On day one of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference held in Brooklyn New York last week, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Michael and David Castello. Let me just tell you, in all sincerity, these guys are two of the nicest people I have ever met. I had a great time speaking with them and am happy I had the chance to do so.
For the few of you that have never heard of the Castello brothers, their collection of domain names speaks for itself. Their portfolio include names like PalmSprings.com, Nashville.com, Whisky.com, Cost.com, Daycare.com and many many more. Visit their about page on CCIN.com to read more.
They were kind enough to do an interview with me. Now, just to prepare you for the video, I asked one somewhat edgy question. The question was; did you guys luck into the domain industry? Let me explain myself, because this is in no way shape or form how I feel at all. I have heard the following statement too many times, “I wasn’t lucky enough to have registered domain names ten years ago.” I love what David says in the video, “most people will not do something unless other people are already doing it.” I know the vision and courage it takes to be first, because I’ve done it in my prior real estate businesses.
I apologize ahead of time for the video sound quality. Unfortunately there were not many private areas for us to do the interview. As you’ll hear in the background, the hotel staff was setting up for the welcoming party sponsored by DomainAdvertising.com.
On a non-domain related subject, Michael and David were gracious enough to donate a piece of history to The National September 11 Memorial and Museum. This took place only hours before my meeting with them.
From left to right:
Michael Castello, Jenny Pachucki (9/11 Museum), Alexandra Drakakis (9/11 Museum), David Castello
Thank you to Ed Keay-Smith of OzDomainer.com for the invitation and having me on his podcast show.
Ed has interviewed some very well known domain investors like Rick Schwartz, Rick Latona, Ron Jackson, Castello brothers and many more. If you have not had a chance then please check out the podcasts. I’ve personally spent hours listening to the bulk of them.
To listen in on on Ed’s podcast featuring me visit OzDomainer.com.
As everyone knows by now, I took a trip to South Florida over the last few days, during which I appeared on WebmasterRadio.fm’s domain master show and Bido.com’s live video chat. I’d like to thank them both for the invites and having me on their shows. It was a blast!
Elliot Silver has been blogging since June 2007 and has not stopped since. I really applaud him for this, it is extremely difficult to take a blog and continue writing month after month supplying new information. I am not the only one to notice, he has been awarded blog of the year 2008 by DomainTools.com, DomainerChoiceAwards.com and if memory serves me correct he won something at TRAFFIC.
Beyond his blogging Elliot is becoming a big player in the Geo domain name scene. He owns domains like Lowell.com and Burbank.com which are 2 of the top 250 populated US cities. I know what Elliot paid for Lowell.com, it was no joke. Elliot is a serious full time domainer, making waves and here to stay.
Q. I read the bio on your blogs, says you are a graduate of NYU, do you think your education has helped in anyway with your domaining business?
A. I attended grad school at NYU and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Direct and Interactive Marketing. One of the hallmarks of direct marketing is that you should test everything – creative, price point, call to action…etc. – all of which can be done by using a variety of domain names in a campaign. In grad school, I also learned about the importance of being able to calculate your return on investment for any marketing effort. By using a call to action domain name for different campaigns, you can see where visitors learned about your product/service and track your ROI. Continue reading…
After my interview with Rick Schwartz someone asked me to interview Rick Latona. Well, I have come through again. I have been asking Rick for months to do an interview, I must have caught him on a good day last week because he finally agreed.
Besides being the 2008 Domainer Of The Year, Rick is the LARGEST domain broker in the world and most recently has been added to the TRAFFIC auction events. In his first TRAFFIC auction which was held in Brooklyn NY only two months ago Rick’s auction brought in roughly $700,000. We will find out very soon if he can top that, next TRAFFIC event is in two weeks which will be hosted in Australia.
OK, lets see what Rick has to say about some of my questions.
