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Verisign
(the operators of the .com and .net registries) has
issued their quarterly Domain
Name Industry Brief. The report is full of
interesting stats and offers further evidence of the explosive
growth being enjoyed by the domain industry. In the second
quarter of 2006, total domain registrations hit the 105
million mark, the first time the 100 million landmark has
been passed. That is a 27% jump from this time a year
ago. 10 million new domains were registered in 2Q-2006,
33% more than the same quarter in 2005! Verisign said country
code extensions showed especially high growth, with ccTLD
registrations in the second quarter jumping 10% higher than in
the first quarter of this year. The introduction of the European
Union's new .eu extension in April had a lot to do
with that, of course.
Posted Aug. 31, 2006
Sedo.com
has announced a new partnership with registrar Stargate.com
that will give Stargate customers direct access to the more
than 5 million names listed at Sedo's popular secondary market
site. If a domain is not available for registration and is
also not listed for sale at Sedo, Stargate can still use
Sedo’s domain brokerage service where an experienced domain
broker will work to acquire the domain for the Stargate
customer. By working together, the two companies will give
buyers the option to pay for a premium domain name or register
an alternate name or lesser known extension without leaving
the registrar's site.
Posted Aug. 30, 2006
In
still another sign of the times, Canada's biggest
newspaper, The
Toronto Star has announced that it is
launching a downloadable afternoon edition, the StarPM,
available in PDF form on its Web site starting Sept.
5. The paper claims this will be the first downloadable
afternoon edition from a North American newspaper but you can
bet it won't be the last. A number of American newspapers have
similar plans in the works. The new downloadable edition
already has support from five major advertisers, further
feeding the influx of ad dollars to the web.
Posted Aug. 30, 2006
A
new article posted at CNN.com by Business 2.0
Magazine writer Paul Sloan discusses the rising
interest in country code domains. Titled Staking
a claim on domains beyond dot-com the piece
details where the action is in ccTLDs.
Posted Aug. 30, 2006
The
deadline for public comments on ICANN's
proposed contract renewals for the .org, .info and
.biz registries passed yesterday with an overwhelming
outpouring of opposition to approval of those agreements.
As of this morning more than 750 public responses had been
posted on ICANN's official discussion
boards, with almost unanimous opposition to the
contracts being voiced by domain registrants, registrars,
small business owners, non-profit groups and even members from
ICANN's own policy committees. Fewer than five posted
supporting statements and most of those identified themselves
as registry officials (the very people who could reap
massive windfall profits if ICANN's plan to let registries
charge anything they want is allowed to stand). The full ICANN
board is scheduled to meet Sept. 13 to decide the next
step in the process. Given the clear message that has been
sent from the community they are supposed to serve, it is hard
to imagine ICANN approving the lopsided contracts. In our
opinion that would be suicidal for the Internet oversight
body, but stranger things have happened.
Posted Aug. 29, 2006
Proposed New
ICANN contracts could devastate the .Org, .Info & .Biz
registries,
so we want to remind you that the deadline to lodge
your opposition is 5pm U.S. Pacific time today (Monday,
August 28). If approved, new contracts for those
registries would allow them to charge any price they
wanted for any domain registration or renewal. As we
noted in our statement sent to ICANN today, "Why would any
business or website developer invest their time and money
in one of those extensions when ICANN has left the door
open for those registries to unilaterally become
partners in the enterprise through extortionate renewal
price increases at some point in the future? If these
contracts are approved as is, .org will be dealt a
crippling blow and the new .info and .biz
extensions will be smothered in their cradles." If the
absence of a sensible contract price is permitted in those
agreements,
what would prevent ICANN from allowing .com and .net
to do the same? You can read comments others have made on this
vital issue to you and your business and post your own
comments through links on this
page at the ICANN website. Be sure to email copies
of your comments to the address given for each of the
three registries and reply to the confirmation emails you get
back from ICANN so your statements will be accepted and posted
on their site.
