Domain broker handles six figure sale with Austin company.

An Austin company has sold the domain name Shield.com through domain name broker Sedo for $190,000.

The previous whois record for Shield.com shows a north Austin address that appears to be registered to a web hosting or web design company. An earlier whois record from DomainTools shows that the domain was registered to Shield Networks, and Austin communications company.

The domain name was originally registered in 1995.

The buyer uses an email address at ClickInc.com, which forwards to an online ink store called ClickInks.com. The buyer’s address is in Mauritius.

And who owns the typo of this generic term?

Frank Schilling.

User-submitted content site takes a big search engine hit but is still a behemoth.

EzineArticles.com definitely lost traffic after Google’s recent algorithm change to go after low quality content.

But today the company quantified it.

In a blog post today strangely titled “Some Niches Seeing Increased Traffic“, the company reported a 10%-35% drop in traffic since the changes.

It’s a wide range, but I suspect it’s fluctuating.

The site is apparently seeing increased traffic to good content and is acting to improve the content level overall.

Despite the traffic drop the site still serves over 1 million visitors per day, almost exclusively from user submitted content.

Domain parking and brokerage company reports mixed results.

Last week I reported on Sedo Holding’s revenue drop in 2010 thanks to losing a keep affiliate client.

The company’s full annual report (large pdf) fills in the details on its domain business.

-Sales were down from 46.6 EUR in 2009 to EUR 43.1M in 2010

-Domain parking was down 11.5% compared to 2009

-Domain sales increased by 12.1%

-Registered members increased by 20% to 1.2 million

-Number of domains for sale increased 20% to 18 million at the end of 2010

-The number of parked domains decreased from 6.9 million to 6.5 million

Here’s where things get interesting. Sedo indicates that Google’s move to Javascript for ad serving resulted in the decline in domains on its system:

“This decline results from the rearrangement of the parking statistics as of November and is associated with the JavaScript migration of the trading platform.”

Elsewhere in the report Sedo said that the change improved traffic quality and got rid of bot traffic.

Also, my earlier report discussed a write-down in the company’s domain portfolio value. The annual report notes that the EUR 2.7 million adjustment was actually in addition to write-downs…

…for the presence of signs which indicate a stronger decline in the net realisable value than was suggested by the underlying write-downs. To take this circumstance into account, the existing method for the marketability analysis was supplemented so that four times the sales revenues of the previous year (based on annualized figures) should cover the book values of the respective domain portfolios.

The company says it “will focus our own holding of domains more intensively on domains which are marketable at short notice and dispose of loss-making domains”.

Six more ways to profit form new top level domain names.

This is the second in a two part post about ways you can make money from new top level domain names. See part one here.

7. Become a trademark lawyer
Startup Cost: Expensive

OK, this is really only an opportunity for existing intellectual property lawyers. If you play in the space you might want to hold your hat out as a domain name lawyer specializing in trademark protection. There will be plenty of business to go around in the coming years.

8. Start a brand protection company
Startup Cost: Moderate

Although plenty of companies are already voicing concern about brand protection with new top level domain names, only a small fraction of companies are even aware of new TLDs yet. There will be a big opportunity to help them secure their brand names on the web, even if for merely defensive purposes. This includes second level registrations of new TLDs as well as perhaps getting their own .brand top level domain name.

9. Work for (or consult to) ICANN
Startup Cost: None

You won’t get rich working for ICANN (although they pay well). But there will be plenty of job security going forward.

You can expect the non-profit’s coffers to explode by about $100 million when the new TLD application round opens.

The biggest need will be for lawyers and compliance personnel. Some of this will undoubtedly be outsourced and there will be a great need for consultants.

10. Start a trademark clearinghouse/auction company
Startup Cost: Moderate

Many new top level domain name operators will work hard to get trademarks into the hands of their rightful owners. Especially if they can profit from it.

There are very few companies out there that “get” this model as a service provider. Think trademark verification + auction house.

