Every Friday, DomainSherpa.com provides you with a hand-selected, editorially-based review of the weekly news. In this summary, you will find the latest articles and videos produced by DomainSherpa staff and contributors. You will also find links to the best news articles in the domain name industry – so you don’t have to spend your time searching for news or reading something that was not worth your time.
This Week’s DomainSherpa Interview
- VIDEO: The 17-Year-Old Who Correlated Domain Names to High Search Rankings – With Mark Collier
Many people openly state that exact match domain names are worth more because they can get your website to the top of the search engine results. But this commonly espoused belief has rarely been backed up by real data…until today.
Seventeen-year-old wunderkind Mark Collier has not only secured a substantial amount of data from various sources, but he’s taught himself programming and statistics in order to analyze the data. And he can say without a doubt – statistically speaking, of course – that exact match domain names correlate with high-ranking websites within the search engine results.
Watch The Full Show Now »
This Week’s News in Review
You Say Insurance, We Say Assurance; Assurance.com For Sale Exclusively with DomainAdvisors – 02-Aug-12
Assurance the most important form of Insurance is now available exclusively with DomainAdvisors. Owning a Domain that makes up a significant portion of one of the most highly competitive online industries will not be inexpensive. Premium domains of this caliber sell close to or over seven figures.
Marchex Sells Record $3.3 Million in Domains On Q2 – 02-Aug-12
Not much else to smile about in its quarterly report. Marchex just released earnings for its second quarter. Most notable to the domain name industry is that the company had a record quarter for domain name sales — $3.3 million. There’s no additional insight into the sales in the company press release, but perhaps we’ll […]
UDRP Panel Orders VS4.com Transferred – 02-Aug-12
Three character domain name lost in UDRP. A single member UDRP panel has ordered the domain name VS4.com be transferred to adult entertainment company VS Media, Inc. The company claims trademark rights to the term VS. It also owns the domain names VS1.com, VS2.com, and VS3.com. The owner of the domain name didn’t respond to […]
Meet The Woman Who Bought a Domain Name Instead of a House – 02-Aug-12
The story features Posse.com founder Rebekah Campbell. Campbell bought the Posse.com domain name with $28,000 of her savings.
Demand Media and Donuts respond to lawyer’s accusations about TLD eligibility – 01-Aug-12
Companies respond to allegations about their eligibility to run top level domain names. This morning I (and a handful of other bloggers) received a copy of a letter written by McCarter & English partner Jeffrey Stoler calling into question Demand Media’s and Donut’s eligibility for applying for new top level domains…
Ari Goldberger Gets Another UDRP Win for Kevin Ham – 01-Aug-12
Kevin Ham’s Vertical Axis has won a UDRP over the domain name Detur.com with the help of domain name attorney Ari Goldberger of ESQwire.com.
Transip to Sign Over 400,000 Domain Names – 01-Aug-12
The amount of DNSSEC-secured .com- and .net domain names has doubled overnight, as Dutch domain provider TransIP signs almost all of its clients’ .com, .net, .nl, .eu and .be domain names.
Domain Wars: The Big Money Scramble for New Web Turf – 31-Jul-12
ICANN’s decision to open top-level domains to businesses caused a multi-million dollar scramble. Learn which companies applied for domains, and at what cost.
Verisign Domain Counts vs. DomainTools ‘Dark Domains’ – 31-Jul-12
Verisign’s New Disclosures Still Leave Some Questions Unanswered We’re pleased to see that Verisign is now disclosing ’not configured domain names’ in their daily zone count. By Verisign’s definition, “not configured domain names” are: domain name registrations that are not configured with name servers at the Top-le…
Disgraced Lobbyist Jack Abramoff Loses Domain Name Fight With Democrats – 31-Jul-12
Jack Abramoff fails in arbitration over domain name. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) can keep the domain name JackAbramoff.com, a National Arbitration Forum panel has ruled. Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff filed the complaint arguing that the DCCC was using the domain name to disrupt his business, which includes speaking engagements and selling books. The […]
Will The New Domain Names gTLDs Fail? – 31-Jul-12
Yes some, probably very few, of the new gTLDs that will be available to the public might succeed, but most will buy the time-proven .com, .net .me .org TLDs
GmbH Applicant Files US Trademark Application – 30-Jul-12
TLDDOT GmbH, an applicant for the top level domain .GmbH, has filed an intent-to-use trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the mark “GMBH”.
Go Daddy’s Chief Executive Adelman Steps Down – 30-Jul-12
Go Daddy chief executive Warren Adelman has stepped down as the head of the domain name registrar and will serve in a new role as a special advisor for strategy and global policy, the company announced on Monday.
Domaintools Drives Increased Mobile Engagement With New Designs and Apps – 30-Jul-12
The most recent culmination of DomainTools’ mobile strategy is the extension to the Android platform with a new app that provides Whois Lookups on domain names together with website screenshots, key registration dates and valuable domain profile stats. | Virtual Strategy Magazine is an online publication devoted entirely to virtualization technologies.
Domain Provider Nameit Partners With Digital Media Monitors to Provide Brand… – 30-Jul-12
NameIT, a valued based domain name provider, has established a partnership with Digital Media Monitors LLC to provide brand protection and domain monitoring services to its clients. | Virtual Strategy Magazine is an online publication devoted entirely to virtualization technologies.
