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Comments

[Danno]

FYI:

Danger Lurks on Government Web Sites
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138151-c,onlinesafety/article.html

Dan

[Danno]

FYI:

Anthony Doesburg: Web body looks for new lord of the domain names
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10467934

Companies prepare to head off risk of cyber-squatters in new ‘.asia’ domain
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2609729.ece

Best,
Dan

[TnR Global]

Frank,

The site coolteenchat.com and a collection of related teen sites/domains are for sale. If interested, please email us at domainsale@tnrglobal.com.

Thank you,
Domain Admin
TnR Global, LLC

[Aron West]

Hi Frank,

What's your take on the new .asia TLD?

Aron

[Danno]

FYI News For October 10 2007:

Very Interesting...

Firefox Coming To Your Phone
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/10/firefox-coming-to-your-phone/

Dan

[Alex@ Water Pumps.org]

Intrigued to read the below comments which mentions our site.

////
Just another example of someone that does not understand the value of a good domain:

water-pumps.org...your kidding me...for a "retail business".

http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=20876

Peace,
Dan
////

I beg to disagree - trust me; we are more aware than you realise !
I do think you make several valid points:

1/Absolutely agree with you about .org : we would have preferred a TLD but these were not available.
2/Absolutely agree with you; would have preferred no dashes - but not available.
3/Yes; could have gone for an eg 3 word phrase domain, but we know from keyword research what users are actually searching for.
4/As a retail site selling what are effectively 'branded' goods, we have no authority to use the trademark brand name in the domain name - the use of which would have solved problems 1&2, but could have meant that we would get sued for passing off/trademark infringement as we have no legal right to do that.
4/So, in light of the above, we wanted to create a microsite which uses our given keywords and .org was the best (realistically, only) possible compromise in the circumstances.
5/ Without going into specific detail, we worked out a solution to cater for different permutations of keyword phrases which mitigate the obvious problem of dashed url.
Suffice to say, for the grand price of £3.75 domain reg the ROI has been extremely good!!

I absolutely agree with you - if you can get a TLD without dashes, then great.
However - having a great domain name will only get you so far - there is so much else to consider: seo/sem, on site conversion, web analytics etc etc. Look at the bigger picture!

[Danno]

FYI: For Thursday

Domain Strategies launches new Domain Development model
http://domainnamenews.com/editorial/domain-strategies-launches-new-domain-development-model/900

Peace!
Dan

[Danno]

News And Articles For Thursday Oct 11 2007

What's the Hindi Word for Dot-Com?
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119204776102055002-mcBcLO94Mv6voPIrNpXs0YNMxe0_20071109.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

United Kingdom: Cybersquatting – Moving With The times?
http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?article_id=53168

____

Australia's regional names up for grabs
http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/115/australia-s-regional-names-up-for-grabs.php

____

The Golden Keys of E-Commerce (Domain Management)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/emarketing/59754.html

____

PR: New Domain Auction Site (?)

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/10/emw559864.htm

____

Domain name industry faces an identity crisis
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/267525.html

____

Tips for Buying an Existing Domain Name
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/10/tips-for-buying-an-existing-domain-name.html

Best,
Dan

[Danno]

Report from the TRAFFIC Domain Name Conference

CEOs and Presidents from the top companies in the domain and traffic space discuss the state of our industry.

http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/10/11/report-from-the-traffic-domain-name-conference

Dan

[Danno]

Hi Alex@ Water Pumps.org ,

Thanks for the reply.

I am glad your ROI on your $ 3.75 investment has been a success. And wish you nothing but continued success.

___

""I absolutely agree with you - if you can get a TLD without dashes, then great.
However - having a great domain name will only get you so far - there is so much else to consider: seo/sem, on site conversion, web analytics etc etc. Look at the bigger picture!""

____

I am looking at the 'big picture' and understand everyone has to make decisions for their business based on a whole host of factors.

But my guess is that you could and can afford to pay for a better domain. I see it would be likely next to impossible to get the waterpumps.com, or the water-pumps.com a s they are being used. Water-pumps.net on the other hand does not have much there and I am sure could be bought reasonable.

