|
|
|
|
|
The
Lowdown
June
2009 Archive
|
 |
Subscribe
to our RSS
Feed |
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
I
received some interesting news and information
about
Oakville.com
from developer/company president Richard
Douglas that makes a pretty good case
study on how to efficiently build and
promote a geodomain website. Oakville,
Ontario is a Canadian city of
|
|
165,000
people (part of the greater Toronto
area) located on the shores of Lake
Ontario. If you are a sports fan you
will be hearing a lot about Oakville
next month when the city hosts the 2009
RBC
Canadian Open golf
tournament.
In a
mutually beneficial marketing move,
Oakville.com worked out an arrangement
with the
|
|
|
Royal
Canadian Golf Association to
promote the PGA tour event on
its popular city site. Douglas said
Oakville.com has been attracting 1,000
visitors a day and with a flood of
visitors coming to Oakville for he
tournament July
20-26 at Glen Abbey, that
number is sure to spike in the days
ahead. Oakville.com is going out of
their way to attract them by posting
maps for tournament parking locations,
ticket information and event details
that will be updated throughout the
competition. The site also has a
directory of Oakville
hotels. |
|
|
Photo
of Oakville's Lake Ontario
waterfront
from Oakville.com. |
Though
the tournament will give
Oakville.com a chance to
showcase itself to visitors,
Douglas said those who live in
Oakville have already come to
rely on the site for its
combination of interesting
articles, classifieds, and job
listings. The site also has
an Oakville
restaurants guide
that has helped many discover
new dining favorites and events
calendars that keep residents
abreast of everything happening
in the city.
There
is also a story behind how the
site itself was built. Douglas,
who is |
|
the
CTO of the biggest web hosting
company in the Bahamas, SecureHost.com,
said his team there built a custom
platform specifically for geo
domain development and
Oakville.com is the first of
about 100 domains that
they are building into fully
developed city guides. |
The
completely automated
Oakville.com site now has about 3,500 pages
and has unique content added every day.
Douglas said "We have engaged the
community through social media and by
posting their articles and photos on the
site." Douglas shares more
information about his mass development
platform in a blog he writes about geo
domain development and SEO
techniques at TooManySecrets.com.
(Posted
June
30, 2009) To refer others
to the
post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/06-30-09.htm |
|
|
The boom in ccTLDs
over the past year
has me paying more attention to America's
long overlooked official country code extension
- .us. I have always felt there was
a great deal of
|
|
potential
there and over the years have invested
accordingly, but it has been a long and
winding road. While ccTLDs are well
established in most other countries
around the globe, .us hasn't enjoyed the
kind of popularity that ccTLDs
representing |
|
|
other major
industrial powers (like Great
Britain's .co.uk and Germany's
.de) have. The primary factor
that put .us behind the 8-ball was the
fact that the extension was reserved for
government use until April 2002.
By the time it was opened up to all
Americans (and foreign companies with a
U.S. business presence) .com
had already become the default choice
for U.S. companies.
|
At
this stage, I don't think
anything is going to change
that, but I am seeing more signs
that .us is finally starting to
find an audience, especially in
the small to medium sized
business |
|
Ad
on the Neustar (.us registry)
website |
market.
In the seven years since the
extension was opened up, the
Internet has experienced a
phenomenal growth spurt. The
number of .coms registered today
is 15 times greater than
it was back then. As a result,
virtually every meaningful
keyword, phrase or short acronym
you can imagine is long gone in
.com. That has forced many new
businesses, especially those
with limited budgets (which is
just about all of them given the
current economy), to consider
alternatives. |
Since the
vast majority of businesses have a local
focus, .us is the obvious second choice
for many of them and I am seeing that
manifested more and more often in the
real world. While watching the Tampa
Bay Rays play the Florida Marlins
on TV Sunday, one of the big signs on
the outfield wall was for TampaBay.us,
a domain being used by the Tampa Bay
Partnership, a highly respected
regional organization focused on
stimulating economic growth and economic
development in the Tampa Bay area. They
had no chance to get TampaBay.com
because that was taken long ago by the St.
Petersburg Times
newspaper.
|
A
couple of weeks ago when I
pulled up to the departures gate
at the Tampa airport to head to
the Domain
Roundtable
conference in Washington,
D.C. I noticed a big web
address on the back of the
remote parking shuttle bus in
front of me - A1Express.us.
On my last trip to Chicago
I noticed another airport
shuttle company with the URL AirportExpress.us
emblazoned on their vehicles.
.Com became the 800-pound
gorilla because .com addresses
have always been plastered everywhere
you look. By comparison,
spotting high visibility .us
names is still like spotting a
rare bird in the wild, but
sightings are becoming more
frequent and that bodes well for
the extension. |
|
A larger
sampling of .us usage in the business
community can be seen by doing a Google
search using this string:
site:.us company -state -k12 -cc -ci
-co -lib -pdf -pippin
That produces results that, for the most
part, are limited to business pages at
sites using the .us extension (the
-state, -k12, etc. filters throw out the
many government, school and
non-commercial sites that use .us so
names used in commerce are spotlighted).
The search returns over 5.5 million
pages today. If you use the same string
for the two global alternate extensions
that were released at about the same
time .us was (replacing site:.us with
site:.info and site:.biz), the results
are considerably lower; 3.8 million
for .info and just under 3.5
million for .biz.
|
|
If
you throw the extra word filters
out all together and just use
site:.us, site:.info and
site:.biz to see all pages
for a given extension in Google,
regardless of how they are used,
the .us sites still win with 295
million indexed pages vs. 224
million for .info and only 72
million for .biz. I have not
previously bookmarked these
numbers to see how they have
changed over time, but now that
I've done so, will revisit them
periodically in the future to
see what kind of growth we are
seeing by this measure.
If
the old axiom that a rising
tide lifts all boats is
true, then the global boom in
ccTLDs should give the .us an
additional boost too. In market
share it will continue to
|
|
be
.com's baby brother but there is
nothing wrong with being a
profitable niche in any industry
and .us is showing signs that it
is growing into that role. |
One
other note today, and this is a sad one.
Khalid, a popular domainer and
member of Britain's AcornDomains
forum, who was known to many
by his user names JeeWhizz and Pixelcraze,
passed away Thursday morning. A forum
post said he had recently undergone
surgery. Khalid is survived by his wife Emma
and a 1-year-old baby daughter Abigail.
Khalid was also an administrator
at a general business forum, A1BusinessForums.co.uk,
that also announced his passing.
|
|
|
|
|
Veteran
web designer and audio/video services provider
Danny Pryor
just filled us in on some major changes
underway at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida
company, Rodan
Media. Pryor's company produced most
versions of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference website that you have seen in recent
years and he has done (and contiues to do)
development work for a number of well-known
domain portfolio holders.
|
|
Pryor
said Rodan Media has signed significant
new development deals with key players
in the domain industry as the company
positions itself to become a key content
provider, domain developer and producer
of high-quality video and audio products
for small business and individual
clients.
To
accomodate its rapid growth, Pryor said
the company he formed in 2001 is
reincorporating as the Rodan Media
Group Corporation. A new President
and CEO, Donnie Goodwin, is
coming on board with Pryor becoming the
Chief Operating Officer and corporate
vice president. Goodwin brings a wealth
of business experience to the
enterprise, having spent 18 years as an
investment banker with Merrill Lynch
and Paine Webber. Goodwin has
also been practicing corporate and
criminal law for the past 10 years.
Pryor
is a former radio news anchor and
|
Danny
Pryor at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Silicon Valley Conference in April. |
|
Associated
Press award-winning journalist who
turned his attention to website
development in 2000. He previously
worked for KNUU radio in Las
Vegas, WINZ and WIOD
radio in Miami and served as news
director for radio stations WGYL
and WTTB in Vero Beach. He
also spent two years at the Metro
Networks Miami operations office
before shifting his focus to the
Internet.
