Logistik Labs

New Domaining Tool: Domize.com

2008-04-29T23:40:00.009-05:00

In my never ending search to bring readers the newest domaining tools to hit the scene, take a second and familiarize yourself with Domize.com.

At first glance, Domize looks like your regular Ajax instant domain search tool but one thing that sets it apart is the "trail" of results that are instantly displayed as you type. Pretty cool.

Notice when I typed in the phrase "credit cards", or even restaurant employee scheduling, each letter typed in is queried to show availability.

Although the results are lightning-quick, Domize is limited to .com, .net and .org results.

Being a brand new tool, I'm hoping other extensions will be added soon.

Don't forget to subscribe to stay up-to-date and current on all the new domain industry tools as they roll out.

Visit Domize.com

How To Search Google Using A Specific Domain Extension

2008-04-29T19:28:00.011-05:00

This post is for all the domain newbies out there.

Here's a simple little trick you can use to utilize Google and only search for keyword results using a specific domain extension such as .tv, .asia, .mobi and such.

First, get to the Google Homepage and click on "Advanced Search" to the right of the search bar.

Next, find the area that states "Search within a site or domain". This is where you will type in the domain extension that you want to search under. Go ahead and type in .mobi or .tv in that search field. Then click the "advanced search" button.

After clicking on the advanced search button, you will be taken back to the Google search page, but now the term "site:.tv" will automatically be queried.

Closer look.

Now all you have to do is type in your keyword in front of the "site:.tv" term and presto, all your search results for your keyword will now be narrow down to all websites that end in the .tv extension. This works for all domain extensions.

Pretty nifty for trying to find websites that queries your search using a specific domain extension instead of getting all .com search results.

Enjoy.

Go Daddy Declares April 29th WebMasters' Day

2008-04-16T14:09:00.007-05:00

"If newspaper carriers, cartoonists, doctors and hairstylists all have their own day, it's time for Webmasters to receive the same recognition. That's why, to honor the professionals responsible for the content on Web sites across the world, GoDaddy.com is declaring April 29 Webmasters' Day."

Good karma on Go Daddy's part by honoring and recognizing the efforts of these behind-the-scene professionals who are invaluable to any company with an online presence.

"The Internet wouldn't be where it is today without this underappreciated group who keep content on the ‘net fresh," GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons said. "I think a day to remind everyone of how vital Webmasters are is way overdue."

For more information about Webmaster's Day or to send a virtual postcard to your Webmaster to thank them for all they do, visit http://www.GoDaddy.com/WebmastersDay

School of the Unethical: Renting .edu Blog Space

2008-04-16T10:38:00.006-05:00

Oh how the domain industry needs a hero.

It is now being reported that LinkAdage and the Pickering Institue have teamed up to open up a blackhole of unscrupulous actions by offering anyone blog space for rent...on an .edu domain. This in effect allows ANY average-joe-schmo to post their blogs under a .edu sub-domain without actually being affiliated with any sort of educational institute. Dirty pool in my book.

Here is a few excerpts of the front page of the Pickering Institute website:

"Our blogs allow you to reach an education minded audience that is difficult to reach with mass market blogs such as Blogger or Blogspot."

"PI.edu visitors are looking to learn about new things, and we are building the web's most sophisticated blog community. Having a PI.edu gives you instant credibility because we have strict guidelines as to who can have a blog and the quality and truthfulness of the writing."

Did you read that last sentence? Read it again.

"Having a PI .edu gives you instant credibility because we have strict guidelines as to who can have a blog and the quality of truthfulness of the writing."

Basically...they are saying, "Pay us $50 a month and you can blog using our coveted .edu domain extension." This just kills me.

Ian over at MarketingConversation.com seems to feel the same way, and posts that using this method of marketing a blog:

1. Takes advantage of a vulnerable population.
2. Skews the search engine algorithm that expect educational information at .edu domains.
3. Is in poor taste.
4. And is generally bad for the community.

I agree.

"For those who don't know: Links from EDU domains may get more authority in the search rankings. So a lot of folks prize links from .edu web sites. That's why this could be a compelling offer to unscrupulous marketers." Ian also explains.

So, isn't this breaking the law in some form?

Not really. Seems LinkAdage and the Pickering Institute have found a loophole when it comes to the rules of use around .edu domains. Since the Pickering Institute is considered a verifiable educational institute, they can assign third-level domains to other parties. This is where the Pickering Institute begins to mold themselves into a "blog community" instead of an "educational institute".

You can almost hear the onslaught of worthless writing that will soon be flooding the .edu universe.

So, How much does it cost to kill a top-level domain extension?

Seems only $50 per month.

Sad.

What Kind of Domainer Are You?

2008-04-10T09:40:00.005-05:00

Are you an Investor? What about a Flipper? You might be a Monetizer?

Found a fun post over at Media Wizard's blog that divides domainers into 7 general categories according to how they proceed with a domain after purchase.

The categories are:

- The Investor

- The Flipper

- The Developer

- The Builder

- The Monetizer

- The Broker

- and The Provider

Here's a sample excerpt:

The Investor
"These are the sharpest of them all. Buy good quality when prices are low, hold long term, sell high. These guys hold onto assets, maybe even develop them, ensure that they’re hot and in demand when the market is totally ripe, then sell them. The advantages of emulating this type is that you can afford to sell 1% of your portfolio each year and still manage to pull in the major bucks. The downside is renewals, unless your portfolio generates enough revenue, this cost needs to be factored in. People like Frank Schilling, Rick Schwartz, Sahar Sarid, Adam Dicker, Michael Goldman and probably most of the other big ticket guys will be found in this group."

Take a moment and read the rest of the post here.

And don't forget to comment back after you decide what category you fit into.

Personally, I think I fit into a couple of groups.

Walt Disney Goes On Domain Buying Spree

2008-04-09T10:36:00.004-05:00

At a New York press conference today, Disney-Pixar Films unveiled their highly-anticipated upcoming lineup of 10 new animated feature films to be released through 2012.

Over the past 30 days, Walt Disney-Pixar Films has began to register a ton of new (and interesting) domain names not only for these specific future planned films, but also for some rumored upcoming works in progress. Speculation and gossip in the Disneysphere has begun to explode over the recent domain names bought by Disney.

The domains recently registered by Disney:

101DALMATIANS2DVD.COM
ADVENTURELANDBLURAY.COM
ADVENTURELANDDVD.COM
AMIGOSDVD.COM
AMIGOSOFFER.COM
BOLTBLURAY.COM
BRIDESHEADREVISITEDBLURAY.COM
BRIDESHEADREVISITEDDVD.COM
BUNNYTOWN-DVD.COM
BUNNYTOWNONDVD.COM
CAMPROCK2.COM
CAMPROCK2.NET
CAMPROCKTWO.COM
CAMPROCKTWO.NET
DADNAPPEDDVD.COM
DISNEYBUNNYTOWNDVD.COM
DISNEYCHANNELONDVD.COM
DONALDDVD.COM
DONALDOFFER.COM
MORNINGLIGHTBLURAY.COM
OLIVERANDCOMPANYDVD.COM
PRINCECASPIANBLURAY.COM
TINKERBELLBLURAY.COM
SNOWWHITEANDTHESEVENDWARFSBLURAY.COM
SNOWWHITEANDTHESEVENDWARFSDVD.COM
SNOWWHITEBLURAY.COM
CHRONICLESOFNARNIABLURAY.COM

FATHERKNOWSBEST-MOVIE.COM

GODSOFMARS-MOVIE.COM
GODSOFMARSMOVIE.COM

JOHNCARTERANDTHEGODSOFMARS.COM
JOHNCARTERANDTHEWARLORDOFMARS.COM
THEGODSOFMARS-MOVIE.COM
THEGODSOFMARSMOVIE.COM
THEWARLORDOFMARS-MOVIE.COM
THEWARLORDOFMARSMOVIE.COM
WARLORDOFMARS-MOVIE.COM

MOONROCK-MOVIE.COM
THEMOONROCKMOVIE.COM

SWINGVOTEMOVIE.NET

BDISNEY.NET
BDISNEYLIVE.COM
BDISNEYLIVE.NET
BDISNEYLIVENET
BDISNEYLIVENETWORK.NET
DISNEYBD.COM
DISNEYBD.NET
DISNEYBDLIVE.NET
DISNEYBDLIVENET
DISNEYBDLIVENETWORK.NET
DISNEYLIVE.NET
DISNEYLIVEBD.COM
DISNEYLIVEBD.NET
DISNEYLIVENET
DISNEYLIVENETWORK.NET
LIVEBDISNEY.COM
LIVEBDISNEY.NET
LIVEBDISNEYNETWORK.COM
LIVEBDISNEYNETWORK.NET

THESUITELIFEONDECK.COM
THESUITELIFEONDECK.NET

SEVENSEASHIGH.COM
SEVENSEASHIGH.NET
SEVENSEASHIGHSCHOOL.COM
SEVENSEASHIGHSCHOOL.NET

HANNAHMATED.COM
HANNAHMATED.NET
HANNAHMATION.COM
HANNAHMATION.NET
HANNAHMONTANACROSS-COUNTRYADVENTURE.COM
HANNAHMONTANACROSSCOUNTRYADVENTURE.COM
HANNAHMONTANAFAMILYREUNION.COM
HANNAHMONTANAMATION.COM
HANNAHMONTANAMATION.NET
HANNAHMONTANAOFFTHECHARTS.COM
HANNAHMONTANAOLDFRIENDSNEWBEGINNINGS.COM
HANNAHMONTANAULTIMATECHOICE.COM
HANNAHMONTANAWELCOMEHOME.COM
HANNAHMONTANAWHEREITALLBEGAN.COM
HANNAHMONTANIMATION.COM
HANNAHMONTANIMATION.NET
HANNAHMONTANAILFILM.COM
HANNAHMONTANAILFILM3D.COM

JONASBROTHERS-MOVIE.COM
JONASBROTHERS3D.COM
JONASBROTHERS3DCONCERT.COM
JONASBROTHERSCONCERT3D.COM
JONASBROTHERSCONCERTMOVIE3D.COM

ABCFAMILYSEARCHFORSANTA.COM
SEARCHFORSANTA2008.COM
THESEARCHFORSANTA.COM

DISNEYJAZZCELEBRATION.COM
DISNEYJAZZCELEBRATION.NET

DISNEYMAGICPLACES.COM

DISNEYSTEPNATIONALS.NET

DISNEYMUSICBLOCKPARTY.COM
DISNEYMUSICBLOCKPARTYTOUR.COM

And some weird ones that no one knows yet why, but assumed future projects:

GOGOROBO.NET
*DISNEYNATURE.US
SHOPKGOTV.COM
MALEMATE.NET
SOCIALCRIB.NET
TOBYFILMHEAD.COM
COLDENBOOKS.COM
HAPPYMONSTERBAND.NET
RUICKANDHUNTPUBLISHING.COM
PERCYJACKSONBOOKS.COM
NIKKI-IN-THE-CITY.COM
WIZARDS-FIRST-RULE.COM

RELATIVEMADDNESS.COM
RELATIVEMADDNESS.INFO
RELATIVEMADDNESS.NET
RELATIVEMADDNESS.ORG

PATTYSPETS.NET
PATYSPETS.COM
PATYSPETS.NET

THEROCKDOME.COM
THEROCKDOME.NET

The full list of domains can be found courtesy of The Disney Enquirer.

Domain Tool of the Week: Domain Idea Box

2008-04-07T10:13:00.008-05:00

Over at TiaWood.com, Tia has created a brand new domaining tool named the Domain Idea Box that helps domainers generate domain name ideas from a simple keyword or phrase search while also allowing unique data type parameters to be set . It's free and I'm already addicted.

The look is clean, simple, fast, powerful and straight-forward and this is why Tia's new domaining tool is our Domain Tool of the Week.

Let's take a look at in in more detail.

Still in beta, with only one text field and one button, it will take a user about 10 seconds to understand the simple elegance of using the Domain Idea Box. But don't let the simplicity fool you to what this tool can do.

First, you enter in a keyword or search phrase in the text field. Next, you have the option to search by either .com, .net, .org, .info., .tv, .biz or unfiltered.

The next step is to narrow down the data type you are searching for.

The options are:

You finish by clicking on the "Generate Ideas" button and The Domain Idea Box instantly creates multiple suggested ideas right at your fingertips for you to use. The best part is you can check availability on any of the generated results by clicking on the green checkmark box next to each given result directly with Moniker.

Free, easy and simple. And with this tool still in the beta stage, I am hoping to soon see a wider TLD extension selection available that may include .mobi, .Asia and maybe some IDN's. A choice to use other domain registrars to check availability would be nice too. All in all, this tool rocks.

One more thing. I know a lot of domainers out there are skeptical in using any sort of search/generation tool for fear of someone stealing your ideas but don't worry, Tia is a member of the ICA and adheres to a strict code of conduct of not collecting or storing any query data information. Thanks Tia.

Visit Domain Idea Box

Minnesota Twins Purchase New Domain Names For Brand New Stadium

2008-04-04T10:49:00.004-05:00

Some speculation has begun regarding the proposed new name for the Minnesota Twins baseball team's brand new $544.4 million, 40,000 seat stadium set to open in Spring 2010. Recent purchases of some domains by the Twins, such as LandOLakesPark.com and LandOLakesField.com have baseball fans everywhere suggesting that the Minnesota-based company, Land O' Lakes, has stepped up to the plate to sponsor the stadium.

On a side note, does anyone else notice that if Land O' Lakes was the decided name of the new ballpark, the stadium would be known as LOL Stadium?

Anyways, Land O' Lakes isn't the only company vying for sponsorship of this new field. Great River Energy is also considered an option and the purchase of the domain name GreatRiverField.com and some other variations by the Minnesota Twins hint at that possibility also.

With the stadium set to debut in about 2 years, the naming of the stadium is probably a little farther down the timeline but it's interesting to see a baseball team's front office trying to protect their intended name for it's new stadium.

Here's a cool link to the Minnesota Twins live webcam showing current construction progress.

Also, some fun facts:
-Minnesota's new ballpark will feature one of the closest seating bowls to the playing field in all of Major League Baseball, and will have approximately 18,500 infield seats.

-The ballpark will feature a 360-degree open main concourse giving fans an uninterrupted view of the playing field. The concourses will be twice as wide as those found in the Metrodome.

-Minnesota's new ballpark will feature multiple "Knotholes" along the 5th Street side of the ballpark allowing fans to watch the action outside the park without buying a ticket.

-Outdoor - open-air, natural-grass ballpark, with a view of the downtown Minneapolis skyline.

Google's New Search Tool Causes Controversy Among Businesses

2008-04-02T09:52:00.009-05:00

Google has recently unveiled a new web search engine platform named, Suggest Labs, that has is causing a lot of negative chatter among business and company owners that rely on web exposure to drive traffic to their website.

Let's take a second and review exactly how Google's new search tool works and is why domainers need to be aware of this new experimental search engine.

First, the user visits Google Suggest Labs and types in their search term just as they regularly would from the Google main page. At a glance, it basically looks like the same interface.

As the user begins to type their search inquiry, a real-time AJAX window automatically pops up below the search field to offer some alternative websites that are relevant to the intended search.

