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The
Lowdown
June
2013 Archive |
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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. |
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Aftermarket.com
Offers New Option for Buying, Selling &
Parking Domains in One Place
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Multi-faceted
domain industry
company
Thought
Convergence, the parent company of DomainTools.com,
TrafficZ.com
and Aftermarket.com,
has just beefed up the latter service to make it
a one stop shop for buying, selling and
parking domains. In a letter sent to
account
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holders
that I received today, Aftermarket.com announced
the launch of a new parking
program to supplement the domain
sales platform many of you are already familiar
with.
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The
letter said, "We’ve partnered with the
Internet’s leading search engine and
upstream provider to offer monetization
services to domains parked on the Aftermarket
platform," which would obviously point to Google
as their feed provider.
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Internet money image
from Bigstock |
The
letter to clients continued, "We’re
incredibly excited about our new
partnership, and what it means for
Aftermarket and for you. The new Aftermarket
Park & Sell platform provides you
with unsurpassed, best-in-class
monetization, while simultaneously
collecting and converting valuable sales
leads. As you know, your domains
have two main types of visitors –
those looking for a product or service related
to your domain, and those looking to
purchase your domain. By
combining these two services, Aftermarket
enables you to capitalize on all of
your visitors." |
If you already have an Aftermarket.com account
the company said
you're already pre-approved for domain
monetization through the site. All you
need to do is to switch your nameservers to ns1.aftermarket.com
& ns2.aftermarket.com in order to
generate and track your PPC revenue, manage your
domain names and listings, respond to offers,
negotiate terms, and sell domains.
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(Posted June
28, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130628.htm
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Joint
Venture Between InternetMedia and
MediaOptions Produces a New Way to Sell Domains
at DNX.com
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If
you've been looking
for a new way to sell your domain names,
the people behind DNX.com,
a domain name exchange that just
launched, thinks they may have just what you are
looking for. DNX.com, a Panama based
joint venture between InternetMedia
and Media
Options, is taking a different
approach to selling domains that involves
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hand
picking names that are then sold in a reverse
auction (commonly known as a Dutch auction).
In traditional auctions bids go up until
the highest bid wins the name. In a Dutch
auction the starting price drops until
someone steps up to claim the domain or it falls
to its reserve price (if a reserve is in place).
The
company said a senior broker will evaluate all
names submitted with the best candidates then
getting listed on the exchange. DNX Founder and
CEO Christopher Crowther said, "DNX
will be the market that buyers and sellers can
always trust to be current with quality
domain names that are fairly priced
to sell today. For us, DNX represents the
recognition that the domain market has matured
to the point where it behaves like regular
markets and where the values of domain names
fluctuate up and down over time.”
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Teaming
up with well-known domain brokerage
company MediaOptions.com assures DNX of
an ongoing inventory of
carefully selected domains and the
assistance of MediaOptions CEO Andrew
Rosener who has sold tens of millions
of dollars worth of domains since 2007.
Rosener will function as DNX's
Director of Sales and will focus on promoting
the company and its listings to the global
domain market.
Rosener
said, “DNX will be the holy grail of
domain investing; a true way to take
the market’s temperature for
any given domain on any given day. We’ll
make the market more efficient by forcing
people’s hand. A domain’s price
will drop until a buyer just can’t say
no."
As
noted above, the domain purchase
price will start high then begin to fall.
At any time a buyer can click buy-it-now
at the current purchase price or
they can submit a lower offer
(blind to other buyers) in the hopes that
their offer will be executed when the
timer hits ‘zero’ and the next
price drop occurs. |
Andrew
Rosener
CEO, MediaOptions.com |
"The sell through rate will be
phenomenal,” Rosener predicted, adding that
DNX is focusing on on value, transparency,
and intentional randomization to prevent
any type of fraud and make it impossible for
buyers or sellers to cheat the system. That
randomization is an
additional twist where the number of
total price drops, the frequency of drops, and
the amount of an individual price drop has been
totally randomized. This element of unpredictability
increases buyer incentive because the
only thing that is certain is that all domains
sell on a first come, first served basis.
If
you want to try out the DNX.com system for
yourself, you can sign
up for a free account here.