Among
other things, Pryor said Rodan is
currently working on a mass domain
development project that involves
building out nearly 200 domains across a
network-style platform of interlinked
websites. "These domains will
feature news, sports, travel, weather,
finance, science, legal, and volunteer
information," Pryor noted. A gallery
of his company's work can
be reviewed on the Rodan Media website.
|
Rod
Beckstrom
Will he be ICANN's new
CEO? |
One
other note today - we told you yesterday
that former U.S. cyber
security chief Rod
Beckstrom was
expected to be named the new
CEO of ICANN when the DNS
oversight body ended their
current meeting in Sydney,
Australia today. That in
fact happened
with ICANN Chairman Peter
Dengate Thrush delivering
the official announcement Down
Under. Thrush said, "Rod
Beckstrom has exactly the sort
of strong personal and technical
background that ICANN
needs."
Vint
Cert, who is considered to
be the "father" of the
Internet said in a statement,
"Rod Beckstrom is
strikingly well-prepared to
undertake a new role as CEO of
ICANN. His experience in
industry and government equip
him for this global and very
challenging job."
Beckstrom
replace Dr. Paul Twomey
who earlier this year announced
his decision to the leave the
post he had held since 2003. |
|
|
|
|
|
The
Associated Press is reporting
that former U.S. cyber security chief
Rod
Beckstrom is likely to
become the next CEO of ICANN,
replacing Dr. Paul Twomey who
recently announced he was leaving the
post he has held since 2003. AP quotes
unidentified sources as saying the ICANN
board may vote to give Beckstrom the job
as early as tomorrow when the
current ICANN meeting concludes in Sydney,
Australia.
Beckstrom
has been seen at several public sessions
in Sydney and has also met privately
with ICANN borard members according the
the wire service story. Beckstrom was
appointed to run the Department of
Homeland Security's newly created National
Cyber Security Center in
March of last year but resigned 12
months later saying that a lack of
cooperation from the National
Security Agency and
insufficient funding led to his
resignation. Beckstrom runs a personal
website at Beckstrom.com.
|
Rod
Beckstrom
Will he be ICANN's new CEO?
|
|
|
In
other ICANN related news, a chilling article
from ComputerWorld.com
confirms what many in the domain community have
feared - that ICANN hopes to replace the current
UDRP system with a Uniform Rapid
Suspension (URS) system that could debut
with the new gTLDs ICANN plans to start
rolling out next year. The Internet
Commerce Association and others
have warned that if that happens domain owners
would lose the scant protection they currently
have from over-reaching trademark interests and
reverse hijackers.
|
|
ICA Legal
Counsel Phil Corwin has said
that if the dangerous URS is approved it
could migrate to existing extensions
like .com and .net and
now, according to the ComputerWorld
article, that is exactly what ICANN
has in mind. CW quotes ICANN VP Paul
Levins as saying ICANN |
|
may be able
to apply the new rules as existing
registrar contracts expire. We may
be able to retrofit the features
that are in the new GTLD agreements to
address abuse.
Most
people in the domain community have sat
on their hands while their rights
are steadily being whittled away. If you
needed to be whacked across the head
with a 2 X 4 to get the message,
here is your wake up call. Band together
or kiss your assets goodbye. |
|
(Posted
June
25, 2009) To refer others
to the
post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/06-25-09.htm |
|
|
Yesterday
we told you
about
a couple of major new domain development partnership
deals involving Skip Hoagland. Today we can
tell you about another one involving two other
giants from the geodomain space - the Castello
Brothers - Michael and David - of Castello
Cities Internet Network. Like Hoagland, the
Castellos are best known for fully developed
.com city domains (in their case, PalmSprings.com, Nashville.com
and Acapulco.com to name a few). However,
also like Hoagland, the Castellos own many top
tier generic keyword domains that they have also
developed into online businesses (examples
include Bullion.com,
Daycare.com and Whisky.com).
Their
portfolio also includes Suntan.com and
that is the domain that will be
|
Michael
& David Castello
Castello Cities Internet Network |
|
developed
in their new partnership with Birmingham, Alabama
based LZ
Domains, LLC. LZ's founders have
been involved in the acquisition and
development of premium domains
since 1998. LZ CEO Toby Hardy
said, ""We are
extremely excited about
the July rollout of the
Suntan.com brand and its robust
website. When we analyzed the
potential market on the internet
for everything from tanning and sun
protection to outdoor activities and
tropical vacations we realized that the
perfect global umbrella brand was
Suntan.com.
Suntan.com
is going to quickly replace other
sponsors that have experienced
significant challenges in today's market
conditions. Whether it's
surfing, beach volleyball or
visiting your local tanning salon we'll
promote and discuss it on Suntan.com.
With that domain we have all four
corners at the best intersection on
the planet," Hardy said. |
LZ
Domains CEO Toby Hardy |
|
|
|
|
|
CCIN
Chief Operating Officer David J.
Castello said, "Since 1995 we
have developed intuitive domain names into
worldwide brands. The synergistic
relationship we have with LZ
Domains made this partnership
the logical choice to develop
Suntan.com." |
|
|
|
|
Over
the weekend
Skip Hoagland, who most of your know as one of
the key players in the geodomain sector (owner of Atlanta.com,
MyrtleBeach.com, BuenosAires.com and many
|
Skip
Hoagland
(Hunting and fishing are a big part of
this domain investor/developer's life) |
others),
sent out a press release announcing that his
company, DomainsNewMedia.com,
had formed two new partnerships to
develop some of his best generic non-geo keyword
domains. Today I hooked up with Skip (who is
currently in Argentina) to get some more
information on what his new projects
involve.
If
you read our July
2008 Cover Story on Hoagland you
know he has always been a strong advocate of
finding qualified partners to
develop top tier domains. To do just that with
four of his best sporting domains; Fishing.com,
FlyFishing.com, Shooting.com and ShotgunSports.com,
Hoagland has cut a deal with Argentina based Patagona
Publishing and Media to build those
properties into category killing web portals.
Hoagland
said Patagonia already manages 50 |
|
hunting
and fishing enthusiast websites as well as
booking agencies that arrange hunting and
fishing trips around the world. Patagonia also
publishes coffee table books on these sports. In
addition to Patgonia's expertise in the space,
Hoagland said he was impressed by the two young U.S.
educated leaders of the company and was
confident in their ability to build the domains
into dominating websites.
|
|
In
another major partnership arrangement,
Hoagland cut a deal with Databanq
CEO David Bayer to develop
Hoagland's ChamberOfCommerce.com
and CVB.com domains (CVB is a
major travel industry term for Convention And Visitors Bureaus).
Hoagland
said ChamberofCommerce.com would be
built into a brand people will be able to rely on for trusted information on
businesses from some 7,000 cities
worldwide that are in the company's
database. CVB.com will naturally focus
on the areas of travel and tourism.
Hoagland
said his company is also developing
geo-targeted domains he owns for
classified ads and Yellow Pages
directories.
Partnering
was a key topic at the Domain
Roundtable conference in Washington,
D.C. last week. More and more owners
of top tier |
Databanq
CEO David Bayer |
|
domains
are deciding the best way to maximize
the potential of those names is to marry
the best domains with the best possible
managers to build full blown web based
businesses on them.
Speaking
of Domain Roundtable we just published
our comprehensive
show review article this
morning with dozens of previously
unpublished photos and details on that
major industry event in the nation's
capital.
(Posted
June
23, 2009) To refer others
to the
post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/06-23-09.htm |
|
|
|
The
35th public ICANN Meeting
got
underway Sunday in Sydney, Australia where the
event will continue through Friday. Those on the scene
say it looks to be one of the largest crowds
|
ever
for an ICANN meeting. Of course there are a
number of hot topics that are drawing a
crowd this time, including the introduction of
new gTLDs and attempts by trademark interests to
change dispute resolution procedures that, if successful,
could have a huge negative impact on
registrant rights.
Internet
Commerce Association Legal Counsel Phil
Corwin is in Sydney to stand up for the
domain community and he does an excellent job in
detailing what is at stake in this 6-minute
video interview from Australia that
was posted on YouTube by Dyn Inc.
