CAMBRIDGE, MA - InterNetX and Sedo Have released their 2024 Global Domain Report, which breaks down the domain industry and examines trends and shifts that are expected in the upcoming year, with the main emphasis being placed upon tech developments and the evolution of AI and its growing influence upon the internet. The free-to-download 80-page report – of which this article will provide a brief summary – noted that 359.8 million new domains were registered in 2023, … [Read more...]
Squarespace Sees Sharp Dropoff of Google Domains Customers After Acquisition
NEW YORK CITY - After acquiring Google Domains late last year after the internet giant decided to close down the service, Squarespace has seen a sharp drop-off of customers from the business in the subsequent months since the sale was completed, reports say. Back in July of 2023, Google abruptly announced that it would be ending its Google Domains service after nearly 10 years and would be selling the business and all of its assets to Squarespace, a New York-based website … [Read more...]
Report: Domain Squatting, Brand Hijacking Presenting Increased Threat Across Internet
PALM BEACH, FL - “Domain squatting” – AKA cybersquatting – and “brand hijacking” are two internet-based threats that present unique dangers to both businesses and end users, opening up some to cybersecurity threats and brand/trademark damage including potential phishing and malware attacks. Domain squatting is registering or using a domain name to profit from a trademark belonging to a well-known brand, typically by registering a misspelled version of their URL to … [Read more...]
Seven Years Later, New gTLD “.Cars” Still Driving Long & Winding Road to Nowhere
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – I recently wanted to see what was going on with the “. Cars” domain name, so I tried visiting a site I thought would probably be one of the best names; “used.cars”…. Not much is going on there; the page just fails to load. Same thing with “used.car”, “new.car” and “new.cars”. A “.cars” domain name costs $2,499 per year to register, renew, or transfer at Dynadot, one of the largest domain name registrars in the world. Same thing with ".Car" which was … [Read more...]
GEO Domain Names, Newspaper & Media Companies, Sales Prices, and Usage
PALM BEACH, FL - The purchase of big city, state and/or regional domain names have always been a strategic move for media companies to control their presence and brand in a particular market. For example, The Boston Globe acquired the domain name “Boston.com” in 1995, The Philadelphia Inquirer acquired the domain name “Philly.com” in 2004, and the McClatchy newspaper chain acquired the domain name "Miami.com" in 2005. Additionally, the Tallahassee Democrat, the only … [Read more...]
Website Company Squarespace Enters Agreement to Purchase Google Domains
NEW YORK, NY - New York City-based website building and hosting company Squarespace announced this week that they will be entering into an agreement to purchase Google Domains – a domain name registrar operated by Google that offers domain registration, DNS hosting, dynamic DNS, domain forwarding, and email forwarding – in a deal that includes all of the company's assets, which includes approximately 10 million domains that are owned by millions of … [Read more...]
How A Domain You Want Could Significantly Reduce in Price Over Time
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Domain name stories... Sometimes I share them; readers probably like them, who knows? Well yesterday I hand registered RegisterTrademarks.net, a decent domain name if you’re in the business of registering trademarks. For $12.00, I figured what the heck, what do I have to lose outside of $12 bucks. Thanks to my favorite expired domain name website, ExpiredDomains.net, I found it on the drop list. I’ve wasted $12 in a lot worse ways then buying a domain, … [Read more...]
Like A Dollar And A Dream, 4-Letter Domain “NFTS.com” Sells for Cool $15 Million Dollars
PALM BEACH, FL - A four-letter “.com” domain name has been purchased for the staggering price of $15 million dollars. NFTS.com was first registered approximately 18 years ago, likely for $10.00 or $20.00. Who knew that the letters “NFTS” would become a four-letter acronym for “non-fungible tokens,” - unique cryptographic tokens? Four letter domains, often referred to as "LLLL" domains, are relatively scarce. There are roughly 457,000 possible four-letter combinations and … [Read more...]
Lights Out for Nearly 50,000 Websites As Brexit Results in “.EU” Domain Change
GREAT BRITAIN - As a potentially unexpected side-effect of Brexit – the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in January 2020 – approximately 48,000 websites with the domain name “.eu” are now effectively in limbo, having been taken offline on Monday since the UK citizens and organizations who own them are no longer allowed to hold those domains. The revocation of those .eu domain names by the agency in charge of registrations on Monday was the … [Read more...]
Are You Losing Backlink Credit or Traffic from Your Forwarded Domain Names?
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – There are many reasons why you might want to forward a domain name; you might have moved your website, you own multiple domain names, or you purchase domain names which have existing traffic or backlinks. If you do not forward your domain name correctly, you could be losing backlink credit and/or traffic. Here are some scenarios to forward your domain name properly. The Simple Easy Way (Free and Doesn't Require Hosting) If you have your domains … [Read more...]
CVS Pharmacy Files WIPO Against “CVS.inc” Domain; Reg Fees Headed Towards Earth
PALM BEACH, FL – It looks like CVS Pharmacy, Inc. isn’t too thrilled with the recent registration of the nGTLD domain name “CVS.inc” which looks to have been registered in May, 2019. The pharmacy company has filed a WIPO dispute (WIPO D2019-2615) which will likely result in a TRANSFER as the majority of their complaints follow that trend. The “CVS.inc” domain name is listed on the get.inc website under “Who's Buying” in the ”recent registrations section” for companies … [Read more...]
Trump Campaign Cyber-Squats on Biden by Snapping Up Domain Name, Social Pages
PALM BEACH, FL – Presidential hopeful Joe Biden created a new outreach ad-campaign targeting specifically Latino voters called “Todos con Biden” (Everyone with Biden) and it appears his campaign team is just about as smart as he is; they forgot it should include an Internet presence. This opened the opportunity for the Trump Campaign, which they immediately did, to register not just the domain name, but to scoop-up corresponding social media pages with it. Cybersquatting, … [Read more...]
Web Address Sells for $30 Million in Cash; Represents ‘Extraordinary’ Investment
PALM BEACH – A company which many ordinary people (non-industry) have probably never heard of called “MicroStrategy Incorporated” has announced it has sold an Internet web address, Voice.com for $30,000,000.00 in cash. As you can see, that’s a lot of zero’s in that number and represents what many who invest and trade in Internet domain names likely find so exhilarating about it. For those who are not that savvy when it comes to Internet domain names, this a “website … [Read more...]
How Google Became the Most Popular Search Engine; Eyes on Innovation
NEW YORK, NY – In the early 1990’s, the Internet was in its infancy. At that time, a great majority of information on this new and interesting "World Wide Web" was from colleges and universities. With the growth of this vast amount of information came interest in a better way for finding things which birthed some of the webs very first search engines, many of which you’ve likely never even heard of. Some who used the Internet at that time might be more likely to remember more … [Read more...]
Verisign Warns Industry: Far Greater Worry Then Their Minuscule Rate Increase
NEW YORK, NY – They say that when you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Yesterday, Verisign, the company behind all issuing of .com domain names to ICANN approved registries, came out blasting attempts by industry insiders trying to control a price cap that was set by something called the Cooperative Agreement, an agreement between the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) and Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), which for years, prevented any increase … [Read more...]