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(Posted June
27, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130627.htm
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Fact
Book 2013: Everything You Wanted to Know About
Canada's .CA ccTLD
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I've
always thought
that
the Canadian
Internet Registration Authority (CIRA),
the administrator of Canada's .ca country
code domain, did an excellent job of promoting
their nation's 26-year-old TLD. The latest
example of that is a new electronic Fact
Book that CIRA has released to tell
the .CA story (while also covering current
domain trends in other TLDs and discussing the
potential impact of new gTLDs). It
is loaded with information and interesting
tidbits about a ccTLD with over 2 million registrations
that has become four fastest growing
ccTLDs on the web. From 2007 to 2012 the number
of registered .CA domains doubled,
putting it among the top 20 TLDs on the
web.
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That
growth has occurred despite the fact that there
are Canadian presence requirements to
register .CA. CIRA and many Canadians see that
as a good thing and CIRA's Fact Book
noted, "These requirements ensure that
someone interacting with a .CA can be assured
that the individual or business has a connection
to Canada. Canadians repeatedly report that
they want to do business and/or connect with
other Canadians. .CA allows them to do that in a
safe, secure and trusted environment."
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CIRA said .CA
has been steadily whittling away at .COM's
leading market share among domain
registrants in Canada. Over the past 5
years, .CA has jumped from a 21%
share of the domestic market to a 30%
slice of the pie, with most of those extra
percentage points carved out of .COM's
share of the market. |
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CIRA
said a survey of the Canadian market revealed
that "Canadian Internet users strongly prefer .CA when it comes to either
business (49% for .CA versus 17% for .COM) or
personal use (54% for .CA versus
10% for .COM), particularly for such activities as banking, shopping and news gathering."
National pride clearly plays a role in
.CA's rise. CIRA's Director of Marketing
and Communications, David Fowler,
noted ".CA is often described as the
Canadian flag on our digital
backpack."
There
is much more data about both .CA and
Canadian Internet usage (the country has
one of the world's highest web penetration
rates) in the Fact Book, so if you are
interested in the popular ccTLD and/or the
Canadian Internet market you will want to
read the full
publication. (Hat tip to
Steve Granville-Smith and Peter Maxymych
for bringing the new Fact Book to my
attention). |
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(Posted June
25, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130625.htm
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Less
Than 3 Weeks After Buying Bouquet.com Bill
McClure Has a Site Up and an Affiliate Program
in Place! Plus Bree CD Released & Goldberger
Movie Hits YouTube
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Less
than 3 weeks ago
at the 2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Las Vegas conference, Bill
McClure spent $30,000 to
acquire Bouquet.com
in the show's live domain auction (a sale that
was the auction's biggest). McClure, who is
based in Fort Smith, Arkansas, is widely
known for the successful coffee business he
built at Coffee.org,
but he also already had several profitable
flower-related websites in operation before
adding Bouquet.com to his portfolio. With
a proven platform already in place, it took
McClure just a few days to get an attractive
ecommerce site
up and running at Bouquet.com and flowers and
gifts aren't the only things he is offering
there. McClure has also set up an affiliate
program for other domain owners who
have .com names related to flowers,
florists and bouquets. McClure told us, "We
pay 50% of our revenue, $10 per order,
with no expiration cookies. If your site
gets an order, you receive a commission for $10." McClure
said the seeds for the affiliate program were
actually planted when he had breakfast with Rob
Grant at the October 2012
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference at Fort
Lauderdale Beach, Florida. McClure said,
"Rob mentioned that he had a few old flower
and related
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Bouquet.com
Owner Bill McClure
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domains
- three word URL’s, long tail domains -
and he asked if we could work together. I
agreed to give him $10 per order and he pointed
the domains to our Rackspace servers the
following week. He is now generating
around $600 per month from those
domains."
With
respect to the formally introduced affiliated
program, McClure added, "Because of the
accounting involved, I am limiting this offer to
legitimate domainers only. If you have an
interest, contact me at [email protected]
or my cell 479-721-1010."