But I would think anyone of these available domains would be a better fit. Again,...IMHO

germanwaterpumps.com
replacementwaterpumps.com
vwwaterpumps.com
audiwaterpumps.com
HEPUwaterpumps.com

I understand the possible TM problems with the last three. But, I like the "HEPU" domain the best, so maybe you could contact them and get some sort of 'release, or ok to use their name in your domain. If your selling their products and have a disclaimer on your site...that may be good enough.

A .org domain with a dash in it... selling a commercial product is just not a great idea IMHO

(BTW:I just went to your website and its very nice.)

Also, again just IMHO...the .org extension was created for a specific type of use and I do not think a serious commercial business should be using it to sell commercial products or service...be it 'water pumps' or cars or boats etc...

All the other factors you mention in the quote above are most important I agree...but they also do better and go better on a more commercial type domain...like a dot.com or even a dot net.

Best to you and your business.

Peace!
Dan

[Danno]

Florida TRAFFIC Conference Coverage:

http://domainnamenews.com/events/florida-traffic-conference-coverage/908

Dan

[Danno]

`Porn.com' Record May Be Shattered at `WallStreet.com' Auction
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ay8yxr2U7QhE&refer=home

[Drewbert]

Alex,

A lot of distributorship agreements actually allow for the use of a TM in advertising.

There are a lot of automotive-related domains out there with TM's in them operated by authorised distributors.

[Anthony]

Frank:

The dotMobi extension was launched by the mTLD, which was sponsored and financially supported by Nokia, T-Mobile, Samsung, Three, Google, Microsoft, Ericsson, Visa and Vodafone.

dotMobi's PR & Advertising firm is the very prestigious Edelman Agency whose clients are MySpace, Heineken, UPS, Microsoft, Orange, GE and several other well-known brands.

DotMobi is now only 1 year old.

Here is dotMobi's track record:

1.) Disney now runs commercials flaunting their dotMobi (HSM2.mobi) leveraging the very popular High School Musical 2 brand.

2.) Bank of America (The largest bank in the United States)has adopted .mobi by launching commercials featuring an Olympic star using BOFA.mobi and they promote BOFA.mobi throughout their bank branches.

3.) ESPN now runs promotions for ESPN.mobi on there website and during their broadcast commercials.

4.) Other notables include: The Weather Channel (TWC.mobi), FoxNews (FoxNews.mobi), Marriott( Marriott.mobi), Zagat (Zagat.mobi)Polo (polo.mobi), NBA(nba.mobi), Amtrak (Amtrak.mobi), axa (axa.mobi) and many, many other well-know companies continue to adopt, build and market dotMobi sites compatible for the Mobile Web.

5.) Here are the results of the recent TRAFFIC and Sedo Auctions, respectively:

TRAFFIC Hollywood:
Poker.mobi $150,000
Ringtones.mobi $145,000
News.mobi $110,000
Shopping.mobi $55,000
Email.mobi $50,000
Scores.mobi $33,000
Buy.mobi $32,500
Podcast.mobi $25,000

SEDO:
Hosting.mobi $ 101,000
Bank.mobi $ 51,501
Download.mobi $ 51,500
Currency.mobi $ 47,000
Insurance.mobi$ 42,005
Chat.mobi $ 42,000
Traffic.mobi $ 36,008
Books.mobi $ 33,510
Free.mobi $ 31,500
Loans.mobi $ 30,000
Marketing.mobi $ 26,100
Creditcard.mobi $ 25,500
Rent.mobi $ 21,000
Creditcards.mobi $ 20,500
Voip.mobi $ 20,500
Webcam.mobi $ 16,000
DomainName.mobi $ 15,000
DomainNames.mobi $ 12,600
Advertising.mobi $ 12,100
Downloads.mobi $ 11,185
Credit.mobi $ 10,600
Atm.mobi $ 10,100
Payment.mobi $ 10,100
Index.mobi $ 8,100
Cricket.mobi $ 8,100
Colleges.mobi $ 7,500
E-mail.mobi $ 7,194
Domain.mobi $ 7,100
Pet.mobi $ 6,750
and many many more!

