Ask HN: Review my website - HotNameList.com

[jorgem]

http://HotNameList.com

[Jasber]

Nice concept and good implementation. My only suggestion is get rid of the ads. Paid lists will be a huge revenue generator, no need to scare people off with ads.

I'd suggest checking out Google Hot Trends (http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends) and finding available domain names against that.

I had a site like this years ago and it did quite well. Looks like you found the right business model as well, domain squatters pay big money for these lists.

The only reason I stopped doing it was because I felt uneasy contributing to the domain name squatting problem.

[jorgem → Jasber]

>> no need to scare people off with ads.

Point taken.

>> I'd suggest checking out Google Hot Trends

Many of the "hot picks" come from there.

>> contributing to the domain name squatting problem

Trademark violations are a big problem. I can pretend to ignore the issue in the same way the gun makers say "We're not the ones pulling the trigger." But the difference is that many domain buyers are NOT really all that educated on UDRP and trademarks. I think I'll investigate automatically removing domains that appear to contain trademarks, or at least flagging them -- not sure how hard that will be.

[siong1987]

I don't know why I have this idea to create something similar with twitter. I know someone out there will be amazed by the idea as long as it is TWITTER-related. Think of this - Twitter Username Suggestion Service.

[jorgem → siong1987]

Interesting. So, kindof like a new domain every 20 minutes :)

Here is a prototype ticker with a new AVAILABLE domain every second: http://hotnamelist.com/ticker.html

[siong1987 → jorgem]

No. A new twitter Username every 20 minutes.

Or, you can create a twitter account that will update a new domain everyday and ask people to subscribe to the account.

[jorgem → siong1987]

We added a Twitter: It updates every weekday with some domain names.

http://twitter.com/HotNameList

[jorgem → siong1987]

Yes, I was agreeing with you, just didn't say it well. The automatic TWITTER is a great idea.

[jorgem]

One of the big problems has been figuring out how to monetize it. The advertising isn't working (probably too much of that).

And the advertising networks don't pay reliably. I know the domains are getting clicked and sold, but there isn't always a commission at the end of the rainbow.

I have sold a few custom lists -- but I'm curious what other monetization ideas there might be...

[kf → jorgem]

Do some pay more reliably? If Godaddy follows through well enough, I would just go with them and get rid of the other options, no one is going to click through to the more expensive registrar.

[jorgem → kf]

None of them are reliable. But for different reasons. GoDaddy is best, but has issues, too.

[jorgem → jorgem]

It just doesn't seem prudent to publicly disparage my best advertiser.

[toy99]

Amazing resource