Monte talks to Ree Semley
07/27/2006 - Monte Cahn
Ree Semley, from the United Kingdom is an extremely motivated and thorough person who is fortunate enough to be able to identify a good business opportunity in all areas of commerce with no exception to ecommerce. He used the Internet for many years taking in as much relevant information as possible regarding the phenomenal growth of all aspects of the world wide web and where it is leading. He enjoys very much what he does albeit very boring to most people but looks forward to active participation in the very near future with some of his own projects due to begin in 2007. He has already incorporated 2 new companies which are registered with companies house in London and has successfully created the infrastructure to enable the first business to operate far more efficiently and cost effective than any other competitor can manage at this time.
[Commercials]
Monte: Hello everyone, welcome to Domain Masters. I’m Monte Cahn, your host. I’ve got a very interesting show lined up tonight. My first guest will be Ree Semley, who actually started building his portfolio back in 199 . . . in 2005, just last year. And we’ve had so many guests on that have had domain names for such a long period of time, back in the early 90’s to the early 2000’s and I thought it’d be a good idea to have somebody on who has not fully built out his strategy yet but someone who’s working within the current restraints of not having all the basic domain names available that were available back to us in the early 90’s and still building out a successful strategy and has a plan to be successful at domaining, so we’re going to talk about his portfolio a little bit, kind of the philosophy that he’s used from his previous business experience and what he plans on doing with his portfolio. Also, Jothan Frakes is at a domain conference in Spain, I think Barcelona and he’s supposed to tap in tonight if he can get free and get an update from the show. And then we’re going to rerun the interview I did on July 4th with Bruce Clay since it was such a good interview and a lot of people have been requesting to hear it again, even though you can download it through the podcast on the website. It was a good show and so we’re going to rerun it right after my show tonight.
So with that, we’re going to take a commercial break, pay some bills, be back on with Ree Semley. Stay tuned.
[Commercials]
Monte: Hello, welcome back to Domain Masters. I’m Monte Cahn. And my first guest I’d like to introduce is Ree Semley. He lives in the UK and has accumulated approximately 250 domain names since 2005. He sees a future in domains and kind of got a late start but we’re going to learn a lot about his philosophy and his previous business experience and what he plans on doing with the domain names in future, so this is going to be kind of how somebody got into the business a little bit later than some of the others that I’ve already had on the show but has a big plan and plans on making a successful business out of it. Ree, welcome to Domain Masters.
Ree: Hello, Monte, it’s a pleasure to be here.
Monte: Nice to have you on board. So, before we get started in some of the business accomplishments and some of the plans you have with your domain names, give us a little bit of background on yourself, you know, what you’ve been doing over the last several years and what got you to think about getting domain names for the future.
Ree: Well, I actually used to buy properties a few years ago and you know, I used to sort of put them up and rent them out. I used to look for specific areas where I could actually, there would be a demand for such service and it seemed to be pretty difficult to actually stay focused due to unexpected problems which would occur in dealing with such things. It got boring, in other words. [laughs]
Monte: Right, right.
Ree: I decided . . . sorry?
Monte: I said, yeah, I know what you mean.
Ree: I did get interested with the Internet some years ago. I was one of the first to really get involved and stuff using it on a daily basis and I saw it was . . . you know, how convenient it was. Domains, they were the key to what I thought was . . . to get the right the right domain it meant to be successful; to be successful, you went to the right domain name. I obviously saw that there was a future in domains . . .
Monte: Right.
Ree: . . . if you got the right ones. It’s sort of . . . I’m late in the game – 2005 I started buying them. But I did actually buy my first three domains with a business plan in mind.
Monte: Right. Now, did you buy those? Did you register those domain names from scratch? Or did you buy them from someone? How did you acquire them?
Ree: Right from scratch. I had a firm business plan and I began researching domain names from that point onwards. Being very thorough, I decided to look into various informational sites on the Internet, including foreigns specific to domains and I saw how they were being used in the industry, whether it be for traffic or for redirects to businesses, and I saw actually the big picture. And I became very interested in this and decided to actually look at what was available, to see if there was anything that could be used in the future. Specifically, something that I could use myself, because it’s . . . I’m not one to actually buy them and rely on someone else to buy them off me. So I amassed a portfolio to start with names that I know I could use myself.