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Elsewhere, David
Castello and Bree are
celebrating the official release of her new
CD, All
American Girl, yesterday
(June 18, 2013). Domain Hall-of-Famer David
manages Bree and plays drums in her
trio.
The CD
(available at Amazon
and on iTunes
among other outlets) has been drumming up
a lot of positive attention for Bree
including an interview
in Huffington Post,
selection as one of MSN's
featured CD's of the Week and
a 9
out 10 star rating from 100%
Rock Magazine.
Bree has also
been in demand on the rock radio
interview circuit. There is an
especially illuminating 10-minute segment
from suburban New York's WFDU-FM
that you should check out on YouTube. |
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Cover
of the new Bree CD All
American Girl |
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One
other note today, in my coverage
of the fabulous bar mitzvah party
that Ari
Goldberger threw for his
son Josh last weekend in Cherry
Hill, New Jersey, I mentioned a
James Bond inspired mini-movie
featuring Josh that was shown during
the event. That video is now
available on YouTube.
To set
up the video for you, the
premise was that Bond film villain Jaws
(who was at the party in the form of
a look alike actor who was a dead
ringer for the original) had chewed
through a electrical wire causing a blackout
at the party, just before Josh was
to be introduced. In the darkness,
the gold Torah Pointer
(reputed to be a priceless |
Ari
Goldberger (with microphone)
speaking to his son Josh
at last weekend's bar mitzvah
party in New Jersey. |
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16th
century relic named La Mano D'Oro)
was stolen. The movie then begins
with Josh on a mission to
recover it.
Once
you see the video you will have a
better idea of just how over the
top the entire Bond themed party
(complete with a live concert
from Sean
Kingston) was. The
overall feeling was like being at a
once in a lifetime bash
that would have made Hollywood
proud. |
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(Posted June
19, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130619.htm
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Bar
None: Photos & Highlights from the Ari
Goldberger
Family's Celebration of Life
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As I told you
in
my last Lowdown post,
when I was getting ready to head out for
Cherry Hill, New
Jersey to
attend this past weekend's bar mitzvah for
Ari Goldberger's
son Josh,
I was expecting the kind of
BIG
production that Ari is known for. Even so, the
event wound up
far
exceeding my already high expectations.
I am especially
happy that my wife Diana and I got to witness
the bar mitzvah ceremony itself in the
Congregation M'Kor Shalom sanctuary. It
put everything we saw at the truly amazing party
that followed into perspective.
Above: Guests were asked
not to disrupt the 5:30pm Saturday (June 15,
2013) ceremony by taking photos in the
sanctuary, but just before it began
multiple
generations of the Goldberger family
gathered in the foyer where this shot was taken.
13-year-old
Josh Goldberger
is third from the left in the gold vest.
Those in the sanctuary included several
survivors of the holocaust (including Ari's own
family members whom he eloquently discussed in a
2006
DNJournal Cover Story). In the most
emotional part of the bar mitzvah ceremony
Josh's grandparents passed the Torah Scroll to
Josh's parents, Ari and Sharon, who in turn
passed it on to Josh. The rabbi described what it
meant to see survivors from a generation that
saw millions of their people
exterminated on stage now to see
their heritage and traditions passed on to
their children and
their children's children who have a
bright and unlimited future
ahead of them. This night when young Josh
officially became a man was a night to celebrate life - and
the celebration that followed had all of the
joy (and more) that you could
imagine would accompany such a meaningful
occasion.
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Above:
After the ceremony guests went to the
Westin Mount
Laurel Hotel
for Josh's big Bar Mitzvah Party. When they
arrived they were greeted by this huge
James Bond
themed photo op wall set up in the lobby. The
three secret agents in the center of the circle
include
Josh Goldberger
(left) and his father
Ari Goldberger
(middle). The 0615 Goldberger logo reflected the
June 15 date for the big event.
At
right: Ari
Goldberger
with his longtime partner, friend and fellow
domain industry leader
Larry Fischer
(left).
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Above:
The party was
spread over
multiple
ballrooms
at the Westin, including separate rooms
where children were entertained
throughout the evening. For the adults
the evening began in the cocktail hour
room with great food, drink and a live
combo. The black tie event created an
atmosphere that seemed straight out of a
James Bond movie.
