Exclusive: Why ABCsearch Bought Advertise.com Domain
Monday, April 20th, 2009
ABCsearch CEO explains why his company invested in a category-killer domain name.
On Friday Domain Name Wire reported that ABCsearch had purchased Advertise.com and was rebranding. I asked ABCsearch CEO Daniel Yomtobian why his company made such a bold move. The answer is music to the ears of domain owners who have been preaching the value of a quality, category-killer domain name over the past decade. Yomtobian definitely “gets it”.
Last year while ABCSearch was experiencing explosive growth, I knew that, very soon, the company would have to do something bold to ensure our future success. There were two problems with the ABC brand. First, ABCSearch is a known and trusted business-to-business brand, but is not well known outside of industry circles. Second, our business model did not easily lend itself to implementing the array of advertising initiatives—including an innovative display/banner network, a new SEM bid management platform, and special technology services tailored to local business—that were ready to roll out. Earlier this year, I decided to acquire a domain name robust enough to reach everyone in the online advertising community.
Our new name, Advertise.com, said it all. Luckily, it had not been developed yet and was available. It did not come cheap though, but in the long run it will pay off. It is the perfect brand name to attract new customers and make them feel comfortable if they had not heard of us—which translates into a much higher customer acquisition rate. This brand allows us to sell any kind of digital media under the sun. It will provide the online advertising community with a valuable new tool to maximize the return on their ad spend. This is a transformational move for us, built on ABCSearch’s established network of publishers and advertising partners. Advertise.com will realize my vision of giving the online advertising community easy-to-use, effective, and affordable ad campaigns all under one roof.
Further Reading:
- ABCSearch Buys Advertise.com
- AOL Sues Advertise.com for Trademark Infringement
- Companies Promote Their New Domains: Auction.com and Advertise.com
Tags: abcsearch, advertise.com
RT @domainnamewire: Exclusive: Why ABCsearch Bought Advertise.com Domain: ABCsearch CEO explains why his co… http://tinyurl.com/d5sk3o
Yes, he definitely gets it.
Interesting! I would’ve thought the brand switch had something to do with ABCSearch’s ties to old spyware programs like Xupiter and DealHelper, and the fact that Dan was once hugely involved in all of those things when ABCSearch was rising to prominence. But I guess it’s just because ABCSearch isn’t “known outside industry circles.”
Proof of above allegations:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ABCSearch+spyware&aq=f&oq=
I happened to be talking to ABCSearch last Friday on their services, and the rep I was talking to, eluded that there would be some changes and new products coming soon that would be more inline to my interests, and that I should check back in a couple weeks with her. I guess this would be ‘one’ of those changes! Nice name.
I guess so? I thought a phrase with Search in it spoke better to the user community.
As far as a brandable domain that businesses and publishers might relate to buy or sell Internet (keyword) ad space …
I like InternetAdSpot.com and InternetAdSpots.com. That’s why we bought them years ago. Either or both of these could have been acquired for far less than they paid for Advertise.com and while admittedly not one word domains would certainly be memorable and meaningful for their business model IMO.
Best luck to Daniel and his team in their new venture.
SA
Build a brand, or rebrand, around a very good quality, intuitive domain name. This general understanding keeps filtering outward. Taking longer than expected, but continues to happen.
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you didn’t say in article that it sold for $900,000
most domainers would be interested in that fact me thinks
@ Industry Domains – the $900k sale was a rumored sale from the year prior to this sale. That price has not been confirmed for this particular sale.