SwitzerlandTrips.com; HighlightReels.com; TempeForeclosures.com; BorrowingRate.com
Written on 26 February 2008 by The CriticBelow is our list of names in Moniker/TRAFFIC Silent Auction. For access to the auction, contact your Moniker rep. If the past is any indication of their approach to bidding in this auction, they should provide you with the necessary details to access the silent auction bidding platform.
BorrowingRate.com: Great, to the point financial domain.
HighlightReels.com: Excellent branding potential for this domain. Continuously registered since 1999.
LegalPapers.org: Moderate but consistent traffic since registered–115 to 135 “visits” at Dotzup per month over the past 3 months–with the majority of visitors seeking information on family law and, apropos of the name, legal forms. CTR over the past 3 months: December: 45%; January: 32.77%; February: 25.33%. Please feel free to contact me with traffic and revenue inquiries. Registered in all major extensions.
SearchEngineRanking.info: Great name with excellent search results and a competitive reserve. Registered in all major extensions.
StockResearch.us: Excellent investment resource name registered since 2002 with a very reasonable reserve. Taken in all major extensions.
SwitzerlandTrips.com: A nice geo/travel domain. Taken in .info.
TempeForeclosures.com: Excellent real estate domain in an increasingly expanding sector of the real estate market. Reasonable reserve. Taken in .net.
The Moniker/TRAFFIC Silent Auction comes to a close this Thursday. Please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding the names above.
Location-Specific Web Developer Wanted
Written on 30 January 2008 by The CriticWe are currently seeking proposals / expressions of interest for development of a recently-acquired domain catering to a village on Martha’s Vineyard. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive resource for residents and visitors and an attractive advertising platform for businesses. Requirements are as follows (all are expressions of an ideal candidate for the position, reasonably adjusted as necessary):
- The developer will be located on or near Martha’s Vineyard and will be familiar with the particular location served by our domain name.
- The developer will have worked on websites relating to Martha’s Vineyard.
- The developer is sympathetic to the interests of residents, businesses AND visitors to the village and is capable of incorporating elements which balance these often divergent interests.
- The developer is capable of integrating easy-to-use platforms for site modification/updates and for self-administration of listings by advertising clients.
- The developer is able to provide a comprehensive estimate of fees for the project after discussing the details and is able to begin working soon.
If you are interested in discussing the project, please send an expression of interest with details on your ability to meet the above requirements and links to samples of previous work to thecritics @ thecriticalpost.com or via the Contact Form. If you know of someone who might be interested in this project, please point them to this post. More thorough details on the domain name and the specifics of the project will be provided following receipt and review of your email.
Thanks in advance.
Network Solutions’ New Tactics
Written on 8 January 2008 by The CriticReports of Network Solutions registering domain names searched for on their platform are quickly circulating throughout the domain industry.
For insight on the story, see the following (all direct links to relevant reports/threads):
As confirmed by tests highlighted in the reports above, the tactic is being implemented without regard for quality, taste, or potential trademark infringement of the domains queried.
While certainly an appalling attempt to hijack domains and the trust of potential and current NetSol clients, a wild-west style response from domainers–running automated queries and searching trademark domains–may only serve to reinforce the wild-west perception of the industry, especially given the current and expanding publicity surrounding this story. It is in the interest of domainers and the domain industry to allow the ethical problems of NetSol’s newly implemented tactic to speak for themselves.
New Years Housekeeping: Internal and External
Written on 3 January 2008 by The CriticA recent inquiry into one of our domains highlights the importance of monitoring your domain sales listings on two fronts: 1) Do your listings at Sedo, Afternic, etc. reflect your updated portfolio? and 2) Are any of your domains currently listed on the aftermarkets by former registrants because they were not deleted from the seller’s portfolio?
The email we received stated:
I put in an offer to buy this web name at afternic.com for [Price Redacted] as it was listed for sale there. This was accepted and then this sale fell through, presumably as you now control this domain name.