Monte: Right. And, uhm, you said you did a lot of research. What kind of sites and tools did you use before made your first investment in the industry?
Ree: I would use the search engines. There was nothing else that I would use. I would use specific questions if you like pertaining to exactly what I wanted to know. I’m sort of very, if you like, thorough in finding information before I actually embark on a project. Domains being [inaudible] project I knew nothing about at the time, apart from what I used on the Internet previously and I sort of took information from everywhere. Not just from the Internet – from the local radio, from the television – I was interested in every aspect of business, if you like, specifically if it was pointing towards going online, e-commerce. I will monitor growth industries, such as music downloads, informational sites, [inaudible] sites, where people like to spend time, because I actually thought, if you could get the domain there, you could get the crowd, when you could redirect them anywhere. And I’ve invested in purchasing some domains, which I call core domains, some of which will be developed in early 2007 and to support those domains, I have satellite domains, which relate to that specific subject of what the core domain will be actually selling or offering as a service. The role of the satellite domains will be to capture traffic and redirect.
Monte: And so the satellite . . . so are you . . . so you’re going to catch traffic and redirect. What are you going to go to? Why? What’s going to be the main site? Or are you going to have kind of distributive approach in terms of your strategy?
Ree: Well, [inaudible] core [inaudible] . . . I’ll give you an example right now. I have the domain OfficeStore and I took out OfficeShop at the same time because I was able to register it along with the .TV extension. I took Offices and I took certain office-related domains. Now I thought, if, for example, with a satellite support domain, the domain Offices could be use to actually advertise office space for free. It was my philosophy that anyone that would be using that site would be connected with offices or looking to rent offices would need a supply for office equipment, which then would point them by an advertisement to the OfficeStore domain, which would be the one which I would be developing.
Monte: Right. And so, yeah, that’s a pretty good strategy. And then some of the other . . . so how many different categories of domain names do you own?
Ree: Oh, I think . . . every one, every particular growth area of the Internet. I’ll actually [inaudible] something down. If you actually browse my profile, you’ll see it’s quite diverse. There’s a hell of a lot in there. It’s not just focusing on one thing. I’ve looked at, such as music sites, video sites, traditional online businesses which have been established and proven that they do work online. There’s all sorts on there. If you browse through it, it practically covers everything, every single area of the Internet that’s growing and booming at this time.
Monte: Now, I understand from your portfolio that you have a pretty diversified, in terms of extensions as well. You, like, uh, you’ve gone out and registered .TV names, .Com names; of course, being in the UK, you have some of the .CO.UK names covered. And you also have some German domain names covered. Give us a little bit of an idea of that strategy. Is it just because everything you wanted wasn’t available in .COM or did you specifically go out and seek those extensions and for what reasons?
Ree: I specifically seeked out those extensions because they are a link to the strongest economies. I believe that if a company was to use them, they would want an economy where they could actually get good returns on their investment, being the business that they actually set up. For example, I would never register a domain name for a country where the economy was weak. I can actually think back to looking at the archived information on DNJournal and I can actually look back and I can see what kind of keywords with certain extensions are selling. Now I have registered quite a lot myself to use myself, but there are some there which I think may be able to be resold in the domain aftermarket. Again, the .DE for Germany, .CO.UK, .Com are currently the biggest sellers. The biggest returns can be made on these particular extensions. The .TV on the other hand I do believe its not the right time to actually think of selling those at this point. But I can . . . I am very confident that this domain is going to be big in the future. Already, in the United Kingdom, we see them popping on nearly on a daily basis and although it’s a mis-perceived . . . it’s not really given the respect it deserves at the moment in the traditional domain forums. They actually seem to point the theory that .TV should only be used for media sites at the moment but I can see where they’re actually being used for commercial, such as where the .Com or the .Co.UK would be used. It seems to be evolving at a phenomenal rate. There’s technologies available and new technologies that’s on the horizon that will actually work well with a .TV and that is converging with the television set. The PC is getting very, very close to becoming integrated with the television set. Already, Sharp Electronics is releasing a model and I think that once that happens the .TV domain name will be the chosen extension for sites wishing to operate on that platform. The .TV domain extension as well is actually a global domain extension, although it is from the island of Tuvalu, a country code, which is now under control of Verisign, which I think is the best possible company to actually be in control of .TV, the operator of the .Com. So the options are really wide open for anything. It’s, again, its not just the UK, it’s popping up all over Europe, Asia, every major . . . the United States is, I think, not quite using it as much as the rest of us are, because I think you’ve got your .US and your .Com.
