Numeric Domain giveaways just don't seem to work

DNF24, a new domain forum founded in November 2008, launched a first-claim first-served contest during the first 25 days of December that gave away LLLL.com's and 'numeric domain names to brandable keyword domains.' That was according to a press release by DNF24 on December 1. Surely that must have been an amazing opportunity for newby NuDoms to get some aftermarket numeric domains that spell or 'could spell' brands, right? The word 'brandable' apparently doesn't mean existing brands but words that could possibly become brands, like the un-generic words 'Twitter' or 'Youtube' before those brands were popularized.

So we checked it out, since it's after Christmas and the contest is over with.

So, the post on the forum that announced the contest reads:

'Free Domain Names incl. LLLL.com's. As a part of our launch promotion I will give away one free domain name per day. I will post numeric domain names, LLLL com's and a few random names.To grab a domain name simply post "Sold" and send me your...First come first serve.'

So, it turns out that they did give away numeric domains. Here's the unofficial list:

04795.com 04798.com 04821.com 04823.com 04826.com 04829.com 08513.com 08531.com 08532.com 08538.com 08539.com 08572.com 08573.com 08577.com 08579.com 08591.com 09017.com 09025.com 09026.com 09027.com 09032.com 09061.com 09062.com 09065.com 09085.com 09087.com

Uh huh. So, can someone PLEASE tell me how are these 'numeric domain names to brandable keyword domains?'

What 'brandable keyword' does 09026.com spell? A keyword is a set of letters, right? With no ones or zeros, right? If you have two zeros breaking up the wordnumber 926 (that spells Y-A-M), how is this a keyword that will be brandable? Who's going to brand 0Y0AM.com [zero]-Y-[zero]-A-M as their web 2.0 project?

These numeric domain giveaway items aren't brandable keyword wordnumbers but seem be the same illiquid NNNNN.com's that folks have been trying to sell for dirt cheap on every other domain name forum for the past 6 months. They ALL HAVE ZEROS and don't spell anything; look at your phone keypad: zero spells NADA! These aren't future brandable keywords!

Hey, nothing against DNF24.com, they're doing a great service to their community by bringing attention to numeric domains. But, next time please don't call these 'numeric domain names to brandable keyword domains.' If you want one of those, go to the Alexa top 500 sites in the U.S. and you'll find a few brands for which no dotcom wordnumber is regged.

And for all you companies out there, you actually already missed out on a another lapsed giveaway contest. That was Mr. Scott Smith's contest at NumericDomains.com when he launched a giveaway sweepstakes of one of his dotcom wordnumbers to the first company or celebrity - owners of their brand - who claimed it and actually implemented it as a 'primary access point' for their mobile web destination. To our knowledge, no company took him up on his offer. We were wrong when we predicted that Dr. Dyer was going to win and use the domain to help others 'connect to their (mobile) source.'

Even the company ChaCha, that bought their dotcom wordnumber numeric domain (242242.com) from Smith still doesn't have that domain forwarded to a mobile-friendly website. Although it wasn't a contractual stipulation from Smith that ChaCha use it in any specific way, the domain still only forwards to their plain vanilla web site. Does ChaCha even have a mobile-friendly website? It seems like the answer is 'no.'

So why are numeric domain giveaways such flops (in our opinion)? When you're giving away priceless numeric domains, no one wants them. And when you're giving away worthless numeric domains, everyone wants them. And then there are plenty of new brands for which the corresponding wordnumbers are still unregged. Low-lying fruit, people!

I guess it must be that wordnumber numeric domains are still not fully understood and appreciated. Scott Smith and Jamptap and WordDial all have prime examples and demos on our respective sites about how much easier it is to type in a number than the corresponding word or brand. But people still don't get it. Or understand what a wordnumber really is! It doesn't have zeros in the domain, that's a clue for starters.

Giveaways or not, it's a long way off still until that day that we all agree on what is a numeric domain to brands or generic words or 'brandable keywords,' understand the functional advantages of these domains, and wordnumbering becomes 'de rigueur.'

