Here's the The Lowdown
from DN Journal,
updated daily
to
fill you in on the latest buzz going around the domain name industry.
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher Ron
Jackson.
Two
New Domain Conferences Added to the Calendar Today +
Where Did YOUR Parking Revenue Go? More Fingers
Pointing at Google & Yahoo
The domain conference calendar
got two more new entries today. IDNTools.com
announced their first show - IDN
Event - a one-evening meeting
devoted to International Domain Names that will
be held in New York City on Saturday, October
30.
The
$99 registration fee will include a sushi
dinner and an opportunity to network with other
domainers including Elliot Silver (ElliotsBlog.com)
and Patrick Carleton (Executive Director
of Associated
Cities).
One
of the organizers, Aaron Krawitz, said
the meeting will focus on how domainers can make
money abroad. There will also be a simultaneous
auction. IDN Event, a conference that is being
co-hosted by Register.com, Moniker®
and SnapNames®.
We
also learned today where the first T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference in 2011 will be held.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick
Schwartz and Howard Neu announced
they will host a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ICANN
Retreat conference in San
Francisco March 11-12, 2011, right
before an ICANN International meeting
begins there March 13). More
details will be forthcoming.
Meanwhile
Schwartz and Neu are making
final preparations for their T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Miami conference
coming up October 17-20, 2010
at the Loew's Hotel on South
Beach - the only
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. show the long
time partners are staging this
year. I hooked up with Schwartz
and Neu for a show preview interview,
however the conversation quickly
morphed
into
one covering much more
ground than thatonce we
started talking about recent
changes in the industry and how
the current business environment
will be addressed at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Miami.
Schwartz
told us, "Domainers
are not happy with
the trends. They
feel like they are
getting the shaft
while our so-called
“partners” are rolling
in the $$$ we are
making for them...The
end user pays $5.00
for a click, but we get 5
cents and we are
supposed to believe that
is an 80% cut? I
think every domainer
knows this is garbage
and that it has to
change. I believe that
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is going
to start a conversation
that Yahoo and Google
cannot ignore. I have
listened to their empty
lip service for six
years and now it is time
for show and tell."
Schwartz,
who has never been shy
about speaking his mind,
was just getting warmed
up with those comments.
You can read
the entire article here.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder Rick Schwartz
Jeff
Kupietzky
President &
CEO, Oversee.net
In
case you missed
it, we published
another major
article over
the weekend -
our latest Cover
Story
- a profile of Jeff
Kupietzky, the man who has guided
Oversee.net (parent company of
DomainSponsor,
Moniker, SnapNames and
DOMAINfest) through a severe recession and unexpected crises that could have easily brought down a company with less skilled leadership.
The
topic of domain
owner complaints
about diminished
PPC revenue
also came up in
our interview
with Jeff. He
also attributed
it to the search
engine giants at
the top of the
pyramid keeping
a bigger share
of the pie for
themselves.
Kupietzky told
us, ""The
reason for some
of the declines
in the past
years has to do
with how
those ad dollars
are being
divided
among all the
players in the
value chain
based on their
respective
positioning.
There is no
longer
sufficient
competition among
the
upstream
search
networks so more
of the profits
are captured
there than are
flowing to us.
Our segment
remains quite
competitive
which maintains
share of
payouts.
In terms of the
future, I do
expect
competition to
increase among
the search
networks which
will be positive
for all
publishers."
One
final note today, two of the
Oversee divisions Kupietzky
oversees, SnapNames.com
and Moniker.com,
will be launching newly redesigned
websites tonight. Some of the
improvements you will see include:
Easier-To-Use
Search and Monitoring:
You will be able to search
for domain names more
quickly while keeping
up-to-date on upcoming
opportunities to buy and
sell names at auction.
News
& Resources: The
site have opened and will
continue to add to a
resource center to provide
information and tips for
making the most of
auctions.
Account
Management Centralization:
Moniker Domain Management
and SnapNames Auction
activities can now be
found in the "My
Account" area of the
site.
Support
Portal: Their support
portal now includes an
expanded knowledge base
where you can submit and
track support questions in
one place for all your
Oversee.net accounts. The
portal is available and
monitored 365 days a year.
We need your help to keep giving
domainers The
Lowdown, so please email [email protected]with any interesting information you might have. If possible,
include the source of your information so we can check it out (for
example a URL if you read it in a forum or on a site
elsewhere).
