Comments on: Top Domain Sales Of 2008 Not Developed http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:27:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Submerged http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2469 Submerged Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:18:52 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2469 I've been on the receiving end of hard-sell, cold telemarketing calls, where some idiot called me tried to sell me this domain for $50,000: fatsurgery.com Oddly, my client was actually thinking about buying the domain name (really...). That's why they called me in. I was curious as to how much of a rip-off this was, so I had the sales people call me back the next day. In the meantime, I did some research... The keyphrase only gave an estimated ~300 visitors per YEAR for that (the SEO benefit of that domain name is nonexistant). Amazingly, the traffic report included in the proposal showed a whopping "~250 people per year" that accidentally hit their landing page, and they tried to sell this as a benefit! Even if that is true (which I seriously doubt), those people are hardly what I would call "qualified traffic...". My gut tells me that a lot of those deals listed above are actually not PPC plays as much as slick salespeople screwing ignorant businessmen who have no idea about SEO. Salesperson: "You know, if order to rank well in Google, you really need a website with the search term in the url." Sucker: "Really?" Salesperson: "Really. Why do you think Amazon.com comes up first when you search for 'Amazon'?" The value of the domain name is strong, but not so strong that you can't spend all that money instead on a brand new $10 domain and in actual marketing work and get much better rankings from a *whole bunch* of keyword phrases. I'd love to talk with someone that spent an exorbitant amount of money and isn't a sucker, just so that I can prove myself wrong, but until that happens... To me they're just Idiots and Suckers. I’ve been on the receiving end of hard-sell, cold telemarketing calls, where some idiot called me tried to sell me this domain for $50,000: fatsurgery.com

Oddly, my client was actually thinking about buying the domain name (really…). That’s why they called me in.

I was curious as to how much of a rip-off this was, so I had the sales people call me back the next day. In the meantime, I did some research…

The keyphrase only gave an estimated ~300 visitors per YEAR for that (the SEO benefit of that domain name is nonexistant). Amazingly, the traffic report included in the proposal showed a whopping “~250 people per year” that accidentally hit their landing page, and they tried to sell this as a benefit! Even if that is true (which I seriously doubt), those people are hardly what I would call “qualified traffic…”.

My gut tells me that a lot of those deals listed above are actually not PPC plays as much as slick salespeople screwing ignorant businessmen who have no idea about SEO.

Salesperson: “You know, if order to rank well in Google, you really need a website with the search term in the url.”
Sucker: “Really?”
Salesperson: “Really. Why do you think Amazon.com comes up first when you search for ‘Amazon’?”

The value of the domain name is strong, but not so strong that you can’t spend all that money instead on a brand new $10 domain and in actual marketing work and get much better rankings from a *whole bunch* of keyword phrases.

I’d love to talk with someone that spent an exorbitant amount of money and isn’t a sucker, just so that I can prove myself wrong, but until that happens…

To me they’re just Idiots and Suckers.

]]> By: Doemainer http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2333 Doemainer Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:54:18 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2333 Some impressive numbers....but it doesn't surprise me that they aren't developed that is the status quo. However, the feeling that I was getting at DOMAINfest in LA was that more and more domainers were looking into development. I want to say that having a developed site that brings in 100,000+ visitors is much more powerful (a great domain name plus a community). I think that we will see a growing trend with development and content rich sites. http://www.thedomainscene.com Some impressive numbers….but it doesn’t surprise me that they aren’t developed that is the status quo. However, the feeling that I was getting at DOMAINfest in LA was that more and more domainers were looking into development. I want to say that having a developed site that brings in 100,000+ visitors is much more powerful (a great domain name plus a community). I think that we will see a growing trend with development and content rich sites.
http://www.thedomainscene.com

]]> By: Ross http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2300 Ross Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:51:41 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2300 This is prolly to avoid any type of reverse hijacking attempt. I have many clients with high end names with the same mentality. They want these types of sites put on them to avoid any type of confrontation until they can sell the name or develop some sort of business out of the name. This is prolly to avoid any type of reverse hijacking attempt. I have many clients with high end names with the same mentality. They want these types of sites put on them to avoid any type of confrontation until they can sell the name or develop some sort of business out of the name.

]]> By: Chef Patrick http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2278 Chef Patrick Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:33:13 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2278 How much did that one sell for and when? How much did that one sell for and when?

]]> By: Harvey http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2277 Harvey Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:25:25 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2277 You can add taxes.com to the list.. You can add taxes.com to the list..

]]> By: Chef Patrick http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2276 Chef Patrick Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:06:00 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2276 Very true. DNJournal only reports about half of the sales. A lot of high end sales are made private. Very true. DNJournal only reports about half of the sales. A lot of high end sales are made private.

]]> By: DnDot.com http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2271 DnDot.com Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:48:09 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2271 I really can not understand why LowFare.com sold for that much just to be parked! You would have thought that whoever bought it would have a plan, but I guess not. I really can not understand why LowFare.com sold for that much just to be parked! You would have thought that whoever bought it would have a plan, but I guess not.

]]> By: Adam http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2270 Adam Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:52:15 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2270 Even more interesting is there's even more unreported sales that are in this realm and parked. . . Even more interesting is there’s even more unreported sales that are in this realm and parked. . .

]]> By: NameSugar http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2268 NameSugar Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:30:05 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2268 It make sense these aren't developed. I'm sure they make plenty parked. I'm all for development but sometimes it doesn't make sense. If I owned Invest.com the LAST thing I would do is develop it, it prob makes bank parked and if developed you risk looking like it's off the table for resale. Besides, for a name like that you would need more than the purchase price to dev properly. It make sense these aren’t developed. I’m sure they make plenty parked. I’m all for development but sometimes it doesn’t make sense. If I owned Invest.com the LAST thing I would do is develop it, it prob makes bank parked and if developed you risk looking like it’s off the table for resale.

Besides, for a name like that you would need more than the purchase price to dev properly.

]]> By: NameTopic http://www.chefpatrick.com/top-domain-sales-of-2008-not-developed/#comment-2267 NameTopic Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:40:32 +0000 http://www.chefpatrick.com/?p=1989#comment-2267 These were my thoughts too - that if you've spent this much on a domain and want to develop it, you want to make sure you get your business plan thought out properly and that might take time. And in some of these cases I wonder if the domain purchase comes first then the business plan follows, instead of plan then purchase, especially if the domain is released onto the market through an auction, for example? That would then increase the lead time between purchase and development (with the hope that it earns somes decent PPC in the meantime!) Nice piece of research BTW, Chef. My favourite has to be Eggs.com - a $100,000+ domain with a free Wordpress 'blog' attached to it! These were my thoughts too – that if you’ve spent this much on a domain and want to develop it, you want to make sure you get your business plan thought out properly and that might take time. And in some of these cases I wonder if the domain purchase comes first then the business plan follows, instead of plan then purchase, especially if the domain is released onto the market through an auction, for example? That would then increase the lead time between purchase and development (with the hope that it earns somes decent PPC in the meantime!)

Nice piece of research BTW, Chef. My favourite has to be Eggs.com – a $100,000+ domain with a free WordPress ‘blog’ attached to it!

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