The user than has the option to either proceed with their intended search by clicking on the "Google Search" button OR simply click on one of the suggested search terms recommended by Google. From the user standpoint, this seems like a great convenient tool. Easy search, nice suggestions.

But, from the business standpoint, it's beginning to ruffle some corporate feathers.

Let me explain.

Google's new search-within-a-search feature seems to work great with either generic or broad search terms, such as exercise or music, by offering users more options to help narrow down their search results. But, as users begin to type in more exact search terms, such as WalMart or Circuit City, the new search engine begins to display a "directory" of individual pages on that company website instead of allowing a full web search. Notice in the picture below that when I typed in WalMart, the suggestions are streamlined to include WalMart directory pages, not a full web search. No problem huh? Wrong.

This is exactly where the main complaint from featured companies begins. Basically, instead of having visitors search for "directory" information from the company's own website after a user visit, Google is giving Internet searchers the same options without the user even visiting the company's website. More traffic for Google, less traffic for that company's website. Not exactly a good equation for a that featured business's total website count.

It has been rumored that Amazon.com has already requested Google to remove their featured listing from the new Google Suggest search engine because of this exact reasons stated above.

Today's domainers need to be aware of this alternative search method offered by Google and take into account how keywords and SEO may not figure into this new method of search.

Stay informed.

-Rudy

13 Ways To Improve Your Domain Trend Spotting

2008-04-01T11:20:00.046-05:00

Searching for the newest global trends is a relentless and time consuming task. All over the world, each minute of the day, new trends are emerging that unsuspecting consumers will be influenced by because of their of their "newness or freshness" and flock to find out more information about that certain product/service or fad. As a domainer, it is advantageous to be on the cusp of these brand new trends to create a domaining strategy that will be beneficial for people wanting to know more about them when they research them online. (think keywords, not cybersquatting)

Below are 13 websites that I personally use on a frequent basis to familiarize myself with current trends and forecasts that are creating a stir on the global marketplace. A little research can harbor great rewards for a domainer.

TREND HUNTER is the world's largest trend spotting and cool hunting community. It is an explosion of cool, fueled by a global network of trend spotters and cool hunters. Innovation and strategic advantage hinge on the ability to anticipate the latest trends and identify the next big thing. By tracking the evolution of cool, Trend Hunters generate ideas, stimulate creativity, and ultimately unlock cool.

Y Combinator is a venture fund which focuses on seed investments to startup companies. It offers financing as well as business advice and other opportunities to 2-4 person companies looking to take a great idea to a product. Y Combinator looks for companies with “good” ideas over companies with experience and a business model.

Engadget is a multilingual technology weblog and podcast about consumer electronics. The weblog has won several awards. Engadget currently has four different sites, all operating simultaneously with each having its own staff, which cover technology news in different parts of the world in their respective languages.

The Guy Kawasaki Blog, a practical blog for impractical people, covers the world of innovation and marketing from the viewpoint of a successful and popular quirky business perspective.

AdRants is an editorial that covers emerging marketing and advertising trends, cultural and demographic shifts affecting advertising strategies, new campaign launches, viral and buzz marketing, useful industry research and the examination of the industry's shift from old paradigms to new.

ValleyWag is a tabloid-style news and gossip website about Silicon Valley and it's technology. It is kind of tongue-in-cheek but offers good insight to the current status of the high-tech hotbed.

Cool Hunting is a daily update on ideas and products in the intersection of art, design, culture and technology, and features weekly videos that get an inside look at the people who create them.

Killer Startups reviews 30+ internet startups per working day and allows member voting for the one you think will be a killer.

The Business Week Innovation Page lets visitors read the latest design news on product design, game design, branding, and architecture. Get information on business process innovation.

Google Hot Trends is for sharing the the hottest current searches with you in very close to real time. What's on our collective mind as we search for information? What's interesting to people right now? Hot Trends will tell you. At a glance, you'll see the huge variety of topics capturing our attention, from current events to daily crossword puzzle clues to the latest celebrity gossip. Hot Trends is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Springwise and its network of 8,000 spotters scan the globe for smart new business ideas, delivering instant inspiration to entrepreneurial minds from San Francisco to Singapore.

Cscout Japan is the most innovative and trendsetting country in the world with a great and still undeveloped potential for European companies. Japan’s Automotive Industry is the No.1 worldwide. Japan is the leading innovator of electronic appliances and gadgets. Japan is the birth place of the gaming market and boasts with the most advanced Mobile Communication Industry. It is well-known for its Media, Manga/Anime, successful TV shows and series etc.

T3 magazine online - the hottest gadget news and technology reviews from cameras to mobiles, TVs to MP3 players.

The Evolution of Go Daddy (in pictures)

2008-03-28T11:32:00.032-05:00

Go Daddy, the Scottsdale, Arizona based company, is by far the world's most popular domain name registrar dominating all other ICANN-accredited registrars due to competitive pricing and shrewd and sometime controversial publicity methods.

Go Daddy was originally named Jomax Technologies, and it wasn't until late 1999 that it became an ICANN-accredited registrar. The first domain registered by a customer at Go Daddy was GhettoJustice.com.

I thought it would be cool to chronicle the evolution of the Go Daddy main web page from 1999-2008 to see how Go Daddy changed their marketing campaigns with the growing popularity of domaining. All picture and date information provided courtesy of Archive.org.

Enjoy the pictorial timeline!

November 27, 1999

This is the first and original website design. Go Daddy did not sell domain names yet so the website only offered web site development services and hosting. For $89, you could purchase the WebSite Complete 2.5 Deluxe Edition.

May 10, 2000

This was the first major design change for the main web page. The emphasis was creating your own website with no experience required. A Real Estate Edition of their services was introduced. Notice the lack of sexy girls integrated into the design.

May 7, 2001

Hey, now we have some color! A one-year .com registration was $8.95 and a 10-year was only $6.95/yr. Crazy cheap back then!

November 27, 2001

The domain extensions .biz and .info are introduced and private email accounts cost $11. The design looks scattered and odd. Get ready for a storm of links and buttons.

June 2, 2002

Another confusing and complicated design with a plethora of links. It's funny how fully-dressed the female on the front page is. Don't worry, this will change soon.

February 7, 2003

It's been 4 years since the original website design and private registrations are going for $9 with Go Daddy offering Federal Copyright Protection for $59.95. Starting to look more and more cluttered.

December 31, 2003

There's a sale for $7.95 .com registrations instead of the regular $8.95 price. Awards show Registrar of the Year for 2002 and 2003.

July 1, 2004

Major design change with emphasis on the free extras you get with each new domain registration. Hosting is now only $3.95 and Traffic Blazer is $29.95/yr.

December 31, 2004

The new look of this Go Daddy main page is by far the best and easiest to navigate. CEO Bob Parsons begins his blog and links it on the front page.

November 23, 2005

It's 2005 and customers wanting to purchase Domain Privacy now pay $4.95 (was $9). Radio Go Daddy is introduced.

March 6, 2006

Price drop on private domain registrations to $1.99. 50GB hosting is now only $6.95. Lots of tabs, links and buttons.

December 30, 2006

Go Daddy girl, Danica Patrick, makes and appearance and after almost 7 years, Go Daddy begins to show signs of sticking to this template design. The Domain Name Aftermarket Auctions are integrated into the front page to drive traffic to them.

Today 2008

And this is where we are today. This screen shot was taken on March 28,2008. Go Daddy has come a long way since their original first design in 1999. Their prices have consistently dropped and more and more services were added on a regular basis. Seems Go Daddy has also taken a liking to featuring some sort of female on their front page and inundating website visitors with a ton of links and buttons. I personally like the web design of 2004 since it seems far less complicated and cluttered. Either way, Go Daddy has shown that they have their finger on the pulse of the domain industry by frequently altering and changing their website to accommodate the changing of the domain industry. I wonder what Bob Parsons has up his sleeve for their next website design concept. We'll just have to wait and see.

Happy Domaining.

-Rudy

GoDaddy Promo Code Not Required

2008-03-28T10:39:00.004-05:00

Want to know how to save $2 to $3 off Go Daddy instantly without any coupons or promotion codes... every time?

Check out this quick short video courtesy of JackBorn.com explaining a couple of tips that anyone registering a domain name at Go Daddy should be aware of . Watch the video. Save a few bucks.

New Go Daddy Girl: Elliot Spitzer's Escort?

2008-03-27T14:45:00.004-05:00

Everyone knows that Go Daddy's CEO Bob Parsons sure loves controversy.

Is it any surprise that Elliot Spitzer's hooker/escort is a potential new Go Daddy girl?

Check out the video blog here and find out.

Japanese Ads Downplay URLs, Encourage Searches

2008-03-26T11:46:00.006-05:00

There seems to be a new advertising trend emerging in Japan that domainers need to be aware of. Marketing companies of some major corporations are beginning to encourage potential customers to "search" for their company name and products instead of directing them to type in a specific URL website name. Is SEO ultimately going to trump direct web navigation?

A recent post at Boing Boing highlights how a recent visitor to Japan noticed obvious advertising using recommended search terms instead of the traditional direct URL promotions. AOL has been using this method with their highly-publicized "Search Keyword: ABC" campaign.

I have a few personal thoughts on this. At first glance, I seemed to understand that with the lack of "good" domain names available for companies, relying on keyword SEO was not only probably smart, but pretty much inevitable as a marketing campaign to compete with those generic domain names. But after some consideration, I started to realize that if a company decides to spend tons of money to advertise a specific search term as their primary method of attracting website visitors, the always changing search engine algorithms and blackhat SEO methods could possible skew the search results, letting other sites relevant to the advertised search term to pop up first and benefit from the intended traffic. The company would basically be advertising for another company. Bad business indeed.

Keep your eyes open on how this could effect longer keyword phrase domain registrations and such.

-Rudy

Selling Domain Names on Ebay = Risk

2008-03-19T09:32:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, I had some time to spare so I decided to check out the domain name auctions going on over at Ebay. I must admit, it has been some time since I last checked out that marketplace since I vowed awhile back not to sell/buy any domains there due to escalating scams and such.

While searching, I noticed a few things that haven't changed since the last time I visited Ebay:

1. Crappy domains with one good keyword selling for upwards of $15 million dollars.

2. Few decent domains with a "buy it now" price upwards of $5 million dollars.

3. And a plethora of typo/hacks promising "high-traffic and clicks".

4. All of the above had no bids.

Believe me when I say I literally sat there in front of my Mac screen and laughed.

Is the Ebay marketplace dead for domain names?

Is anyone actually buying these "premium" domains for those obscene amounts of money?

Is www.forsalebyownerok.com actually worth the $21,000,000 (that's million!) asking price?

The answer is "no" to all 3 questions.

The Ebay domain marketplace is not dead, no one is buying those crazy priced domains and there wasn't one domain currently in auction even remotely close to being valued anywhere near $21 million.

The reason I say the Ebay domain marketplace is not dead is because there about 4000 active domain auctions in progress. Other than that, it's dead to me. But just because it isn't dead doesn't mean it isn't risky.

Over at Dot Com Domain Names, Craig recently posted an article about not being able to reap the true value of a domain name during a 10-day Ebay auction because you simply don’t get enough traffic from the right buyer during such a confined period of time. I tend to agree.

Other than a few LLLL.com's, most domain auctions have zero bids and ridiculous asking prices. The few LLLL.com's that are being sold are selling for a little less than what they would probably get over at a domaining forum or Sedo. So why are people still selling their premium domains over at Ebay. Who knows. Maybe they are feel if they can sell a used "haunted" toaster for 10K then they could sell a crappy domain for $1 million.

Either way, Ebay is not a place I suggest to sell your domain names. I see it as a place to basically pawn off your not-so-great domains to a unsuspecting chump or to undersell your great domains due to a limited customer base and timeframe.

Do yourself a favor and either list them for sale at a reputable marketplace or simply stop buying worthless domains. Both will save you time and money.

Also check out this post at Fka200 about the recent and controversial COQL.com auction that ended over at Ebay.

Stay informed.

-Rudy

Domain Tool of the Week: Nameish

2008-03-18T21:13:00.007-05:00

Stop wasting time thinking of domain names for your project!

Ever racked your brains trying to come up with a killer name for a forum, project, business, blog or idea? Sure, we all have.

What if I told you there's a tool out there that aims to simplify that process by offering you a quick and easy way to find a suitable name that represents your idea so that you may continue on to the bigger tasks at hand? Never fear, Nameish.com is here.

Nameish was created by Jason Hines of Devtwo Creative Software.

Here's his description of this cool domainer tool:

"Nameish is an attempt to help ease the creative hurdle in finding a good brand/domain for your web application. Often when a developer has a good name for a project, they can spend quite a bit of time simply thinking of the right name for it. As we know, proper branding of your project is critical and not all of us have the resources of a marketing team at their disposal."

How Nameish works:

Nameish finds suitable names based on the following logistical steps:
-Synonyms
-Thesaurus suggestions
-Web 2.0" naming suggestions, such as Flickr and del.icio.us
(From these results, you are able to quickly lookup the domain for availability.)

Another cool thing about this tools is that it shows the most recent searches queried by other domainers to help spark even more ideas for you. More features are set to come.

See more at Nameish.com.

And don't forget to subscribe to be informed of the latest domainer tools as they unfold onto the domain scene.

Enjoy!

-Rudy

GoDaddy won't register domain names with 'godaddy' in them

2008-03-12T15:44:00.004-05:00

Something may be up over at Go Daddy.

There's a forum post floating around the anti-Go Daddy site, No Dadddy, that explains any domainer trying to register a domain name with "godaddy" in it will get a message that says "unavailable" -- even if it has offensive or gibberish words in it.

I tried it out and confirmed the same thing.

After trying to register TestGodaddyTest.com, I received the "unavailable" error. Then headed on over to a couple of other registrars and it was available to be registered.

We'll keep our eyes open and see what plays out.

Check back.

-Rudy

Domain Tool of the Week: Impulse Domain Lookup Tool

2008-03-12T09:07:00.013-05:00

This Domain Tool of the Week has simply blown me away.

Courtesy of The Mad Hat, the domain industry will flip over this Firefox extension that makes it super easy to lookup domain names. The extension lets you perform one click domain searches at your registrar of choice using the selected text in your browser window. Let me repeat that...the extension lets you perform one click domain searches at your registrar of choice using the selected text in your browser window.

It's named the Impulse Domain Lookup Tool and it's freaking sweet.

1. Highlight the text you want to look up.

2. Right-click and select "domain lookup"

The extension will normalize the text, removing spaces and other illegal characters etc, then launch a new tab/window to search for the domain at your favourite registrar.

3. Choose registrar and search. That's it.

Excerpt from The Mad Hat:

"I’ve been beta testing a Domain Lookup Firefox extension from Richard Kershaw at Quality Nonsense. I renamed it the “Impulse Domain Lookup Tool”. Say you’re reading a story in the CNN technology section on wireless earphones and decide you want to check real quick to see if wirelessearbuds.com is available. All it takes is a right click or keyboard shortcut to open a new window and query the registrar of your choice."

Visit the Impulse Domain Lookup Tool.

Stay informed of other new domaining tools by subscribing here.

