| LED Digest 2356: Domain Valuation, Security Seals, and more |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. February 27, 2007 Issue no. 2356 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ===================== <Moderator Comment> ~ Key Sponsorship Opening --== Security Seals ==-- ~ Alberto Rodriguez "Does it matter the name of the company as long as it has some 'security seal'?" --== Photographer Licensing ==-- ~ Pieter van der Vyver "...what limits does the photographer have?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Domain Appraisal Services ==-- ~ Barry Mills "...post your list of premium domains and the firm prices you expect on here..." ~ David Yancey "These are bare-bones, bottom dollar valuations." ~ James Miller "We breed and sell racehorses. Domain names are very similar." --== Marketing with YouTube ==-- ~ Tom Anson "How professional would the video need to be to be effective?" --== Supplemental Results ==-- ~ Claudiu Spulber "Why does Google see site.com and site.com/index.php as different sites since it's actually the same page?" ========== NEW =================================== <Moderator Comment> Greetings LEDer, For the last several years you've probably noticed links and ads for our Key Sponsor, Pair Networks, sprinkled within the LED. They're also integrated into the masthead and footer of every issue. Well, time for a change. Today Megan Gordon, Pair's business development leader, told me that they're going to hold off on sponsoring the list any longer. I wasn't given a specific reason, but for the last couple months Megan and I have gone back and forth on price. I offered them what I thought was a sweet deal for a yearly commitment, but I think budget issues are keeping them from signing on. OUR HISTORY WITH PAIR.COM We've had a relationship with Pair since the '90s, when Kevin Martin (the founder) began growing his business and promoting it with the help of I-Sales (our old list) and MMG (our old marketing firm). Kevin also partnered with us at Adventive and we enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial partnership there. When Microsoft gave me the LED back in 2003, Kevin was eager to grab the Key Sponsor slot. LIST EXPENSES This list has always been a labor of love. It's probably not good business sense to devote so much time to it, but it's what I've always enjoyed doing and it feels good to give to the community. It costs money to produce, however, both in my personal time and hosting for the email server and website: - Hosting for the email server (co-located locally): $285 /month - Hosting for the website (dedicated at pair.com): $75 /month - Cost of my time at hourly rate of $60: $2400 /month I spend about 2 hours per day on the LED, from reading and responding to posts, to editing and compiling the issues, to archiving them on the site, etc. A NEW OPPORTUNITY This is the end of an era. It's also an opportunity for a company jump into the Key Sponsorship slot. A company sponsoring this community gets to brand themselves through the LED and enjoy all the privileges that come with such visibility, including: - Affiliation with one of the Internet's most respected marketing communities; - Affiliation with one of the oldest and most active discussion lists on the Web; - Exposure to a very diverse community of over 40,000 subscribers; - Partnership with a influential marketing resource; Specific benefits are many, including: - Brand identity and links in the LED masthead and footer; - Ad spots within the LED with rotating copy; - Banners, buttons, and more site-wide on www.LED-Digest.com; - Lots of support and flexibility from me to try new things! PARTNER WITH THE LED DIGEST What I'm looking for is a long-term partnership with an ethical, high-quality business. Do you have one? Please contact me and let's talk: My personal email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it My phone #: (541) 390-1243 Pair is reserved through the end of February, after that the LED is open. Best wishes, Adam --------------------- From: Alberto Rodriguez Subject: Security Seals Hi, I have read recently about the effects on customer conversion rates of Security Seals in a website. Most will guarantee a 15% increase (that means from 2% to 15%?). I have found: - Hacker Safe (+$999 /yr) - Control Scan (+$800 /yr) - Trust Guard ($100?? /yr) Does it matter the name of the company as long as it has some "security seal"? I don't want to expend $1,000 if I can get the same result with Trust Guard. I will really appreciate your comments. Alberto Rodriguez -------- new post - new topic --------- From: Pieter van der Vyver Subject: Photographer Licensing As a founding subscriber I would like to ask something that came up some time ago. It nevered bothered me much before, but people ask me so much I should probably know... If a photographer pops by a restaurant and takes pics of staff and musicians and puts it on his website without the staff members signing a Model Release Form... can the staff members sue?? In