Transcript with: Jeremiah Johnston :: COO, Sedo.com Bob Mountain :: VP of Business Development, NameMedia, Inc. Jeff Kupietzky :: President & CEO, Oversee.net.

with:
Jeremiah Johnston :: COO, Sedo.com
Bob Mountain :: VP of Business Development, NameMedia, Inc.
Jeff Kupietzky :: President & CEO, Oversee.net
Speakers
Jeremiah Johnston
• Jeremiah Johnston began his career with Sedo in 2004 and currently serves in
the joint role of General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer. Johnston also
represents Sedo as a founding member of the Internet Commerce Association
(ICA). Johnston is also on the Board of Directors for the E. MA, ME, RI, and VT
Better Business Bureau.
Bob Mountain
• Responsible for partnerships involving NameMedia’s domain marketplace,
acquisition, and publishing businesses. His is currently leading a go-to-market
initiative that combines all of NameMedia’s products into a seamless, integrated
program for top business partners.
Jeff Kupietzky
• Jeff joined Oversee in 2006 as Executive Vice President responsible for
DomainSponsor. He then led the growth of the domain services division,
expanded into the aftermarket business and built Oversee's owned and operated
portfolio of domain names into one of the worlds largest, firmly establishing the
company as a leader in Internet real estate.
Session Summary
Search Engine
Optimization
• Using domains as a complement to or replacement
for traditional SEO/SEM campaigns
Reputation &
(Re)Branding
• Using domains to establish brands and market
authority and leadership
Direct Navigation
Traffic
• Using domains to drive traffic to landing pages or
main websites
Acquisition
Strategy
• Understanding domains to help you find the best
names for your business objectives
Supplement SEO with Domains
 Search engines such as Google, Bing
& Yahoo! place a high value on
matching search terms with
keywords within domain names
 Owning a generic domain name
relevant to your company or
products can put your website at
the top of search engine results
 Generic domain names typically
earn significant, highly targeted
natural traffic that can be used as
an alternative to traffic purchased
through expensive SEM campaigns.
+
_____
+
THE RIGHT
DOMAIN
SEO Success Story: Fly.com
Bobbleheads
SEO Results:
 Google search for “bobblehead” results in
bobbleheads.com as the top result, saving money on
expensive SEO and SEM
 Warren calculates that this investment brought him
13,500 more monthly visitors/leads
Reputation & Credibility
 Descriptive, product-oriented domains establish you as a
leader in your industry
 You can become an authority portal by eliminating tricky
words and focusing on products rather than your brand
 Create a brand from generic domains!
Rebranding for Success: Jets.com
 Jets.com
wanted to
strengthen
their brand
with a generic
domain
“After consulting with our broker, we were able to see
the value in Jets.com for our rebranding strategy… We
now have a competitive edge that is tremendously
powerful for our industry and the service we are
offering.”
- CEO, Jets.com
“Authority Portal” Success: Diapers.com
Branding & ROI
 High traffic domain names such as Fly.com or Call.com
can cost over six figures but bring with them thousands of
visitors a month in direct navigation traffic, offsetting the
cost with an immediate return on investment
 Companies with smaller budgets can opt for location
specific domains tailored to their regional markets
Geo-targeted Domains
Dyn Inc. – Manchester, NH
 Dynamic Network Services, Inc (Dyn Inc.) wanted to
integrate all business unites under one short, memorable
domain: Dyn.com
 Their previous domain was dynamicnetworkservices.com
 Followed with dyn-inc.com, which was confusing:
“People thought we were a printer ink
company when we used that name, so it
was a bit confusing.”
- Kyle York, VP of sales and marketing,
Dyn.com
Build-out Opportunities
Yearly Visitors in Millions
44
42
40
38
36
34
32
2008
2009
2010
Build-out Opportunities
(Re)Branding Tip:
 Register your domain(s) early in the campaign
development process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Internal Kickoff
Project Initiation
Definition
Creative Development
Client Review
Development
Copy Approval
Quality Assurance
Final Review
Delivery
Direct Navigation
 Visitors type a domain name into
a browser instead of a search
term
 An estimated 1 in 6 “searches” is
conducted through direct
navigation
 Natural domain traffic is nearly
2X as likely to convert vs. normal
search engine traffic
 Direct navigation bypasses the
search engines
Register domains for your products
What’s in Your Wallet?
Register domains for your campaign tag line
Tagline:
JustDoIt.com = Nike.com
Landing page:
zoomzoom.com =
Club Mazda
Product names leverage direct navigation
Loans.com
Books.com
Money.com
Rum.com
Toothpaste.com
Bank of America
Barnes & Noble
CNN
Captain Morgan
Crest (Proctor & Gamble)
Direct Navigation Case Study
Step 1:
User enters a career
related domain using
direct navigation
Step 2:
User is automatically
redirected to Monster.com
How to increase direct navigation traffic
 Buy keyword domains for




keywords relevant to your
industry
Buy misspellings and typos of
YOUR brand
Purchase redirect traffic from
other domain owners
Choose your TLDs with care DotCom is still king
Use GA to monitor direct
navigation traffic
What not to do….
Difficult to type:
womenentrepreneurs.sk.ca
Difficult to type:
tigh-na-mara.com
Acquisition Strategy
 Subjective nature of the domain
market calls for close
examination. Know your outcome
before you begin.
 Offensive or Defensive corporate
strategy? Creating something new
or taking market share from
existing verticals?
 Develop a relationship with a
domain broker to help you
navigate the domain ecosystem.
Gain insights on trends,
valuations, opportunities, etc.
Finding the Right Domain
Intrinsic Value






Global keyword search volume
Average cost per click for that keyword
SEO commercial interest
(Similar) domain sales history
Type in traffic or error search?
How many paid advertisements under exact
keyword?
 Total unique monthly visits and/or site
revenue?
 Hard to misspell?
 Rule of thumb estimates from online
valuation tools. (Valuate.com, Estibot.com)
Finding the Right Domain
Subjective Value
 Short, descriptive, and easy to remember?
 Brandability?
 Likelihood and cost of a page 1 Google

or



ranking with the domain?
How does this domain align with specific
business objectives?
How attractive/suitable are alternative
domain names?
How is the industry doing which my
domain name represents?
How many “authority portals” does the
industry currently have?
Relevancy & Simplicity are Key
 Keep your domain name simple
 Make it relevant to your product or service
 Balance branding and SEO
 Build 2-3 keywords into the domain
 Be specific
 Use .com or prepare a strategy around an alternative, and
likely more affordable extension (see t.CO)
 Leverage the portfolio effect
Turn to the Experts