-Rudy

(video) Keith Olbermann Weighs In on Republican Committee Cybersquatting

2008-03-11T14:14:00.005-05:00

Here's a full list of domains registered by the Republican National Committee:

2007
calculatingclinton.com
canttrustclinton.com
clintonbabbit.com
clintoncleland.com
clintoncohen.com
clintonisbad.com
clintoniscorrupt.com
clintoniswrong.com
clintonkerrey.com
clintonlibrarycard.com
clintonlibraryresolution.com
clintonomalley.com
clintonsalazar.com
clintonschweitzer.com
clintontruthwatch.com
hillaryiswrong.com
hillarymythfact.com
hillaryrecords.com
hillaryspendometer.com
hillarytaxplan.com
hillarytruthsquad.com
hopelesshillary.com
outwithhillary.com
thetwohillarys.com

2008
amateurobama.com
barackisliberal.com
barackiswrong.com
baracknotready.com
barackobamanotready.com
barackobamatheliberal.com
baracktheamateur.com
barackthebeginner.com
fauxbama.org
hesnotready.com
meetbarackobama.com
norealexperience.com
nowecannot.com
nowecannot.net
nowecannot.org
obamaisliberal.com
obamaiswrong.com
obamanotready.com
obamaspendometer.com
obamatheamateur.com
obamathebeginner.com
yeswecandowhat.com
yeswecanwhat.com

Rupert Murdoch Outfoxed Over Domain Name Dispute

2008-03-10T14:17:00.003-05:00

Found this on Wired about an hour ago.

The World Intellectual Property Organization is concluding that a Florida businessman is the rightful owner to foxbusinessnetwork.com. Still, WIPO said it was "suspicious" that the name was registered the same day the Rupert Murdoch-owned network announced February 2007 it was launching a business news channel.

The decision certifies that Worldwide Directory Services of Sebring, Florida, is the rightful owner of the disputed domain name. Derek Hodges, Worldwide's president, goes by the nickname "British Fox." Hodges had used the term Fox Business Network for legitimate offerings of services, including a domain name registration business and free business web page offerings, WIPO concluded

Read the entire transcript here.

No Better Time To Be A Domainer

2008-03-07T11:46:00.005-06:00

With all the doom and gloom being talked about the domain industry over the past few months I thought it would be nice to throw some positive light on today's overall domain marketplace situation.

The negativity about the upcoming Snowe Bill, the drama over the resurfacing of an infamous domain appraisal scam, and the talk about the IRS domainer tax confusion definitely has some domainers doubting the future of domain name investing and the well-being of the entire industry. While I understand that all three may have drastic and negative implications on domaining, I can't help but still feel that there is no better time to be a domainer.

Our marketplace is still thriving.
Media and public awareness of the domain industry is still rising.
And companies and corporations around the entire globe are beginning to fully understand that a good domain name is a major integral factor in their overall business plan.

Domaining is big business. And it's here to stay.

Below are some articles/posts/opinions that I've read over the past week that indicate that today's domainers still should feel confident in their investments and understand that even though things seem bumpy right now, smoother sailing is still ahead.

Have a great weekend!

New York Times
"Coins In The New Realm"

Ecommerce Times
Getting Ahead in Domain Name Trading

Domaining.org.uk
LLLL.net domains - welcome to the next internet goldrush

American Nonsense
Switching to Domain Name Investing

Go Daddy
GO DADDY IS A TRAILBLAZER IN SAFEGUARDING CUSTOMER DATA

Talk Price
The Secret: Dropped Domains

DomainBits
WHAT EVERYONE OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT GEO DOMAINS

Learn N Earn
Big Bucks from Domains

The Conceptualist

Making Domains Your Business

Mix.com - The Worst Usage of a Good Domain Name Ever

2008-03-07T10:16:00.003-06:00

Found this humorous article over at Mashable about how the owner of the domain name: Mix.com is not using this short, premium, generic and brandable domain name even remotely close to it's fullest potential.

(sample excerpt)
"The site has a photo of a girl in a bunny costume, holding a tray, with two fire extinguishers in the background. A Daffy Duck effigy, hung on a Christmas tree. A badge that says “We support the Writers Guild of America.” Two links to some CDs on Barnes and Noble, and a very short explanation of “How To Unlock A Password Protected Panavision HDW-F900 Camera."

I can see how this may drive some domainers crazy seeing such a great domain name used in such a nonsensical way. Who knows, maybe they will receive some offers after people hear about this?

Read the article here.
Enjoy.

Domain Backwording: The Journey Continues

2008-03-04T10:34:00.007-06:00

Since my first post on a new emerging domain trend called Backwording, I have, with help from other intrigued domainers, uncovered a little more interesting information, facts and tidbits about this topic. The last 5 days have been very exciting. Here's what we've found:

Things we've found out since the last post:

-- In early 2001, an Israeli firm named LocallyNet, made obscure headlines with it's idea of using a text-conversion algorithm in Internet browsers to allow typed-in entries to be read backwards by the browser. Seems the main motivator was that the CEO of LocallyNet saw the rapidly dwindling supply of domain names available as limitations to a growing Internet. This seems to be the origin of today's current backwording framework.

- As of today, there has not been one WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) domain name dispute case filed citing legal action against a backwards/reversed domain at fault or infringing on any UDRP policies.

- Major domain parking companies seem to often view backworded domains as regular domains and aggregate keyword advertising content as if the domain was not reversed. Examples are sthgilF.com (flights.com) and noisiveleT.com (television.com). [VERY INTERESTING]

- A huge marketplace for premium and generic backworded domains still exist, although each day a few more of our favorites are registered. Maybe people are starting to see this an an alternative method for advertising their websites?

- Google registered elgooG.com on April 7, 2000 and that domain has an Alexa ranking of 572,726. Another fun site is here.

- As expected, we were unable to find any significant sale records of any backworded domains in the past. This is mainly due to backwording still being an undiscovered niche.

- No matter how many people agree or disagree that backwording may become a permanent practice in the future, people and businesses around the world are already using backworded domains, and have been for quite some time.

- We also discovered that there is not a comprehensive list of developed domains that utilize backwording, so a project has been started and will be launched at Backwording.com. This website will be a community for domainers interested in backwording and a way for us to communicate more about the topic. Feel free to send me any backworded domains you have recently registered and developed so we can add them to our developed website directory (info@logistiklabs.com). More news will come soon. Stay posted by subscribing here.

So, as you can see, backwording is causing a small but definable ripple in the domain pool and causing other domainers to take notice. I'd like to thank everyone for their emails, comments and opinions on this emerging topic so far and look forward to uncovering more information about this interesting and hidden domain niche. The excitement is growing. Stay tuned.

-Rudy

Is 2008 The Year Of The .mobi?

2008-03-02T23:09:00.005-06:00

- dotMOBI CEO Trey Harvin

The video, filmed by Lord Brar of DNForum and DomainingTips.com, is an encouraging interview for all domainers who have invested in the .mobi extension. Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi, explains that 2008 will be a breakout year for .mobi due to a focused effort to invest in building the global awareness and mass marketing of the .mobi extension.

Great news for the .mobi community.

Next Hot Domaining Trend: Backwording

2008-02-29T12:16:00.010-06:00

About 3 months ago, I had the privilege of sitting around with a few fellow domainers to discuss the possible upcoming domain trends in store for 2008 and beyond. The conversation covered all aspects of domaining which include: the future of domain parking, the evolving of security for reverse domain hijacking and the explosion of fractional domain ownership. Everyone agreed that domaining has grown into a major global marketplace with no signs of stopping.

But out of all this conversation and sharing came one topic that seemed to have everyone dazed with intrigue and the excitement of stumbling upon something bigger than us. That subject was the trend of registering domain names with reverse spellings to allow a new resource for Internet search. We didn't know what to call it so I accidentally used the word Backwording, and for the rest of the night, backwording was used to describe it and a new domaining term was created. That night I went home and registered Backwording.com.

A few weeks went by and a fellow domainer who was part of that previous group called me up to inform me that he couldn't get the idea of "backwording" off of his mind and noticed that I was the one who registered the term. We decided to meet again and discuss more of this.

When we met, he brought with him one piece of tattered notebook paper that had a bunch of scribbling on it. He opened it up and unveiled an impressive list of sites that utilized backwording already. I was stunned. How did this slip under the domain radar? We hurriedly finished our lunch and headed back to the house for some brainstorming.

This is what we've came up with that night:

1. If a domain name utilized backwording, the last letter of the domain would be capitalized to indicate the domain is reversed. Example: Parking.com would become gnikraP.com

2. In essence, backwording would instantly "double" the amount of search results for a given search inquiry and therefore it would double the amount of potential informational resources associated with a certain keyword. Example: If a person was searching for books, instead of using the word books to search, they could type in the backworded version, skooB and an alternate path of resources would be found. They are no longer limited to just the regular keyword search.

3. Having two different platforms to search the Internet poses some questions such as TM issues, page rank issues, backlinking possibilities, SEO optimization and branding complications. Even though someone would have to actually type in the search term backwords, there might be considered association with the regular domain name. This would change the entire landscape of Internet search. The list of questions keeps growing daily.

4. The thought of a possible search engine dedicated solely to backwording came up.

5. Backwording could be used as a brand new marketing technique by companies since the new domain trend would mean the opposite of the regular domain name. Example: Reverse the way you think about Vacations, visit snoitacaV.com.

6. Domain registars would totally love the trend of backwording since it allows them to double their possible revenue. Not only would they offer popular tld extensions with a purchase, but they could offer the backworded domain also.

7. A possibly new, fresh and lucrative domain marketplace could be created using backwording. This trend breathes new life in the dwindling generic domain business since tons of generic domains can still to this day (maybe not for long) be registered using backwording.

8. This creates an entirely new advertising medium for monetizing programs such as Google Adsense and Google Adwords. Maybe even the creation of a new program just for backworded domains.

The day finally ended, but the obsession with backwording did not. I registered a few more backworded domains that night and tried to sleep. It didn't work. I woke up and registered a few more.

Today, my friend called me to tell me that someone registered BarackObama.com using backwording and the site is pointing to a John McCain website.

http://www.amabokcarab.com/

Welcome to the beginning of something huge.

-Rudy

Update: Read Part 2 of the Backwording Journey Here

NEW Domainer Comic Strip

2008-02-27T22:23:00.006-06:00

Check out the adventures of Kevin the Domainer.

It's a brand new comic about the average life of an average domainer.

F.Y.I. >> The penguin's name is Stanley.

Enjoy!

Link Love Tuesday: Domaining

2008-02-26T09:37:00.007-06:00

Lots of stuff going on in the domain industry, and we are lucky to have some great resources that help cover and inform all of us about the current events and present trends. Below are some articles, tools and news that caught my attention this week. Thanks to everybody for suggesting some of these reading selections and enjoy the domain link love.

1. Domaining.com - A special thanks to Francois at domaining.com for inviting Logistik Labs to be part of their blog news feed. What an honor! This site is great for getting all your latest domain headline news in one steady feed from some of the best domain blogs out there. Bookmark this site.

2. URLacademy.com - Good domain article about how the Canadian extension .ca is picking up way better than the .us national extension. Check out the article here.

3. FractionalDomaining - This blog written by Neal Voron is a look at the world of buying, selling, owning, developing and monetizing of fractional domains. As fractional domain ownership increasingly becomes a more popular, Neal will be there to cover this every step of the way. Bookmark this.

4. DotSauce - If you don't check out this site on a regular basis, you're really missing out. Mark at DotSauce has committed himself to bringing a constant flow of good information on a regular basis to all domainers. Almost 700 RSS subscribers can't be wrong.

5. IsItMeOrIsEveryoneElseStupid.com - My day wouldn't be complete without stopping by Julia's domain blog and checking out the latest rant or opinion about our domain industry. Beware, very addictive.

6. What’s Up With GoDaddy’s .Biz Pricing? - DomainNameWire.com article covering the recent price raise in Go Daddy's .biz extension pricing.

7. Domain-Pop- (tool) I recommend this backlink checker over a few others when checking backlinks for your domains. It allows you to check Link Popularity, Domain Popularity & IP Popularity.

Wanna get some Link Love? Send us a link to your domain article, tool or post.

info@LogistikLabs.com

Why LLL.coms are no longer "safe" bets

2008-02-25T09:02:00.004-06:00

Good thread going on over at the NamePros domain forum regarding one senior domainer's opinion that purchases of LLL.coms are growing inherently risky due to the possibility that the LLL domain can easily be taken away by UDRP. Read it here.

One thing I personally agree with is the suggestion that it is better to "unpark" any valuable, non-generic names due to the fact that you have no control over the advertising feed, which means that one single Trademark/competing link is enought to establish "bad faith use". This is where UDRP comes in.

Any domainer owning a LLL.com needs to understand that development of this kind of domain is necessary to create your own identity with the domain name, so if another entity or business tries or attempts to legally "take" the domain, you can help your case by showing good faith use with no received revenue through advertised/competing parking.

Take a few minutes and read the NamePros post to gain some perspective of other domainers on this subject, especially if you own any LLL.com's.

-Rudy

Domain Tool Of The Week: DBanq.com

2008-02-23T12:42:00.012-06:00

"Do yourself a favor and check out this new domain tool!"

One of the best perks for blogging for the Logistik Labs Domaining Blog is the opportunities to find the newest and freshest domaining tools available for all domainers to use. Week after week, we relentlessly scour the Internet to find that one brand new domain tool that we simply can't live without. Some make life easier for the average domainer and some simply don't offer too much to write about. As the week was closing down, I found roughly 3 new domain tools that I wanted to share with my readers, but each seemed to lack that certain something. Just as I was deciding not to post a Domain Tool Of The Week (that would be the first time in a long time), I stumbled across a fantastic new tool that saved the day.

Ladies and gentleman, I'm proud to introduce: Dbanq.com.

So what's Dbanq?

Simply put, it's the ultimate domain management tool to track, valuate & organize your domain names.

Features:

--Keep track of when domains were registered and when they expire.

--Organize your domains by your own specific criteria in smart groups.
--Get the Google PageRank for all of your domains.
--Display the number of incoming links to your domain.
--The dbanq valuation tool determines the value of your domain based on a variety of factors and uses a scale of 0-5 to represent how valuable it is.

Example:

And not only does Dbanq group together a lot of the necessary support features to help the modern domainer, but there are also future plans to implement a domain sales area to allow easy purchases of expired domain names. Although in beta, this domain tool is destined to become a highly-utilized tool by amateur and professional domainers alike.

Basic membership to use Dbanq is FREE, with the option to upgrade (for only $10) to allow unlimited domain monitoring and unlimited smart groups. Basic membership allows 9 domains to monitor and 3 smart groups. Either way, you can't go wrong.

I personally like the attractive color scheme and the straight-forward interface.

So what are you waiting for? Get on over to Dbanq.com and sign up for your FREE account to allow immediate access to a great domaining tool that I feel will just get better and better over time.

And don't forget to subscribe here to stay ahead of the pack and get latest and greatest brand new domain tools sent directly to you from Logistik Labs.

Enjoy the new tool and happy domaining!

Rudy

Got a new domain tool that you want to tell the world about? Send us an email and let us know! Info@LogistikLabs.com

Domain Tool of the Week: DNWatch.biz

2008-02-13T22:32:00.004-06:00

"Brings all the latest domain forum posts into one easy-to-read thread!"

