The new NameSummit conference that I first told you about April (with an update four weeks ago) gets underway next Monday, August 7, 2017 in New York City at the Hilton Midtown Manhattan. The two-day event will cover a much broader range of subject matter than we normally see in domain conferences - basically everything related to launching and operating a business online, including domain acquisition, website development, SEO, social media, marketing and management. The scope is so 

Back in March veteran domain industry executive Victor Pitts took on a new role as Director of  Premium Sales, Americas at Minds + Machine Group (MMX) (over the past 13 years Victor has made many friends while representing well-known companies including  Moniker, iGoldrush, DomainIt, ICM Registry and Above.com). At MMX Pitts is currently laser focused on the upcoming roll out of the new .boston TLD that will enter Sunrise next month (August 2017) and General Availability on October 10, 2017. 

Pitts is excited about the company's opportunity to manage a TLD dedicated solely to one of the greatest cities in America and the world (one that is also home to several leading companies in the domain industry). "Since the American Revolution, Boston has been the birthplace of many American leaders. The history is rich and you will find houses and buildings in Boston that are hundreds of years old next to modern skyscrapers. It is a beautiful sight to see," Pitts noted.

"Fast forward to 2017, and you will find large groups of tech startups launching in centralized areas like Kendall Square, Downtown Crossing, and Seaport, infusing 

Victor Pitts
Director of Premium Sales, Americas
Minds + Machines Group Limited

the city with the highest level of entrepreneurial energy in recent memory.  Business owners and individuals have long had a strong sense of identity and community, showing their togetherness and pride in being Boston Strong," Pitts said. 

That high degree of pride in what Boston stands for is a key reason why Pitts expects .boston to be successful. Ahead of the official launch MMX has already started taking pre-orders on premium .boston domains. He provided the domains below as examples of those being made available:

Pitts said anyone interested in discussing premium .boston domain opportunities, can contact MMX for more information at this link http://mmx.co/solutions/premium-names/

I just got an update on the new MERGE! Conference coming to Orlando October 14-18, 2017 from Jothan Frakes, who co-founded the event with Ray Dillman Neu. They've made a lot of progress since my last show update six weeks ago. MERGE! will incorporate much more than Domains with Legal, Branding, Development, User Experience, Investment, Appraisal, Startups, Technology, Design, Security and other disciplines all added to the mix.  

The first bit of news to pass along is that ticket prices for the event at the Marriott World Center will be increasing on August 1, so if you want to attend the innovative event it would be a good idea 

to take advantage of the current $499 base rate before it expires. You can register here.   

This week the unveiling of a WHIR networking event at MERGE! has created a lot of excitement in the cloud, CMS, and hosting worlds. TheWHIR has an event tomorrow (Thursday, July 27) in Toronto and upcoming events in Denver and Vancouver as well, culminating in the Orlando MERGE!.  Frakes noted, "TheWHIR has a fantastic track record in building the value of in-person interactions and their events facilitate community by providing a fun and comfortable environment to meet, mingle and do business face-to-face."

Frakes and Neu are also placing a lot of weight on Inclusion and Diversity - topics Frakes said, "are super important yet unfortunately draw smaller crowds because of the inconvenient topics." Frakes continued, "We embrace all cultures, orientations, preferences, and genders, and that's important, but we don't want to waive a flag about that, but rather quietly operate in the spirit of being inclusive about our participants, because that should be the new normal."

"By it's design, MERGE! is intended to be diverse in content, and highlight the benefits of embracing concepts and disciplines beyond a narrow, industry-specific focus. We highlight that the essential growth that companies look to in the balance of the year and into 2018 is likely to be found in the areas that your business might organically expand into," Frakes said.

There will be tracks about community relations, attracting and keeping the right talent, and other classical Diversity/Inclusion topics within the schedule, as well as a number of internationalization and universal acceptance topics. The focus there will be on highlighting the commercial markets, which will attract larger crowds by inspiring growth and opportunity.

MERGE! is less that three months away but Frakes and Neu plan to add still more sessions and tracks to the agenda before show time. The roster of moderators and speakers has expanded considerably since our last update with the addition of David Sams, Larry Fischer, Andee Hill, Bill Sweetman and Derek Newman. With more to come will update you periodically as the big event in Orlando continues to draw closer. 

Most professional domain investors have a pretty good idea of what price range different kinds of domain names would fall into but the vast majority of buyers have no idea. That's why it is commonplace for owners of, say, a 3-letter .com, to get offers of $50 to purchase an asset that consistently sells in the five to six figure range. In an effort to save everyone some time, industry expert Bill Sweetman, founder of the Name Ninja domain brokerage and consulting service, has put together a free Startup Domain Name Price Guide in a handy, easy to understand, infographic format designed to quickly educate startup business buyers who have never been through the process before.

Sweetman hopes the guide will help those  entrepreneurs avoid sticker shock from having unrealistic expectations about the fair market value of today’s most desirable domain names.

Bill Sweetman
Name Ninja

Sweetman's guide covers different types of domains that are popular with startups such as one-word .com, two-word .com and invented .com. For each type of domain, Name Ninja’s guide outlines the typical price ranges, from domains that might be unclaimed and available to register for only $10 all the way to extremely popular domains requiring an investment of six-figures or more.

