Demand Media Takes $100 Million Series C

I can’t help but think that domaining is not a great long term business to be in. Seems like domaining exists solely because uneducated web users don’t know that they should use a search engine. But those users are slowly becoming educated and turn to Google first rather than typing in a domain directly.

Reminds me of the original Netscape portal play back in the 90s. They had millions of people coming to Netscape.com simply because they didn’t know how to change their default home page.

I’d posit that any business that relies almost entirely on consumers being kept in the dark is not a long term growth business. Of course in the short term there’s plenty of bucks to be made.

Great, more junk sites from yet another domain parker.

son of a bitch.

This is a clear example of how the internet domain system is broken. My main beef is the ridiculous prices these domain companies charge, if you want to do something useful with the domain. Usually the figure is in the thousands. If they just make one sale, which is inevitable, they can domain park another 1000 domain names. I guarantee every 8 letter alphanumeric combination will be owned within two years.

Isn’t this considered Cyber-squatting?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.....ection_Act

agreed…its almost impossible to find a meaningful domain name any more…and with all the flickr type domains they are catching on and using those up too.

Frankly a limit on amount of domains owned would stop those people in thier tracks. If you could only own 100 .com domains that would eliminate that whole industry

I’m sure you’ve seen this. Maybe not, but it speaks to the history of deception and fraud perpetrated by Rosenblatt companies as far back as 1996. That’s when they took me for $3,000 that supposedly this FTC order was to provide as redress.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/04/.....pfinal.htm

I want Richard Rosenblatt stopped.

Very big news for the domain name community. I would think this is the first time a pure holding company has been valued at $1B+ by mainstream investors.

I hope Demand Media does not ruin Enom. Enom has a been a great partner of resellers and domain investors.

Turning over bodog.com domain over without even a blink has sent chills through the community. Enom built its reputation by always being on the side of domain owners, hoping this isn’t about to change.

At the first sign of greed/dishonesty (aka godaddy) I will transfer my over 2000k domains to another provider, or might even try to become one myself.

@ #6: Putting a limit on how many domain names people or companies could own would be like putting limits on how many rental properties a real estate investor could own or how many stores a Starbucks could open or whatever. Maybe those are not the best examples, but you get the point. You are talking about restricting free trade and commerce.

Ever since domain names have been available everybody has been free to register any name they’ve wanted to.

Look at Facebook.com. The name is the primary reason they got traction on college campuses, which is the primary reason Zuckerburg isn’t flipping burgers in Cambridge right now. The name was sitting there for anybody to register for years. Same as business.com, sex.com, buzzpal.com, etc.

I am sick of people complaining that somebody else already registered a domain name they wanted. There is nobody to blame but oneself for being too slow. Instead of blaming others for being smarter or faster, people should take responsibility for themselves, help themselves, focus on what they can control and the names they can register instead of the things they can’t control, the names that are already registered. And if there is a name that’s already registered and you really want it just contact the owner and make an offer. It is a free market and names are transferable… and they sell for whatever price clears the market. And that depends on many factors, just like the value of a piece of real estate depends on many factors.

Cheers,
chrisco
(disclosure: I own a number of domain names)

Funny thing is…they are NOT a domain company but a media company. Check out their web site. http://www.demandmedia.com.

When they use domains its like this. http://www.carsondaly.tv

Smart move by Demand Media. Prices are rising rapidly, but domains are still the best investment out there right now.

Someday everyone will wake up to the power of domains with resonance and those who haven’t capitalized on the greatest opportunity in their lifetime will be kicking themselves at how easy it would have been to have taken part in the land rush.

In a world where systems are easily replicated and barriers to entry are crashing to the ground, generic domains are one of the only defensible tech investments left, and securing a category-defining, generic domain should be at the top of the priority list for any new company.

It’s not too late. Thousands of dollars seems like a lot now, but in a few years when people wake up, they will be selling for tens, hundreds and thousands of times what they are going for now.

Regardless of the power of social networking, the internet and other mediums, word of mouth is still the most powerful form of marketing available to a company. Having a great name that is relevant, has resonance and is easy to say and spell is worth it’s weight in gold.

