Monthly Archives: January 2006

Wed 11th January 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Do images boost parking page click-throughs? - Communicate.com has added preview images to its parked domain pages in an effort to increase click-throughs. Communicate.com (CMNN.com) owns a number of premier domain names including Perfume.com, Importers.com, Body.com, Boxing.com, and more. It develops some of its domains into ecommerce stores and parks its unused domains to generate ad revenue. The company has changed its parked page templates to include a screenshot preview of each ad’s target page. For ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.CN domain passes 1 million mark - China’s .CN domain has topped 1,000,000 registrations. 1.09M, to be exact, according to official Chinese news reports. For the record, that’s about one .CN domain per 1200 people in China. (The China Internet Network Information Center still shows only 976,253 domains registered, but that’s as of November 2005). Now if we could just get the Chinese government to stop censoring web sites. Also keep in mind that if your web site is set up in China you need to ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Spammers stealing behind Whois privacy - Spammers are increasingly hiding behind anonymous registrations using Whois privacy services. A recent article on Silicon.com and subsequently published on ZDNet discusses the use of Whois privacy services for spammers to hide their identities. Many of the identified domains with anonymous registrations are behind large amounts of message board comment spam–mostly for casinos. As a blogger myself, comment spam is a constant battle. The article references Moniker’s ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
FlashGames.com sells for $226,950 - Anyone looking for a sign that 2006 will be a good year for domain investors need look no further than this week’s DNJournal sales chart. The year started off with a bang as a two word domain FlashGames.com pocketed $226,950 at Moniker. Moniker also sold CancunHotels.com for $120,000. Sedo almost cracked 6 figures with its sale of CheapGifts.com for $90,000. As I discussed last week, DNJournal changed the format of its charts for 2006. In addition to the regular ... read more ...
Tue 10th January 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Is Oprah shopping TOWS.com? - Tows.com has met its reserve on Afternic. Is Oprah Winfrey the buyer? I know it’s a little weird, but I have a daily habit of checking out the “closing soon section” at Afternic. This section includes domains that have met their reserve price and are closing in the next seven days. I figure if someone makes a bid on a domain then it’s worth my time to consider buying it. Tows.com is on the list and it ends in about 4 days. The current bid is $2,625 with ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Pay-per-click fraud: how it affects a domain name industry - I just finished reading DNJournal’s year-in-review article, and the issue raised again and again is click fraud. Will click fraud destroy the domain name industry? For those newbies out there, click fraud refers to people or software purposely clicking on pay-per-click ads in order to charge the advertiser. Pay-per-click advertising gave domain names a second wind and has been a major force behind recent price increases in the domain resale market. This means ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
George Foreman Gets a KO - George Foreman won rights to GeorgeForeman Enterprises.com, but it wasn’t a TKO. The victory was just a KO because the previous registrant of the domain name didn’t bother to respond to the UDRP. In its usual fashion, National Arbitration Forum issued a press release about their arbitration ruling finding in favor of the celebrity boxer-turned-grill-salesman. I have long been a critic of NAF’s practice of issuing press releases after deciding in favor celebrities ... read more ...
Mon 9th January 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Monetizing Domains with AdSense - Do you want to start off the new year with a new approach? Are you concerned about the honesty of the third party pay-per-click services? It’s possible to go directly to Google and use their AdSense program to finance you domains. While many domain professionals use domain parking services, others prefer to develop their domains into full-fledged websites. Once this is done, then programs such as Google’s AdSense can be used to monetize the domain. The rules ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
FranchisesForSale.com sells for $26,000 - FranchisesForSale.com sold for $26,000 at Afternic. Although it’s a long domain, the term “Franchise for Sale” bids at $2.57 on Overture. A long but common phrase can command a big check. Let’s not forget about ForSaleByOwner.com, which sold for $835,000 back in the heyday. Afternic had some other nice sales last week. Heart-One.com sold for $8,800, OUAM.com sold for $5,450, and Surfland.com sold for $3,000. The Gators.com sale I reported previously has ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Apple and iPhone.org – What does it mean? - Apple may have acquired a domain name prior to product launch — but I have my doubts. I have long been a critic of Apple for its poor domain name practices. It neglected to register any of the VideoiPod domains. It didn’t register iPodNano.com before launching the product, even though the domain was available. But I came across an article speculating about Apple’s future product launches that mentioned the company acquired iPhone.org. The article speculates ... read more ...
Fri 6th January 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Enom adds “premium names” to auctions - eNom has joined a number of domain backordering services that now highlight high quality expiring domains. When users of eNom’s Club Drop system login, they can now view a list of “Premium Domains” as designated by eNom. eNom uses “proprietary tools” to discover which domains have high value. This likely means they check backlinks, Alexa rank, etc. eNom is not the first backorder service to do this. GoDaddy currently has a category of “high value” ... read more ...
Thu 5th January 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
TrafficClub Dec Results - The final month of 2005 was another good month for PPC earnings at TrafficClub. If you are a frequent reader of Domain Name Wire you know that I’m a fan of the TrafficClub.com paid parking service. Here are my results from December 2005: -Overall revenue per 1,000 visitors (RPM) : $31.26. This is down from $44.41 in November, but this is due to adding some domains with high traffic and low click-through rates. -Domain Sponsor generic lander RPM: $25.41 -Domain ... read more ...
Wed 4th January 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Earth.com sells for $800,000 - DNJournal’s final sales chart of 2005 includes the sale of Earth.com for $800,000. Combined with the previously announced Annuity.com sale at $600,000, 2005 went out with a bang. This year saw 9 announced domain name sales of $500,000 or more. This past week also saw Sharks.com sell for $140,000 to the same buyer as Earth.com. Redmond.com expired and was auctioned off on Pool for $62,999. Redmond, Washington is home of Microsoft and other tech giants. Sedo ... read more ...
Tue 3rd January 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Last call for 2006 Domain Name Wire Survey - Time is running out to participate in the 2006 Domain Name Wire Survey. This survey will help the industry understand the attitude of its participants and the future of the market. Topics covered include: -Biggest worries of domain name owners -Most important characteristics of domain registrars -ICANN -Pay-per-click market -more Anyone who owns a domain name or is affiliated with a domain services company may participate. Click here to participate. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Casinos.ws keeps .ws domains in a spotlight - Casino.ws sold at Sedo for $1,500 — not bad for a .ws domain. Let’s face it. .Ws domain names haven’t traded hands for tons of money. But savvy internet marketers realize the value of a good keyword CC TLD. Sedo just completed the sale of Casinos.ws for $1,500. I imagine that Casino.ws would sell for a bit more. This sets a good standard for popular keywords like Mortgage.ws, Loans.ws, etc. Other top .ws sales include: WhoIs.ws – £2,610 (November ... read more ...