Monthly Archives: June 2006

Fri 30th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo’s Overture to throw despotic bid-for-placement - Yahoo Search Marketing, also known as Overture, is scrapping the strict bid-for-placement system it invented. When Yahoo rolls out its updated search advertising system later this year, the highest bidder will no longer be guaranteed to show up at the top. Yahoo is switching to a system similar to Google and MSN, that takes into consideration both the bid amount and click-through rate of the ads. This should help with relevance while boosting Yahoo’s revenue. Yahoo ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Hawaii cybersquatting law one of a worst - A politician in Hawaii has bullied a political activist into giving up his domain name. In May I wrote about a law New York was trying to pass that would protect politicians’ names as domain names. In retrospect, the New York law was not so harsh: it would only punish someone who registered a politican’s domain name with the sole purpose of selling it. Although I don’t think states should regulate domain names, the New York law was rather narrow. Imagine my ... read more ...
Thu 29th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NameDrive continues to pull domain parking limits - I recently asked NameDrive president Ed Russell about recent developments at his company, including IDN support and the $300,000 sale of Blackjack.de. DNW: NameDrive has quickly become one of the most popular domain parking services. How many domains are you currently monetizing? How quickly has this grown? NameDrive: Since our launch in September 2005, we have shown extremely rapid growth, with Google saying we are the fastest-growing third party reseller their ... read more ...
Wed 28th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Whois discuss continues - FTC defends availability of Whois, and you should too. The debate over availability of Whois information continued this week during the Morocco ICANN meeting. FTC Commissioner John Leibowitz presented several examples of how Whois helped the FTC shut down fishers, scammers, and various illegal activities. This is a hot topic, and ICANN CEO Paul Twomey discussed at Domain Roundtable the pros and cons of making this data available . Most domainers would like to shut ... read more ...
Tue 27th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.DE, .EU continue to grow - Over 10 million .de domains registered, .eu approaches 2 million. Some people say the recent .eu domain launch was the most successful launch in history. Others say it was just a sham speculative event. Either way, .eu registry EURid is making a mint. .eu registrations are approaching 2 million. As a country code domain, .eu does not fall under ICANN governmental policy. Another country code domain, .de has become one of the most popular domains on the web. .de ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Fabulous to list domains on TDNAM - Agreement is first major listing partnership for GoDaddy’s domain aftermarket. GoDaddy announced a deal today with domain owner and marketer Fabulous to list Fabulous domains on its domain aftermarket, TDNAM. To my knowledge this is the first major listing agreement for TDNAM. Other aftermarkets have similar listing deals, such as Afternic listing thousands of BuyDomains listings. I just reviewed the TDNAM site and don’t see any obvious integration of Fabulous ... read more ...
Mon 26th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Domain Name Marketplace Workshop - This week’s ICANN meeting in Marrakech, Morocco will feature a workshop about current trends in the domain name marketplace. Jothan Frakes of Domain Roundtable/DomainTools.com will introduce the 3 hour workshop. The workshop was organized in response to requests from the ICANN community about the ways value is derived from domain names and questions about the appropriateness of some of these activities. Among the more controversial subjects to be discussed: Monetization ... read more ...
Fri 23rd June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Vint Cerf in The Economist - A recent edition of The Economist magazine profiles Vinton Cerf, ICANN Chairman of the Board. A couple months ago I had the good fortune of having breakfast with Cerf at Domain Roundtable, where he gave a keynote address. He’s a fascinating guy who has played a major role in the internet and is known as “the father of the internet”. He has a witty comment in the article about this moniker: There were many of us [involved with the Internet’s creation]. As ... read more ...
Thu 22nd June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Afternic removing a makeover - Afternic is getting ready to launch its redesigned site. When I sat down with Roger Collins of Afternic at Domain Roundtable in April, he told me Afternic was undergoing a complete redesign. Afternic has released a preview of the new design here. It looks like a winner to me. (My #1 concern with Afternic has been loading speed, and this appears to be getting better. Afternic just released a major database upgrade.) The new GUI will be a welcome change as well. ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Oversee.net wants your domain portfolio - Oversee.net, parent company of DomainSponsor, is buying domain portfolios. The company announced this week that it acquired a portfolio of 35,000 domains. That’s great for the seller, but what about you? It turns out Oversee.net is looking to buy additional domain portfolios. I asked Ron Sheridan of Oversee.net (and DomainSponsor fame) about how you can sell your portfolio: DNW: Is Oversee.net actively seeking to purchase more domain portfolios?Sheridan: Absolutely ... read more ...
Wed 21st June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Conflict of Opinion - If a UDRP panelist believes domainers are the same thing as cybersquatters, is he fit to arbitrate? I came across an editorial on CNET today by Doug Isenberg, an attorney in Atlanta and founder of GigaLaw.com, and a domain name panelist for the World Intellectual Property Organization. The guest editorial focuses on Whois privacy and why it’s imperative to maintain open access to registrant data for intellectual property and legal purposes. That’s a common opinion ... read more ...
Tue 20th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Mid-tier domain sales - Mid-tier domain sales are often overlooked but are a treasure trove of information for domain investors. Every week domainers go ga-ga over the big ticket sales: On.com for $635k, Bike.com for $500k, Blue.com for $500k, etc. But little notice is paid to domains that sell in the $1,000-$10,000 range. This is strange since most domainers don’t own great domains. Instead, they own “good” domains that will likely sell for no more than 4 figures. 4 figure domain ... read more ...