11. Start a domain name auction service
Startup Cost: High

Expect Sedo, NameJet, and SnapNames to make a mint off of new TLD auctions. Getting into this game won’t be easy because you have to create a market. But larger companies can certainly play ball.

12. Apply for a new TLD
Startup Cost: High

Wait — you mean these guys want to make money, too?

Although many new TLDs will fail, many will make their founders rich. It’s a costly game. It won’t be easy. There will be a lot of competition.

But a few savvy entrepreneurs will make a mint of it.

So there you have it…12 ways to make money from new TLDs. Feel free to add your own.

Get your creative juices going.

A lot of people in the domain name industry are opposed to new top level domain names.

But their eventual approval is inevitable. Rather than focusing on what’s wrong with a massive introduction of new top level domain names, it’s time to switch gears and figure out how you can profit from it.

This is the first of a two part series of ways you can profit from the introduction of new top level domain names. It’s certainly not exhaustive but hopefully it will get your entrepreneurial juices flowing…

(see part 2 here)

1. Be a broker for premium inventory
Startup cost: Low

A lot of new TLDs want to mimic the success some recent introductions have had with “premium” domain sales. .Mobi, .me, and .co come to mind. If you have connections to buyers then you can work on behalf of registries as a broker to sell some of these domains.

2. Respond to development requests for proposal
Startup cost: Moderate

I suspect many new TLDs will accept proposals for developing some of their premium domain names. This is a great way for them to get some of their top domains developed rather than just registered and parked. (Ultimately a new TLD’s success depends on people actually using the domain name.)

This is tricky for a web developer. A proposal might require significant development resources and an advertising budget. Hundreds of new TLDs coming online at the same time could lower the bar that TLD operators have for handing out domains to be developed. At the same time it will make it harder for your new web site to stand out. If you offer to develop baseball.sport, you may be competing with base.ball, baseball.games, baseball.web, and baseball.shop all launching at the same time.

3. Start a domain name registry
Startup Cost: High

The biggest winners in the two years after new TLDs launch are registries and registrars. They’ll collect each time a domain is sold.

But the registries have another trick up their sleeves. When some backers of these new TLDs throw in the towel (and many of them will) the registries serving them will often get to run the ghost registries for them.

This is a profitable game. The big cost in getting a new TLD going is the upfront application fee and the marketing. Once the initial part is done simply maintaining a TLD isn’t too costly. It can be very profitable for a registry to run basic operations even for a TLD with a small number of registrations.

4. Buy a Domain Registrar
Startup Cost: High

New TLDs will create a boon for domain registrars in the first couple years. Especially for brand protection registrars.

Go Daddy has even devised a system to get new TLD backers to pay it every time it displays the new TLD as a purchase option.

5. Be a New TLD consultant
Startup Cost: Low

OK, so everyone and their mom seems to be holding their hat out as a new TLD consultant. If you’ve left ICANN or a registry in the past 12 months odds are you are now a new TLD consultant.

This creates an interesting opportunity for domain investors. Monte Cahn and Michael Berkens started a new TLD consulting company that’s very different from the others: it will help these new registries market their domains.

Most other consultants have expertise with the application process, navigating ICANN, getting a registry contract set up, and working out deals with registrars. They don’t have much experience marketing domains, especially to domain investors.

6. Flip Domains
Startup Cost: Moderate

Flipping new TLDs is going to be a difficult game. There will be a lot of competition for the same second level domain name you’re trying to sell.

Just as I predict new TLDs will suppress values of existing .com alternatives such as .biz and .info, I think premium keywords at the second level for new TLDs will have a tough time gaining value. It’s a simple case of supply and demand.

You can also expect many of these new TLDs to capture the premium value for themselves. They’ll auction premium domain names or use differential pricing similar to .tv.

Still, there will be opportunities. And some savvy domainers will find them.

Read six more ways you can profit from new TLDs here.