Beware the typo

Posted by Scott on November 29th, 2007 .

TypoI am used to double checking my own work but it also pays to double check what others do for you as I almost missed a typo on a transfer for a new domain, I managed to buy LivingRoomFurniture.co.uk from a company which I was quite happy about, lovely descriptive domain name that is highly competed for by advertisers, I completed all the transfer forms and posted on to Nominet recorded and then received an email on Tuesday to say the transfer had been completed, always love it when the domain finally gets updated :)

I did quickly glance at the whois, but I missed a typo the first time, when I checked later I realised that the domain Registrant was down as ‘Scott Joans’. Now I know for other extensions that is not a problem but for UK domains this is a really really important point, we can update the address details through our registrar but we can only get the Registrant changed by filling in forms, proving our own identity with photographic ID and getting the central body Nominet to update the registrant name.

If I had missed this and then in a few years time tried to sell it I could have run into real problems getting the domain transferred. I could not show photographic ID for Scott Joans, thankfully I double checked and they accepted it was a typo and sorted it on the same day.

That kind of spurred me on to check more and I did find quite a few domains I own that

  • I had forgotten about
  • were still parked at the old owners parking company possibly generating income for someone else
  • were still at a reseller account of Godaddy as they couldn’t be transferred to me at the time due to the 60 day rule.

How do people with hundreds and thousands of domains cope?
They must be a damn sight more organised than I, however I did a good bit of housework and re-arranging in the last two days and have a better grasp of what I own and what I am doing with it. You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to forget about a small website or domain that was hosted elsewhere.

On a happier note I managed to buy BedroomFurniture.net about a month ago, the week before the sale of Bedroomfurniture.com was public knowledge which was very quite lucky seeing as I am sure that would have pushed the price up, the .com sale value has not been announced officially as far as I know but somewhere between $150,000 to $250,000 has been suggested. I have been buying a few furniture domains and managed to secure the .net for $3k and then just a week later the .com is officially sold. Last week I received an offer on my .net that could easily have netted a quick 200% profit, I am happy to keep it though, no rush to sell.

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15 Comments »

Comment by Matthew from GadgetVenue Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 10:15:49

Well done! I have a stack of domains I need to check and point in the right direction. I wont be missing out on much, but it could be a few more $$ a day which could make up a 1 month mortgage payment by the end of the year.

 
Comment by Abdul from The Webmasters Tool Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 11:08:44

Great Job!!

Typos is something I am over now. I’ve learnt to double check everything after I messed up my paypal verification :D

 
Comment by Mikael Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 11:47:42

Scott, it is obvious that you are targeting the furniture domains but do you have any rules for what niches (I don’t know whether furniture is considered a niche) to go for and which not to go for?

I’ve been looking into the gardening tools niche and the sporting equipment niches, but what determines what areas you dig into?

Comment by braz Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-18 18:52:44

niches are nice , but try to think bit bigger and bigger sale price at once. Furniture is nice because every house need one and has higher ticket price.

 
 
Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 12:10:09

What I am looking for would be something that meets criteria like:
Futureproof - won’t go out of fashion
Product based
Search for - using Google tools to verify
Mail order - so can be posted
Not too specific - I like bedroomfurniture but not fittedwardrobes as styles and fashions change, but we’ll always have furniture if you know what I mean. Should also be the best description of the genre and one you can envisage a company setting up their whole website on, making it leasable/desireable.

 
Comment by Mikael Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 12:21:41

So what would you say of domains like:

CordlessImpactWrenches (co.uk and net)
or
HotAirGuns.net

?

I mean, both are tool based and I don’t think they’ll go out of style any time soon. But I’m a bit unsure about whether a company would find it interesting to build their site around them.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 12:25:08

I would find them too narrow to build a site on personally Mikael, there is merit in them and I have reg’d domains that are product specific in the past for flipping later maybe, but for developing and leasing you need topics/keywords that cover a decent sized market that has enough traffic to warrant the time to develop in it.

 
 
Comment by Garry from Photography Basics Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 13:09:44

This just prompted me to do a bit of a check on my domains. While it wasn’t a typo I spotted, I found that the .co.uk of my best adsense earning .com site (not a massive earner, but my best one) wasn’t pointing anywhere!!! A quick few clicks in my reseller account and an htaccess redirect, and all sorted.
If I had a brain, I’d be dangerous!
I think I have a few others like that too which need the htaccess bit adding.

 
Comment by Carl from Dension Ice Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-29 18:28:03

I’ve just moved house, so I’m guessing I have to go into each domain to update my address…really not looking forward to that, and I don’t even have that many domains!

Comment by Missy from Groovy Entrepreneur Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-30 03:36:41

Hi—Scott:

Bedroom Furniture was definitely a great buy. I too am hooked on domain names and have a small but growing portfolio. For now, i’m concentrating on the green living niche. Which is hot. Some are for sale, if you want to take a peek, head on over to my blog.

To me it’s like real estate. (but online)

Every time i acquire a new name, i feel like Trump.

P.S. I found you through Problogger. Nice to meet you.

Missy.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-30 09:05:43

Thank Missy, glad you found the blog, green is certainy one of the hottest and growing topics online.

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by Ian from Disney World Tickets Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-02 10:08:47

Your going into hyper-drive with the domains now Scott.

BTW… Do all UK domains need transferring via Nominet paper forms? Not quite the digital revolution yet.

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-02 11:06:17

Yes to update the Registrant/owber details we need to fax/post forms to Nominet and pay a fee which is good for security but probably hold back the reseller market somewhat for low priced domains.

 
 
Comment by Ryan Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-03 14:18:30

Based on Alexa, bedroomfurniture.com isn’t really getting many hits. Why then are these domains woth so much?

Comment by Scott from Scott Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-03 14:29:53

Undeveloped domains like that .com may get little traffic but type in traffic is valuable, that aside a generic domains that rules their industry like ‘office furniture’ or ‘bedroom furniture’ are very brandable and desireable to end users.

 
 
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