Corwin
also wrote about the first full day of ICANN
business today in a special report filed at the
ICA website - InternetCommerce.org.
Corwin said the ICA will continue to issue
periodic updates from the Sydney meeting to keep
members and other interested parties fully
informed.
|
ICA
Legal Counsel Phil Corwin |
|
|
While
many in the domain community are opposed
to ICANN's plan to roll out an unlimited
number of new gTLDs, it does look like
it is going to happen and several
companies are already hard at |
|
|
work
offering consulting services to those
who want to try to land their own
extension. Minds
+ Machines probably heads
that list since they have been chosen to
help parties going after .nyc, .eco
and .food among others. Famous
chef Wolfgang Puck enlisted them
to back his .food effort. Minds +
Machines is also screening a 25-minute
video in Sydney to support
their campaign to land .eco. |
If
you have some money burning a hole in your
pocket this is going to be a busy week for
domain auctions. The extended online auction
tied to last week's Domain Roundtable
conference concludes tomorrow at 5pm (US
Eastern time). You can check out the full
catalog (with more than 250 lots still open) here.
|
|
MyID.ca
will be auctioning off more than 50
premium .ca (Canadian
country code) domains Wednesday
and Thursday. The catalog
includes Job.ca, Theatre.ca,
Timeshares.ca, Mike.ca, Newspapers.ca
and IceSkating.ca to name just a
few. Full information on that sale can
be found here.
Meanwhile GreatDomain's
latest premium auction will conclude Thursday
(June 25) at 12 Noon (U.S. Eastern
time). The names on the block there
include 70.com, Consoles.com
and Funds.net.
Looking a
little further down the line, Rick
Latona Auctions and Netcom.cm
Sarl will team up to sell a group
of 45 premium .cm (Cameroon
country code) domain names in an online
auction that will run from July 7
to July 14. These |
|
|
exclusive
names, including Casino.cm, Poker.cm
and Cars.cm, will not be included
in the regular .cm land rush or open
registration. Land rush for the soon to
be unrestricted .cm extension will begin
as soon as the auction ends. Interest is
expected to be higher than usual because
.cm is a common typo of .com, meaning
that many of these terms are likely to
get a lot of error traffic. |
|
|
|
|
|
The
already crowded domain conference calendar
(I have been to six shows in the past six
months) is going to be packed even tighter in 2010.
When the originators of the large scale domain
conference concept, T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s
Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu, announced
a new alliance with Rick
Latona on Tuesday, the line up of
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows alone doubled from three
this year to six next year.
|
|
Add
in at least one show each from DOMAINfest
Global, Domainer
Mardi Gras, Domain
Roundtable and the GeoDomain
Expo, regional events like Canada's
DomainConvergence.com
and Germany's Domain
Pulse and Domainvermarkter
Forum and company specific events
like the highly appealing SedoPro
Forum (they've just announced
the 2009 edition will be held in Key West,
Florida next fall) and the dedicated show
goer could easily spend all of 2010
traveling from one conference to the next
without ever going home.
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s
expansion comes at a time when some people are
already complaining about "conference
fatigue" and attendance at nearly all
of the shows (except DOMAINfest Global in Los
Angeles and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York)
has drifted down to around 200 (give or take a
couple of dozen either way). You may have also
noticed that the worst economic downturn since |
Jimmy
Durante was right,
when it comes to domain conferences,
"Everybody wants to get into the
act!"
|
|
the
Great Depression is currently underway.
Given all of this, Latona, Schwartz and Neu
think this is a good time to run more
shows? Are they completely crazy? Yes,
they are. Crazy like a fox. These
three didn't get where they are by making a lot
of bonehead moves. |
|
Of
the six locations they announced for next year,
four are outside the United States
- Amsterdam, Toronto, Hong Kong
and Reykjavik, Iceland (this one could be
switched to a different overseas location). Net
change for the number of shows in America - zero.
Guess |
|
where
the fastest growth in the Internet (and domain
registrations) is occurring? That's right, outside
the U.S. Latona, an inveterate world
traveler, knows this because he has seen it
first hand in his sojourns around the globe.
That's why he confidently licensed the right to
stage a T.R.A.F.F.I.C. show devoted entirely to
ccTLDs earlier
this month in Amsterdam, even though
most people thought he was a couple of cans
short of a six-pack. The show was a success and
the majority of the domainers who made it fly
were men and women from outside the U.S.
The
Latona-Schwartz-Neu triumvirate makes sense on
several levels. It allows Schwartz and Neu to
firmly establish their baby as a global brand
and it gives Rick Latona Auctions
exclusive rights to sell to the well heeled
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. audience, dislodging rival Moniker
from the mix.
The impending T.R.A.F.F.I.C. six-show
blitzkrieg also puts Schwartz and Neu back
on the offensive after four years of
watching a steadily growing pack of competitors
whittle away bits and pieces of their market
share. You had to know they were not going to
stand idly by and watch that go on
forever. Schwartz
has been preaching for some time that the depths
of the current recession was a perfect time
for people to strengthen themselves through bold
moves that would put them in a position
to thrive when the downturn inevitably
ends. With this merger, he put into practice
what he has been preaching.
Whether
the trio's strategy pays off or not remains to be
seen and it is unlikely their competitors are
going to sit on their hands and let T.R.A.F.F.I.C. steamroll
them into oblivion. Though it may be too early
to call the winners in the battle between
promoters, at least one huge winner is
going to come out of all of this and that is conference
attendees, regardless of which shows they go
to. Competition can really slice and dice
profit margins for promoters but it is always
a good thing for consumers. You probably noticed a
few days ago that T.R.A.F.F.I.C. offered
historically low early bird prices for the October
2009 show in New York. Just today, Latona
announced that the show was also
dropping its invitation-only policy in favor of an
open door approach.
Attendance
at the Domain Roundtable conference that ended in Washington,
D.C. earlier this week was light (reportedly
in the 175 range), limiting the revenue that Thought
Convergence derived from staging the event,
but do you think they cut any corners to offset
that? To the contrary - ask anyone who was there -
they dialed up the volume to 11! The
venues were spectacular (both the hotel and club
chosen for the closing night party), the food and
drink was off the hook and the quality of
attendees was top notch. That's how you have to
treat people if you want to stay in the game and
clearly TC has no intention of going away. As a
result, you, the conference attendee, wins. |
Rick
Latona - collecting his 2008
Domainer of the Year Award at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York last fall.
Howard
Neu
Rick
Schwartz |
I
think that the industry at large could also win big from
this. Getting the good news about domain names out in
more places around the globe can only be good for
business and it is a two way street. Investors
in the host countries will have a chance to learn about
the high value of quality domains and American investors
who travel abroad will learn, just as Latona did, about
new opportunities they would never have discovered
otherwise (Amsterdam convinced me of that).
|
|
|
Speaking
of Latona - here is someone else who looks like
a major winner in all of this to me. He is
building a very impressive domain industry
conglomerate with a web development company (AEIOU.com),
auctions, direct sales (through his popular
newsletter), financing units (DigiLoan.com
and DigiPawn.com),
forums (ccTLDs.com)
and now conferences through a multi-faceted
long-term licensing deal with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
He and Schwartz are the two best marketers and
negotiators in the industry and Neu
is the perfect even keeled complement to his two
Type A partners. There
is some speculation that Latona and Schwartz
could end up butting heads because they are both
strongly opinionated and have had success doing
things their own way. What if they can't agree
on the best way to get from point A to point B?
Friction between personalities is always
possible but these two |
|
are
consummate businessmen and I would be very
surprised to see them take their eye off the
ball. If they do, Neu will be there to
mediate and keep things on track. It is a powerful
combination and I expect great things to
come out of it. |
The
biggest problem I see for all of the promoters is that
there is a limited pool of sponsors, the unsung
heroes who carry so much of the financial load
involved in producing a conference. Even though we are
in one of the best sectors you could possibly be in
right now, most of the major sponsors have seen revenue
dip and they are handling their expenditures
accordingly. With the expansion of shows next year
taking place exclusively outside the U.S., will they
take on the higher cost of sending exhibit booths and
teams of people to so many events in other countries?
