Whether it has much value, I don’t know, but I like the name for under $10 because there are plenty of tour guides in Croatia, and there are many people looking to find them online. With that in mind, I believe the terms “tour guide” and/or “tour guides” could add value to a travel destination. To make the most of #3, I frequently search for a tour guide online, in order to visit attractions that will be most interesting to me and my fiance. When I am planning a vacation, there are several things I search for prior to departure: The key is that the new domain name must make sense, and the keyword should have some click value (be it a large ticket item or an expensive service). Sometimes you can create a relevant domain name by combining a travel destination with a travel-related keyword to form a new name with some value. Travel and geographic-related domain names may be worth speculating on, as their value has climbed and always seem to be in high demand. I want to share a few brief pointers for registering relevant domain names on a speculative basis. He and I frequently share stories of new registrations along with the motivation behind speculating on certain new names. Throughout the past several months, I’ve had many conversations with a fellow domain investor about different speculation strategies focusing on newly registered domain names. The second round will be much more successful than the inaugural attempt because Godaddy was smart enough to ask for advice from the domain community. The better the names in auction, the more likely it will be that buyers show up and bid. The better the auction results are, the more likely it will be that people will want their names listed in future auctions. Why should they leave anything to chance? All other major auction houses offer in-house escrow services, and I don’t see why Godaddy still doesn’t.
This is an important part of the process, and it will ensure that payment is made quickly, and the domain name is transferred promptly and correctly. Instead of handing off the sale to to complete an auction (or any of TDNAM’s sales for that matter), Godaddy should handle the transaction on their own. Godaddy might even want to ask them what types of names they are looking to purchase, and they should make sure at least some of these types of names are on auction. Senior Godaddy executives should go through their rolodexes and do what they need to make sure these bidders show up. There are quite a few people who are known for bidding aggressively at other live domain auctions.
Godaddy needs to publicize their next auction as much as possible. It was almost like Godaddy wanted to have a soft opening, but when they chose that route, bidders didn’t show up (or if they did, they didn’t bid). In the days leading up to the auction, there didn’t seem to be any publicity for the auction. If that’s the case, the domain owner has created a price ceiling that isn’t realistic because it probably would have sold for $500,000 in a different venue. Hypothetically, a $500,000 name with a reserve price of just $100,000 might not sell if an interested buyer doesn’t show up. Sellers are reluctant to put their names on auction at a lower reserve because if there aren’t enough buyers, they’ve created an artificial price ceiling for their domain names. Conversely, the more wealthy buyers that are present, the more likely it is for domain sellers to list their names at reasonable reserve prices. The better the quality names at reasonable reserves, the more likely it is for buyers to show up and bid. They should seek out domain owners and cut deals with them to guarantee certain prices will be achieved (lower commissions, sales price guarantees, bid on behalf of Godaddy’s internal portfolio…etc). Godaddy should do what it takes to ensure there are good quality domain names on auction with low/reasonable reserve prices. Because of their humble appeal, I will give some advice that I believe could improve their next Signature Auction. Most companies would probably have tried to put a positive spin on the results, which may have made them look foolish. This request is one of the smartest moves I’ve seen from one of the big domain companies.
Godaddy is asking its customers to provide feedback on how the company can improve its Signature Auctions, after the first round saw pretty poor results.