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A
new article in Britain's Digit
Magazine says the release of Microsoft's
new IDN compliant Internet Explorer 7 browser is
fueling new interest in International Domain Names
(domains that are accessible in local languages and
alphabets). The article quotes Ram Mohan, CTO and vice
president of business operations for registrar Afilias
as saying, "The fact that IE 7 and Firefox both support
IDNs by default seems to have sparked a new level of interest
in IDNs. Users are moving rapidly from ASCII-based names to
multilingual access." Afilias says it is seeing the most
demand for IDNs in Korea and Japan. For example,
Japanese IDNs in the .jp domain have risen from 80,000
to 122,000 this year since the last beta version of IE
7 was released. In Korean's country code, .kr, IDNs now
represent 30% of all registrations. Ram said he's
particularly excited about that market. "Korea has been a
bellwether in terms of the adoption of new domain name
technologies," Ram says. "In Korea, they've already
sold over 1 million domain names in local languages. It's a
clear market requirement there."
Posted Oct. 31, 2006
Moniker.com
has launched a new one-stop domain sales, research
and monetization platform called MarketPlace
Pro. Moniker Co-Founder and CEO Monte Cahn
said Marketplace Pro is the only venue that incorporates
registration, buying, selling, live auctions, and monetization
all in one location. “Marketplace Pro lets domainers and
marketers, whether holding small or large portfolios,
actively, find, buy, sell, and manage their online assets
quickly, easily and safely,” Cahn said, adding that the site
currently has more than three million domain names for
sale. Users can search and sort results by price, industry,
keyword, revenues and unique users as well as compare up to
three domain properties side-by-side to determine the best one
for them. Moniker is also offering domain financing services.
Sellers can choose from three listing methods; buy now, direct
negotiation or auction.
Posted Oct. 30, 2006
If
you have been considering registering some 3-letter .mobis,
it's too late. Last night, one or more entities
registered all of the several thousand 3-letter
combinations that were still available. 3-letter domains are
valued in all major extensions because thousands of companies
and organizations use a short acronym for their company name.
Every possible 3-letter combination had already been taken in
.com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .us and .eu. For the other
extensions, prices quickly rose after there was no longer a
chance to register domains in the 3-letter category.
Posted Oct. 29, 2006
The
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference ended in Hollywood,
Florida yesterday with $4.75 million worth of
domains (114 names in all) sold in the highly anticipated live
auction conducted by Moniker.com. That is the highest
sales total ever for a live domain auction. The top seller was
Cameras.com at $1.5 million. The $200,000 winning
bid for Flowers.mobi also created quite a stir for that
new extension. A silent auction started at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. will
also continue until noon Monday and is expected to push total
sales past the $5 million mark. We just returned from
the conference and are now sifting through hundreds of photos
and beginning work on our complete conference wrap up article
that will be published Wednesday night, November 1.
Posted Oct. 28, 2006
After
four hours of sleep I am about to start the final
full day at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference in Florida.
The highlight today will be the largest live domain auction
ever with over 300 premium domains scheduled to be put up for
bid. Thursday's schedule included a seminar with Madison
Avenue advertising experts that T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founder Rick
Schwartz said was the best session in the history of the
conference. The seminar focused on getting major advertisers
to understand the value of domain traffic for reaching
customers. Schwartz said he thought a major breakthrough for
domain owners was achieved during that sometimes heated
discussion. There were two great parties last night. One was a
boat cruise up the Intracoastal Waterway sponsored by TrafficZ
(where we met the Castello brothers (Michael &
David) who will be
featured in our December cover story) and the other, sponsored
by iREIT, was at the Hard Rock Casino.
