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Cover
Story
April 2008
The Domain Giant You Didn't Know:
Rob Grant's Roundabout Route to Real Estate Riches (Online
and Off!)
There
are certain names that everyone in this industry knows, names that newcomers
normally encounter within hours of entering the domain business. Names like Rick
Schwartz, Kevin Ham, Frank Schilling, the Castello Brothers
and others from a small band of pioneers who have reached the top of a mountain
that thousands of others continue to climb. Most in that group became wealthy
because they were visionaries who foresaw how valuable domain names would become
long before they appeared on anyone else’s radar.
Rob
Grant may not be as widely known as some of his pioneering peers,
but few in the industry can match the foresight, financial commitment
and unwavering faith in the future of domains that Grant has shown over
the past 12 years. During that time the personable real estate broker
from upstate New York assembled the world's best collection
of real estate related domain names (as well as some gems in other categories).
click here for
entire article
Rob Grant: “Dot Titanic”
By Elliot Silver · March 15, 2017
Rob Grant is one of the “original” domain name investors, having built a great portfolio many years ago. He has also sold a number of high profile domain names, including TorontoRealEstate.com ($140k), and JacksonHoleRealEstate.com ($80k) among others. These days, Rob is probably more well known outside of the domain name business for being the father of Lana del Rey, but that is another story!
Without much of a doubt, Rob is a fan of .com domain names. Today on LinkedIn, Rob posted a poem (I think) called Dot Titanic. As you might imagine, the poem is about new gTLD domain names, and Rob has a pretty dim view of them and their prospects:
“New Gtlds are going down as fast as the Titanic – and taking most of their shocked passengers with them.The hidden iceberg (and what nobody saw below the surface) happened to be a fatal loophole governing unregulated price increases for all new Gtlds.”
Rob has gone on the record to discuss the new extensions before. Here’s a quote of his from a DNJournal article dating back to 2014:
“I’ve seen a significant increase in the number of qualified and substantial offers coming in from brokers for the premium ‘.com’ real estate domains – this, paradoxically, as many of the new competing “real estate” extensions are just now being launched, most notably .realtor, and to a lesser extent .house, .home, .realty, .mls, .estate, etc. Over 23 new ‘real estate’ related gTLDs are scheduled to launch (or have launched already). As this growing clutter of new gTLDs overwhelms the public and the real estate industry, there appears to be a growing identity crisis among agents and brokers… and especially consumers.”
Rob’s portfolio of .com domain names is quite expansive. In addition to owning top RealEstate.com domain names in markets across the world (HawaiiRealEstate.com and NewYorkRealEstate.com to name two), Rob also owns domain names like Adirondacks.com, Marathons.com, and TropicalFish.com.
It’s always interesting to get the perspective of people who have been in the domain business for a long time.
TorontoRealEstate.com $140,000 Domain Sale by Rob Grant
Sets New Benchmark for Geos
by Kris Rivenburgh on September 29, 2014
Per DNJournal, Rob Grant sold TorontoRealEstate.com for $140,000! In the same article, Ron Jackson writes that’s the highest price for a geo real estate domain. The next best sale known is HamptonsRealEstate.com for $100,000.
What I’m sure helped the
sale is Grant had previously dealt with the buyer. He had sold him OttawaRealEstate.com
prior to this transaction.
Thoughts
Real estate is a huge niche and I don’t doubt the domain is worth it for the enduser. Still, this is a tremendous sale as typically geo’s are capped around $30,000-$40,000.
What I mean by that is you don’t typically see a geo domain – of any niche – go beyond that price range.
Granted, real estate is the king of all niches but this sale is so far above par, it has to be a milestone of some sorts.
The closest Toronto domain sales I could find are TorontoLimos.com for $20,000 and TorontoBusiness.com for $4,700.
Congratulations to Rob Grant for going beyond market price and setting a new benchmark for geos.
When consumers first began using the Internet there were only a handful of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) to choose from: .com, .org, .net, .info and a few others (this list does not include restricted TLDs, such as .edu, .gov, and .mil since they can only be used by specific types of organizations or registrants). While there have been attempts over time to increase the number of gTLDs, the efforts have not gone far, and the original—dotcom—remains the supreme leader.
A couple of years ago ICANN,
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, decided to allow
companies, individuals, and organizations to create more specific domain
names around hobbies, industries, businesses, cities, and more, in the
hopes that it will increase competition and choice for anyone hoping to
create an online presence (https://www.eurodns.com/international-domain-names/icann-new-gtlds/faq/).
What gTLDs Offer that Dotcom Cannot
There are several key features that supporters of the new gTLD system like to point out. First, anyone who registers a gTLD owns and operates a critical part of the online world, and will be in charge of any and all domains that register using that gTLD. These are virtual pieces of real estate, and like physical property it can represent a potential money-making opportunity for those who wish to buy, sell, and lease domain registries to others. Other benefits include:
Increased awareness and recognition
for brands that register trademarked names.
