I'm James Iles: Q&A (Interactive Interview Session)

[James Iles]

Hey NamePros! I'm James Iles, I'm the lead writer for the NamePros Blog, where I've written about 630 articles since May 2015. I also buy and sell a few domain names and I operate as a broker, working with select startups and established companies regarding domain name strategy.

Away from domains, I have also worked as a photo retoucher (of course, I own PhotoRetoucher.com!) for an established portrait photographer. In my spare time, I'm an amateur runner, doing two 24-hour events this year.

Ask me anything! Post any questions here and I'll do my best to answer them

 

[James Iles]

What were the biggest sales that you brokered.
Thankd

Whilst I'm not at liberty to give the exact sales price, the biggest name that I've brokered alone, which happens to also be one of my favorites is Band(.)com, which was a 6 figure sale a couple of years ago.

 

[James Iles]

Hi James,
First of all, thanks for contributing to the community.

Simple Question:
What are your favorite niches to invest in?

I love one-word .COM's, but there is so much competition in this niche at the moment. Two-word .COM's are attractive brands, I always have an interest in imperative or call to action two-worders (I owned & sold StayCool.com and GrabFood.com for example).

I'm currently exploring the possibilities of other TLDs such as .IO and .CO - one-word names in these TLDs seem to be popular with funded startups as lower price alternatives to .COM.

Whilst .COM will remain king, and I would always advocate brands buying the best .COM if they are able, TLDs like .IO look to be giving some great alternatives.

 

[James Iles]

Why do you think this industry is so toxic? Not necessarily the public figures (writers like Rick Schwartz, Andrew, etc) , but people "in the comments" always want to throw shade. Do you think this is just a part of the anonymity of the internet, or is there something off with so-called domainers (the unsuccessful ones)?

Interesting question! I don't think that the industry as a whole is toxic at all. I think there are thousands of industry participants from all walks of life that have differing views, and forum discussions and comment sections are places where these differing opinions are typically aired.

This may have a correlation with Internet anonymity as a whole, I'm not sure. Personally, I aim to be transparent and accountable online - with my full name being used on NamePros, in comments, and on social media.

I went to NamesCon 2019 (my first NamesCon event), and the atmosphere was extremely positive and thoroughly enjoyable. All domainers I encountered were very welcoming.

 

[James Iles]

How can i made Billion

Probably not with domains!

Likely by creating a phenomenal and innovative product or service.

Or by divorcing the world’s richest man !!

 

[James Iles]

My question is how much do you value the various appraisal tools...do you check with them before buying or while trying to price your names ?!

Thanks for your questions! Regarding appraisal tools, they have their value in bulk research, but I don't check them before buying any name or during pricing of any name I own. A gut feel and data from NameBio or DNPric.es are a better guide.

What is your portfolio size?

I have quite a small portfolio at the moment, below 50 names. At one point several years ago it was around 500. I sold off a lot of names last year.

What is your main registrar...and what landing page on your names?

I use Uniregistry or GoDaddy for my names, currently using Uniregistry's market landers - although I have used Efty in the past, and liked their solutions.

 

[James Iles]

Where is the industry headed in the next 2-4 years ?

I believe there’s going to be continued disparity between high end and lower end names - the top 1% will continue to rise, but lower end names will struggle, I believe.

I think we’ll see more rental (rather than lease-to-own) deals occurring too, as investors look to hold on to their names whilst monetising them with end users.

 

[James Iles]

How long after you became involved with domain names did you begin to blog about domain names?

Great questions! I started blogging for NamePros in May 2015 - I had been familiar with the domain industry, and dealt in a couple of names, but I really started seriously in about 2013, so a couple of years before blogging.

What inspired you to begin blogging?

I've always had a passion for writing, and I felt like I had something to give to the industry - since I'd learned quite a bit from the blogs, forums & industry leaders in the past.

What blog topic / subject brought you the most positive responses from your readership and likewise, which topic / subject brought you the most negative ( and surely undeserved ) responses from your readership?

Inside Interviews definitely get the most response. I know of several investors who reference these articles in their outbound sales & brokerage.

Generally, the comments are very positive or thought-provoking throughout my pieces so I don't really consider anything to be negative. I guess the closest to a negative reaction was probably this off the top of my head.

And, what is your personal, all time favorite blog article you've penned?

I liked confirming the Duck.com sale because it got picked up & referenced in outlets like TechCrunch and Gizmodo, but one of my favorites was interviewing Jason Calacanis (here) when he owned 20.com. It was great to get his insight into a few different subjects. We did a few pieces with Jason.