Posted Oct. 27, 2006
Update
from TR.A.F.F.I.C. East: Yesterday had to be the
busiest day I've ever had at a T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference. There wasn't a spare minute from the time I got up
Wednesday morning to the time I went to bed early this morning
- but that is T.R.A.F.F.I.C. for you! There were many
highlights Wednesday, including announcement of the formation
of the Internet Commerce Association, a new non-profit
organization with a full-time Washington lobbyist, Phil
Corwin, that will be devoted to protecting the
rights of domain owners. There was also a tremendously
entertaining and informative keynote dinner speech from Motley
Fool co-founder Tom Gardner and of course another
legendary DomainSponsor party that ran until 3am this
morning. I'll have more information (and photos) from these
events and everything else that has happened at T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
in our conference wrap up article Nov. 1. The show venue - The
Westin Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, is
an absolutely stunning location that everyone is raving about.
Have to run now - there is another extremely busy day ahead.
Posted Oct. 26, 2006
Approximately
500 domain industry professionals arrived in Hollywood,
Florida today for the start of the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
East 2006 domain conference. The main event was
the opening night cocktail party, a massive networking mixer
that got underway at 5:30pm and ran until about 10pm. The
first full day of activity starts Wednesday morning with
attorney Steve Sturgeon speaking at an 8:30 breakfast
and ends with the big DomainSponsor party that runs
from 9pm to 3am! Wednesday's schedule will be
highlighted by the after dinner keynote address from Motley
Fool co-founder Tom Gardner.
Posted Oct. 24, 2006
The
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
East 2006 domain conference starts tomorrow
afternoon at the Westin Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood,
Florida. We will be there to cover the event for you, with
a complete wrap up scheduled for publication on our Home Page
the evening of November 1st. We will also try to post a few
items from the show on this page this week. The conference
schedule is jam-packed each day from early morning to late at
night so it is impossible to stop and write a lot while the
show is in progress without missing important events that need
to be covered for the upcoming article.
Posted Oct. 23, 2006
Former
Pool.com CEO Taryn Naidu has joined eNom, Inc., the world’s second-largest Internet domain name registrar,
as an executive advisor to eNom’s management team. eNom
Founder and CEO Paul Stahura (who is also COO of Enom's
parent company, Demand Media) said “Taryn is a true domain name player whose expertise coupled with his solid reputation is very
valuable. We have our sights set on growing the aftermarket business, and with Taryn’s experience, we can implement our new aftermarket strategy.”
Naidu’s immediate focus will be eNom’s Club Drop
aftermarket and auction business. Naidu said “Online users have become more sophisticated and their appreciation for aftermarket opportunities is
increasing. I will help eNom put in place what is needed to anticipate their users’ needs and take Club Drop to the next
level." Naidu was one of the original Pool.com team
members when that drop-catching service started up in 2003. He
worked his way up from programmer to President and ultimately, CEO. Naidu has a computer science degree from the
University of Regina.
Posted Oct. 20, 2006
ICANN
has decided to delay approval of the controversial
proposed new contract agreements for the .org, .biz
and .info registries and commission "an
independent study by a reputable economic consulting firm or
organization to deliver findings on economic questions
relating to the domain registration market" before making
a final decision. The resolution
passed by the ICANN board yesterday comes after the three
registries sent ICANN letters
offering to change language in the contracts to address one of
the primary complaints - that the contracts would allow the
registries to charge any amount they wanted for domain
registrations and renewals, including different prices for
different domains. However in thoroughly detailed Oct. 13 post
at the DomainState.com
forum, George Kirikos, the domain owner who originally
sounded the alarm about the new contracts, noted that the new
language proposed by the registries still leaves open a huge
loophole that could lead to variable pricing.
Posted Oct. 19, 2006
The
market for International Domain Names (IDNs) should
get a major boost from Microsoft's official release of
its new Internet
Explorer 7 browser yesterday. IE7, which has the
lion's share of the worldwide browser market, is IDN
compatible (unlike its IE6 predecessor), allowing people
around the world to browse using their native languages and
alphabets. By bringing easy accessibility to IDNs to computers
around the globe, IE7 removes one of the few remaining obstacles
to broad adoption of IDNs.
Posted Oct. 19, 2006
Sales
at the live domain auction to be held October 27
at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
East domain conference in Hollywood, Florida
are expected to run well into seven figures. A number of
individual domains could sell for over $100,000. Even
if you don't have that much in your bank account you could go
after some of the prime domains with financing help from DomainCapital.com.
