1,000 Domains

The title of this blog post cracks me up. Why? Well, for one thing it seems crazy that I now own about 1,000 domain names. The jump from 800 to 1,000 was really quick, which is kinda scary. The other thing is that it reminds me of the movie, "200 Motels". On some level I feel there is a connection, but I'm not sure I can explain it.

When you have a lot of anything there are things that you discover that you couldn't have easily known about. Take cats for example. You get a cat. You decide that cats are a good thing to have, so you get a second cat to keep the first one company while you are at work. The next thing you know, the cats have not just been sleeping all day, but playing little games with your rare insect collection including that rare $4,000 butterfly that your uncle sent from South America. First it was shredded, then half eaten. That would be bad enough, but then the eaten part was returned, in different parts of the house, along with soggy kitty kibble.

But I digress, since what I wanted to share is that unless you read the owner's manual for your cat(s) you will soon find your feline investment will yield unexpected returns. Yes, more cats. If one of your cats has 6 kittens (a conservative number) you now have a nice 300% return on your initial domestic feline investment. In business, this would be a great thing, much like buying a domain name for $5 and selling it for $20. But there are hidden costs and risks with the cat model. The newest additions to your payroll (cat food / cat litter) become hyper mobile once they get their little eyes open. They climb furniture and even window curtains. Ignore them and they climb your legs, shredding skin on their ascent. You'll find yourself wearing long underwear year round for protection from the needle-like claws. Most of your belongings that are not metal or glass begin to depreciate quickly. Then the gang needs things like cat toys, drugs (catnip), and yearly exams and shots. Think you can cut back on some things? You'll realize the folly of that thought the first morning you wake up and see 8 pairs of eyes staring at you from different locations around your bedroom. The silent message is an unmistakable threat.

As you can see, if you are not prepared for your undertaking, it can quickly turn into something less desirable than you first expected.

So too with domain names.

The first couple of hundred are easy. You start with specific domains in mind for your business or a project. Then you buy some domains for some sites that you think would be cool or that may be valuable when the rest of the world catches on to something you think will be big. Or you find some domains on sale. You aren't sure about all of them, but heck, they have 6 months of registration left on them and you can just let them drop when renewal time comes around, if you can't sell them before then. Then you have some extra money so you buy a few more. .cn domains and .in domains are cheap, so despite them being the black sheep (ie. anything that is not .com) of the domaining industry, you put some money into them. Then you buy some domains that are hyphen-infested because you know that while you may not be able to sell them, they will do ok while parked. Then the .info sale comes along and before you know it, you have a portfolio larger than many famous domainers. Sure, they have single domains that make more in one day of parking than your entire portfolio makes all year, but you still have more than them.

So you are cruising along with your great collection of domains and then you realize you have not sold any, you have not optimized your parking pages, and most of your domains aren't earning anything. Yet a year has passed and that cute little $0.99 has now grown up and needs an annual $7.99 rabies shot. In fact, 122 of them need it during the next 30 days. You think, "Oh, I guess I should sell some...", but it's going to take time you don't have, so you just renew them. Then you get a C & D for 6 of your domains that you JUST renewed. 2 of the 6 are ok, kind of infringing, but the other four wouldn't be a problem if the trademarked keywords were removed. But you don't want to fight it, so you just give in and turn them all over to the TM holder...

So when you come this far and understand more about the cost of ownership for domains, you would think just about anyone would realize what's going on and stop what is obviously not healthy behavior, right? Well, then how would you deal with the situation of having reached 1,000 domains and then you just happen upon a deal where you can buy an additional 750 domains for the unreal (but verified) price of $100, AND they have 250+ days of registration left!??! You'd be tempted, right? Well of course you would be. The question is would you be willing to overlook the fact that they are all .cn domains? I mean after all, my initials are CN...!

(hris

Special Introductory Domain Pricing

I just registered about 100 new domains last month to be "parked". I think the slowing economy may slow the domain registration and renewal rates to some extent, but those of us that are making money from parking domains or developing domain names into web sites, we will continue to purchase more.

But if those that control prices would lower the cost for the first year of domain registration, it could really spike the sales of new domains.