Below: A snippet from Name Ninja's Startup Domain Name Price Guide. You can click on the image to bring up the complete infographic or click here for an even larger high res image of the file. 

“It’s important for startup founders to have a realistic budget in mind when commencing the naming process and hunt for the matching domain,” Sweetman said. "Startups will save themselves a lot of time and stress if they align their name and domain choices with their budget. If you’ve got your heart set on a one-word .com domain name, you’re likely going to need to invest at least six-figures. Why? Those types of domains are in short supply and have very high demand."

Sweetman's advice is based on daily requests he gets from potential clients seeking Name Ninja’s help in buying a desirable domain for their business. Name Ninja is one of a select few independent professional service firms focused on helping serial entrepreneurs, startup founders, and corporate marketers acquire domain names that are owned by third-parties. 

Verisign, the administrator of the .com and .net registries, released their quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief (covering the 1st quarter of 2017) this week. The brief is always a must read because it encompasses all domain extensions, not just those operated by Verisign.

The company reported that approximately 1.3 million domain name registrations were added to the internet in 1Q-2017, bringing the total number of domain name registrations to approximately 330.6 million across all top-level domains (TLDs) as of March 31, 2017.

That increase represents a growth rate of 3.7% year over year (11.8 million more domains registered than at the same point in 2016). The number of registrations rose 0.4% from the previous quarter (4Q-2016). That is slower than the 6.8% year over year rate (and 1.8% increase from the previous quarter) that we saw at the end of 4Q-2016.

.Com remains, by far, the most popular TLD in the world with 128.4 million of them registered at the end of 1Q-2017. The next largest gTLD, .Net, stood at 15.2 million.  Those two combined totaled approximately 143.6 million, an increase of 0.8% year over year - still moving forward though the percentage growth rate for .com/.net combined was also a good bit slower than that of the market as a whole.

ccTTLDs (country code domains) as a group also grew more slowly than the market at large. Approximately 143.1 million ccTLD domains were registered as of March 31, up 1.7% year over year and 0.3% from 4Q-2016 (as with .com/.net, the ccTLD growth rates are down from the previous quarter's report).

As new gTLDs continue to battle for market share results have varied widely among the many different registry operators. Some continue to gain ground while others have had setbacks. We are still early in the game but most agree that in the long run, the success of new gTLDs 

is going to depend on them being adopted and developed into useful websites. That's why Radix Registry is excited about a new venture launched by marketing and advertising whiz Sheeraz Hasan on Radix's .TECH extension.

Hasan, who is known for successfully creating huge social media amplification for

Fortune 100 companies through celebrity endorsements and social media influencers, has set up shop at HOLLYWOOD.TECH - an especially relevant domain as the business aims to be a bridge between Hollywood celebs, social influencers and technology companies for brand endorsements.

Explaining his affinity for the extension Hasan said, “What is better than HOLLYWOOD.TECH as the name for a website that brings together two vastly successful giants of our modern world: Hollywood and Technology! The name is concise yet descriptive, and just perfect for my business debut in the tech sector.”

Radix is part of the Directi Group, which is currently valued at $1.4 billion. In addition to .TECH, Radix operates the .ONLINE, .STORE, .WEBSITE, .SPACE, .PRESS, .SITE, .HOST and .FUN registries.

Many of you have been following the disturbing case involving Washington State grandmother HeidiPowell that I wrote about in February. Many others in both our industry and in national media have also covered this sad story. To briefly recap, Heidi's husband registered the domain name HeidiPowell.com for her as an anniversary gift in 2005. Last year a minor "celebrity" also named Heidi Powell came along and tried to buy HeidiPowell.com from the grandmother who declined the offers as the name has obvious sentimental and practical value to her. So, the "celebrity" responded by suing the grandmother and a court battle has been going in ever since, complicated by a 2012 bankruptcy the original Heidi had to go through.

Heidi Powell

The "celebrity" Heidi took advantage of that by telling the bankruptcy judge he should order the grandmother to sell the domain name to her and divide the money among her creditors. A final hearing was held on that motion Wednesday (July 12) and I was shocked and saddened to see Heidi come back from it and have to report this on Facebook (where she is a friend): "It did not go our way...The judge approved the sale of my domain to her. Proof positive that if you have all the money in the world you can do anything to anyone and get whatever it is that your heart desires, no matter who you hurt in the process. A year process to be exact."

Last month I told you about a Europe-based leader in the corporate domain management business - BrandIT - acquiring popular domain brokerage company Igloo.com. In another big move designed to expand the company's reach worldwide BrandIT has just announced a new partnership with highly respected domain industry veteran Jochen Kieler who will also serve as BrandIT's Chief Strategy Officer. 

