'Net Features : domain names

Get Naughty With a XXX Domain

Administrator — Thu, 02 May 2013 17:49:00 GMT

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 adult entertainment-related TLDs — .SEX, .PORN and .ADULT. If ultimately awarded thsse new TLDs, ICM Registry will offer a “grandfathering” clause and will automatically reserve matching names (at no additional cost) to those who already have .XXX domains. So if you buy a .XXX domain now and ICM Registry is approved to run those other domain extensions, you won't have to pay a dime. If you do choose to use them however, there will be a fee of course, but it will likely be nominal.

“Our goal is to serve the adult industry by continually creating new initiatives and platforms that increase the inherent value of each .XXX website,” said CEO of ICM Registry, Stuart Lawley.

Those that know me, know of my affinity for domain names. The one domain extension I have not purchased however, is that of the .XXX top level domain. Now, however, the draw may just be too much to bear.

Domain Stats to Know

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:34:00 GMT

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 percent with 26.4 million names added over the previous 12 months.

The .com extension remains, far and away, the most popular extension according to results included in the recent Verisign report. As of the end of September 2012, there were e 105 million .com domains and 14.9 million .net names.

It’s not all good news for the domain name industry however. The .com and .net renewal rate for 2012’s third quarter was down slightly to to 72.5% after a 72.9% rate in the second quarter. There was also a 1.1 percent drop in new .com ad /net registrations.

Another interesting domain name related news items comes from WIPO – the World Intellectual Property Organization – which received a record number of UDRP complaints in 2012. WIPO reported 2,879 cases were filed in 2012, compared to 2, 764 in 2012.

Do You (Really) Need WHOIS Protection?

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:00:00 GMT

Irish web hosting and domain registration service LetsHost is now offering WHOIS privacy services for all new and existing domain registrants wanting to shield their private information from public view.

While many question the usefulness of these privacy services, most registrars continue to offer them - and at a premium.

The LetsHost offering is available now for free for any .com, .net, .org, .biz or .info domain name registered through LetsHost. By activating the service, registrants can keep information including the owners email, address and telephone number out of the hands of those that may want to use it for sales or for the purpose of sending unsolicited messages.

“It is important that accurate information be entered during the domain registration process,” Graeme Conkie, Director said. “So we give our clients the opportunity to protect this personal or business information without paying an extra fee. Whether we’re delivering a domain registration, web hosting, or cloud VPS service, we want to help customers safeguard their online presence.”

Sedo Dot CO Auction Worth a Look

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:30:00 GMT

Domain name marketplace and monetization provider Sedo is auctioning over 150 premium .CO domain names from November 12th through the 19th.

The list of .CO’s in auction is actually quite impressive, including robot.co, gadget.co, hot.co, real.co, among others. Most of the .CO domains in auction have reserve prices starting at $500 but reserve prices for many of the more appealing listings range from $10-25,000. This premium auction is being held in honor of Global Entrepreuership Week. .CO Internet, the registry for the dot CO domain extension, is even auctioning 50 of its own premium reserved .CO domains.

“The global startup community has really embraced .CO domains since they were introduced in 2010, with companies like Twitter, Angel List, Google and 500 Startups helping to drive adoption and consumer awareness,” said Liesbeth Mack-de Boer, Sedo’s Chief Sales Officer. “With such heavyweights paving the way, .CO has become the premier choice for startups who may not be able to register legacy extensions which are often more cost-prohibitive or already registered. For entrepreneurs and start-ups, this premium .CO auction provides a great opportunity to purchase a domain that will help grow their business.”

Exact Match Domains Clipped by Google

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:16:00 GMT

Unless you’ve been living under the proverbial rock the past few weeks, you are likely well aware that Google’s most recent algorithm update caught quite a few Web workers (and domainers) off guard.

What was interesting about this update in particular is that it targeted exact match domains specifically (some would argue that partial match domains were affected as well). Google’s Matt Cutts announced the “minor weather report” on Twitter just before the update actually took place the final weekend of September 2012. The update, which affected approximately 0.6% of all queries to a noticeable degree, took several days to roll out but we can safely assume that the effects will be long lasting.

According to Cutts, the change targeted “low-quality” exact match domains (EMD) – those domains that carry the keyword or phrase that users queried. As you might imagine, the algo update has left many (as usual) scratching their digital heads to find an answer to what “low-quality” actually means (again) as several sites, many with a long history and decent link portfolios, seemed to have been swept up in the rollout.

With some confidence, and I say this only after giving Google a week or two to fine tune its changes, that the use of Exact Match Domains carries far less weight than it used to. What do you think? Time to switch domains to a more "brandable" option? What will this do to the upcoming release of additional gTLD's? Share your thoughts by commenting below.

ICANN Completes Bulk Transfer of Domains to NamesBeyond

Michael Garrity — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:30:00 GMT

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has ordered a bulk transfer of domains from two de-accredited registrars to the still accredited NamesBeyond.

The two registrars that were de-accredited were Planet Online and Name For Name. The first was the result of a compliance action taken by ICANN, while the latter happened following the termination of Name For Name’s registry-registrar agreement with Verisign.