Posted Aug. 28, 2006
Former
Pool.com President and CEO Michael Arrington was
the subject of an interesting article in Business 2.0
magazine this week (written by Paul Sloan and Paul
Kaihla). After building Pool into a very successful
drop-catching company, Arrington left and started his own blog
at TechCrunch.com,
covering the high tech industy in Silicon Valley. The
article, titled "Blogging
For Big Bucks" covers the success Arrington
has had in producing revenue from his blog. The story says his
ad sales have soared from $6,000 a month to $60,000
a month this year alone. The article also gives other
examples of bloggers who were able to turn their passion for
writing about particular topics into profitable enterprises.
Posted Aug. 25, 2006
DomainSponsor.com
is putting together a DomainFest in Los
Angeles that will run Wed., Sept. 20 through Fri.,
Sept 22. The gathering will give domainers on the West
Coast a chance to get together in a convenient location to
network, listen to speakers and enjoy some good times. There
will be no on-site registration so you need to go to the DomainFestLA.com
website to fill out the required RSVP form. The show agenda is
also detailed on the website.
Posted Aug. 24, 2006
Domain
owners need to take immediate action if they want
to lodge objections to approval of proposed new contract
extensions for the .biz, .info and .org
registries. George Kirikos discovered that the current
proposals leave the door open for the registries to adopt the
kind of variable pricing model used by the .TV registry.
This means those registries could start charging thousands
of dollars a year to renew domains people have already
developed and turned into valuable businesses. Kirikos
detailed the situation in a post at the DomainState
forum. ICANN is currently allowing public
comment on the agreements but that will end
Monday (August 28) at 5pm U.S. Pacific time. Frank
Schilling of Name Administration, Inc. has already
posted a compelling
statement that lays out the danger the
agreements pose to domain registrants and developers.
Posted Aug. 23, 2006
iREIT.com
(Internet REIT, Inc.) announced a major new
partnership with popular domain forum DNForum.com
today. Forum owner Adam
Dicker will join iREIT as Executive Vice
President and iREIT will provide capital to increase
functionality and bring new features to the forum which has
more than 30,000 members. The partnership should also
help iREIT (who is the subject of our current Cover
Story) add to their portfolio of more than 400,000
domain names. iREIT CEO Bob Martin said,
“iREIT is actively acquiring high-quality
domains and looking to build our relationships with domainers,
and DNForum will enable us to reach these users while
providing much-needed liquidity to the market.” In a letter
to forum members this morning, Dicker said "iREIT will give members an opportunity to sell and monetize their domain investments...iREIT has the ability to pay cash upfront, can offer a premium for quality properties and can often sign a deal within 24 hours. With iREIT’s support, DNForum will also be working on ways to streamline and improve the domain marketplace functionality of DNForum to make it easier than ever to buy and sell
domains."
Posted Aug. 22, 2006
The
United States hosts two-thirds of all of the
world's domains according to a new report issued by IPWalk.com
today. That is 12 times more than the runner-up country, Germany.
The article says there are currently more than 77 million
global top level domains (.com, .net, .org, .info and .biz)
registered worldwide and 52 million of those are hosted
in the U.S. When broken down by extension, .US dominance is
most pronounced with .org domains, with American
companies hosting just under 70% of those. The least
dominance is in the .info extension, with only 51%
of those hosted in the U.S. (not surprising since .info
acceptance has been strongest in Europe). Just under 69%
of all .com domains are hosted in the U.S. The five
largest hosting countries in the world and the percentage of
global domains they host are the United States (67.23%),
Germany (5.71%), Canada (3.60%), the United
Kingdom (3.37%) and China (3.22%).
Posted Aug. 21, 2006
Dotster.com
has come up with an innovative way to market their
registration and website services. The company will conduct a national
talent search to find and sign four female company
ambassadors who will receive contracts to represent Dotster at
high profile shows and events. Models and actresses are
invited to auditions that will be held in Miami (Sept.
21), Atlanta (Oct. 5), New York (Oct. 19) and Los
Angeles (Nov. 2). The winners, to be named the Dotster
Dots, will be outfitted in the latest designer fashions
and casual wear and travel the country for a full year,
starting in 2007. Everyone who auditions will also be entered
in a sweepstakes that will give $10,000 to the person
whose name is drawn. To audition, you must be at least 18
years of age. For more details on the program and how to
enter, you can call 1-800-405-7660.
