Monthly Archives: November 2008

Thu 13th November 2008
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
.Tel Has Benefits, But Many Challenges - In an interview with Telnic, I learned more about the top level domain and its benefits. The first time I wrote about .tel was back in 2006 when it was approved by ICANN. I wasn’t a big fan of it back then. I wrote about it again earlier this week, and said I still think this domain extension is a longshot. Earlier today I talked with Justin Hayward, communications director for .tel backer Telnic. My general opinion is the same, but there are some ways, if executed ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yes, Recession will Hurt Pay-Per-Click - Pay-per-click not immune to downturn. I’ve written it many times, but now we’re starting to see the affects: pay-per-click is hurting. I’m not talking about just domain name parking income. We’ve known for a while that payouts to domain owners have been in the dumps. I’m talking about how pay-per-click isn’t immune to downturns. Many people argue that advertisers will move to pay-per-click during a downturn because it is more results oriented than TV ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Will .Com Domain Name Fees Soar? - Hidden bomb in new gTLD agreement could introduce tiered pricing to .com domains. Upset about VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) increasing your .com registration fees 7% a year? Imagine if they could raise them by whatever they want. There’s a little time bomb in the new draft gTLD registry agreement, part of the new top level domain rollout process, that could make this happen. Essentially, the new registry agreement wouldn’t place any pricing restrictions on registries ... read more ...
Wed 12th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Google Publishes SEO Starter Guide - Google released today what is calls The Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (pdf file), a 22 page document. According to Google: “””””Our Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide covers around a dozen common areas that webmasters might consider optimizing. We felt that these areas (like improving title and description meta tags, URL structure, site navigation, content creation, anchor text, and more) would apply to webmasters of all experience levels and sites of all sizes and types. ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Google Shares Close Below $300 - Shares of Google closed today under $300 a share for the first time since October 2005,, effectively wiping out 3 years of profits. Shares hit an interday low of $287.86 before closing at $291. Shares have been battered this week as analysts predict slower revenue growth for the fourth quarter amid signs that Internet users are growing less likely to click on advertising links, Google’s main source of revenue. Analysts from Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital both lowered earnings and revenue estimates ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Michael Mann On Domain Hoarding By Registrars and The WLS - This is a guest post by Michael Mann, who is responsible for this content. Michael started and later sold, BuyDomains.com, and was a pioneer in the domain industry.  Michael more recently started a charitable organization GrassRoots.org whose banners frequent appear across networks of parked pages: “”””In this case the illegal hoarding of domains by registrars, started by NSI, in cahoots with SnapNames and now NameJet who won monopolistice contracts from the hoarding monopoly, has been ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Australian IT: “Release ICANN From The Clutches Of The US Government” - Last week we wrote a post on what our predictions were for the President elect Obama’s administration as it relates to the domain industry. One of our predictions was that the new administration would let ICANN go from US control. Today a The Australian IT published an article,  already putting the pressure on the new administration to give up control of ICANN. Australian IT is a widely read publication, (Alexa ranking of 507; Compete.com monthly traffic estimate of 1.6 million people). “”””Twomey ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN: The Importance of IDN Compliance - ICANN’s Director of IDN discusses the importance of technical compliance for international domain names. ICANN Director of the IDN Program Tina Dam wrote about the importance of compliance with IDN technical requirements on the ICANN blog today. It’s a must read for anyone who has invested in international domain names (domains that use non-roman/latin characters) or considering them as new IDN TLDs are introduced. Dam stresses that technical compliance is required ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DNW Launches Domain Name Registrar Review Site - RegistrarJudge.com allows users to rate domain registrars. I’m excited to announce the launch of the beta for RegistrarJudge.com. Registrar Judge allows domainers and other consumers to rate domain registrars on 5 criteria and write reviews about them. Domain registrars are automatically ranked on the site according to the ratings. There are lots of forums and other discussions about domain registrars, but I haven’t found a simple way to rank and review domain ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Auction Results: Games.mobi Headlines Lackluster .Mobi Auction - Games.mobi sold for $44,000 in .mobi domain name auction. If you believe in .mobi, the top level domain for mobile devices, then today was a great buying opportunity for you. The Sedo .mobi auction concluded with many domains selling at discounts of 50%-90% of what they would have sold for just 6 months ago. Back in September I said this auction would be a “defining moment” for .mobi. It has been defined, as the economy and perhaps an oversupply of “quality” ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Single Letter Domain Names Coming — To Singapore - Single letter domain names to be allocated for .sg country code domain name. Single letter domain names are coming — to Singapore, that is. Singapore Network Information Center (SGNIC) announced it will be allocating single letter domain names (A to Z) across both the second level and third level. This means you will be able to pick up A.sg as well as A.com.sg, A.org.sg, A.net.sg, A.edu.sg, A.gov.sg, A.per.sg. Entities interested in applying for the domain names ... read more ...