Their response (or T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s ability to find new
local sponsors in the territories they visit) will have
a big impact on the financial success the shows have. After
Amsterdam, I don't think a shortage of attendees is
going to be a big problem. If you read the comments
from domainers outside the U.S. on the blogs operated
by Schwartz,
Latona
and industry veteran Michael
Berkens, you can see the widespread excitement
among non U.S. domainers that they are going to
have shows in their own backyard.
|
|
|
The
part of the game that will be really interesting
to watch now is the dates the various
shows fall on. That is going to be very
important. Despite offering a great show in
an exciting new town for the show circuit -
Washington, D.C. - Roundtable lost some
attendees simply because they were sixth in a
string of six shows (and followed T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Amsterdam by just one week). It is going to be
hard to find breathing room on a 2010 calendar
packed with (at least) ten major shows
and several smaller ones. As
the year's first show, Oversee's
DOMAINfest Global has blossomed in their late
January slot. There is a good chance
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. will try to erase that |
|
advantage
by moving their 2010 Las Vegas kickoff in
front of DOMAINfest. That could trigger quite a chess
match as the year plays out.
As
Amsterdam showed, even when a conference is
outside the U.S., it pulls away some of the
sponsors and attendees that might otherwise have
gone to an event in America. So all of the shows
(except Domainer Mardi Gras whose event is tied
to the dates of the annual Mardi Gras
celebration in New Orleans) will likely
be looking to see what the others are doing and
what available dates will give them the best
chance to succeed. It could result in finalized
show dates being announced later than usual -
but that could be counter productive. If
you don't give people time to plan you could
lose more attendees than you would by going toe
to toe against a competing show in an adjacent
time slot.
Watching
it all play out should be quite a spectacle -
2010 is shaping up to be the domain industry's
version of The Olympics. Let the games
begin! |
|
|
|
|
The
curtain came down on the 2009 Domain Roundtable
conference
Tuesday
night with a farewell party at Washington. D.C.
hot spot Club Josephine. The final order of
business before attendees headed to the party to
celebrate was Aftermarket.com's
live domain auction that wound up yielding over
$498,000 in sales. The blockbuster was Contests.com,
a gem of a name that went to National A-1 for $380,000. 
Scene
from Aftermarket.com's live domain auction
Tuesday
at the Domain Roundtable conference in Washington,
D.C.
|
Shortly
before the auction began, Larry Fischer
of DirectNavigation.com told me he
thought the name would go for $400,000, a
prediction that just missed being a direct hit.
Just over half of the names in the live auction
were sold and more will change hands in the
extended silent auction that runs to June 24.
I mentioned
yesterday that Diana and I celebrated our 25th
wedding anniversary Tuesday during the
Roundtable conference. For some time Diana had
been hinting that she wanted to go on a romantic
cruise for the occasion, so it took a little
while for her to warm up to the idea of going to
Washington instead (as you can see in the photo
at right).
However, the show
organizers from Thought Convergence (including
CEO Kevin Vo, CSO Ammar Kubba and
Director of Corporate |
Diana's
reaction when I told her we
would be celebrating our 25th
anniversary at a domain conference. |
|
Events Laura
Schmidt, who did an amazing job of putting
this conference together) totally won her over
by surprising us with a beautiful cake during
the party at Club Josephine.
|
|
|
Better
yet, we also got to help one of the nicest guys in
the industry, Rob
Grant (at left in the photo above),
celebrate his birthday Tuesday. Thought
Convergence also surprised Rob with a delectable
cake of his own. The thoughtful gestures from the
TCI team and the opportunity to |
|
Laura
Schmidt (left) - the woman
who put Domain Roundtable together. |
celebrate
with so many industry friends left all three of us
in agreement that we were exactly where we wanted
to be on these special occasions.
We
arrived back home in Florida tonight and as soon
as I complete the weekly domain
sales report (that should be polished
off and posted between 1-2pm Friday, U.S.
Eastern time) I'll begin work on the comprehensive
Domain Roundtable review article that we expect to
publish by Monday night (June 22). We only had
time to scratch the surface in our daily Lowdown
posts from the show, but in the upcoming article
we'll give you the details on all of the sessions
and social events, along with dozens of previously
unpublished photos. |
In
tomorrow's Lowdown post I'll have some comments on the big
news
that broke Tuesday about Rick Latona teaming up
with T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founders Rick Schwartz
and Howard Neu and their plans to run a half dozen
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences around the globe in 2010.
|
|
|
|
The
final day of the Domain Roundtable conference
is underway in Washington, D.C. As I write this
the day's opening seminar, "Utilizing Online
Tools to Benefit Your Business" is in
progress with panelists (left
to right in the photo below)
Daniel Negari (Cyber2Media Inc.), Sean
Stafford (ComWired.com), Susan Prosser
(DomainTools.com) and Gregg McNair (Strata PPX
Services) on stage with moderator Jamal Hacque. 
|
|
I'll be detailing the
key points made in all of the various conference
sessions in our comprehensive show review article
that will be published early next week.
McNair
made it to the dais early this morning even though
dozens of his friends kept him up into the wee
hours last night helping him celebrate his
birthday. The stylish Obama sunglasses
Gregg is sporting in the photo at right were one
of the many gifts he received to mark the
occasion.
Diana
and I are celebrating a special day of our own at
the conference today - our 25th wedding
anniversary. She was thinking about taking a
romantic cruise for the occasion, but when she
found out the date coincided with Roundtable
she was gracious enough to put the industry event
first. I told her I would make it up to her later
and she said, "You bet you will!" |
Gregg
McNair |
|
Fortunately,
the Grand Hyatt Hotel staff (who sent us a
complimentary bottle of champagne), Roundtable
organizers and many friends helped get me off the
hook by making the week here an especially
enjoyable one for her. NameMedia certainly
helped by including us on the guest list for a
fabulous dinner they hosted last night at Wolfgang
Puck's Source Restaurant (at the Newseum).
Guests
at a NameMedia dinner last night at The
Source in Washington, D.C.
(clockwise starting at lower left): Ron
& Diana Jackson (DNJournal.com), Bob
Mountain (NameMedia), Jeff Bennett
(NameMedia President), Andrew Allemann (DomainNameWire),
Kirsten Frederick (NameMedia), Larry
Fischer (DirectNavigation.com), Leonard
Holmes (ParkQuick.com) and, also representing
NameMedia, Cortnee Gunn, Brian
Carr,
Kristen McCarthy & David Zakur).
I
also just got a photo from a pre-show dinner that
the Castello Brothers (Michael and David)
hosted Saturday night for some of the early
arrivers (and local domainers) in Washington at
the Central Michel Richard restaurant.
Guests
at the Castello Brothers dinner Saturday
night at Central Michel Richard in
Washington, D.C. (clockwise starting at lower
left): Patrick Carleton (Associated
Cities),
Rick Waters (Webcast1), Phil Corwin
(Internet Commerce Association), Andrew
Allemann (DomainNameWire), Michael Mann
(WashingtonVC), Brian Taff (BuyDomains
co-founder),
Ammar Kubba (Thought Convergence), David
Castello and Michael Castello
(CCIN.com)
and Steve DelBianco (NetChoice). |
|
|
The
Castellos were part of a great seminar session Monday on
"Unique Opportunities to Increase Your Domain's
Value." We'll have details on that in our
upcoming show review article.
