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New
Online Media is Devastating Traditional Outlets But New
York Times Reporter Says the Future is "Not a Bad
Deal"
In my last Lowdown post Friday
I had an item about 30-year-old Jay Penske, one
of several young entrepreneurs who are building new
media empires by taking advantage of the historic
destruction the Internet is raining down on traditional
media platforms. David Carr penned a very
interesting article on this subject called "The
Fall and Rise of Media" that appeared
in the New York Times Sunday. |
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Carr
set the stage in his opening paragraph by noting how
things used to be in the media business, writing
"Historically, young women and men who sought to
thrive in publishing made their way to Manhattan.
Once there, they were told, they would work in marginal
jobs for indifferent bosses doing mundane tasks and then
one day, if they did all of that without whimper or
complaint, they would magically be granted access to a
gilded community, the large heaving engine of books,
magazines and newspapers."
Contrasting
that situation with the new media world we are seeing born
before our eyes, Carr wrote this about the young people
who have bypassed the old gatekeepers and built their
own platforms to reach the world: "Their tiny
netbooks and iPhones, which serve as portals to the cloud,
contain more
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David
Carr
(photo from David's
Facebook
page)
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informational firepower
than entire newsrooms possessed just two decades ago.
And they are ginning content from their audiences in the
form of social media or finding ways of making ambient
information more useful. They are jaded in the way youth
requires, but have the confidence that is a gift of
their age as well. For them, New York is not an island
sinking, but one that is rising on a fresh, ferocious
wave.
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Many people
employed by traditional media giant resent this change and
it is hard to blame them after seeing how the shift has
decimated their ranks. Carr characterized the old guard's
predicament by noting, "For those of us who work in
Manhattan media, it means that a life of occasional excess
and prerogative has been replaced by a drum beat of goodbye
speeches with sheet cakes and cheap sparkling wine.
It’s a wan reminder that all reigns are temporary,
that the court of self-appointed media royalty was serving
at the pleasure of an advertising economy that itself was
built on inefficiency and excess. Google
fixed that."
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Traditional
media outlets are slashing
jobs but young writers still have
boundless opportunities online. |
Many in Carr's business
have lashed out at the newcomers, but he is not
among them. Carr said the future is "...not
a bad deal if you ignore all the collateral
gore. Young men and women are still coming here to
remake the world, they just won’t be stopping by
the human resources department of Condé Nast
to begin their ascent.
For every kid that I
bump into who is wandering the media industry
looking for an entrance that closed some time ago, I
come across another who is a bundle of ideas, energy
and technological mastery. The next wave is not just
knocking on doors, but seeking to knock them down." |
Carr
mentioned the role that a company in our industry that you
are all familiar with, Demand
Media, is playing in the new scheme of things.
He underscored how hard it is for old media to compete
against the economic advantages that the web
enjoys. Noting that big city writers were once paid as much
as $4 a word Carr observed "Demand Media now
tests headlines for reader salience and cranks out thousands
of articles and videos daily that it pays
about $20 apiece for."
Even
so, Carr believes there will always be a market for quality
so even though the delivery mechanism is changing,
some familiar brands (like the Times) are
not likely to disappear entirely. "Certain stalwart
brands will survive and even thrive because of a
new scarcity of quality content for niche audiences
that demand more than generic information," Carr
wrote. As I wrote in my post Friday, that is exactly how I
think things will play out as well. His is a very
insightful article, so if you are one of the many domain
developers who run or are planning to build media sites,
be sure to check out Carr's entire piece here.
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One other note today,
domain monetization pioneer DomainSponsor
has announced that they are opening a European
operation with Joerg Schnermann serving as
General Manager of DomainSponsor |
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Europe. Joerg
was previously Chief Operating Officer at KeywordDomains.com.
Joe Higgins and Jessica Bessling are
joining the team in Europe at an office located in
Frankfurt, Germany. Joerg, Jessica and Joe
will be working directly with local publishers to
improve and optimize the DomainSponsor platform,
and will be hiring and training a local team for
the formal launch of the European business in the
first quarter of 2010. |
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With
Acquisitions of Mail.com, Fan.com, Deadline.com &
Others, the 30-Year-Old Son of Auto Racing Legend Roger
Penske is Building an Internet Media Empire Reader
John Picchietti
sent me a link to a very interesting
story that was published in the Los
Angeles Times Thanksgiving Day. The article by Ben
Fritz detailed how 30-year-old Jay Penske,
the son of auto racing legend Roger Penske,
has been quietly building an Internet media empire over
the past five years with some very nice generic domains
providing the foundation for his rapidly growing
enterprise. |
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Just
three years after he graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania's famous Wharton Business School,
Penske made his first big move by acquiring Mail.com
to be the cornerstone of his Santa Monica, California
based Mail.com Media Corp. In the new
media world in which online publications are are steadily
taking market share away from traditional print outlets,
Penske decided to go after the celebrity news and
lifestyle segment first with a series of online magazines.
With
$35 million in funding, led by private equity firm Quadrangle
Group, Penske bought old school magazines Movieline
and Hollywood Life and converted
them from print to the web. Penske also added to his
stable this past summer by spending several million
dollars to acquire Nikki Finke's popular showbiz
blog Deadline.com.
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Jay
Penske
CEO, Mail.com Media Corp.
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Penske
is spending big on talent as well as publications.
He hired star magazine editor Bonnie Fuller to run
the new HollywoodLife.com
website that launched last week. Fuller has an impressive
resume after serving as the editor of Star, Us
Weekly, Marie Claire and Glamour
magazines, among others. Fuller is overseeing a staff of
11 professional writers at HollywoodLife.com. They come
from places like CNN, the New York Post
and the New York Daily News. Fuller and
Penske both believe that compelling original content
will be the key to their success.
Penske
told the Times, "There's such an abundance of reheated
content on the Web, and we think original content
is what people want and advertisers are looking for. I
look at this as building an all-star team of
editorial talent in each of our categories."
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With
online advertising still representing just a tiny
fraction of overall ad spending it is tough to
support the size and quality of staff that Penske
has committed to but he believes he can beat
the odds and that each of his online
properties will be profitable within 18-24 months
(quicker than brick and mortar businesses
typically pass the break even point). Penske isn't
even going to wait around to see if his four
existing sites start making money before launching
a fifth, devoted to sports, coming soon at Fan.com.
He is convinced the sky is the limit for
online publications.
According
to Quantcast Penske's four sites are attracting a
total of 4.5 million visitors a month. TMZ.com,
People.com and Yahoo's OMG each
attract more traffic than that with |
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their
solo sites, so Penske has a long way to go before
he is King of the Hill in this category. However
if he succeeds he will prove his model works and
will likely become the template others will
follow. |
Many
of my friends from traditional media fret that
professional journalists will soon become a thing of the
past and the huge job losses in traditional media
would appear to back them up. However it has always been
my belief that quality will always be in demand and
once online ad revenues reach a tipping point there will
be plenty of opportunities for professional writers to
make a good living online.
I
believe we are currently just going through a transitional
period from old media to new that is causing temporary
dislocations as the old platforms contract even faster
than most anticipated. They are shrinking so quickly
that their online successors haven't had time to reach
maturity and absorb all of the qualified refugees from
traditional media yet. However, I have no doubt that the
day is coming when the new order will be able to do that
and I am rooting for people like Penske who are placing
their bets on exactly that kind of outcome.