this case it was a popular musician. I suppose the photographer took a photo of the musician as a favour or for him to purchase at a later date. Another question: The musician then sees his photo on the photographer's website and takes it to use on his CDs that he sells on an ongoing basis. Is the musician in breech or illegal? I am sure the restaurant owner gave accreditation or permission for the photographer to enter the premises. My last question is: What happen at a sporting event if a sports photographer snaps pictures of the crowd and puts a spectator or athlete on his website? This comes to mind... what can the spectator do and what limits does the photographer have. Please spend some of your valuable time to let me know. Waiting in anticipation to hear from your goodself :-) Regards Pieter van der Vyver ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Barry Mills Subject: Domain Appraisal Services > Are there any real domain name appraisal services > whose accuracy and legitimacy has been proven? - Thom Reece, LED Digest 2355 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1754/55/ In my opinion, commercially available domain appraisals are pretty much a waste of time. I would recommend anyone in the market taking a look at one or two appraisal reports, as the methodology may give you some ideas you can use in valuation or negotiation, but essentially a domain name is worth what someone is willing to pay. A client of mind had a domain appraised by SEDO at around $100,000 - after advertising for a year his best offer was $8000, which he turned down. In the end, he closed shop and gave the domain name, developed site and a couple of others to us in lieu of about $2500 he owed us! I still have it, if anyone wants to offer me $100kJ. I suspect, Thom, if you post your list of premium domains and the firm prices you expect on here, we might have a lively debate about whether your pricing is reasonable! Barry Mills, Chairman Netstep www.netstep.co.uk -------- new post - same topic -------- From: David Yancey Subject: Domain appraisals Hi Thom -- FWIW, I agree that the domain appraisals "professionals" are not to be relied upon for a meaningful or even approximately accurate appraisal. As you say in your post, it is not possible to say what a domain name is truly "worth." Your real estate valuation comparison is spot on. Further, no one can say with any quantifiable truth what a *given* name would be worth to a *given* holder in a *given* local or economic market. Only market value can be a semi-reliable guide to a name's current "real" value, but market value *today* has little to do with the potential value tomorrow in an online commercial environment that is growing and changing constantly. The key IMO is determining what the name *may* be worth to the buyer, not to the domain aftermarket -- even assuming the aftermarket produced reliable valuations consistently across the various types of names, which it does not. In domain appraisals, people tend to focus on a few elements, such as the length of the name; is it hyphenated; will younger users likely or possibly think it hip or cool; will older users (and shoppers!) immediately understand what the name is "about"; is it easy for non-English speakers to grasp and pronounce and spell; does it convey product functionality OR coolness (few names left can do both); and, most especially, what is the price-tag? In general, with an Internet that is now rapidly maturing, for many names, the ones with almost any potential commercial value, a price much under US$1-3,000 would be a crazily discounted bargain, IMO. For a *new* business hoping to generate, say, US$1 million in annual revenue, at least $5000 would be realistic. For an *established* business, a base price of at least $10,000 for each $million in annual revenue is totally warranted in marketing and economic terms. These are bare-bones, bottom dollar valuations. If I am running an established $20 million retail chain, and think that a given name can help increase brand recognition, name retention, and help us grow faster, then the name is worth at least a half million dollars. Makes sure your buyers understand that this is a one-time investment, not an ongoing expense like advertising. For parked names intended to deliver traffic to search pages, the value can be all over the lot, of course, depending on the keywords imbedded in the name, or it's potential to be mis-typed. Even more important is whether the name is used by a premium target audience. If the name would tend to appeal to younger people and students who are not really interested in buying stuff, as opposed to potential shoppers, then its parked valuation ought to be pretty low. Your buyer needs to be able to answer these basic questions: 1. If I had a business that relied upon this particular name to brand the products or service, what would it be worth to the business's present and future cash flow prospects, as opposed to an alternative name? 2. What could the name be worth to an entirely different business? This is important since, while widgets-of-omaha.com might be worth a few thousand dollars to the Omaha Widget Company, it could be worth much more to a national widget seller who sells high-margin widgets and runs a heavy-duty SEM program. 