Former Looksmart web directory gets new life.
Domain name broker NameMedia has brokered the sale of the storied domain name Zeal.com for $50,000.
Zeal.com was formerly a human-powered directory run by Looksmart. Looksmart purchased Zeal in 2000 for $20M. It was once seen as a potential rival to Open Directory.
The domain was purchased by Kenneth Yeh, a former volunteer editor of Zeal. On a message on the Zeal.com domain, Yeh writes:
I know that many of you Zealots like myself were very saddened by the loss of Zeal in March 2006.
For those of you who don’t know me, I was a former volunteer editor at Zeal before it shut down.
As the new owner of this domain, I hope to rejuvenate Zeal and bring it back to its glory days. I’ve been a software engineer for over 10 years and hopefully, I can use my programming skills to develop a web directory worthy of the name Zeal.
NameMedia sold about $600,000 worth of domains over the past week, including IMMO.net for $30,000. The company operates Afternic and BuyDomains.
jp says
Cool!
And according to compete, Zeal.com still gets some traffic too. Best of luck to him.
Bob Lange says
Nice to see Zeal.com coming back to life.
don says
I think this has huge upside potential and could be the steal of the year…online directories tend to do well in the rankings
Kenneth Yeh says
Hey Everyone,
Thanks for the support and the nice writeup about Zeal. As you are aware, I’m the new owner of the domain name.
I’m super excited about the domain and I promise that whatever arises from the ashes of the Zeal domain won’t be a disappointment to you guys. I plan to put my heart and soul into this domain/site and come up with something that all past zealots would be proud of.
Zeal was a really awesome directory and I loved being an editor there while it lasted. Thanks again for all the kind words.
-Kenneth
menj says
Great to see Zeal.com returning. I miss my days as a Zealot!