| By
Ron Jackson
The Tuesday agenda (Jan. 22) opened at 9am with
another seminar twinbill; Domain Names and the Law: What's at
Stake and Latest TLDs Update. I dropped in on
the first half of the TLD discussion then caught the second half of
the legal panel's presentation. Oversee's Jessica Besseling
moderated the Latest TLD session that featured Pinky Brand (.mobi
registry), Leona Chena (.asia registry) and Freddy
Schiwek (EuroDNS) .
Leona
Chen (.asia registry) speaking as Freddy Schiwek (EuroDNS)
looks on
It was announced during the show that
Schiwek's company would team up with Oversee to host a domain
conference in Paris, France June 19-20.
This will dovetail nicely with the ICANN meeting in Paris June
22-27. While Brand and Ms. Chen focused on developments with
their registries, Schiwek talked about the European scene. He said a
rising star there was Poland's long overlooked .pl country
code, further proof that there are always opportunities in the this
business if you seek them out.
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| Oversee's General Counsel and VP for Business
Affairs, Josh Armstrong moderated the Domain Names and the
Law session, joined by fellow attorneys Aaron Kornblum
(Microsoft), W. David Snead, John Berryhill and William
Delgado.
Among the points emphasized by the panelists was that
should ever receive a Cease & Desist order from someone
claiming trademark rights to a domain always reply. If a UDRP is filed against you,
always respond (at
this point you will want an experienced domain attorney help file
your response). If you don't respond, even if you are clearly in the
right, you will lose by default and having that loss on your record
could lead to loss of other domains to future
challenges.
Below (left to
right): panelists Aaron Kornblum, W. David Snead,
John Berryhill & William Delgado |
Above:
moderator Josh Armstrong |
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After a short break one of the most eagerly
anticipated events of DOMAINfest Global, a Town Hall Meeting
conducted by one of the world's most successful domain investors, Frank
Schilling, was held in front of a packed house in the main
ballroom. The format had moderator Ron Sheridan forwarding questions
to Schilling that had been submitted through the DOMAINfest website
prior to the event.
|
Schilling was asked how a recession might affect
the domain industry. His view is that this business is better
insulated than most others and should fare reasonably well. He noted that any downturn could also provide
an opportunity to grab some great domain assets at reduced prices.
Schilling noted that those who have cash on hand have to do
something with that money. He said he could put money in oil or
stocks and bonds but still invests in domains and believes they are
the best options for long term growth. While asking a question of
Schilling from the floor Internet Real Estate Group's Mike
Zapolin noted that 21% of all media is now consumed on
the Internet but only 7% of ad dollars are spent
|
Frank
Schilling (right) speaking at the
domainer's Town Hall meeting as
moderator Ron Sheridan looks on. |
there. That
means billions of dollars in growth can be expected to flow in this
direction as advertisers catch up with the eyeballs that are already
on the web.
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During his talk Schilling put in a good word
for Rick Schwartz who (with Howard Neu) will be
staging his 10th T.R.A.F.F.I.C conference this month in
Las Vegas, noting that a lot of people are making money today
because Schwartz started sharing his secrets with them even though
it was not in his personal best interests to do so (Schwartz
has said that he did that to accelerate industry growth so it would
blossom during his lifetime while he can still enjoy it). The Internet
Commerce Association (that Schilling helped found) also got a
plug with Schilling observing that "it is only logical to have
someone speaking for the industry in Washington, D.C. and in
front of ICANN" He added that not participating
isn't an option if you want to have a say in the future of your
assets.
Schilling's well-received talk was followed by
an 11:30am session Tuesday that offered a beginner's seminar titled Branding
For Gold: Balancing Hype and Reality moderated by
DomainSponsor's Don Watters with panelists
David Sams (David |
| Sams
Industries), Mike "Zappy" Zapolin and
Andy Miller (InternetRealEstate.com) and Bill
Sweetman (Tucows). At the same time a
session for
experienced domainers on Maximizing Revenue with Local
Advertising was held in the adjacent meeting room. |
|
The branding seminar was, regrettably, the only one I missed
during the conference - and looking at their panel line-up I know it
had to be a good one. Our upcoming February Cover Story will be on Boulevards
New Media founder Dan Pulcrano who owns the majority of
the geodomains representing America's largest cities,
including LosAngeles.com, SanFrancisco.com and Dallas.com
to name just a few. Pulcrano was a member of the Local Advertising
panel so to help prepare for our upcoming article I needed to spend the full
hour taking notes at that session.
| Pulcrano was joined on the dais by fellow
geodomain heavyweights David Castello and Michael Castello
(Castello Cities Internet Network), and Christine Johanson
(Head of the Global Strategies Division of Neustar Ultra Services)
and Oversee's Scott Higgason served as moderator.
Pulcrano's
advice for those building sites that want to attract local
advertisers is to get to know your community and the people in it.
Join service clubs and reflect your community on your site. Doing it
right can be very rewarding. Ms. Johanson said she knew of a
19-year-old in Miami who is making $1.3 million a year off of
his locally oriented site.