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On
Thursday Millions of Americans Will Gather to Give
Thanks (17 Members of Our Family Will Be Among Them When
We Meet at One House) |
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We're
getting the decks cleared here
so we can join the rest of the U.S. in celebrating
one of America's biggest holidays Thursday -
Thanksgiving Day. Like many Americans we will spend
some time on the road traveling to a central family
meeting place for the traditional holiday meal. In our
case that means a 90-minute drive to Venice, Florida
where my wife Diana's mother lives. She has hosted
so many Thanksgiving dinners I've lost count!
Diana
and her three sisters will all be there with their
husbands and at least some of their children (most of whom
are grown up now). One sister is driving all the way from Texas
and other family members will be traveling long distances
too. My daughter Brittany has been away at medical
school but she is driving four hours to get home for the
occasion. It is an event that no one in the family wants
to miss - we expect 17 people at the dinner table.
It's
quite an annual production but it is a great time to get
together and give thanks for the many blessings we
have experienced throughout the year - blessings that are
all too easy to take for granted. Diana and I try to never
forget how lucky we are. Those who have visited our home
can tell you that the centerpiece on our kitchen table
shown in the photo at the right stays there year round as
a constant reminder of how blessed we have been.
Still
Thanksgiving Day is a special time to be with
family (another reason to be thankful) and to think about
what we can do to make life a little bit better for those
who haven't been as fortunate. We wish each of you a wonderful
holiday and safe travels if you will be among the
millions out on the highways Thursday.
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Before
shutting down for the holiday (we'll be back with
a new post here Friday), we'll leave you with a
couple of news items today.
The EVO Media Group, Inc. has something to
be thankful |
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for
today. The Seattle-based company behind the
DevHub.com
domain development/monetization platform has
closed a round of capital financing totaling $1.5
million from an undisclosed private equity
group and several top Seattle/Los Angeles
technology and |
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media
angels including Geoff Entress of Voyager
Capital, John Cunningham of Clearfir,
Alex Algard (CEO of WhitePages.com),
Jeff Schrock of Intel Capital and Richard
Wolpert (former President of Disney Online).
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Last
but not least, NameMedia's SmartName
division is inviting everyone to a free
webinar titled How
to Maximize Revenue with Your Domain
Portfolio at 2pm
(U.S. Eastern time) on |
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December
17th. SmartName
is a domain monetization platform that
provides access to PPC, eCommerce
and full content solutions.
In
this one-hour webinar, the company plans
to cover how to earn the highest ad
payouts on |
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your
domain name landing pages, how to set-up
your account and choose from SmartName’s
optimized, customizable templates and how
to work with their optimization team to
determine the layout that yields the best
click-through rate. You’ll also have the
chance to ask your questions in a Q&A
session. You can reserve your seat for the
webinar here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/113117859. |
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Former
Fabulous.com Exec Dan Warner Named CEO at
DomainAdvertising.com DomainAdvertising.com
has named
industry veteran Dan Warner as the
company's Chief
Executive Officer (CEO).
Warner has over 12 years of experience in internet
strategy, marketing and operations. He is a well-known
figure in the domain industry having previously served
as the Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Operations
Officer of Dark Blue Sea, the Australian public
company that owns Fabulous.com. |
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DomainAdvertising.com is a newly launched domain
media business that caters to online advertisers and
publishers.
The company is backed by leading investors
including the Ashmore
Group and the Directi
Group. Ashmore is one of the world's leading
investment managers dedicated to emerging markets with $24.9
billion under management. Directi
is a $300+ million group of businesses that
develops innovative mass-market web products for global
customers.
The
Ashmore Group's Anoop
Polavaram said, "Dan
Warner was the Board's first choice for this position. He
is the perfect leader for DomainAdvertising.com. His
extensive experience and recognized leadership within the
domain industry will be invaluable to the business. He is
undoubtedly one of the most influential people in the
industry."
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Dan
Warner
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Warner said,
"I was
looking for a challenge where I could manage growth and
innovation in the Internet industry. This was
difficult to find in a market which has recently focused
on reducing head counts, research and infrastructure.
Both Directi and Ashmore have a great reputation and
substantial resources. When I was approached by them, I
realized the potential of this business. I am thrilled
about the opportunity. We will be doing the exact
opposite of most domain companies. Significant
capital, human resources and infrastructure will be used
to accelerate internet advertising innovation and design.
We expect that many of the other players in the industry
will look like they are standing still or going backwards
in comparison to our scheduled advancements.”
Warner
has already assumed his role as CEO and is planning to
fully launch the DomainAdvertising.com business by January
2010. Warner leads an initial dedicated team of over 30
people with access to over 500 people as required within
the Directi group. Under Warner’s leadership,
DomainAdvertising.com says it will focus on advancements
in research, innovation and optimization to benefit
professional domain owners.
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German
GeoDomain Website Wins $7,500 First Prize in the 2009
.INFO Awards Contest Earlier
this month
we
told you that final voting was underway in the 2009
.INFO Awards, an annual contest conducted by
.INFO registry operator Afilias, to
recognize the best .INFO websites around the world. With
$15,500 in prize money up for grabs, the contest
attracted more than 50 entries hailing from 18 different
countries. The last round of voting began after judges
whittled the field to ten finalists with the public then
choosing the three prize winners. |
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When
the smoke cleared, voters awarded the $7,500 first
prize went to Thueringen.info,
a travel information portal in the Thuringia area
of Germany. The second place prize of $5,000
was awarded to
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GPS-Tour.info,
a peer to peer file sharing service where people, tourist
regions or organizations can share and download outdoor
GPS tours. The $3,000 third place prize went to Turkel.info,
a travel and tourism marketing agency in the United
States.
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Afilias
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Roland
LaPlante said, “.INFO has proven itself as a useful
and vibrant top-level domain with millions of great Web
sites. Our 2009 award winners embrace the global need for
sharing information on a domain that is intuitive and
makes information easy to find. These unique
characteristics are what make .INFO an attractive address
and ultimately makes .INFO Web sites successful.”
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Afilias’ Board of
Directors Chairman Philipp Grabensee, who
was on the panel of judges, added "I was
impressed with the broad range of information
presented in the candidate sites. .INFO is truly a
preferred address for those wishing to get their
information out in a memorable manner.” |
Congratulations
to the winners and we also think Afilias deserves kudos
for encouraging and rewarding .INFO development with their
annual contest. For all of the newer TLDs, the key to
growth is widespread adoption and development within their
extensions. Useful content rich websites will attract
visitors and over time build recognition of the TLD,
spurring others to build sites in the extension as
well.
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One other note today,
in yesterday's
Lowdown post we mentioned that the
domain CFJ.com had just been stolen from Andrew
Rosener's GoDaddy account. We are happy to be
able to follow up today with news that GoDaddy
helped Rosener quickly recover his domain. This
morning Rosener (who operates MediaOptions.com)
told us, "Getting the word out and preventing
the domain from being resold is the most important
factor in a timely recovery. I must say that I am
really impressed with how Godaddy handled the
situation. It has been just over 12 hours
and they just notified me that the domain has been
recovered and reallocated to my account."
Rosener added, "We
are still trying to sort out how exactly they were
able to get into my account, but it appears to
have been done using Keylogger spyware software
that was somehow installed on my computer.
