the Red Cross effort in Japan. The donation was executed via a digital fund drive that raised enough virtual funds that its operators were able to convert “pilot licenses” in the game (PLEX) to real funds. This shows the power of gaming and the spirit of the online gaming community. Domainers should take note of the strong community within a single online role play game and consider this when shaping a gaming domain site launch effort.

Google Matt Cutts mentioned a few days ago about keywords domain

 

I have watched Matt Cutts from Google talking about keyword domains today. He said there had be compaints about Google giving too much weight to keywords in domains and Google is looking into tweaking this in their algorithm so that a keyword domain might not have as much weight as before compared with brandable domains such as twitter.com etc…

May be that might have negative effect on the value of some keyword domains without many type in visitors.

BreakdownCoverComparison.com acquired. 8,100 EXACT searches per month wih CPC $10 per click

I am not sure how people in US use “breakdown cover“. In UK, most of the car owners have “breakdown cover” for peace of mind so that if any breakdown any where, we know that we could get breakdown team to come and rescue us.

The domain, BreakdowncoverComparison.com is a good accompany to my other domain, InsuranceComparison.com.

I am in the process of developing “breakdowncover comparison” website.

The keyword “breakdowncover comparison” is searched around 8,100 times (EXACT search volume) per month with CPC around $10 per click.

Verisign Tag Cloud Tool

Ever rush to the domain search screen at your favorite registrar only to wonder just how many of your fellow domainers are jumping on the same keyword bandwagon? Verisign is helping domainers think out of the type in domain name search box and drop list.  This is also a valuable reminder of key word and tags to be used as density and subject reference for SEO and content building brainstorming. The domain tag cloud is in beta, but one look instantly tells the story. Not only can portfolio domainers see what names are trending for auction consideration and flipping purposes, but they can see what niches might be walking out of the everyday into the special. Common keywords, like “gold” or “shop” or “play” can mix with whatever the day’s mix in blogs, news, search engine trending and type in domain searches yields. A very visual, instant thinking cap with big eyeball appeal. Bravo, Verisign.

 

UltimateGuitar.com and its loss. A six figure sale in 2007 and WIPO lost in 2010?

I have just read an interesting blog at thedomains.com regarding the WIPO decisions for UltimateGuitar.com and UltimateGuitars.com.

I understand there was a WIPO decision against Domain Capital in 2010 for the domain UltimateGuitar.com (read WIPO case here). That made me confused because I was aware of a high price domain sale for the domain, UltimateGuitar.com for six figure and I previously thought it was bought by Ultimate-Guitar.com. I was sure about this because I tried to be aware of the domain sale prices of the domains in the past as much as possible.

I searched for the domain sale info regarding the domain, UltimateGuitar.com,  I found out the following page at dnjournal.com. According to this, the domain, UltimateGuitar.com was sold for over $100,000 in 2007 and the buyer may be Domain Capital who lost the domain via WIPO in 2010 to Ultimate-Guitar.com. They have lost over $100,000 for this domain? Is WIPO decision fair to make a loss of over $100,000 to a domain investment firm?

Gamesforgirls.com sold for half a million dollars

I found out that the domain, Gamesforgirls.com was sold for half a million dollars ($500,000) recently. It would be another “games” domain sold at a high price after CookingGames.com domain sold for $350,000.  The domain was sold via Sedo domain marketplace.

I was thinking there wouldn’t be a lot of searches per month for “Games for girls” in Google. I was wrong and the Google tool showed that there had been around 1.83 million searches per month for the keyword “Games for girls“. Alexa stats revealed that  the domain/site had “Alexa Traffic Rank: 802,099  Traffic Rank in US: 274,839″.

Any way, it was a very nice payday for the domain seller.

It is strange. I let “StudentTour.com” domain auction go not noticing StudentTours.com recently sold for x,xxx

It was a bit of strange. Just a few days ago, I was participating in the domain auctions (3 domains) and I was focussing on one domain, GreatThemes.com which I acquired.

At the same time, there was another domain auction “StudentTour.com” running and there was only low xxx when I switch my attention completely off the domain, “StudentTour.com”.

I didn’t realize that its plural domain, StudentTours.com was just sold at Sedo for $3,000. If I was aware of that domain sale, I might be interested to acquire “StudentTour.com“.

