Domainer's Gazette-Home

First Beat Media is about to receive a nice chunk of traffic, and - potentially - a very large check.

why? and who’s First Beat Media? (note to self - I need to add them to my domain name company list)

well, here’s their bio:

First Beat Media, Inc., a domain acquisition, online entertainment media company who targets PREMIER industry leading domains and develops them into strong portals. We feel prime domains is the first step in building an online brand and deliver instant-targeted traffic to our site.

and here’s why they’re in such a good position:

Google just announced their hosted ad management service…named ‘Ad Manager‘

… guess who owns the domain AdManager.com?

Not Google. That’s right, First Beat Media.

Remember the AdSense Consulting team who used to own AdSense.com?

well, check out their historical traffic stats in Alexa for their domain when Google AdSense was launched:

in this case, it ended up being more of a hassle than reward for ‘em, as folks hounded them by email and phone, believing they were Google..

they eventually conceded, and sold the name to Google for an undisclosed amount - but I’m sure it was a hefty undisclosed amount.

As of print time, AdManager.com leads to a dead page, so First Beat shouldn’t encounter the same annoyances AdSense Consulting did..

First Beat should simply sit back, champagne and cigar ready, waiting for caller ID to read:

GOOGLE
Mountain View, California

I’m gonna say this first off.. I’m a Jim Boykin disciple..

he was (and is) instrumental in my education on domaining and SEO..

and after I got a chance to meet him at Pubcon Vegas 2007, I realized he was simply an all-around nice guy..

so fast forward to tonight.. I’m considering attending SMX Advanced in Seattle, so I decide to view the provided video..

minutes later, I crack a wide smile when I happen upon ole Jim, rocking out, air guitar style (to what song is a debate, it seems to be 38 Special’s “Caught Up In You”.)

screen grab provided here:

and video here

Jim… am I right? Was that 38 Special? I could be wrong… possibly AC/DC’s “Givin’ the Dog a Bone” ?

it’s March, College bball is on the mind.. and my beloved Ole Miss Rebel squad is on the bubble.. hence my visit to bubblewatch.com

I expected basketball, and got whitewater rafting..

And it’s not the image that really confuses me here, but the wording used on the site…

“For resources and information on Corum and Bubble”

mm, that explains everything..

Don’t know what CTOPD is? Read here..

Ever notice those guy & girl stock photos they use on NameJet and Snapnames?

I have. And I got to wondering… what’s their story?

Who are they?

As domainers, we all see them virtually every day.. so why not do a little digging to learn a little more about our domain auction friends..

so without further adieu..

Meet Joey

Joey is hip, uses ‘LA Looks’ Hair Gel, and feels he represents the ‘new’ breed of domainer.
Other domainers are hunched over a desk.
Not Joey.
He prefers domaining while lounging on his white sofa he borrowed from singer Rick James.
He enjoys wine-in-a-box and shopping at Crate & Barrel.
“whee! look! I just acquired sillyfun-gigglefactory.info!”, he says.
Joey works at the Gap to make ends meet, or at least until he “lands the big one”.

Meet Belle

Belle’s a smart one.
She’s been domaining since late 1994, and has some top notch names under her belt.
Thing is, she spends a bit too much time domaining, and her beau, Sampson, is growing tired of her long days in the office.
Sampson recently gave her an ultimatum, “Me, or the domains”
Sampson isn’t going to like that answer.

Meet Merle

Merle has been up for 5 days straight domaining. No sleep.
Living off Red Bull, Code Red, & Coco Puffs.
His Mom worries about his health, but Merle blows it off, “C’mon Mom, I’M FINE..get off my back!”
Merle shouldn’t raise his voice to his mother.

Meet Pappy

Pappy used to sell refrigerators at Sears. For 23 years actually.
He’s been referred to as a “walking encyclopedia on refrigeration”
Then Best Buy moved into the neighborhood.
He got canned and was forced to take a job at a startup. A startup domaining company.
His boss is 24 years old.
Pappy once asked his boss what kind of refrigerator he had at home.
His boss didn’t answer and quietly closed his office door to avoid any follow up questions..

I’ll be sure to check in on Joey, Belle, Merle, and Pappy from time to time, and make sure they’re doing ok. When I do, I’ll make sure to post an update..

..let’s all thank them for making every day a domainer day!

Jay Westerdal, of Domain Tools, hooks domainers up.

How? He provides several filtering tools, for free, online to sift through the desert like abundance of expiring domains.

One, I use on a consistent basis, is the Advanced Auction section of Domain Tools..

I debated whether to share this info or not, but darn it, it helps me, and - in the end - I wanna help the domainer community, so what the hell, I’ll share it.

One great angle researching domains is targeting really old domains. Domains that have been registered for more than - say - 8 years or so.

Why old domains? Well, think about it this way… Frank Schilling, plus a lot of other domainers, got very active in 2002.. so, it’s 2008 now. All domains, 8 years old now coming up for auction, were off-limits to Frank and the other odd crew back then..

and imagine, if someone registered the domain for 8-10 years, the things gotta have some value to it, right? Either in generic name value, or traffic value.

..if you had a lackey domain name in your porfolio, one that had proven no name value or traffic value, would you continue to register the name for consecutive years? Probly not.

So, guess what the Advanced Auction section of Domain Tools allows you to do?

That’s right, filter by domain age.

Simply jump in there, filter by age, and go crazy.

Does it work?

Yes.

Because Jay gives these types of tools away for free, I was able to identify, backorder, and acquire BeavertonApartments.com today, for the entry fee of $59. I was the only bidder.

No, that name ain’t gonna make me rich, but if you look at the search stats on ‘beaverton apartments’, you’ll realize $59 is a pretty cheap acquisition price.

all this cause Jay was cool to provide tools like this.

thanks Jay.

I owe you a beer at Bone’s.

apparently, it’s Michael Caricofe

of Lancaster, California

and it appears he’s been BestDomainer.com since May 20th, 2006.

Congratulations Michael..

don’t get too lazy, though, you may have some competition…

TheBestDomainer.com is apparently Vasileios Papaioannou

of Volos, Greece

nipping at your heels

the jury’s still out on:

WorldsBestDomainer.com