Rate of Link Decay
Written by Bret Fausett   
Monday, 30 July 2007

Pardon me while I drill down a minute. The value of a domain name is primarily driven by two factors: its resale value and the value of its traffic. Those aren't necessarily separate. For most domain names, resale value is a function of a name's traffic. So at point of sale, a buyer is very interested in current and historic traffic. What exactly is "traffic"? It's the sum of type-in traffic plus linked-in traffic plus search-referred traffic. When you consider that, owing to Pagerank, search-referred traffic is itself a function of linked-in traffic, linked-in traffic is an incredibly important factor when appraising a domain name.

Which brings me to today's meditation: how do you evaluate the quality of the linked-in traffic on a name up for sale?  

Last Updated ( Monday, 30 July 2007 )
 
Defending the Typosquatter
Written by Bret Fausett   
Friday, 27 July 2007

When I was in college, I took a 'Philosophy of the Law' class, taught by famous libertarian John Hospers, which included as an assigned text "Defending the Undefendable."  (Amazon: Defending the Undefendable: The pimp, prostitute, scab, slumlord, libeler, moneylender and other scapegoats in the rogue's gallery of American society.) It's a book that makes good, logical (and libertarian) arguments about why we shouldn't punish some of the 'undefendable' members of our society, neither in courts of law nor in the court of public opinion.

If the book had been written today, it might have included a chapter on typosquatters.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 July 2007 )
 
Typosquatting the Defenseless
Written by Bret Fausett   
Thursday, 26 July 2007

The auction/resale value of domain names based on typographical errors of Bigco web sites isn't based on normal metrics. You may have a name with a lot of traffic, but you always live in the shadow of the law. If you typosquat a trademark, your name could be taken away at any time by a court or a UDRP provider, and there is very little you can do about it. In addition to losing the name, you could lose money, perhaps a lot of money, in a lawsuit brought under the ACPA (Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act)...together with the expense and hassle of hiring your own attorney to defend you in what almost certainly will be a losing effort. Typosquatting a Bigco Trademark simply isn't worth it. Which is why a lot of typosquatting has moved to bloggers and podcasters and other individual content creators.

Typosquatting has found a safe and profitable target: the popular little guy.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 July 2007 )
 
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