Software community no longer requires invitation code.

A few weeks ago, I helped launch VirtualVentures.com at DEMOfall in San Diego. Until now, you had to have an invitation code to participate in the beta. It’s now open to anyone…you can register at www.VirtualVentures.com.

We acquired the VirtualVentures.com domain name after much deliberation. We made a “short list” of about a dozen names for the site, and this one kept coming out on top. We contacted the owner, who requested $2,800 for the domain. We settled on $2,000 and the transaction went through flawlessly. It was many times what the current owner was making from pay-per-click, and we got the name we wanted.

So what is Virtual Ventures? At Virtual Ventures, you put on the hat of an investor and “invest” in promising software technologies with virtual dollars. These technologies were built by companies for either internal use or R&D. After you invest in the winners, we connect the technologies to software companies that can commercialize them and bring them to market. You get a return on your investment when a technology is commercialized.

There’s also a way to make money by participating. You can send a referral to someone you know at a software company. If they end up commercializing the technology then you earn money.

Since launching, Virtual Ventures has been covered by Wired.com, ZDnet, VentureBeat, and several other publications. I’ve been traveling to meet with companies interested in investing in the company. If you know any high tech investors, feel free to send them my way

Virtual Ventures is in open beta. We’re working out some kinks and I welcome your feedback. Please register at VirtualVentures.com.

[note: Although I co-founded the company behind Virtual Ventures, it is not associated with Domain Name Wire.]

U.S. dollar’s slide creates buying opportunities for domain names.

I first wrote about how the “cheap” U.S. dollar was affecting domain name prices back in April 2005. I wrote about it again in February of this year. Well, the dollar keeps falling and the effect is becoming even more apparent.

The Canadian dollar is now roughly on par with the U.S. dollar. People in North American are used to seeing two prices on books and magazines: A U.S. price and a slightly higher Canadian price. Now the two currencies are equal.

Other currencies, including the Euro and British Pound, have also appreciated against the U.S. dollar.

Consider a domain buyer in Europe. If he was willing to pay $100,000 USD for a domain 5 years ago, that would have cost him about EUR 100,000. Today, if he is still willing to pay EUR 100,000, that would equal about $142,000! Of course, if the domain still cost $100,000 then the buyer would be getting a good deal in his mind.

Here are the affects of the weak dollar on the domain market:

-Buyers outside the U.S. get “cheaper” domains or are willing to pay more
-Sellers in the U.S. have strong buyer demand from outside the U.S.
-Non-U.S. sellers find it harder to sell into the U.S. market

This isn’t just theory. It’s economics. When I was in New York for the SedoPro Partner Forum, I sat next to a domainer from Europe on the bus ride to the resort. He said his company was actively buying domains. I commented that he must be thankful for the strength of the Euro. His response: “That’s a big reason we’re buying right now”.

I’ve had quite a few non-U.S. domain companies contact me about advertising lately. Suddenly, a few hundred U.S. dollars on an add costs them a fraction of what it did a couple years ago.

U.S. domain owners should be thankful they have some of their money invested in domains rather than sitting in the weakening dollar. The domain investment portion of their portfolio is somewhat of a “hard asset” (yes, I just called a domain name a hard asset like real estate). As the dollar falls, the value of domains remains somewhat stable — if not growing — on a global scale.

Domain parking services allows publishers to add custom content.

Domain name parking service Parked.com is giving publishers the ability to add custom contents to their parked pages. Customers can add text, additional photos, and even videos.

Custom content is key to attracting search engines to parked pages. I’ve often registered available domain names and found them in Google within a couple weeks — sometimes in the number one position. Although the search volumes aren’t high, it’s not uncommon for these domains to generate $10-$20 per year, more than covering the renewal fees.

Adding custom content to Parked is rather easy. When editing a domain, just look for the “custom content” box in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Click the link, then start typing away. Click the image or video links to insert multimedia content (in red boxes below):

The content currently shows at the bottom of the page, as seen here on EgyptianPyramids.com:

It would be nice to be able to add text to the top of the page, as that would make it one of the first things the search engines read.