Posted Aug. 21, 2006
In
still another sign that the web is on its way to
replacing TV for many viewers, CBS-TV announced
that the CBS Evening News will be simulcast live
on the web starting Sept. 5, the date that new anchor Katie
Couric comes on board. If you are not in front of your
computer at 6:30pm (U.S. Eastern time) to view the show live,
no problem, you can watch the whole show, or individual
stories, on demand when your schedule allows (something TV
doesn't let you do). CBS also said it was setting up a new
blog, "Couric & Company," that will include
written and video contributions about the news from CBS
personnel.
Posted Aug. 19, 2006
.Info
fans will want to check out a new article from Mara
Miller that was just published in Sedo.com's August
newsletter. The story, titled A Quiet but Strong Rival to the .COM,
details steady growth in .info registrations and aftermarket
sales this year. Miller projects that if current registration
growth rates continue, .info would pass .org in
registrations by 2010 and .net soon after that. Of
course, .info has benefited from very low promotional pricing
(good for the first year only) from the central registry, Afilias.
However, that has proven to be good business for Afilias who
found that many who were initially attracted by the low price
renew their domains at the full rate when their first year is
up. In addition, the low introductory price has encouraged use
of the extension, and thus wider recognition for .info among
the general public.
Posted Aug. 18, 2006
Pioneering
drop catching company SnapNames.com
has just rolled out a new low-cost public domain auction
service with bids starting as low as $9. The company's
original private auction service will also continue unchanged.
The private auction system is open only to those who place
pre-orders and minimum opening bids are $60. That auction
focuses on premium expired domains. In the public auction no
pre-orders are required. You simply download the current list
of available names and bid on any that interest you. You can
also join auctions in progress at any time. SnapNames Chairman
and CEO Sudhir Bhagwan said “In addition to the
premium names we make available every day, our customers are
interested in access to value-priced domains. Our
new Public Auctions will be the best place on the Internet to
find good domain name assets for investors and end-users at
all levels.”
Posted Aug. 17, 2006
An
Associated Press story from Pat Eaton-Robb today is
another great example of just how much the web is taking over
all forms of media and entertainment. The article
discusses how small colleges are reaping huge benefits by
putting live broadcasts of their athletic events online. In
the past, unless a school was a major football or basketball
power, they were almost always ignored by national TV
networks. The web now makes it possible for even the smallest
schools to broadcast their games around the world and fans are
paying for the privilege to watch. In addition to the millions
of small businesses coming online each year (fueling the
demand for relevant domain names) every kind of media outlet
is moving to the web to take advantage of the global reach
that only the Internet can provide.
Posted Aug. 17, 2006
Competition
in the pay per click parking space is lowering the
entry barrier to programs that had previously been restricted
to owners of large high-traffic portfolios. Sedo.com
announced today that many of the features previously only
available in their SedoPro program, including higher
payout rates, would be extended to all Sedo account holders
effective immediately. Sedo's Chief Strategy Officer Matt
Bentley said “Up until now, only large portfolio holders
and registrars could enjoy the benefits of a
professional-level domain parking service, but we’ve leveled
the playing field by offering the same detailed analysis
tools, customizable layouts, and high-end earnings to anyone
with a Sedo account.” Sedo’s new domain parking service is
free to use and does not require an application to join.
Posted Aug. 16, 2006
Just
got word that the U.S. Department of Commerce
has renewed
its contract with ICANN (the organization in
charge of overseeing the technical infrastructure of the
Internet, including the domain name system) for five years. The
U.S. government has said it intends for ICANN to run the system without government oversight at some
point but with the contract renewal that independence will not come until at least 2011. The Commerce Department and
ICANN are still negotiating a larger "memorandum of understanding" that governs the Internet agency. That agreement
expires on Sept. 30.
Posted Aug. 16, 2006
Domain
owners will be interested in a new article
published by USA Today "Google
Search Ads Find Momentum". The story details
how domain investors are capitalizing on the boom in search
advertising. In one passage, Marc Ostrofsky, president
of iREIT.com
(a company that is profiled in our current Cover
Story), is quoted as saying, "I put up a
website, add the Google ads and wait for the money to
start flying in." The article also quotes Ostrofsky as
saying that the company (which owns over 400,000 domains) generates more
than $10 million a year. We are told Ostrofsky actually said
earnings were "in 8 figures", so saying "more
than $10 million" is technically correct, but imprecise as the number could
fall anywhere between $10 million and $99 million.