More targeted marketing and increased online branding using unique and
specific domains.
IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) will allow for the use of non-Latin
characters.
Geographic, cultural, or community-based TLDs can help bring together
like-minded groups and citizens for causes and social interactions.
New gTLDs offer an opportunity to provide better products and services
to consumers.
Currently there are close to 700 registered gTLDs in about 20 different categories (see the full list at www.newgtldsite.com/new-gtld-list). You can find broad TLDs such as “.medical” or more narrow ones such as “.[city name]”, and everything in between. The total number of gTLDs is projected to at least double, and could get much higher.
The Four Types of TLDs
There are a few different categories
that new top-level domains will fit into, depending on what you want.
General TLDs will be available
for almost anyone to register with few restrictions. Examples of generic
terms might include .movie or .furniture.
Community TLDs will help raise awareness and rally support around a group
or cause. The term “community” is not restricted to geographic
areas, although you can get community-geographic TLDs with support of
the local government in your geographic area. Other community examples
could include religious groups, charities, or hobbies.
Brand or trademark TLDs will be restricted to the companies or individuals
who own the rights to the name, such as .Target, .Apple, or .Sony.
Geographic TLDs are the final category for specific countries, cities,
states, or even continents such as .Europe, .Paris, or .Texas.
There are also variations for TLDs in non-Latin languages, such as Mandarin, Cyrillic, Japanese, and Arab. Millions of applications have poured into ICANN for these domains, which are similar to Latin-based languages in terms of the available categories and potential extensions.
Many Consumers Not Ready to Switch
While the prospect of being
able to target marketing, increase brand awareness, and encourage competition
online is certainly intriguing for businesses and brands, recent statistics
have shown that consumers still prefer dotcom over any of the new gTLDs.
There are a variety of reasons that people have not been rushing to new
TLDs, but often it boils down to the fact that consumers are familiar
with dotcom, and worldwide brands have built a powerful presence around
their .com websites.
ALSO READ: A2 Improves Dedicated Hosting Service
In a 2012 interview Rob Grant, a “domainer millionaire” who buys and sells thousands of websites and domain names from his company WebMediaProperties.com, was confident that dotcom is not going away anytime soon. Its online presence—websites from the largest corporations to the smallest blogs—is undeniable. As with any strong brand, the introduction of several competitors often only confuses consumers and strengthens the one that everyone is familiar with (find details of his interview at http://www.thedomains.com/2012/07/23/rob-grant-on-the-new-gtlds-dot-com-will-always-win-the-horse-race/).
Almost by accident, companies and people have helped build and reinforce the power of dotcom. Billions of dollars in advertising have been spent on dotcom branding, with integrated campaigns across traditional media (television, print) and new media (web and social media) that solidify dotcom’s position at the top of the domain extension world.
It’s also important to remember that this is not the first time new domain extensions have been introduced. As the Internet has expanded over the years there have been other TLDs, such as .jobs, .museum, and .pro. While they don’t offer the same personalization and brand differentiation that the proposed new gTLDs will, they have not gained enough traction to overtake (or even compete with) dotcom.
There is a caveat to the potential
for a dotcom challenger—Google spent millions for over 100 new extensions,
as did Yahoo and Bing, and if search engines decide to prioritize new
domain extensions over dotcom, that could give gTLDs a boost.
ALSO READ: CIO Perspective: Defunding and Refunding Initiatives
Considerations for New gTLDs
There are a lot of other technical considerations that brands, companies, and organizations should consider before switching to a new gTLD. For example, there could be problems with website functionality when migrating from a .com to a .brand, search engines might have more difficulty indexing and identifying sites, and all the time spent creating reputable backlinks (which boosts SEO) will likely be lost. Brands should also consider whether their name would make a good extension by asking questions like:
Is your name short enough
to make it easy to remember?
Are there similar extensions that might be easily confused with your .brand?
If there are other similar registries, is it worth purchasing all of them?
Can you manage the registry in a way that ensures it won’t become
associated with “spam” sites?
Finally, consumers might just have difficulty finding your website since they are so used to the dotcom extension, which leads to decreased traffic and reduced conversions and sales. With all these potential pitfalls, the new extension might not offer enough value to give up on the branding that your current dotcom provides.
Since it first began the Internet has been changing and adapting to meet the needs and desires of its users. While the new gTLDs present an interesting opportunity for change, it may not be enough right now to push consumers toward this new frontier. Many companies are still waiting to see how it will play out before jumping headfirst into the fray.
