|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The
Lowdown
July 2022 Archive
Welcome to
the
Lowdown from
DN Journal - your source
for notable news and information from all
corners
of the global
domain name industry!
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN
Journal
Editor & Publisher
Ron Jackson. |
|
|
|
Rick
Schwartz Returning to Domain Conference Spotlight
to Talk About Negotiating at NamesCon Global
|
It
has been a long time coming, but Domain
King Rick Schwartz has finally
been lured back into a major domain conference
spotlight by NamesCon
Global. As the co-founder of the
legendary T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference (with Howard
Neu), Rick's name was synonymous with
conferencing for a full decade stretching
from the industry's first
major conference in 2004 to the last
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference in
2014. |
|
Since
then the outspoken industry pioneer has retained a
high visibility profile through frequent posts on
his popular Twitter
feed and occasional articles at RicksBlog.com.
However, other than a semi-private event he hosted
in Asheville
in 2019, Rick hasn't sat down for a long
form live conference conversation
since T.R.A.F.F.I.C. wrapped. That will change
during NamesCon Global 2022's four-day run in
Austin, Texas August 31 through September
3 when Rick will discuss The Art of
Negotiating in a masterclass with
star broker Kate Buckley from BuckleyMedia.com.
Their 5:15pm session will be the the grand
finale of the opening day of business in the Bodis
Keynote Hall on August 31.
Kate
Buckley |
Kate,
who has been a fixture at or near the top of
the DNJournal sales charts for years, will
be in Austin while Rick will teleconference
in for the talk. With many multiple
millions of dollars worth of domain
sales under their belts, there are few
people on the planet who are as well
qualified to provide insight into effective
negotiating methods as this pair. One
thing that will make this conversation
especially interesting is that Kate and Rick
have very different personalities and their
own ideas about how to successfully
negotiate (think velvet glove versus iron
fist), yet they both end up consistently
arriving at the same destination - a
successful sale.
If
you are considering registering
for NamesCon, this is a good
time to do it. They have a 45% off
summer sale in effect but the deal expires August
1 so the clock is ticking on that
offer. We will, oif course, be in Austin,
and hope to see you there!
|
|
(Posted
July 27, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220727.htm
*****
|
With
the Success of Titan Business Email It May Be Time
for Bhavin Turakhia to Put Out a Greatest Hits
Album
|
Over
the past 20+ years brothers Bhavin
Turakhia and Divyank Turakhia have
founded so many wildly successful businesses (both
collectively and individually) that it's
becoming hard to keep track of them all. You can
go all the way back to 1998 when they
founded Directi and grew it into the domain
industry giant they sold
for
$160 million in 2014. That turned
out to be just an appetizer for what was to
come as the young entrepreneurs spread their wings
into multiple fields. Divyank followed with a $900
million sale of Media.net in
2016 while Bhavin founded (and still runs) rapidly
growing new gTLD registry Radix,
Zeta,
Flock.com
and his latest success, business email powerhouse,
Titan. Zeta and Flock are currently
valued at approximately $1.5
billion each while Titan,
founded in 2018, has already rocketed to around $300
million. There
is only one way an entrepreneur can score
that big, with different products, time after
time. You obviously have |
Bhavin
Turakhia (left) and Divyank Turakhia
on the cover of Forbes India in
December 2018.
|
to build a great team
around you but
since consumers have the final vote, job one
- each and every time - has to be to deliver real
value. What the Turakhias have proven is they
know how to build, develop and bring to market outstanding,
innovative, yet value-priced products that the
public is invariably drawn to.
For the
umpteenth time, Bhavin is making it happen again
with his latest baby - a titan that is already
living up its towering name. Titan has emerged as the highest-rated email software on globally recognized
research and review platform G2.com, with a rating of
4.8/5, to shoot past long established products
like Microsoft Outlook and Google
Workspace. Titan, specifically designed
for professionals and small businesses, was awarded the
#1 position in Customer Service for Email in
G2’s Summer 2022
Report that ranks the world's best
software products based on authentic reviews from real users.
Titan also received top
rankings for Ease of Use and Implementation.
Titan's
stack of G2 2022 Summer Awards
Titan is available through leading Web-presence providers around the world, notably
WordPress.com, Hostinger and Name.com.
Their customers mentioned the product’s aesthetics and the company’s philosophy of
taking direct input from users to
co-create the product as the most significant factors that contribute to their ratings. Within the last two quarters, Titan has risen to be among the top five products by G2 in business email and now serves
300,000 small businesses in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Bhavin
Turakhia explained why he chose business email for
his latest endeavor. "We invested in email as a
category because we believe small businesses are underserved
by expensive, overbuilt tools that have not
innovated meaningfully in years. The
recognition and the awards only validate our belief
that we’re co-creating the future of email with
our users.”
