Around 85,000 visitors per month right now.

…

I love Christian music too, All the best in your new venture.

How much traffic is iblog receiving now after ditching the website and going with a parking solution?

I really like this article, and I agree with you 100%.

Thank you for reminding me to stay the course.

-UDRPtalk

we don’t really need Christie’s or Sotheby’s.

we need more people in the I.T industry to wake up!
The I.T industry itself is a mega zillion industry with zillions of cash
http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organizations

Its time somebody speak to them, and re-route those money into the domain industry instead of just going to the new start-ups

Mike Mann founder of buydomains successfully sold his company to Highland Capital and Summit Venture Partners.

We should all follow his footsteps

First, although it’s rather quaint and would give this industry the much needed credibility it deserves, I don’t think it would be in either Christie’s or Sotheby’s interest to host domain auctions. As someone stated above there is a rigorous amount of preparation and marketing that precedes domain auctioning and the returns or windfall probably would not be worth their consideration. What, a profitable domain auction might rake in $5-6 million? A single Giacometti sculpture just sold last week for for $92.5 million http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/giacometti-bronze-breaks-world-record-auction-price/

I just don’t think domains are high profile enough for Christie’s or Sotheby’s to consider. I also think that they’re expertise is in the area of tangible goods and selling domains requires a different kind of business acumen and savvy.

Second, in that regard I think it takes someone who understands not only the nuances and subtleties of domain names, but also they’re future marketing and profit potential. This seems like it would require someone who is passionate about names(domains)and follows the market trends with some avid interest. Someone who specializes in domains.

Despite the tone of my previous comment on the other blog, I have the utmost regard and reverence for those that run the Traffic and Domainfest auctions, I can only imagine the logistical nightmare it must be to run such an ambitious undertaking. I just see a lot of discrepancies in the way things are run and I think there a lot of backroom boiler making deals going on. Power corrupts or so the saying goes. I think those that are currently in power are doing a fantastic job, I just think they need to look out for the interest of the domain industry as a collective whole and not cut so many deals on the side, you know kinda like Washington and Health Care.

Do I have to be the whiney dude that says:

I brought this to the table first? Good grief.

“Sotheby’s” and “Christie’s” Really? Already mentioned in blogs and comments by me over the last three years. Mainly, when I discussed this in an email with Rick Latona when he posted that it took almost “30 days” for him to reach corporate marketing people. Truth is, it takes 30 days to reach corporate execs if you’re a consumer or a newbie that they don’t care about. The “discussion” with Latona was one-sided, if you know what I mean. If you hire a PROFESSIONAL PR company that works with corporate bigwigs, you’ll get answers and contacts within a week or less. Why? Because it doesn’t really take 30 days for corporations to make profitable decisions (if they want to stay in business).

Jamz is on the target with his comment above. There is only ONE focus that means the most for domain auction producers: BUYER EDUCATION. Without end user education, we will end up in this loop of incestuous buying between domainers until any domainer decides they want to use a domain they have to become its “end user”.

My latest rant on my blog I think inspired the new “focus” on the blogs, or if El didn’t read my blog (and shame on him if he didn’t), he knew from just seeing the disastrous results from both TRAFFIC NYC and VEGAS, and slow sales at DFG, (although the latter was “workable”), the fact that there MUST BE CHANGE in domain auction marketing.

Here’s where the rant started about domain auctions, just for 2010. Go back to 2006 and I was already stating these problems then.

Although my focus was on my own domains in the DFG auction (one actually did sell), I explained the root problem of domain sales through auctions, and domain sales in general.
http://www.successclick.com/is-it-time-for-auction-sites-to-market-to-end-users_2010_01_27/

Domains we all own should be FLYING off our shelves, with every company buying up every common keyword domain describing their prodservs, without hesitation. Investment in a domain is NOT an “ad cost” that is lost in 30 days. It’s an “appreciable marketing asset”.

I asked what domainers wanted: http://www.successclick.com/what-domainers-want-add-yours_2010_01_30/
and #5 was one of the best answers for this topic.

I hate the fact that El-Silver has better traffic than me on his blog, works harder than me, is better looking than I am, and gets the kudos from my previously stated ideas. He’s like, the Golden Child! No, The Silver Dude! When I see him next, I’m going to arm wrestle him, wait, no, that wouldn’t be fair. I’m going to play him in a game of … chess! Or whatever strategy game he wants. Best of 3, Mr. Silver!