3 If I fail to get this name, can it be used by another buyer to undermine my marketing, or even take away much of my potential market? 4. Most importantly, will the shoppers I need to reach immediately "get" this particular name? Will they write it down? Will they tell their friends about it? A name with WOM value among premium shoppers is worth *far* more than a conventionally-minded name valuation service would likely ever understand. Your buyer is on his own, in short, when it comes to assessing the real potential value of the name. If he is relying on a more experienced buddy, he may want to ask himself how well that friend understands marketing, brand-building and exploitation, competitive brand management, and quantitative analysis. Feel free to quote my comments to the buyer, or not, as you wish. And glad to hear a familiar voice in these posts, Thom -- hope all is well with you! David Yancey http://www.tootoographic.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: James Miller Subject: Domain appraisals We breed and sell racehorses. Domain names are very similar. Some are worthless, some will get different valuations from different experts and others will sell for several times your valuation. So as with anything in life, establish a minimum price that you will accept for the domain and be prepared to transfer it, if someone gets above that limit. Bite their hand off if you think they are overpaying. What makes a high price for a domain is really only common sense. Is it memorable? Is it a virgin and unsullied by spam? Has it been used before? Is it likely to be subject to a legal challenge? For instance, if you had registered iPhone.com many years ago before anybody else had thought of that as a product name, you'd probably be alright, but if you'd done it when after you'd heard of the name, then you wouldn't be. I would also set up your own page for every page you are selling, stating what it has been used for. At present I'm selling nags.co.uk and I've set that up as a Google Ad. I'll let everybody know if that works. Or doesn't. James Miller www.daisy.co.uk -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tom Anson Subject: YouTube Hi fellow LEDers, I find the discussion of using video on a website to be very intriguing. I've often thought of adding it to my websites, because there is such a gap left in explaining the products I offer. I have some videos that people can buy, but they aren't big sellers; I also have a great reference on how to use the products, but without the video, it can be a little hard to comprehend the full scope of what you can do with these products. Okay. So video would be a good idea. The question then presents itself: What QUALITY do you need to make this effective. I'd have to shoot the video myself, and since I don't really have anyone to point and shoot for me, I'm not sure what quality I could achieve. How professional would the video need to be to be effective? How unprofessional could it be and not be counterproductive? Thanks for your thoughts. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Claudiu Spulber Subject: Supplemental Results > If you're interested in viewing pages from your site > that are in Google's supplemental index, try this > command: > site:www.yoursite.com *** -sljktf - Moderator Comment, LED Digest 2354 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1753/55/ Adam, Thank you for the tip on finding the pages that are in supplemental result. Now, I have the feeling that something is not right. For instance, if you do a search for Google using site:www.google.com about 496k results show up, but if you do the search site:www.google.com *** -xwx about 657k pages show. So, there's a counting error somewhere since as far as I tested the supplemental results show too when using the "site:" operator. One idea is that maybe not all supplemental results show using the normal "site:" operator. In this case that supplemental ratio means it's not maximum 100% (in the example above is more than 125%). And I also have a question. Doing this search for one of our sites, I've seen that we have in the supplemental results the "/index.php" page, while the normal www link is in the main index. Could this be because we don't use a normal "index.htm" page? I mean why does Google see yoursite.com and yoursite.com/index.php as different sites since it's actually the same page? Regards, Claudiu Spulber http://www.backup4all.com http://www.novapdf.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/120/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/77/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/86/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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