PALM BEACH, FL - Richard Lau, it’s a name many in the domain industry will be familiar with, as he was a Co-Founder of NamesCon, the domain industries “main event” so to speak, now owned by GoDaddy.com through its acquisition of World Hosting Days. Richard is also known for his long-term support of WaterSchool, a global nonprofit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. It was a staple at NamesCon events – at least that is where … [Read more...]
Alternative “.News” Domain Name Gets Big Plug With Exclusive Trump Interview
PALM BEACH, FL – “Full Measure,” a news show that I had actually never heard of is sure to get a big spotlight on “.news” domain names as there was recently an interview with the President of the United States at the White House which took place last weekend. The interview was conducted by writer, journalist, and television correspondent Sharyl Attkisson, a five-time Emmy Award winning investigative correspondent, formally of CBS News. She also wrote a book titled … [Read more...]
Sources Say “Money.com” Sold for $20M; Net’s Seller Double Without Print Product
PALM BEACH, FL – The Internet domain name “Money.com” and its live website was all that was left when failed Money Magazine ceased printing its tangible physical copies last July. The entire business was for sale including its 400,000 or so monthly subscribers for $10 million by it’s owners Meredith Corp, publishers of newspapers, magazines, television stations and websites; with no buyer in sight, they ceased print and planned to focus only on its digital edition; lo and … [Read more...]
Exact Match Domain Names Yielding “Free Ticket to Ride” Long Over on Search Giant
PALM BEACH, FL – Exact match domain names, URLs which are spelled exactly how a top search term is used in popular verbal expression still work to help boost search rankings well when it comes to Bing.com and Yahoo.com, but on Google.com, it doesn’t seem to matter unless there are powerful “brand signals” in play, such as high numbers of inbound links, frequent references to the URL whether linked or not, and other popular signals such as social media activity with matching … [Read more...]
Generic Domain Name “Cola.com” For Sale
PALM BEACH, FL – Most people who hear the generic dictionary word “Cola” more than likely associate it with the Coca-Cola beverage manufacturer, mostly known from its flagship carbonated soft-drink “Coca-Cola”, invented well over a hundred years ago in 1886. However, the 4-letter generic word represents a slew of Cola manufacturers and carbonated soft-drink brands - over 100 of them, including some which are considered “Cola-like” brands. It seems safe to assume … [Read more...]
Amid Declining Revenues And Tenant Bankruptcies, Simon Taking Malls Online
PALM BEACH, FL – It seems that one of the biggest mall owners in the U.S., Simon Property Group, is getting ready to take their physical shopping mall and real estate business online, likely before their physical malls completely empty out. Simon, which owns 235 malls and premium outlet centers across the globe has been testing two ‘beta’ sites called “PremiumOutlets.com” (SIMON PROPERTY GROUP, L.P. ) and “ShopPremiumOutlets.com” (SHOP PO, LLC.) since about March; they … [Read more...]
Chrysler Corp “Stops the Bleeding” With Release, Cancellation of Branded Domains
PALM BEACH, FL – Better days are ahead for the Chrysler Corporation, who according to Domain Name Wire, has terminated its [unfortunate] “obligation” to continue “flushing money down the drain” with the drop/release of the following “dot brand” domain names: .Uconnect, .SRT, .Mopar, .Dodge, .Chrysler, all of which, according to DNW, were owned and administrated by what is now known as FCA US LLC, (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles). Just one “gamble” remains, “.Jeep”, which, … [Read more...]
A Domain Resellers Best Benefit Might Be In Domain “Savings”, Not Sales “Revenue”
NEW YORK, NY – In early 2005 I became a reseller for Wild West Domains Inc., a subsidiary of the GoDaddy, signing up for their Reseller opportunity, and at that time, their “Super Reseller” opportunity. The difference between the two was that the Super Reseller provided the ability to “resell” the “reseller” opportunity and put companies underneath you, earning a small portion of your acquired re-sellers sales, sort of like a sub-affiliate or MLM (multi-level-marketing) … [Read more...]
Attorney Suggests UDRP Process as “Clear Cut”, “Quick” and “Relatively Inexpensive”
NEW YORK, NY – If you’ve been keeping a watchful eye on UDRP cases lately, you’ve likely noticed some real over-reaching land grabs in action, especially those based on three character acronyms, and like me, have been watching is disappointment. I’ve always said that one of the greatest challenges in the domain space in coming years will be growing regulation and corporate theft by those who seek to own the assets of others; assets they did not have foresight to acquire … [Read more...]
Pay-One-Price Domain Names? Imagine Registering Your Domain Name “Forever”
NEW YORK, NY - During the 63rd International Public Meeting of global domain industry regulator, ICANN (between October 20-25, 2018) in Barcelona, Epik’s Rob Monster discusses “Forever Domains”, a registration service made available by Seattle-based Epik which allows a domain registrant to not 'lease' a domain by the year, or the generally available maximum of 10 years, but to "own" a domain name, indefinitely. The interview was conducted by Filip Borcov of Website Builder … [Read more...]
Gargiulo Reiterates Necessity for .COM in New Forbes Domain and Branding Article
NEW YORK, NY - Michael Gargiulo, owner of VPN.com, a group of virtual private network consultants, is also part of what Forbes Magazine calls its “Forbes Technology Council”, an invitation only community for senior technology executives. Gargiulo, who I have begun to follow for his ‘straight-shooter’ domain advice, writes periodically for Forbes Magazine and certainly believes in the value of a great domain name, indicated by his decision in 2017 to purchase VPN.com for … [Read more...]
SHOCKER: Two More “Dot Brands” Throw in the Sponge on Future of Alternative URLs
NEW YORK, NY – According to DNW.com, another two dot brands are letting go of their sweet dreams of running their very own .BRAND URL. The two companies are “Blanco GmbH” and “SPIEGEL-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG”. I’ve never heard of these companies before, but surely these special URLs such as “.blanco” and “.spiegel” would have made them both Uber famous and internationally known. Nonetheless, they have notified ICANN that they are throwing in the towel on … [Read more...]
Another .Brand Discovers Imaginary Land-Grab on Non-Existing Planet in Universe
NEW YORK, NY – According to Domain industry site, Domain Name Wire, as well as an uncovered letter to ICANN, the company brand VistaPrint, a product customization conglomerate, has terminated its .brand URL “responsibility” with ICANN for the .Vista domain. Apparently someone at parent company Cimpress N.V. has decided that rather than opportunity knocking, managing a .brand URL is much more a financial liability and expense than a benefit; that it accompanies a strategy … [Read more...]
The 472 Domain Names That Couldn’t Stop The Inevitable Collapse of ‘Toys R Us’
NEW YORK, NY - Toys R Us is a brand we’ve all grown up with. The company was originally founded by Charles P. Lazarus (October 5, 1923 - March 22, 2018), the son of a local entrepreneur who wished to someday mimic his father’s work with his own enterprise. Those dreams became a reality in 1948 when young Charles, 25, opened his first children’s furniture store called “Children’s Bargain Town” in Washington, D.C. After years of early success, Lazarus added toys and changed … [Read more...]
Google to Combine Paid Search Ads with Content; Who Needs Organic Anyway?
NEW YORK – Google loves ads, especially when ads are just as relevant and helpful as organic search results. Think about it like this; if you owned Google, imagine a day where your search engine results were just as accurate, relevant and helpful as any of the other organic search results. You could literally have an entire page of results, which were all paid for through your auction system, and users wouldn’t think anything of it. People would just continue to “Google” … [Read more...]