At left: Adding to
the illusion,
characters from
the Bond films,
including dead ringers for the Sean
Connery and Daniel Craig versions of agent 007, villains
like Odd Job and Lurch and the iconic
golden girl
from
Goldfinger
(seen here with Ari Goldberger)
circulated among the crowd and created
some especially memorable photo
opportunities.
Below: Five guys
from the sizable domain industry
contingent that came to Cherry Hill to
share this major life event with the
Goldberger family included (left to
right)
Ron Jackson,
Stevan Lieberman,
Jason B. Schaeffer,
Scott Ross
and
Steven Kaziyev.
Ron and Scott came up from Florida,
Stevan Lieberman flew in from Los
Angeles and Steven Kaziyev arrived from
New York.
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Above:
With friends crowded around
Josh
Goldberger,
with his mother
Sharon,
conducted a moving
candle lighting
ceremony.
At right:
Ari Goldberger
congratulates his son
Josh
on a great job done at the Bar
Mitzvah ceremony earlier in the
evening (hours of study and
preparation went into that).
Below: In
a high point of the evening,
reflecting Ari's soaring
spirits, he was lifted into the
air and spun around in a
traditional
hora dance
that had everyone on their feet.
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Above:
Steven Kaziyev and
Diana Jackson put their hands
in the air on the dance floor.
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Below: As
much as Ari had already
delivered, including a great
Bond-like mini-movie showing
Josh's journey to that special
point in time, he had something
else up his sleeve. When Ari
throws a party, odds are there
is going to be a celebrity
sighting.
The crowd
(especially its younger members)
went ballistic when rap/hip hop
star
Sean Kingston
showed up
and delivered an impromptu
live
concert.
You did not want to be caught
near the front of the stage when
the crush began!
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After Sean
Kingston departed, the party
went on with dancing and
desserts - a phenomenal
procession of rich after dinner
delights that could cause you to
gain five pounds from just
looking at
them. When it was all said and
done a lot of people left with
the feeling that nothing would
ever top this
Hollywood level production. And
maybe nothing will, but as long
as Mr. Goldberger is still
around I wouldn't bet on
it...and who knows what
Josh (and his children
and his children's children)
have in store? There will be
much more life to
celebrate as the
decades ahead unfold.
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(Posted June
17, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130617.htm |
Why
a Webcast from New Jersey May Be This Weekend's
Best Show and What Ari Goldberger Has to Do With
It
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If
you have been in the domain business
for anything length of time, you know Ari
Goldberger (or know he is). Ari, whose
fascinating life story was told in a June 2006
DNJournal Cover
Story, is one of the industry's
leading attorneys
(as well as a very successful domain
investor/developer, most recently represented by
his MD.com
and Songs.com
sites), who has won many landmark cases
involving top tier domain names.
Though
he has been an entrepreneur since he was a kid,
business, in terms of his priorities, has always
taken a back seat to his family. He is
somewhat famous for pulling out all the
stops for major life events involving his wife Sharon
or their kids. Last
year in this column, when Monkees lead
singer Davy Jones passed away, I told
you about a surprise birthday
party Ari threw for Sharon in 2006. Sharon
loves monkeys (the animal variety), but
since safety (and, I would
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Ari
Goldberger speaking at the 2013
TRAFFIC Las Vegas conference (5/30/13)
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assume,
local ordinances) made it unwise to turn any of
those loose at the party, Ari actually hired
Davy Jones to come and sing! He wound up both performing
and hanging out with the guests in an event that
lives on in this YouTube
video.
This weekend the
Goldberger family will be celebrating another big
event - their son Josh's bar mitzvah
- and, while there is no telling what Ari
has in store, it is a virtual certainty that it
will be over the top. That being the
case, and with a number of Goldberger's domain
industry friends also converging in Cherry
Hill, New Jersey for the festivities, we
will also be going to cover it for you and to
share this milestone event with a longtime
friend of both ours and the industry's at
large.
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Just one
indication of how big Ari's plans are is
the website he has set up at JoshGoldberger.com.
