Monthly Archives: October 2009

Wed 14th October 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
GoDaddy Launching GeoDomain Search Tool - Registrar is launching tool to make finding location-based domain names easier. [Update: the tool is now live] Domain name registrar GoDaddy is launching a GeoDomain research tool to help domainers find local domains, such as cityHotels.com. The tool will be launched no later than Monday. Users enter a location (such as a city or state) and can also add keywords, such as “hotel”. The tool then loads a map of the area with pinpoints on each location, which represent ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
ICANN Asks GNSO to Weigh-in on Domain Trademark Issues by December - GNSO given two months to weigh-in on intellectual property issues for new top level domain names. ICANN President CEO Rod Beckstrom and Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate-Thrush have sent a letter to Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), asking it to weigh-in on intellectual property issues related to new top level domain names by December 14. The letter (pdf) explains proposals put forth for protecting the rights of intellectual property owners during and ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Moniker Trims Silent Auction List for TRAFFIC Auction - Moniker shrinks silent auction, online finance auction ends tomorrow. Responding to complaints about the unwieldy number of domains in its last major silent (extended) domain auction, Moniker has cut the list from about 5,000 to 1,800 for this month’s auction. I’m not sure if the list is small enough even at 1,800, but it’s definitely a move in the right direction. The live auction will feature 187 domains and will take place on Wednesday, October 28. Top ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Click Fraud? Don’t Forget about Impression Fraud - Impression fraud is alive and well. While most media outlets have shouted the alarm bells about click fraud over recent years, we shouldn’t forget that the old stalwart of online advertising fraud still exists: impression fraud. The Wall Street Journal recently reported about recent examples where web sites would show “invisible ads”, inflating the number of banner ad impressions for companies such as Kraft Foods, Greyhound Lines and Capital One Financial. In ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Dropbox Buys Dropbox.com Domain Name [Updated] - Dropbox.com now forwards to GetDropbox.com. TechCrunch noticed that popular web backup tool Dropbox has acquired the domain name Dropbox.com, which forwards to its web site GetDropbox.com. Hopefully this will be a lesson to web startups to not be stingy with their initial domain purchase, as it costs them lots more money in the long run. Dropbox’s parent company had sued to get the domain name, but recently dismissed the case. That likely means the two parties ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
AP Buys Domain Before Launching News Registry Service - News cooperative buys domain for launch of initiative. I often times write about companies that announce a new product before securing rights to the corresponding domain name. So it’s always nice to see when a company does secure a domain in anticipation of a launch. This one comes courtesy of Rob Sequin, who read an article about the Associated Press creating a system to detect unauthorized use of its content: The AP already plans to roll out a system, called ... read more ...
Tue 13th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
LFA.com: NBA.Org At Aucton during Godaddy.com - Two very good three letter domain names are listed at auction at Godaddy.com LFA.com is at auction and already is over $5K with over 9 days to go. NBA.org is also at auction with just over 2 days to go the current high bid is $2K. Obviously the winner of that auction is going to have to put the domain in use to a non-basketball related site.  There are of course thousands of other organizations and companies that could legitimately use those three letters but the new owner is going to have to be ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
UDRP’s Turns 10 and Holds A Conference To Celebrate - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) marked the 1oth anniversary  of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) yesterday with a conference that “brought together over 200 stakeholders from around the world”. I was not invited. I guess I’m not a “stakeholder”. I wonder if anyone from the domainer community got an invite to this conference, although I’m pretty sure the answer is no. Domain holders are appearently not stakeholders. According to WIPO, the conference ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Why The Yahoo Class Action Settlement Is Bad News For Domainers - DirectNavigation.com wrote today about a notice that went out to anyone who advertised with Yahoo or the its prior service GoTo.com, on its PPC program(s) anytime from May 1, 2000 until September 22, 2009. That’s a lot of advertisers. The class action arose out of a suit by advertisers against Yahoo, alleging that Yahoo: “””breached its contract with its customers by allowing Yahoo! ads to be displayed in spyware, domain name parking sites (also known as bulk registration sites), pop-ups, ... read more ...