April 21, 2015
JacksonHoleRealEstate.com sells for $85,000
George Hong Brokers Year's Biggest 3-Letter .Com Sale to Date + Rob Grant
Reports Boom for Real Estate .Coms
It's no secret that sales of 3-letter and other short .coms have been booming and that trend continued today when we learned that broker George Hong of Guta.com has closed the year's biggest 3-letter .com sale to date, moving PPP.com for $290,000. Hong said the buyer and seller both prefer to remain anonymous but he provided proof of the completed sale and price paid.
When we chart the PPP.com sale it will rank as the 7th biggest sale of any kind reported so far this year (unless an even bigger sale is reported before our next weekly domain sales report is released. We will be away the next two days for a family funeral so this week's report, normally released on Wednesday, won't be out until Friday).
Short .coms are not the only category in the world's most popular extension that is seeing a surge, despite (or perhaps because of) the release of hundreds of new gTLDs. Veteran domain investor Rob Grant of
WebMediaProperties.com, who holds the world's largest portfolio of .com city real estate domains (NewYorkRealEstate.com, for example) sent us note today to let us know he had just sold JacksonHoleRealEstate.com for $85,000.
Grant told us, "I've seen a significant increase in the number of qualified and substantial offers coming in from brokers for the premium '.com' real estate domains - this, paradoxically, as many of the new competing "real estate" extensions are just now being launched, most notably .realtor, and to a lesser extent .house, .home, .realty, .mls, .estate, etc. Over 23 new 'real estate' related gTLDs are scheduled to launch (or have launched already). As this growing clutter of new gTLDs overwhelms the public and the real estate industry, there appears to be a growing identity crisis among agents and brokers... and especially consumers."
"Amid all this confusion - pure .com real estate domains (brands like HiltonHeadRealEstate.com, SantaFeRealEstate.com, OttawaRealEstate.com and TorontoRealEstate.com) have continued to rise in value - selling in the high five and six figure range. The reason is simple - brokers and agents (and most importantly the public) instinctively recognize that these names are the most trusted and valuable brands."
Grant believes this is trend that is going to gain momentum as more new gTLDs are released, predicting, "The day is not far off when a major brand like HawaiiRealEstate.com, AtlantaRealEstate.com or NewYorkRealEstate.com will sell in the half million dollar range, or more. I talk to hundreds of brokers and agents who inquire about real estate domains for their business. There is also a great fear out there for the new 500 pound gorillas - called Trulia and Zillow - who dominate the search results for real estate. Brokers are scrambling to find new ways to rebrand themselves and stand out in the search results. If you own MiamiBeachRealEstate.com (a domain I've turned down offers for in the 6 figure range) vs. Joe Schmo real estate, you win!", Grant opined.
Sept. 17, 2014
Rob Grant Closes Six-Figure Sale of TorontoRealEstate.com to Top This
Week's Sales Chart
Rob Grant (who was profiled in our April 2008 Cover Story) has the world's best portfolio of geo-targeted .com real estate domains. Rob collected the latest dividend from his vast collection today (Sept. 17, 2014) when he closed a $140,000 sale of TorontoRealEstate.com that he has been working on for the past four months.
Grant told us the Canada based buyer had also purchased OttawaRealEstate.com from him earlier this year. He added that to the best of his knowledge (and he is in a position to know) the TorontoRealEstate.com sale is the highest made to date for a geo-targeted real estate domain, easily topping HamptonsRealEstate.com which was sold for $100,000.
That sale easily took the top
spot on our latest weekly all extension Top 20 Sales Chart, eclipsing
the next highest sale by over $100,000. AlanAdlari.com claimed the runner-up
position with Kiralikaraba.com at $37,500, one of four sales they placed
on the Big Board.
Click
here for the rest of the article
Real Estate Domain Name Sells for $60,000 Was It Worth
The Price?
Future of Real Estate
$60,000A real estate company purchased a Domain Name for their corner of the earth. Happens all the time, but the surprise is that they didn’t pay $12 for the domain, they paid $60,000! WOW! What was so special about that domain, and WHY would a company pay that kind of price??
Most real estate agents own their Name as their first (Primary) website address. It makes sense, you want to make certain that if you meet someone at a Chamber Meeting, it’s easy to remember! The second URL most real estate agents purchase (once they realize that no one moving to Texas is Googling the Agent’s NAME) is one that is Geographically Specific. The more specific, the better the SEO.
So when a company in Utah was looking for the VERY BEST domain available, they found www.ParkCityRealEstate.com , and they were finally able to get Rob Grant to sell it to them. Why would a domain be worth so much? Well, the first is the “Age” of the Domain. The Park City domain was purchased in 1996 – well before most people were looking for domain names! The other is that for more than 15 years that domain had had relevant, updated information on the site.
