Meet the Mind Behind Some of the Best Domaining Tools Ever to be Offered to the Public - Q&A with Luc Lezon of Lezon, Inc.

Luc Lezon of Lezon, Inc. lives for developing innovative software. He also happens to be an avid domainer and its this combination that has lead him to develop some of the best domaining tools to ever be offered to the public. His recent release of DRT, Domain Research Tool, has received a lot of acclaim from many of the industries top domainers. For this reason we thought it was essential to tap into his mind and find out just exactly where all of these brilliant ideas that he puts into his software have stemmed from.

Here is what Luc Lezon, of Lezon, Inc. had to say:

Q: db – What is your full name, where are you from and how did you first come to be involved in domaining?

A: LL – Luc Lezon, from Chicago IL. I purchased my first domain from ReignDomain.com in 2001 and although I can’t remember what it was, I do remember that I sold it quite fast and turned a small profit. After that, I hand registered a few hundred domains thinking that I’ll be able to sell those just as easily but I did not sell a single one. Just as I was about to give up on domains I discovered the potential of domain software and how it could be used to automate the long and boring process of finding quality domains.


Q: db – What was your first domain name related project and how did it influence you to stay involved with domaining?

A: LL – My first major domain project was Domain-Retriever back in late 2001. I accidentally stumbled on an interesting program called YahTool while browsing for domains on eBay. This tool promised to find domains listed in Yahoo that have expired. I immediately recognized the importance of such a tool and began creating my own. Domain-Retriever was the first bulk domain checker capable of finding domains with link popularity, alexa rank, search engine placement, overture score and much more. The tool was released in early 2002 and was snapped up domainers on eBay for $199 a pop and later sold on DNForum (which at the time was the only popular domain forum open to the public). Domain-Retriever was later sold to Adam Dicker (owner of DNForum.com) and finally retired to be replaced with D.R.T. in late 2005.


Q: db – Your newest domain name tool is the D.R.T., Domain Research Tool, many top domainers have already professed that this is the best tool of its kind that has ever hit the market. Can you please provide us with more information on what this tool does and why a domainer should have this tool?

A: LL – Domain Research Tool was created to be the one and only tool any domainer should ever need. There are hundreds of domains tools out there that do one thing, and nothing else. Domain Research Tool does everything from finding quality domains to tracking down the owners to submitting bulk offers to watching auctions and much more. The list of features is over two pages long so I won’t bother listing it here, but there is something in this tool for everyone, no matter what stage of the game they’re in. I guarantee that there won’t be anything to match D.R.T.’s features, speed and reliability for a long time.


Q: db - How much time and energy actually goes into producing cutting edge domaining tools? What kind of thought process do you go through before you actually begin a new project?

A: LL – A lot of time, energy, money and most important, experience is required to create a great tool. Professional and responsive support is also required to maintain the quality of the tool and to respond to bug reports and feature requests from customers. While I employ two programmers and one graphic designer I usually end up doing a large portion of the big projects myself. So far, every single domain software project I’ve been involved with started out as an idea to simplify MY life. I usually ask myself, “How can I automate this process so that the computer does all the work?” Having experience in the domain game really helps in creating software that my customers can use on a daily basis. I try to include as many features as possible that will cut down on the “garbage” work and automate everyone’s life. The most time consuming process however is not the design, but the beta testing. While the software may work perfectly on our PCs, different computers with various configurations can have many problems. This is why we always test our software for a month or two before releasing it to the general public. We’re always very concerned with the quality of the tools we release.


Q: db – What other domain name related tools have you developed and what exactly do they do?

A: LL – sTypo is a popular tool used by a lot of domainers to generate typos and later scan them for availability, parking and of course, Overture score. Parking Stats Pro is a tool that is currently pending full release. Adam Dicker brought up the idea of a tool that would check all of his parking stats at all sponsors at once, without visiting each sponsor. After about a month of work a tool was created that could check, analyze, graph and compare various stats at over seven of the world’s most popular parking programs. This tool will be available to the public early 2006.


Q: db – How much are these tools and do you they come with free updates or are they an additional fee?