There you can actually watch the entire
evening LIVE on the web - starting
with the bar mitzvah ceremony at 5:30pm
U.S. |
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Eastern time Saturday
(June 15 - hence the James Bond inspired
Agent 0615 graphic in the site's
logo above and the 007 music that will
greet you when you arrive at the
site).
After the bar
mitzvah ceremony, guests will make the
short trip from the synagogue to the nearby Westin
Mount Laurel Hotel where the
celebration will continue until who knows
when. The answers will be forthcoming - in
the meantime Mazel Tov to the Goldberger
family! |
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(Posted June
13, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130613.htm
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Frank
Schilling Announces Improvements at
DomainNameSales.com Designed to Help Sellers
Move More Names
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As
I wrote about
in our November 2012 Cover
Story, Frank Schilling made a
major impact on the domain monetization
and sales spaces last year with his new
offerings at InternetTraffic.com
and DomainNameSales.com.
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Frank
and his team were not content to rest on the
many laurels that immediately came their way so
they have been continually working to improve
their already impressive services ever since
they debuted. The latest example of that
came Monday when Schilling sent out a letter to
DomainNameSales (DNS) clients announcing version
2.5 of the innovative DomainNameSales.com
site.
In
addition to an improved process flow in
handling leads generated by the sales banners
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and
detailed explanation of the domain's value
on DNS landers that was just unveiled, Schilling
promised additional significant changes
in the days immediately ahead. "In the
coming weeks we will roll out additional process
flow improvements and a payment plan for
qualified partners. We have a new team of
sub-brokers lead by Dan Adamson to focus
specifically on partner leads. In about a
month, an improved APP will allow
additional powers in responding or assigning
leads to brokers. I can not overstate the
power in the desktop and mobile CRM we've built
for you," Schilling said.
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Above:
An example of a new DomainNameSales.com
landing page that has proven effective in
generating more sales leads by providing a detailed
explanation of why the domain merits the
price requested and providing multiple easy
methods for a potential buyer to make an
inquiry or contact a broker (online or by
phone).
Below:
Once an inquiry is placed, the next page
introduces the buyer to a broker who stands
ready to help them and reply to questions via
text messages or by phone.
Schilling
said, "If
you take the time to embrace our platform I'm
convinced you'll see there is nothing else like
it on the Web. I would not leave my sales
platform for any price. It has
increased the value of my names because I can
extract deals and value where I couldn't without
the tools we offer. DNS should help me boutique
about $15 million in names this year.
Millions of dollars in deals would remain on the
table without the sales team and selling
infrastructure provided by our platform."
Schilling
added, "In
two weeks we intend to allow you to use a true
buy-it-now pricing on low priced names, with
instant completion through Escrow.com.
I'm especially proud of our development team
past and present for the amount of effort that
has gone into building a framework to allow you
to sell names on your own and with brokers from any
company.
"
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(Posted June
11, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130611.htm
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For
the First Time a European Will
Chair ICANN's Registrar Stakeholder Group -
Honor Goes to Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon
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Better
late than never!
Despite the huge role European countries play in
the global domain industry no one from the
continent has ever chaired ICANN's
Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG)
until now. Michele
Neylon, the CEO of Blacknight,
Ireland’s
leading domain registrar and hosting company,
was elected unanimously to the position by his
peers this week. The RrSG is one of several
Stakeholder Groups within the ICANN community
and is the representative body of domain
name Registrars worldwide - one
that works to ensure the interests of Registrars
and their customers are effectively advanced.
Neylon,
who previously served as the Secretary to
the RrSG, said, "It is an honor to have
been elected Chair of the Registrar Stakeholder
Group. Acting as an executive member of this
group has been a valuable experience and I look
forward to continuing to do excellent work with
a great team.”
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Blacknight
CEO Michele Neylon
new Chair of the
ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group
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Neylon
added, “As the group’s only European
executive committee member, I bring a unique but
vital perspective to the team. Around 21.6%
of the world’s Internet users are located in
Europe and it is vital that their needs are
represented in this forum.”
Outgoing
RrSG Chair Matt Serlin said, "Congratulations
to Michele Neylon. With all of his years of
participation in Internet governance and ICANN,
I can think of no one more qualified for this
post and look forward to his successful
leadership of the group during this critical
time."