Mon 19th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy throws shawl into domain parking ring - GoDaddy has opened up its domain parking service to the public — but charges a fee to participate. GoDaddy has long been one of the internet’s biggest domain parking companies, but it has limited its parking pages to domains registered through its company and not put to use. GoDaddy didn’t share its parking revenue. A while back it started offering revenue share to its resellers. If someone registered a domain through a reseller and didn’t put it to use, ... read more ...
Fri 16th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy releases trade data - In a new twist to its expiring domain auctions, GoDaddy is starting to add traffic data to select domains. GoDaddy’s TDNAM service is the exclusive source for expiring GoDaddy domains. Several months ago TDNAM listings started being separated for “High Value Domains”. These domains receive significant traffic and have higher starting bids than other expiring domains. GoDaddy didn’t provide specific stats for these domains, other than to say that buyers ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows acquires domain portfolio - Domain registar Tucows had acquired NetIdentity and its portfolio of domain names. Tucows is paying approximately $18M in cash, notes, and stock for NetIdentity, also known as Mailbank.com. NetIdentity holds a large portfolio of surname domains, such as Smith.net . Tucows (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) expects the transaction to have a net negative effect on earnings per share until 2008. However, the transaction will signficantly boost Tucows cash flow: the company expects ... read more ...
Thu 15th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo introduces domain financing, IDN parking - Sedo has partnered with DomainCapital for financing of domains over $10,000 and has announced support for international domain names. Buying domain names can be a good investment, but what if you don’t have the cash in hand to take advantage of a good deal? DomainCapital provides financing for domain names and has created a partnership with Sedo. According to a press release, Sedo has already brokered 211 transactions for domains valued at least $10,000 this year. ... read more ...
Wed 14th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Dotster Happy Hour to offer giveaway domain transfer - Dotster’s next happy hour will offer a free domain transfer as a launch for its $5 transfer promotion. Domain Registrar Dotster will hold its next “domain name happy hour” this Thursday at 1PM PDT. Visitors to the site will receive a coupon for a free domain name transfer. This will kick of Dotster’s $5 transfer special that will run until June 22. If you have a lot of domains at various registrars it might make sense to transfer them to dotster for the ... read more ...
Tue 13th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Boston Globe essay about approach navigation - The Boston Globe has profiled NameMedia (formerly BuyDomains) and the direct navigation market in general. The Boston Globe article is poorly titled “Internet Stealth Company Steps Out”. But anyone in the domain industry knows NameMedia hasn’t been a quiet company. BuyDomains has always been known as one of the heavyweights in the industry. The company now owns 650,000 domains. Some of the company’s domains, which deliver 25M visitors per month, are photography.com, ... read more ...
Mon 12th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Commission Junction changes couple plans - Affiliate heavyweight Commission Junction caved to publisher complaints and changed its phase out plan for affiliate links. If you’re like many domain name owners, you depend on affiliate programs in addition to pay per click revenue. One of the biggest affiliate networks, Commission Junction, recently announced plans to introduce javascript links to replace standard HTML links. On the surface this is a smart move. It allows Commission Junction’s advertisers ... read more ...
Thu 8th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign ICANN allotment gets political - Which politicians support VeriSign’s lawsuit settlement with ICANN? It depends on whom bankrolls the politician… CNET writers Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache published an excellent story about the VeriSign-ICANN settlement and how it is hitting Washington. The US Commerce department must bless this settlement for it to proceed without complications. A hearing of the House of Representatives’ Small Business Committee on Wednesday showed a variety of opinions ... read more ...
Wed 7th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Bike.com sells for $500k - DNJournal’s latest domain sales roundup is led by Bike.com, which sold for $500,000. Residing in Austin, I’m not at all surprised to see Bike.com sell for such a high figure. I pass by at least a dozen bikers on the way to work each day. On weekends you can pass dozens of bikers on each road in the city. Perhaps it’s because Lance Armstrong calls Austin his home, and Austin has great hills and scenery, but Austinites are gaga for bicycles. Having researched ... read more ...
Tue 6th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Branson.com sells for $1.6M - In a sale sure to send shockwaves through the domain community, Branson.com has sold for $1.6M For those who don’t know, Branson is a small Missouri town that’s a big tourist attraction. It’s kind of like Nashville for people that don’t want to make the trip to Nashville. We’re talking country music and the like. According to a press release, Branson.com just sold for $1.6M. That’s not a typo. This is a big deal sure to send shockwaves through the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Celebrities get intelligent about domain names - At 8:27AM Saturday morning, actress Angelina Jolie’s lawyers were hard at work — registering domain names. Having fought to get their names in cyberspace, celebrities are getting smarter about registering their kids’ names. Angelina Jolie’s team of lawyers registered a number of variations of her new baby’s name – Shiloh Nouvel. Among the variations of her name registered were Shilohnouveljoliepitt.com, Shilohjoliepitt.com, and Shilohjolie-pitt.com. According ... read more ...
Mon 5th June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy’s Bob Parsons on BusinessWeek.com - Bob Parson is taking his fight against abuse of the 5-day domain registration grace period beyond his blog. Bob Parsons has written a couple blog entries about abuse of the 5-day domain registration grace period. He has named the abuse “domain kiting”, which basically allows people to try domain names for 5 days without paying for them (or longer, by simply re-trying domains in successive 5-day periods.) Now Parsons is taking his fight beyond his blog. A June ... read more ...
Fri 2nd June 2006
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Dotster named in cybersquatting lawsuit - Domain registrar Dotster has been named in a large cybersquatting lawuit. However, it is likely the actions of a rouge employee that put the company in the hotseat. According to an article on CNET, domain registrar Dotster has been sued in federal court by Neiman Marcus for cybersquatting and typosquatting. According to the article, Dotster allegedly tested domains during the five day grace period alloted to registrars and then kept the ones that received typo traffic. ... read more ...