Company COO Gregg Freeman told us "Domain Capital
is offering our services to all qualified auction
participants. At the last T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Show in
Las Vegas
, we financed 50% of the $2.1 million in domain
names that sold. Domain Capital is the first and only company
to offer financing to businesses based on the inherent and
recognized value of premium domain names." To pre-qualify
for financing or have questions answered, Freeman can be
reached at 201-302-5100 ext. 24 or via email: gfreeman
at domaincapital.com.
Posted Oct. 18, 2006
If
you were at Sedo.com's 2006 Partner Forum, or just
wished you had been able to attend the gathering of domain
owners in Cologne, Germany at the end of September, you
will be interested in photos
from the event that have been posted online by Sedo. A video
is also to be posted on the same page soon.
Posted Oct. 17, 2006
I
missed posting the past few days while I was out of
town attending Parent's Weekend at the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where my daughter is a
pre-med student. I thought I would have time to post from the
road but they kept us busy all of the time. I could never get
work completely off my mind though. Every time I passed a sign
on campus that had a web address, I was struck by the fact
that much better, easier to remember domain names were likely
to be available for a registration fee. Educational
institutions tend to use very long URLs with a lot of
backslashes. For example, finding that my daughter was helping
with her student chemistry society's website, I registered a
four-letter acronym for them to use as a redirect to a
mile-long domain (with four back slashes) that would never be
remembered (and couldn't even be copied down without making a
typo or two). Now they can direct people to their site with an
easy to remember URL with a total of only 7 characters
(including the extension). While domainers are acutely aware
of these things, many businesses and organizations still don't
understand the value and importance of a memorable domain
name.
Posted Oct. 17, 2006
Namewinner.com,
a long-time drop catching service operated by Dotster.com,
is exiting the drop business. Dotster has announced a
partnership with SnapNames.com
to handle sales of the registrar's expired domains. A
note posted on the Namewinner site says: Dear NameWinner customers,
We are pleased to announce that domain names previously available for
bidding on NameWinner are now available on SnapNames.com. We have
partnered with SnapNames to auction Dotster’s expiring domains. This
change allows us to focus our efforts on building the best domain
monetization system for our customers. We are days away from the launch
of the new RevenueDirect domain monetization system.
Posted Oct. 12, 2006
Popular
domain aftermarket sales venue Sedo.com
is about to roll out a new auction service. Sellers will
be given the option to move their domains to an open auction once their price expectations have been met through
Sedo's traditional offer/counter-offer system. Auctions will run for a maximum of one week, closing seven days after the
seller's reserve price has been met in the traditional system.
For premium domains ("premium" being based on Sedo's
judgment), sellers would not have to wait to receive an offer
before entering the auction system. Those sellers will be able
to work with a Sedo broker to determine a reserve and list the domain for auction. Sedo Auctions
is conducting a pre-launch promotion where any premium domain owner who lists their domains
with Sedo Auctions before October 24th would pay only a 3% commission
rate (the normal rate is 10%). Sedo claims that including your domains on Sedo Auctions will
dramatically increase their exposure to a world-wide network of motivated buyers. For more information about listing
premium domains with Sedo you can send an email to [email protected].
Posted Oct. 10, 2006
If
you own casino or other gambling related domains,
you have probably noticed a substantial falloff in your pay
per click revenues. In the wake of a new U.S. law banning
online gambling transactions, an article at ClickZ.com
notes "Big international outfits including 888
Holdings, operator of 888.com and Casino on
Net are closing their doors to U.S. bettors and others may
follow." ClikZ quoted a source close to 888 Holdings as
saying "It will have a huge impact on the way online marketing is
done...if you're not taking money bets in the U.S., then what's the point of spending on online advertising
targeted to the U.S.?" Still, Marc Lesniak, who runs
the Casino Affiliate Convention conference series,
predicted gambling sites will find some way around the ban.
"There's way, way, way, too much money in this business to stop it," declared Lesniak. "It'd be like trying to stop an ocean liner going full speed on a dime."