“If you’re fortunate enough to own a specific real-estate.com domain in a given city or region, and you take the time to really develop that name into a major real estate portal, you’ll invariably own that market on the internet,” Grant said. “We’ve proven that repeatedly with our own real estate firm here in the Adirondacks. AdirondackRealEstate.com is now responsible for 95% of all our real estate and vacation rental leads. We rarely use print any more for any of our real estate advertising.”
What does that mean for those who are just now getting into the website market to generate Internet Leads that will convert to sales and Commissions? Be careful if the domain name you are looking for is available. If you find that a URL is available – double check your spelling! www.sanfranciscorealestate.com has been taken for a long time!
Be sure you look at Google Analytics to find the BEST searched terms. If you want to focus your practice on a neighborhood – make sure that neighborhood is getting searched before you buy a domain name it! (You also want to be sure if it IS searched that it’s your STATE!
If you need more help working on your Keyword List for a URL, or you have questions about creating Great Blog Content, let me know! I love helping agents who are trying to improve their search, and generate Internet Leads! I’d love to help you and learn more about what’s working in your market! Are you on Facebook and Twitter? Let’s Connect!
August 4, 2012
Rob Grant's RealEstateDirectory.com & eDevelopers.com Team Up to
Launch New Domain Leasing Model With PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com
RealEstateDirectory.com CEO Rob Grant and eDevelopers.com President and CEO Cody Maher have announced a unique content and leasing partnership with the initial launch of PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com. After several months of testing and development the site went live in June and has just been successfully leased to Philadelphia based realtor Noah Ostroff, who will operate the site as a unique real estate portal in the major Philadelphia markets.
Grant said, "We are extremely excited to partner with Cody Maher and Dino Adamou of eDevelopers with the initial launch of this unique platform and I'm thrilled to be working with
Noah Ostroff, who has proven to be a very entrepreneurial and forward thinking Realtor in his approach to traditional real estate marketing. This is a big commitment on everybody’s part with the signing of a long term lease, as well as a willingness to experiment with a unique real estate model that will grow and evolve as the market changes."
eDevelopers first
approached Grant back in October 2010 at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. South Beach
conference in Miami. Dino Adamou of eDevelopers said, “Rob liked
what we offered but was initially hesitant to move forward as others in
the industry failed to deliver on their promises. However, we agreed to
test our model out on a few of his real estate domains. It has been wildly
successful and we are extremely excited about what the future of this
model might hold.”
Cody Maher said, "We designed the Software package to be highly scalable and easy to deploy. Within a matter of 1 week, we launched the real estate platform and began focusing on the SEO campaign which has been running for two months. The domain was originally beyond page 10 in Google search results and today sits at the top of page 2. We anticipate the site to hit page 1 within the next 3-4 months.”
Their client, Noah Ostroff is also a happy camper. "This is an amazing opportunity for anyone looking to capitalize on an opportunity to grow their business through one of the most sought after domain names in their region. It is a turn-key package that will seamlessly enhance their current business without interruption," Ostroff said.
In addition to the launch of PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com, Grant and the team at eDevelopers are testing new platforms with sites at CaymanRealEstate.com and IowaRealEstate.com. Grant said that if the model continues to be successful, this same leasing concept will be executed across more real estate domains in the RealEstateDirectory.com portfolio - the largest network of geo-targeted real estate domains in the world. Grant and eDevelopers hope to open up new opportunities in the real estate industry by offering 'turn key' real estate portals to brokers and agents who are looking for both powerful branding and strategic marketing solutions
eDevelopers.com develops
turn key web portals with their real estate, ecommerce and lead generation
platforms. In addition to these software packages, the company operates
a content creation company at ecopywriters.com as well as a link building
service at edomainers.com. Together, these businesses provide clients
with a comprehensive approach to web development and SEO.
click
here for online article
(Posted August 4, 2012)
ROB GRANT WINS 'DEVELOPER OF THE
YEAR' AWARD AT THE 2012 INTERNET 'TRAFFIC' CONFERENCE IN FT LAUDERDALE,
FL.
On October 18th Rob Grant was presented with the 'Developer Of The Year'
award at the 2012 TRAFFIC East Internet conference held in Ft Lauderdale,
Florida.
Grant is one of the
original pioneers in the internet domain space. His company, WebMediaProperties.com,
has been quietly and methodically acquiring and developing valuable domain
assets dating back to early 1996.
Over the last 15 years Grant has assembled one of the most diverse and
impressive portfollios of premium generic domain names.
Today, his www.WebMediaProperties.com
operates a global network of 7000 high value domains encompasing a wide
spectrum of industries including publishing, music, law, finance, sports,
retail, automotive, and literally hundreds of other niche categories.
His
www.RealEstateDirectory.com
operates the largest portfolio of premium real estate domains in the world.