Another
remarkable thing about Bhavin's string of hits is
that he is still just 42
years old (and Divyank is only 40)! So, if Titan is
the last track needed for an entrepreneurial
Greatest Hits album, it would still have to be
labeled Volume 1 because there is undoubtedly
more to come.
|
(Posted
July 20, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220720.htm
*****
|
Internet
Commerce Association (ICA) Announces 5 Nominees
for the 2022 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award
|
The
Internet
Commerce Association (ICA) has
announced five nominees for the 6th Annual Lonnie
Borck Memorial Award that recognizes
individuals who have made extraordinary
contributions toward fostering "a
sense of community within the domain name
industry." In
April everyone in the industry (whether they were
an ICA
member or not) was invited
to submit a nomination for the prestigious award
with those submissions producing the top nominees
named today. They are
(alphabetically by last name) Andrew
Allemann, Gerry Levine, Todd Ryan,
Nikul Sanghvi and Elliot Silver. The
next step of the process is now underway with ICA
members voting for their choices from among those
five. That will yield a final three, with
the |
|
ICA's
Board
of Directors then selecting a winner
who will be named during the NamesCon
Global conference that gets underway
in Austin, Texas August 31. |
The
award was created in 2016 in honor of the late
great domain investor and humanitarian, Lonnie
Borck, who unexpectedly passed at the age of
47. The
first three Lonnie Borck Memorial Award recipients
were chosen based on their exceptional efforts in "championing
the rights of domain name registrants" and,
as such, those came from the legal arena. Starting
with the 2020 award, the criteria was broadened
to include every corner of the domain industry. The
previous winners of the Lonnie Borck Memorial
Award were:
2017 - David
Weslow
2018 - John
Berryhill
2019 - Kathy
Kleiman
2020 - Ron
Jackson
2021 - Michael
Cyger
The ICA released these notes about each of this
year's nominees:
|
Andrew
Allemann
When
it comes to important policy issues
confronting domain name investors, Andrew
consistently assists the community by
exploring the issue and getting its message
out in a highly credible and understandable
manner to the wider domain name industry.
Through thousands of posts over 17 years, he
has covered all aspects of the industry and
his addition of in-depth podcast interviews
have educated us, entertained us and
introduced us to many of the most creative
people in the industry. |
|
|
Gerry
Levine
Gerry
has devoted countless hours over many years
to create the definitive scholarly guide to
the policy that most affects domain name
investors, the UDRP. He started and hosts a
unique and remarkable weekly call bringing
together domain name attorneys from diverse
backgrounds, in particular brand-side
attorneys and respondent side attorneys, for
a collegial, educational discussion of legal
matters. The opportunity he created for
attorneys who are typically on opposite
sides of disputes to have open and friendly
conversation has led to better understanding
of each others' perspectives and may be the
single most important development to promote
a better understanding of the legitimacy of
domain name investment among UDRP panelists. |
|
|
Todd
Ryan
Todd
Ryan's weekly calls with David Michaels, and
more recently Jeff Newman, on Clubhouse have
helped hundreds of people who are new to
domain name investing by educating them
about avoiding the pitfalls of investing in
infringing domain names, informing them of
best practices, sharing the nuances of how
the UDRP affects domain name investors, and
setting them on the road to success. It has
also led to several of his listeners
learning about the ICA and choosing to join
as members. |
|
|
Nikul
Sanghvi
Nikul's
radical transparency about his business
financials and his willingness to share his
journey has helped usher in a period of
increased openness about our businesses that
have helped all domain name investors. Nikul
was also instrumental in setting up the new
Discord server for the ICA and thereby
helping create a greater sense of community
among ICA members. |
|
|
Elliot
Silver
Elliot's
daily blogs sharing his perspectives and
newsworthy events along with his willingness
to engage with commentators and on social
media has brought him a large and loyal
following. He has built one of the largest
communities within the domain name industry.