Combining the custom content with the ability to change the main photo on parked pages, Parked.com remains highly recommended. I’m currently generating daily RPMs of around $50 at Parked, with several domains topping $100 RPM.

Gowling’s domain name law resource site gets an update.

If you’re looking for information about domain name law, Eric Macramalla’s Gowlings on Domains should be on your web surfing list. The site was recently updated to include information about the .asia landrush.

Macramalla is a Canadian trademark lawyer with Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. His domain name law site is one of (if not) the most comprehensive sites about Canadian domain name law. But it also covers U.S. law extensively.

Among the site’s features:

-Comparison between UDRP and .ca’s CIRA Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“CDRP”)
-Summaries of ALL cases decided under CIRA

-Overview of .ca’s dispute mechanisms
-.Asia launch information

There are a lot of big domainers in Canada, and they’ll find this resource useful. But even non-Canadian domainers will benefit from the site

Macramalla “articled” (i.e., interned or clerked) for Gowlings back in 2000. That’s when he started getting into domain name law. He developed GowlingsOnDomains.com at the end of 2005. He is also an arbitrator for dot-ca name disputes.

After Dallas Cowboys back out of deal, Cowboys.com sells for $95,000 more.

Murray Thibodeaux has had a roller coaster week. First, he “sold” his domain Cowboys.com to the Dallas Cowboys football team for $275,000 last week at the TRAFFIC auction. Then the Cowboys backed out of the deal (a big mistake). The domain was entered into the Moniker silent auction and sold for $370,000. The attention on the Cowboys football team backing out ended up increasing the value of the domain.

Cowboys.com was the highest sale in the silent auction, which just concluded. Unofficial results show the next highest sale is Xmas.com, which sold for $294,000. Here are other notable sales from the auction:

FishingPole.com $58,900 – this will make a good fishing enthusiast site. I think FishingPoles.com is better, but this is still a good name.

Carburetors.com $40,000 – Tough to spell; worth buying the typo versions as well

HawaiianCruises.com $38,888 – Good category killer for Hawaii tourism

TrainSets.com $36,300 – Strong e-commerce potential

Math.net $35,300 – Strong price for a good .net; revenue potential and use unclear but many possibilities

PaymentCalculator.com – $35,300 – Great lead gen domain; provide a loan calculator and capture info for mortgage refinancing

Locket.com $33,000

CertifiedPublicAccountant.com – $32,450 – Long but instant credibility for any CPA

RolltopDesks.com $30,000

LogHomeKits.com $28,556

Medicine.mobi $21,839 – another good .mobi sale from the auction

Coupons.mobi – $21,175 – lots of potential for mobil advertising

AutoProduct.somc – $19,500

Here are some of the best deals and other interesting domains from my view:

FixedIncome.net – $935 – yes, it’s a .net, but a popular and high dollar term

BritishBlog.com – $807 – Won’t ever sell for big bucks, but new owner could certainly triple his money

HouseAppraisals.org – $770 – great potential for an appraisal organization or lead gen through search engine optimization

FreeRoomandBoard.com – $733 – four words, but a common term (especially on college campuses)

UninsuredDriver.com – $660 – having been hit by an uninsured driver, I know this is a big market

ArmChairQuarterbacks.com – $590 – fantastic name for fantasy football or football fan site

GreenFertilizer – $590 – too bad I didn’t see this one. Environmentally-friendly fertilizer is a huge market

BankruptcyFiling.us – $396 – I own BankruptcyFilings.info, which I’ve always hesitated to renew. Now I know it’s worth a few hundred bucks

ARMrefinance.com – $360 – talk about a great deal! Turn on any news program and hear about the upcoming ARM crunch

Guys.ws – $300 – huh. I own this domain and didn’t realize it was in the auction. But it’s nice to get the sale.

Guys.org – $9420 – I know the owner. A great sale!

DomainRegistrars.com – $3,530 – I realize that most non-domainers don’t know the term “registrar”, but this is a great domain

Fajitas.org – $1,320 – another one I sold.