ICANN selected NamesBeyond to gain the domain names after a competitive selection process based on its own De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure; after it was decided that NamesBeyond would be given Planet Online’s domains, it was also selected to take Name for Name’s, as the company only had five of them.

NamesBeyond will be able to deny transfers for the first 60 days at its discretion.

Registrants will not have to face any fees for the bulk transfer, but their terms will not by extended by a year. They also must contact NamesBeyond if their registration is set to expire soon and they’d like to maintain it.

Unfortunately, since neither Planet Online nor Name For Name participated in the bulk transfer, they also didn’t forward billing information to NamesBeyond, so all registrants must provide their new registrar with updated billing information, unless they’d like to just transfer their names to a different registrar altogether.

Automate UDRP Filings with CitizenHawk

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:45:00 GMT

When the new dot.anything, generic top-level domains arrive in less than a year, you can expect to see an increase in UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy) filings as brands scurry to secure their brand assets. Fortunately, the often confusing and complicated process of submitting a dispute can be made far easier thanks to CitizenHawk.

The brand protection and enforcement service has introduced a cloud-based software solution that automates the process of filing a UDRP and shortening the time it takes to recover domain names from brand infringers and typo-squatters.

CitizenHawk’s HawkUDRP collects evidence, generates the necessary documentation and filing packages compliant with National Arbitration Forum (NAF), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), and Dispute Resolution Services (DRS) procedures.

"Typosquatters continue to plague legitimate businesses - especially those that have been particularly successful in building their brands and generating website traffic," said David Duckwitz, CitizenHawk's president and chief executive. "The practice, which is growing an estimated 30 percent a year, is costing brands hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Companies can now fight back without having to engage higher priced legal counsel."

The best part? It seems to work. CitizenHawk has won more than 99 percent of the UDROP cases filed.

Sedo Domain Market Study Q2 2012

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:00:00 GMT

The more things change, the more they stay the same – at least as it relates to domain names. Sedo, a domain name marketplace and monetization platform, has released its Domain Market Study for the second quarter of 2012.

While the digital world of domainers are bracing for what many expect to be a upheaval in the industry, rest assure however that domains are still being bought and sold at record pace. Highlights from the study, which looks exclusively at activity at Sedo, include:

- The .COM extension accounted for 48 percent of all domains sold on Sedo (an increase of 3% for .com). Dot .DE, accounted for 15 percent of sales.

- After a strong (and record) start in 2012, domain sales volume cooled off in the second quarter, ending with a total of 9,049 sales taking place. There was also a slight decrease in sales value per quarter.

- The most popular sales channel at Sedo was that of the “Buy Now” variety, accounting for 42 percent of all sales, followed by the “offer/counter-offer” which accounted for 31 percent of all sales. Brokerage and auctions combined accounted for just 20 percent.

- In regards to the price of domains sold in the marketplace, 46 percent were less than $500 U.S., with nearly 39 percent selling for less than $2,500 U.S. Only one percent were sold for an amount over $50,000 U.S.

- The most popular category of names sold at Sedo, which remained similar to previous quarters, is also worthy of note. Computers, Business, Internet, Shopping, Travel, Health, Sport, Society, Finance, and Recreation round out the top 10.

Dot Org Hits 10 Million Domain Milestone

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 12:55:00 GMT

While most domainers are laser-focused on the potential in the new generic top-level domains, don’t rule out acquiring a tried-and-true extension like .ORG.

Public Interest Registry, the operator of the .ORG domain, this month announced a major milestone – the registration of its 10 millionth .org domain. The domain that registered the historic mark was JADForum.org – an organization dedicated to advanced the sustainable and regional development of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea Basin shared by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

While the state of .org and more established domain extensions is in a state of flux thank in part to the upcoming introduction of new gTLDs, .ORG is still seen by many as the most trustworthy, reliable and secure extension for their cause. That may be one of the reasons that .ORG has maintained growth between 9 and 10 percent annually over the past three years.

“For more than 25 years, .ORG has enabled registrants to engage and empower their communities both online and off,” said Brian Cute, CEO of Public Interest Registry. “Reaching 10 million domain registrations is a significant achievement and highlights PIR’s commitment to providing a trusted place online for organizations, companies, and individuals to tell their stories and mobilize their communities. As we celebrate this milestone, we look forward to continued growth and to giving more causes around the world a trusted, online venue with .ORG.”

GoDaddy Adds "Request Price" Domain Inventory from Afternic

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:38:00 GMT

Domain name marketplace Afternic announced an enhanced partnership with Godaddy that will make available Afternic's "Request Price" domain names to Godaddy customers - presumably within the registrar's auction environment.

Godaddy, which is currently one of more than 90 other Afternic resellers, already displays Afternic's domains with set "Buy Now" prices. The new arrangement will add additional inventory and likely benefit both buyers and sellers. Afternic's DLS (Domain Listing Service) is considered by many to be one of the premier domain name aftermarkets.