 

[James Iles]

Thanks for the AMA thread. You mentioned that you own 50 domains. Can you share them? Or the best ones?

I sold off a lot of my best names over the last year or two (such as Wombat, GrabFood, L22, 90x, 88ZZ - all .com), so I’m in a position waiting for some opportunities.

I own names like DN88, 88GT (I like the letter/number combination), PhotoRetoucher, and some geo/keyword names like LosAngelesBroker. I’ve also just picked up Pen.co and Voila.co.

Nothing special right now, but I will be investing in the right opportunity - probably 1 or 2 word .com names.

 

[James Iles]

Great work, James. Please give us some detailed examples how you use this tool everyday.

I use their WHOIS history tool religiously. Since GDPR, it’s been a real help to get extra information.

I also use the related domains feature to see what other names a specific owner has in their portfolio.

I also receive daily emails with monitoring alerts to show me which names are moving at the moment.

DomainIQ is a very versatile toolkit

 

[Bob Hawkes]

This thread is a great idea James! I love your well-researched and written articles for NPs, James. It was an honour to meet you in person at NamesCon!

My question for you is the following. How do you see domaining in 5 years from now? What changes do you see on the near horizon, and do you feel overall the environment will be better or worse. I realize it is a big question, so feel free to answer any aspect you want.

Thanks again for your incredible contributions to the NPs community.

Bob

 

[James Iles]

Hi James and thanks for the opportunity.

As a blogger and writing person, what do you think should be the best subject line when we promote domains via email to a potential buyers?

Please give an example

Thanks

We had a great series recently with Mike Robertson, who suggested some great tips for outbound sales.

The subject line is a difficult one - it has to prompt interest and convey what the email is about - all in a couple of words.

I’d recommend doing some A/B testing with several different versions, to see what works best in terms of open rates (which can be tracked) and response rate.

 

[James Iles]

sir, what are the features of great domain names ?

For me, a truly great investment name is:

- .COM
- memorable
- simple to spell
- fairly short (6 or fewer characters)
- can be used in a versatile way across several industries
- will have great liquid value
- will be a direct upgrade for tens, if not hundreds of companies

 

[James Iles]

1) While doing outbound on one-word .com domains, how long does it USUALLY take to close the deal based on your experience (1-2 weeks, 2-3 months)? I am seeing that the few companies I have outbound to have opened the emails over 10 times but are not responding. Only 2 of them responded and after hearing price, they went blank.

This is all dependent on the name and circumstances. I closed a one-word sale this year that took about 2 years to come to fruition. But then again I’ve closed a couple of transactions within hours/days.

In my opinion, it’s also highly dependent on the expectations for the name. If it’s a 6/7 figure name, you may need to wait a year or two for the right situation to come round.

2) What is the significance of follow up on outbound domains as per your experience? How often have you followed up (3 times, 4 times, 5 times)?

Following up with an email is important I think. It’s easy for an initial email to get overlooked, so prompting after a few days to a week is something I do.

I follow up a couple of times usually - Mike Robertson also recommends something similar. He was our expert in a recent outbound series on the blog that I’d thoroughly recommend (there are 4 parts).

3) When it comes to selling high-value domains through outbound, what is the most convincing logic/statement which can speed up a sale?

Good question! I don’t believe there’s anything specific to every scenario, but researching the company & competitors and accurately conveying your vision for the domain within their company can be effective.

4) Have you ever picked up the phone and tried to convince for sale while doing outbound? If yes, how successful it is?

The large majority of the time I stick to email, WhatsApp or Skype. Sometimes the situation requires a call but it’s rare.

 

[James Iles]

James...of course single letter domains are way out of reach for 99% of investors, but I'm curious why you say (x) is the most versatile letter? I did a Google search "most versatile letter" and it appears (z) is? I know I use the symbol (Rx) in a lot of my domains due to it's connotation, but I also use the small letter (e) preceding other domains like eHomes or eSolar. btw, doesn't the boss at NamePro's go by (Z)? Again, thanks for starting this thread James

The letter X has so many uses - either combined with other letters or as a standalone.

X: exchange, x-rated, ten, etc etc.

It’s used by the biggest companies - iPhone X, Mac OS X, Tesla Model X, SpaceX, Google X etc

X is cool!

 

[PeakDots]

Hi James,
First of all, thanks for contributing to the community.

Simple Question:
What are your favorite niches to invest in?