Clearly, dotMobi will not supplant dotcom on the throne. However, dotMobi is increasingly becoming the most popular extension to emerge since dotcom. Dotmobi positoned itself very well to fill a void on the Mobile Web.

All said auction results were accomplished in only 1 year. Heck, all the other top-level domain extensions are 5, 10, 15 years old!

Now, that time has unfolded what are your current impressions with respect to dotMobi and the leadership of the mTLD and their business counterparts (i.e. Edelman)?

Thank you,

Anthony

[Shiphouse]

Quote from the Bloomberg article regarding the auction for Wallstreet.com which Danno referred to above.

``Domain names are not that important anymore,'' said David Card, an analyst at JupiterResearch in New York. ``Seven or 10 years ago, it made a difference. Nowadays, because search engines are so good, it's not nearly as important.''

This quote exemplifies the barrier that the domain industry needs to overcome. It is evident that Mr. Card does not understand the power of type in traffic. This lack of understanding by both him as well as the reporter leads to vague quotes such as these which can have a profound impact on the general public's understanding of domain names and their valuations.

The article can be viewed here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ay8yxr2U7QhE&refer=home

Regards,

Shiphouse

[Danno]

Bodog takes on "patent trolls" in court
http://www.pokerlistings.com/bodog-takes-on-patent-trolls-in-court-19266

Dan

[Ms Domainer]

Frank,

This is more of a comment...

I just posted a public service article on my *newbie* blog that should be of interest to newbie and semi-newbie domainers. Other than the typical Google ads that many of us have on our blogs, I'm not selling anything, but just offering a cautionary tale for prospective domain buyers when they buy and bid on domains: to make sure they know what they are buying.

Some letters look like other letters, etc. I got caught in this situation, so I decided to tell my story, even though I feel foolish and the outcome was favorable.

;)

Go to www.WorVV.com (which redirects to my post on my Ms Domainer blog), a domain that will become clear once you read my story.

If you feel that my story is important, please feel free to republish all or part of my post on your blog. Just attribute it to Ms Domainer.

I am sending this to several blogs that I read on a regular basis.

Best Wishes,

Ms Domainer

[Danno]

FYI: Interest perspective on PPC.

Five Reasons Why a Pay Per Click Recession Looms
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007/10/five-reasons-wh.html

Peace!
Dan

[Jim Bentoni]

Frank,

I'm a relatively new reader to your blog, which I really enjoy. My question Frank... What is your take on secondary Geo-Domain Names? I realize that names like DesMoines.com and Columbus.com are long gone. But what about names like DesMoinesSpa.com or ColumbusRoofers.com?

Thank you Frank.

***FS*** I love names like those.. you should read this post: http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/the_great_domai.html

[David Wrixon]

Did you see ICANN are running short consultation on the release of the Single ASCII characters?

http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-16oct07.htm

[Danno]

Late News For Today

Porn typosquatter fined again by FTC
http://www.itworld.com/Man/2681/071016typosquatter/

Was not 'porn' this time...but...same old same old. Some habits die hard!...LOL

Dan

[Mitch]

When you purchase a domain name how do you start making money? Lets say you bought lettuce.com, what is the next step in making it a money making name. This maybe a stupid question, but it is something im trying to figure out and have not been sucessful. thank you

***FS*** Your question deserves a more thorough answer than I can give here. This is one for DNforum.com, NamePros.com or Domainstsate.com Mitch.

[Jean Guillon]

.com are famous but .FR is expanding with an average price going down, any plans investing in .FR ?

[Danno]

The RIAA Attacks Usenet
http://torrentfreak.com/the-riaa-attacks-usenet-071016/
Dan

[JT]

Hi Frank.
What is your take on commercially available "Domain Snapper" software?
Is it too late to use them considering what the registrars are doing with dropping names?
If not, is there any one software you would recommend (or not)?

Thanks