They |
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closed a deal with a
buyer on NamePros.com and then went in and
initiated the change of Registrant. Luckily,
I was able to catch it early enough that the
domain, although it had changed registrants, was
still at Godaddy and they could lock it down." |
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SnapNames
Shill Bidding Scandal Leads to Another Class Action
Lawsuit Against Oversee.net The
insider shill bidding scandal
at SnapNames.com
has resulted in a second class action lawsuit being
filed against SnapName's current owner, Oversee.net. The
shill bidding activity |
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allegedly
conducted by former SnapNames VP Nelson Brady began
a couple of years before Oversee bought SnapNames in 2007
and it was Oversee who discovered it and made it public earlier
this month. Even so, as the company left
holding the extremely hot SnapNames potato when the scheme
was uncovered, Oversee now has to deal with the legal
aftermath. Though
they have extended a restitution offer to those victimized
by the shill bidding activity, the offer has not satisfied
some customers and they have instituted class actions
lawsuits as a result. The first
one was filed in Florida on November
9th with the second
one (PDF file), as reported by Andrew
Allemann this morning, following this past
Tuesday (November 18th) in the U.S. District Court
in Los Angeles, California. Both the plaintiff in
the California action, Stewart Resmer, and
Oversee.net are located in Los Angeles. Resmer is being
represented by the law firm of KamberEdelson LLC.
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Nelson
Brady
The former SnapNames VP who allegedly
operated a massive shill-bidding scheme.
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After
citing a number of laws allegedly violated during the
class action period from 2005-2009, the suit closes by
asking for unspecified damages and reimbursement of legal
expenses and, in what would be an especially big financial
blow to Oversee if awarded, a request that the court
"disgorge Defendants of all revenue earned
from SnapNames.com Internet domain name auctions during
the Class period."
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The SnapNames
imbroglio won't stop Oversee from proceeding with
its 4th annual DOMAINfest
Global conference, coming up January
26-28 in Santa Monica, California. On
Friday show organizers announced
a couple of new contests for this year's show: PITCHfest
and LAUNCHfest. |
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PITCHfest aims to
uncover new, innovative products or services
designed to enhance the value of parked or
developed domain names by driving increased
traffic and/or revenue. Up to five finalists will
present a five-minute summary of their offering to
the DOMAINfest audience and a panel of expert
judges (you can apply to present here).
The DOMAINfest Global 2010 PITCHfest Service
Innovator trophy will be awarded for "the
idea with the most creativity, viability,
originality, and revenue potential."
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The
LAUNCHfest contest will reward the most
innovative and viable plan for building
an online business around one of ten
undeveloped, premium domain names that
will be made available by Oversee.net.
Contestants will select one name, as
listed on the
contest site, and submit an online
application with key business
plan elements. Up to five entries will be
selected as LAUNCHfest finalists and the finalists
will present a five-minute summary of
their business plans to the DOMAINfest
audience and a panel of expert judges.
Judging will be based on creativity,
viability, originality, and revenue
potential.
The
LAUNCHfest winner will have the
opportunity to develop their business on
the domain, subject to a pre-determined
lease arrangement. Oversee.net will waive
the first year of the lease payments to
help the winner focus his/her cash flow on
launching and growing the business. |
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The winner
has the right to lease the chosen domain
name for five years for the annual rate
shown on the contest site. At any point
during the five-year lease, the winner
will be able to purchase the domain name
for a pre-determined price. Entries are
restricted to U.S. residents, and must be
received by January 15, 2010. |
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(L to R) Michael
Castello, Extravaganza owner Alan
Shayne and David Castello in
Santa Monica Friday night. |
In
some other news from Santa Monica (where
DOMAINfest Global will be held) a couple
of guys who have a lot of experience in
launching successful websites, brothers
Michael and David Castello, were in
the beautiful oceanfront city Friday night
promoting one of their biggest
developments - Whisky.com.
The Castellos
attended the 16th Annual Single Malt
& Scotch Whisky Extravaganza at
the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. |
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The
Castello
Brothers (from Castello
Cities Internet Network) may
be best known for their geodomain sites
like PalmSprings.com, Nashville.com
and Acapulco.com, but they also
operate sites on several top notch generic
domains including Whisky.com and Daycare.com.
The Castellos treat each of their sites as
a full-blown business and put in
the hours necessary to promote their
properties and make key contacts in the
industries served by their sites. As
owners of the category killing Whisky.com
website, they have received a warm welcome
among whisky producers and aficionados
around the world. |
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Elsewhere,
Steve Morales, who operates the
geodomain informational websites at SimplyGeo.com
and GeoDomainer.com
is making potential advertisers an offer
they can't refuse. Free ads from
now until January 31, 2010.
Morales
laid out the no strings attached offer in
a post
at SimplyGeo.com today. He
wrote, "This is a first come,
first served promotion." You have
until Friday of this week (November
27) to secure your position by sending an
email to info @ simplygeo.com.
Eight spots are being made available on
SimplyGeo.com and ten on GeoDomainer.com.
Morales said, "it is the time of year
to give thanks and additionally |
Steve
Morales
SimplyGeo.com & GeoDomainer.com |
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Give.
So we want to give and say Thank You to
our readers and business owners for all
the support throughout the years by giving
away free advertising." |
While some like
Morales have gotten into the spirit of giving as
this holiday season begins, others feel no shame
in taking, stooping to outright theft of property
belonging to others. Andrew Rosener of MediaOptions.com
reports that someone stole CFJ.com from his
registrar account this morning. Rosener wants to
alert others in case the thief tries to sell them
the stolen asset before he recovers it. Another
reader, Nasser Himed, says
three domains were taken from his account at
another registrar last month (33Z.com, 8RB.com
and Ksacam.com) and he is still trying to
recover them.
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One final
note today, Rick Latona has
announced a change of dates for the June
2010 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference
that his company will be staging in Vancouver,
Canada. Latona, who will produce five
of next year's six T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows,
had originally |
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announced
that the first T.R.A.F.F.I.C. event in
Vancouver would be held June 15-18. In his
latest newsletter, Latona said the dates
have been moved up one week and the
Vancouver show will now run June 8-10. |
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Editor's
Note: I'll be traveling today, so there won't be a
Friday Lowdown post. Have a great weekend and I hope to see you
back here Monday.
(Posted
Nov.
20,
2009)
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Domain
Aftermarket Options Are Expanding As Industry Players
Launch New Sales Platforms At
a time when the recession is causing many industries to
contract
new
players are crowding into the domain aftermarket space.
Francois Carrillo, who operates the popular news
headline aggregator, Domaining.com,
just launched the first iteration of a new marketplace
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BargainDomains.com
today. This site introduces some interesting new twists.
They only accept domains that are priced no more than 30% of
the appraisal value returned by another of Carrillo's
sites - Valuate.com
- a clever way to drive more traffic to Valuate.com.
BargainDomains.com will charge a 15% sales and
escrow commission and require a short 15-day sales
exclusivity window.
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There
is no charge to list domains but to be accepted names will
have to appraise at Valuate.com for at least $500
and be listed for sale at no less than $100. Also,
submissions are limited to no more than five per person in
a 30-day period. BargainDomains currently does not accept
adult, gambling or trademark related domains, IDNs, and
domains with hyphens or numbers. In
another smart cross-promotional move, Carrillo said newly
listed domains will start be being featured in a
Domaining.com newsletter sent exclusively to premium
members who pay a $50 annual fee. The next day they
will be listed in the free Domaning.com newsletter sent to
regular subscribers, then on the third day they will be
listed on Domaining.com's home page. Unsold domains then
make their final move to the BargainDomains.com website
one week after they are listed.
