Domains, the new business of Scotland - Tommy Butler Interview

[dog]

Changing business: Domains, the new business of Scotland
A digital Scotland is emerging in a changing business landscape. Just as business is changing in Scotland, so are the opportunities for businesses to differentiate themselves and innovate to reach different markets.

Tommy Butler has been one of the most successful people who buy and sell domain names - known as domainers - and now has a digital empire that spans the globe. He has hit the headlines in the past for being offered more than £1million for Glasgow.com.

Here, he shares his own views on why Scotland is getting serious about digital opportunities and what lies ahead for Scottish businesses....

http://www.pwc.co.uk/who-we-are/regional-sites/scotland/insights/domains-business-scotland.html

 

[boxfish]

"The thing that’s always worth remembering is that in the global economy you aren’t just competing against yourself. I need to make sure that when my sites like Vegascarsales.com & UnitedStatesCarsales.com are complete, that not only are they as good as other sites I own like Glasgowcarsales.co.uk but that they are able to compete with the best in their own markets."

Hmm...

 

[martin-s]

Great links to get for bs names!

 

[boxfish]

Great links to get for bs names!

When I read "now has a digital empire that spans the globe" I was expecting slightly more.

 

[dog]

Tommy Butler Interview - Technology.ie
http://technology.ie/glasgow-com-domain-audio/
http://technology.ie/glasgow-com-domain-audio/

 

[Murray]

“I ended up in domaining more or less by mistake. In 1998 I came across a website called iGoldrush"

Wasn't that @Edwin 's website?

 

[Edwin]

Yes, that was my site (I sold it in 2000 to the current owner)

 

[Murray]

Hmm...

Also says higher that he owns Paidonresults.com and then lower has has a keyword link that says "affiliate links"

Seems like a paid for piece

 

[Murray]

Yes, that was my site (I sold it in 2000 to the current owner)

Must be pleasing to know you've had a positive influence on peoples careers

 

[Edwin]

Also says higher that he owns Paidonresults.com and then lower has has a keyword link that says "affiliate links"

Seems like a paid for piece

It doesn't say that he owns paidonresults.com - that's simply cited as an example of an affiliate network.

 

[Edwin]

Must be pleasing to know you've had a positive influence on peoples careers

Yes, it's always nice when people mention my first site...

 

[dog]

Why did you sell it?

Yes, that was my site (I sold it in 2000 to the current owner)

 

[Edwin]

Why did you sell it?

Because the right opportunity came along. I was more focused on other things at the time, so it wasn't a particularly hard decision, though it was a bit of a wrench to see it go.

 

[dog]

Hard letting go, but sounds like you made the right decision.

Because the right opportunity came along. I was more focused on other things at the time, so it wasn't a particularly hard decision, though it was a bit of a wrench to see it go.

 

[Murray]

It doesn't say that he owns paidonresults.com - that's simply cited as an example of an affiliate network.

Oh yes, it's because I skimmed over it and read "you have companies like online affiliate business Paidonresults.com" and read it as the interviewer rather than the interviewee

But to mention& link it twice, the second time with "affiliate links", there's an association there

 

[Edwin]

No, I really think there isn't. I think the author (or a sub-editor) just recycled the link they'd already been given by Tommy earlier in the piece rather than take the time to research another example.

It's on PWC not on a news site so they're probably not pumping out articles with the same sort of frequency as a news organisation would so they took a few shortcuts. But there's no logical reason for PWC to publish a sponsored piece.

 

[Murray]

No, I really think there isn't. I think the author (or a sub-editor) just recycled the link they'd already been given by Tommy earlier in the piece rather than take the time to research another example.

Why would you need to link the term "affiliate links" unless it was to tell people what they were and in that case you would probably link to wikipedia, techopedia.com or some such article explaining

 

[Edwin]

PWC is a huge consultancy firm. It is very highly unlikely that they have paid links as part of their business model. This is just a general interest article aimed at their Scottish customers.

 

[Murray]

PWC is a huge consultancy firm. It is very highly unlikely that they have paid links as part of their business model. This is just a general interest article aimed at their Scottish customers.

Too many self-serving links to be natural though isn't it?

If you interviewed me and I said

"I need to make sure that when my sites like Vegascarsales.com & UnitedStatesCarsales.com are complete, that not only are they as good as other sites I own like Glasgowcarsales.co.uk "

Wouldn't you say "c'mon Murray.. this feels like I'm talking to Accelerator, I'm trying to interview you not have you give me a list of links you want"

That along with the affiliate being mentioned twice

Unnatural, I wouldn't be happy to have this on a site I owned.

 

[Edwin]

No, I don't think that whoever did this on the PWC side was that versed in the subject matter (or in the intricacies of SEO) so they'll have gone along with whatever Tommy sent them. There's nothing "calculated" about it. It's just a bit of blog content for them (it looks like there's a new post every 2 or 3 days for the Insights part of the Scottish section of the site)

PWC is a massive company with hundreds of thousands of employees all over the world so this is a very very very small part of their outreach effort at the local level.

I don't believe anything more should be read into it than that.