If you're like me, you frequent some domaining forums throughout your day. Maybe you visit NamePros, DNForum, AcornDomains, and a few others. Maybe you visit DiscussNames or DomainNameForums and DigitalPoint? Either way, taking time to visit each one sure seems to be rather time consuming but how else can I stay informed and read the latest posts from my favorite domaining forums?

I'd like to introduce you to DNWatch.biz.

DNWatch.biz is a website that organizes all the latest posts at the most popular domain forums and processes them into one simple and complete forum thread. Each quarter hour, the site will feed in the most result threads generated on sites like DigitalPoint, NamePros, and DNForum which pretty much eliminate the need of visiting all three sites unless you see something that sparks your interest. If you do see something your looking to grab, clicking on the thread will bring you there in a new window so you don’t lose your spot.

This tool rules.

Check out more of DNWatch.biz here.

Source: ComeDomain

How "Healthy" Are Your Domain Names?

2008-02-13T11:09:00.016-06:00

With my annual doctor's appointment scheduled for next week, I thought I'd implement some sort of medical theme in today's post. You see, my upcoming visit is for my yearly physical examination which helps determine how healthy I am as a person. This inspection is very important and allows me to fix or correct any bad trends I may be doing to my body before permanent damage is done. This same concept can be used towards domaining. There are a few things we need to review at least on a yearly-basis to make sure our domain portfolio is "healthy" and "robust". I have listed some tips and suggestions below for helping your domains stay fit, trim and effecient. Welcome to your Domain Name Annual Check-up.

The Parking Exam: Manually check the status of each domain name in your portfolio. This may take some time but I'll explain how it is beneficial. Each one of your domains needs to be either developed for traffic or parked for revenue. This is important. You see, most domain registrars that sell domains have a default status your purchased domain goes into that allows that registrar to park your domain for free, with no benefit of receiving any sort of income from traffic or clicks. You can fix this. The name servers for each of your domains needs to either point towards a domain parking program that allows you to monetize visitor traffic or towards a developed website that allows visitors to interact and use. Allowing the default server settings to stay on your new domain purchases does not benefit you at all since visitors that click or visit the webpage will ultimately be putting money in the pocket of the registar and not the owner. It's your domain name, so take advantage of monetizing the traffic by choosing a free domain parking provider like Sedo while you decide on what to do with your new domain.

The SEO Exam: During this exam, we will be checking the search engine optimization of your developed domain names that have a working website. Metatags, keyword tags and Google page placement are just a few things that are important in determing the health of a domain name. Better SEO means better publicity, which in turn means better value for the domain. Do yourself a favor and check out sites like SEObook, SEOchat and BruceClay to familarize yourself with simple things you can do to help optimize your SEO and tweak more value into your domains.

The Backlink Exam: Who's linking to your domain names? You don't know? Well find out by using tools such as iWebTools Backlink Checker to see which other websites are directly linking to your domain names. The more relevant the site is that is linking back to your website, the better the quality of the backlink. Feel free to inform us of your own domain-related websites for the upcoming Link Love Monday article, where we show some love by posting links to interesting domaining websites suggested by our readers. Enjoy the free link from us!

The Whois Exam: Correct, complete and proper Whois information is a very imporant detail in the well-being of a domain name. Not only does it serve as a means for a potential buyer to contact you regarding the possibility of purchasing your domain, but it also is used to confirm a certain domain is registered to a certain person or business. Take a few minutes and check the Whois information of your domains at Whois.net, Internic and Who.is. If you want to protect your privacy when it comes to your domain name registrations, opt to use a proxy buying company or pay the small extra fee offered by most registrars to activate private registration.

The Sales Price Exam: So you've listed some of your domains for sale. Great! Traffic is good and steady but hey, if the domain is so valuable, why is no one offering to buy it? Good question. It's not that the domain is not wanted, it's just that the sale price may be too high. Face it, the asking price on most domains listed is pretty ridiculous. With the recent sales of premium domains, it's easy for a domainer to believe they are sitting on a multi-million dollar portfolio. Truth is, if your domain is up for sale and you've either received no requests to buy or traffic is minimal and scarce, you probably have it listed too high. Re-examine the domain for sale and check current trends or fads that may have caused you to list the high price when you initially purchased it. Edit your sales price, list it again and entertain any reasonable offers you receive. Keeping the sale price too high almost guarantees you either having to reg it again or confining the domain to a life of obscurity. You bought it to sell it, so multiply your chances of receiving an offer by pricing it fair and reasonable.

The Expiration Exam: Dropped domain purchasing is a huge aftermarket niche. You can believe that every single day, there are a growing number of domainers that search and hunt the newest dropped domains and scoop them up, some of the time without the original domain owner even knowing their precious domain is available to be bought! This can be a huge nightmare, believe me, I know. Protect yourself by checking the expiration on all your domains and setting them to automatically renew. You can thank me later.

The Competitors Exam: Pull up Google and search for your domain keyword. Notice the paid for Google Adwords sponsor links that pop up in the search page? These are your competitors. These websites have paid to have their domain automatically invade the page when a certain keyword is searched for. These sponsor links are there to take traffic away from your site. Research these competitors and know thy enemy.

Utilizing these 7 simple domain tips can help add value to your domains and increase your peace of mind when it comes to the "health" of your entire domain portfolio. Take the time to examine your name investments on a regular basis to avoid costly mistakes or negative trends in efficiency.

Subscribe here

7 Ways To Improve Go Daddy

2008-02-06T23:32:00.000-06:00

In the land of today’s ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, one company leads them all. This company is of course Scottsdale, AZ based Go Daddy.
With discounted registration prices, budget-friendly hosting packages, free value added services and the always popular and edgy Super Bowl commercials, Go Daddy has undoubtedly positioned itself as the world’s most popular domain name registrar.

With all this exposure and publicity, it’s easy to believe Go Daddy has figured everything out when it comes to dominating the domain registrar industry. While this may true in some aspects, there are a few things that noticeably need to be improved in order for Go Daddy to not only stay on top, but to evolve into the next generation of domain registrar.

Today, we will be covering 7 Ways To Improve Go Daddy.

1.Chill with the upsells.
This issue seems to be a common agreement amongst most Go Daddy users. If you’ve ever registered a domain with Go Daddy, you know exactly what I mean. Extra available options seem to flood the screen as you begin to process your purchase and every user must be careful not to accidentally add special services or domains to their cart. The default interface assumes every customer wants to also purchase other tld extensions of their domain and relies on you to manually uncheck the option before continuing with your purchase. As you continue, other add-on services continue to complicate the buying procedure and the once simple task of registering your domain begins to turn into an overwhelming marketing attack of impulse buying and upselling. Offering options is certainly acceptable with any domain purchase, but this method needs to be toned down. Even the confirmation email sent from Go Daddy to your email after your domain purchase is riddled with more special offers and promotions.

2.Chat support would be nice
At the time of this writing, Go Daddy boasts an impressive 6 hour response time for email inquiry responses and a 9 minute wait time for telephone support. As good as this may seem, there is room for improvement. Today’s domainers expect a certain level of support from the companies they choose to do business with and Go Daddy has proved they take their customer service seriously. As the world’s largest domain registrar, it would seem the option of instant chat support would be implemented to assure their customers immediate and real-time solutions to possible problems or complicated situations. Just imagine typing out a problem you are experiencing and having a live agent respond back with a simple link you could click on and instantly be taken to the web page that would help you to solve your situation. No hold times, no delayed email responses and the added value of being able to figure out your problem when it’s convenient for you. Extra complicated situations may still need to be resolved with telephone support but most daily dilemmas or questions could benefit from this chat support option.

3.Be more visible at domain industry conferences and events
Now here’s a question: Why is it that the company that sells the most domains in the world is nowhere to be seen when it comes to important domain industry conferences and premier events? Does Go Daddy feel these professional engagements have nothing to offer to them? If so, shame on them. Events such as DomainFest and the GeoDomain Expo have noticeably lacked the presence of Go Daddy even though these prominent events continue to factor the overall pulse of our industry. If I were them, I’d be front and center showing my dedication to the people who drive the marketplace commerce. Oh, and don’t forget to bring the Go Daddy girls.

4.Accept MoneyBookers as a payment method
Go Daddy currently accepts payments by credit card, check, gift card and PayPal. The option to choose MoneyBookers as a payment preference would greatly widen the customer base for Go Daddy. Domain registrar Dynadot offers this choice and benefits from tons of domainers who choose not to deal with PayPal and instead opt to use MoneyBookers. Limiting this popular payment method certainly is not helping Go Daddy reach out to new customers.

5.Better forums, please
Have you taken the time to visit Go Daddy’s latest attempt at a customer forum? If not, don’t feel bad. You’re not missing much. Go Daddy has taken the liberty to launch Go Daddy Connections, a forum-style business community that let’s users post comment threads and such. At the time of this writing, there are only 35 discussions created and 20 of them were started by Go Daddy staff. A lively and interactive forum environment is what I assume was expected but instead, a graveyard of old posts and unanswered user questions is what was produced. Forums rely on a few key characteristics to allow it to succeed and Go Daddy Connections fails to meet the expectations. First of all, a better forum layout, such as at NamePros or DNForum is what domainers seem to migrate to. Ditch the fancy business-theme atmosphere and make it a straight forward user forum that people will actually utilize.
And don’t forget to have a few customer support experts constantly roaming the forum to help and assist members. Go Daddy has the customer-base to create a thriving and huge domainer forum if they want. Maybe enticing people to use the forum by accruing points towards Go Daddy discounts with a certain amount of posts would build the buzz? Just a thought.

6.Uncomplicate the interface
Do me a favor and and check out the Go Daddy homepage and compare it to the homepage of Register.com. Notice a difference? Register.com’s user interface is clean, minimal and a lot less distracting. Registering a domain is the focal point on Register.com unlike Go Daddy’s perplexing multiple click options. With 6 different text fields on Go Daddy’s homepage, a potential customer immediately has to go into “search mode” just to find out where to search for a possible domain. Too many initial buttons and links (there are easily over 50) on the homepage create a sense of unneeded clutter. Do us all a favor and uncomplicated the interface.

7.If at first you don’t succeed, try again
So Go Daddy’s first attempt at a signature auction didn’t exactly do as well as expected. Only 2 domains were sold and domain insiders questioned the quality of premier domains being offered. Chalk it up to learning but I feel Go Daddy has learned a great deal from their first auction fiasco and should be eager to redeem itself as a major contender of aftermarket auctions. The hiring of Adam Dicker of DNForum to head up their Domain Name Aftermaket division definitely gives hope to a possibly upcoming and hugely successful signature domain auction. I personally look forward to this.

As a long time fan and user, I am genuinely pleased with the service, support and pricing I have come to expected from Go Daddy. As the domain industry grows and the popularity of registering domains become more and more mainstream, companies such as Go Daddy must continue to stay one step ahead of the pack and pioneer new and exciting endeavors to accommodate the always evolving domain industry. But hey, that's just one domainer's opinion.

Cheers,

Rudy

Domain Tool Of The Week: Estibot's Overture Popularity Tool

2008-02-06T13:29:00.000-06:00

"Ten times better than Yahoo Overture."

For all you domainers that loved Yahoo Overture, you're going to love this week's Domain Tool Of The Week. Estibot.com, the free and popular instant domain appraisal website, has launched it's brand new Overture Search Popularity Tool.

This new domaining tool allows users to type in keywords and be shown immediate popularity search results from Overture and Google. The higher the search results, the higher the popularity of people searching for that particular keyword. Results are shown instantly while you type.

Knowing popular search terms associated with a particular keyword gives domainers a huge advantage when deciding what domains to register when it comes to a certain topic or keyword.

Using the Estibot's new domain tool is effortless and simple. All you need to do is type a particular word in the text field and results instantaneously appear.

I give Estibot's New Overture Search Popularity Tool a thumbs up and will surely utilize this new domaining tool when appraising a domain's value.

Also, don't forget to check out Estibot's other great domaining tools such as Domain Extractor, Portfolio Appraiser, IDN Conversion Tool, and the Type-in Traffic Tool.

Visit Estibot's Overture Search Popularity Tool.

Watch The Banned Go Daddy Super Bowl Video (EXPOSURE)

2008-02-04T13:17:00.000-06:00

Here's the internet-only Go Daddy video that was announced to the world during the second quarter of the 2008 Super Bowl. The title of the video is "Exposure" and features sexy Go Daddy girl Danica Patrick.

Go Daddy originally intended “Exposure” to be its Super Bowl ad, but Fox rejected it, insisting the word “beaver” be removed. Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons refused, saying instead, he would “make lemonade out of lemons.”

Also, I've included the internet-only White Light Directors Cut video.

As the post-game celebrations were being broadcast, GoDaddy.com was already reporting more than 1.5 million visits to its site. Those numbers continue to climb rapidly.

"White Light" Director's Ad Cut

How Do Your Domain Sales Stack Up?

2008-02-03T10:26:00.000-06:00

(courtesy of DNJournal)

So we are officially two months into 2008 and recent domain sales are beginning to confirm that domain sales are still big business.

The first "big" sale of 2008 was Rick Schwartz's sale of iReport.com to CNN for $750K.

The second notable sale was Moniker's huge broker sale of FreePorn.com for a reported $4 million.

In 2006, only 70 domain names sold for a six-figure amount.

In 2007, that number rose to 106.

So the question is: "Where do your domain sales stack up against our industry's recent sales?"

If you're like most, they don't even come close to being in the same ballpark to the ones noted above. But's that's okay. The domain marketplace is an intelligently designed ecosystem that relies on many components working together to create a climate of structured supply and demand. If you can supply what someone demands, you can be successful. The key is having what someone wants, when they want it. This is what distinguishes a professional domainer from a weekend-domainer.

And this is what we will cover in our up-coming article "Creating Demand For Your Domains". This will be a 4-part series covering topics such as brandability, trend forecasting, alternate marketing and fuzzy logic. Subscribe to our feed here and make sure you don't miss out on this explosive series.

You're sitting on at least one "goldmine" domain name, you just don't know it yet.

Subscibe here

Register for the 2008 Domaining Yearbook

2008-02-01T12:43:00.000-06:00

Don't be left out of the most important networking directory ever produced in the domaining industry!

"An essential networking tool for domainers and developers, the 2008 Domaining Yearbook will be a compelling yearbook featuring an extraordinary "who's who" of the domaining industry. Neatly arranged in a engaging custom print format, the 2008 Domaining Yearbook will be unveiled in May, at the 2008 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. in Orlando, FL."

To register for the 2008 Domaining Yearbook, simply fill our the form here and submit your photo. Upon registering and submitting your photo, you will receive a confirmation email with two business days.

Submit your request here.

Domaining Terms 101

2008-02-01T12:11:00.000-06:00

Do you know the difference between TypoSquatting and PornoSquatting?

What about Domain Frontrunning and Domain Warehousing?

Domain tasting and domain kiting?

Brush up on your knowlede of domain terms and read this great article by Enrico Schaefer titled:

The Many Names Of Cybersquatting.

And if you have time, check out Enrico Schaefer's interview with Modern Domainer Magazine.

