Just got back from an easy afternoon and a Domain Sponsor Cocktail Hour. They (Domain Sponsor) had three Playboy Playmates; attractive but what do playmates have to do with their business model. Geoff, Daniel and I casually met several individuals from domain related support industries at the cocktail hour. Tomorrow we have an action packed agenda including meetings with Monster Venture (Robert Monster) and several large companies interested in the EVO Landing platform; I will follow up accordingly…
Seattle, WA, (DOMAINfest January 21 - 23, 2008) — Chances are you have registered a domain name from GoDaddy or Register.com with the intent on building a website. Chances are you never found the time or money to actually make that website a reality. A new company out of Seattle is looking to change what you do with your registered domain. EVO Landing (’EVO’) has announced the release of its domain development platform, which aims to create value and traffic for your domain while making you money.
With the EVO platform, domain owners are now able to instantly create dynamic websites comprised of media-rich, relevant content based on the value of the domain name. Whereas traditional parked pages generally rely on transient traffic typed into a browser’s URL bar, sites on the EVO platform grow organically as web users can find the sites via search engines, recommend the site to friends, engage with the site’s content, and return daily to find fresh content.
“The Internet has evolved, but the domain industry has yet to really make the leap to Web 2.0.” says CEO, Geoffrey Nuval, “A domain like Stocktrades.com would be more appropriate as an informational website whereas ChefGrill.com would probably make more sense as a storefront,” explains Geoffrey, “To create the depth in content for each module, we have inked special partnerships with various niche sites, including Shopping.com, Epinions, Software.com, Podcast.com, PredictAd, Shareapic, Wishpot, and Demoxi … even more deals are in the works as we expand across the long tail.”
Rather than employ a one-size-fits-all template, EVO’s modular-based approach enables sites to be directly tailored to a specific domain name.
According to CTO Daniel Rust, “The EVO platform bridges that gap by bringing together advanced integration and analytics technologies and boiling it down into a simple to use system. The EVO platform semantically analyzes the domain name to determine what type of site it should be, as well as identifies new niche markets to insure optimal monetization and relevance of all the sites.”
The Company received initial funding from Seattle angel investors in November 2007 and then closed its Series A round in December 2007 with Monster Venture Partners (’MVP’). “My investment in EVO Landing weighed greatly upon the fact that they were able to prove out the revenue model.” says Robert Monster, Managing Director of MVP and Partner at the Internet Real Estate Group (’IREG’), “For my own due diligence, I moved a number of domains from a reputable traditional parking solution onto their system and within the month I saw a 5x increase in traffic and 3x increase in revenues. I have since moved my entire portfolio onto their system.”
The Company has already achieved considerable growth during its beta phase. “Within our two and half months in beta, we have grown our network to over 10,000 sites with no two sites alike.” says SVP Sales & Strategic Marketing, Mark Michael, “Our admissions analytics system is pretty strict because we want to keep the quality of the websites on our network high - less than 15% of submitted names have been accepted onto the system.”
About EVO Landing
EVO Landing (’EVO’) is a next-generation domain monetization platform built around its ability to instantly generate topic-relevant, media-rich websites. EVO is a limited liability corporation (LLC) based in Seattle, WA and was founded in October 2007 after months of dedicated research and years of Internet site design and search engine optimization experience.
EVO’s proprietary technology is a web-based software and methodology that harnesses the power of the semantic web. Using a modular-based architecture, every site managed through EVO Landing is updated dynamically, daily, and automatically with relevant, rich-media (articles, listings, products, photos, videos, downloads). Domain names can now be truly regarded as online investments as they enjoy the added monetary benefits of multiple ad-network integration, multiple affiliate program integration, and exclusive partnerships.
For more information, please visit www.evolanding.com or read the Company blog at www.landingevo.com.
About Monster Venture Partners
Monster Venture Partners (’MVP’) is a new breed of early-stage venture capital firm based in Seattle. MVP’s investment philosophy is to engage in a genuine hands-on partnership with founders to jointly create value for all stakeholders. For larger opportunities, MVP co-invests with leading investors from around the world, selecting from a universe of like-minded investors who are able to add strategic value. MVP is focused on three primary verticals: marketing technology, consumer healthcare, and global consumer Internet.
EVO Contact Information
Representatives of the Company will be available at DomainFest Hollywood, January 21-23.
(206) 441-4399
info @ evolanding . com
2101 4th Ave Seattle, WA 98121
This is a post by Robert Monster of Monster Venture Partners (MVP) on the state of Domains, Domainers and the what the future holds (here is an excerpt):
“A common challenge for internet entrepreneurs is securing a good domain name for a venture or product. Without question, the best domains are already taken by someone. As in the physical world, most of the available land on this planet is already claimed by someone. Not surprisingly, there is a huge secondary market for physical property, one measured in trillions of dollars worth of transactions every year. By the same token, there is also a huge market for intellectual property – the patent market is one I am learning a lot about and is a $500 Billion market per annum. As with other forms of property…..”
Link to the full article
