Jeff Bennett
CEO, Swap.com

One other note today - I received a couple of interesting article links from two former top executives at NameMedia that I wanted to pass along to you. 

One is from Jeff Bennett, who served as NameMedia's President before moving to his current position as CEO at Swap.com. Jeff has been writing about how the recession has spurred a return to sharing and what Jeff calls a "collaborative consumption movement." His insightful analysis caught the attention of the Huffington Post and last week they syndicated an interesting column by Bennett headlined "With Recession Comes a Return to Sharing." Check it out - this movement might spark some good domain ideas for you (though topping Swap.com might be a tall order!). 

I also received an article link from Pete Lamson, who served NameMedia for several years as a Senior VP and General Manager

of the company's Domain Marketplace. Pete directed me to a story at Dealer.com titled Who Does Your Domain Name Belong To? that was full of good advice for business owners (in this case auto dealership owners, but the advice applies across all categories). 

Too many business owners fail to realize just how vital the domain name is to their operations and often lose track of who actually holds ownership of the domain name. In some cases it may be held  in the name of whoever designed the company's website or some other service provider. I have personally seen one friend burned by a hosting company that retained ownership of his business's domain name. Another friend had a former employee, who had been responsible for overseeing the company's Internet operations, make off with the company's 3-letter domain name because he kept it in his own name, rather than the company's. If you run a small business, there is something you need to pay attention to.