Posted Aug. 15, 2006
Mass
High Tech published an article on the domain boom
today that discusses rising interest in America's .US
extension, .biz and .info. The story,
written by Christopher Calnan, acknowledges .com's
position as the "waterfront property" of the web,
but also cites increasing demand for alternatives due to the
high cost of prime .coms. New England limestone
importer, HR Stone, selected HRStone.us for
their company site. Bob Quinn, senior principal of the
company, said he initially considered altering the company's name to fit a domain name with a
.com extension, but decided a .US extension would distinguish HR Stone as an American business while allowing it to keep its name intact.
The article says, "HR Stone, which employs six, has plenty of company as
small and midsize businesses increasingly turn to .biz,
.US and .info extensions to offset the shortage of
.coms."
Posted Aug. 14, 2006
The
land rush for Viet Nam's new .VN country
code extension starts tomorrow (August 15). Other than
a requirement that you have a company name, there are no
residency requirements for .VN. In the past, only second level
domains, like .com.vn and .org.vn, were
available for Viet Nam. Those extensions typically cost in the
range of $200 each. According to one of the main registrars
that will offer .VN, EuroDNS.com (who will provide .VN
service through their Asian portal at AsiaDNS.com),
prices for the new first level names will be €48 per
domain, with a one time set up fee of €38 (€78
total, which as of today is $99.14 per domain). You can
get 20% off that amount by using a discount code
EuroDNS is offering to our readers: DNJOURNAL_VN
(we receive nothing if you use the code, it is provided solely
for the benefit of those interested in this extension).
According to EuroDNS, Viet Nam has a population of 84
million and an Internet penetration of 15%. VNNIC
is the central registry for Viet Nam.
Posted Aug. 14, 2006
Dave
Morgan posted a good column at MediaPost.com
today (free registration required to read) on the online
advertising boom. Morgan said "Revenues are way up...Traditional media is in disarray. Traditional media executives are scurrying to develop "digital strategies" to save their companies and their jobs. Venture
capitalists and their money are everywhere, and the valuations that they are paying are
skyrocketing." But in the piece, Morgan also cautioned
against arrogance, reminding readers of the 1999 bursting of the dot-com bubble.
"Of course, there's a lot that's different this time
around," Morgan said. "Online advertising
actually works now! It's delivering results and ROI that have
never been seen in this industry before. It's great
being the belle of the ball, but we should take to heart some
lessons from the last time around." He goes on to detail
those lessons and we think he makes some valid points that can
help us learn from history, so that we don't repeat it.
Posted Aug. 10, 2006
The
investigation into the highly criticized roll-out
of the European Union's new .eu extension is
widening. In a new article at Wired.com
today, writer Robert Andrews said "EURid,
the Belgium-based organization charged with operating
the .eu space, is facing accusations that it allowed sharks
and speculators to rig Europe's domain system, and politicians
are pressing the executive European Commission to
investigate "possible fraud and mismanagement" by
the body." Diana Wallis, a British liberal who
serves on the European Parliament's legal affairs committee, has asked the Commission to give a "full explanation of how the .eu domain allocation has been handled."
Wallis said, "If the scale of the abuse is anything like what appears to have taken place, this will represent a
major EU scandal and commissioners will need to be brought to
account."
Posted Aug. 9, 2006
Marchex,
Inc., the first public company to buy a large
domain portfolio (the original Ultimate Search
holdings) have announced their second quarter 2006 earnings.
Though the company reported a loss, the analyst at Motley
Fool, Rick Aristotle Munarriz,
liked what he saw in the report, especially the company's 50%
jump in total revenue for the quarter. Munarriz said,
"The kinder and gentler Marchex is a good one. Its
content-rich sites now welcome search engine visits and that
means garnering free traffic from search-engine result pages,
instead of relying only on mostly direct type-in
traffic."
Posted Aug. 9, 2006
Kanoodle
has acquired one of the industry's leading
registrars, Moniker.com.
At the same time Kanoodle announced
it will reorganize as a parent company named Seevast
that will oversee three separate operating divisions,
including Moniker which will continue as an independent unit
with the same management team headed by CEO Monte Cahn
and President Eric Harrington, the company's two
founders.