 
Written by The Domains in EN and tagged
Moniker Releases Teaser List For Live TRAFFIC NY Auction - Today Moniker.com released the list of some of the best domains it will be selling at its auction to be held at the  TRAFFIC New York show on Wednesday October 28th at 4pm EST. Remote bidding will be available on Snapnames.com. This list is not the full list of live domains, which are expected to be around 200 domains, but just a sampling of some of the domains schduled to be auctioned and is subject to change. No pricing information was released for the teasers. There are certainly some great domains ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
French Domain Name Mutuelle.fr Sells for $115,000 - .Fr domain takes top honors on domain sales list. The French country code domain name mutuelle.fr, which means “mutual” as in mutual insurance company, has sold for 78,001 EUR at Sedo. That’s about $115,000 USD at today’s exchange rates. The mutuelle.fr sale was the biggest by far for the week at Sedo, perhaps because some of the biggest buyers were hanging out in Key West. Here are some other notable sales completed at Sedo over the past week: .com activecare.com 13,000 USD localtube.com 11,000 USD mypsoriasis.com 11,000 USD isban.com 10,500 EUR blossomlearning.com 10,000 USD game-shop.com 10,000 GBP candyapple.com 8,000 USD familysafety.com 7,800 USD adfactory.com 7,000 USD parkstreet.com 6,500 USD ilsportal.com 6,000 USD gamblingcard.com 5,500 USD klaas.com 5,500 EUR crazyringtones.com 5,100 USD bradfordnews.com 5,000 USD effectix.com 5,000 USD intreo.com 5,000 USD findairfare.com 4,600 USD bikebay.com 4,250 EUR namebook.com 4,000 USD datacite.com 4,000 USD entradasbaratas.com 4,000 EUR Cheap ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Woopra Web Analytics Program Comes out of Beta - Woopra web analytics program now open to public. Back in February, Michael Sumner of DN Media hooked me up with a beta invite to live stats program Woopra. I’ve been hooked ever since. Now Woopra is out of beta, which means anyone can sign up and harness the power of real time stats for a small fee. Woopra offers extensive stats including all of the historical stats you get for free with Google Analytics. But it also offers real time stats that allow you to instantly ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Yahoo Class Action Settlement May Lead to Lower Domain Parking Earnings - New advertising option excludes parked domain names. The settlement of a class action lawsuit against Yahoo may result in lower pay-per-click revenue for parked domain names. The lawsuit was brought against Yahoo for allegedly misleading advertisers as to the sites where their ads would appear: This class action was brought in 2006 by several Yahoo! pay-per-click search advertising customers. They allege that customers contracted for targeted ad placements through ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Law Firm Fear Mongering Over New TLDs - An example of how a law firm is cashing in on new top level domains. As I’ve said before, I understand why trademark holders are apprehensive about the introduction of new top level domain names. It’s indisputable that the release of hundreds of new top level domain names will be costly and time consuming from a brand protection perspective. But, as I noted, they are also overstating the problem. To peer into the fear mongering undertaken by legal experts, ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
How To Get Your Domains Listed for Sale in GoDaddy’s Registration Path - Registrar gives your aftermarket domain great exposure through Premium Listings. One of the most effective ways to sell domain names to end users is to market to them at the exact moment they’re searching for a domain name. That’s why NameMedia’s partnership with GoDaddy to display “premium domains” during the searching/registration process is so successful. But few people know that GoDaddy gives everyone the opportunity to list their domains in the “premium ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DevHub Expands Office Space, Looking for More Developers - Seattle company growing its team. DevHub offices getting an expansion. Web site platform provider DevHub is expanding its Seattle office space as it adds more employees. The company is adding about 1,000 square feet to its current office space and putting out the call for two contract-to-hire web development positions. Here’s an abridged version of the job description: DevHub is looking for a skilled developer to join our talented technical team in the heart of ... read more ...