Mild Form of Pontiac Fever at -Fest

Speculations about the flu strain visited upon hapless visitors to last week’s February 1-3rd Domainfest are becoming clearer. Los Angeles County Health Department actions to survey the participants were the topic of an article in the New York Times, which angled on the Playboy Mansion as a source for the illness. Pontiac fever is an unofficial diagnosis. High profile domain  industry blogs have chronicled the strange illness  outbreak from initial recovery stages. International Domainfest guests carried the symptoms home abroad as well.

Many domainers suspect the illness was actually a bacterial infection, although the manner it is discussed uses the term  “flu”. The Playboy mansion has a lagoon, fog mist and the type of warm air conditioning said to allow such bacteria to flourish. There is no detail if the assault allegedly taking place on the bus home from the Playboy Mansion had anything to do with the outbreak. So far the Los Angeles Times has been mum on the topic. Antibiotics are urged as the supposed 5 day burnout of this illness requires prescription aid.

The Times sketches the illness as Pontiac fever, (or walking pneumonia), a milder form of Legionelleosis, named for the original Legionnaires Disease. Sources say as many as 93 participants fell ill, some requiring antibiotics and suffering more harsh symptoms than others. (Vulnerability to any strain of flu or virus can be affected by fatigue, body chemistry, and length of exposure to infection source). The Los Angeles Center for Disease control is involved in a survey both for issues of environmental health and traveller health.

DomainSponsor, a unit of Oversee, has been active in collaborating with agencies to get proper data regarding attendees where it needs to be and released a statement Friday urging domainers to cooperate with the CDC.

“DomainSponsor, the organizer of the DOMAINfest Global conference, and its parent company, Oversee.net, have been made aware that several people in attendance at DOMAINfest and various evening events during the week became ill during the conference or after it concluded.

There has been significant speculation about this situation, but as of now, not many actual facts are known.  Only medical authorities are qualified to identify this illness and investigate its ultimate source, so toward the improvement and protection of everyone’s health, it’s important not to speculate or make unfounded assumptions.  Of course, should you have a concern about your health, please seek the advice of a doctor.

The health and safety of DOMAINfest attendees is our first priority, and thankfully, most attendees and staff did not become ill, and those that did appear now to be feeling better.  Even so, in order to accurately identify the health concern and prevent its further possible communication, we have consulted with Los Angeles County health authorities and at their request have provided them a comprehensive list of places we know gatherings were held (either organized by DOMAINfest or by others) during each day and night.  We also have notified our vendors and service providers of the situation, and have encouraged them to cooperate with authorities and take any steps they believe necessary.

Medical authorities have further requested, and Oversee has provided, a list of all attendees and their e-mail addresses.  You may already have received a link to a survey asking for more information.  It is important that ALL attendees complete the survey, whether you were ill or not.  This will help authorities narrow down the range of possible causes and sources.  Only health authorities will have access to this data—neither Oversee nor any other party will be able to see it, so please do your part to help.

Oversee will continue to work with health authorities, though at this stage, work is best left in their hands.  If there’s more we’re in a position to share about the situation, we will do so.

DOMAINfest was a great event—our best ever with more than 700 attendees—and it’s regrettable that this has cast a shadow over an otherwise good week.  We’re very encouraged that most everyone is in improving health (including those on our staff), and look forward to seeing many of you in Barcelona in June.”

Domainfest Outbreak Follow Up

After a week rife with speculation as to the cause of the Domainfest event after flu epidemic, sources agree that Oversee released a statement indicating email communications from medical authorities would be forthcoming to Domainfest attendees. The Santa Monica event was a success, perhaps too much so, as many participating domainers complained into the weekend and afterward of a super “flu” like bug that hit many hard. Speculation of walking pneumonia was mentioned by bloggers, and this sort of incident should be aggressively anticipated and prevented if at all possible.

According to Oversee,Los Angeles County health authorities will investigate activities and symptoms from Domainfest participant to narrow down a possible cause of gestation. The email survey is in everyone’s best interest to complete. Who got sick, when, and which events they went to is an important criteria in finding out more about this illness. In future this kind of problem can be avoided if the issue causing it can be identified and addressed for other events at this locale or for these individuals.

Next Page »