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I’ve known Rick Schwartz for almost a decade now. When I first started he was one to look up to, been there, done that, and still going strong. One of my early lessons from Rick is one I will carry with me for a lifetime. I’d like to share it with you today, and if you find it valuable, I hope you pass it forward to others as well. Rick said this to me years ago (found the same quote here on Frank Schilling’s blog)
The map to making a million dollars is not making a million dollars. It is making a dollar a million times
It is about the formula. Make it work on a fundamental level and then scale it up.
Early on with Bido many were wondering (still are) how are we going to make it work with one auction a day, or worse, with a sales commission of 8% on one auction a day. few examples below:
1 domain per day is too less, they should add more domain to auction
I dont see how they could be making any profit in the near future by coninuously auctioning “non-premium” names, especially since there is only 1 a day
or Christina Xing on NamePros:
The 1 domain/day auction concept from a revenue/ commission perspective sounds risky to me
Others were wondering about quality issues:
To keep their current business model Bido really needs to upgrade the quality of the domains being auctioned…
or the various other issues we are constantly dealing with. Back to Rick’s quote above, our way of doing things is to work the formula on a minuscule level and than scale up. As we progress we’ve seen many domains surprise the market with positive sales prices (EquityGrant.com, MyAstrologist.com, or Today.US), we’ve been testing a couple of other models (charity auction, Services auction), as well as introduced reserve pricing and a successful cashback program.
Our actions support the industry, educate the marketplace, bring exposure to many, and put faces to nicknames. We’ve demonstrated our ability to listen, learn, adapt, execute. More than that, we’re demonstrating patience. Until we feel comfortable we got the right formula to its true essence we do not plan to expand. Bido’s future no doubt will have more than one auction per day, matter of fact, think multiple channels, and so much more.
This post came about as I was logging into Bido’s private test environment and was viewing features in the works. Our full attention to this day is still to perfect the formula, and when we do, as they say, “The sky is the limit!”.
Have a great day!
Sahar
Sahar,
I like BIDO and think you and the team have put on a great relaunch!
How long did it take Google before it started making profit - Years and does twitter make profit? I think we all know the answer there also.
Its what you plan for the future, To build a business you need to have foundations first and I think Bido is laying the Foundations to a great business model that shall grow!
I also like how cctlds are also getting accepted - I put Compensation.TV to you guys today so lets hope that get accepted and we can get another great sale for a cctld!
Best of Luck to you and the Bido Team!
I have always thought that the value in Bido was not in auctioning off other peoples domains but instead to build a platform to auction off your domains if you ever need an immediate injection of capital.
This is the real point of it isn’t it=)… If the main business plan was to be an auction house for others then you would not waste your time with names that sell for $50. Seems to be like selling others names is simply what you do between the times that you want to sell your own.
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Troy,
It is definitely one of the most important benefits of having the platform, no doubt. However, we hardly ever auction our own domains and when we had before we did so just to test and fill up days, not for the revenues. 50$ sales are more for testing than revenues one can imagine. We have many full time employees working on Bido. If anyone feels like 50$/day (or 1,500$/day for that matter) would pay our bills here they are living on a different planet
I think everyone should strive to have exits if PPC fails tomorrow and we hope to be able to provide that sort of platform to all when and if they need it.
Cheers
Sahar
You don’t have to have all the bells and whistles from the start. Doing anything for domainers, no one really knows what the ‘bells and whistles’ are. Bido is on the right track!
I was impressed to see the video interview. Great concept. It was very interesting to watch. You write English so well, I had no idea you had an accent.
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Thanks Tia
Bido is a very nice idea/website.
whay not have a multi ext. auction every day ?
.com
.net
.us
.org
.info
.mobi
.me
and so on,
maybee limit it to 5 or even 10 if your site is big enought to attract that kind of audience ?
simple idea.
“To keep their current business model Bido really needs to upgrade the quality of the domains being auctioned…”
I love it when someone suggests the auction house needs to “get” better domains. Or the auction house makes a statement about the available sellers needing to submit better domains.
The auction house can only sell what’s available for sale. Sellers should only sell what they wish to rid themselves of unless they have a pressing need for cash beyond the value of the domains they want to sell.
It’s more important to accurately price the domains being offered at the auction. I do worry that a perfectly good domain might sell real cheap due to some short term market problem or the wrong bidders being available during the auction.
That’s why I like the reserve system. Low starting prices draw bidders. Reserves protect the sellers. Experience and history helps everyone understand value. Accuracy in setting prices to match the timing helps the auction progress.
At the same time, it’s not real good for the market to be suppressed by continuously low prices and marginal domains. I think it’s probably better that a marginal domain be developed, and sold to a end user who can continue to develop the domain. This process almost precludes the developed domain from the auction market unless strong advertising to the proper end user markets are done way ahead of time.
As to advertising, Bido has a good start with their good handful of interactive iframe banner and button creatives available. Now they need to enhance that with banners and buttons that can be targeted to specific domains once that domain is accepted.
I’d also suggest some better instructions on incorporating those creatives into a website. Not all domainers are adept at adding code snippets into pages.