In 2010, in partnership with eDevelopers.com, Grant launched one of the
first innovative leasing platforms allowing brokers and agents to lease
fully developed web portals built around premium real estate brands like
www.PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com
Grant's www.EducationalDirectory.com comprises one of the largest, privately held portfolios of online educational domains including www.SpecialEducation.com and www.CatholicSchools.com
In addition to the above, Grant also operates his own private label network of 1500 developed web sites showcasing travel, sports and lifestyle.
Madison Avenue
and Domain Legend Rob Grant Live 2/18/09
Join us for a Webinar on February 18, 2009 featuring Rob Grant .
About Rob Grant
Rob
Grant walked away from a dream job on Madison Avenue so he could move
to New York’s Adirondack Mountains, even though there was no job
waiting for him there. “We happened to get lucky because we hit that
market just as the Adirondacks were starting to be rediscovered,”
Grant said. “People were starting to come up from New York, New Jersey
and Boston and I found I was able to sell the residential properties for
two and three times what I paid for them.” That kind of ushered in
my real estate era. As the economy started growing again, Grant’s
business boomed. At this same time, in 1995-96, Grant became aware of
the Internet and domains. “That was a remarkable awakening for me
because I had the Madison Avenue marketing background and I had the real
estate background and suddenly these two powerful thing merged. I looked
at a domain and thought My God, not only is this a brand as the Internet
develops, but it also has all of the properties of real estate,”
Grant said.
Title: Gratitude Presents Domain and Advertising Icon Rob Grant
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Time: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Posted July 20, 2012
Domain industry pioneer
Rob Grant (who was the subject of our April 2008 Cover Story) also had
a lot to say about new gTLDS (and many other topics) in a new interview
that Goran Duskic published on his WhoAPI.com blog. Grant told Duskic,
"Only one extension will emerge as the winner. Its the same extension
that has always emerged on top, through countless disruptions and changes
in the domain space. It’s Dot Com. It doesn’t matter how many
horses enter the race."
Grant said, "It's
important to remember that this is the one extension that all companies
(Fortune 500 companies on down to small businesses everywhere) have all
built massive brands around – both online and offline (print, TV,
radio, etc) over the last 15 years. All other extensions have basically
played a defensive role. This means that billions of dollars in advertising
and marketing have been spent on the Dot Com brand itself. It's what consumers
are familiar with and understand."
Grant continued, "The introduction of thousands of new extensions will only confuse the consumer, and serve to strengthen the Dot Com brand. What people forget is that we have already been through a similar test case with the introduction of new TLDs like . Biz, . Info, . Travel, .Mobi, etc." click here for article
LAST WEEK, I had a
chance to get to know Rob Grant, one of the biggest real estate domain
owners in the world, some of his names include NewYorkrealestate.com,
BeverlyHillsrealestate.com, and many more. His recent sale, ParkCityrealestate.com
(Utah), was sold for a cool $60,000. What’s interesting to me is
he started in “offline” real estate before he stumbled in investing
in web domains in 1995.
His background is as interesting as the man himself; tired with the East Coast culture, he walked away from a promising advertising career in New York city and moved to the Adirondacks Mountain, “We rented a house up there but didn’t have a clue what we were going to do! It was a very scary time,” Grant said.
Seeing an opportunity to market the charming, but unknown Adirondacks furniture nationally, he set up a furniture company. He began to make strides in the design trade and gained strong acceptance in the high-end market. The big problem was he couldn’t find enough qualified reliable craftsman to produce enough pieces to meet the demand. “If it was deer season most of my workers simply disappeared!”
Seeing an opportunity with local undervalued properties in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid he began to invest in real estate, buying an old commercial 3-story building for $20,000, refurbishing it then later flipping:
“We happened to get lucky because we hit that market just as the Adirondacks were starting to be rediscovered,” Grant said. I found I was able to sell the residential properties for two and three times what I paid for them. That kind of ushered in my real estate era.”
By 1991, armed with a string of successful real estate investments, he started a real estate brokerage firm. But the timing couldn’t have been worst, right smack in the middle of one of the worst recessions since 1950, (dwarfed only by the current Great Recession). But he managed to hold on. Saving enough money to diversify to geo-targeted real estate domains.
And the rest as they say, is history.
I share Rob’s story because frankly, I’m tired of the face of the Donald Trump types on T.V, the rock star like status (and lifestyle) of investor “brands” on cable. It’s as if we need to party at the Palms every year to really be considered a success. But the opposite is true, most of the wealthiest investors are quiet rebels, independent thinkers who are the millionaire next door.
They reward themselves with the good things in life, but only after 10-20 years of saving, investing and working hard — Delayed gratification.