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Another
new domain marketplace, NoktaDomains.com,
was just launched a few days ago by Nokta
Internet Technologies, a company that has sold
more than 1,100 domain names over the past
eight years, including TripleCreditReport.com
for $260,000 and FreeCreditReport.co.uk
for $300,000. |
Nokta
says it has a searchable catalog of over 200,000
high quality, commercially focused, generic keyword and
premium domain names for sale. To find a particular domain
name in the inventory, you can use the “Advanced
Search” option with any keyword, phrase or domain
name. More than 40,000 domains are listed as Fixed
Price Bargain Domains available with the “Buy Now”
option. The rest of the inventory is based on negotiation,
an “Offer-Counter Offer” system which enables
you to contact the seller if needed. NoktaDomains said
they also have a team of Domain Consultants available
around the clock.
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Nokta
previously had their names listed for sale at a
number of different marketplaces. A company
representative explained why they decided to build
their own sales platform. "By having our own
marketplace, customers can access the whole
portfolio and follow promotions, news and
deals we offer. We know our portfolio better than
anyone else, so we can offer the most appropriate
domain name to customers with the right pricing.
Moreover, through Noktadomains.com, the customer
can buy our domain names with without paying any
commission or transfer fee."
For
the time being, Nokta is listing only domains that
they own for sale. However that may change. They
said, "We
are very interested in further collaboration with
other marketplaces and individual domain owners.
We believe that our appraisal and |
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sales
experience would be very useful to our future
partners for both domain acquisition and sales.
Once our marketplace is technically developed
enough, we would be selling other portfolios as
well.” |
Still
another aftermarket solution is expected to be unveiled in
the next week or two. In our Lowdown item yesterday
about domains being jointly developed by T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder Howard Neu and the Rodan Media
Group, Rodan spokesman Danny Pryor said they
are about to launch a new domain sales site at
BestDomainsWebsite.com. Pryor
said, "Domain investors and prospectors will have the
opportunity to view the domains for sale, view the search
metrics related to keywords in the domain name itself and
view a screen shot of the domain."
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ccTLD
Boom Fuels Interest in Canada's .ca Extension & Back
in the States T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founder Howard Neu Gets
on the Development Bandwagon In
a complete reversal of form from just two years ago,
ccTLDs now routinely leave non .com gTLDs
in the dust in our weekly reports on domain sales. The latest
report, released today, is typical. There
are five ccTLDs on the all extension Top 20 chart and
there were a dozen five-figure country code sales
reported. Not one non .com gTLD made the chart and only
three reported non .com gTLD sales reached five figures.
Average prices paid for names on our Year-To-Date
Top 100 ccTLD Chart are approximately
double the average price paid for domains on the Top
100 Global Contenders Chart (our nickname for non
.com gTLDs). |
|
While Germany
(.de) and Great Britain (.co.uk) have
traditionally dominated ccTLD sales, we're seeing
increasing interest and activity in many other
extensions. One example is our northern neighbor, Canada,
and its .ca extension. .Ca growth is spurring the
development of more tools and services aimed at those
interested in .ca investing and development.
Jeff
Behrendt dropped me a note to let me know about a new
.ca drop catching service his company has rolled out with
partner Hubbard
|
|
|
Media at Dropping.ca.
Every Wednesday at 2:00pm., the Canadian Internet
Registration Authority (CIRA) releases expired domains
that have not been renewed. This is known as the
"TBR" (short for "To Be
Released"). Behrendt said, "Dropping.ca can help
you obtain these TBR domains with a high-touch service
combined with an easy to use interface." You can find
out more about the TBR and Dropping.ca here.
If you want to sign up at Dropping.ca, you can visit this
link.
|
|
|
Jeff
Behrendt (Dropping.ca)
speaking at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs
conference in Amsterdam last June. |
While
he was writing, Behrendt also filled me in on the Domain
Owners Association of Canada (DOAC), a new
organization that represents stakeholders in
Canada's domain community - not just domain
registrants, but also domain registrars, hosting
companies, the tech community, online ad agencies,
webmasters and more. "Its mission is to
promote internet business and investment in
Canada," Behrendt said. "Its goals
include promoting the use of dot ca domains,
increasing the number of dot ca domains
registered, protecting the rights of dot ca domain
owners, and most controversially, lifting the dot
ca presence requirements. Behrendt
said The first directors were just elected and
they are: Harold Simpkins (Emall.ca), Peter
Maxymych (Emall.ca), Rick Silver
(N49.ca), Frank Michlick (DomainNameNews.com),
Jeffrey Behrendt |
|
(Dropping.ca), and Larry
Franschman (Evote.ca). You can find out more
about the association on their website http://www.doac.ca/.
Membership is free and you can sign
up here. |
|
Back
on this side of the border, I keep hearing more
about veteran domain owners who are undertaking
development projects. One of the latest is T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder Howard Neu |
|
who, in conjunction
with the Rodan
Media Group, has just launched InvestingFunds.com
and MalpracticeAttorneys.com.
The
Rodan Media Group is headed by Donnie Goodwin,
a former Paine Webber investment banker who
also operates a law practice specializing in
bankruptcy and helping investors gain a fresh
start on their march to financial independence.
InvestingFunds.com is the first site in a planned Fidelity
Funding Network, a group of websites
that will cover economic news and events.
InvestingFunds.com features user
commentary pages so visitors can add their
viewpoints about the present state of the economy,
from stocks to domain investment, retirement
planning to international trade. The website also
includes economic analysis from Steve Forbes
and New York real estate mogul Barbara
Corcoran.
Rodan
Co-Founder Danny Pryor said the next
Fidelity Funding Network site to go online will be
BestDomainsWebsite.com, which will |
Howard
Neu has gotten on the
development bandwagon with domains
developed by the Rodan Media Group |
|
list
premium domains for sale in a non-auction
platform. Pryor said, "Domain investors and
prospectors will have the opportunity to view the
domains for sale, view the search metrics related
to keywords in the domain name, itself, and view a
screen shot of the domain." |
MalpracticeAttorneys.com
is a separate project that includes a blog (with some
posts personally written by Neu, who is also an attorney)
and a directory of the nation's malpractice attorneys.
|
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Domain
Attorney Ari Goldberger Goes Hollywood With Appearance
on Hit HBO Series Curb Your Enthusiasm If
you are among the millions of people
who
watch HBO's hit comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm
on Sunday nights, you may have noticed what looked like a
familiar face in a restaurant scene that aired November
8th (Episode #68 - "Officer Krupke").
If you said to yourself, "Hey, that guy in the
background looks just like Ari Goldberger!"
you would have been half right. The guy looked like the
noted domain attorney because that's who it was!
In the photo from the episode below, with co-stars Larry
David and Cheryl Hines in the foreground, you
can see Ari immediately to Cheryl's right at the table
behind her. 
Below
is a closer view of Ari Goldberger to the right
of series co-star Cheryl Hines. 
Ari,
who was featured in our June
2006 Cover Story (one that I believe was among
our best ever), was not in this scene by accident. As
his friends know (and as we reported in our profile
about him), Goldberger has been involved in charitable
giving and fundraising since he was 8 years old. When he
learned that the producers of Curb Your Enthusiasm
were trying to raise money for the Alzheimer's
Foundation by auctioning off a visit to the
show's set (complete with an opportunity to be an extra
on the program) he stepped up and placed the highest
bid. That
resulted in Ari traveling to Beverly Hills,
California where he not only met the Curb Your
Enthusiasm cast members but joined them in front of
the cameras for the restaurant scene. 