Today's
closing day schedule includes a final seminar, "The
Macro View of Domain Valuation", the big Aftermarket.com
live domain auction that will run from 4-7pm
(U.S. Eastern Time) and in the grand finale, TrafficZ.com
and Parked.com will host the show closing
party tonight at Club Josephine.
|
Today's
auction will include a nice group of donated domains
that will be sold to help raise funds for the Internet
Commerce Association. That list includes
Castaway.com, ParkingShare.com, Deployed.com,
Slices.org, LikeHer.net, SleepSafe.com,
HolidayLoan.com, |
|
PlasticSurgeryWebsite.com
and a name from conference organizer Thought
Covergence that will be revealed during the
sale. You can see the complete
auction category here and you can also
take part in the bidding online. |
I'll
have a wrap up post on Roundtable in this column
tomorrow, including photos and highlights from the
upcoming events today and tonight. That post will be up in
the early evening as we will be traveling back to Florida
in the morning and afternoon hours Wednesday.
|
|
|
|
The
2009 Domain Roundtable
conference
(staged by Thought
Convergence) got underway last night in Washington,
D.C. with a welcoming cocktail party at the Grand
Hyatt Hotel. In addition to a great networking
session than extended over an hour past the scheduled
close, attendees were treated to a lavish buffet laid
out by a chef who was honored as the best one in the
Hyatt's U.S. system. 
(Left
to right): Andrew Allemann (Domain Name Wire), Simonetta
Batteiger (Sedo),
Tessa Holcomb (Sedo), Brian Carr
(NameMedia) and Monte White (Parked.com)
chat
during the opening night cocktail party at Domain
Roundtable in Washington, D.C. The
first full day of business opened this morning with
Thought Convergence CEO
Kevin Vo and CSO Ammar Kubba welcoming
attendees to the fifth annual Roundtable conference. One
of today's three seminar sessions is underway as I write
this with an estimated 150-200 registants in the
ballroom. 
Scene
from the opening seminar at the Domain Roundtable
conference this morning. Today's
schedule will include a keynote address from Jonathan
Zuck (President of the Association for Competitive
Technology) and a late afternoon session in which
experts will answer audience questions on multiple
topics . Several
dozen domainers who arrived in town early enough were
invited to a pre-show party at the Bethesda, Maryland
home of Michael Mann Sunday afternoon. Mann
founded BuyDomains.com and later sold the company
for a reported $80 million to NameMedia. He was
als a featured speaker at one of the opening day
sessions at Roundtable. 
Above:
Scene from the pre-show pool party Michael Mann hosted
Sunday afternoon.
Below: (L to R) Ammar Kubba, Michael Mann
and Divyank Turakhia (Directi) at the party.
(these two photos courtesy of Richard Meyer) 
I'll
have more photos and highlights from today's activity at
Roundtable in our next post tomorrow. Check the Lowdown
daily this week to stay up to date on all of the key
events at the conference. |
|
|
|
As
many in the domain blogosphere had predicted
the
real estate domain auction that J.P.
King auctioneers had intended to conduct on
behalf of portfolio owner Craig Harrison |
|
yesterday
in San Francisco did not go well. Monte Cahn
of Moniker.com (whose company was slated to handle
escrow for any competed sales) told me that, while he was
not there himself, Harrison had informed him that his
reserve prices were not met. However, according to an
article and photos in the San
Francisco Chronicle today, the real
problem was that almost no one showed up at the Fairmont
Hotel for the sale, resulting in the public auction
being scratched all together. I
couldn't glean much else from the Chronicle article
as it was riddled with errors, including the obviously
incorrect statement that "live auctions of
Internet
|
Fairmont
Hotel in San Francisco
Site of a cancelled real estate related
public domain auction Thursday.
|
|
domain
names are still rare." To the contrary, they
have been around for years now and there are so
many these days that some within the industry complain
about live auction overload (for the record there was one
just last week in Amsterdam and there will be
another one next week in Washington, D.C. - so they
are hardly rare events).
|
|
|
|
This
brings up something that has become a sore point
with me. Virtually every time mainstream reporters
write about domains their articles are mangled
with mistakes that could easily be avoided with
a little bit of simple fact checking. As
traditional newspapers fade into oblivion, a
common lament from "professional"
reporters is that the quality of online
journalism will pale in comparison to what has
been delivered by traditional outlets in the past.
Articles like this one are pretty much blowing
that theory out of the water though. Honestly, in
recent years, I have seen better reporting
from some of the so-called "amateur"
bloggers in our space than I see coming from very
well known print outlets like the Chronicle. |
|
End
of media rant and back to the auction. This one
pretty much had the deck stacked against it from
the start. Most of the names were in the form of
(CityName)RealEstateListings.com |
|
rather
than the more appealing (CityName)RealEstate.com
(a form owned in the thousands by Rob
Grant).
Adding
the word "listings", while it is a
logical term, results in names that are just too
long to appeal to most buyers. For example, districtofcolumbiarealestatelistings.com
looks like a bowl of alphabet soup that would be
hard to fit on a business card, let alone key in
without making multiple typos. |
|
Add
to that the lack of online bidding (who is going to
travel to San Francisco to bid in an auction for anything
but top tier domains?) and a very stiff buyer's premium (20%)
and the odds of success were extremely long indeed. Still,
we all learn from experience and I can't fault anyone for
trying a different approach as Harrison did here in an
attempt to seek out end users rather than target
domainers who make up almost 100% of the audience at
industry auctions. With
all of the advertising that was done, the enlistment of a
major real estate auction house and the rental of an
expensive hotel ballroom, it had to be a very expensive
exercise and I'm sorry to see that it didn't bear more
fruit. There is always a chance that the publicity
surrounding the event will catch the attention of someone
in the real estate field who can make use of some of the
names among the 2,600 offered. However with the real
estate market currently going through a historic meltdown,
the odds at this point in time are not good for a happy
ending to this story.
That's
it for today. Have a great weekend. I will be flying to Washington
D.C. Sunday for Domain Roundtable and will have the
first of our daily posts from the show in this column
Monday.
(Posted
June
12, 2009) To refer others
to the
post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/06-12-09.htm
|
|
Less
than 72 hours from now
the
annual Domain
Roundtable conference gets underway in a
new location - the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington,
D.C. This will be the first major domain |
|
conference
ever held in the nation's capital. With so many
legislative and regulatory threats currently facing domain
owners, this is the perfect time and place for the domain
community to gather and start mapping out a strategy to
meet the challenges we will be facing in the months
ahead.
Things
get underway with a welcoming cocktail party Sunday
evening then everyone gets down to business with three
seminar sessions and Jonathan
Zuck's keynote address on Monday. Tuesday's
schedule will be highlighted by a pair of seminars, Aftermarket.com's
live domain auction from 4-7pm and a big show closing
party from 9pm-1am hosted by TrafficZ and Parked.com
at Club
Josephine.
|
Domain
Roundtable Wants You
(to be in Washington D.C.)!
|
|
You
can review
the entire show agenda here, including
details on the topics and speakers for each of the
individual sessions. There is still time to register
if you want to be a part of it. If you can't go, check
this column for our daily updates from Roundtable starting
on Monday. We will also be publishing a comprehensive show
review article after the conference.
|
|
There is some
interesting news from NameMedia
(parent of the AfternicDLS and BuyDomains.com)
today. I haven't seen an official release yet but
I have it on good authority that Bob
Mountain is coming on board as VP of
Business Development. Bob comes to NameMedia from Hangout
Industries where he was the VP of Sales and
Business Development. In another personnel move, Ted
Olson is being promoted from
Acquisitions Manager to Business Development
Manager.
In a related note,
NameMedia recently rolled out an affiliate
program and it has |
|
already paid off for
new affiliate Y3.com of Ireland.
They referred a buyer who purchased A6.com
for $34,000 and that earned Y3 a 5% commision
($1,700) on the sale. |
|
|
The people at dotNYC
LLC, a group that hopes to land the .nyc
extension when ICANN starts rolling out
new gTLDs next year, got some good news today when
former New York City Mayor Ed Koch endorsed
their bid. Koch said "I cant wait to sign
up for edkoch.nyc, and while Im at it Ill
probably sign up for mayorkoch.nyc as well.
