Domain Masters

What’s GoDaddy Got Up Its Digital Sleeve?

2013-05-22T13:41:00Z

The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has issued two patents to Godaddy for appraising domain names using comparative data and a domain appraisal algorithm. The domain name related patents essentially cover a process of “spinning” to create domain name permutations (variations) as well as the method to automatically generate an appraisal. It’s pretty interesting stuff for domainers – particularly those selling in the GoDaddy aftermarket. So what’s Godaddy...(read more)

A Fly Platform for New gTLD’s

2013-05-22T07:40:00Z

So now that you’ve cleared that pesky ICANN hurdle and been approved for that new generic top-level domain (as if there were millions of you out there), how exactly are you going to control the distribution, the customization and expansion of your product offering to the digital community? Fly9 wants to help with a new solution that can handle all phases of the TLD lifecycle. The Fly9 solution offers a sunrise platform (for registrars, resellers and affiliates), an auction and buy now platform...(read more)

Get Naughty With a XXX Domain

2013-05-02T17:49:00Z

ICM Registry , registry operator for the .XXX top-level domain (TLD), has announced that new .XXX domain registrations created from May 1 through May 31, 2013 will be available just $ 8.99 - a big reduction in price. Interested domainers (or those looking to protect their brand) can use their current registrar or one of the participating .XXX-friendly registrars. The registry also indicated that it is also making moves to protect .XXX TLD holders with its recent applications to operate three additional...(read more)

FreshDrop Offers Cheaper Drop Catching; Enter the Pheenix

2013-04-30T16:45:00Z

Drop-catching is the process of registering expired domain names after they have been officially canceled by the registry - in some instances, that can happen in fractions of a second after the domain has been deleted. It's a popular practice among serious domainers. Domain names that have recently lapsed in this way present a terrific opportunity for savvy enterprises - be it by capitalizing on the direct traffic expired domains receive or even building up a higher quality inventory of domain...(read more)

DiscoveryDNS Offers Greater Control Over DNS Systems

2013-04-16T16:35:00Z

Last October, ARI Registry Services announced plans to expand its line of DNS services, and on Sunday, at ICANN’s 46th public meeting in Beijing, ARI took the next step by unveiling its new DiscoveryDNS brand. DiscoveryDNS is a managed DNS service meant to help customers handle the challenges, risks and opportunities available in modern, dynamic business and technical environments. According to the CTO of ARI Registry Services, Chris Wright, “Our mission is to change the way the market...(read more)

Domain Names Keep Growing Despite new TLDs Fears

2013-04-09T04:00:00Z

The domain name industry seems to be doing just fine despite all the hullabaloo about the coming introduction of those new gTLD’s. Verisign has just published its quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief which shows that more than 6 million domain names were added to the Internet in the final quarter of 2012, bringing the total number of registered domain names to more than 252 million worldwide across all TLD’s – a 2.5% increase over Q3 2012 and the eighth straight quarter with growth...(read more)

Domain Names: Dot CO on the Go

2013-04-02T18:55:00Z

Last week, the .co domain namespace surpassed 1.5 million domain names. On the whole, the domain name industry has considered .CO’s progress rather significant and ultimately a success, particularly as its’ pricing is far higher than its .com counterpart. That has led some to suggest that .CO may be “juicing” it’s numbers. In a post at Domain Name Wire last week, domain name broker Rob Sequin suggested that “some registrars will hold pending deletes indefinitely...(read more)

Initial Evaluation Results for First Set of gTLDs Released

2013-03-25T17:15:00Z

New gTLDs are inching closer to becoming a reality, as ICANN has finished the Initial Evaluation for the first set of new gTLD applications and released the results to the general public. According to ICANN, there are three possible outcomes of the Initial Evaluation process: pass, eligible for extended evaluation or ineligible for further review. It is important to note that the first batch of evaluated gTLDs were of non-English language, and among the first applicants to pass the evaluation are...(read more)

Domain Apps to Download Today

2013-03-22T16:55:00Z

Whether you are a first-time buyer or a seasoned pro, you can't go wrong with leveraging mobile apps that are designed specifically to make purchasing, selling and tracking domains more efficient and easier while on the go. Here are seven domain apps to consider downloading today. 1&1 Domain App Available On: iOS , Android Features: *Domain Search: Check whether the domain of your choice is still available *Whois information: Identify the owners of domain names that have already been registered...(read more)

How the Web’s Six Oldest Sites Look Today

2013-03-21T17:30:00Z

The Internet’s first domain name – Symbolics.com – turned 28 last week and the domain world partied like it was 1985, or at least it should have. After all, it was the year Michael Jordan was named NBA Rookie of the Year, the LA Lakers beat the Boston Celtics in the 39th NBA Championship, MacGyver debuted, Bo Jackson won the Heisman Trophy and the world’s first-ever domains were registered . Source: Wikipedia Let’s look at how the first registered domains look today...(read more)

Amazon, Microsoft & Go Daddy News to Know

2013-03-19T08:15:00Z

Too much domain news, too little time? Spring into the new season armed with the domain news you might have missed. Single- and Two-Character .ORG Auction Starts Today: Go Daddy and Public Interest Registry (PIR) have teamed up to auction 42 valuable single- and two-character domain names like I.ORG, S.ORG and TS.ORG on GoDaddy.com, March 18. This historic auction starts today and will last 10 days. Pre-approval is required , and a look at the current auction shows domains, like 3p.org and 5v.org...(read more)

SMBs Passing on gTLDs

2013-03-18T21:00:00Z

New generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are only going to make the Internet more confusing to navigate. That is according to 52.3 percent of the 600 respondents who were queried via SurveyMonkey as part of the Sedo sponsored gTLD Awareness Report. The goal of the research was to uncover whether small to mid-size businesses (SMBs) are aware of the pending launch of new gTLDs in 2013 and whether they plan to take advantage of them. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed are unaware that new gTLDs will...(read more)

Domain Parking for Charity with Rikimu

2013-02-26T19:00:00Z

Those actively buying and selling domain names (for profit, of course) have a new option for parking those assets - Rikimu . Domain parking has really fallen out of vogue as Google openly admitted to penalizing parked sites almost two years ago. While that will dissuade many from parking domain name assets that aren't in active use, those with hundreds or thousands of domains still need a solution - and it's still to parking services to which they turn. On the whole however, there's been...(read more)

Domain Name Appraisal with DomainMongrel

2013-01-22T18:36:00Z

What's that domain name worth in the reseller market? A new tool, DomainMongrel , aims to help you find out. The domain name estimation tool provides a "rough indication" of a domains worth by analyzing the Alexa monthly ranking, the global monthly searches, the regional monthly searches, the estimated keyword cost-per-click, the dictionary worth (if the domain name contains keywords that are in the dictionary) and historical domain sales (of similar domains). While domain name appraisals...(read more)

Domain Stats to Know

2013-01-04T18:34:00Z

Verisign released their quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief for the 3rd quarter of 2012 this week. Q3 ended with just over 246 million registered domain names (across all TLDs). In total, 5.7 million domains were added, a 2.4 percent increase in total registrations representing the seventh consecutive quarter of more than 2 percent growth. Clearly, social and apps aren’t taking away from the domain name industry as dramatically as some pundits suggested. Year-over-year growth increased 12...(read more)