 

[vravis9]

Thanks @James Iles

That is very small portfolio...I think reduced to quality ones...

Few more questions...

Do you buy any ngTLDs?

If you can name one person where we can learn a lot from....who it would be ? I mean did anyone was your mentor in starting or you found very reliable...?

Can you name any valuable resource you use on daily basis...apart from well known resources like namebio...dnw...domainsherpa and dnjournal...

What is the highest amount you paid for any domain ? And what is the highest sale price you got till date...

Do you think age tag adds any value to domain name...if it is not any one word/keyword...

Thanks,
Ravi

 

[James Iles]

What's your thoughts on ccTLD future?

That's a difficult question. It depends entirely on the usage rate within each country. The .US extension, for example, is one I wouldn't place much value on - and I can see its popularity decreasing in the future.

ccTLDs such as .CO.UK on the other hand are thriving and are widely used in the UK by local and national brands, giving great awareness of the extension. However, .UK's general release is coming and I believe there may be some headaches for brand owners when that time comes.

From an investment point of view, I don't know local markets well enough to gauge investor and end user popularity

 

[James Iles]

What's your favorite domain which you don't own and why?

I’d say X.com. It’s a very select group of one letter names, it’s supremely valuable and can be used in a multitude of industries.

It’s also a piece of internet history!

 

[James Iles]

Domain parked at Sedo, but gets price request at Afternic. Why? Because they want to buy it for a price between 20 and 90? Or are these price requests fake?

Why don't buyers visit domains they are interested in to contact domain owner, and instead work with and trust a middleman who may cheat both sides, and prevent sales because of large gap between offers made to buyers and sellers.

There are many domain buyers who are owners of small businesses, they know they need a specific domain name but they don’t necessarily trust direct interaction with a seller (or they don’t know how to get ahold of them).

You mentioned Afternic - which is owned by GoDaddy and contains a lot of godaddy branding. To someone who isn’t familiar with domains and the industry, using a 3rd party such as Afternic adds security and legitimacy to the buying process.

As far as “middlemen” go, a broker’s job is to do everything possible to close a sale.

 

[johnn]

May be you have the answer for this one
How can you stop the wife from whining and complaining?

 

[James Iles]

Are you sure?
No, wait - actually, because you wrote "probably", I have to ask why you aren't sure?
It seems you think that it is possible that there is another domain name that matches my mentioned criteria better...

Well, from my personal perspective, I don’t think there’s anything more valuable than a one letter .com with possibly the most versatile letter of the alphabet (x).

So I’ll say x.com is my most valuable name

 

[James Iles]

Hi James.
Loved this thread .
I would like to ask do you believe acquiring domains from Auctions is good or PVT Acquisitions are more successful? as i believe in 90% pvt acquisition and i dont take part in auctions at all .
My total acquisitions are PVT.
Please advise
Thanks

There are advantages to both! In both cases I think the competition is far higher now than a few years ago.

This is pushing wholesale prices up and investors will have to risk more capital to acquire the better names from auction.

I’ve done both in the past and I still think it’s worthwhile participating in auctions. I really wanted doubledutch.com at NameJet a few weeks ago but the price went to $20k which is more than I’d risk on that kind of name.

 

[James Iles]

Can you share more details about the sale of GrabFood.com

There’s not much to share really! The buyer made an offer to Uniregistry through a third party and it took about 6 weeks to actually close the deal.

I bought it for $343 in 2015 on NameJet. It’s all on NameBio

 

[James Iles]

How can I know if a potential buyer is rich, or bankrupt?

That kind of information is difficult to ascertain. There may be clues such as funding amounts listed on Crunchbase, number of employees, whether their site/blog/social media is updated fairly regularly, etc.

You might also be able to look at accounting records if they're made available. I know in the UK that some accounting PDFs are made available for the public to view via the government's company portal - not sure about the US or other countries.

How can I know who to contact?

Knowing who to contact is difficult and it depends on the size of the company. For small companies, I try to go with the CEO/owner, and for medium companies it would be the CMO or even the CEO. I wouldn't send emails directly to the CEO of a large company since it probably won't be read (or will be read and discarded by an assistant), so finding someone slightly lower down the chain with either the ability to make budget decisions, or the ability to get a purchase approved would be best. For me, it varies from company to company.

Is it necessary to create a good looking landing page to leave a positive impression?

I think a well-designed landing page conveys a sense of trust. But there are plenty of solutions out there already (such as Efty) that would be better than hosting & designing your own pages.