Above:
Ari Goldberger (left) with Curb Your
Enthusiasm star Larry David. Below
(left to right): Cast Members Jeff Garlin, Ari
and Larry. 
|
|
If you missed
the episode when it first aired, it is available on Comcast OnDemand and
as well as from many other OnDemand-capable cable providers.
You can find more details about the "Officer Krupke"
episode here.
A special thank you goes out to Scott Ross who let
me know about Ari's HBO debut and also secured and
provided these publicity photos from the show so we could
share them with you. Ari told me "It was a lot of fun
and they treated us great on the set." That made it a
win win for everyone, especially the
Alzheimers Foundation, the organization this
special event was all about.
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First
Known Criminal Indictment of a Domain Thief Has Been
Handed Down by New Jersey's Attorney General
|
In
August we told you about
the arrest
of Danny Goncalves, the man accused of
stealing P2P.com from co-owners Marc Ostrofsky,
Albert Angel and his wife Lesli Angel
in 2006 and |
|
selling it on Ebay
for six figures. This evening I received
word from one of the victims, Albert Angel, that
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram
indicted Goncalves today for that hijacking, the
first known instance of a domain thief being
indicted on criminal charges. You can read the
Attorney General's entire press release about
the indictment here
(PDF document).
It turned out that
Goncalves picked the worst possible people to
try to steal from. Marc Ostrosky is an
industry pioneer (who sold Business.com
in a deal valued at $7.5 million) and Albert
Angel is a noted attorney and former Justice
Department prosecutor who wasn't going to
rest until |
|
|
justice was served. His
perseverance led to today's indictment and we
are hopeful it will lead to a conviction that
will serve notice that domain theft will no
longer by overlooked by the criminal justice
system. |
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Steve
Morales Resumes GeoDomain Duties After U.S. Army Mission
Takes Him Away for Seven Months After
a long absence
on an overseas tour of duty with the U.S. Army,
geodomain fans will be happy to hear that Steve
Morales is back at work at SimplyGeo.com LLC
(a joint venture between Morales and Skip
Hoagland) where Morales writes the SimplyGeo.com
blog and administers the GeoDomainer.com
social community.
|
|
Morales,
who is a Sergeant First Class in the Army
Quartermasters Corps, made his first post
since last April at SimplyGeo.com today. Morales
told us, "I want to apologize to all
Geodomain supporters and our SimplyGeo.com
readership for the leave of absence without
communicating my situation. However, as
many of you know, when the Armed Forces
calls for duty, you must go. That is all that I
can say. The good news is I am back to complete
what I initiated with some solid team
members."
"There
were a variety of projects and services announced
that SimplyGeo.com LLC was launching
when the economy was booming," Morales
continued. "I wanted to give the community
our reasons for delaying the launch of these
projects/services. The economic meltdown has
been our number 1 enemy in launching our
services. Money is tight in every industry
and Consumers/Business owners are just not
willing to spend money as freely as they once
did during the good ole days." |
Steve
Morales
Co-Founder, SimplyGeo.com LLC |
"In
order to become successful with launching new services,
you have to have an abundance of paying customers to pay
for development expenses. Simple words for
entrepreneurs, you don't build a business to lose money! Everything
is about timing and at this stage of our planning, we
will move forward cautiously and launch these products
one site at a time. I will explain more of this
situation on SimplyGeo.com in the coming weeks,"
Morales said, adding "In the meantime, you can
utilize GeoDomainer.com, SimplyGeo.com, and
SimplyGeo.net to network and find services, and get targeted
questions answered. Thank you for your
continued support!" While
Morales is not at liberty to talk about the mission he
was away on, it is clear that he is doing a good job in
his military position. Last week he receive a
commendation for his recent service directly from Brigadier
General Jesse R. Cross, the Commanding General of
the 118,000 soldiers in the QuarterMaster Corps,
the largest Corps in the U.S. Army). 
Sgt.
First Class Steve Morales with Brigadier General
Jesse R. Cross last week
when the General gave Morales a commendation for his
recent service.
|
Skip
Hoagland |
Morales
expressed a special thank you to his partner for
keeping things together in his absence. "Without
Skip Hoagland our developments and services
being launched would not be strategically
possible. Everything would have fallen apart
this year without him as my partner,"
Morales said.
"I
really think it is important for readers to
understand how hard it is to find a
professional business partner as a best friend,
mentor, and coach who is willing to do what it
takes to build success in this industry
legally for all involved. Additionally, Skip has
continued to build our empire by acquiring LocalDomains.com.
To most this does not seem like a big
acquisition, but wait till you see what we are
going to do with this popular brand in the local
space for small business owners." |
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Bad
News Comes in Threes? eNom Founder Paul Stahura Leaves
Demand Media This
may go down as the most memorable Friday
since
I've been in the domain business. In earlier posts today
I reported that Pete
Lamson, NameMedia Senior VP (and
General Manager of their Domain Marketplace
including the AfternicDLS
and BuyDomains)
had left the company last week and that we received word
that their Senior VP for Direct Search, Brian
Carr, had also departed.
|
Now Paul
Stahura, the man who founded eNom.com
(and sold the company to Demand Media
four years ago) has told his Facebook
friends that he has left Demand where he had
stayed on as President after selling eNom. Stahura
wrote, "After much thought, and 12 years
after founding eNom, I’ve decided to join the
ranks of eNom alumni. Demand Media, the company
I sold eNom to nearly four years ago, is a great
company and will be even greater in the years to
come. Truly “going big”… Huge. The board,
the management team, the employees - everyone
– our customers, our services, are top notch. Demand is still in the first innings, but
its time for me to move on. I look forward to working with Demand in the future, just not as an employee, and to keeping in touch with you all. Very best of luck to everyone at eNom and Demand Media! So long for now, Paul." |
eNom
Founder Paul Stahura |
When I say bad news comes
in threes, I don't mean these developments are
necessarily bad news for the individuals who are moving
on to new chapters in their lives. I mean it is bad news
to see three executives of this caliber leaving their
companies and their daily interaction with the domain
community. That is bad news for the industry, but I am
hopeful that all of them will continue to be involved in
our space in one way or another in the years
ahead. |
|
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|
A
Second NameMedia Senior VP, Brian Carr, Has Reportedly
Left the Company
|
Earlier
today we reported
that
NameMedia Senior VP Pete Lamson, who
was also General Manager of the company's Domain
Marketplace (including both the AfternicDLS
and BuyDomains)
left the company last week. This afternoon I
heard through the grapevine that |
|
the
company's Senior VP for Direct Search, Brian
Carr, also left recently. I have a call into
Brian to confirm this directly with him.
If
true, it is a double dose of bad news for the
industry as both rank among the most talented
executives in our space. The current recession
has necessitated staff reductions at almost
every major company in the industry over the
past 12-18 months. I don't know if that was the
cause for the news coming out of NameMedia today
but we all know that Carr's area of
responsibility, PPC monetization, has been hit
harder than any other industry sector in the
current downturn.
Like
Lamson, Carr has an impressive work
history dating back more than 20
years to when he started out as a reporter for
the Patriot Ledger newspaper in Quincy,
Massachusetts. |
Brian
Carr
|
|
|
A few other notes
before we head into the weekend. Rick Latona
Auctions will, at no charge, provide the
online auction platform for the WhyPark
Charity Domain Auction scheduled for
December 7-11. The WhyPark Charity
Auction will be the first online auction to
utilize Rick Latona’s new beta auction
platform at a new location, www.LATONAS.com.