Doin' the numbers: Sedo's numeric auction

The winners at Sedo's first numeric domain auction here

WordDial 1.0

A company named 'web-publishers' has released a new mobile phone application called 'WordDial,' which is not to be confused with the name of the New Zealand company (WordDial) that operates a vast internet directory comprised of dotcom wordnumber portals. Web-publishers, according to its website, specializes in 'interactive data driven web applications.' But its app for the iPhone does exactly the opposite of what you'd think an app a-la-'WordDial' would do. The downloadable iPhone feature, which costs US$0.99, does the simple task of converting text to a number. Their sample inquiry is

'type your text, eg "1 (800) MY-APPLE" and click the "Get Number" button. WordDial will convert it into a phone number, tap number to dial.'

More, including screen shots, can be found on the 'WordDial' webpage.

What is really needed is the opposite to the WordDial app, a feature such as 'allnum:,' the Google operator developed for its Google Number Search protocol. The allnum feature still works, and if you are ambitious enough you can set your mobile hompage to http://www.466453.com/search?q=allnum%3A and successfully translate just about any NUMERIC inquiry into its WORD equivalent. Visit the link, and add a 'wordnumber' like 262966 and you're provided with a lightning fast link to Amazon.com. Just don't try any word or name that wasn't on the internet in 2000. Why? Well, that's a long story...(that you can read about in our archives).

Wordnumber numeric domains: landrush not over yet

There's a poll and short discussion at Namepros about the gaining significance of numeric domains. The domainer who started the thread, 'evirtual1,' interestingly, owns 4636.info, which he/she writes is associated with its wordnumber - '4636.info = info.info on a phonepad'. Certainly 'evirtual1' knows there's more to the rise in the news, auctions and blogging of numeric domains than just short ones (e.g. NNN.com). Wordnumbers, numeric urls that spell words on a phone keypad, are also gaining traction as companies such as Target are buying up ccTLDs of their wordnumber. Target owns a bunch of tlds of 827438 (they couldn't, though, get 827438.com, owned by WordDial). Several search engines such as Google and ChaCha forward their dotcom wordnumbers, 466453.com and 242242.com, respectively, to their sites. The list goes on and on. The point is that while all this attention is on NNN.com's selling for 5 and 6 figures, there are less fish in the wordnumber pond and good domaining opportunities abound. For instance, TDBanknorth, a leading U.S. bank, is changing its name soon to TDBank, and its wordnumber is unregged. That list goes on and on too! There aren't and will never be opportunities to grab short numeric domains at affordable prices, yet as long as new companies keep popping up on the internet, there will always be wordnumbers fresh from your registrar of choice at rock-bottom prices.

WSJ explores numerics

It's officially now hip: numeric domaining. That is thanks to the Wall Street Journal, which came out today with its piece 'What's in a Name? More and More, a Number', all about short numeric domain names. The piece touches on the benefits of numerics compared to their alpha counterparts, the growing popularity of 2 or 3 digit numeric domain websites, prices they command in the aftermarket, and exploring the concept of numeric domain parking. It comes on the heels of Sedo's numeric auction that didn't have many bids that exceeded reserves, including 88.com, which had a high bid of $325,000. It's reserve price range was 500,000 - 999,999 USD.

SNAPSHOT of bid page for 88.com:
88.com | Bidding History
Current Bid: 325,000 USD
Reserve not met
Estimated end time:
0 day 3 hours 55 min.
(Dec/04/08 01:00 PM EST)

Bidding History
Bidder Date Amount Info
Bidder 3 Nov/29/08 05:24 AM EST 325,000 USD
257.467 EUR
220.070 GBP

Bidder 2 Nov/27/08 02:25 PM EST 300,000 USD
237.661 EUR
203.141 GBP

Bidder 2 Nov/27/08 02:04 PM EST 200,000 USD
158.441 EUR
135.427 GBP

Bidder 1 Nov/27/08 01:14 PM EST 5,000 USD