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Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson. |
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Chef
Patrick Tells Us About His $175,000 Purchase of
ScienceFiction.com and What Is In Store for the Generic
Gem
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Patrick
Ruddell,
better known to many in the domain business by
his blogging nom de plume, Chef
Patrick, or by the role he added
last April as a domain broker for Moniker.com
or as the guy who promoted the first domain
conference on a cruise ship, October's DN
Cruise, has added still another
claim to fame. Today Patrick revealed that
he and a small group of partners had
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acquired
ScienceFiction.com
for $175,000 and that they have already
completed a soft launch of their website on the category
defining domain name.
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Ruddell
acquired the name from DomainCapital.com,
a well-known finance company that had taken
control of the property when the previous owner
failed to keep up with the payments on it.
DomainCapital will continue to hold title to the
domain until Ruddell's group completes their
escrow payments for the generic gem.
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Patrick
Ruddell
Founder & CEO, ScienceFiction.com |
Ruddell and
his team is determined to recoup their
investment, and then some, by making
ScienceFiction.com the world's premier
website in a pop culture category that is
famous for its wildly fanatical followers.
Patrick told me, "Our plans are
simple - to create kick ass unique
content and provide a lot of it every
day. As of right now we have three
writers and plans to add more. Luckily,
because of my time constraints, one of my
partners, Dirk Van Tilborg, is our
Editor in Chief. He has a degree in
journalism and English and has been
writing for over 20 years. Plus Dirk's a
big sci-fi geek so that always
helps!"
This
page at ScienceFiction.com has
more details on the various partners and
staff members who are running the new
website.
Ruddell is
confident in the project's future because
he understands full well how many doors
are opened by owning a domain
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defines an
entire category like this. "ScienceFiction.com
has given me instant credibility in
the sci-fi community," Ruddell said.
"I have been able to call several
executives in the business and get
right through."
Some say they
favor the term "SciFi" over
"Science Fiction" but Ruddell is
not one of them. "Science Fiction is
preferred over "Sci-Fi" in other
countries. It is Americans that tend to abbreviate
names. With "Science Fiction" I
get more searches globally and
locally sci-fi and science fiction receive
the same amount," Ruddell
said.
While
ScienceFiction.com already has a nice,
clean look, Ruddell said you haven't seen
anything yet. "We have plans to do
more with graphic design and layout. For
now though it was important to get the new
site out, start building content and start
interacting with our audience. They
will tell us what they want!."
Ruddell said.
Ruddell has
always been known for his promotional
skills and he immediately applied
those to the new site. "We are giving
away an XBOX 360 and a Kinect
with a game. We are giving away one for
every 1,000 Facebook "likes"
we receive via Facebook.com/ScienceFiction."
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It is
remarkable to see what a great
domain can do for someone. Ruddell,
a former real estate investor, is a
relative newcomer to this space,
having jumped head first into the
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in 2008
when the real estate market
collapsed. Now here he is, less
than two years later, at the helm
of ScienceFiction.com. To put that
into perspective, the entity that
has to settle for the second
best gTLD version of the
exact term - ScienceFiction.net
- is book selling giant Barnes
& Noble. When you can leap
frog that kind of competition in
the domain hierarchy through a
single purchase (albeit it an
expensive one) it boggles the
mind. |
Barnes
& Noble has the second
best gTLD
using the exact term "Science
Fiction" |
It is also waking
up a lot of people in mainstream
business who are coming to realize how a
great domain name could put them on the
map overnight. That why you've got
to love this business and the
potential it has as the web continues to
take over the world. |
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(Posted
Dec. 23,
2010)
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all current Lowdown posts - Go
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example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
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