Million Dollar Domain Names

Chris Clark of Maryland bought pizza.com back in 1994 in preparation of landing a client in the pizza business for his internet consulting services. Fortunately for him that prospect never did become a client so he held onto the name.

The other day an anonymous bidder paid $2.6 million for the domain. For more information: pizza.com

While we’re talking about million dollar domain names I noticed that the owners of moms.com were asking something around $4 million for it. I own momz.com and would accept less…. I also own momz.net, momz.tv, dadz.com, dadz.tv. I sometimes wonder what they’re worth. If moms.com is worth over $4 million then I suppose momz.com is worth at least 1/10th that. ; ) And what about izit.com? What izit worth?

I can’t help but think back to my days online in 1994 when I was surfing the net, trading stocks on eTrade, and sending emails back and forth to people back east from my perch on the side of Haleakala on Maui. Will I kick myself this hard again in 14 years for not doing what I just know I should be doing TODAY?

What do you think the next 14 years will bring us and the internet?

European Moms Spend More Free Time and Money Online

The European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) performed a study* of internet usage among European moms and came up with some interesting conclusions:

• 75% of the time moms spend online is for personal reasons and online activities are becoming a valuable and crucial part of their busy everyday lives.
• Moms who use the internet and have babies and very young children (0-4 years old), are far more likely to visit family and kids websites (61%) and banking and finance sites (63%)
• 79% of all online moms have bought items online, buying 10 items on average in just six months. Mothers of younger children are the most likely to buy online - 86% of women with children aged 0-9 years old bought a product or service online compared to 75% of women with children aged 10-18.
• Since 2005 there’s been a 63% increase in the number of moms who regularly download TV programs and films.

Although there aren’t comparisons between European and American moms I suspect the numbers would be similar. When moms, arguably the busiest among all of us, spend a significant amount of their free time online then they’ve cut back on something else. Soap operas? Tea with the neighbors? Just where they cut back isn’t in the study, but one thing is strikingly clear: Companies that ignore the continuing shifts in people’s daily lives, as evidenced again in this study, will be the dinosaurs of tomorrow. On the flip side, there are still major opportunities for entrepreneurs to tap into the revolution.
* The study involved 7,036 random telephone interviews with over 1,000 respondents in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Nordics respectively and 500 respondents in Belgium and the Netherlands respectively.