In addition, each year he puts his body on
the line to raise funds for the Pan-Mass
Challenge to fight cancer and brings the
domain community together in support of this
worthy cause. |
Congratulations
to all of the nominees and thank you for
your contribution to the domain community - the
recognition is well deserved!
|
(Posted
July 18, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220718.htm
*****
|
Two
New Reports Shed Light on Domain Sales Trends &
Sedo Makes It Easier to Find Names with Traffic
|
The
domain business continues to boom
creating a steady stream of news that made
it feel like Friday came up quicker than usual
this week! That left me with several bits of good
information to pass on to you before we head into
the weekend. Let's start with a couple of reports
on domain trends, including one that just
came out today - the monthly XYZ
Registry Domain Report covering June
2022. |
|
In addition to
breaking down results from the company's flagship .xyz
TLD the report covers highlights from the other
extensions the registry operates
including .lol, .security and .beauty,
to name just a few. The registry logged 146
premium registrations in June, led by Travel.xyz
with an MSRP of $13,000. Aftermarket
sales were also detailed with the $28,000
sale of Redeem.xyz topping that channel,
followed by Mozart.xyz at $10,000.
All told, the registry racked up over $98,300
in aftermarket sales with the average sale coming
in at $1,117.
The most popular SLD keywords
in June for .xyz registrations were web,
art, meta, app, bet, verse, shop, dao, nft and
tech. These notes just scratch the surface of the full
report, so check that out for all of the
details.
|
Back on the
.com front, the latest quarterly Liquid
Market
Report from the GGRG
Brokerage covering Q2-2022
is out. This report focuses on short
acronym and numeric domains that, due
to steady demand, tend to have more
liquidity than most other domain
categories. These are .com
domains comprised of 2-4 letters, 2-5
numbers or a combination of 2-3 characters
mixing letters and numbers.
At first
glance, seeing total aftermarket sales
volume for liquid domains soar 185%
from the previous quarter (jumping from
$3.6 million to $10.3 million)
was a shock - but then you remember the
$3.8 million IT.com sale closed |
in
June which would account for much of that surge.
Still, even if you take IT.com out of the
mix, the total would be up 86%
from the previous quarter.
The third
quarter for this category also looks
to be off to a great start - just yesterday
we reported the sales of DDL.com at
$359,000 and GRT.com at $300,000. |
|
|
One other note,
while we are talking about domain values -
domains that have traffic continue to
be in high demand but they can be hard to
find. Sedo just made that task easier
on their marketplace by adding a
new filter function to search
for names based on their traffic counts. The
numbers returned reflect views over the
preceding 31 days.
Once
you find ones with raw numbers you like, you
should do some more research to try
to determine the quality of that traffic as
that will be the key to whether or not it
can be monetized. |
|
(Posted
July 15, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220715.htm
|
*****
|
Four
New 6-Figure Domain Sales Totaling Over $1.1
Million Revealed - Kate Buckley's Lucky Day Plays
Big Role
|
Our
next bi-weekly domain
sales report (coming out
Wednesday evening, July 20) is already shaping up
to be a big one. In the last 24 hours alone we've
learned about four six-figure sales
(and a fifth sale under NDA that almost certainly
fell in the same range). The
top sale in that quartet was DDL.com, a
domain that changed hands in a private transaction
for $359,000 (the seller is well-known to
us but prefers to remain anonymous). The next
highest new sale was also from the perennially
popular 3-letter .com class - GRT.com at $336,600.
The buyer is a large jewelry company based in India
that has been operating from GRTJewels.com.
Again this was also a private transaction (one
handled by a veteran broker who provided us
with documentation verifying the details). |
Image
from Bigstock
|
Kate
Buckley |
Filling out the
quartet are two six-figure sales that
were handled by Kate Buckley at Buckley
Media - Kindness.com at $227,002
and Patience.com at $221,780.
Kate not only made both sales, she received
the funds from both on the same day -
July 7. But wait, there's more! :-)
Kate also made
the NDA sale I referenced above. That domain
was Eclipse.com and while the price
was not disclosed the name alone will tell
you why I am certain the sale was for at
least six figures. Now, for the real
kicker - payment for Eclipse.com came in
the same day as the other two -
July 7, completing the kind of trifecta
one can only dream about. It's the kind of
Groundhog Day none of us would mind
repeating over and over again! |
|
(Posted
July 14, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220714.htm
*****
|
Public
Interest Register Expands Its .ORG Family of Top
Level Domains with Three New TLDs
|
Public
Interest Registry
(PIR), the non-profit organization that
administers the .ORG top level domain
- and leading provider of mission-driven domains -
today announced the
addition of the .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION
and .GIVES TLDs to the .ORG family of
domains. The three newcomers are all available
through PIR authorized domain
registrars.