The Castello brothers were featured in
our December 2006 Cover
Story so I will refer you to that to learn more about
how these remarkable men achieved success in this business by
winning local advertisers over to their many blue chip geodomains
including PalmSprings.com. |
Dan
Pulcrano
Boulevards New Media |
NameMedia hosted the lunch break and
their Senior VP and General Manager Peter Lamson delivered an
interesting presentation loaded with tips on how to increase your
domain sales (NameMedia operates the AftericDLS and BuyDomains.com
sales platforms). Lamson said that putting your domain in
appropriate categories makes them 3 times more likely to sell
and that domains that are accompanied by appraisals from a reputable
company are 10 times more likely to find a buyer. Even little
things can make a big difference. For example, on PPC pages
he said increasing the font size on the ad links from 12 to 14
points has been show to increase click through rates by 11%.
With the first day of the two-day SnapNames
Live domain auction coming up later in the afternoon only one
seminar session was scheduled after lunch. This was another
double header with one panel exploring Winning Domain Name
Portfolio Strategies for Corporations and Businesses and the
other looking at Financial Planning for Business Success.
| I checked into the Financial Planning meeting
room first where Jeff Kupietzky presided over a panel that included
CPA Selwyn Gerber, attorney Paul Keating (Renova Ltd.),
Lou Doctor (Managing Director of Arbor Advisors and owner of Billiards.com),
Sandy Brooks (CPA & author of The Domain
Tax Guide) and Chas Rampenthal (LegalZoom).
Among other things this group discussed the respective tax merits of
organizing as a C or S corporation or as an LLC. In our DOMAINfest preview
article Mrs. Brooks (who is married to domain investor Darryl
Brooks) presented several useful tips on how domainers can best
comply with current tax laws. You can follow that link to get her
take on that, or better yet, pick up a copy of her ebook that covers
the subject from A to Z. |
CPA
Sandy Brooks |
Across the hall Oversee's Chris Sivertsen
was moderating the panel on corporate portfolio management
strategies that included Susan Kawaguchi (Global Domain Manager
for Ebay), Brian Benko (NoParking.com), Lori Harmon
(Verisign), Krista Papac (IP Consultant) and Matt
Serlin (MarkMonitor). This session offered an interesting inside
look at home domain names are managed at large corporations. In many
cases looking after these priceless assets is assigned as a
part-time duty to someone who specializes in another area! Ms.
Kawaguchi is a domain pro and she shared many amusing anecdotes. I
especially liked the one about the frequent emails she gets asking if the
domain name Ebay.com is for sale!
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After the seminar there was a welcome 75-minute
period set aside for both formal and informal networking. It gave
people a chance to start getting psyched up for the first ever
SnapNames Live domain auction that got underway at 4pm. This turned
out to be an extremely well-produced, high energy event
conducted by world champion auctioneer Mark Buleziuk.
Buleziuk was assisted by a crew of other professional auctioneers
who flew around the hall non-stop spotting bids and encouraging
those competing for names to not let them get away. A capacity crowd
filled the room and by the time the dust had settled more than |
Auctioneer
Mark Buleziuk calls the action
as Jothan Frakes (right) tracks the bids |
| $817,000
worth of domains had been sold. This was a nice appetizer for the
second live auction that followed Wednesday with a stronger line-up
of names. We'll get to that shortly when we review the closing day
events. |
After the auction people had an hour to get
ready for another legendary DomainSponsor Party at the Highlands
Nightclub (conveniently located in the same Hollywood &
Highlands complex where the show was staged). With its Night
at the Bazaar theme, attendees were greeted by belly
dancers, snake charmers and other exotic creatures. There was also a
performance by the crowd pleasing (well OK, primarily the guy pleasing) Purrfect
Angelz dance troupe. Here are some snapshots from this
lively event:
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The
Hollywood Highlands Nightclub was taken over by
domainers |
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Two
members of the Purrfect Angelz dance troupe that
performed |
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Judi
and Michael Berkens (center) enjoy a night at the
bazaar,
or was that the bizarre (see photo below) |
|
|
Rob
Grant finds a new pet but daughter Caroline looks
skeptical! |
|
The party continued until around
2am, but still running on Eastern time, I was not among the hardy
folks who closed the bar. I may have missed a few things at
the end but my hangover-free head thanked me the next morning.
Still, Fabulous.com COO Dan Warner did make me feel a
bit like a lightweight as he came barreling down our 12th floor
hotel
hallway en route to an all-night poker game just as I was entering my
room and headed for bed. These guys from Down Under are pretty
amazing. They spend 24 hours on an airplane traveling to a U.S.
show, work all day and play all night for days on end. After
observing them closely for several years I still haven't figured out
when they sleep! |
Dan
Warner, Fabulous.com |
Coming Up Next on Page
3 of our DOMAINfest Global 2008 Review:
-
Wired
Magazine Co-Founder & Best-Selling Author John Battelle
on How to Make Your Domain Future Bright
-
Domainer's
WORST Practices!
-
Understanding
the Big Picture - Some of the Finest Minds Fill You In
-
The
1st Annual Domainer's Choice Awards - And the Winners Are....
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