Kind regards
Although a time-consuming process, it’s worth the effort to check your current portfolio against names listed on the aftermarkets. In the case sited above, we had never listed our domain for sale and, quite frankly, were not very enthused to discover the “seller” had accepted an offer on a name now a part of our portfolio. As sellers, please also take the time to delete the listings of names no longer under your control.
Happy New Year and Best Wishes for a successful 2008.
Domainers’ Choice Awards Update
Written on 20 December 2007 by The CriticAfter narrowing the field to three or four candidates per category, Domainers Choice Awards has now entered the final stage of voting. Final votes are due by December 31 with winners announced at DOMAINfest Global ‘08 in Hollywood, January 21-23. Tracking the nominees over the course of the last few weeks has illustrated the breadth of variety and wealth of talent in the industry. Best of luck to the nominees.
Afternic Joins the Expiring Auction Mix
Written on 18 December 2007 by The CriticAfternic just announced it will begin auctioning expiring names:
Afternic Auctions Launches Today
Big news today on AfternicDLS!
We are proud to launch Afternic Auctions. For the first time ever, members have pre-drop access to exclusive expiring domains on Afternic.
It’s live now on Afternic!
A brief scan of random domains on the list of names [text file download] scheduled to go to auction January 22-24 shows Melbourne IT Corp as the registrar of record. Melbourne IT and NameMedia had previously reached a reciprocal marketing agreement this past summer.
Legal Roundup
Written on 6 December 2007 by The CriticThis is the first installment of the Legal Roundup, a weekly spotlight on significant legal stories and issues facing the industry. Today’s Roundup features three articles: 1) Interesting comments from the acting director of WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center on domains as venues for business criticism, 2) A call to organize and centralize efforts to fight domain name trademark infringement, and 3) An article on Domain Registration as Brand Protection (for background, see my earlier post.)
In the interest of free speech…
“Erik Wilbers, acting director of the Arbitration and Mediation Center at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), says that companies will increasingly lose domain disputes against individuals or groups that use them as a platform for critical speech against a business.” (Full Story: ZDNet)
Domain Name Police? (The responses to, and ramifications of, the Dell suit begin to take shape…)
“A technology law expert has called on the business world to set up a policing outfit to tackle cybersquatters. The call came as Dell raised the stakes in the fight against domain hoarders, demanding compensation of $1 million per name in a lawsuit.” (Full Story: Out-Law.com)
Brand Protection. (I particularly like the sub-title: “Web Domains, or Variations Thereof, Can Define a Company or Product”. Amazing that this still needs to be mentioned.)
“Shielding a company’s brand from early or negative exposure has become a business unto itself. On the advice of digital brand-management services and lawyers, many companies register thousands of names to protect themselves. Every time they launch products or services, executives have to worry about shielding their moves online from competitors and protecting themselves from users who might sully their brand.” (Full Story: Washington Post)
Domainers’ Choice Awards
Written on 16 November 2007 by The CriticFrom DomainersChoiceAwards.com:
Who do YOU think has been the shining star in representing domainers ethics and standards of behavior? Which hosting company, registrar, parking company has done the best?
Is there somebody out there that has gone above and beyond for all of us? Who, in your opinion, is advancing domainers and the industry?
Beginning December 1, 2007, domainers will be given the opportunity to submit their nominations for the best and brightest individuals and companies in the domain industry at DomainersChoiceAwards.com. Organized by Donna Mahony of DomainBoardroom.com, the Domainers’ Choice Awards will premier at DOMAINfest Global ‘08, January 21-23, at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood.
In a comment on the event, Donna wrote:
I have been getting quite a lot of questions about DomainersChoiceAwards.com so I will answer them here.
One of my favorite events at the conferences, whether I attend or not, has always been the awards. Although most of the winners are great domain industry leaders, I wondered if the community themselves would have made the same choices. I envisioned a totally different event…
The first thing I needed was a name. I am fully aware that some want to move away from the term “domainer” but it’s not going to go away. Even folks joining the movement to change the term use it because it is the natural term. Domainers Magazine, among others, have embraced the term and do a super job of presenting it in a positive light. So shall we.