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(Posted June
7, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130607.htm
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InterNetX's
Rapidly Growing DomainShop Expects New gTLDs to
Push Their White Label Registration &
Hosting Solution to New Heights
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Many
domain investors
(including me) are able to operate their own
domain registration and/or hosting businesses
by using white label solutions
offered by some the biggest players in those
spaces. They allow you to put your own brand on
the robust platforms they have already built and
do it at a very low cost. The
InterNetX DomainShop
was recognized as a leader in that category
last month when they were awarded the 1st
Prize for Domain Services at this year's Hosting
& Service Provider Summit in Frankfurt,
Germany. As
most of you know, InterNetX,
is one of the biggest registrars based in
Europe. Their DomainShop offering is
a
an e-commerce solution that allows you to
offer your customers domain registrations in
more than 300 ccTLDs and gTLDs as
well as preregistration for new gTLDs
that will be arriving soon. DomainShop
lets you set up your own online store to
provide domains, hosting products, email
services and a website builder with InterNetX
providing the complete infrastructure, as well
as tools for support, billing and payment. With
them taking care of the grunt work it is a lot
easier to get up to speed and spend your time on
marketing and sales.
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DomainShop
Director of Sales Markus Galler accepting
the 1st Prize for Domain Services at
the 2013 Hosting & Service Provider Summit
in Frankfurt, Germany.
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InterNetX
Founder Hakan Ali said, "With the
introduction of new gTLDs, we’re convinced
that DomainShop provides the optimal solution
for new gTLD applicants and domain resellers to
sell their own domain endings. A number of new
gTLD applicants are already using DomainShop to
offer their TLDs."
Hundreds
of new gTLDs are expected to being arriving
later this year, dramatically increasing the
name space. International companies like Google,
Amazon and Microsoft are among
those that have applied to run their own
extensions. InterNetX believes that will lead to
a surge in demand for domains that will
keep DomainShop on its current trajectory of
rapid growth.
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(Posted June
5, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130605.htm
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BrandBucket
Founder Says Business is Brisk for Brandable
Domains - Plus T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Offers Early Bird
Discount for October Show in Florida
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In
the domain business
category defining generic domain names
has traditionally attracted the most attention,
but these days we continue to hear more and more
about the promise of brandable domains.
The impending wave of new gTLDs will
market themselves as brandable (and they hope,
memorable) alternatives to dominant but more
expensive .com domains.
|
|
Margot
Bushnaq
BrandBucket.com Founder |
Of
course, .com has always been the leader in
brandable names too. Even with new gTLD
alternative coming, Margot Bushnaq,
the founder BrandBucket.com
(launched in 2007 as the first major sales
site dedicated to brandable names) says
more buyers than ever are buying brandable
.coms from her company's platform. She
started BrandBucket with her own domains
but more than three years ago she
opened the site to other sellers as
well. Ms.
Bushnaq said that on its current pace,
BrandBucket.com will hit $1 million
in sales this year. She added, "In
the past four years, the average selling
price for a domain name on BrandBucket has
increased from $2,000 to almost
$3,000. We have seen tremendous interest
in non-keyword, short, pronounceable .com
domain names, and the steady increase in
sale prices that we are seeing year over
year prove that there is a serious
market for these types of names." |
Ms.
Bushnaq said that over the past three years
BrandBucket has paid out $1.3 million to
domain owners who have sold through the site and
logo designers who create the logos that
accompany the domains. "Due to increased
demand and sales doubling each year,
BrandBucket is stepping up its efforts to
increase its inventory (currently around 1,500
domains) by recruiting domain owners with
quality brandable domain names," Ms.
Bushnaq said, adding "BrandBucket will
remain focused on maintaining prices at an affordable
point for startups."
|
|
One other
note today - the 2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Las Vegas conference just
ended, but the show's annual
Florida event is still ahead -
just over four months away when
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. returns to the Ritz
Carlton on Fort Lauderdale Beach where
successful shows were held in 2011
and 2012.