Posted Oct. 9, 2006
Four
prominent U.S. Senators have signed and sent a letter
to the U.S. Department of Commerce (the agency that
oversees ICANN) requesting that the approval of the
controversial proposed .com settlement agreement between ICANN and
VeriSign be delayed until the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation has had an opportunity to review its provisions, including proposed terms for automatic renewal and automatic price increases.
The chairman of the committee, Sen. Ted Stevens, and
committee members Daniel K. Inouye, Gordon H. Smith
and Byron L. Dorgan signed the letter which said
"We believe that in order for ICANN to be a lasting and
sustainable institution, ICANN needs to improve on issues of
accountability and transparency. It is important that the
concerns of all interested parties, including the Internet
community, are considered before any decisions are made."
Posted Oct. 6, 2006
Coverage
of the new .mobi extension is already popping up in
the mainstream press. BusinessWeek
writer Catherine Holahan wrote of the first major
articles after the start of the land rush period (which runs
Sept. 26 through Oct. 10). Her story balances the positive
viewpoint from dotMobi CEO Neil Edwards with a less
enthusiastic opinion from Verizon's General Counsel Sarah
Deutsch. It's way too early for anyone to know how
successful .mobi will be, but we have seen and heard a lot of
comments about how well the land rush was handled in terms of
giving everyone a fair shot at the best available domains.
That has been a marked improvement over the widespread
discontent spawned by launches of other new extensions
including .eu earlier this year.
Posted Oct. 5, 2006
A new study from leading ad agency Universal
McCann, "The New 'Digital Divide', How the New Generation of Digital Consumers are Transforming Mass
Communication," says that technology has
replaced music as the source of the "generation gap." The
study found that the 16-34 age group is 25% more likely than ages 35-49 to use instant
messenger and about 40% of 16-34 year olds belong to a social network
site, twice the percentage of 35-49 year olds. Nearly 40% of
16-34 year olds have met someone in person after first making
contact on the Internet. 71% of 16-34 year olds have participated in
blogging and they are three times more likely than
those 35-49 to write their own blog. McCann Executive Vice
President David Cohen said "there is no doubt that we are moving rapidly from a world of passive receptivity to active engagement.
Accountable engagement innovation is the battlefield of the 21st
century."
Posted Oct. 4, 2006
The
.Mobi registry reports that over 100,000 domains
were registered in the first four days of the land rush for
the new extension designed for mobile devices. .Mobi CEO Neil
Edwards told WebHosting.info
"It was great to see more than 13,000 brands get their .mobi domain names during the trademark registration period earlier this year, but it's even more exciting to see the general public sign up more than 100,000 names globally to build mobile Internet sites using the .mobi domain. The mobile Internet revolution is officially underway."
The land rush continues until October 11, when
registration prices will be reduced to standard rates that
will apply from that point forward (prices will vary from one
registrar to another).
Posted Oct. 3, 2006
In
an article at MediaPost.com today, author Joe
Mandese cited a new quarterly study from ZenithOptimedia
that indicates the Internet will overtake outdoor advertising as the fifth largest ad medium this
year and is closing in on radio's fourth place ranking
in the global ad market. The agency says much of the growth is
coming from an acceleration in demand from smaller advertisers
who are "embracing the affordability and targeting
capabilities" of online advertising. More detailed data
is available in Mandese's
article (free registration required to read).
Posted Oct. 2, 2006
Craig Snyder has joined
Internet REIT
(iREIT) as its new Chief Operating Officer. Snyder comes
to iREIT from Marchex, Inc., where he served as
Executive Vice President of Business Development. Snyder's
resume includes over 20 years of senior executive
experience Marchex, InfoSpace, Citibank, Pepsi Cola and the United States Navy.
iREIT CEO Bob Martin said, “The addition of Craig Snyder to the iREIT management team is a major milestone in the evolution of the
company. Craig brings significant operations, business development, team management and leadership experience to the team, and he is well-known and respected in our industry."
iREIT was the subject of our August 2006 Cover
Story.
Posted Oct. 1, 2006
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