Enrico Schaefer is the founding attorney for Transverse Legal, PLC.

Domain Tool of the Week: AjaxWhois 2.0

2008-02-01T11:34:00.000-06:00

"Get the discounted $6.95 .com Go Daddy registration when you use AjaxWhois. No code needed."

So everyone knows I'm a big fan of "real-time" domain searches. I want immediate results without having to search and allow the page to load each time I want to search for a domain.

I also want to purchase those domains without having to pay absurd high prices or crazy renewal fees. Well, that's exactly what you get with AjaxWhois 2.0.

Not only are your searches instant and quick, but the newly updated AjaxWhois 2.0 has negotiated lower prices from Go Daddy when you make your .com domain purchase through AjaxWhois. Get the discounted $6.95 automatically and save a few bucks! No code needed.

Instant searches and discounted domains, now that's what I'm talking about.

Enjoy the tool and happy domaining,

Rudy

Visit the AjaxWhois 2.0 website here.

Stay informed of new domaining tools by subscribing here.

15 Ways To Become A Better Domainer

2008-01-28T11:15:00.000-06:00

The competition in the domain industry is steadily increasing as more and more people are becoming aware of it's global impact in today's financial marketplace. Professional investors and huge corporations are staking their claim of this internet real estate and have turned this once primitive name exchange into a booming multi-billion dollar industry.

Today's domainers are needing take their domain investing to another level in order to have continued success and profitability. Below are 15 Ways To Become A Better Domainer.

Utilize the forums

As I've said in previous posts, the importance of domaining forums in the domain industry are vital and serve as a great resource for beginners and professional domainers alike. Whether you are looking for some honest appraisal opinions or asking questions that only another domainer would know the answer to, the domain forums are there to assist. 24 hours a day, 365 days a week, this constant stream of domain information has shaped many beginner domainers into today's greatest professional domainers. If you're not a member of a domain forum you should greatly consider joining one today.

Are you a domainer or a domain developer?

Are you buying domains for quick profit sales? Are you buying domains for the long-term traffic revenue? Are you buying domains to develop and birth new traffic? Whether you choose to do one or all three, you must come to terms and clarify a solid game plan when it comes to your domain investments. It's reasonably okay to have a few domains being developed but your overall strategy needs to take shape and be narrowed down to a specific objective. Developing a domain name takes time, effort and more time, but the possible payoffs are always huge. Buying domain names in bulk for quick sales is also profitable but relies more on a constant sales initiative to be successful. Either way, you need a tactical approach on how you want to market your domains.

Dissect your portfolio

I once spoke to a guy who boasted a domain portfolio of over 3000 names. After hearing how he was considering selling a few of his "best" domains, I offered to peruse the list and maybe assist with finding some end users that might be potential buyers. He agreed and the next day he sent me a list of about 1000 of his best domains that he was willing to sell. To my surprise over 90% of them were, in my humble opinion, not worth much more than the reg fee. I contacted him back and explained that I was only to find about 75-100 names that could possibly be decent sales. He was stunned. He declined and stated that my appraisal was not correct and thanked me for my time. 3 days laters, I received an email from the exact same guy asking for assistance in selling the 75-100 domain names I previously found in his list. Seems that during those 3 days, he spoke to a few other domainers and received the same appraisal and evaluation of his so called "best" domains. This guy thought since his domains contained popular words like gamble, casino, sex and technology that it automatically made his domains super valuable. What he didn't consider was the multiple hyphens and terrible combinations of typos and keywords. Don't be the domainer with a huge list of terrible domains just to brag about how large your portfolio is. Trim your "extra" domains and streamline by selling or trading and use the profit for investing in quality names that are earmarked for immediate revenue or immediate development. Be proud of the overall quality of your portfolio and not just the number of domains it contains.

Know your rep

I amazed on how many people I encounter that in the domain industry that have no idea who their representatives are for such companies as Sedo, Moniker, Go Daddy and other big domain powerhouses. The representatives of such companies exist to assist their members who utilize their services and are hands-down the quickest and easiest way to get something resolved if you feel a mistake has been made. If you have domains either parked or offered for sale with a domain company, I highly suggest sending a quick email to find out who your representative is and do you best to maintain a professional and courteous relationship with them. It's easier to ask assistance from someone whom you know and knows you than it is to ask a complete stranger. And don't forget to vote for your favorite domain rep at next years Domainers Choice Awards.

Stay clear of Trademark Infringements

This should be a no-brainer. Time and time again I see domainers struggle with the headaches caused by trademark infringements and bad faith domain registrations. Not only do most of the trademark claims filed at the WIPO result in the domain being transferred to the appropriate party, but it also indicates that your choice in domains is questionable and therefore proving that you are still purchasing non-quality domain names. Domains that infringe on trademarks are not quality. Ask any lawyer. Save your registration fee and steer clear of legal woes.

Auto-renew

Now that your portfolio is streamlined and contains only select domain names, you definitely don't want to lose or let any of them drop and take a chance of someone else buying you lovely internet real estate. Do yourself a favor and set your domains for auto-renew at your domain register where purchased. It's a terrible feeling to have someone else scoop up one of your prize domains just because you didn't or couldn't find the time to renew the registration. Visit this great article by the Daily Domainer that explains the life-cycle of a domain name and don't let accidental "drops" happen to you.

Limit the hand regs

Hand regs or hand registrations are domains that are purchased from a publicly available source at a regular registration fee and are either brand new (never been purchased) or have expired and no longer owned by the previous owner. Go Daddy is a domain registrar that is popular with domainers and consistently used for hand regs. The possibility of stumbling along a unregistered domain is always there and the opportunity for someone to register a new domain name that never existed and create value to it is also conceivable, but in essence, most domain names that are hand regged are simply non-researched, impulse purchases that pad a domain portfolio with non-value names. Distinguish yourself as a profitable domainer and limit the amount of hand regs you add to your portfolio. One good way is to wait 24 hours before registering a hand reg domain and then re-evaluating before buying. You may lose a registration every so often but in the long run you will save on unnecessary registration fees and useless domain name ownership.

Stay current with news and sales

To be successful is to be informed. The pulse of the domain industry is constantly evolving and therefore it is beneficial to a domainer to know exactly what is the next potential opportunity or trend being created within our industry. If you buy domain names, you are an investor. If you are an investor, you need to stay current with the news of your investments and other people's investments. You can do this by monitoring the recent domain sales and news offered by many websites that are specifically geared towards todays domainers. One of my favorite websites is Ron Jackson's DNJournal. You can find great articles, news and the popular Year To Date domain sales. You need to know what domains are selling, which domains are being bought and how much they are being bought for. Invest time in your investments and reap the rewards. Predicting the next big trend is priceless.

Blog around

Domaining blogs are sprouting up everywhere with domainers eager to share their experiences, setbacks, lessons learned and tips with anyone who wants to listen. We all need to take advantage of this free and useful information by visiting various domain blogs and getting another person's perspective on our industry. And don't forget to subscribe to their RSS feeds, if it is offered, and have all this new information sent directly to you to read at your convenience... for free. Subscribe to this blog here.

Diversify with other TLD extensions

While some domainers swear that .com is the only extension worth being bought, there are others, like me, who think it's absolutely insane to dismiss all other TLD's and only buy one flavor of domain name. The popularity of .TV and .Mobi and the ongoing success of ccTLD's has risen and is playing a prominent part in today's domain marketplace. Generic domains in any of these extensions are being recognized as a highly sought after commodity with no signs of slowing. Familiarize yourself with other TLD's beside .com, .net and .org and evaluate your domain purchases on a global niche scale the next time you go to buy a domain.

Consider fractional domain ownership

Fractional domain ownership is simply a group of people that own a domain name and share in it's profits, development and use. There is not one sole owner because it is owned by the entire group. Owning a portion of a high value domain is a great way for a newcomer to the domain industry to begin and understand the ins and outs of professional domaining and share in the profit growth associated with that certain domain. It also allows "regular" domainers to group funds together and own a very premier domain name without one person having to pay the entire purchase price. Look for this trend to boom in 2008.

Optimize your parked pages

Once you buy a domain name, it is up to you whether your domain will contain a fully-functional website that you can customize/adsense or whether you will "park" your domain and allow targeted content to automatically be placed and monetized per visitor. If you choose to park your domains, it's imperative that you understand how domain parking works and how it can be optimized to bring better results. Sedo is a popular place for domain parking and allows users to see detailed stats and account information for each domain parked on the Sedo network. Revenue is shared with Sedo each time someone clicks on content on one of your parked pages and relies on consistent traffic to be a steady stream of income. Brush up on your domain parking information here.

Update your WHOIS information

The WHOIS database is sort of like a directory of purchased domain names that contains the owner's contact information, purchase date and expiration of a certain domain. One use of this information is being able to contact a domain owner and inquire about purchasing the domain. Without the correct information in the WHOis database, a potential buyer may not be able to contact the current owner and allow an offer to be placed. Contact your domain registrars and make sure your WHOis information is current and correct. If you opt not to be contacted by potential buyers, you may consider using a service that purchases domains for it's clients and keeps their information private. There is also an option to pay an additional fee at some domain registrars for private domain registration.

Contact more end users

So you have a great domain name that is considered gold in a certain industry. Great job. Now, if you have decided not to develop it and simply want to profit from a sale, I highly suggest contacting an end user. What's and end user? An end user is someone who would use the domain name specifically for creating brand recognition in a certain industry. Here's an example: Adam owns organicdogfood.com and Bob owns an organic dog food company in Texas but uses the domain BobsSuperGoodOrganicDogFood.com. Adam contacts Bob and offers a shorter, brandable and easier to remember domain name that can increase Bob's exposure on the internet for people searching for organic dogfood. Adam has just contacted a possible end user. A domain name can usually be sold to an end user for more since it is valued more by the actual user of the domain instead of a regular domain buyer.

Change your views on the domain industry

Are there still opportunities to be successful in today's domain industry? Yes.

Is there still time to take advantage of the booming domain sales? Yes.

Is it still possible for a domain newbie to come in and thrive even with a small initial investment. Yes.

Good luck with your domaining, enjoy the tips and don't forget to check back for the upcoming article titled: The 10 Best Places To Sell Your Domains

Subscibe here.

Go Daddy's Brilliant Super Bowl ad.... sort of

2008-01-24T11:52:00.000-06:00

Seems powerhouse domain name registrar, Go Daddy, has failed to get approval from the Fox Television Network on their latest attempt to air a provocative and edgy 30-second commercial during this year's Super Bowl game.

But instead of bowing to defeat, Bob Parsons and his ever-adapting marketing team has chosen to take the same 30-second time segment and utilize it to lure television watchers to visit www.GoDaddy.com/SuperBowl08 and watch the originally intended Super Bowl commercial that was denied by Fox Television.

Simply brilliant.

Not only does Go Daddy allow the video to still be seen by a huge audience, but in turn, it will drive tons of new traffic to their website and allow them another media platforms on which to advertise the highly anticipated video: EXPOSURE.

Using a tv commercial to advertise a web commercial. Still brilliant.

And, I wouldn't be surprised if the above mentioned trend-setting marketing team implements some sort of contest or giveaway during a portion of this year's Super Bowl on their website to take advantage of winning over the always growing customer base of customer domain registers.

Either way, I can't think of another domain registrar that has penetrated their intended audience as much as Go Daddy. Now that's exposure.

;)

-Rudy

Sedo Reports $72 million for 2007

2008-01-23T20:00:00.000-06:00

Sedo, the leading online market place for buying and selling Internet domain names and websites, has reported that a total of $72,230,731 worth of domains were sold and transferred via the Sedo marketplace in 2007.

This is a 60% increase of the same figure from 2006.

Over 27,000 domain names were transferred through it's marketplace during the same time.

View the entire 2007 Secondary Domain Market Study from Sedo.

Is This The Fastest Domain Tool?

2008-01-23T09:37:00.000-06:00

"Just start typing. Your results will appear instantly."

If you're like me, you don't want to waste time searching for available domain names using a slow loading search tool. I want results, and I want them quick. And this is exactly what you get when you utilize InstantDomainSearch.com's latest domaining tool: InstantDomainSearch

This webtool helps you find the right domain name—as fast as you can type.

You can find out more information about InstantDomainSearch.com here.

Or you can add this domain widget to your site/blog by visiting here.

Stay up-to-date on the latest domain tools and information by subscribing here.

Video Interview: Jay Westerdal of DomainTools

2008-01-22T18:37:00.000-06:00

Here's a cool short video created by Modern Domainer. It features Jay Westerdal, of DomainTools.com.

If you get a chance, check out Jay's blog or DomainTools.com.

Go Daddy Announces .ME Domain Extension

2008-01-21T09:49:00.000-06:00

.ME - THE NEW DOMAIN THAT'S ALL ABOUT YOU!

GoDaddy.com has announced Internet users around the world can register the catchy new domain extension for personal or business use later this year.

Imagine the possibilities. After all, .ME translates to a wide range of catchy words throughout the world - including the obvious English translations, such as "about me.” Others include "amar.me," which means "love me" in Spanish, and "secondo.me," which is Italian for "in my opinion."

Read more of the Go Daddy Press Release here.

Domain Tool Of The Week: DNSalePrice.com

2008-01-17T19:09:00.000-06:00

DNSalePrice.com is a great website for domain sales history and comparable sales. Not only is the interface ultra straight-forward, but DNSalePrice.com claims that their database is the largest and most accurate repository of domain sales to be found anywhere. It includes all published domain sales from 2003 through present.

Simply, type in a keyword and narrow down optional details such as:

- TLD choice

- Number of words

- Length

- Include numbers

- Include hypens

- Month range

- Price range

- and other details.

We checked a couple of well-known domain sales that occurred over the past couple of months and DNSalePrice.com nailed them all. Do yourself a favor and checkout this great tool.

Visit The Site

Get Your FREE Domain From Register.com (limited time offer)

2008-01-11T09:42:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Register.com Free Domain Promotion is back up and running!

Register.com, a ICANN-accredited domain registrar, has given tons of free domains away in the past through this exact same promotion.

This promotion runs for about 1-2 weeks and then all of a sudden, it's over.

Then you have to hear all the ranting from other people how they got a free domain name and you didn't.

Don't let that happen this time!

Visit here and register one FREE domain name.

Must register as a small business.

CC is required, but not charged. PayPal also will work.

Make sure you choose 1 yr registration and do not choose extras such as privacy if you want it for free.

I've included a few links to other forums/websites that have used the free register.com promo.

http://www.register.com/promo

Enjoy your FREE domain name and don't forget to subscribe to this blog to stay up-to-date on all the domain industry inside tips and news.

Cheers,

Rudy

SnapNames Releases List Of Premium Domain Names Set For Auction

2008-01-09T19:38:00.000-06:00

[pic source]

SnapNames, an Oversee.net company, has published a preliminary catalog of premium domain names available for auction at DOMAINfest in Hollywood set for January 21-23.