WhyPark’s auction
will consist of up to 50 domain names, with no
reserve price, all donated by domain
industry leaders. The proceeds from the auction
will be given to a socially-responsible charity
chosen by the highest single bidder in
the auction. To submit domain names for the
auction and for complete details, visit: http://www.whypark.com/auction. |
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|
Canadian
domainers who want to enjoy a night out with
fellow pros will have a chance to do that again Wedensday,
November 25th when the 9th Domainer
Dinner will be held in Toronto
at Rosewater Supper Club. Tickets for the
event being organized by DomainConvergence
founder Frank Michlick are $90 +
eventbrite fee and include food and two drinks.
The amount of seats is limited, so if you would
like to attend, it would be a good idea to register
ASAP. |
|
|
Last
but not least, those who want to relive or
vicariously enjoy a few days in paradise as
provided at the SedoPro
Partners Forum in Key West,
Florida last month will want to visit Sedo's
Facebook page. They have just posted
194 photos from the event that were taken
by a professional photographer hired to document
the 4th annual event.
A
new
Facebook album of 194 photos from last
month's SedoPro Partners Forum in Key
West, Florida includes the shot above of Sedo's
three Co-Founders and the company's COO &
General Counsel Jeremiah Johnston (2nd from
left). The Co-Founders are Tim Schumacher
(far left), Ulrich Essman (to
Johnston's right) and Ulrich Priesner (far
right). |
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Senior
VP Pete Lamson Has Left NameMedia Where He Ran Two of
the Domain Industry's Biggest Sales Platforms; the
AfternicDLS and BuyDomains Pete
Lamson, a Senior VP at NameMedia
who
also served as the General Manager of their Domain
Marketplace (including two of the industry's most
successful sales platforms, the AfternicDLS
and BuyDomains),
has left the company on good terms. I came to regard
Pete
|
very
highly since meeting him for the first time
nearly four years ago at the 2006
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Silicon Valley conference.
From the start, the Harvard Business School
graduate encouraged the industry to adopt more
professional standards to improve its standing
in the general business world.
Lamson
also consistently worked to expand aftermarket sales
opportunities for domain owners. Through the
development of NameMedia's expanded promotion
platform, he played a key role in
making small to medium sized business (SMB)
owners around the world aware of the high value
proposition represented by good domain names.
That process involved heavy ad spending in
general interest business publications aimed at
the SMB market.
Before
Lamson's arrival at NameMedia the company did
not share BuyDomains sales data. However, Pete
quickly saw that doing so would bring more
transparency to the market and |
Pete
Lamson
Former Name Media Senior VP and
Domain Marketplace General Manager |
|
help
foster additional sales by allowing buyers to
make more informed purchase decisions. He agreed
to start sending me their sales results each
week and those have become a key component of
the weekly
report we publish to give buyers and
sellers around the world insight into current
prices and trends in the domain aftermarket. |
I reached
Lamson by phone this morning and he said he thoroughly
enjoyed his four-year run at NameMedia and had the
utmost respect for his colleagues there. Lamson said,
"I'm very proud of what our team accomplished and
also proud of what NameMedia as well as other companies
and individuals did collectively to try to move
the industry forward. There is still a long way to go
but we have also come a long way in recent years."
Lamson said he doesn't plan to begin his "next
adventure" until the just the right opportunity
comes along. He will be able to draw on an impressive
history of successful executive business
experience when he returns to the playing
field. I
am hopeful that next opportunity keeps Pete in the
domain industry, but if it doesn't we wish him the best
in whatever lies ahead and thank him for the many
contributions he has already made to our space. |
|
|
Editor's
Note: I
will be out of the office today, so no Thursday Lowdown post.
See you back in this space tomorrow!
(Posted
Nov.
12,
2009)
|
GeoDomain
Giant Skip Hoagland Teams Up With Databanq to Launch a
Major New Site at ChamberOfCommerce.com Skip
Hoagland's company,
Domains
New Media LLC has
teamed up with Databanq
to launch a major new site on one of Domains New Media's
premier domains, ChamberOfCommerce.com.
The site's CEO, Databanq Co-Founder David Bayer, says the goal of the company is simply to build the
largest local business directory in the world.
|
ChamberOfCommerce.com
is focused on helping businesses more
effectively use the Internet to acquire new
customers and get found online. The site features more than
14 million businesses and aggregates business data from than
100 online and offline sources.
"By combining strong technology with the
one of the most trusted business brands in the
world, ChamberofCommerce.com is creating a new
marketplace for effectively connecting with
consumers,” Bayer said.
Bayer
added "ChamberofCommerce.com offers a suite
of tools to help businesses develop and
manage their online marketing campaigns.
In addition to business profiles, ratings,
reviews and a host of multimedia applications, ChamberofCommerce.com offers
ChamberList, which allows businesses to manage their information across more than 80 online search engines and directories." |
David
Bayer
CEO, ChamberOfCommerce.com |
"In
addition, ChamberofCommerce.com provides exclusive
sponsorship opportunities across more than 1,000 business
categories. Making it easier for businesses to develop a
web presence and measure their marketing campaigns helps
them maximize return on investment and allows them to
focus on their business rather than trying to figure out
the web," Bayer said.
|
|
Skip
Hoagland
Domains New Media, LLC |
ChamberofCommerce.com
also has a Partner Alliance Program. The
company said this allows best of breed online
marketing and technology providers to integrate
with the Chamber’s technology platform. Current technology partners include
Google, Yahoo, Bing, CitySearch,
Yelp, Localeze & Acxiom.
In
addition to the ChamberOfCommerce.com project,
Hoagland said he is rolling out a new and
improved Domains New Media LLC Global Network,
built on the solid foundation provided by sites
he has developed on some of his world class
geodomains including Atlanta.com, Baltimore.com,
Honolulu.com, BuenosAires.com and Cuba.com
to name just a few. Hoagland's portolio also
includes some top notch sporting domains
including Fishing.com, FlyFishing.com
and Shooting.com. |
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Domainer
Mardi Gras Posts the Initial Agenda for their February
2010 Show in New Orleans and Offers Free External Hard
Drives for Early Bird Registrants
|
The
Executive Director of the 2010 Domainer
Mardi Gras Conference (DMG),
Michael Ward,
is in New Orleans this week doing some
advance work for the highly anticipated
show |
|
coming
up February 11-13, 2010 in the Big
Easy - smack dab in the middle of the world
famous Mardi Gras festival. Ward
announced that the preliminary show
agenda has also been posted on the
conference website. Highlights include an
opening night Crawfish Boil and Parade
Viewing on Thursday, Feb. 11th. Friday and
Saturday sessions will cover everything from
domain investing to developing and there will be
balcony parties on Bourbon Street both
Friday and Saturday nights.
After
a successful debut
event this past February, the
Domainer Mardi Gras team plans to pull put all
of the stops to make the 2010 show even better.
The conference is moving to the New Orleans
Marriott which will put attendees even
closer to the Mardi Gras parades and |
Michael
Ward, Executive Director
2010 Domainer Mardi Gras |
|
around
the clock celebrations the French Quarter
is famous for. As soon as you leave the hotel
you are on Canal Street, the primary
parade route. Turn the corner and you are on
Bourbon Street where show goers will again get a
birds eye view of all of the action from
DMG's private balcony. |
Scene
from a 2009 Domainer Mardi Gras balcony party
on Bourbon Street last February.
|
Several
2010 attendees will be getting a free Flip
video camera to record their memories on - a
special reward for taking advantage of a
three-day early bird registration special that
DMG ran in September. Now organizers are
offering another cool premium to store
your photos and videos on - a 500GB
Iomega Prestige external hard drive that
will go to everyone who registers for |
|
the
2010 Domainer Mardi Gras and books a room
at the conference hotel by midnight Friday,
November 13th, 2009. With registration rates
as low $595 DMG is already one of the
best conference deals in industry.
