Chicago is one of the greatest cities in the world. And the CEO of Chicago.com is preparing to auction off you@chicago.com and http://you.chicago.com to the highest bidder.

Hear how Josh Metnick acquired and evolved Chicago.com to its current form, and how “place identity” makes people want to own a piece of the city they reside in – for a relatively high fee per year.

Michael Cyger May 6, 2013 20

Do you have a domain name that defines a product, service or industry – one that a company should want and buy from you if you could only reach the right person at that company with the right pitch?

Mike “Zappy” Zapolin is back to help you accomplish that task.

After walking through his methodology and the tactics he used to sell Diamond.com and Beer.com for $6 million and $8 million, respectively, we discuss three domains that are not as valuable, but are more representative of the domain names many of us have in our portfolios: Weights.com, QuantitativeResearch.com and NoFlat.com.

Michael Cyger April 29, 2013 9

You are probably like today’s guest: You learned about the Internet and domain names in 1995 or 1996, but domain names were expensive and “the good ones” were taken. Although Shane Cultra dabbled in domaining, he mainly considers his fruitless investment during that time to be part of his learning curve.

By 2007, Cultra had figured out what makes domain names “liquid” such that they can be sold more readily in domain name aftermarkets and auction sites. By doing so, Cultra earned six figures in 2012 from domain name investing – in addition to his full-time job running Country Arbors Nursery in Urbana, Illinois.

In this show, Cultra shares his methodology for determining and valuing “liquid domains,” as well as his sweet spots for buying and selling, and how he finds and sells through his favorite marketplace platforms.

Michael Cyger April 22, 2013 20

In the past, through its portfolio of category-killer, industry-defining domain names, ZipSmart sites hosted geography-based directories and allowed companies to own their zip code online for products and services and – in the process – to generate customer leads.

Today, with Google’s Panda and Penguin updates and with Google+ Places’ being prioritized at the top of Google search results, ZipSmart has had to completely rethink its business.

Jake Ackerman, the founder of ZipSmart, came on DomainSherpa.com more than two years ago to talk about his fast-growing company. We’ve caught back up with this entrepreneur to see how his business model has changed and hear about the challenges he’s facing today.

Michael Cyger April 15, 2013 5

Does Google have you guessing about your SEO strategy? Have you been slapped with a search engine ranking penalty, or worse, is your site not even showing up in the organic search results at all?

This interview with an SEO veteran covers not only the current state of affairs, but where SEO is heading and how to create great content for your business.

The days of thin sites, inexpensively purchased content and machine-generated websites are gone. Learn what you need to do in the future to have high-ranked sites by watching this show.

Michael Cyger April 8, 2013 15

In 1995, Richard Lau registered several domain names that he simply thought were cool, but never considered would be worth thousands of dollars. His portfolio attracted the attention of Microsoft, who tentatively agreed to pay $9,500 for one of his domains. That gave him an inkling he was on to something big.

Later, after spending 80 hours per week building one of the first 30 domain name registrars in the world, he was faced with stage A colon cancer and a series of unfortunate business liabilities.

In this biography, Richard Lau discusses how he learned the industry, tells some fantastic stories, and provides guidance to others that are just starting out.

Michael Cyger April 1, 2013 20

Everyone has bought crappy domain names in the past. Many of us still own them today.

Watch this interview and learn six criteria that will help you avoid buying sub-par domain names in the future.

You will also learn how to organize your current portfolio to separate the junk from the good, and then what to do with domain names that have no value.

Michael Cyger March 25, 2013 43

This tutorial takes you step-by-step through the Estibot.com domain name appraisal tool. You will walk away with an understanding of how the tool works and every aspect of the data it provides.

Also covered are five warnings about using Estibot.com that you need to know to avoid making a costly mistake.

Michael Cyger March 18, 2013 11

You asked, we listened, we built.

DomainSherpa podcasts are now in iTunes!

If you search, we should show up for “DomainSherpa” within the next 24 to 48 hours, and if you use this URL you will find it immediately.

Michael Cyger March 13, 2013 2