Just look at the recent winner of TC40 - Mint.com. It’s a name that rolls off the tongue and is very conducive to word of mouth referrals. I know that I’ve told quite a few people about it since coming across it. The reaction from everyone - even those with no interest in or knowledge of domains has been “awesome name - wow!”.

Contrast that with Xobni or whatever the hell it is. Sounds like a great product - probably more useful than Mint and something that more people would adopt (still lots of trust issues with Mint) - it sounds like it could add tons of value for business users - but it’s awful name makes you not want to tell someone about it. You sound stupid telling someone about something with a stupid name.

I can’t believe more people haven’t caught on to this yet. It’s mind-bogglingly simple (maybe too simple).

Compare the list of companies that have made it BIG that also have stupid names to the number of companies with great names that have made it BIG. The name is a huge asset, and a great name increases chances of success by a factor of 10 I would estimate.

It’s not too late! Get on the bandwagon now while domains are still cheap. There are tons of great names to be had - they don’t have to be generic, one-word domains either - short brandables are great - ie. Google, Yahoo, Cogro (one of mine).

Make sure you get the dot com and not another TLD - companies have spent trillions of dollars branding dot com, and this trend will not change - ever. It’s already too late. Others TLDs may work, but dot com will ALWAYS be king - the momentum is already on its side and there is no reason for the world’s largest enterprises to change now that they’ve secured their dot coms.

Niche domains like dot TV serve a purpose, but they are too specific to challenge the relevance of dot com. Especially after the ‘com’ is rebranded from ‘commerce/commercial’ to ‘community’ - something that is already starting to happen and will pick up steam in the years to come.

Community has always been and will always be where it’s at.

Get in now while you can! Your children and their children will thank you and will be astounded by your foresight and the wealth it has created for your family over the next 20 years.

Colin

Disclosure: I own a lot of domains too - and no, they are not for sale (though, not being the ‘greedy’ domainer type, I am open to joint development ventures - and that’s where owning domains becomes really valuable - I can register a domain for 10 years for under $75 and have people approach me on a regular basis looking to partner up - I don’t have to do anything, just let them use my domains and I get a piece of the action - works for me!).

This is absolutely crazy, but I agree with chrisco that it’s how it should be based on free market principles. That said, I think it sucks that the ones doing the hard work and starting companies should be squeezed out of owning a decent name.

My thoughts are that it’s up to us (early adopters) to ease the situation. It’s our own fault that dot com is so hot. We’ve all rallied around it, and for good reason. It’s a great extension. However, I think we should now do what we can to shift public opinion. For example, I agree with Colin about the name Mint.com. That’s a great name! But how many other uses could it be for? It’s now potentially locked away from any other company forever! Remember that old-school technology called the phone book? How many business numbers are in there? Using the dot com model would be like limiting business phone numbers to 3 to 5 digits, no area codes. There would be a mad scramble to get a number!

In the future we need to show support to decentralize domain extension demand. I think we should have TLDs for many categories like .car, .food, .world, .airplanes, you get the idea, instead of cramming everything into dot com which is filling up and going to get much worse for us price wise if we continue to push it!

is demandmedia a domain holding company, or not?!

The real leader in this space is Oversee.net, based in Los Angeles. From what I heard from speaking with sales guy over there, they own over 500,000 domains and are going to do over $150m in revenue this year.

ICANN should do something about this… in Australia you need a trademark or registered business name before you can buy a .com.au domain.. but I guess that’s part of the appeal of .com’s - they’re available so easily.

why isn’t mike arrington writing this post?? he was in the domain business and has the best perspective i think? or maybe not?

Capitalism in action. An opportunity is an opportunity. And if it produces even better. It does not mean that I like it, but you can not always have your cake and eat it too.

@ 14 - Yes, Demand is mainly a domain holding company . They may brand themselves as a “media” company and may own a few websites to boot but you can be certain that the vast majority of their revenue flows from their domain names.

@ 17 - Mike was involved with Pool.com, formerly a major domain auction house. It does surprise me as well that he did not write this.