2008 December archive at Conceptualist.com, By Sahar Sarid

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Archive for December, 2008

Good Bye 2008, Hello 2009

Published on December 31, 2008 in General and Shakuhachi. 7 Comments

Judging a year by the events and results within it will do no justice, as many correspondent events will only manifest in the future, at times, many years afterward. The tech bubble of 2001 brought many prosperous years to many, possibly even to you. There’s no doubt 2008 was a an extremely historical year. From an African American president to the collapse of financial giants, the bombing in Bombay to what now goes on in Israel. As for the domain channel, I believe the house of cards had to collapse for something bigger and better to emerge. It is those events who push the boundaries for all, and in the long run, I do believe for the better.To me, 2008 signifies diversification, peace of mind, progression, and new beginnings. Our company Recall Media Group is doing better than ever and is growing exponentially. I believe I found the woman I want to be with (Michelle), I invested further in my own health and spirit, spent time expanding my horizons (learning new subjects), and lately, I discovered the Shakuhachi, which I quickly have fallen in love with.

I’ll end here with a note I received from my dear friend Dr. Chris Hartnett:

We are not responding to this instant if we are judging any aspect of it.

The ego looks for what to criticize. This always involves comparing with the past.

But love looks upon the world peacefully and accepts.

The ego searches for shortcomings and weaknesses.

Love watches for any sign of strength.

It sees how far each one has come and not how far he/she has to go.

How simple it is to love, and exhausting it is to always find fault, for every time we see a fault we think something needs to be done about it.

Love knows that nothing is ever needed but more love. It is what we do with our hearts that affects others most deeply.

It is not the movements of our body or the words within our minds that transmits love.

We love from heart to heart.

Peace to you all,

Sahar

Bido Is Back (Well, Almost!)

Published on December 29, 2008 in Bido. 11 Comments

By Jarred Cohen, VP of Operations, Bido, LLC

It’s been a few months since we placed Bido domain auctions on hiatus. The response has been loud and clear to bring Bido back as soon as possible! We’ve missed running the auctions as much as you missed participating in them!

DNZoom and PortfolioHelp have been running uninterrupted in the interim while Bido was shut down. Since August when we took down the auctions, our technical team has placed thousands of hours into the Bido auction platform. We’ve successfully redesigned the architecture and overall platform, and the end result is increased capacity and scalability. Over the coming weeks, we’ll comment more on the scalability side of things to the tune that we aware that the current format of one domain auction per day is not providing value to the entire domain name community of buyers and sellers. We are happy to say that we will be breaking free of the one auction per day mold. But that will be a short amount of time after we get our gears spinning again. When Bido relaunches, we’re returning to the familiar format of one domain auction per day, starting at 1:00PM EST, for one hour of open bidding. Bidders may place a proxy bid at any time - days or weeks before your auction even starts. But keep in mind that we know that you guys and gals need more auctions and more capability to sell your domains. We will also be taking new twists with “dynamic offers” and “buy it now” options. More information on those additions will be provided in due time, for now just enjoy the teaser.

Another difference that will be in effect is there will be no more weekend auctions. When we started Bido, we ran auctions on weekends as well as weekdays. The weekend auctions were really just filler auctions for the main events that ran M-F. It quickly became apparent to us to only run weekday auctions. If you were a member early on, you may remember this and remember how the averages were brought down. So that will be a welcome change as well. I know you are anxious and want to finally know when we will return, so without further ado, on Monday, February 2nd, 2009, we’re happy to announce that Bido will return. Mark your calendars for that day!

We’re preparing for this long awaited relaunch by accepting additional submissions from domain sellers at this time. If you’ve been thinking about liquidating one or a few of your domain assets, we hope you’ll turn to us for the opportunity to run your auction. Our rates are the most favorable in the business and, in addition, no other venue provides the overall exposure we’ll provide your sale.

The submission process is quite simple. You’ll create an account, or log in if you already have an account, and paste your list of domain names that are for sale. Short generics are preferred and remember that Bido provides instant liquidity by running “no reserve” auctions. If any of your domains are approved, we will contact you with more information and the steps needed to complete scheduling your auction. Of course, additional information is detailed on the submission page, and if you have any questions you may email me at jarred@bido.com. In the future, the submission and approval process will be slightly different. The way it is now, we approve each domain by hand, internally here in our office. We plan to give the control over what is auctioned to the domainer community itself. Our members will actually be the ones to select what goes to auction. We have a fun way that we will accomplish this and it will be completely in line with our “Social Auction Platform” motto.

We strive as an organization to produce the best possible services for our customers to make more money. The world is a different place now than it was just a few short months ago. At the very core, we’re domainers, and we build products tailored for domainers. DNZoom is designed to help you manage your domains across multiple registrars and multiple parking companies. The wave of reduced payouts lately is more and more reason to utilize the DNZoom service to help you get your domains under control and producing more revenue. The economic storm that we are in is also more reason for you to consider our PortfolioHelp product. We’ve worked with a few domainers already to help them earn more from their portfolios, with the same amount of traffic, so it’s something you should consider looking into as well.

We also have a new toll free number to make it easy for you to contact us and get more information about Bido. Accordingly, that number is 1-800-611-Bido (2436). We hope you will reach out to us should you desire more information. Thanks for reading along and from all of us here at Bido, we look forward to working together with you!