Tue 11th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Google Hits New 52 Week Low - At the start of trading this morning Google hit a new 52 week low. The previous low was $308.70 and shares have already traded as low as $301.80 today. Just a couple of weeks ago, after releasing earnings, Google traded as high as $385. Baidu.com is only $3 from hitting its 52 week low currently at $192.55 share. It’s 52 week low is $189.52. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Tech Crunch: Alice.com Sold for $250,000: Startup In The Works - Tech Crunch is reporting today that the domain name Alice.com was sold for $250,000 (Tech Crunch calls that a “fair price”) and belongs to a couple of entrepreneurs who have already started and sold 3 business in the last 10 years. A total of $4.3 million has been raised to start his new venture. “””Alice.com will be an open, online retail platform for consumer packaged goods, focused primarily on linking manufacturers of essential household stuff like tooth brushes, toilet paper, trash ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows Lays Off 15% of Staff - The action by WADND to strip Tucows registrar of their seal of approval could only be interpreted as a self-serving action to influence registrars like Tucows to join other registrars auctioning their domain names through Snapnames, Namejet and others. As the value of domain names commands sometimes 6 and 7 figures, many registrars have used every trick in the book to make it difficult for domain owners to renew their domain names, sometimes by not accepting their credit card for payment ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Parked.com Finalizing Stats Faster - Domain parking company finalizing earnings stats much faster than before. I logged into my Parked.com account at about 9:30 CST this morning and was shocked to see there was no asterisk next to my stats for yesterday. Parked customers know that an asterisk means the stats are not final as the company awaits stats from advertising feed providers. In other words, as of no later than 9:30 this morning Parked had already finalized stats for yesterday. Over at NamePros, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Sedo has a “Banner” Week for Domain Name Sales - Domain name aftermarket completes transfer of 3 six figure domain names. Sedo had a “banner” week for domain name sales, including completing the transfer of Banners.com for $360,000. But that wasn’t the highest sale; LowFare.com changed hands for $365,000. The sales prowess didn’t stop there. The company also completed the sale of pisos.net for a staggering 150,000 EUR, which easily makes the top ten list of published .net domain name sales of all time. ... read more ...
Mon 10th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Is NameJet.com Now The Most Effective Platform for Domain Sales? - Could Namejet.com be the most effective sales platform for domains? This was suggested by one of the readers to this blog earlier today. After weeks of strong domain sales on NameJet, a case be made that NameJet.com is fast becoming the most effective platform for high priced domain sales. Today a very good domain, BikeHelmets.com, a domain which we bid up to $15K, sold for $50,250 on NameJet.com Another domain, shotglass.com sold today on NameJet.com for $16,655. As we reported yesterday a 2 letter ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Deutsche Bank Sets GM’s Stock Price Target To Zero - Certainly off the topic of domains, but when I see something in the financial world, I have never seen before I have to report it. Today Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache issued a new price target on shares of GM. His new “target price” for GM shares: zero. “Even if GM succeeds in averting a bankruptcy, we believe that the company’s future path is likely to be bankruptcy-like. Shares of GM closed at $3.36 down $1 or 23%. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
Barclays: DownGrades Google Stating: “Search Environment Has Materially Deteriorated” - Barclays Capital cut its fourth-quarter revenue estimates on Google and lowered its price target on the stock. Analyst Douglas Anmuth said the recent industry checks and data points suggest the search environment has deteriorated, perhaps materially, in fourth quarter. He cut his price target on the stock by $52 to $490, but maintained his “overweight” rating. “Checks with multiple SEMs (search engine marketers) and comments from IAC Infospace lead us to believe that October was weaker than ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Tucows Reports Slight Loss in Q3 - Domain registrar fights currency fluctuations; down economy. Tucows (AMEX: TCX) reported a third quarter loss of $71,000 today. Despite a difficult environment, our third quarter revenue growth was driven by the strong performance of our OpenSRS Wholesale Services, primarily domain registration,” said Elliot Noss, President and CEO of Tucows. “A number of factors, including weakness in our email business and the general economy putting downward pressure on ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Telnic: A $35 Million Investment Gone Awry - Luck seems to be running out for investors in .tel registry. And it hasn’t even launched yet. A new top level domain, .tel, is getting ready to rollout in the first part of next year. The registry behind the domain — Telnic — has raised a stunning $35 million in outside capital before even launching the domain name. .Tel isn’t a traditional domain name where you register it and then put up a parking page or web site. Instead, your .tel domain name is sort ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Rock Group Wants ThirdEyeBlind.net - Alternative rock group files UDRP to get domain name ahead of new album release. Rock group Third Eye Blind has filed a UDRP claim to get the domain name ThirdEyeBlind.net. The claim was filed by lead vocalist Stephan Jenkins’ production company. Third Eye Blind’s official web site is the short and simple 3eb.com. So why just get around to filing the UDRP now, and why only the .net version instead of .com? I have a couple hunches. For the timing, Third Eye ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Thought Convergence is Converging a Domain Ecosystem - Domain company Thought Convergence putting together all the pieces of a domain name ecosystem. There are lots of companies playing one or two angles of the domain name business: sales, monetization, registration, etc. Thought Convergence, however, is making a play to own the entire life of the domain from research to registration all the way through sales. That puts it in a class with another Los Angeles domain icon: Oversee.net. You probably know Thought Convergence, ... read more ...
Sun 9th November 2008
Written by The Domains in EN
Next Big Money NameJet Auction: ZL.com - The domain ZL.com is currently in a closed domain auction at NameJet.com with a high bid of $15,100. The auction closes on Wednesday afternoon. There are 124 bidders in the auction. This looks like an actual drop domain and was registered in 1996. I may have a short memory, but I can’t recall the last time I saw a 2 letter .com in a drop auction. Should be interesting. Anyone want to take a guess on the closing price? My guess is the auction will close around $70K-$80K. Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN
It’s Time For Drop Services To Drop There Prices Minimum Price For Back Ordered Domains - As we all know economics of the domain industry have changed. Parking revenues are down 50% or more from 2007. This week we reported according to VeriSign that domain new registration are down, due largely to less registrations by domainers. In public reports by Fabulous.com, their parking revenue have fallen by more than 50%, and continue to fall each quarter. It’s time for the drop services to recognize the changed economic conditions and drop there minimum bid prices on back orders. Currently ... read more ...