I also learned from Rob’s story that a varied background can actually help, not ruin one’s chances for success. The more varied your background: teacher, dishwasher, venture capitalist, farmer, plumber, radio personality, etc., in so many ways, the better, because it gives you a deeper insight on human nature. And that, my friend is one of the great marks of successful investors.
click here for online article
 Rob Grant of Adirondacks.com (and many other sites) won the Developer of the Year Award. |
By Ron Jackson
The final business day at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. 2012 got underway Tuesday morning (October 18) with another bountiful brunch at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach. This brunch was special though - it was the 7th Annual T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Awards Brunch that honored companies and individuals who excelled in our industry over the past 12 months.
Before the awards
were handed out there were a couple of other business items to take care
of. Those started with me taking the stage to provide an update on third
quarter domain sales which showed a nice improvement over the same quarter
a year ago. I will be detailing the stats I shared in our next newsletter
that will be out within the next 24 hours.
click here
for article
January 2007
Get a Great Domain
Name. Looking for a memorable Web site address?
Don't think for a moment that all the good ones are gone.
BY MICHAEL RUSSER
Lease it.
You don’t have to buy a domain name to benefit from its use. Domain
leasing is based on the principle that many people simply type in the
domain name for the type of product or service they’re interested
in. Then, they’re redirected to your site, giving you extra traffic.
For example, if you specialize in Hollywood real estate, you may find
that hollywoodrealestate.com is available for lease (which it actually
was until someone leased it). If you leased it, whenever prospects type
in www.hollywoodrealestate.com, they would be sent to your site.
You typically pay a fixed monthly fee based on the anticipated traffic.
Think of this as a sophisticated form of pay-per-click, except that you
pay a flat fee rather than a per-click cost. One domain leasing site that
specializes in real estate domains, LeaseThis.com, also offers to wrap
an appropriately designed branded version of the leased domain name location
around your site. To see an example, go to www.hollywoodrealestate.com
at the top you’ll see the branded domain name being leased, underneath
is the site of the company that leased it.
Leasing is smart for several reasons. Since you don’t own the name,
this approach creates a clear separation between your brand and that of
the domain name. So when you’re ready to terminate your lease, it
doesn’t affect the branding of your own site. (Tip: Never brand your
site using a leased domain name, but always with one you own.) Also, you
can use it as a listing tool; Imagine going on a listing appointment for
a property in Hollywood and having the prospective seller type in “www.hollywoodrealestate.com”
and see your site come up this way. Their perception is likely that you
“own” that space.
click
here for entire article
Webmaster Radio
Monte talks to Rob Grant and Rob Barbour 12/21/2005 -
Monte Cahn Monte talks to Rob Grant and Rob Barbour. Rob Grant spent many
years on Madison Ave. with Grey Advertising working on major accounts
like Proctor and Gamble, Northwest Airlines, Playtex, etc. He moved to
Lake Placid in the early 80s and started a number of businesses including
a real estate brokerage firm and rustic furniture company! He created
www.RealEstateDirectory.com which controls one of the largest online real-estate
networks in the world. Rob Barbour, 39, is President and CEO of Digit
Software, Inc, which provides software development services worldwide,
cell phone services in Africa, and maintains a domain portfolio of 4000
names. Digit Software is also the parent company of Pokerliving.net, which
teaches people how to make a living playing poker
click
here to listen
Rob Grant On The New gTLD’s: “Dot Com will Always Win The Horse
Race”
2012 July 23
by Michael Berkens
In an story and interview published about domainer Rob Grant a few days ago by whoapi.com, entitled From “Madison Avenue to Adirondacks – domainer millionaire” Rob was asked what he thought of the new gTLD’s:
“Which new gTLD has the most potential? What’s your opinion on hundreds of new gTLD’s that are lining up?”
|
President &
CEO |
Rob had to say:
“”Only
one extension will emerge as the winner. Its the same extension that has
always emerged on top, through countless disruptions and changes in the
domain space.”
“It’s Dot Com. Dot Com will always win the horse race.”
“It doesn’t
matter how many horses enter the race. Dot Com is the powerful and graceful
’Secretariat’ of domains. ”
“It’s
important to remember that this is the one extension that all companies
(Fortune 500 companies on down to small businesses everywhere) have all
built massive brands around – both online and offline (print, TV,
radio, etc) over the last 15 years. All other extensions have basically
played a defensive role. This means that billions of dollars in advertising
and marketing have been spent on the Dot Com brand itself. It’s what
consumers are familiar with and understand.”