With
the addition of these TLDs, the PIR portfolio now
includes .ORG, .NGO, .ONG, Internationalized
Domain Names (IDN version of .ORG in other
languages/character sets), .CHARITY,
.FOUNDATION, and .GIVES. PIR announced
that .GIVING will also be officially added
to PIR’s growing family later this year.
The
new additions represent a step forward in PIR’s
strategic plan to fulfill its commitment to
serving the public interest online and empowering
mission-driven organizations to engage with
their communities and advance positive change in
the world.
Jon
Nevett, CEO of Public Interest Registry, said'
"Options are good. We want
mission-driven organizations to have more tools
in their toolboxes to connect with each of their
specific audiences with the important work
they’re doing to power meaningful progress in
their communities. If your organization
aims to do good, you’re a fit for the .ORG
family of domains—from corporations launching a
corporate social responsibility initiative, to
mission-driven social enterprises, to non-profit
organizations large and small. Our .ORG family of
domains is for everyone working to make a
positive impact in the world.” |
|
PIR
expects the
trustworthiness and security of the .ORG domain and
its fellow domain family members to provide
a multitude of benefits for mission-driven
organizations and detailed those in a news release
today:
-
Create
Dedicated Websites for Specific Campaigns and
Initiatives: Mission-driven entities
can leverage .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION, and .GIVES
to establish a standalone website for a specific
campaign or project, serving as a complement to
their primary website. Dedicated websites and
microsites can help streamline communication and
navigation, as well as signal to an audience
that an initiative is an area of focus. For
example, a for-profit entity could create a
microsite using .GIVES or .FOUNDATION for their
charitable arm or a corporate social
responsibility initiative—conveying a
commitment to doing good.
-
Clearly
Signal a Purpose: Choosing a TLD such as
.CHARITY, .FOUNDATION, and .GIVES as an
organization’s primary online home can help
send a clear signal about its specific purpose.
For example, .FOUNDATION can be used by
philanthropic entities to immediately and easily
communicate their identity and purpose.
Additionally, in countries such as the United
Kingdom, where people refer to non-profits as
charities, .CHARITY would immediately signal
that a website belongs to a non-profit
organization.
-
Secure
a Desired Domain Name: When a mission-driven
organization aims to launch its website or
e-mail address, they may find that their desired
name is already taken on some of the larger top
level domains, such as .ORG. PIR’s newly
expanded .ORG family of domains offers more
opportunities to secure a website name that
might be taken on legacy top level domains like
.ORG. For example, smaller, startup non-profits
may want to use .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION or .GIVES
as their main domain from the outset, especially
if they cannot secure their preferred name on
.ORG.
Mission-driven
organizations can purchase .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION and
.GIVES—and any of the other members of the .ORG
family of domains—through accredited
registrars listed on PIR’s website.
.GIVING—which can be used to create a dedicated
space for specific fundraising efforts by social
enterprises, corporations with a commitment to CSR,
and non-profits of all sizes—will launch in 2022
and be available to all in 2023.
|
(Posted
July 12, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220712.htm
*****
|
NamesCon
Global Releases Ambitious Agenda for Next Month's
Return to In-Person Conferencing in Austin
|
The two-and-a-half
year wait for a chance to see your domain
industry friends and colleagues face to face
again is about to end! The first major domain
industry business event since NamesCon Global
in January
2020 is coming up fast now with NamesCon
set to return August 31 through
September 3, 2022. While a global pandemic has
changed the timing, the place remains the
same as where we left off in 2020, the downtown Omni
Hotel, in Austin, Texas. |
|
A
huge step in the road back to normalcy, the release
of the full conference
agenda (other than some space reserved
for most timely late additions) has now happened and
it outlines a lot of sessions worth getting excited
about, especially given the ambitious scope of
this show that encompasses everything related to the world of
digital assets including domain names, NFTs and
other emerging elements of a new economy.
I
know I am bit biased on this point, but one
session I'm especially looking forward to is
the very first business session in
the Bodis Keynote Hall at 11:05am on
Opening Day, August 31 (right after the
Welcome Address from Soeren Von Varchmin,
the Chairman of Namescon's Supervisory
Board) . That's because I'll be on stage
then to have a Fireside Chat with the
multi-talented Christian
Calvin.
Christian
is a veteran domain investor that many of
you have come to know over his more than 10
years in the business, but the Tennessee
native is also a prolific abstract
expressionist artist
with a unique style that is attracting a
significant following (Nashville's
newspaper, The
Tennessean, just covered a major
exhibition of Christian's work).