Ive done my homework and the experienced team
behind dotNYC LLC is the right team to run .NYC.
dotNYC LLC CEO Antony
Van Couvering, who lives in Manhattan,
said, Ed Koch is a New York icon |
|
|
and we're thrilled to
be partnering with someone who cares so much about
this city. With his support we have total
confidence that NYC will happen, and happen the
right way for the benefit of all New Yorkers. |
|
|
|
|
A
heavily advertised auction
of
geo-targeted real estate related domain names will be
held tomorrow (Thursday, June 11) at the Fairmont
Hotel in San Francisco. The live sale, being |
|
|
conducted
by the J.P.
King Company, an Alabama based real
estate auctioneer, will get underway at 1pm U.S.
Pacific time (4pm Eastern). Internet bidding, a
staple of most live domain auctions, will not be
available for this event. Over 2,600 domains owned by Craig
Harrison of RealEstateNet LLC have been
broken into geocentric lots for the sale. Most follow
the form (City Name)RealEstateListings.com. You can see
the full list here.
The
no-internet auction format, a 20% buyer's premium
that will be added to winning bids and the nature of the
names in the catalog indicate the sale is primarily
targeted toward real estate industry end users
rather than domainers. Even so many domain industry
media sites |
|
(including
DN Journal) were utilized in J.P. King's ad
campaign and Moniker.com was picked to handle
escrow services for the sale. It will be interesting to
see how this unique auction strategy (for a domain
portfolio) plays out.
|
Internet
Commerce Association Legal Counsel Phil
Corwin has been working overtime lately.
Last night he filed a letter
on behalf of the ICA with the U.S.
Department of Commerce, urging the DOC to
Extend and Revise its Joint Project Agreement
with ICANN that expires Sept. 30.
ICANN, eager to escape U.S. government
oversight, does not want to renew the agreement,
but Corwin makes a compelling case for the
DOC to block ICANN's rush for the exit.
The letter
expresses ICAs continued support for the
principles underlying ICANNs creation as well
as for its eventual full transition to an
independent, private sector-led technical
coordinator of the domain name system (DNS). However,
Corwin wrote, "when measured against the
concerns articulated by ICA in its February 2008
submission to DOCs Midterm Review of ICANNs
performance, adequate |
ICA
Legal Counsel Phil Corwin |
|
progress has not
been made to justify termination of DOCs
light touch relationship with ICANN - nor
have adequate steps been taken to assure that
ICANN will not be captured, politicized,
and transformed into an unaccountable
Internet regulator following the
termination of the JPA."
Given the way ICANN
has routinely ignored input from the
Internet community when making decisions (even
when that sentiment is virtually unanimously
opposed to ICANN proposals) I thought
they were already an unaccountable
regulator - but I digress.
Corwin goes on to
explain, point by point, the areas where ICANN
has been lacking, as well as those where they
have made progress. I urge you read the letter
in its entirety.
The legal and regulatory environment is shifting
under domain owner's feet and if situations like
this are not closely monitored many are likely
to find themselves put out of business by their
own indifference. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yesterday
I brought you up to date
on
several bits of conference, company
and domain community news that developed while I was in Amsterdam
last week covering the
|
|
Skip
Hoagland
|
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs
conference. Today I'll finish up the housekeeping with
some notes on recent developments involving prominent
industry people. Just as I was leaving for Europe, Skip
Hoagland (GeoDomains New Media LLC President
& CEO) contacted me to let me know that he had just
expanded his geodomain empire by acquiring LocalDomains.com. Hoagland
(who owns Atlanta.com, BuenosAires.com, Cuba.com
and many other prime generic domains) said, "LocalDomains.com
will connect people from around the world to websites
where they can find useful information that pertains to
their local area." He said the planned new site will
serve as a cross-linking network that will tie together
websites and online properties that span the globe ranging
from local websites to tourist sites.
|
|
|
Over the years Dark
Blue Sea COO Dan Warner had become
the public face of the Australian
company's best known subsidiary, Fabulous.com
(Warner also wrote several well received articles
for DN Journal). Last week Warner left the
company, following in the footsteps of CEO Richard
Moore who previously announced he would be
departing July 1.
After 7 seven years
with Dark Blue Sea, Warner, who played a key role
in staging the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Down Under conference on Australia's Gold
Coast last November, said he was ready
to take on a new challenge. He will remain active
in the domain industry in both consulting and
development roles.
Warner always has
plenty to say on industry issues so I would also
look for him to resume blogging at DanWarner.com
soon. He |
Dan
Warner |
|
posted on the site a
year ago but his obligations at DBS did not leave
him with enough time to utilize that platform.
|
Simonetta
Batteiger |
Simonetta
Batteiger is taking on new
responsibilities at Sedo.com.
Simonetta has been with Sedo for three
years, serving most recently as the
company's Director of Finance and Sales.
She has just moved into a new role as
Director of Parking Sales which will give
her responsibility for Sedo's North and
South American account managers, as well
as the company's customers in those
markets.
Simonetta has
become a regular at the major domain
conferences and you may have already had
the good fortune to meet here at Domainer
Mardi Gras in New Orleans earlier
this year or at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York
last fall. You'll have another chance to
chat with her about Sedo's services at the
Domain
Roundtable conference that
gets underway in Washington, D.C.
Sunday night. |
|
|
The
globe trotting Gregg McNair continues
to build a new domain monetization
system at Hong Kong based Strata
PPX Services. The
company has been on an acquisition
binge and last week they added
another key piece to their
platform by purchasing JB Media
LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona.
JB Media is an on line
consumer product marketing and
manufacturing company currently
specializing in high volume
consumer verticals and generating
millions in sales.
McNair
spoke about Strata's CPA
(cost per acquisition) based
strategy at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference in Amsterdam last week.
"Strata PPX is expanding
operations to maximize returns for
our partners and domain clients
McNair said, adding The JB
Media acquisition will initially double
the revenues of the PPX
media division through vertical
integration. Reciprocally, PPX
will use its marketing and
technology expertise to increase
the global reach of JB
Media."
|
Gregg
McNair, speaking at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs last week in Amsterdam. |
|
Rick
Schwartz |
Finally,
all of you must have heard by now
about Rick Schwartz's latest
sales coup as he closed
a deal to sell Candy.com
for $3 million to the Melville
Candy Company of Massachusetts.
That landmark sale, the second
biggest of 2009 (trailing only Toys.com
at $5.1 million), will head
the weekly domain sales report we
are currently working on (the
complete report will be published here
Wednesday around lunch time in the
Eastern U.S.).
I
think that Schwartz, widely known as
the co-founder of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference, has now firmly
established himself as the best
negotiator in the domain business.
For anyone else, Candy.com would be
a once in a lifetime sale but for
Schwartz deals like this (including Men.com,
Property.com and iReport.com)
are becoming almost commonplace. You
have |
|
to hand
it to the guy. He has always
preached the high value of domains
and he never sells one for less than
he thinks it is worth. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm
back from Amsterdam
and a
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs conference staged by RickLatona.com
that surpassed the expectations of everyone I talked
to at the event. The |
|
Latona
team did a remarkable job in their first trip around the
track as a show promoter (they produced this conference
under a licensing agreement with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.). With T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
co-founder Howard Neu, his wife Barbara and
son Ray pitching in to help in Amsterdam the end
result was an exceptionally rewarding show filled
with fresh content, new faces and a series of
unforgettable social events in historically significant
locations. I
just scratched the surface in my daily Lowdown posts from
Amsterdam. We'll have much more detail and dozens of
previously unseen photos in the comprehensive conference
review article that we will be publishing at the end of
this week. With
this successful run in Amsterdam now completed, the folks
at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. now
|
Rick
Latona speaking at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs conference last week in Amsterdam.
|
|
turn
their attention to their final show of the year - T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York, coming up in Brooklyn this
fall (October 26-29 to be exact). Today show
organizers announced some major changes for the New York
conference. Early bird registration prices (good through
June 30 or until 100 tickets are sold - whichever
comes first) will be slashed to just $895 - an
unprecedented low for T.R.A.F.F.I.C. (the fee will rise to
$1495 by show time). The early bird fee to bring spouses
was also slashed to $199, a remarkable value
considering how much food, drink and entertainment is
included in the ticket price. If you want to go buy
your tickets now - the bargain prices go away July 1.
|
|
The
next stop on the show circuit is the Domain
Roundtable conference that gets
underway Sunday evening at the Grand
Hyatt in Washington, D.C. I'll
be repacking my bags and heading to the nation's
capital to cover that event for you. Thought
Convergence is presenting this show
and in a very positive gesture for the industry,
they are making time available during their live
domain auction to sell donated
domains to raise funds for the Internet
Commerce Association (you can still
donate domains by writing [email protected]). |
The ICA proved how important
it is to keep their Legal Counsel, Phil Corwin, on
the job when a brief they filed helped the Coalition
for Internet Transparency (CFIT) win a key
court battle against Verisign that
could lead to lower domain registration fees for all
domain owners. Michael Berkens had a very good
breakdown on what is at stake in a post on his blog
last week.