“The introduction
of thousands of new extensions will only confuse the consumer, and serve
to strengthen the Dot Com brand. What people forget is that we have already
been through a similar test case with the introduction of new tld’s
like Biz, Info, Travel, Mobi, etc. And we all know how that mess turned
out. ”
click
here for entire article
Jan 10, 2011
Jothan Frakes' weblog
Rob Grant owns the
world’s largest collection of geo-targeted .com real estate domains
and it is a rare occasion when he lets one go.
click
here for article
Rob Grant: Good Domains
Take On Huge Value
Friday, February 20th, 2009
Rob Grant walked away from a dream job on Madison Avenue to New York's
Adirondack Mountains. Problem was, he had no job waiting for him. "We
happened to get lucky because we hit that market just as the Adirondacks
were starting to be rediscovered," Grant said.
From there, skill, moxie and fortitude took over. As the region became
popular to people from New York, New Jersey and Boston, Grant pioneered
real estate domaining with AdirondackRealEstate.com, for example.
for webinar and article click
here
January 2008
Rob Grant, the President of
RealEstateDirectory.com, a company that owns a massive portfolio of highly
targeted real estate domains - "I wanted to help create a new revenue
channel," Grant said. "I did not want to remain dependent on
Google and Yahoo (the main providers of PPC revenue) and this looked like
a very smart alternative. For a vertical portfolio like mine is is especially
good because it is possible to forge a direct advertiser relationship
for thousands of domains at once."
click
here for entire story
October
19, 2006 09:00 AM Eastern Time
LeaseThis.com Ushers in a New Era of Internet Advertising
New Platform Brings the World’s Premier Internet Real Estate to the
Masses
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LeaseThis, LLC announced today the introduction of LeaseThis.com, a radically-new, cutting-edge Internet advertising platform that seeks to revolutionize the business of online advertising. Research has shown that while the number of global Internet users is growing exponentially, the availability of premium, targeted domain names is rapidly decreasing. The result is an increasingly difficult task for businesses to establish an online presence, or even reach out and attract new customers, through a meaningful domain name.
LeaseThis.com’s
proprietary, patent-pending technology is designed to address this issue
by better aligning the interests of online advertisers with those that
control the Internet’s premium real estate. “We are the first
company to offer domain leasing on a scalable, global platform, thereby
releasing the incredible value of premium domain names to businesses and
individuals around the world,” said Jonathan Boswell, CEO and Co-Founder
of LeaseThis.com.
The value of a premium domain name is easily illustrated in the “real” (as opposed to “virtual”) world of real estate. According to the 2005 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 82 percent of first-time homebuyers and 78 percent of repeat homebuyers used the Internet to search for homes, and 24 percent of buyers actually first found their home on the Internet. For many Internet users, that search starts with real estate domains. For example, a prospective buyer looking for a home in Atlanta often types “AtlantaRealEstate.com” (www.AtlantaRealEstate.com) or “AtlantaHomes.com” (www.AtlantaHomes.com) into their web browser. With a median home price in Atlanta of $265,000, it is easy to see the intrinsic value of this type of highly-targeted traffic.
Furthermore, a recent study conducted by WebSideStory, Inc. (www.WebSideStory.com) shows that this type of “direct navigation” has a conversion rate more than 80% higher than that of traditional PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising on Yahoo! and Google.
Ammar Kubba, COO and Co-Founder of LeaseThis.com, acknowledges that the early response has been tremendous. “Businesses desperately want access to this premium traffic, yet the current PPC model often fails to capitalize on the true power and value of premium domain names, to the detriment of both advertisers and domain owners alike. With LeaseThis.com, we now have the ability to deliver this highest-quality traffic directly to the businesses that need it most, in the most efficient and compelling manner possible. We see it as the next logical step in the evolution of search marketing.”
To develop its comprehensive and unrivaled inventory of premium domains, LeaseThis.com has been working closely with prominent domain owners such as Rob Grant, CEO of the RealEstateDirectory.com, which controls one of the world’s largest and most sought-after portfolios of Real Estate domain names. According to Grant, the advantages to controlling a valuable domain on an exclusive lease basis are significant. “By leasing a strategic industry domain, companies can now effectively leap frog over their competition. Instead of merely being listed with dozens of other advertisers on a traditional PPC template, one company alone will have the exclusive use of these extremely valuable domain properties.”
The initial release of the
LeaseThis.com platform is currently available exclusively to select beta partners,
in preparation for a full-scale global launch in early 2007 .
Cover
Story
January 2009
The
State of the Industry January 2009: 15 Leading Experts ... Predict What Will Happen
in 2009
To make sense of what happened in 2008 and where we are headed
in 2009 we called on 15 of the most successful people in the domain industry for
our 5th annual State of the Industry report. Our panel of experts includes key
company founders, CEOs, developers, investors and attorneys. The all-star roster
includes (alphabetically by last name): Monte Cahn, the Castello Brothers (Michael
and David), Phil Corwin, Michael Gilmour, Ari Goldberger, Rob Grant, Dr.