“Go Daddy is always looking for more ways to provide the best possible experience for our customers and the addition of Afternic’s ‘Request Price’ domains will do just that,” said Paul Nicks, Director of Product Development for the Domain Aftermarket at Go Daddy. “By putting more quality domain names in customer search results, it gives them the option to pay a little more for the domain name they want and gives a domain name seller a quick and fair transaction … it’s a win-win for everyone.”

Afternic Premium Domains Now Listed on Namecheap

Michael Garrity — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Need a new domain name? Well, maybe now would be a good time to check out Namecheap because Afternic, an aftermarket for premium domain names, has just added Namecheap to its Premium Reseller Network.

Namecheap, a leader among domain name registrars, Web hosts and SSL certificate providers, will now include Afternic’s premium domain listings in its system, which means that its customers have access to millions of very valuable domains in addition to its current offerings.

Afternic domain results are already displaying with the rest of the domains listed in Namecheap search results with special tags that help users identify them.

The Afternic Premium Reseller Network leverages Instant Transfer technology to give buyers instant access to the domains they purchase, a feature that does away with the lengthy escrow processes of legacy domain marketplaces. This means that Namecheap customers can now purchase a premium domain name with all the ease of buying a domain with primary registration.

Google Retiring AdSense for Domains

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT

The end of domain parking is near. Google last month indicated that parked domains were in their crosshairs and would be deprecated on the search results pages. And the fight waged against domain parking is continuing as Google has now indicated that its AdSense for Domains (AFD) will soon be going away.

Google published a list of key dates related to the hosted domain product retirement within AdSense. Starting this week (February 22), AdSense publishers will no longer be able to start using the product, and by March 21, existing publishers will no longer be able to create new hosted domains. By April 18, hosted domains will become inactive, and the service will be removed entirely from AdSense accounts by June 27.

A guide to migrating domains to new domain parking providers was put together by Google and is available here.

GoDaddy, Sedo Make Domain Buying Easier

Linc Wonham — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:00 GMT

The world’s largest domain name registrar and the Web’s largest domain name marketplace have announced a partnership that will give users access to more premium domains than ever. When visitors search for domains at GoDaddy.com, matching names from Sedo’s marketplace will now also be displayed for potential buyers to purchase.

Go Daddy is the latest partner to join Sedo’s Multi-Listing Service, SedoMLS. The world’s largest domain name provider can now offer its customers the option to purchase domain names that are already taken as easily as they would register a domain for the first time. Sedo currently has 15 million domains for sale in its marketplace.

SedoMLS allows any domains listed at a “Buy Now” price to be displayed within Go Daddy’s search results, reaching the largest potential audience of domain buyers.

“As one of the most popular places worldwide for small business owners, entrepreneurs or individuals looking for the right domain name, we are thrilled to be partnering with Go Daddy,” says Sedo CEO Tim Schumacher. “Through our SedoMLS partnership, we can offer millions of domain buyers the widest choice of domain names, which will help them make the right decisions for their businesses, and purchase the names they need to find success online.”

Nobody Like .ME (Domains)

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:15:00 GMT

SEDO and the .ME Registry have partnered for an auction of several premium .ME domain names.

The auction, which starts February 2, 2012 (mark your calendars), will feature nearly 180 .me domain names including Wifi.me, 411.me, Bar.me and many others.

The .me top level domain launched in July 2008 but as of July 2011 it had registered only 530,000 domains. While the .me extension never really gained mass appeal as many domain name industry insiders wanted and expected it to, there have been some noteworthy successes.

- The About.me site offers anyone the ability to create a personal splash page complete with social network integration.
- Social sharing and bookmarking service Delicious is using D.me to let users save and email URL links.
- Payment service Visa is planning to use V.me for its digital wallet initiative.
- Social network site Formspring.me is by far the most visited dotME domain.
- Two of the most intriguing .me extensions, Call.me and Connect.me, remain in private beta.

Where to Register .XXX Domains

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:24:00 GMT

Availability of .XXX domain names will begin early next week (December 6th, 2011).

While a lot of attention has already been given to this extension, which was initially developed for the adult industry, many have not yet reserved their brand names but are waiting on the general availability next week. If you want a head start, you can need to pre-register and reserve it.

Below you will find a list of fifteen registrars where you can buy/reserve them now or next week and how much they will set you back. All prices are in U.S. dollars. The three highlighted entries are offering the lowest pricing as it stands today with three days remaining.

Expect a lot of attention next week, but with pricing around $100 most digital Web workers likely will not be acquiring a .XXX domain.

How about you? Will you (or have you already) buy a .XXX?

GoDaddy: $99.99

Network Solutions: $129.99

eNom: $120.00

Name.com: $84.99

101Domain.com: $79.00

EnCirca.com: $99.00

Marcaria.com: $125.00

Webnames.ca: $129.00

OpenSRS.com: $80.00

007names.com: $92.00

Moniker.com: $98.00

Directnic.com: $99.00

DomainMonster.com: $99.99

EasySpace.com: $125.49

Safenames.com: $120.00