Some of the list includes:

neighborhood.com
dude.com
IQ.net
ar.com
bookmarks.com
soapoperas.com
joysticks.com
athlete.com
athens.com
adultvideos.com
IC.com
automobiles.com
face.com
six.com
track.com
exercising.com
message.com
cups.com
layouts.com
planners.com
exams.com
moviearchive.com
racetracks.com
hearingaids.net
travelperks.com
BF.com
text.com

During the SnapNames Live auctions, simultaneous online bidding will extend participation to bidders beyond the auction floor, including real-time access to SnapNames' worldwide base of more than 150,000 qualified buyers. This broad exposure to qualified and motivated buyers helps ensure maximum visibility and bidding contention for seller inventory.

Download the entire list here.

[video] Recorded proof of Network Solutions Domain Name Front Running

2008-01-09T10:20:00.000-06:00

This video was created by the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society.

Video recorded January 8th, 2008 showing a search for a non-existing domain on networksolutions.com, then checking another whois site about two minutes later to see that the domain is registered by Network Solutions. An example of "Domain Name Front Running" as defined by ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC).

-Rudy

BREAKING NEWS: Network Solutions Steals Your Domain Names

2008-01-08T14:42:00.000-06:00

PicSource

In a forum thread over at Namepros, it is being discovered that Network Solutions may be participating in an unethical activity called Domain Frontrunning.

Read more here at the Namepros forum post and check back for more details.

-------------------

Update:

Found more info about this topic over at DotSauce.

Domaining Tool Of The Day : SEObook Typo Generator

2008-01-07T12:29:00.000-06:00

" A great domainers tool!"

If you're needing to search for typo combinations for a certain domain name, look no further than the SEObook Typo Generator.

The visual interface is simple and lightning quick and easy for anyone to use . This tool allows you to type in any word and click to find various typo variations.

Skipped letter
Doubled letters
Reversed letters
Skipped spaces
Missed keys
Inserted keys

A great resource tool for any domainers arsenal.

Check out the SEObook Typo Generator here.

Go Daddy Girls Set To Light Up CES Show in Las Vegas

2008-01-07T11:31:00.000-06:00

Go Daddy, the world's largest registrar of domain names, is set to showcase the ever- popular Go Daddy Girls at this years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The world's largest domain name registrar is participating in the world's largest technology tradeshow with a Go Daddy booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The girls will be signing autographs and helping Go Daddy give away free domain name registrations to booth visitors.

The original Go Daddy Girl, Candice Michelle, along with IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, will be signing autographs Monday. On Tuesday, seven-time Olympic swimming medalist Amanda Beard, who's also appeared in Playboy, will be on hand.

There will be interview opportunities with Go Daddy Girls Candice, Danica & Amanda.
Also a visual opportunity to see The Go Daddy Chopper.

More info at GoDaddyGirls.info

New Domaining Tool: DomainScour.com

2008-01-04T12:10:00.000-06:00

NEW!

Domainers are pleased to have another useful tool at their disposal. Many have found that DomainScour.com , developed by Michigan-based design firm Ninjamuk, can greatly reduce the time it takes to find and acquire a new domain name.

Geared toward webmasters, the site streamlines the domain-finding process into a few simple steps. Using the site costs nothing, and is easy enough for even the most digitally-challenged to operate.

DomainScour owners are encouraging visitors to offer comments and suggestions on the site by using the 'Contact' link at the bottom of the page so they can continue to shape and refine the site.

Personally, I like the added feature of available name hacks that are automatically displayed when typing in a domain name.

Visit DomainScour.com

Domain Tool of the Week: BustAName.com

2008-01-03T14:10:00.000-06:00

Watch the BustAName.com tutorial created by it's f0under, Ryan Stout.

Enjoy These Available Domains

2007-12-30T21:41:00.000-06:00

While searching for some hand-reg .tv and .mobi domains today, I made a list of some available domains that I thought may interest other domainers.

As of today, all the domains below are available and can be registered at the domain register of your choice.

Enjoy and Happy New Years!
-Rudy

BEEPING.TV
BLATANT.BIZ
BLOAT.TV
CALLOUS.MOBI
CARTILAGE.MOBI
CRYBABY.TV
CIRCUMFERENCE.MOBI
CIRCUMFERENCE.TV
COMPACTDISCS.TV
DERELICT.MOBI
DRIZZLE.MOBI
DRIZZLE.TV
EXCITABLE.MOBI
EVAPORATE.TV
FACEPAINT.TV
FACEPLANT.BIZ
FACEPLANT.TV
FEASIBLE.TV
FLAKES.TV
FRIGID.BIZ
HIGHFI.MOBI
INGROWN.MOBI
LABORLAWS.TV
LATCHKEY.TV
MINIMALISTIC.MOBI
MINIMALISTIC.BIZ
MINIMALISTIC.TV
PINSTRIPE.TV
SCARTISSUE.MOBI
SEAMS.TV
SPECKLE. MOBI
SPECKLE.TV
WEEPING.TV
WHEEZE.MOBI
WHEEZE.TV
WITCHHUNT.MOBI
WITCHHUNT.TV

GoDaddy Sets Record For Charitable Donations

2007-12-29T15:41:00.000-06:00

Web hosting giant’s philanthropic work for 2007 totaled $1.4 million.

Go Daddy, a Scottsdale-based company, helped organizations dedicated to a variety of causes, including domestic violence, child abuse, blind children, unwed mothers, homelessness, as well as Parkinson’s disease, Juvenile Diabetes, food banks and animal shelters.

Go Daddy’s own employees have also benefited from the company’s most successful year ever. More than $1 million was awarded to employees in 2007. Employee prizes included cash, cars, a year’s mortgage paid, a four-year college scholarship and a trip around the world that included 20 paid vacation days and $10,000 spending money.

Lord of the Rings vs. Sex-Hobbit.com

2007-12-21T09:01:00.000-06:00

WIPO Decision

(pic source)

Tolkien Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaentz Company, which owns certain worldwide exclusive rights to the literary works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, has recently won a WIPO decision to obtain a hobbit-themed domain from a Netherlands cybersquatter.

Sex-Hobbit.com was registered on Jan. 27, 2004 and evidence shows the Respondent’s website is not focused on fantasy, or midgets, or Hobbits, but simply on exploiting links to extreme pornographic sites, most probably to generate click-through income or for some other commercial benefit.

The complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center on October 11, 2007 and was officially transferred to Tolkien Enterprises on December 4, 2007.

The main reasons for the WIPO decided transfer was:

1. The contested domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights.

2. The Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name.

3. The domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

See the official WIPO Arbitration Panel Decision here.

Hillary Clinton Registers 2 Domain Names To Smear Obama

2007-12-20T10:58:00.000-06:00

Sen. Hillary Clinton has registered the names of two web sites with the express goal of attacking her cheif rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

VotingPresent.com and VotingPresent.org are domains hosted by the same IP address of official Clinton websites, such as TheHillaryIKnow.com, which was launched with much fanfare this week.

Source:
ABC News

Here's the Whois info:
Administrative Contact:
Hillary Clinton for President info@hillaryclinton.com
4420 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203
US
703-469-2008 fax: 703-962-8600

Technical Contact:
Hostmaster hostmaster@cpoint.net
Counterpoint Networking
3023 N. Clark St. #328
Chicago, IL 60657-5200
US
888-627-6468

Record expires on 30-Oct-2008.
Record created on 30-Oct-2007.
Database last updated on 20-Dec-2007 11:54:41 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.CPOINT.NET 207.97.212.140
NS2.CPOINT.NET 204.10.48.76
NS3.CPOINT.NET 204.10.51.44

Cheers,
Rudy

NamePros passes 75,000 members... and growing

2007-12-20T09:02:00.000-06:00

Congrats!

NamePros, one of the domain industry's most popular forums, has recently passed the 75,000 member mark.

NamePros is a discussion board for buyers and sellers of domain names. It is the largest forum dedicated to domain names. You can buy or sell domains here and you can learn more about domain names as well. There is also a subforum for discussion on web design and programming, purchasing entire websites and discussions on monetization of your website. This helpful community has everything you need to setup a successful web presence. Getting an account here is free.

As of today, the forum stats are:

Registered Members: 76,076
Total Threads: 398,462
Total Posts: 2,386,202

Also, on a side note, NamePros will be celebrating their 5th year anniversary on February 7th, 2008.

Congratulations to Ron and his staff for providing domainers a professional and positive atmosphere to discuss domains.

Visit NamePros

Win 333 free domain names in the Christmas game from Triple.com

2007-12-19T13:26:00.000-06:00

Triple.com, an ICANN authorized Registrar and hosting company is running the Christmas promo game. Players can find this game on flash game sites or at the company's website. The company states that besides playing just for fun, a player can register an account with them and play for a free domain name.

According to them, the top 333 players will win a free domain name and they further add that the top 25 will get a domain name and a free Plan A hosting for 1 year.

PLAY THE GAME HERE

GoDaddy signs NASCAR deal with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2007-12-18T13:08:00.000-06:00

GoDaddy.com is announcing their debut into NASCAR – joining Hendrick Motorsports in a sponsorship deal. Go Daddy’s first NASCAR sponsorship teams NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., with the sport's number one racing team and the world’s largest domain name registrar.

The sponsorship deal makes Go Daddy the primary sponsor for the No. 5 NASCAR Nationwide Series Chevrolets for six events in 2008 featuring Earnhardt Jr., along with Mark Martin and Ron Fellows. Go Daddy will also serve as an associate-level partner for the No. 5 cars all season.

New Domaining Tool: DNticker.com

2007-12-13T19:15:00.000-06:00

NEW!

I ran into this new domaining tool today.

DNticker is a FREE downloadable browser toolbar that scrolls the latest domains for sale on popular domain selling sites.

Listings include:

-Sedo

-Afternic

-Pool

-NamePros

-eBay

-SitePoint

-and many others.

DNticker also includes added features like domain chat, google search, and even radio!

Visit DNticker for your FREE downloadable domain brower toolbar and never miss another great deal on a domain name.

-Rudy

"How do I appraise a domain's value?"

2007-12-13T10:39:00.000-06:00

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Submitted question:
"Rudy, Hello. I'm new to domaining and really enjoy being involved in domain buying.
One question I can't seem to find an exact answer to is: How do I correctly appraise a domain's value?
Is there an exact formula or method or is everyone simply giving their random feedback?
Thanks, Benji"

Benji,

Thanks for your question.

I see this question posted in a lot of different domain forums with numerous replies and opinions on exactly how to correctly appraise a domain's worth. To put it simply Benji, there is no exact formula to appraise a domain, but there are a group of things to consider before putting a value to a domain. A majority of people will base their immediate appraisal on TLD extension, word length and keyword popularity but won't really consider backlinks, brandability or emerging trends part of the equation. There are a few factors that a person must be aware of before they can feel they have thoroughly assessed the domain and attach a valid appraisal amount. The first thing a person can do to is recognize that there are many subtle components that need to be assembled and viewed as a whole to get a comprehensive perspective on the domain. It seems every domainer has their own method used to appraise a domain so I've listed a few factors that I feel are necessary in being considered before a domain can be appraised.

____________________

TLD Extension

TLD or Top-Level Domain is the ending extension attached to a domain such as .com, .net or .org. The .com extension is considered the most sought after even though there are other TLD's that are gaining huge popularity and acceptance. CC's or Country Codes are also seeing their fair share of registrations.

Name Length

Now that all the 2, 3 and 4 letter .com's have been registered, the letter count on a domain is fast becoming a huge factor in a domain's worth. The desire for a short domain is at an all time high and values are steadily climbing due to the limited supply of shorter length domains. Seems shorter names are easier to remember and with that a value increase.

Characters, Numbers and Hyphens

Hyphens integrated between letters are often viewed as separators between keywords. Although there is much dispute whether or not the hyphens negatively impact a domain's search engine optimization, there is considerable preference that a domain not include anything extra in it's name. Number digits are beginning to see their popularity rise and can be included with relevant keywords or letters to make a great domain.

Keyword Popularity

Marketable search terms and keyword popularity are extremely relevant in appraising a domain name. The frequency of a given search term helps to indicate the brandability or popularity of the keyword. Generic word domains, such as flowers.com or poker.com are the strongest in their keyword popularity genre.

Traffic and Revenue

Traffic or visitors to a particular domain is one of the most important factors to consider when appraising a domain. More traffic usually means more revenue due to pay-per-click income and possible advertising opportunities, therefore increasing the value of the domain.

Brandability and Trends

Any domain that is easily memorable, short and non-descript is considered brandable and therefore increases it's value. It would be easier for a person to remember TVrepair.com instead of the longer fix-my-broken-television.com . Not only is the first choice shorter and has better word flow but also there is less of a chance of someone incorrectly typing in the URL. Also keep tuned in to current trends that may seem to increase an otherwise meaningless domain into a treasure. An example is when Apple Computers began to incorporate the letter i into their products descriptions, such as iPhone, iPod and iLife.

Automated Domain Appraisals

This is a tricky one. Although I feel automated domain appraisal systems such as Estibot are helpful in assisting to appraise a domain, I don't feel they should be the "end all" decision used to obtain a domain's value. If used more as a reference tool, they can be one of the greatest resources that help determine an appraisal value. Any script/applications can have some bugs, especially ones with complex algorithms as Estibot. Make automated domain appraisals one of the tools to find an appraisal, not the only tool.

Future Potential Interest and Overall Appeal

As time goes by, new words, trends and fads explode onto the scene, and with each new word or trend created, a domain is born. Stay up with current events and become a regular visitor to news aggregate sites, such as Digg and domain industry specific DNHour to stay on the cusp of emerging potential interests.

Backlinks

I like to keep my eye on the number and quality of backlinks to evaluate an domain appraisal. While tons of irrelevant backlinks might negatively effect a domain's search engine optimization, it can still be a positive thing for a domain names' value. With more and more domains being "parked", the links tend to lean towards relevant backlinks and therefore less likely to be bogged down in the SEO nightmare of page rank. And, it's hard to argue that backlinks don't increase traffic.

Relevance, Region Specific and other Fuzzy Logic

As said earlier, there is no exact formula to appraise a domain name, and therefore the not-so-exact elements must come into play. An example would be that veteran domainers tend to skew their entire method of appraising when it comes to country specific or region specific domain names. Different factors are incorporated to determine non-English domain word values and domainers across the globe are becoming better in detecting future potential interests in foreign markets. Another example is the continuously growing popularity of "long-string domaining", or stringing multiple words or keywords to achieve a brandable and memorable domain name. TacoBell has ThinkOutsideTheBun.com and Amazon has the domain BuyABook.com. By definition, these would not be very valuable but that's when the fuzzy logic creeps in. A domain's value can be perceived in multiple ways.

____________________

So keep in mind Benji that even though there isn't one exact correct formula being used by the domain industry to appraise domains, a reasonable appraisal can be determined by anyone if they keep all the factors in mind and how they each interact with each other.

I'd suggest you monitor the pulse of current domain sales by frequently visiting

DNJournal's Domain Sales Chart. This will show you weekly and even yearly to-date domain sales for the industry. And don't forget to visit the front page of Sedo to view ongoing live auctions. Each of these great resources will help you in creating your own customized method of domain appraising by seeing what domains are selling and for what amount.

Good luck in your domain endeavors and thanks again for your question.

Cheers,

Rudy

If you have a question you would like answered, feel free to submit it to:

info@logistiklabs.com

ParkingWHOIS.com

2007-12-10T13:28:00.000-06:00

If you're looking for a useful tool for finding out parking providers for certain domains, look no further than ParkingWHOIS.com.