Monte: Right. I agree with that. As a matter of fact, well, it was about a month ago I had an interesting correspondence with a company that really is making a big effort and big investment in .TV and you know, I found it, you know, kind of bizarre, because they were also in the UK and they also had their UK dot extension, you know, their dot extension names as well. And chose to go with the .TV brand. And it happened to be more of a fashion type site that was bringing fashion onto the Web. You know, fashion and fashion-related activity. And, they’re big believers in .TV extension as well. So, yeah, we see it as kind of a dead market here in the United States but in other places in the world they’re starting to now have a second wind. You know, it made a very good, strong initial position along with .CC – I don’t know if you remember the .CC initiative back in 1999 – 2000, as the alternative to .Com and then it kind of died out. Verisign, by the way, bought that . . . both of those registries out and then they kind of . . . all the marketing and all the rebranding and reused paraphernalia and propaganda and trying to rebrand yourself as a .TV or .CC kind of went away and now people, I think, are just finding other homes for it.
Ree: Yeah, that’s right. But, again, as the new technology, I . . . we can see a merging and the .TV, if you look through the . . . you can actually go through the registry with the .TV cooperation and you look and you see all the major corporations – media, companies – have all registered the .TV as though they’re holding them for future development or future use. I’m without a doubt about this extension is going to become the next .Com. It’s the only logical choice in my opinion. If you look at the grid and all the other alternatives, you‘ve got all the country codes, you’ve got the existing top level generic domain names and if you compare it . . . you really can’t compare it to the existing ones. It sort of represents the next evolutionary step on the Internet, which will be the integration with the television – IT TV. There’s the [inaudible] project which is currently under development in China. I think once that, once it gets off the ground and is successful, I think everyone’s going to be seeing this extension very frequently. It will become well-known and I have them all parked with Traffic Club and I can see exactly who’s actually where the hits are coming from. And if you actually look in my account, you check through them, you see that they’re coming from all over the globe and every month it seems to be increasing, the traffic. I think we’re looking at a substantial increase on the first month actually parked them there and it’s again, they’re just popping up everywhere. There’s different information you can gather if you research this extension on the Internet and there are major investors in this extension, and they have their own sources of information. And for example, within certain areas in Europe, where this extension is the key one for that particular category, where it supersedes the .DE or the .CO.UK.
Monte: Yeah, I agree with a lot of that as well. Now, there’s some extensions where you’ve done some research and you’ve decided you would never spend your dollars. What are some of those?
Ree: Well, for example, I would never buy .CO.IN for India. Now, of course, the potential for traffic is huge, but again, it’s based on the economy. I don’t think, if you’re wanting to advertise, if you’re wanting to do business, you’ve got to have a consumer that can actually spend on that site. I don’t think the economy’s strong enough. I don’t think that extension will be in demand a corporation or a company to actually buy it in the aftermarket for a large profit, unless you intend to use it locally, in the area where it covers. Then, I don’t think it’s really worth putting your money into it. I will continue to invest in the strongest economies, where I think that there will be a chance to actually sell it in the aftermarket or use it myself, of course. I can only use the ones that I can operate within the United Kingdom. I’ve got no plans to actually operate in Germany or .Com. Again, I don’t think I would use .Com commercially because, again, although it’s generic, its top level domain, it is perceived as an American domain as the .US and that’s because the Americans did actually get in first and took most of the names. If you actually punch into Google and you’re looking for the site and the .Com comes up and you’re actually browsing in the UK, you tend to ignore the .Com, because the [inaudible] is going to go through an American site and they’re looking for local, so, again, they feel more confident with the .Co.UK. Again, the .TV is making its appearance, so again, consumers and surfers in the UK are actually getting more confident with clicking on the .TV sites.