And some canned ad copy might be good to help push an specific auction. Maybe Bido might look into a whole page about how to advertise “Your Domain at Auction on Bido”.
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On the money Jeff with the last paragraph. We have a lot to do in terms of education and presentation of information to domain professionals, web professionals, and end users. We’re aware of these issues and they are really at the top of the list.
Cheers
Sahar
Hi Sahar,
I’ve been a never-surrender supporter of Bido from day one, even through your changes. Why? Because a new idea needs to be developed at the pace it takes to develop it correctly. Nothing happens overnight.
You’ve always understood the negative comments, and learned from a few, but I knew that you had a bigger picture to paint. Your marketing technique of Bido is like inviting budding artists to come in while Michelangelo is painting a picture starting with the pencil sketch first.
In the background, the know-it-alls and hope-u-fail types are gloating on their “stingers” about how you’re not auctioning off good domains, you can’t make money, how is this thing going to work, etc etc…
Meanwhile, from that, there isn’t one professional or decent novice domainer who hasn’t heard of Bido.com.
And me, I sit back and watch you evolve, with a good team, a mysterious idea that seems to still have people drilling holes through the motel room walls to hope for a peek at the “good stuff” you’re bringing.
That date when Bido has its chops down and is riffing like Eddie VH, you’ll hear a very quiet echo in the Hall of UnQualified Critics, and it will sound like this: “Ooooops! I was wrong. Bido Rocks!”
The names of the naysayers and wannabee players you’ve already mentioned, and hundreds more unmentioned will be in that Hall “oopsing”. Keep up the good work Sahar, and we smart domainers are rooting for your successful results that break new ground in domain monetization.
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Thanks Stephen for the vote of confidence. I think it’s wrong to expect all to like what you do, it is a sure way to be disappointed. Patience is important when building stuff and some should not jump to conclusions so quick, sometime it kills other people’s dreams, and that is never a good thing. Greatest gift one can give is to believe. Believe in someone when others don’t. At times, that one who believe is the one being remembered for a lifetime. I remember clearly my friend’s brother when I was 18 or so, looked me in the eyes and said “You will make it big time in the world.”. That was long before I had a penny to my name. From many I spoke with over the years, he is right there in front, and always will be.
Cheers
Sahar
Cheers
Sahar
Bido should publish a list of domains it chooses NOT to auction. For example, I submitted several that were of significantly higher quality (IMHO) than most of those Bido actually does run. That made me wonder how Bido could pass on mine.
Putting the Bido auction pass list online would accomplish two things:
First, it would create additional transparency for both buyers and sellers that would show Bido isn’t just a platform for a select group of domaining insiders. It would show that Bido really is auctioning the best there is.
Second, it would give the seller of domains that are not chosen the opportunity to have their domains out there for others to review. If Bido doesn’t want to auction my domain XYZ.com, but someone out there sees it on the pass list and is interested, then he can contact me directly through the XYZ.com WHOIS contact info. Any way that Bido can bring buyers and sellers together will add to Bido’s utility as a domaining tool.
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It sounds interesting, thanks for the feedback, will pass it on.
Cheers
Sahar
@Colby - That is an interesting suggestion and would actually be another reason to check out Bido each day, imo.
When I first read about Bido’s one domain per day concept, I got it immediately. My first thought was that some online auction company would one day break through into the mainstream. Look at “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and similar shows. The public love them.
I projected my take on what Bido might evolve into. I could see one very high quality to ultimate quality domain per day being listed on the homepage of major news sites, mentioned on the evening news like they announce lottery winners. Watercooler talk the following day as more and more people tuned in to see what great name was up next and how much it would go for.
Maybe sales would grow to the point where big corporate sponsors got on board, and one viewer per day (randomly selected) would actually get a cut of the action of each day’s sale. You know, to boost the viewership and exciting buzz around the auction. People would be tuning in with the prospect of winning a % of that day’s sale and you’d have this new domain industry vehicle that pushed the excitement we already know about into the general mainstream.
You could have real estate day, hotel day, geodomain day, keyword day, and each unique category auction might be sponsored by a large company like Remax for real estate, or Marriott for hotel day.
In my way of thinking, to elevate a daily auction to this level of widespread public interest would require establishing a new precedent like has never been set before. And that would be based on having one outstanding domain after another. Newsworthy quality domains.
The challenge it would seem is garnering enough public noteriety, bidders, and end user sales such that great domain name holders would become eager to submit their names thus providing Bido with a an ongoing inventory of truly exciting domains. Mediocre names bidding in the low 3 and 4 figure range will completely undermine the scenario I just laid out and never garner more than a few hundred folks at best.
It’s all about the domain. I like the concept of possibly expanding to include one premium domain per day in each of several extensions –> .com, .us, etc. The key, I think, is to not have too much going on at one time. The focal point is the steller domain name that most general people could say “Wow, great name!”. And then be able to say that again the very next day, and the day after that. The momentum would completely revolve around the certainty that each day’s domain name is a true high quality winner. In a matter of time, people would be “getting it” and we could see a sea change as domains come to be regarded as the new gold so to speak.