Mon 12th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Bloggers Need To Respect Domain Buyers Privacy Requests - Bloggers, including myself, love to write about domain sales especially those in the six and seven figures. Reader love to read stories on the big money sales. There is nothing wrong with that, except where the buyer of the domain specifically doesn’t want the publicity That takes us to one of the six figure domains that was sold by BuyDomains.com/Afternic.com, last week that has been reported by several sources. The problem is that the buyer of this domain wanted the details of the sale, including ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Musings: Where are a auctions, charity, more - A few thoughts I jotted down this weekend. Are there really two major domain name auctions at TRAFFIC later this month? It’s only a couple weeks away, and I haven’t seen a single list of domains yet… …How long will it be until PeopleofWalmart.com gets a UDRP? …One of the biggest ironies in the domain name industry is that Oversee.net doesn’t own Oversee.com. …There are two types of people in the domain industry: giving people and taking people. There ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
NameMedia Scores with Ticket.com, Luck.com, and WV.com - NameMedia turning in some blockbuster sales. What’s going on at NameMedia, which runs BuyDomains and Afternic? They usually sell domains for under $5,000. Sure, they sell some more expensive ones, but we rarely hear about them. The first bombshell was the sale of Ticket.com for $1.525 million. Personally, I don’t understand why this domain is worth so much, but my hats off to the sale. (Tickets.com is worth a lot, but Ticket.com is worth much less). Then the ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DirectNIC Picks adult Red Register Domains, ICANN Notifies Two More Registrars - More registrar transitions thanks to ICANN enforcement. Domain name registrar DirectNIC will take over domain names that were registered at Red Register, which was recently de-accredited by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Red Register had approximately 7,000 global top level domain names under management. Billing contact information was not provided by Red Register, so customers should provide billing information to DirectNIC to ensure ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Every Domain Owner Should Subscribe to DomainTools’ Registrant Alert - Why every domain owner should subscribe to a registrant alert for their domains. If you don’t use DomainTools’ Registrant Alert service to monitor your own domain names, drop everything and sign up now (it’s free to monitor your domains). Here’s how this service has helped me in just the past few months: 1. It alerted me that one of my domains had changed to ‘pending delete’ because I neglected to renew it. That saved me from losing a valuable domain ... read more ...
Sun 11th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Here’s A Company That “Get’s It”: 1-800Contacts.com - We often, cite and generally ridicule large company’s that just don’t get the domain space. So we have to give props when we find companies that “Get It”,  as we say in the domain world. Take the case of 1800contacts.com. Of course they own the other possible typos of 1-800Contacts.com, 800Contacts.com, 1800Contact.com and 1-800Contacts.com,  but what’s gets them into the “Get It” ranking, is that they also own the category killers; Contacts.com, Glasses.com and ContactLenses.com That ... read more ...
Sat 10th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
Domain Development Corp (DDC) Becomes Yahoo First BOSS Sydication Partner - As we indicate earlier this week one of our advertisers and one of the companies we have been parking domains with for years, has become the first approved Yahoo! Search BOSS syndication partner. Domain Development Corporation (DDC),   in becoming the first Search BOSS syndication partner of Yahoo, gives developers global access to Yahoo! Sponsored Search results and benefit from revenue generated by their BOSS-powered products. We congratulate Our friends at DDC for this accomplishment. Here is ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN
Why Would we Name a Textbook Rental Company Chegg? - Textbook rental company has a bad name. On my flight back to Austin from Key West yesterday, I flipped through the channels on the airline’s audio system. One of the channels on American Airlines is called Sky Radio, where companies pay to be interviewed for “news” stories. I listened to an interview with one of the founders of Chegg, which is sort of like a NetFlix for textbooks. It’s an interesting idea, and perhaps a good business (so far over a million ... read more ...
Fri 9th October 2009
Written by The Domains in EN
What’s More Valuable, BusinessWeek The Publication or The Domain? Bloomberg Thinks Its The Domain - There are some very interesting discussions going on in the blogosphere regarding the crumbling magazine industry and the venerable Business Week publication in general. It seems along with demise of several Conde Nast Publications announced this week, BusinessWeek’s future seems to be in doubt. There are a few reports out today that the one and only buyer for this publication maybe Bloomberg LP. The problem for the publisher is that Bloomberg LP, according to those reports is putting the value ... read more ...