Monte: And, uhm, the . . . now when do you plan on actually starting to implement a lot of your business plans with these domain names?
Ree: The first one will be 2007; that’s the earliest opportunity I’ve got to actually do that.
Monte: And are you . . . are you raising capital? Or are you personally financing it? And what are some of the strategies that you’re going to use to get your first concept off the ground and what will it be?
Ree: Well, it will be a simple concept. It’s the case of setting it up and selling a product online. Yes, I will be financing it myself and the problem at the moment I have is the time to actually do it. I have other commitments. But, it will go ahead in 2007. The finance is there, the infrastructure’s there. It’s all set up and ready to go and it will be online for you to see in 2007.
Monte: And, what will be the business concept? Or can you share it?
Ree: Yes, it will be office supplies. It will be run from a .TV extension and it will be OfficeStore.TV.
Monte: Oh, okay, good. And, so, you’re going to start off with that; you have the plan and the infrastructure in place and then what are you going to offer an order, mail order type office supply distribution business? Or something like Office Depot over here that also does delivery of office supplies to corporations? Or is it something that you can shop online and then you have to go to the store? How is it going to function?
Ree: It will me mail order; you can order straight from the Internet. It’s going to be set up so it’s all basically, its all done online. It’s already set up. It’s all ready to be linked together and all you’ll need to do business, you’ll be able to buy direct from the Internet and it will be selling supplies that’s needed on a daily basis.
Monte: And, so, that’s going to be . . . now how many domain names do you own around the office supply-office type vertical.
Ree: Well, on that particular one, I’ve got around 4 or 5, which I can use. But, there are other domains as well, which can be utilized to support that. For example, I own the domain names, Wakefield.TV and Rutherton.TV. They’re cities which are close to where I am, so it will catch local traffic locally. They can then be redirected or used in some way to actually pull traffic my way towards that particular project. The Wakefield and Rutherton domain names can also be used for other projects when they get off the ground. But I think, again, it being local, when you first set up, you want to test the water and you don’t want to be sort of expanding it too fast, too quickly. You want to get it right and then once that’s done then every single domain that can be used – there’s quite a few in the portfolio which, again, are pulling in traffic and will be pulling in more traffic once the domain extension gets well-known. It’s sort of – they’ll all be at work together. The ones that can be used will be used for whatever they’re needed to do.
Monte: Now, what is your expertise? Do you have a business plan mapped out in terms of bringing up some of these sites? When do you plan on actually making money and making a living from your office supply business, for example?
Ree: The preparation’s been ongoing now for a year. I can guarantee that it will be running and making money in 2007. It will be . . . looking at the third quarter, I should imagine and if all goes well . . . there’s meticulous planning that’s gone into it and everything’s sort of being considered, all possibilities have been explored and all directions will be undertaken, where we can push it. I mean, we can actually supply products from there and also services as well. But it will be definitely 2007. It should all be up and running and you should be able to see it online by then.
Monte: Alright, so, I’d like to get your perspective a little bit about how you kind of put all these pieces together. So you described, you know, a strategy for acquiring about 250 domain names in various extensions. You admittedly got started late in the marketplace but you’re . . . I can tell by your interview and your confidence in your voice that you’re convinced and sure you’re going to make it, you’re going to be successful and I’d like to understand and have the audience understand, you know, what kind of things you went through to help negotiate your pricing with your vendors, how you’re mapping out your domain strategy to your infrastructure and making sure its going to go live when you want it to and do you have a team of people ready to start with you? Is it something you’re going to do solo? Or are you going to outsource? Walk me through some of those business decisions, so that those that have sites sitting around that don’t know what to do or how to even go to the next step, after getting the domain name, they can learn something from your experience about what you’re going to do in 2007. And what you’ve done so far.
Ree: Well, there are new services available which simplifies it. If you look at the traditional ways that a company would set up a website, for example. They . . . it takes time, it takes money to have the website designed. However, there are simplified ways of doing it. There are services available online data centers that handle security that could offer you a template to get started, integrate an existing website. Yes, there are people that will, besides myself, that will involved. Over the years you get to find people, you know what they’re capable of doing and you keep in contact with them. I’ve actually put a team together. There are about 4 of us so far that will be actually each of us got a specific role to play and that’s expert in a certain area. I mean, no doubt, you can tell from my interview what skills . . . I’m not a very good communicator, so . . .