A: LL – sTypo is $49, Parking Stats Pro is a free tool that comes with a $15 per month subscription though we may actually keep it free for the first few months. Domain Research Tool is $249, however, we would like to extend a gracious discount to all of the Domaining Blog readers, so you can in fact save $120 using the link provide at Domaining Blog and only pay $129. All of my software comes with excellent support and free upgrades for the life of the product. We listen to all bug reports and feature suggestions and address most issues within 48 hours. With thousands of sales, we’ve never had an unsatisfied customer.


Q: db – When is Parking Stats Pro scheduled to release?

A: LL – Parking Stats Pro is scheduled to release January 2006.


Q: db – Now we know that you develop tools for domainers and you are actually a domainer yourself but how often do you actually participate in other aspects of domaining and what aspects of domaining are you directly involved in?

A: LL – I have not made any signicant domain purchases this year, though I am hoping to get back into the game in 2006. I have sold a few domains earlier this year but concentrated mostly on mainstream software projects. Software is my life.


Q: db – How many domain names do you currently hold and what would you say your most prized would be at this time? How much has your portfolio been speculated to be worth?

A: LL – I always favored quality over quantity so my portfolio has always been small. Right now I own about 100 domains, nothing really worth bragging about. I estimate the value at about $100k but don’t really see myself selling any of these domains.


Q: db – In your opinion, what is it that you believe makes a domain name valuable?

A: LL – Type-in traffic is number one in my book. If a domain receives a steady flow type-in visitors it’s usually worth quite a bit. I don’t really like typos or domains that receive type-in traffic based on the content of a site that once existed there. One of the few true type-in domains I’ve owned over the years was funny*#it.com (sh). The traffic to that site was based on the popularity of the term, and not on site content.


Q: db – How do you go about monetizing your other domains? Do you park them, resell them, develop them, a combination of all of the above? What exactly do you do to maximize your returns?

A: LL – I mostly use ParkingSite and DomainSponsor for monetization. If the right offer comes along I sell. I rarely sell domains for less than four times the purchase price.


Q: db – Have you ever made any large domain sales, if so what names and for how much? To end user or reseller and what kind of return did you get?

A: LL – Depends on your definition of large. My largest sale was in the $30k range. All of my domains were sold to other domainers. Though I can’t mention prices due to non-disclosure agreements, I can list a few of the domains I’ve sold in the last 12 months: two of which were gamewinner.com and funnyshit.com. All of the domains I’ve sold within the last 2 years were purchased directly from domain owners dirt cheap and not through drop auctions. I’ve made at least $15k on each domain sale so I can safely say that my system works. This is the reason I’ve included automated appraisals and automated offer submissions in Domain Research Tool. Those users who recognize the power of this feature can make a lot of money.


Q: db – What tips could you give to the rest of the domaining community that you believe makes one a successful domainer?

A: LL – Avoid auction services and contact domain owners directly. This has worked for me and it has worked for some of the world’s most well known domainers. It used to be a very time consuming process, researching, tracking down owners, appraising domains and finally sending offers. Domain Research Tool does all this in one step, requiring only three clicks, even when sending thousands of offers.


Q: db - Where do you see domaining heading in the future? In what ways do you think it will be different from now?

A: LL – I predict an increase in small to mid size corporations getting into the domain game. I also predict that drop auction prices will continue to climb, but you don’t need to be a psychic to know that. For the small guys just getting into the game, all I can say is that I hope you either have a great strategy or a big wallet.


Q: db – Do you have any more projects in the works that the domaining community should be on the lookout for?

A: LL – There are quite a few big projects in the queue, but I always prefer to keep them a secret until at least the beta release.


Q: db – Do you have anybody that you would like to thank for helping you get to where you are today?

A: LL – The entire domain community has been extremely helpful so I guess I’d like to thank everyone. I’ve learned a lot from working with Adam Dicker. I’d like to thank all of my dedicated beta testers, because without them, my products would never be as bug-free as they are today.

We'd like to thank Luc for taking the time to participate in this interview and we strongly suggest that everybody takes a deeper look at all of the tools that Lezon, Inc. has available as they are truly remarkable.

CLICK HERE for more details on the DRT.

CLICK HERE to SAVE $120 OFF of the DRT, Domain Research Tool!

CLICK HERE for more details on the sTypo tool.

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