For those parking domains, the initial cost is a significant factor. If I invest $70 and get ten domains, I am operating at a loss until I start to earn from those domains. That could start in a few weeks or several months. Those domains need to earn $7 within 12 months for me to break even, which may or may not happen.

But if I can spend $70 and register 35 domains, my overhead is less and I will have more domains to work with and that will lower my risk per domain that I won't be able to cover my costs during the year. Then in 12 months I can decide if I should renew the domain for the full price of $7, sell it, or just drop it.

If domain prices were low the first year, it would give the industry a huge shot in the arm, in my opinion. At the end of 12 months most parked domains or built-out sites are going to be working to some extent and the full renewal fee will not be a consideration. The industry should seriously consider making this a policy for ALL Top Level Domains since the experiment with the .info TLD has shown that it is an effective promotional method. Many of the domains we just both last month were .in ($4) and .cn ($3) because of this very fact. I feel that programs like this would also help dislodge .com as the TLD "king" as users become more aware and used to other TLDs and ccTLDs.

And for those that think any TLD that is not a .com is trash, all I can say that may be true for you, but my top parked domain for last month was a .in domain that was hand-registered new.

(hris

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SCAM: Attention Nielsen, Chris: This is your Website Copyright Registration Notice

 

-----Original Message-----
From: US Copyright Registry [mailto:support@uscopyrightregistry.com]
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 10:22 AM
Subject: Attention Nielsen, Chris: This is your Website Copyright Registration Notice

US Copyright Registry 244 Fifth Ave, Suite #2279 New York, NY 10001-7604 www.USCopyrightRegistry.com support@USCopyrightRegistry.com Toll Free: 1-800-634-5760 WEBSITE COPYRIGHT LICENSING NOTICE ATT: Nielsen, Chris ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT Address: 7141 Oak Pointe Curve Bloomington 55438 www.MINNEAPOLIS-WATCHDOG.COM Notice Tracking Number: CR493121 Please be advised that the above noted website has not been protected and is now available for copyright registration IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW TITLE 92, Sec. 107 to 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: Rights of attribution and integrity: the author shall have the right to claim authorship of that work, and prevent the use of his or her name as the author of any work which he or she did not create. Be advised: Protecting a website is the responsibility of the owner of the website and must be registered through the United States Patent and Trademark office to legally prevent others from infringing on the owners rights and copying a website. It is the responsibility of the website owner to complete registration to protect their intellectual property and bring suit in federal court for infringement and obtain statutory damages up to $150,000. Domain name and trademark registration does not register your website for copyright registration and it is the responsibility of the website owner to register with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to complete registration Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the website owners registered copyright as provided by sections 106 through 122 who infringes on the copyright registration may sued in federal court for infringement and obtain injunctions on such terms as it may be reasonable to prevent or restrain infringement. In the event of infringement, the infringer is liable for: The website owners actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer, as provided by subsection (b); or statutory damages, as provided by subsection (c). (b) Actual Damages And Profits. ? The website owner of copyright is entitled to recover the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of the infringement, and any profits of the infringer that are attributable to the infringement and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages. In establishing the infringer's profits, the website owner of copyright is required to present proof only of the infringer's gross revenue , and the infringer is required to prove his or her deductible expenses and the elements of profit attributable to factors other than the copyrighted work. © Statutory Damages. ? Except oas provided by clause, the website owner of the copyright may elect, at any time before final judgement is rendered, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the action, with respect to any one work, for which any one infringer is liable individually. registration by a third party, the UDRP may be applied under the following conditions. You are required to advise the US Copyright Registry of your intent to license this website if registration is administered through the UCR as this is your final notice. Note: you may disregard this notice. If you disregard this notice or fail to reply: UCR and the United States Patent and Trademark office will NOT be liable for infringement of your website, interruption of business activity or business losses. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY If you fail to reply to this notice this website will NOT be registered through UCR to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. You must advise us of your intent to secure your website in order for registration to be completed through UCR. Call 1-800-634-5760 Notice Tracking Number: 494121 The information in this letter contains confidential and/or legally privileged information from the notification processing department of the UCR. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) named above. Email support@USCopyrightRegistry.com if you do not want to receive further updates from UCR. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents for this letter is strictly prohibited.