Monte: Oh, no. You’re communicating just fine. But, you know, I think its interesting because we have a lot of, you know, top-notch professionals on who are very experienced in this and then I thought . . . that’s one of the reasons why I thought you’d be a good guest is that you’re coming at it from a different angle. You’re learning as you’re going; you’re using other skill sets and other experiences in your life to go into something that’s new; you’re doing meticulous research and making sure that you’re getting the right programs, and you’re right: now there are a lot of tools that are available on the Web and so in the past when you had to build it from scratch and code it all yourself, there’s a lot of leverage points that you can use that have already been automated due to everyone else being so successful at what they do.
Ree: That’s right. It takes a lot of work away from yourself as well if you’ve got a different company that’s handling certain aspects of the business. So, for example, your security, website security, online payments, web design, maintenance. It can be quite, quite cheap as well. Its not very costly to actually set up and its very quick. That’s one aspect. Again, the other side of the business as well where you do your accounts, you’ve got to prepare everything for the IRS; there are companies out there to take care of it. So it takes a lot of work getting that; really, it slows you down and stops you going ahead with what you’re role is, because you’re distracted, you’ve been . . . if you’re, like, sidetracked all these little things necessary to run a business. I can then be left alone to continue to push it where I want it to be. It’s very . . . I mean, I’ve set it all up myself. For me, it’s a very short period of time. I registered the domain. They’re actually incorporated already, the companies. I did it myself through an online service. Again, it saved me doing it. While the companies are laid dormant, they take care of the necessary paperwork to keep in compliance with the law and again, I can actually focus on getting the business engine running. It simplifies it and hell, it slashes the cost and I think it does give you an edge over a competitor that’s doing it the old, traditional way, because, again, you’re doing it more cost effective and then you can actually reflect that and compete on price with the customers.
Monte: And, now, the office supply business that you’re going to start, are you going to have a brick and mortar store going with the online? Or is it going to be all online order and process and fulfillment?
Ree: It will all be online. The only store that you will see will be on Internet. Again, it cuts down costs. You can actually offer a better service to your customers, price-wise and you can concentrate keeping the, if you like, the wheels and the machine well-oiled and keep it turning. It’s not . . . again, with a brick and mortar, as you put it, again, it takes me back to the traditional, if you like, real estate that I used to deal in and it cuts a lot unnecessary workload away. If you can set everything so its all integrated, it works like a machine, then its more efficient and again it gives you a competitive edge, in my opinion.
Monte: Yeah, definitely. You know, you sound very much like Sean Connery, by the way, your voice. Did anyone ever tell you that?
Ree: No. [laughs] I’ve not hear that one but its kind of you to say so.
Monte: [laughs] It does. I just posted it on the chat room and a bunch of people said, yeah, it does sound like him. [laughs]. Okay, so, once you get this office supply, what are you going to do with all the rest of the domain names? What about the roll out strategy on the other one? Are you going to use the first one as your experiment and then use what you learn from the first one and then go to the next niche or the next successful business? Or are you going to make them related?
Ree: Well, what I believe that you actually do need to actually boost your confidence. This is the simplest one that I can actually think of. It’s the first time I’m putting something on the line, commercially . . .
[Theme from Bond movies plays in the background]
Ree: . . . I’m very meticulous and I am sort of a perfectionist, if you like. It has to be done right. For my own surfing experiences when I’m surfing around for a service or a shop or a store. If I see one thing wrong with the website I actually don’t proceed to do business. If I see a spelling mistake or anything like that, it puts me off.
Monte: Right, right. I hear the 007 music in the background.
Ree: Oh . . . [laughs]
Monte: Alright, so, what are some of the key tips and points that you could give as advice to those that are just starting out or have a portfolio of names that aren’t developed yet, that you haven’t gone over, that can be really helpful or useful – something that maybe somebody doesn’t know about?