Toss in this extra bonus for signing
up early and it is an attractive
proposition indeed. |
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First
Class Action Suit Filed in the SnapNames Shill Bidding
Scandal and Customers Get Access to Bidding Records The
first trickle in what observers expect to be a flood of
lawsuits
was
filed today as the insider shill bidding scandal at SnapNames.com
continues to dominate news in the domain industry. A
class action suit was filed in Florida's Miami-Dade
County Circuit Court by the
|
Cueto
Law Group on behalf of lead Plaintiff Carlos
A. Cueto and others who participated
in online domain auctions conducted by Oversee.net
subsidiary SnapNames. In the lawsuit Mr. Cueto
alleges that an executive of the company
conducting the auctions acted as a shill bidder
to manipulate bids. Though not named in the
Cueto press
release announcing the suit, that executive
has been identified as former SnapNames VP of
Engineering Nelson
Brady. |
|
The
number of people who may join class auctions lawsuits of
this nature will depend in part on how many customers
that were defrauded accept cash (or credit) settlements
currently being offered by SnapNames. Over the weekend
the company responded to customer requests and made all
of their historical bidding records available online.
The most recent two years worth of records had been
available but Brady's alleged actions reportedly began
much earlier, starting in 2005. Prior to gaining access
to all of their records customers couldn't determine if
the settlements being offered covered all of the
auctions they were victimized in.
|
|
Nelson
Brady
Former SnapNames VP accused of shill
bidding in as many as 50,000 online auctions. |
Customers
are also weighing other issues with one of the
biggest being accountability for the
crimes that have been committed, beyond just a
refunding of money they lost on the scheme. In
the hundreds of comments that have been left on
industry blogs and forums over the past few
days, a recurring question is whether or not
SnapNames is pressing charges against Brady in a
fraud that looks like it will run well into seven
figures. Thus far, the company has said it
cannot comment on that at this point. One way or
another, with the scope of the scandal being so
large, it is hard to envision the case escaping
the purview of law enforcement before all is
said and done. Brady
has remained silent since Oversee announced they
had discovered the fraud and were moving to
reimburse SnapNames customers. His version of
events is the proverbial "other shoe"
that everyone is |
|
waiting
to drop. If he does surface, will he accept the
blame that has been leveled at him or will he
paint a different picture of what occurred in an
incident that had rocked the entire industry? |
|
One
other note today. We have just published our comprehensive
review of the recently concluded T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York domain conference. The article
includes dozens of previously unreleased photos and
details on conference events that we did
not have time to cover in our daily Lowdown
highlights from the show. This conference marked the end of an era as
show co-founders Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu have now turned the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. reins over to
Rick Latona, effective with the next
event in the series, T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
West, coming up in Las Vegas
January 21-23. Latona
intends to put his own stamp on the show. He
took a move in that direction today announcing
that he has secured |
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founders Howard Neu
(at podium) and Rick Schwartz
welcome
attendees to T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York. |
|
the
services of Canadian domain investor/developer Rick
Silver (N49.com)
to moderate the five T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conferences that Latona will stage next year. Silver
caught Latona's attention when he spoke at the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
ccTLDs conference that Latona staged
in Amsterdam this past June. In addition
to being an excellent speaker with an impressive
track record in domain development, Silver is a
very personable guy who conference attendees
will enjoy being around. |
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Companies
in the News: Sedo, Moniker, Neustar, Pool.com and
eBusinessDomains.com Yesterday's
news about the shill bidding scandal
at
SnapNames.com
overshadowed everything else in the domain industry over
the past 24 hours but, while work begins on sorting out
that mess, life goes on other corners of the domain
industry. We have news from a variety of companies to
tell you about today.
|
|
Let's start with Sedo's
release of their latest quarterly Domain
Market Study, this one covering 3Q-2009.
In some of the report's highlights Sedo reported
that domain sales at their online marketplace jumped
5.5% over the previous quarter with 9,928
domains changing hands for a total of just
under $23 million.
Sedo said the average sales price for a domain name soared 37% from
$1,691
to
$2,316. That average was helped by some
high profile sales that Sedo closed in the 3rd
quarter, including Call.com ($1.1 million),
Server.com ($770,000), Christian.com
($600,000) and Brazil.com ($500,000).
|
|
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.Com
remains the most popular extension on the Sedo
platform accounting for 80% of gTLD
sales and 45% of sales overall. ccTLD
sales also remained strong, led by Germany's
.de extension that accounted for 56%
of country code sales. Sedo said the .fr
(France), .es (Spain) and .eu
(European Union) extensions showed some of
the highest price increases.
COO and General
Counsel Jeremiah Johnston said "Sedo's impressive results this quarter demonstrate the strength and stability of the domain market, despite the slow
economy. We anticipate continued momentum in the fourth quarter and in 2010, as the demand for premium domains
continues to increase."
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Next up...Moniker's
extended online auction conducted in
association with the T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
New York conference closed Wednesday
with just over $278,000 in sales
led by OneOfAKind.com at $26,000,
LoanOfficer.com at $16,000
and FDA.net at $11,550. A
total of 139 domains were sold and Michael
Berkens listed all of the
results on his blog
today.
Coupled
with the approximately $412,000
Moniker took in at their live auction in
New York, total sales for their
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. live and online events
came in at about $690,000. |
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The .BIZ
registry, Neustar,
today announced they will team up with Pool.com
to auction off more than 1,000
two-character .BIZ domains in a
phased release that will start November
30th and continue through February
2010. Neustar previously teamed up
with Sedo and Moniker to
offer a limited number of one and
two character .BIZ domains, but this
will be the first time that a gTLD
registry has released such a large
number of two-character domains.
Tim
Switzer, Vice President, Registry
Services for Neustar, said “There are
many companies with long company names,
and others who have names that are
difficult to spell or remember. We are
very pleased to be working with Pool.com
to make a short, memorable alternative
available.”
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The complete list
of two-character .BIZ domain names that will be
available for auction at Pool.com, including the
auction date for each name, can be found at www.twodotbiz.biz.
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Finally
today, eBusinessDomains.com
announced that they have partnered with Dark
Blue Sea's Domain
Distribution Network (DDN)
in a move that will make |
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500,000
aftermarket domains available to
eBusinessDomains customers who conduct
searches on the company's site. If a
search turns up a DDN domain the client
would like to buy, they can simply click
a link that will take them to FabulousDomains.com
(Dark Blue Sea’s domain marketplace)
to complete a fully automated
transaction that
features instant transfer of the
domain name through the Fabulous.com
registrar. |
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Photos
of Alleged SnapNames Shill Bidder Nelson Brady and Our
Thoughts on a Scandal That is Rocking the Domain
Industry
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At
the 2007
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West conference in Las
Vegas
I was
scheduled to speak about the domain aftermarket
at a closing day luncheon sponsored by SnapNames.com.
Two of the |
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company's
Vice Presidents, Mason Cole and Nelson
Brady, spoke to the crowd just before I went
to podium and I took the opportunity to
snap some photos of them for our files. At the
time SnapNames was riding high and less than six
months later the company would be scooped up
by Oversee.net
in a deal reportedly worth $25 million.