If you act very
quickly you can attend the fall show
at a deeply discounted rate - just $995
(about half what it will cost if
you wait until October to register). The
$995 deal was supposed to end today but
show organizers decided to extend the
offer until 5pm (U.S. Eastern time)
Wednesday, June 5. That is less
than 24 hours from the time I am writing
this, so register
now if you want to attend for
hundreds of dollars less than others will
be paying as the shows draw closer.
Speaking of
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas, we will be
publishing a full review in our next Cover
Story this week featuring dozens of
previously unseen photos. |
The
Fort Lauderdale Beach Ritz Carlton
where the next T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference gets underway Oct. 20,
2013. |
|
|
(Posted June
4, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130604.htm
|
|
Breakfast
of Champions: Why the Final Hour at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas 2013 Was One of the
Show's Best
|
|
I'm
back home
after another pleasant and highly productive T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
conference, the 25th show in pioneering
series that ended Saturday morning (June 1) at
the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
My last
post from Las Vegas had highlights from
the final 24 hours of the big event with the
exception of Saturday morning's Farewell
Breakfast (we had to head for the airport
right after that, so I didn't get a chance
to include it until now).
Above:
A scene from the Farewell Breakfast at
the 2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas conference Saturday
morning (June 1) at the Bellagio Hotel.
|
 |
At
left: Holland's Hennie Groot Lipman
fuels up for his long trip home at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'S farewell breakfast
buffet.
I didn't want
to leave the farewell breakfast out of our
show coverage because it is much more
than an afterthought - in fact it is
one of my favorite things about
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. The work is all done, there
are no more sessions to prepare for or
appointments you have to keep - just an
opportunity to spend a final hour
or two with great friends and
colleagues in the show's most relaxing
environment. In my opinion, spending that
quiet time with them is the perfect
way to end a busy week before everyone
heads their separate ways.
A lot of
people leave town the night before, or
early before this breakfast, but I
make it a point to leave time in my travel
schedule for it. Over the years some of
the most valuable time I've spent
at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. has been at this
breakfast. |
There
usually aren't more than two or three dozen
people in the room at any one time, so it gives
you time to do some table hopping and often see
people you didn't get a chance to see earlier in
the week. It feels like the clock has
basically been stopped and you can enjoy longer
conversations than you were able to during
the more hectic business days of the conference.
What
would breakfast be without coffee? And
what would our industry be without our own
gregarious "Mr.Coffee" - Coffee.org
owner Bill McClure (at left) with T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder Howard Neu at Saturday
morning's Farewell Breakfast. Bill was
also the guy who got Bouquet.com for $30,000
in Thursday's live domain auction at
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas.
After
breakfast those who stayed through the final
minutes of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas 2013 started
making their way home. Many of them were already
planning to do it all again when T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
returns October 20 for the start of their
9th anniversary show at the Ritz
Carlton on Florida's Fort Lauderdale
Beach. I'll be there, of course, and you can
bet I'll be at that Farewell Breakfast again!
|
|
(Posted June
3, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130603.htm
|
|
Photos & Highlights From
Friday's Closing Day of the 2013 T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Las Vegas Conference |
|
The 2013
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las
Vegas
conference
closed with a busy day and night of
activity Friday (May 31) at the
beautiful
Bellagio Hotel. The final
business day began with a breakfast
sponsored by
Email.biz where company
founder Anshul Goyal
(in the photo at right) provided guests with
information about
the innovative email service
we wrote about in December.
I also spoke
during the breakfast session, filling in
attendees on the latest trends in the
domain aftermarket. I broke down
results from the 1st quarter
of this year and also provided an update
on how things have been going in the
current 2nd quarter where the weekly
sales volume level has been almost
identical to 1Q-2013.
|
 |
After breakfast it was time for The Adam
Dicker Show - an entertaining and
informative session in which
DNForum.com owner and
TheArtOfTheName.com blogger
Adam Dicker shared many of the secrets
that have made him one of the most successful
entrepreneurs in the domain space. After Dicker
was a huge hit in a similar session at
last fall's T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference
at Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida,
show organizers asked him to come to Las Vegas
with an even bigger presentation and Dicker (at
right in the photo below) delivered,
deftly fielding questions from
DomainSherpa.com's Michael Cyger
during a fast moving 90-minute session that
seemed more like 9.