The next thing I needed was a venue for presentations.
Since the other conferences already had their awards and their systems, I doubted they would hand that over to me.
Where better to present awards but in Hollywood!! I approached the folks at Oversee.net and presented my vision, my dream.
Then I waited for their response…with butterflies in my stomach! At this point this had become my passion. In my vision, and what I insisted on, was that awards go to the person/company chosen by the community…period. Inspite of all the “what ifs” that could happen.
They LOVED the idea!! They are not incorporating my idea into their plans, this is my baby, my dream and Oversee.net is providing just one of the many resources I need to make it happen.
What I needed next was help! I ran some ideas by a few here that I am close to but what I needed was somebody who shared my passion and was willing to devote themselves to making it happen. This person had to share my morals,ethics etc. This had to be a person not effected by the politics of the industry and willing to put themselves “out there” regardless of the outcome. Sally Letzer came to mind and Sally Letzer stepped up to the plate! A very humble thank you, Sally
So in short, that is DomainersChoiceAwards.com!
Embrace it, love it, believe in it…these are your awards!
Hooray for Hollywood!
For more information on the event and to submit award categories and nominations, please visit DomainersChoiceAwards.com.
For more about Donna, be sure to read Elliot Silver’s interview at Elliot’s Blog and Ron Jackson’s story at DN Journal.
Thanks to Donna for putting this together. Here’s to its success.
Google Beta Testing Domain Ads Exclusion
Written on 10 November 2007 by The CriticFrom CircleID:
Google AdWords is running limited testing of a feature which lets its advertisers block domain parking sites which their AdWords ads will be served on; specifically ‘Domain Ads’ and ‘Error Page Ads.
If Google rolls out full force with this blocking of the serving of advertiser AdWords ads on domain parking sites, this could potentially be a real blow to domain registration and parking companies, leading to deals with other paid search engines to fill the void.
For a measured, informative take, see Dave Davis’ comments in response to the full article and his post at RedFlyMarketing.com.
German “Intuition”
Written on 5 November 2007 by The CriticFrom CircleID:
The majority of private Internet users in Germany favour the increased usage of local domain endings as in .city or .region in the future because the more memorable names will help them to better find the information that they are looking for. That is the core result of a representative survey that was commissioned by eco Verband der deutschen Internetwirtschaft and conducted by the market research company eResult at the beginning of October. eco is the registered association of German Internet enterprises.
The question whether Internet addresses such as www.mayor.munich or www.taxoffice.munich could help with the more efficient use of the Internet offerings of a city or a region was being answered with “yes” by 63.8% of the participants, 28.9% said “possibly” and just 7.3% answered “no”. To question which Internet address would be ideal to find the Lost & Found office (Fundbüro) in ones own city, 43% of the citizens of Munich preferred the address www.fundbuero.munich. Common addresses such as www.fundbuero.munich.de (26%) or www.munich.de/fundbuero (21%) follow with a marked distance. Almost no support (8%) is given to a general address like www.munich.de…
…“We can state that private Internet users want their intuition to be considered when it comes to naming web services”, commented eco-CEO Harald A. Summa. “We recommend cities and regions to take over the perspective of the user who is focused on finding easy and uncomplicated answers to his questions”. A web address should neither be so general that searching takes longer than necessary nor so complicated that no one can memorize it. (Full Article.)
Of course, the results confirm what we already know: “…private Internet users want to their intuition to be considered when it comes to web services”. It wouldn’t be a stretch to construe “intuition” here as “type-in tendencies”.
But this raises substantial questions on the incorportation of .region or niche specific (e.g. .travel) TLDs into the “intuition” of users and the potentially large gap between the appeal of the appearance of “taxoffice.munich” on a survey versus the actual habits of “Internet users” (i.e. “people”).
