Fabulous #domains : An updated interview with Mike Robertson on the registrar’s current course

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Not too long ago, Fabulous.com was re-introduced as a stand-alone brand, under the mother company Directnic.

The popular registrar went through visual and functional transformations, redesigning Fabulous.com.

Seven months have passed since we interviewed Mike Robertson, at the time of the acquisition, so it’s time for an updated interview with the Business Development Director of the company:

DomainGang.com : Was the Fabulous.com acquisition purely a strategic decision based on domain/user inventory?

Mike Robertson : I always kept a close relationship with the executives at Dark Blue Sea (parent company of Fabulous.com) after leaving back in 2011. The opportunity to acquire the Fabulous.com registrar and customer base was presented to me in late 2017. Having such a long history with the brand and the users, it was a no-brainer. The site was long overdue for an upgrade and redesign. We saw an opportunity to inject new life into the Fabulous.com brand, whilst at the same time increasing the total domain names we have under management.

DomainGang.com : It’s been some time since the Fabulous.com redesign. What type of feedback have you received from its users? Any particular areas you tweaked based on their feedback? Things that are planned, not yet implemented?

Mike Robertson : The last major development Fabulous.com undertook was almost 10 years ago, so it was long overdue.

Our primary goals were to give the site and user interface a much needed face lift, keeping the same tools that loyal customers were accustomed to and increasing and improving functionality. The new site and code is based off sister registrar, Directnic.com – a platform that was built by our in-house development team – and highly praised by our customers.

Since the migration back in March, we have been constantly working to improve and optimize the site based on customer feedback and experiences. We definitely have more planned for Fabulous.com, tools and partnerships, which we will roll out throughout the year.

DomainGang.com : Seeing recent efforts at events to promote Fabulous more. Are you planning to retain the Directnic / Fabulous duality and brand separation?

Mike Robertson : The registrars will continue to operate as separate entities. Each of them have a completely different user base. Fabulous.com has been designed for professional domain investors, delivering a complete solution for them to manage and monetize their domain portfolio, whether it’s a 100 or 100,000 domains.

On the other hand, Directnic.com is targeted to small to medium businesses, offering customers everything they need to get their business online; domain names, email, web hosting, web site builder and security certificates.

The Fabulous brand will continue to focus on the domain professionals market, promoting on various industry blogs and attending conferences such as MERGE and NamesCon. We also recently joined the ICA.

DomainGang.com : Collision Conference: What does a domain Registrar benefit from attending such non-domainer events?

Mike Robertson : Having two registrars that target completely different audiences allows us to attend a wider variety of conferences.

For the Collision Conference, we partnered with Verisign to promote .com domain names. Collision attracts 25,000 attendees, including CEOs and investors, over 5,600 companies from all over the World.

The conference largely focuses on startups, all at various stages of the startup life-cycle. This poses a great opportunity to discuss and educate them about the importance of owning .com domain names. For us, our goal was to increase visibility and brand awareness, for Directnic.com, in the tech startup market.

Aside from this, I personally had a lot of great conversations with various attendees about acquiring domains via the aftermarket. Very few realize that just because a domain is taken, doesn’t mean it’s not available for them to purchase. I made some very strong connections with companies looking to upgrade to their brand name .com.

The biggest takeaway for me was connecting with one of the World’s largest branding and consulting firms who are often responsible for acquiring domains for clients. Since the conference, they’ve already engaged me to help purchase a handful of domains.

* Fabulous.com is a sponsor of DomainGang.

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