The ICA has also pointed
out the many flaws in an Implementation
Recommendation Team (IRT) proposal to ICANN
that, if adopted, would leave domain owners at an unfair
and permanent disadvantage against frivolous
trademark objections aimed at separating legitimate
investors from their assets (You can read more about this
very serious issue in this thread
at ICANN.org. I think you will find the
arguments made by veteran domainer George Kirikos to
be particularly enlightening).
|
The value of domain
names has become common knowledge and from now on
there are going to be covetous parties who want to
take away what you have without paying for it.
Without someone watching out for their interests
in Washington and before ICANN, there is no chance
domain owners are going to win the critical
battles ahead. |
|
|
|
One
other note today. While I was in Amsterdam last
week, Verisign issued their quarterly Domain
Name Industry Brief, a report that is
always filled with interesting statistics and
domain registration trends. The latest DNIB report
shows that Q1-2009 ended with a total base nearly 183
million domain name registrations across all
of the Top Level Domains (TLDs), representing 3%
growth over Q4-2008 and a 12% growth over
the same quarter |
|
from last year. Quite
impressive when you consider we are in the midst
of the most severe recession in decades and
further evidence that the Internet is one of the
safest harbors in the current economic storm.
That brings you up to
date on conference, company and community news.
Tomorrow I'll have several items about industry
people that are making headlines this month. |
|
|
|
|
The
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs conference
in Amsterdam
closed Thursday night with a Parked.com farewell
party at a local townhouse owned by a company executive.
An endless parade of food trays circulated among the
crowd on the ground floor while caricature and portrait
artists sketched attendees in a quieter lounge area
upstairs. 
Above:
Scene from the Parked.com party on the first
floor of an Amsterdam townhouse
Thursday night. Below: On the second floor a local
artist gets ready to sketch Ammar Kubba
(Thought Convergence) next to a portrait she had just
completed of Ammar's brother Omar. 
|
|
World
champion livestock auctioneer Matt
Lowery conducting the RickLatona.com live
auction Thursday in Amsterdam, Holland.
|
The
party was held barely an hour after the business portion
of the show concluded with Rick
Latona.com's live domain auction back
at the show hotel - the NH Grand Krasnapolsky.
The auction, made up almost entirely of ccTLD domains,
exceeded expectations by booking over $600,000 in
sales. The highest prices went to DiamondRings.com (162,000
= $230,179), Houses.co.uk (43,200 = $72,429)
and Job.us (25,200 = $35,179).
RickLatona.com
also staged the conference itself under a licensing
agreement with T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founders Rick Schwartz
and Howard Neu. I think the feedback you will hear
universally from show attendees is that the Latona team
did an outstanding job in producing this show. It
was first class in every
|
|
respect
and with its previously untried ccTLD theme, it was packed
with fresh faces, content and moneymaking opportunities
that sent everyone home happy that they had
attended.
|
|
Many
people stayed over in Amsterdam for one or more days to
enjoy some of the many attractions in this historic and
charming city. Diana and I went to the Rijksmuseum
today (The Netherlands national museum) to admire
the 17th century Dutch master paintings that are on
permanent display. The museum houses a stunning Rembrandt
collecting including his largest and most famous work, The
Night Watch.
Entering
the Rijksmuseum today in Amsterdam (photos
are not allowed inside).
After
rhe museum visit we headed to another must see local
museum - the Anne Frank House to see the
rooms where the gifted teenager wrote her famous
diary about the nearly two years she and seven other
friends and family members hid from the Nazis in a
secret upstairs annex during World War II.
Being in those rooms and seeing Anne's actual diary
on display is a very emotional experience for
everyone who visits. The eight were eventually
caught and as a result Anne's life ended tragically
in a concentration camp, just a month before the
Allies liberated the prisoners there.
As
depressing as man's inhumanity to man can be, there
is still something very uplifting about how a
single, seemingly powerless young woman, could
impact millions of people around the world in
a meaningful way decades after her death - and will
continue to do so for many generations to come.
|
The
Anne Frank House in Amsterdam |
|
We will
be heading back to the U.S. Saturday and by
the end of next week we will be publishing our
comprehensive T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs show review
article. It will feature dozens of previousy unseen
photos plus our usual in-depth coverage of all
conference sessions and social events.
|
|
|
|
The
final business event at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs
conference,
RickLatona.com's
live domain auction, is underway as I write
this from the front row of the auction venue at the NH
Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam. We
have already seen one blockbuster sale, DiamondRings.com
at 162,000 ($230,179 at today's
exchange rate). In a solid ccTLD sale, Houses.co.uk
just went for 51,000 ($72,429). There is a
very good crowd in the room that includes domain
investors from all over the world. 
Scene
from today's RickLatona.com Live Domain Auction
at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs conference in Amsterdam. |
|
After
the auction, the curtain comes down on the conference with
a big closing night party that will hosted by Parked.com.
This final day of the show began this morning at 10 local
time (that would be 4am in the Eastern U.S.!) with a
seminar focused on things to consider when investing in
multiple ccTLD markets. After the lunch break I spoke
about current trends in the domain aftermarket, then
interviewed conference organizer Rick Latona and ccTLDs.com
administrator Ray Neu who were on stage with me.
|
The show's final panel
discussion followed with Sedo CEO Tim Schumacher,
NameDrive European Domain Development Director Alexander
Wagner, Parked.com President Donny Simonton
and KeywordDomains.com founder Markus Schnermann
(who is the subject of our current Cover
Story) sharing the stage. Schnermann
filled in at the last minute when his partner in
Domain Invest S.A., EuroDNS CEO Xavier Buck,
was called away. The lack of preparation time didn't
stop him from contributing greatly to a well
received session on the future of domains and hot
spots for investing now.
Schumacher, as he has
done at past shows, offered his current Buy, Sell
and Hold recommendations for various domain
extensions. His current Buy list includes .info,
.us, major ccTLDS like Germany's .de
and Italy's .it plus IDNs. Schumacher
rates .com, .net, .eu and .mobi
as Hold and he recommends selling .biz, .cc,
.ws and .tv. |
Sedo
CEO Tim Schumacher speaking at the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs conference today.
|
After
my post yesterday (filed during the final event on the
Wednesday schedule), I joined show registrants at a
fabulous dinner at Amsterdam's famous Restaurant
d'Vijff Vlieghen ("The Five Flies" in
English). The restaurant has nine unique dining rooms
spread across five historic buildings. Attendees were
randomly assigned to the various dining rooms so there was
an opportunity to spend the evening making new friends as
well as enjoying a truly memorable night out in Amsterdam.
Some
of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs regiistrants who
enjoyed a great dinner
at the world famous Restaurant d'Vijff Vlieghen in Amsterdam
Wednesday night.
Diana
and I are staying over an extra day to visit museums in
Amsterdam Friday, then will fly home Saturday. I'll have a
final post from the Netherlands in this column
tomorrow including final live auction results, highlights
from tonight's closing party and some final thoughts on a
very rewarding week at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs.