The simple, "google-esque" web-based interface is easy to navigate; simply type in the name of the domain name that you want to check and in a couple of seconds you'll have your answer.

There are already over 30 domain parking programs covered and all gTLD and ccTLD are searchable.

ParkingWHOIS is the first service of it's kind and is a just one in a coming lineup of other complimentary domain name parking services set to roll out in the next few weeks.

Find Out More At: ParkingWHOIS.com

Matt Cutts takes a bribe..... (sort of)

2007-12-09T23:32:00.000-06:00

Fun video w/ Matt Cutts of Google from PubCon 2007.

More great PubCon 2007 videos at Reachd.com

Sub Domains To Be Treated As Folders By Google

2007-12-09T22:36:00.000-06:00

PicSource

"The implications can be huge for companies. Besides for the traffic implications, companies need to also worry about reputation management issues."

More at:
http://searchengineland.com/071207-090257.php

Also check out the Spihn discussion:
http://sphinn.com/story/17696

Would You Park Your Domains For Charity?

2007-12-07T14:40:00.000-06:00

Last night, I was out with my fiance enjoying a nice simple dinner when I was approached by the waiter at the end of the meal and was informed that 50% of my dinner expense was going to be donated to a local charity. Seems that on the first Thursday of every month, each patron that dines at this particular restaurant is participating in a charitable event that allows half of the dinner expense to be donated directly to a benefiting charity. I was instantly delighted. Not only did I get to enjoy a fabulous dinner with my significant other, but I was helping out an organization that helps out others... and I didn't even have to exert any extra effort or thought. Seems a win-win for both parties.

And that's when it hit me. If I could get joy out of helping those in need by simply following my regular routines and lifestyle, could this somehow be implemented into the world of domaining? As a smile slid across my face, my fiance asked me what I was thinking about. I simply responded: charity domain parking.

It would probably take tons of work, but in theory, it seems simple enough. Create a domain parking service that allows members to park their domains with the option of how much or how often the revenue generated from their natural traffic clicks would be donated to their charity of choice. There could be a list of charitable, non-profit organizations to choose from and even the option to keep their donations on a local-city level. Think about it. Maybe you opt to allow your domains to donate their click revenue once a month on a certain day (as the above mentioned restaurant did) to a deserving non -profit or simply opt to allow a certain percent (with a set maximum) to automatically be contributed per month. You would still profit from the domain parking service AND effortlessly endow an deserving organization with a positive financial contribution. I don't know about you, but I can almost feel the good karma that would be involved with this endeavor.

Beyond the evident, I'm sure there would be a lot of facets and "red-tape" to be ironed out before this idea would be actually be materialized such as tax write off options, relevant advertisement stipulations and domain server management. But to me it still seems something that could be achieved by a group of committed individuals.

And that's the million dollar question: Would You Park Your Domains For Charity?

I'd love to hear the thoughts from some fellow domainers about this and maybe even form some sort of partnership to assist in bringing this idea to light.

I can be contacted at: info(at)LogistikLabs.com

Cheers,

Rudy

Mid-Week Funny

2007-12-05T18:43:00.000-06:00

Pic Source

Register a FREE domain name!

2007-12-05T11:06:00.000-06:00

Get a FREE domain name!? Yes, you read that right.

I just received my 2nd free domain registration over at DomainLagoon.
You can too.

1. Simply click on the banner above.
2. Sign up on their homepage
3. Begin filling out free incentive based web offers (surveys).
4. Accumulate enough points to "buy" a domain registration.
5. Register your .com, .net, .org. .biz, .name, or .us domain name.
6. Enjoy your new free domain! That's it. Simple.

It took me about 2 hours to fill out enough web offers to earn enough points for my first free domain. (9.95 points)
That means, by the end of today, you could have another domain name added to your portfolio... for free!

- No credit cards are needed (yeah!)
- No email spam will be sent (not 1 spam email since I signed up)
- The domain will be registered in YOUR name.
- You will have FULL control over the domain (servers, hosting)
- A full 1 year registration
- No "hidden rules" or "fine print"

- 100% FREE

In order to participate at DomainLagoon you MUST be in the USA, CANADA or the UNITED KINGDOM.

That's it! Consider your free domain registration an early Christmas gift from me.
What are you waiting for? Click the banner and get your free domain!

Cheers,
Rudy

The 20 Most Influential People In The Domain Industry

2007-12-03T14:54:00.001-06:00

2007 Edition

Meet the Executives, Entrepreneurs, and cutting-edge innovators who have positively influenced today’s domain industry business agenda.The names presented here weren’t selected on the basis of fame, net worth, or the accomplishments of yesteryears. Instead my goal was to identify people whose ideas, products, pioneering accomplishments and industry insights have or are changing the world of domaining. A remarkable who’s who of the domain industry.

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Vinton Cerf

Former ICANN Chairman/ VP and chief Internet evangelist for Google

Why He Matters: Widely known as the "Father of the Internet," Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet.Vint Cerf serves as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Cerf served as founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-1995 and in 1999 served a term as chairman of the Board. In addition, Cerf is honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum, dedicated to raising awareness and speeding introduction of the new Internet protocol. Cerf served as a member of the U.S. Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 1997 to 2001 and serves on several national, state and industry committees focused on cyber-security. Cerf recently made headlines when he was quoted as saying “Attempts by governments to create a controlling agency for the Internet are likely to fail.”

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Rick Schwartz

CEO, President and Cofounder of T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

Why He Matters: Rick Schwartz purchased his first domain name in December 1995 when he paid $100 for LipService.com. Eight years later to the month he sold one, Men.com, for $1.32 million in a deal that was reported worldwide. As one of the early domain pioneers dating back to 1995, he was a pioneer in the history of domain names, and is generally regarded as an expert in the field of web site traffic, flow and valuation.He is also known for being one of the first people to recognize the value of "type in" web site traffic, which is also known as "direct navigation" traffic, referring to domain names that are typed in directly to a web browser's URL text box. Rick’s highly successful T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference is a premier industry event. More information about Rick Schwartz can be found at his blog.

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Ron Jackson

Editor and Publisher of DNJournal

Why He Matters: The first domain Ron Jackson registered was MusicParadise.com in 1997. He came into the domain business strictly as a buyer/seller/investor, however having been a journalist, Ron soon recognized that despite this being a business where tens of millions of dollars were changing hands annually, it had no trade magazine. Ron decided to be the voice for the domain industry and put DNJournal.com online New Year’s Day 2003. Today, DNjournal.com is considered the “wall street journal” of the domaining world and Ron Jackson is one of the most highly respected journalists in the industry.

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Monte Cahn

Founder and CEO of DomainSystems

Why He Matters: Monte Cahn is Founder and CEO of DomainSystems, Inc., which is the parent company of the domain traffic monetization solution TrafficClub.com, and 9 ICANN Accredited Registrars including industry leading registrar - Moniker.com. He started investing in intellectual property and domain names in 1996 and helped start the first online domain brokerage business on the Internet in 1996.Success includes participating in the industry's first domain name sale for over $1 million dollars with the sale of Wallstreet.com and the industries first $2 million dollar plus domain sale with the sale of Autos.com in 1999. Many feel that these two industry record sales were responsible for dot com buying and selling frenzy that started in late 1999. Monte is also responsible for co-developing the industry's first recognized domain appraisal system to date. Monte Cahn is the host of the new free Internet radio shows 'Domain Masters' on WebmasterRadio.fm and yNotRadio.com that broadcasts each week.

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Kevin Ham

The Man Who Owns The Internet

Why He Matters: Trained as a family doctor, Kevin Ham put off medicine after discovering the riches of the domain industry. Since 2000 he has quietly cobbled together a portfolio of some 300,000 domains that, combined with several other ventures, generate an estimated $70 million a year in revenue. His sites receive 30 million unique visitors a month. Kevin is also responsible for working a deal with the government of Cameroon, which owns the .cm country code domain, to forward all non registered domains to his website agoga.com; which take advantage of users who mistakenly type .cm instead of .com.

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Jon Postel

Why He Matters: He is principally known for being the Editor of the RFC document series, and for managing the creation and allocation of Top Level Domains and IP addresses in the pre-ICANN era. Postel was the RFC Editor from 1969 until his passing, and wrote and edited many important RFCs, including RFCs 0791-0793, which define the basic protocols of the Internet protocol suite. Postel served on the Internet Architecture Board and its predecessors for many years. He was the Director of the names and number assignment clearinghouse, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), from its inception. He was the first member of the Internet Society, and was on the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society. He was the original and long-time .us Top-Level Domain administrator. Postel died of complications following heart valve replacement surgery in Los Angeles, on October 16, 1998.

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Frank Schilling

Pioneering Domain Investor /Sevenmile.com

Why He Matters: Frank Schilling's bidding and investment activities helped expand the expiring domain name auction houses; and later, other ICANN accredited registrars selling their registry connections as a drop registrar. Frank Schilling patented the "Generic Top Level Domain Rerouting System" in 2001, financed the Caribbean's first ICANN accredited domain name registrar in 2003, joined as a member of the ICANN business constituency and co-founded the non-profit 'Internet Commerce Association' in 2006. He began domain blog Seven Mile in 2007.Frank Schilling was one of the first to administer very large portfolios of domain names for third-parties and is one of the largest generic domain-name investors in the world.

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Adam Dicker

Owner, DNForum.com / Go Daddy VP of Domain Name Aftermarket

Why He Matters: Adam Dicker has built a reputation in the Internet community throughout the years by helping people earn more revenue from their domain name investments. Adam Dicker is the owner of the largest domain industry discussion forum:DNForum.com. Adam purchased his first domain in 1996 and has since become a prominent play in the domain industry. With the knowledge of domains and the power of a highly successful domaining forum under his belt, Adam has recently been hired by Go Daddy as the Vice President of Domain Name Aftermarket.

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Picture being updated

Russell C. Horowitz

CEO, Marchex / Chairman of the Board Director

Why He Matters: Russell Horowitz is a founding officer, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Treasurer of Marchex since January 2003. Russell was previously a founder of Go2Net, which he sold for $1.6 billion. Together Russell Horowitz and Marchex have become a leader in delivering vertical and local online traffic to merchants. Marchex offers services like “feed management” that delivers advertiser listings into search engines and shopping engines. It also offers “bid management,” which helps merchants monitor performance-based search advertising on search engines and pay-per-click networks.

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Yun Ye

Elusive and successful domain pioneer

Why He Matters: A onetime computer programmer, Yun Ye used his newly developed software in the late 1990’s to amass an infamous domain empire that was ultimately sold to Marchex for an astonishing $164 million. Yun ye, a Chinese citizen who lived at the time in Vancouver, British Columbia, was intensely private and dealt with the Marchex people only under the agreement that they never mention his name. To this day, Marchex execs refer to the deal by the company name Ye adopted for the transaction: Name Development.

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Tim Schumacher

Co-Founder and CEO, Sedo

Why He Matters: As one of the founders and CEO of the world’s most successful domain marketplace, Sedo.com, Tim Schumacher is responsible for driving the pulse of the domain buying/selling industry with it’s record selling auctions and popular user-interface web tools. As CEO, Schumacher helped Sedo become a profitable dot-com-while maintaining rapid growth and international expansion. Sedo stands for “search engine for domain offers” and is one of the most widely used domain aftermarket websites on the Internet.

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Tim Berners-Lee

Director of the World Wide Web Consortium/ WWW Inventor

Why He Matters: Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, Senior Researcher at MIT’s CSAIL, and professor of Computer Science at SouthHampton ECS. In 1989, while working at CERN laboratory, Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web, including the first HTTP client and server. In 1994 he helped establish the World Wide Web Consortium and has served as it’s Director ever since. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.

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John Berryhill

Patent Attorney and UDRP legal specialist

Why He Matter: Dr. John Berryhill has represented domain name registrants and trademark claimants in numerous UDRP proceedings and federal court proceedings. John has been a longtime advocate for the rights of domain registrants in ICANN working groups and task forces relating to intellectual property and other domain policy issues, and is a representative in the Registrar Constituency. Having earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, John maintains a "nerds-eye view" of issues affecting technology and media companies interested in securing and defending their rights in cyberspace. John Berryhill was a guest speaker at DomainFest in 2007.

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Chris Chena

Pioneering Spanish domainer

Why He Matters: Chris Chena, a pioneering Paraguayan domainer that has acquired gems in the Spanish domain industry such as Vlajes.com (trips), Clasificados.com (classified), amistad.com (friendship), and Paraguay.com. Chris has become a premier player in the IDN marketplace and has recently purchased 80% of the popular Paraguayan TV channel, Canal 13. Chris decided to acquire Spanish generic domain names when the rest of the world was scrambling to obtain English generic domains.

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Bob Parsons

CEO, Go Daddy

Why He Matters: In 1997, Parsons founded GoDaddy.com, which quickly carved out a niche as an affordable alternative to the larger companies that monopolized the early Internet domain registration market. Ever since then, Bob Parsons and Go Daddy has become the world’s most popular domain name registrar with over 22 million domains registered. Along with controversial promotional ads and provocative television commercials, Bob Parsons is fast becoming the face of registrar domaining.

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Craig Nine

Founder, IDN Forums
Why He Matters: The first domain Craig Nine registered was J99.com. Since that day back in 1999, the 32-year-old SEO consultant and web developer living in Japan – first became interested in IDNs, he didn’t just register a couple of domains to test the waters, he dove in headfirst. Nine is not only the owner of one of the strongest Japanese IDN portfolios, he is also the owner and founder of IDNForums.com, the premier IDN discussion and sales forum, and one of the top sites about Internationalized Domain Names.

(Content from idncyclopedia.com)

Sahar Sarid

Co-founder Recall Media Group/ Conceptualist.com

Why He Matters: With only determination and his sister’s credit card, Sahar Sarid, Co-Founder of Recall Media Group, successfully began his journey into professional domaining and has become an iconic knowledgeable resource to many in the domain industry. Along with his popular blog, The Conceptualist, Sahar educates his readers with domain specific information and industry news. His current project involves a site called "Assista " which is a search engine powered by asking questions instead of using keywords.

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Ron James

Founder, NamePros.com/ Director 1Plus.net

Why He Matters: Ron James founded NamePros in February 2003 and has used his skills to create one of the fastest growing domain forum communities on the Internet. Ron and his staff have created a positive and educational resource forum for the domain industry with no signs of slowing down. Ron James registered his first domain in 1997 and has been actively buying and selling on the domain aftermarket since 1998.

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Rick Latona

Founder, DigiPawn
Why He Matters: Rick Latona has been in the Internet business since the beginning. Rick’s popular Sick Site Network controls over 5 million daily unique visitors. He currently owns over 10,000 .com names and is highly respected in the industry. Rick Latona is founder of DigiPawn, the first Internet pawnshop that specializes in lending money to domain name owners that use their domains as collateral. It is pioneering endeavors like this, which are pushing the domain industry to new levels.

