Seniors.com: The Business Cases Its Sellers Should Articulate
Andy just touched on some of the domain names that a couple folks emailed me about this morning. As usual, he touched on the value beyond the SEO value of premium generic domain names and also why, while we may envy some of the portfolio values of domainers, we think they are better off not developing their own inventory.
I want to take that a step further and talk about one of the domains I completely overlooked at the TRAFFIC auction…Seniors.com. Seniors.com may or may not be worth $1,000,000, but here’s the business case I would make if I was the seller (Memo to Domainers: If y’all put some of that “cash flow” to use on some marketing, the prices would go even higher)
First of all, there’s a lot of good lead gen monetization for topics that old people and retirees are looking to educate themselves about. Specifically, I’m thinking of some great opportunities in healthcare, housing (assisted-living and retirement communities), and wealth management. The elderly demographic is one of the favorite markets I have yet to jump into with any sizable investment. Every time I watch people over the age of 60 surf the Internet, I want to donate a bunch of free computers (with my sites bookmarked in their browsers) to old folks homes. Old people love to fill out forms and click on ads. The down side is that they tend to die sooner than that customer profile you acquired through a ringtone offer…
As compelling as that case is for Seniors.com, I think the smarter play would be to use the that domain to develop something around high school seniors (the deference to high school being that more people graduate high school than college). High school graduation is an inflection point in just about everyone’s lives and it is a great gateway to some pretty epic CPA money..student loans, universities’ advertising budgets, first credit cards, etc. Hell, throw a Facebook style community around it (or if you have development skillz, develop something on Facebook’s platform). While old people are great leads, young people are better purchasers so their profile acquisition is at a much higher premium.
Having built a few very large audiences in very big markets, I can tell you…it’s a much easier road to hoe (or ho, depending how much you want it) when you have a premium domain name that describes a person’s job title, their industry, or their social group.
There you go, owners of Seniors.com. Go forth and pitch that to one of the newly funded consumer Internet startups who have an acquisitions budget. You’ll probably get more for it than you would at TRAFFIC’s auction, unless, of course, some of your domaining peers bid with a Blood-KoolAid Content (BKC) of greater than .08%. No need to thank me. I’m a giver. It’s basically all I do.
Wow, this just in:
http://domainnamenews.com/domain-sales/moniker-targeted-traffic-live-auction/
Seniors.com sold for $1,800,000. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s developed and which way they go with it.
It can get pretty dark out here in Internet land, Brian. You underestimate the value of that domain. Reverse mortgages are showing up at seminar night at the adult community building, stealing inheritance away from estates. Profits are highest when participants depart sooner than expected.
Ditto for reversing life insurance via viaticals. It’s the decendents who lose out. And surely every new AARP member needs a new $35k Harley (at full retail) for the garage. And what about that RV? Who cares about gas prices when you finally have an opportunity to “see the country”? Oh, and have you ever checked the prices on hearing aids? Foot orthoses? You’ll be shocked, I say, shocked.
I think you may be underestimating the senior living industry and the current and forecasted growth.
Here’s a stat I read recently: In 2000, approximately 605 million people were 60 years or older. By 2050, that number is expected to be close to 2 billion. At that time, seniors will outnumber children 14 and under for the first time in history.
You’re correct that the majority of current senior citizens aren’t web savvy, but a larger portion of their children are, and the vast majority of their grandchildren are.
So, in 2050, when it’s time for the current grandchildren to put their parents into an assisted living community, where do you think they’ll turn for information? Maybe it will be Seniors.com if they play their cards right.
I think there’s a lot of potential for lead gen and ad sales in this industry. The leads would carry a decent price tag due to the high number each new assisted living resident represents.
Playing off of agerhart’s comment, there is a HUGE desire for non-biased reviews and information about senior living facilities. It is so difficult for people to get straight answers. Creating a portal where people could see reviews/pricing/availability/average wait list time and the monetize it with lead generation. It could be a potential gold mine.
You guys are doing a pretty good job of talking me into the old people stuff. The closest I ever got to beating up a bunch of old folks on the Internet was the old Scooter Store affiliate offer. Maybe it’s time to go develop some CPA business to the senior products and see what can be arbitraged with paid search before I commit to a more defensible beachhead.
I have some experience with reverse mortgage lead gen- a basic lead (request for info, a few qualifiers) goes for around $60-75. The market is large enough (virtually untapped babyboomers due to the impression that these mortgages were scams which they are not- very regulated) that a major lender would buy that domain for this reason alone. Add in the other senior services and products and I think they got a pretty good deal.
The problem with high school seniors is they’re only seniors for a year- you have to reacquire your market annually.