(Posted
June
4, 2009) To refer others
to the
post above only you can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/06-04-09.htm
|
|
The
past 24 hours at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDS
conference
in Amsterdam has been packed with activity
including the conference keynote address from Dr.
Kevin Ham (Reinvent Technology) that is in
progress as I write this from the ballroom at the NH
Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel where the show is being
staged. When I posted yesterday I was just getting ready
to leave for the evening dinner at the historic West
Indies House (where the original plans for the city
of New York were drawn up in the 1600's). That
wound up being a great evening that began with a
cocktail hour in the courtyard and culminated with an
Indonesian dinner served both indoors and out. 
Scene
from the Tuesday night cocktail party/dinner
at Amsterdam's
historic West Indies House. |
|
This
morning the focus returned to business with an opening
session featuring representatives from two more registries
(America's .us and Cameroon's .cm) providing
details on what is happening with their ccTLDs. I'll have
details on all of the sessions in our comprehensive
conference revew article that will be posted next week. Ryan
Steel, President of mini-site developer AEIOU.com
spoke at lunch followed by two afternoon panel
discussions.
In
the first of those, domain monetization alternatives were
discussed by Gregg McNair (Strata PPX Services), Laurent
Muellender (Sedo.com) and Rick Silver (N49
Interactive). Attorneys John Berryhill and Paul
Keating followed in an informative and entertaining
session in which T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founder Howard Neu
(who is also and attorney) served as both the moderator
and a participant.
|
John
Berryhill (left) and Paul Keating fielded
questions from Howard Neu in a
Wednesday afternoon session devoted to the latest
legal issues facing domain investors. |
The
business day closed with Dr. Ham's keynote address that
was delivered via an Internet video hookup with Dr. Ham
speaking to attendees in Amsterdam from his office in Vancouver,
Canada. The connection worked flawlessly and the
two-way hookup allowed moderator Rick Latona to
call on audience members who asked Kevin questions at the
end of his talk.
Rick
Latona watching Dr. Kevin Ham's T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs keynote address
from the stage at the NH Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel in
Amsterdam Wednesday.
I
have been taking notes throughout Dr. Ham's speech and
will have a summary of his comments in our upcoming show
review article. The Wednesday schedule will conclude this
evening with dinner at another historic Amsterdam location
- Restaurant d'Vijff Vlieghen. With one day
still to go I can tell you this has been an exceptionally
informative and entertaining conference. During his talk,
Dr. Ham mentioned that his brother Don, who is here
in Amsterdam, told him that he thought this was the best
show since the first
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference in Delray Beach,
Florida back in 2004. High praise indeed.
|
|
|
|
The
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs conference
got
underway Monday night in Amsterdam, Holland with
a welcoming dinner at the NH Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel
where the show is being staged by RickLatona.com.
Approximately 200 people registered for the show and it
looked like just about all of them were on hand for an
opening night get together that went very well. 
Scene
from the opening night dinner at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs conference
Monday night in Amsterdam, Holland. |
|
This
morning the first full day of business got underway with a
session featuring representatives from four of Europe's
most successful registries, Germany's .de, Great
Britain's .co.uk, Austria's .at and the Netherlands'
.nl. It was a very interesting overview of each
ccTLD, covering their growth rates, nexus requirements and
other registry policies that investors need to be aware
of.
Scene
from the opening session at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs in
Amsterdam today.
In
the lunch break that followed, Internet
Commerce Association President Jeremiah
Johnson spoke about new threats facing domain owners,
including efforts being undertaken by trademark interests
to have the UDRP process replaced with a new
system that would make it easier for them to take domain
names away from their current owners.
The
first afternoon session was an especially informative one
that featured five major portfolio owners discussing their ccTLD strategies. The panelists were
Rick Latona (USA), Hennie Groot Lipman
(Netherlands), Nicco Ziefang (Germany), Alexander
Schubert (Germany) and Edwin Hayward (a British
domainer who has lived in Japan for the past 15 years).
I'll have the details of what they talked about (as well
key points from all of the other seminars) in our
conference review article that will be published a few
days after we return to the U.S. next week.
Next
up was a session featuring three of the world's fastest
growing registries; Poland's .pl, India's .in
and Mexico's .mx. As I expected from this
conference I am getting a great education in how the
world's various ccTLDs differ and where some of the best
opportunities lie. It really opens your eyes to the many
possibilities beyond the dominant .com extension that most
American investors seldom stray from.
The
day's final business session was T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s always
popular speed networking event.
Scene
from this afternoon's speed networking session
In
a slightly different twist, an inner circle of chairs was
placed around the sofas where people can lounge in the
sponsor exhibit area during the day. An outer ring of
chairs was placed around the first circle so attendees
were facing each other around the hall. Every couple of
minutes those on the outside circle moved one place to
their right so that each person was able to meet dozens of
new people during the 90-minute session.
This
evening attendees will walk to the historic West Indies
House for cocktails and dinner to complete the first
full day at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs. Tomorrow I will have
photos and highlights from that event as well as
Wednesday's business sessions.
|
|
|
|
The
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs conference
gets
underway tonight in Amsterdam, Holland with a
7:30pm dinner at the show hotel - the NH Grand
Krasnapolsky - located on Dam Square in the
center of one of Europe's most popular and
picturesque travel destinations. The first full |
|
day
of business will get underway Tuesday morning at 10:15
with an opening seminar featuring representatives from
four major ccTLDs (Germany's .de, Great
Britain's .co.uk, Austria's .at and the Netherlands'
.nl).
In
walking around Amsterdam since we arrived early Sunday
morning I've seen the local TLD - .nl - on
display everywhere, It appears to be in much wider use
here than
.com. This is the case in many countries outside
the U.S. and is the reason why Rick
Latona decided it was time to stage a
conference that gave ccTLDs the recognition they deserve
(his company is staging this show under a licensing
agreement with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.).
Latona
has traveled to all corners of the |
NH
Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam
Site of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs |
|
globe
and after being exposed to ccTLDs so often he recognized
an investment opportunity and began devoting much more
time and money to buying and promoting country code
domains. This week attendees will hear from registry
operators from around the world and will surely leave
with a far greater understanding of ccTLDs and the
growing opportunities in the country code space.
Sunday
night Diana and I joined T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder Howard
Neu (who was the subject of our April Cover
Story), his wife Barbara and son Ray (an
executive for RickLatona.com) for dinner at one
of Amsterdam's many outdoor cafes.
(In
the foreground left) Howard and Barbara Neu with
(foreground right) Diana Jackson,
Ron Jackson and Ray Neu at the La Pampa
restaurant in Amsterdam Sunday night (May 31). |
|
Ray Neu
is the administrator of a new forum devoted entirely to
country code domains that was started earlier this year
by Latona at ccTLDs.com.
While still a teenager, Ray was exposed to the domain
business while helping his parents out during the
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences. He has since become so well
known in the space as an investor, developer and
administrator that Howard jokes people now know him more
as "Ray Neu's dad" than for his own prominent
role in the industry.
|
The T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs conference continues through Thursday when
RickLatona.com's live domain auction,
devoted almost exclusively to ccTLDs, will get
underway at 4pm local time (in Amsterdam it is six
hours later than U.S. Eastern time, so the auction
will start at 10am Eastern/7am Pacific in the
U.S.). The final
auction catalog is out, all bidding
will be done in Euros and you don't have to be in
Amsterdam to take part as online bids will be
accepted during the sale. To participate you would
just need to create an account at www.proxibid.com/ricklatona.
I will be posting
daily updates from Amsterdam throughout the week
so check back here tomorrow for the latest
highlights. |
One
of the 100 kilometers
of canals that grace Amsterdam. |
|
|
|
|
If
you've been out of the loop lately, catch up in the Lowdown
Archive!
|
|
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).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
Domain Sales
YTD Sales Charts
Latest
News The Lowdown
Articles
Legal Matters Dear Domey
Letters
to Editor Resources
Classified Ads
Archive
About Us |
|
|
|
|