Kevin Ham, Dr. Chris Hartnett, Michael Mann, Andrew Miller, Howard Neu, Rick Schwartz,
Tim Schumacher and Divyank Turakhia. With so many top minds gathered in one place
this is a report you can't afford to miss! click
here for Full Story
Rob
Grant (Adirondacks.com)
Rob Grant, a Lake Placid, New York based real estate broker owns the world's best collection of real estate related domain names. The former Madison Avenue advertising executive, who is also an active domain developer, told us "When we look back at 2008 and try to fathom the historic events that unfolded, I think history will show that we reached a major turning point for the U.S and the world. In 2008 the American financial system, and, ultimately, the global financial system experienced a near fatal meltdown. The collateral damage this caused was so deep that it will take several years for our economy to recover. Entire industries were eliminated, seemingly overnight, highlighted by spectacular failures like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and the collapse of the entire Investment Banking sector. In many respects what we witnessed in 2008 was the equivalent of a deadly financial comet striking at the center of the worlds financial markets and flattening Wall Street. In the aftermath, we lost a lot of big dinosaurs."
"In the new economy that emerges from these ashes, the question now, is who is left standing... And how will this impact the domain industry? If you're a dinosaur, your days are numbered. That much is certain. Old legacy industries like the newspaper business have seen the collapse of major publishing empires like the Tribune Company as advertising revenues disappear and migrate full force to the web. Even venerable institutions like the 100 year old New York Times appear to be teetering on the brink. But what's bad news for dinosaurs is very good news for domains. As the dust settles on 2008, many old industries will be replaced by new efficient business models. Domain names will move to center stage and play an increasingly important role in this new economy," Grant said.
"In effect, domain names will become the new brands of the 21st century. As online ad spending continues to grow at the expense of traditional media, businesses from Fortune 500 companies to small main street vendors will finally understand the strategic importance of owning a descriptive domain name. This, in turn, will transform the value of domains in a very significant way. Domain names will shift from being historically passive inert investments (earning marginal ppc revenue) to fully functional retail platforms and end user web sites. Development will take center stage."
"Parking companies will have to adapt and reinvent themselves. Those companies
that do survive will have to develop new ways to mine the value of domains including
the formation of strategic 'development partnerships' with portfolio owners. These
same companies will also have to forge direct relationships with major advertisers
and agencies in order to circumvent the monopolistic control that Google and Yahoo
currently exert over the domain channel. This will create chaos in the domain
space and lead to disruptive, exciting new business models which will benefit
both advertisers and domain companies," Grant said.
"All of these
changes will ultimately serve to unlock the pent up and explosive value
of domains. These new brands of the 21st century will emerge in full force
in 2009 & 2010. Powerful generic domain names will look and feel like
true media properties. As we enter the new year, the domain industry will
continue to grapple with many of the same issues it has been faced with
in the past (including the threat of CADNA and over reaching trademark
laws). However, despite these issues, we are remarkably fortunate to be
at the forefront of a new and emerging industry. For every old world dinosaur
that disappears in this new economy, a powerful new domain stands ready
to take its place," Grant concluded.
Robbies
Blog
Rob Grant Interview
September 11, 2012 · Posted in Domain Names, Domain News
Rob Grant Interview – I have asked various parties within the domain industry to take part some interviews to give us a little background about themselves, where they see the industry heading and how they feel the current market for domain names are our fourth interview is by Rob Grant.
Rob Grant is chairman & CEO of WebMediaProperties.com , a diversified online media and publishing company operating a global network of 8000 specialty web sites.
Grant is also CEO & President of Point Judith Properties, Inc., a real estate holding company located in New York State.
Considered one of the early pioneers and visionaries in the emerging field of direct search and the internet, Grant has been credited with building one of the largest online real estate networks in the world operating under the umbrella of RealEstateDirectory.com
Today, his various companies, including WebMediaProperties, control one of the largest online networks of consumer information portals and web sites covering a diverse spectrum of industries including Automotive www.FourWheelDrive.com , Music www.RecordingArtists.com , Travel www.CaribbeanResorts.com , Entertainment www.TalentAgents.com , Publishing www.BookPublishers.com , Winter Sports www.CrossCountrySkiing.com , Summer Sports www.Marathons.com , Education www.SpecialEducation.com , Hobbies www.TropicalFish.com , Law www.TradeMarkAttorneys.com , Business www.PRFirms.com , Construction www.prefabhome.biz , Special Interest www.DietBooks.com , Retail www.DiscountDesignerApparel.com , Mail Order www.ChristmasWreaths.com and hundreds of other categories.
1) What are your current thoughts on the Domain Aftermarket? i.e. Sales and Enquiries etc – General Mood of Domainers / End users?
click here for entire article
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