As
a guy who has always been tuned in to the
latest technology, it won't surprised you to
hear he is marrying his large scale canvas
artwork with the cutting age NFT
market. We'll be talking about how
|
Christian
Calvin
Domain Investor/Artist |
creative
people can use their experience
with domains and other digital assets to do
things that weren't possible before now -
but that's just the start. During the show,
Christian will be creating a painting for
the NamesCon community and will be doing
it live, giving the audience a chance
to see the entire process as an artistic
idea is rendered in physical form! |
Dozens
of business sessions will follow in the Keynote
Hall and on the Breakout Stage over the
remainder of Opening Day and the next two business days
- Thursday, September 1 (also the
day of the Live
Domain & NFT Auction that starts at
3PM Central Daylight Time) and Friday, September
2. The big event will close Saturday, September
3 with a day devoted entirely to socializing.
NamesCon's Fun
Day will be filled with conversation,
collaboration, celebration, eating, drinking and
table hopping at Austin's famous Banger’s
Sausage House and Beer Garden (you can bring a
Plus-One, too)!
A
blast from the past
- Fun Day at the last NamesCon Global
conference in January 2020 (also at Banger's in
Austin, Texas). Left to right are attendees Krinal
Mehta, Prakhar Bindal and Aishwin
Vikhona.
The
agenda is far too big for us to do justice to in one
article, check
it all our for yourself, and we will continue
to fill in some of the details and late-breaking
additions in this column as we continue the
countdown to Opening Day. Registration
is open now and, as a DN Journal reader,
you can get a 20% discount using the preceding link.
If you need a room at Omni, you can also take
advantage of the special show rate NamesCon arranged
with the hotel by booking
here (don't delay as the conference's
block of rooms is limited). We hope to
see you in Austin!
|
(Posted
July 8, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220708.htm
*****
|
Happy
Impendence Day America!
|
If you
are having a problem reaching friends in the USA
today it's probably because they are having a July
4th cookout or are at the beach and looking
forward to a local fireworks show tonight. Believe
it or not, those things are even more popular than
buying and selling domains here (I know, some
people just don't know how to have a good time,
right)! In any case, if you are celebrating
America's 246th birthday today we hope you
are having a fabulous holiday wherever you
are.
By the
way, today is also the 1st birthday of the American
Domain Names website at ADN.US
- one of our stable mates at Internet Edge Inc. So
that gives them two
birthdays to celebrate after
completing their first full year focused on .US
- America's ccTLD and the first ccTLD on the
Internet (launched on February 15, 1985).
|
|
(Posted
July 4, 2022)
*****
|
Verisign
Reports Registered Domains Passed the 350 Million
Mark in 1Q-2022 with Strong Start to New Year
|
Verisign
(the administrator of the .com and .net
TLDs) has released their latest quarterly Domain
Name Industry Brief covering the 1st
quarter of 2022. The quarter ended with 350.5
million domain name registrations across all
top-level domains (TLDs) worldwide, a gain of 13.2
million domains from the same point a year
ago, representing a healthy 3.9% jump year
over year. More than half of the added domains (8.8
million of them) were added in 1Q-2022 alone,
indicating a big upswing in momentum during the
opening quarter of the year.
Verisign's
flagship .com TLD had 161.3 million registrations
at the end of 1Q-2022, up 6.7 million year
over year - a 4.3% growth rate |
|
that is almost a half point better than that of all
TLDs combined. However, Verisign's .net TLD remained
stuck at the same 13.4 million registrations
the extension had at the same time a year ago.
The
ccTLDs (country code domains) finished 1Q-2022
with 133.4 million registrations, a 2.4%
gain year over year. However, like the overall
market, momentum for the ccTLDs took a powerful
turn up in the opening quarter of this year when
their total leapt 4.7% (6 million
domains) from the previous quarter.
The new
gTLDs, who have had their ups and downs,
returned to high growth mode in the 12 month
ending March 31. They finished 1Q-2022 with 26.3
million registered domains a 15.3% surge
year over year with the addition of 3.5 million
domains. Almost half of the that gain (1.6 million
domains) came in the opening quarter, mirroring the
quick start to 2022 that we saw with both the .coms and
ccTLDs.
Numbers
for the the second quarter of the year that just
ended Thursday (June 30), won't be tabulated for
awhile, but they will be highly anticipated to see
how domains fared over the course of a full quarter
rocked by the ongoing global economic shockwaves
triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
|
(Posted
July 1, 2022) To refer
others to the post above
only (and not the full
Lowdown column) you can use this
URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2022/dailyposts/20220701.htm
*****
|
|
|
|
|
|