Ree: Well, I’ll give some advice right away, from what I gather from surfing and looking over the forums. The people that are just starting out should have confidence in their own judgment. They should not rely on information from the forums because they could have a good idea and I’ve looked at some interesting posts and in my mind, they’re giving the wrong advise and then they sort of deter them; it puts them off. They should be confident in their decision. They should not, actually, reveal too much about what they’re going to do to other people. There are a lot of people surfing the Internet, looking at these forums, from corporations that have got a lot more resources than they have, and if they come up with a good idea and they’re actually writing all over the Internet about it, they’ll pick it up and use it. They should, again, stick with their own decisions, be confident and go ahead and do it. And they should not rely on information too much from other people. I would never be deterred by anyone telling me that my ideas were wrong [inaudible]. I never usually talk on the forums; I do go over them and I look at other people’s comments. Again, you can pick up interesting articles, interesting information. I do like to get information from wherever I can get it and its really not a good idea to be, if you like, put off by other people’s decisions. They’re not experts in the area. Successful ideas are being developed, put online, without consultation and they should just go ahead and do it. Don’t think about it too much. Don’t be asking too many people. Just do it and see what happens. They may be in for a surprise.
Monte: That’s really good advice. Really good advice. Well, Ree, I was really . . .
[Theme from Bond movies plays again]
Monte: . . . nice to have you on the show. And again, I thought it would an interesting perspective on from someone who got started a little bit later than others and hasn’t fully implemented a plan yet, but is in the beginning stages of the process, so people can learn about what are the experiences that you’ve gone through so far and what your plan is and your confidence level on being successful. And I truly believe that you are going to be successful at what you’re going to do.
Ree: Well, its very nice of you to say so. It’s good to hear that and I’ll have a damn good try at it. I’m very confident and I’m sure that there’ll be something for you to see in 2007. Regarding, the rest of my portfolio, again, we can’t always say what happens. Times change. Things occur everyday. You know, anything can happen in this industry, so its just a case of going with the flow as you put it.
Monte: Yep, yep, definitely. Well, great; it was a pleasure having you on and thanks for staying up late tonight to be on Domain Masters. I know its 6 hours ahead of time, so, its, what? 1:00 o’clock in the morning? 2:00 o’clock in the morning there?
Ree: Yep. Yep.
Monte: So I really appreciate you being on and I think it was a good perspective to hear from everybody.
Ree: You’re welcome.
Monte: Okay, thanks a lot, Ree, we look forward to working with you in the future.
Ree: Okay, thank you very much.
Monte: Alright, take care. Good night. Thanks again to Ree Semley for sharing his experience on registering domain names just last year and doing his homework and his research and putting a business plan together and when he’s going to launch and how he’s going to do it – its always an interesting perspective to hear some of that.
Just a reminder about Domain Masters. We’re going to broadcasting live at SES on . . . in . . . I guess, it’s . . . not next week but the week after. I am speaking on the domain panel the first day of the conference. If you go to JupiterEvents.com you can see the show schedule and go to the San Jose SES show. It’ll be the first time that a domain panel will be put together at SES and we plan to have that . . . plan to have a lot of interesting discussion around direct navigation, domain typos and their value, and there’ll be a pro side and a con side (no pun intended, because my name is Monte Cahn). But I’m doing the introduction to, you know, what really domaining is today versus what it was 4, 5 years ago and then we’re going to have folks on from Google, Yahoo! and some of the other countries, interested parties and companies that are actually being very successful with type in traffic. And there’s a few folks that feel that its not as valuable as people say that it is. But we know; we know that that is not the case.
And, we will be on another interesting panel coming up at AdTECH and some of the other shows coming up, so we’ll keep you posted on that.
Right now we’re probably going to take a break. I’m going to end this Domain Masters show and we’re going to rerun the July 4th interview with Bruce Clay. It runs about an hour and ten minutes but it’s a very good show. I suggest that everybody stay on. There’s some really good points. Bruce Clay was basically one of the original SEOs in the entire industry. He actually basically coined the term, or coined the acronym SEO himself and he’s been doing SEO longer than anybody. So he’s a pretty successful guy and a good guy to listen to and gives a nice . . . some good points and tips on having a successful SEO site and also gets into some of the domain aspects of why . . . what makes some sites more successful than others as well. So, stay tuned for that and we’ll see you next week with another live show on Domain Masters. Be the master of your domain. I’ll see you next week. Take care.
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