Posted Aug. 8, 2006
Marchex, Inc.
has announced that it has launched updated implementations of its more than 75,000 ZIP Code Web sites.
The company also announced that it has launched MyZIP.com
as a destination Web site that covers city and ZIP Code locations across the
United States. MyZIP.com will also serve as the umbrella brand and gateway into Marchex’s ZIP Code Web sites and the associated city and local content.
All of these sites now offer hotel, restaurant, travel, local attraction information and reviews targeted to individual locations or ZIP Codes in the United States.
The driver for this product evolution is Marchex’s Open List,
a search technology and user-generated content platform that offers targeted aggregation of vertical and local content.
Posted Aug. 8, 2006
Your
daily newspaper may end up being free of charge. To
combat the loss of readers to the web, a story in the International
Herald Tribune says an increasing number of
newspapers, especially in Europe, are going to a free
distribution model. Quoting from the article, Piet Bakker,
Associate Professor of Communications at the University of
Amsterdam, said "Almost all over Europe, you see
circulation going down for paid newspapers. At the same
time, the economy is improving, helping the advertising
market. Free newspapers are seen as the best way to take
advantage of this. Meanwhile papers that continue to charge
are trying to offset reader and advertiser loss by cutting
jobs. Bear Stearns analyst Alexia Quadrani told
Editor & Publisher magazine "the newspaper
industry's ad revenue is barely moving - up 0.5% so far
in 2006 - but circulation continues to drop so
newspaper publishers will likely reduce costs by eliminating
more workers." The continuing flight of ad money from old
media to the Internet is a primary factor in the escalation of
prices for domains with traffic.
Posted Aug. 7, 2006
Hot
on the heels of the Forrester Research report
(detailed in yesterday's post) on the migration of younger
viewers from TV to the web comes corroborating evidence from ABC-TV.
The network has announced results from a test conducted in May
and June in which full-length episodes of such popular shows
as Lost, Desperate Housewives and Commander
in Chief were made available as free downloads at ABC.com.
ABC says more young viewers watched the shows via the web
than during the programs first runs on over the air TV!
The implications of this for network TV are stunning. The test
was so successful, ABC said they would re-launch the web
download operation as a full-time service this fall. ABC said
the average age of web viewers was 29, compared to an average
age of 46 for those watched on the traditional network, still
another indicator that the upcoming generation will fuel
spectacular growth on the web.
Posted Aug. 5, 2006
With
the Internet so hot right now, some people are
wondering how long the boom can continue. Some say that, even
now, we are just at the beginning and a new report from
Forrester
Research on technology adoption provides strong
support for that view. People between the ages of 18 and 28 (GenY)
spend 12.2 hours online each week, or 28 percent longer
than those 27 to 40 years old (GenX), and almost twice as
long as 51 to 61 year olds (Baby Boomers). Ted Schadler,
Forrester Research vice president and co-author of the study,
said "All generations adopt devices and Internet
technologies, but younger consumers are Net natives who spend
more time online than watching television. Younger generations
live online, reading blogs, downloading podcasts, checking
prices before buying, and trading recommendations." With
the upcoming generation preferring the web to TV, advertisers
will almost certainly continue to "follow the the
eyeballs" and invest increasingly larger amounts of their
budgets on the Internet.
Posted Aug. 4, 2006
CNNMoney.com
has a nice piece on domains today aimed at helping
small business people understand the market and value of
relevant domain names. The article,
written by Jessica Seid, features Afternic
President Roger Collins and Dotster VP of
Marketing George DeCarlo. There is also a comment from
a Savannah real estate agent explaining why it was well
worth spending $2,400 for her domain (SavannahMLS.com)
in the aftermarket.
Posted Aug. 2, 2006
The
drive to make PPC pages look more like full-blown
websites continues to pick up steam. NameMedia.com,
operators or a large search network (and owners of BuyDomains.com)
has purchased Morefocus Group Inc., a company that
develops proprietary online content on more than 5,000 topics
delivered across its network and to a database of more than 10
million consumers. Terms of the
deal were not disclosed and Morefocus will remain
in its San Diego headquarters. NameMedia is based in Waltham,
Massachusetts.
Posted Aug. 1, 2006
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