On
that Wednesday in March 2007 I met Brady for the
first time and he came across as a very
personable and intelligent guy. No one could
have guessed that, if company
allegations released today are true,
Brady, under the user name Halvarez, had
already been been involved in rigging
SnapNames auctions for two years, behavior
they say continued for two more years before
SnapNames finally discovered the fraud and made
it public in a letter
to their customers today.
Brady
was fired a week ago Monday, but |
Nelson
Brady
Former SnapNames VP of Engineering
who is accused of shill bidding in thousands
of domain auctions dating back to 2005.
(Photo copyright - DNJournal.com)
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the
fallout from the scandal will be felt for a long
time to come and, like a dirty bomb going
off in a metropolitan area, the radiation will
contaminate innocent people as well as the
guilty. Bidders are now asking if they can trust
anyone. While SnapNames obviously faces
the biggest hurdle, other companies will also
have to reassure skeptical customers that they
provide a level playing field. That
started just hours after the SnapNames news
broke when one of their chief competitors, NameJet,
sent
a letter to their customers saying
they had systems in place to prevent the same
thing from happening there.
A
quick read of commentary on blogs
and in domain forums
shows that the distrust is spreading
beyond auction houses to all kinds of industry
service providers, including PPC companies and
affiliate programs. The incident has also given
the industry's critics fresh ammunition that
they
are using to try to taint everyone
involved in the domain business. For one man,
Brady is causing an incredible amount of collateral
damage beyond the millions he could cost his
former employer in legal fees and settlements
with customers who were shortchanged.
|
 Nelson
Brady speaking at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. West in Las Vegas
in March 2007
(Photo copyright - DNJournal.com)
Brady
reportedly drove prices up with fraudulent bids in as
many as 50,000 auctions. SnapNames announced a
plan to compensate their customers, saying "in
every auction where the employee’s fictitious account
submitted a bid which resulted in a higher price being
paid by the winning bidder, SnapNames will offer a
rebate, with 5.22% interest (the highest
applicable federal rate during the affected time
period), to affected customers for the difference
between the prices they actually paid and the prices
they would have paid, had the employee not bid in the
auctions. The rebate will be available in cash
or in credit on the SnapNames platform, at your
discretion.
"
It
was wise for SnapNames to lay their cards on the table
and declare their intention to make things right, but
this remains a nightmare situation for everyone.
In addition to SnapNames' financial liability to
customers, anticipated legal fees and the hit to their
reputation, bidders have lost untold thousands of
dollars as well as domains they should have won. As for
Brady his career is obviously in tatters. One can only
imagine why someone with his background would go down
this path. A brief bio on Brady's at ICANNWiki
says "Nelson
is the VP of Engineering at SnapNames.com and also
manages TelID's
technical operation. He has 20 years experience in the
design and implementation of complex software systems.
Nelson's experience includes key technical positions at Dynamics
Research Corporation, Mentor Graphics, OrCAD
and Tektronix. Nelson has been a member of
the Portland Venture Group, advising early stage
companies on software application development." If
the charges against him are true - and no one has heard
his side of the story yet - where will he be welcome
now?
 \
(All
photos on this site copyrighted by DNJournal.com
and may not be copied or reproduced without written
permission)
The primary
question being thrown at SnapNames now is how did Brady
get away with this for four years, especially
when many domainers say they spotted the fraudulent
bidding patterns in the Halvarez account and repeatedly
alerted the company. I spoke with Oversee VP of
Communications Mason
Cole this evening and he said Brady held a position
of trust, covered his tracks well and was the last
person anyone expected this from. "We all feel
wounded here," Cole said. |
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Sedo's
First Ever Two-Character .Com and .Net Domain Auction
Gets Underway Thursday
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If
you are looking for an ultra-short domain name
Sedo.com
will have a lot of them to choose from in their
first ever Two-Character Auction event
that gets underway at 1pm (U.S. Eastern
time) on Thursday (November 5). The
week-long auction of rare .com and
.net |
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domains
will end at the same time on November 12.
The domains scheduled to go on the block include
NL.com, RO.com, KH.com, 64.com,
81.com, 91.com, CD.net and GD.net
to name just a few.
Sedo is still accepting top two-character
domains for this auction. |
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If
you have domains that qualify you can email Sedo
Broker Matt Rosebrook at [email protected].
Qualifying sellers can also apply directly
through their Sedo accounts. |
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In
other auction news, two extended
online auction events tied to last
week's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York
conference are entering their final
hours. The Moniker.com/SnapNames auction
will end tomorrow (Wednesday,
Nov. 4) at 3:15pm (U.S. Eastern
time). You can review their catalog of
approximately 2,000 domains here
and follow the bidding action here.
The
Rick Latona auction will be
ending Thursday (November 5) at 1:30pm
(U.S. Eastern time) and they have
lowered many reserve prices to entice
more buyers. You can review
their sales list here.
Speaking
of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York, we are
currently working on our comprehensive
conference review article and will be
publishing it this weekend. |
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One other note today, Francois Carillo, who
operates the popular domain news aggregation site, Domaining.com,
has rolled out two more free domain-related sites that
you may also find useful; ClosingAuctions.com
and Valuate.com.
ClosingAuctions.com does just what it says, keeping
track of auctions that are about to close at the
industry's top venues. But it also adds value with color
coded bars for each domain indicating whether, in the
site's view, the name at its current price represents a
good deal, is at least interesting of should be regarded
with caution. Value
is also at the heart of the Valuate.com offering. Enter
your domain names and this site will return a variety of
statistics for each name as well as their appraisal
value for each domain. As I have said many times in the
past, I put very little stock in domain appraisals -
regardless of whether they are generated automatically
or manually by human beings. However, it is still
entertaining to check out the stats and values returned
by Valuate.com to see how closely they mirror your own
guesstimates. |
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Ten
Finalists Named in
the 2009 .INFO Awards Contest - Top Three in Public
Voting This Week Will Split $15,500 in Prize Money .INFO
registry operator Afilias
opened its 2009
.INFO Awards to public voting today. Anyone
can now vote
for their favorite .INFO site among 10 finalists selected
by a panel of judges from a field of more than 50
original entrants. The finalists are:
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You
can cast your vote at www.info-award.info
from now until voting ends at 11:59pm
(US Eastern time), Friday, November 6.
The Public votes will be combined with
the judges scores to select the top
three sites. |
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$7,500
will go to the winner, $5,000 to
the runner up and $3,000 to the
site placing third. The winners of
the .INFO Awards will be announced on November
9.
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Roland LaPlante, Senior
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias,
said “The .INFO domain is the global home for anyone
with information to share. The submissions for this
year’s awards program reflect .INFO’s global appeal
and the inherent usefulness of an Internet domain
entirely devoted to information."
The most popular categories for
site submissions included special interest web sites (28%),
private web sites (23%) and business/corporate
web sites (17%). You can see the complete
breakdown in the chart below.
Afilias said that interest in the
.INFO Awards was truly global with submissions being
entered from 18 countries. 31% of
submissions came from Germany, followed by the United
States at 19% and Russia at 12%.
The UK accounted for 6% of submissions,
while India and France each had 4%.
The 2009 panel of judges included:
Dominik Grollman – Editor in Chief of Internet World Business (Germany),
Peter Prestipino - Editor in Chief of Website Magazine ,
Gautam Chatur – Senior Director at Qorvis Communications ,
Michael Stephanblome – Managing Director AdJug UK ,
Katy Tafoya – Editor ConstantChatter.com , and
Philipp Grabensee – Chairman of the Afilias Board of Directors. |
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