Adept Marketing Concepts

This is one of the panels I was really looking forward to. Starting a business largely focused on owning and developing names learning how to avoid getting sued is valuable info.

Here are the details:

Moderator: Todd Greene (Oversee.net)
Speakers:
William Delgado (Willenken Wilson Loh & Lieb LLP)
Paul Keating (Renova, Ltd.)
John Berryhill
Derek Newman (Newman & Newman)

First and foremost it seems the Cease and Desist letter in domain disputes are quickly becoming a thing of the past. It seems that in the legal arena surrounding domain names the first warning you’re going to have that you’re in trouble is either having papers served in a lawsuit or a Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Complaint (UDRP).

Another good tip for avoiding legal trouble is to actually be based in the US. Offshore companies are not getting a fair shake in the US legal system as Judges have largely decided that you are an offshore company because you’re trying to get over in some way, whether it’s avoiding the legal or tax system. Whether there’s any basis for that assumption is for you to decide but don’t bother telling it to the judge.

One of the complaints that goes across the board is the UDRP honoring complaints of almost any Trademark owner in cases that wouldn’t stand a chance in Federal Court. The big debate here is where do domain owners stand the best likelihood of winning their cases and also which venue offers the best overall outcome factoring in success in court, total cost, and the amount of time it steals from growing your business.

Unfortunately there isn’t any clear answer, I guess you should talk to your lawyer

Ok, so session two was pretty basic. Lots of talk all the usual suspects in monetizing traffic.

Panel details:

Moderator: Rob McClinton (Oversee.net)
Speakers: Howard Hoffman (PPC Income, Inc.)
Leonard Holmes (ParkQuick)
Donny Simonton (Parked)
Randy Charach (Synergy Domains Inc.)
Sam Tseng (DomainSponsor)

One interesting topic that came up was the advances in semantic optimization of parked pages. In summary parking companies are using algorithms to better understand not only the meaning of the words in the domain name but also analyzing the incoming traffic profile and including referrer info and behavioral targeting data into the their learning system to deliver the best ads and content to the user.

Ok, the lawyers are on for Bootcamp Session 3: Legal Issues to Consider as You Build Your Business, definitely something I need to pay attention to.

So my friend Ben Padnos talked me into coming out for DOMAINfest this week and here I sit at the first bootcamp session, Domain Industry Trends – What’s Your Action Plan?

Here are the panelists:

Moderator: Chris Welton (Oversee.net)
Speakers:
Andrew Allemann (DomainNameWire.com)
Michael Gilmour (WhizzBangsBlog.com)
Adam Strong (DomainNameNews.com)

Not surprisingly economic issues were at the top of the discussion with Chris noting that the domain industry is being forced adapt to a major drop in PPC revenue and traffic overall.

One of the major trends being covered is the shift from parking monetized by PPC advertisers to domain sales and portfolio trimming. One thing that is different about this jump in sales is the focus on domainer to end user sales, with those end users mostly being small businesses buying domains in the $1,000-$5,000 price range.

Another trend gaining traction is domain development. While a lot of the panelists suggest that this will quickly become a black hole I’d say that really depends on strategy and your underlying technology.

Michael Gilmour did make an interesting point saying that, “Developing a domain name is like building a business, if you have 10,000 domain names you’re really building 10,000 businesses.” I guess that’s true if you want to build 10,000 unique sites that are not interrelated at all. However, I believe when your goal is to dominate niches or emerging markets then the long term value in developing a large network of sites becomes much more evident.

On micro sites Andrew Allemann said that it’s definitely a first step. Not only do you get to see if you like the niche through building 4-5 pages of content and designing a site you’ll also be able to learn if there’s a demand for information on that topic.

Michael again points out that the time involved and the intricacies involved in scaling up to tracking and managing the network of sites quickly outweighs the potential for profit.

Andrew and Adam both agreed there is a huge potential market for companies to service owners of large domain portfolios. From tracking portfolios to micro site platforms (especially with the trend towards development) services will definitely be sold, whether or not these service bring ROI is yet to be seen.

Michael comes back pointing out the loss in CTR associated with building sites, noting the strategy of building a site out and getting enough traffic to offset that loss in CTR can be an exercise in futility.