We would love to hear your comments, so please feel free to comment here on the blog or send us a message.

Happy Holidays, and a bright and better New Year for all!

Jarred Cohen
Bido.com

Shakuhachi Performance By Kifu Mitsuhashi, Prague Shakuhachi Summer School 08

Published on December 29, 2008 in Shakuhachi. 0 Comments

An amazing Shakuhachi performance in Prague.

Enjoy,Sahar

Why Domaining Rocks

Published on December 20, 2008 in Domain Names. 13 Comments

(image source)

Following on part I, Why Domaining Sucks, here’s a general list of why I also believe Domaining rocks:

1. Extremely cheap barrier to entry

With registration fees at approximately 7$ per domain name not many can say they cannot afford to get in the domain game. Back in 2000 we stumbled on an expired domain, one that no one really wanted. It sounded OK to us and as we bought many, we decided to spend 12$ back then and purchase it as well. Since then this one domain has made over 1 millions US$ in PPC revenues, and is still going strong.

2. Residual income

Unlike traditional jobs where one gets paid by the hour, our work lasts longer. If you found a domain that gets type-in traffic you are most likely to reap the rewards for as long as it receives traffic.

3. We can do our work from anywhere

All that is required is a computer and an internet connection. Hack, you don’t really need your own computer, many cybercafes/public libraries will do.

4. Knowledge is everywhere, and mostly, for free

While I cannot include all (apologies in advance!), here is a quick rundown of free popular forums, groups, blogs, and publications in the domain space: NamePros, DomainState, DN Forum, groups such as Geo Domainer, Synergy Domain Club, Facebook Domain Name Network, blogs such as The Domains, Domain Name Wire (my new favorite domain publication), Domain Name News, Michael Gilmour’s blog, DNXpert, Dot Weekly, publications such as Modern Domainer, DN Journal, and of course this list could not be even remotely complete without an honorable mention of Francois’ Domaining.com.

5. We’re open for business 24/7

Self explanatory. In addition, we have very little overhead as most of the work, once a domain has been acquired and set correctly is automatic and falls on parking providers or affiliate partners, rather than us.

6. Businesses want what we have

The basis of commerce is when one wants what you have and is willing and able to trade something for it. Sorting through the tens (and sometimes hundreds) of offers we receive unsolicitedly daily I am certain that if you own the right domain name, prospects, while mostly not offering the value which you want, do recognize some value in them.

7. The internet is growing, and relatively, our core business is as well

Since all generic domain names are essentially search keywords with the additional extension, as consumers continue to search more frequently, relatively speaking, type-ins and the value of traffic, as more businesses compete for it, will increase.

8. We’re in a business comparable to Natural Resources

People may like or hate the domain industry but as long as domain names produce potent traffic which is responsible for sales and branding, it is here to stay.

9. We’re constantly learning

In many instances while going over domain lists or browsing auction sites such as Sedo, Afternic, or SnapNames, while at times some terms received significant bids I still did not know what they meant, why they are important to many. It is the need to understand their values which is responsible for constant learning experience. A place I have never heard of before, a fruit which grows in the Amazon, and even a foreign language. All thanks to domain names.

10. As in the previous post, would love to hear your thoughts on this as well as additional points.

Have a great weekend!

Sahar

You’re Not Worth What You Once Were, But Nobody Is

Published on December 18, 2008 in Business, Domain Names and Liquid Value. 8 Comments

In my last post, in comments area, Stephen Douglas of Success Click wrote:

It’s time for domainers to reassess their domains by evaluating their monetization paths, and then move accordingly

The domain industry has significantly changed in the last 12 months like never before. Payouts decline, layoffs, Marchex and other domain related public companies are on sale, and if that is not enough, Google is now going direct.

Back in 04 when Marchex set the benchmark for revenue multiples (8X rev. for generic domain names, Yun Ye’s portfolio purchase), many felt it was wrong, it was too little. While I too thought it was not a fair represention of domain values, I was happy to see some benchmark established. Today, end of 08, I believe values have significantly dropped. Here’s why:

1. Your domains are making less.
This is by far the most important reason why your portfolio is worth considerably less today. PPC revenues took a major hit, up to 50% in some verticals.

2. Buyers have scaled back
The second most important reason, less buyers, more sellers. In short, buyers have more choices than sellers. Rotchield once said “You buy when there’s blood in the streets” and today, the domain streets are flooded with blood.

3. Many across all industries, including the domain space, have overextended themselves. Today they are trying to survive, pay bills, not to grow, reinvest.

All these are major factors in your portfolio value.

On the other hand, tough times force us all to innovate. To increase your portfolio value you may consider increasing liquidity rate (sell more often), lessening dependence on parking companies, or explore better optimization methodologies between parking companies (shameless plug: consider PortfolioHelp.com for higher payouts).

Reassessing allows you to stay on top of your holdings, identify gaps, find what does not make sense and do something about it. In other words, you can not find a treatment without first finding what is wrong.

Lastly, remember that even if your property values have dropped significantly, others have as well. Markets are cyclical, there’s ups and downs, and I truly believe “this too shall pass”.

Have a great day,

Sahar