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You
Future of the Domain Industry
Why You Matter: The future of domaining has fast become highly publicized due to recent world record sales and industry advertising. It seems every TV, radio and print commercial advertisement is now tagged with the website address of the company sponsoring the ad in hopes of driving traffic towards the site. Domain names are no longer a collecting hobby, but a multi-billion-dollar industry that has taken the world by storm. As a domainer, we have dedicated ourselves to searching trends, market influences, future potential interest and overall market appeal of domain names that would be highly sought for purchase or traffic monetization. We are the driving force behind the exploding media behind the domain industry and without you being a part of the frenzy, there would be no frenzy. I would like to thank everyone for your positive influences to our emerging industry and I look forward to adding some new faces to the 2008 edition of the 20 Most Influential People In The Domain Industry. Please be kind in critiquing the choices I have made. These are just one guy's opinion.

Cheers,
Rudy Hernandez

They Mystery Behind Go Daddy and ePerks.com

2007-11-20T10:31:00.000-06:00

Last week I started a forum thread over at NamePros regarding the recent death and removal of the infamous, old-school instant domain appraising tool we all knew as: Leapfish.com

The old Leapfish site all of a sudden now seems to be directed to the homepage of a company known as ePerks.

Not alot is known about ePerks except that they provide real estate, car and home improvement deals & incentives, and are owned by a division of Brabus Ventures.

The fact that Leapfish is no longer around is not the mystery. The top choice in domain appraising tool support nowdays is Estibot.com and the exit of Leapfish from the domain game is not exactly a surprising shock to anyone. So what's the big mystery? The buzz in the domain industry is the obvious similarity between the Go Daddy logo and the ePerks logo that has people suggesting a possible affiliation partnerships between both companies.

Below are a few forum threads I found while researching that suggest there are others out there who have heard this "rumor".

As far as I can tell right now, Go Daddy is in no way, shape or form affiliated with ePerks.com. There is no domain-related information on the new leapfish site and the whois for both names does not indicate a similar owner. Other that forum "buzz" this seems probably to be false.

But don't get me wrong, The ePerk's logos definitely resembles the cartoonish Go Daddy guy logo right down to the sunglasses, but that simply may be coincidence or bad market branding.

But the fact that the owners of ePerks decided to buy a well-known domain industry appraising domain name and have it link to their own homepage is what has me scratching my head. Did they want the traffic? If so, why use the targeted traffic of a domain appraisals site and forward it knowing that 100% of that traffic will bounce because of an unrelated topic. Maybe there's more to it than this?

HHmmm... seems I may have to pull out the ol' detective hat and do some rooting around.

If anybody else has heard anything or finds any other information, please post it here for us to see. Thanks in advance.

I'll be back to post my findings.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Rudy

Logistik Labs - The home for FREE Domain Tools and News

How Much Market Share Does Your Domain Registrar Have?

2007-11-19T14:25:00.000-06:00

Every so often, I pop on over to RegistrarStats and check out the lastest changes in the market share of the top domain registrars.

It's a quick and simple way to see exactly which registrars are selling the most domains and exactly how much marketshare they have over the other registrars in the domain industry.

It seems the Scottsdale, Arizona based Go Daddy, is still miles ahead of any other domain registrar with a current stat of 21,720,000 domains. Enom is in second place with 8,100,000 domains.

Current as of 11/18/2007

1. Go Daddy 21.72 Million

2. eNom 8.1

3. Network Solutions 6.7

4. Tucows 6.0

5. Melbourne IT 4.8

6. Shlund + Partner 3.6

7. Wild West Domains 2.7

8. Moniker Online Services 2.6

9. Register.com 2.5

10 PublicDomainRegistry 1.8

11. Key-Systems GmbH 1.3

12. Intercosmos Media 1.2

13. OnlineNIC, Inc. 1.1

14. Dotster 1.0

15. DomainDiscover 1.0

Stats courtesty of RegistrarStars

New Hot Trend: Domain Selling Using Video Presentations

2007-11-16T11:25:00.000-06:00

Flipping through the TV channels, I ran across the ever-popular QVC channel, which as everyone knows, is a home shopping channel that allows viewers to buy assorted products over the phone or Internet as they are being "showcased". I sat and watched for a minute or two and thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if the show began selling premier domain names or maybe even bulk name listings?" Imaging visiting a website that shows live video streams of domains that are being sold for a set price or maybe even recently expired domains that are fresh on-the-block and ready for new owners. This all seemed outrageous to me at first... then it all sank in.

If domain names are called "virtual real estate" why isn't there a market for domain name owners to "showcase" their domains as actual real estate sellers do? If someone is selling a home, do they just list the house address & price and list it as that. Nope, they list the address, show the amenities, age of house, condition of house, house size and all that relevant stuff to help them sell their home to a potential buyer. Why would we not do the same things for our "virtual real estate"? It would be sort of an "open-house" for your domain.

As I sat there watching QVC, I noticed that with each item being presented, the host would explain the benefits of owning the item, explained the pricing, showed the features and did his best to make the viewer feel that this is an item that they can't do without. Don't you wish you had that chance with the last domain name you sold? With this idea you could. Each short presentation (maybe about 1 minute in length) could display detailed stats associated to the domain being sold such as price, brandability, backlinks, traffic stats, PageRank, future market trends, potential market interest, website inclusions, register info and overall appeal of the domain being sold. This would benefit the seller by allowing them to show-off their domains and possibly ask for a higher price than if they just listed the name for sale on some stagnant webpage. It would benefit the buyer because they would know exactly what they are buying and all the mandatory information needed to justify the purchase as needed. Seems to be a win-win situation. Better pricing because of more detailed selling information.

It's Friday and I may be crazy... but could this be an actual possibility for a new trend in domain selling? Is it that outlandish to imagine a website that people submit their short domain presentations to and have potential buyers watch their clip and make a buying decision?

I know, I know... the whole entire thought seems crazy and absurd, and that's why I flipped the channel. But I'm still intrigued. As a matter of fact, I switched back to the QVC channel and let a flood of ideas flow into my head. Could this have legs? Could this possibly be a new, updated way to sell domain names in today's marketplace? Would you be up for it?
Consider this "testing the waters".

Send me a message here with your opinions/feedback or visit DNIO.net for more information on possibly being part of the beta phase of this new and exciting endeavor.

Cheers,
Rudy

Never doubt that a small group of of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Vint Cerf Sees Government Control of Internet Failing

2007-11-14T20:11:00.000-06:00

"Attempts by governments to create a controlling agency for the Internet are likely to fail", Dr. Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the World Wide Web, said on Wednesday.

Rick Schwartz Interviewed About Cowboys.com Purchase

2007-11-14T11:56:00.000-06:00

Darren Cleveland, CEO/President of Recall Media Group, interviews Rick Schwartz

Found this on YouTube. This interview was done at the Cowboys.com Owners party on Oct.26, 2007. Darren Cleveland, CEO/President of Recall Media Group, interviews Rick Schwartz, investor in the cowboys.com domain purchase.

More domain videos can be found at LogistikLabs.com

More videos by Recall Group Media can be found at their YouTube channel.

SnapNames® Open for Domain Name Auction Submissions

2007-11-14T10:43:00.000-06:00

Today, SnapNames has released a press release to inform the domain industry that they are now accepting submissions of premium domain names for auction in at their debut SnapNames Live auctions scheduled for January 2008.

Two SnapNames Live auctions are scheduled for DOMAINfest Global, a premier domain name industry conference and marketplace running from January 21-23, 2008 at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, California. SnapNames has promised a collection of exceptionally valuable names.

"We were the first to offer an organized aftermarket for domain names," said Sudhir Bhagwan, SnapNames CEO. "Our systems are time and volume tested, providing rapid sale and delivery in a fully transparent auction format. Our quality of service is the best in the industry. As a result, we remain a primary destination site for top buyers."

The SnapNames Live Auctions will be a simultaneous, real-time, online bidding format to allow a greater number of auction bidding participants and to helps to ensure maximum visibility and bidding contention for seller inventory.

Interested parties may submit domain names for consideration at www.snapnames.com/live.

More info can be found by emailing liveauctions@snapnames.com.

Press Release

Rudy

Domain Forums Are Vital To The Domain Industry

2007-11-13T08:49:00.000-06:00

Throughout my 8 years in the ever-changing domain industry, there are only a few things that have remained constant: One, is that the shorter the domain name, the more value it is perceived as. Second, cybersquatting has always been an issue since the beginning.

...it's just that we didn't have a name for it yet. Thirdly, quality domain names are steadily decreasing every minute of the day. And lastly, if I needed advice, tips or just general knowledge on anything domain related, I could always turn to my pals on my favorite domaining forum and get straight, free, no-nonsense advice 24 hours a day...everyday.

The last one is the one I want to talk about today.
Domaining Forums. The lifeblood of our domaining industry.

Use any search engine to look for domain forums and as you can see, there are no shortages or lack of choices. Some are geared more towards "domain newbies" while others are so exclusive and professional that you can only become a member by invitation-only. Don't believe me? Check out Rick Schwartz's private Targeted Traffic Forum .

Either way, forums were created with one thing in mind: To allow groups of people to assemble and interact with open discussion on a certain topic or topics. Domaining is no different. We have forums for the sole purpose of allowing domainers to virtually congregate and conversate. Some of the more popular domain forums are NamePros, DNForum, & DomainState. There's even some quality forums dedicated to foreign or international domainers such as AcornDomains and IDNforums.

One similarity between all these forums is the fact that they all can be used to monitor the pulse of the domain industry and serve as a educational, positive resource for all domainers. Whether you utilize these forums for their marketplace appeal for selling or buying domain names, or if you visit to stay current on developing trends or domaining news, both serve a major purpose in our industry.

I remember when the only way you could chat about domaining was being able to find an obscure thread on some obscure webmaster site and hoping the people chatting didn't think you were a moderator that was sent to close down a thread because it was not relevant to the forum. But even back then, when the niche of domainers was just beginning and you didn't flinch to spend $90 on a 1 year registration, one thing amplified over time: domainers help other domainers. It's a competitive industry but the same quirky friendliness and passion that began back in the day radiates just as strong today.

I'm constantly impressed by the simple one-sentence conversation threads that are always evolving on today's domaining forums. It's not hard for anyone to see that our industry is expanding and becoming more aware and knowledgeable about the power of domains in today's world marketplace. What started as a weekend hobby developed in to a thriving emerging industry that is taking a lot of people by surprise. Ask Adam Dicker, owner of the previously mentioned DNforum. Adam was recently hired by Go Daddy to become their Vice President of their Domain Name Aftermarket. What better person to steer the Go Daddy aftermarket than the owner of the most popular domain forum in the world? He's informed, he has connections and he has a steady stream of information being relayed throughout this forum. He's a wealth of knowledge because of his forum.

Just like Adam Dicker's DNforum, friendly criticism, honest opinions and the passion towards domains is what fuels the current domain forums of today. I'm noted a few threads I've found over the past few days that are really worth the read. Stay informed, utilize the forums and see you in the threads.

Rudy

NamePros thread: Best Links For New People Entering This Industry

DNForums thread: 21 Must Read Domain Industry Blogs

DomainState thread: Developed Website Feedback Forum

AcornDomains: Tracking down a co.uk registrant with incorrect contact details

DNForum thread: Am I Already Too Late In The Game?

IDNForum thread: The First $1 Million Dollar IDN

Go Daddy's First Attempt At Signature Auction Fails Terribly

2007-11-09T11:40:00.000-06:00

Now that Go Daddy's first Signature Auction is over, people all over the domain industry are scratching their heads and gasping over the lack of domain names sold during their inaugural 3-day auction.

Here's the breakdown:

The only 2 domain names to sell were:

VirtualServer.com (SOLD for $20K)

Apartments.mobi (SOLD for $23.5K)

The buzz in the domain industry is that the reserve prices were way too high for most of the domains being offered and the quality of each domain was questioned. Analysts say the domains that were being auctioned by Go Daddy were not exactly premium names.

Will Go Daddy continue to offer Signature Auctions in the future? That's the question on everybody's mind. Maybe they could have Danica Patrick & Amanda Beard auction the domains in bikinis? Just a thought.

More details about each domain name being offered can be found here:

Go Daddy Signature Domain Names

You Might Be A Domainer If...

2007-11-08T11:30:00.000-06:00

... you think .mobi is a whale.

... on your job application you list cybersquatting.

... you can recite GoDaddy promo codes from memory.

... you've named one of your kids Alexa.

... you think "tasting" has nothing to do with food.

... you've appraised your own name.

... your main source of income is Adsense revenue.

... your Sedo rep sends you holiday cards.

... you consider "traffic" a good thing.

... your company's CEO is not as important as it's SEO.

... you own a "Vint Cerf for Pres" shirt.

... you have a diverse portfolio, but don't own any stocks.

... you consider new visitors to your home as unique.

... you've registered a LLLL.com that doesn't even make sense.

... you'd rather register a domain than register for class.

... you consider Whois a social network.

... you still refer to Zuho as SwapNames.

... you're not a lawyer but can recite trademark laws from memory.

... you own some sort of iphone related domain name.

... your backlink quality is more important than your quality of friends.

... two words: ICANN

... you've ordered chips & Dotsauce.

... you knew GoDaddy before he was even a father.

... you've been in a fistfight because someone has dissed your Pagerank.

... you've registered a celebrity's name.

... you consider parking nothing to do with an automobile.

... you're favorite quote is "may the Rick Schwartz be with you."

... you've posted over 1,000 posts in any domain forum.

... you trust Estibot more than your girlfriend.

... you've registered a misspelled word...on purpose.

... you cried when all the LLLL's were gone.

... you don't know a country's capital, but you sure as hell know thier .cc

And the last reason You Might Be A Domainer is....

...you have a bracelet that says "What would Frank Schilling Do?"

Thanks in advance to everyone in the domain industry. This is the beginning of my new blog that is going to be dedicated to the pulse of the domain game. Please check back if you have time and keep up the great work!

Rudy

Kevin Nealon (Saturday Night Live) wins domain from squatter

2007-11-05T13:47:00.000-06:00

I was doing a little research on recent WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) dispute claims and ran across this one filed by actor Kevin Nealon.

Seems he registered KevinNealon.com in September 1997 and let the renewal expire. It was re-regged in February 2007 by someone else which prompted a dispute claim in August 2007.

The WIPO stepped in and awarded Kevin Nealon his domain name because of bad faith use.

Very surprised this didn't make it to any press or newspapers.

Check out the actual WIPO case decision here:
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-1225.html

Network Solutions Takes On Sedo, Moniker & GoDaddy

2007-10-02T00:59:00.001-05:00

Resources say "NameJet" is the proposed name of Network Solutions new domain name auction service.

Network Solutions has applied for a trademark on “NameJet”.
Industry insiders state that this is the first of many stategic moves that Network Solutions is currently initiating to effectively penetrate the growing and profitable aftermarket domain marketplace.
The trademark class details of the "NameJet" term includes:
On-line auction services; on-line auction services featuring domain names; on-line auction services for businesses, consumers, domain name holders; domain name registration and sales services; on-line bidding services featuring domain names; domain name backorder request services; on-line proxy bidding services.
So what about SnapNames?
Will Network Solutions end their harmonic partnership with the popular domain reseller?
It may be too early to tell but rumors are beginning that indicate that as their contract with SnapNames comes to an end, Network Solutions will be in prime position to take on the mega players in the domain reseller aftermarket and re-establish themselves as a prominent force in the domain industry.