Australia's Michael Gilmour of
ParkLogic.com (at right in the
photo below with interviewer Braden
Pollock (at left) and T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder/Show Moderator Howard Neu)
closed out the morning session with another
round of valuable information. Gilmour,
one of the industry's nicest and most
universally respected leaders, shared
his expertise in domain monetization in a
discussion labeled "The Truth About Your
Traffic."
 |
During the lunch hour
that followed veteran domain investor
Richard Lau, who also
serves as Executive Director of
The Water School, provided
an update on the big Water Night
fund raising party held
Thursday night
at Planet Hollywood's PBR Rock
Club. Lau said donations from
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ($50 for each show
attendee who went to Water Night) and
additional donations made by domain
investors at the party ran the total
raised to over $25,000.
Lau raised even more
during the lunch hour. He tried to give
away a Ipad mini
(donated by
DomainHoldings) but
Adam Dicker yelled out from the audience
that he should auction it for the Water
School instead. So Lau did so and picked up
another $550 from the
winning bidder - Dicker! (who paid
almost twice the retail value of the
tablet).
|
Also during lunch SEO guru Jason
Hennessy from
EversparkInteractive.com (at left in the photo
below) shared some great search engine
optimization tips with Braden Pollock (at right)
again ably serving in the interviewer's role, drawing a string of valuable tips from Hennessy
that would be of special benefit to domain
investors.
The final business session of
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas was the traditional
Meeting of the Chiefs, an always
popular 90-minute panel discussion featuring
eight industry
leaders who covered a broad range of territory
prompted by moderator Howard Neu. The
panelists (left to right in the photo below)
were Michael Gilmour
(ParkLogic.com), Dwayne Walker
(Oversee.net), Adam Dicker
(ArtOfTheName.com), Donny Simonton
(Voodoo.com) followed - on the right side of the
podium - by Ammar Kubba
(ThoughtConvergence.com), John Smrekar
(InternetTraffic.com), Dr. Chris
Hartnett (Global Media) and Joe
Styler (GoDaddy.com).
With business out of the way it was time for
T.R.A.F.F.I.C.'s Closing Night Party and
Celebration at the Bellagio. There was
something extra to celebrate
this year. Friday night was Vishal
Manjalani's birthday. Vijal (standing
at center in the black jacket below) is a
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. regular who represents
Directi's
Skenzo unit. His warm personality
and professionalism have won him many friends
and admirers. In another example of the "we are
family" nature of T.R.A.F.F.I.C. the show's
organizers surprised Vishal with one of the most
elaborate and beautiful birthday cakes
I've ever seen (and it tasted as good as it
looks)!
The closing night party was scheduled to run
until 10pm, but ran past 11pm
when hotel staffers who wanted to go home
finally shooed everyone out - and even then a
couple of dozen stood in the hall and continued
chatting for almost another hour!
There will be one last chance for those still in
town to get together this morning when
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. hosts a Farewell
Breakfast at the Bellagio. We will be
on our way back to Florida immediately after
that but I'll have a few shots from that last
get together for you in Monday's Lowdown post.
I've shared as much of the show experience as
possible while on the run this week but will
have a more detailed final account including
many unseen photos in a new Cover Story
review that will be out next week.
This was yet another well-run and
productive T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference (the 25th
in the show's 9-year history) staged by
co-founders Rick Schwartz and
Howard Neu with the
indispensable help of their wives Alina
Schwartz and Barbara Neu,
Barbara & Howard's son Ray Dillman Neu
and Kimberly Howard.
Thanks to all of your for your tireless
efforts to assure your guests had a
rewarding and enjoyable experience they won't
forget. Next stop
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Fort Lauderdale Beach
beginning on October 20, 2013! |
|
(Posted June
1, 2013)
To refer others
to the
post above only you
can use this
URL:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2013/dailyposts/20130601.htm |
|
|
|
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you've been out of the loop lately, catch up in the Lowdown
Archive!
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Lowdown, so please email [email protected]
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