Kieler most recently served as the Chief Sales Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development at European domain powerhouse Key-Systems. Kieler has specialized in International Corporate Management with over 16 years of experience in the Domain and Internet Industry with Key-Systems, InternetX and others.  Also known as an advisor to brand owners, domain investors and registries, Kieler is a regularly featured speaker at domain and hosting events around the world.  He was also a member of the Advisory-Team/Sales & Marketing at nTLDstats. Jochen is also the Co-Organizer of the German roundtable, Stammtisch.Domains and Co-Owner of NoticiasDeDominios.com, the best source of information for the Spanish-speaking domain community.  

At BrandIT, Kieler will be overseeing BrandIT’s international expansion and help strengthen operations as they grow.

Jochen Kieler
BrandIT Partner & CSO

The company, with clients worldwide and offices in Switzerland (HQ), Germany, United Kingdom, Denmark, Brazil and North America is known for its Domain Portfolio Services and expertise in Online Brand Protection and Enforcement and well as Legal in Digital.

BrandIT CEO Jesper Knudsen said, “We are so excited to welcome someone of Jochen’s caliber to BrandIT as we always seek to attract the most highly skilled people in the domain industry. Adding his expansive knowledge is crucial to continue and maintain the reputation BrandIT has as a leading provider in the Domain Industry."

BrandIT CEO Jesper Knudsen with newly appointed CSO & Partner Jochen Kieler.

Kieler's arrival is the latest example of BrandIT's focus on attracting the talents of industry leaders, a campaign that previously resulted in the addition of Legal in Digital expert Caroline Perriard and continued with Amanda Waltz and Tessa Holcomb coming on board in last month’s acquisition of Igloo.com. 

In addition to creating a distinctive presence in his home country - Germany - Kieler will help bring the current blending of Igloo services into the BrandIT portfolio to a successful conclusion. Kieler said, “I have been following BrandIT since it’s foundation and have long admired their excellent reputation and growth. The first big important step in going global was the Igloo.com acquisition and I now look forward to partnering with BrandIT.  Our vision is to have the best reputation in the industry world-wide.”

A major Chinese domain conference - the Global Domain Summit - just ended in Xiamen Sunday (July 9) but another one will be staged just three months from now, on Thursday, October 12, 2017, when NamesCon will present a one-day event in Shanghai. This will be the latest in a series of regional shows that complement NamesCon's multi-day main event in Las Vegas that has been re-christened NamesCon Global. The 

latter event is set for January 28-31, 2018 at the Tropicana Hotel where is has been held since NamesCon debuted in 2014.

NamesCon China will be held at the five star boutique hotel Andaz Shanghai Xintiandi in Shangahi (a concept by Hyatt). For this conference NamesCon has partnered with Racënt who, as the operator of  the largest portal for the cloud and domain industries in China, will bring vital regional experience to the event. Racënt also worked with NamesCon's parent company, World Hosting Days, to stage WHD.China in Beijing on May 23rd. 

A few weeks ago I met Shaun Wilkinson, the Director of English Speaking Markets for Nidoma.com, for the first time at the 2017 Domaining Europe conference in Berlin. Nidoma, who is based in Cologne, Germany, provides domain registration, drop catching and brokerage services. The company has been especially strong in Italy, no doubt helped by CEO &

Co-Founder Simone Ferracuti's intimate knowledge of the market (Simone is a native Italian). 

At the show, Shaun told me that last year Nidoma had been involved in the biggest Italian ccTLD (.it) domain sale ever reported and he hoped to get clearance to share the details with me. Those details came in a Skype call from Shaun today when he revealed that Nidoma had purchased Casino.it from a client themselves, paying €400,000 ($452,000 at today's exchange rate). That makes it the first six-figure .it sale reported to us and obliterates the previous high water mark - also set by Nidoma in April 2014 when then sold Like.it for €55,000 ($75,900 at the exchange rate then in effect).

Image from Bigstock

Nidoma.com CEO & Co-Founder Simone Ferracuti (above left) and Director of English Speaking Markets Shaun Wilkinson worked together to complete a €400,000 deal for Casino.it.

While Nidoma routinely sells domains for others they almost never buy domains themselves. Wilkinson said an exception was made in this case because it was part of a specifically structured deal to move the domain on to a new owner. That occurred later in 2016 when Nidoma completed a sale to the current owner for an undisclosed sum.

Both Ferracuti (who spent five years with Sedo as their Country Manager for Italy) and Wilkinson (also a Sedo alumnus) expect high dollar Italian sales to become more commonplace as time goes on. Wilkinson said, "The Italian domain market is underdeveloped but has a lot of potential, so we were extremely pleased to complete a sale that was many times higher than the previous largest recorded sale for a .it. We hope to see the market develop to the stage where six figure sales are no longer so uncommon.’

In April I told you about a new digital branding conference (incorporating domains and development related disciplines like SEO, social media and marketing) that is coming to New York City this summer. With the big event at the Hilton Midtown Manhattan, Name Summit, now just a month away a lot of the agenda details that weren't available in my original report have since been filled in. 

One of the biggest developments is veteran domain broker Andrew Rosener from MediaOptions.com  

coming on board as a Co-Producer, joining conference founders Steven Kaziyev (New York Media) and Jason Schaeffer (ESQwire.com) in that role while Jodi Chamberlain (32Events.com) serves as Conference Director.