TEMPE, AZ - GoDaddy, the well-known domain registrar and hosting company, announced last week they will be acquiring competing domain sales company Dan.com, a move that GoDaddy stated would enable them to “reach more potential buyers.” Previously launching under the name Undeveloped, Dan.com made a name for themselves by attempting to undercut the competition by reducing their initial industry-standard commission fee of 15 percent to just 9 percent, which led to several … [Read more...]
Sales Venue “Sedo” Selects “DN Academy” For Domain Name Broker Training Program
PALM BEACH, FL - “DN Academy”, one of the only online domain name educational platforms created by domain investor Michael Cyger, has been chosen by Sedo to act as its official training program for its domain name brokers. According to a press release issued by Sedo today, Sedo has entered into an agreement to train domain name brokers using a customized training program provided by the service. Sedo (an acronym for Search Engine for Domain Offers), is a domain name and … [Read more...]
How Am I Supposed to Find A Good Domain Name When They Are Already All Gone?
PALM BEACH, FL – Finding a good, short, “.com” domain name nowadays is much harder than it was in the past, but it certainly isn’t impossible. What you don’t want to do, is listen to bad advice from someone who tells you to go ahead and register an alternative, such as “.net”, “.biz”, or “.info”. Whatever you do, don’t make that mistake, because you will very likely regret it at some point in the future. Unless your business is an ‘organization” you could get a “.org” … [Read more...]
Investor Land Grab Opportunity Arises from Donuts Registry with Reduced Price gTLDs
PALM BEACH, FL –An interesting opportunity has arisen from new domain name registry company Donuts Inc., which operates roughly 240 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Although I am less than a huge fan of new gTLDs, there are industry veterans who do in fact use them in certain scenarios of ‘super premiums’, and you’ll have an opportunity to filter through a list of over 1.1 million names (previously on hold) now being released in a price-drop by the … [Read more...]
52 Minutes with Michael Castello on Room.com, Rate.com and Whisky.com
PALM BEACH, FL – Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of great domain stories that date back to when domain names were registered only through Network Solutions, and when domains, particularly .com domains, where a lot more expensive than they are today. What I have heard virtually no stories at all about, are those which date back to when domain names were completely free; yep, nothing, first come first serve, no fees. A bundle of interesting stories await domainers in this … [Read more...]
Why Verisign ‘NASDAQ:VRSN’ Will Inevitably Get Its .COM Domain Price Increase Sought
PALM BEACH – There has been a lot of talk in tech and domain circles lately about the company “Verisign” (NASDAQ:VRSN), its obvious monopoly in the .com domain game, and it’s long list of subsidiaries, but things really started to heat-up back in October 2018 when the company managed to renew its “cooperative agreement” with the United States Government through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), minus long-standing pricing caps on one of … [Read more...]
SHERPA: “Wow, So This Is, Really, Maybe, It Would Be Fair to Say, The Biggest Auction The Domain Industry Has Ever Seen?”
NEW YORK, NY - I took the time to watch another Domain Sherpa show today - this one called "Domain Handcapping" since it was related to the upcoming NamesCon show next week from January 26, to January 30, 2019 - including “the main event” – the live auction which is held once a year. I’m very much looking forward to attending this year and I will certainly sit in on it and maybe even purchase something, so I wanted to hear what Monte Cahn and Drew Rosener had to say about … [Read more...]
Domain Name ‘Bill of Rights’ Proposed by Global Domain Name Registrar Uniregistry
NEW YORK, NY – This past week, the man who virtually created the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, spoke about his “Contract for the Web” initiative; something he believes is fundamental to ensure a protected, free and open Internet for all of society. Early backers of the initiative, which can be viewed at ContractForTheWeb.org, include notable support from some of the webs largest innovators such as Google.com, Facebook.com, Craig Newmark (Founder of Craigslist.org), the W3C … [Read more...]
Single Word nGTLD Domain Names That Have Expired Within Last 24 Hours
NEW YORK, NY - Here is a list of single word English dictionary nGTLD domain names that have dropped (expired) within the last 24 hours (according to ExpiredDomains.net). One thing I do not understand is why a new domain registry would charge premium fees on domains that someone has already decided to let expire. For instance, love.xyz is $1,299.00 at Godaddy. If registries want to off-set their registry losses as much as possible, they would allow buyers to register these … [Read more...]
Overstock.com Marketing Expenses Sour $40M After Google Algorithm Changes
NEW YORK – It sort of makes you cringe just hearing the title. According to BuzzFeed.com, the retailing giant Overstock told investors during an earnings call that the company has experienced serious difficulties with a Google Algorithm update it was hit with last year, calling it "very disruptive" to its business; the SEO Community called it "Fred". Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said that sales and marketing expenses grew 105% to $77.2 million this quarter from $37.6 … [Read more...]
It’s Called “Pitchfest Global” and Your Window of Opportunity Closes This May
NEW YORK, NY – If you have an idea that you believe would bring your existing business to the next level, but lack funds or you are in need of help to make it happen, you might want to take a close look at a competition called Pitchfest Global, an event involving both NamesCon and NameSummit. Applications for Pitchfest will be accepted through May 15, 2018. Entrepreneurs selected to compete will pitch their ‘golden idea' on August 6th and 7th of 2018 at NameSummit in … [Read more...]
Name Summit Digital Branding Conference; Entrepreneurs, Experts, Domain Enthusiasts
NEW YORK, NY – “NameSummit – The Digital Branding Conference” is just one week away. There will be over 40 speakers, including entrepreneurs, experts and digital branding superstars ready to engage with attendees. Expert panels will discuss leading trends in branding, influence marketing, social media and showcase the continuing evolution of domain names as an important part of powerful branding and advertising campaigns. Below is the updated line-up of experts; an … [Read more...]
Name Summit Conference in New York City Shaping Up to Be “Very Big Event”
Agenda includes long list of Industry Veterans; Live Domain Auction for WallStreet.com; Event Ending with Undisclosed "Presentation for Exclusive Asset Sale" yet to be revealed!! NEW YORK, NY – A few days ago I spoke via telephone (yes, that clunky old device still in use) with some of the people at NameSummit to discuss interesting developments for the upcoming event in New York City which is just weeks away. If you have not yet booked your tickets and stay to New York … [Read more...]
Behind The Scenes: Sometimes Good Stuff Is Happening That You Should Know About
NEW YORK, NY - Imagine if you had your super premium domain name stolen from you, legally, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it - and nothing you could have done to prevent it, because you never actually did anything wrong in the first place? Holy Smokes; Sounds Terrible Right? Here is the Scenario. You register a domain name for a unique word or phrase which is not currently in use. There are no current sites using the word, no trademarks on the term, and … [Read more...]
New gTLDs: Revolution of New Dots Is Here; There Will Be Winners, There Will Be Losers
NEW YORK, NY - One of the most problematic things about the new gTLD space is that all of the applicants are trying to accomplish the same exact thing, either ahead or before the other; to create a single authoritative place for their industry or brand. They all want 'their' dot, to be “the” dot. However, what they all seem to be aligned in parallel with, is the concern of, risk for, or fear that users will fail to adopt to the change, and that all the good .coms are already … [Read more...]