Sedo Issues Domain Name Market Report for Q2 2012 – 30-Jul-12
Sedo announced the results of its Q2 2012 Domain Market Study, which reveals domain industry trends and changes based on transactions in its marketplace. During the second quarter, a total of 9,049 domain transactions took place through Sedo, accounting for $17.5 Million in sales.
Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman Steps Down – 30-Jul-12
The world’s largest domain name registrar is seeking a new CEO. Warren Adelman Warren Adelman is stepping down as CEO of Go Daddy, the company announced today. He will remain with the company as Special Advisor for Strategy and Global Policy. Adelman was promoted to CEO of the company in December when Go Daddy closed […]
CentralNic and REG.RU Confirm Strategic Partnership – 30-Jul-12
The longest-running global registry CentralNic and the Russian domain name registrar REG.RU have signed a strategic partnership agreement. The support of the leading registrar in the country will enable CentralNic to enter the Russian market and offer clients new possibilities for the registration and use of exclusive third-level domains ending .RU.COM.
Salesforce.com Buys Work.com Domain Name – 29-Jul-12
Another confirmation that Salesforce.com bought Work.com domain name. In March I put together a fairly convincing argument that Salesforce.com had purchased Work.com. Now we have another good confirmation: the nameservers on Work.com have changed to Salesforce.com. Here are the nameservers currently on the Work.com domain name: In March I wrote about how all signs pointed […]
Sedo Sales Down 29% in Q2 Compared to Last Year – 29-Jul-12
Overall sales numbers down but trend toward fixed priced domains continues. Sedo’s domain sales in the second quarter were down significantly on a year-over-year basis, the company disclosed today in its quarterly report (pdf). Domain name transactions totaled $17,415,345 in the quarter ending this June. That’s down 29% compared to Q2 2011 and 19% compared […]
Sedo Sales Down 29% in Q2 Compared to Last Year – 29-Jul-12
Overall sales numbers down but trend toward fixed priced domains continues. Sedo’s domain sales in the second quarter were down significantly on a year-over-year basis, the company disclosed today in its quarterly report (pdf). Domain name transactions totaled $17,415,345 in the quarter ending this June. That’s down 29% compared to Q2 2011 and 19% compared […]
ECOP Domain Name Escrow Goes Free – 29-Jul-12
It’s official, for sales under $500 there is no escrow fee at ECOP.com. Over the escrow fee cost is simple: 1% of sale price.
The DomainTools Free Android App is Available – 29-Jul-12
Great news for those of you who have been asking about a DomainTools Android app – it’s now available in the Google Play store! If you have an Android device, let us know what you think about it, as we’d love to know what you like or how we can improve on it.
ICANN Considering Single Batch for Evaluation, But Not for Release of New Tlds – 29-Jul-12
New TLDs will still be metered even if evaluated in one batch. ICANN is seeking community input on its latest ideas for how to batch new top level domain names. In its call for comments, it states that it still plans to limit the addition of new top level domains to the root to 1,000 […]
Yep, Google bought G.me and it now forwards to Google+ – 27-Jul-12
In May I wrote about how Google may have purchased the domain name G.me. The domain name was registered to Mark Monitor’s DNStinations, which often times registers domain names on behalf of the company. Now it’s official: Google was the buyer.
VeriSign Misses by a Penny – Analyst Blog – 27-Jul-12
VeriSign, Inc. ( VRSN ) reported a net income of $0.41 per share (excluding one-time items but including stock-based compensation expenses) in the second quarter of 2012, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.42 per share.
ICANN Orders Bulk Transfer of Domains From Two De-accreditated Registrars To NamesBeyond.com – 27-Jul-12
ICANN just announced that the domain name registered at two de-accreditated registrars were being transferred to NamesBeyond.com. The two registrars which were de-accreditated are Planet Online Corp’s and Name For Name, Inc.’s.
Thomson Reuters buys MarkMonitor – 27-Jul-12
Thomson Reuters has acquired the corporate brand-protection registrar MarkMonitor for an undisclosed sum. MarkMonitor will be absorbed into its new owner’s Intellectual Property & Science business unit, giving it a ready-made and pretty strong domain name management capability.
Verisign reveals “dark” .com domains – 27-Jul-12
Verisign has started publishing the daily count of .com and .net domain names that are registered but do not work. On a new page on its site, the company is promising to break out how many domains are registered but do not currently show up in the zone files for its two main gTLDs.
ICANN to get $8 million more from new .com deal – 27-Jul-12
Verisign will pay ICANN roughly $8 million more per year in fees under its new .com registry agreement, CEO Jim Bidzos told financial analysts last night.
Afilias to extend abuse policy to .pro – 27-Jul-12
Six months after acquiring RegistryPro, Afilias wants approval to extend its existing anti-abuse policy into the .pro gTLD. The company has filed a Registry Services Evaluation Process request with ICANN for its Anti-Abuse Policy, which is apparently much the same as the one in place at .info for the last four years.
Verisign Reports 13 Percent Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth in Second Quarter 2012 – 26-Jul-12
Second Quarter GAAP Financial Results
VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $214 million for the second quarter of 2012, up 13 percent from the same quarter in 2011. Verisign reported net income of $68 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.42 for the second quarter of 2012, compared to a net loss of $(11) million and diluted net loss per share of $(0.06) in the same quarter in 2011. The operating margin was 50.0 percent for the second quarter of 2012 compared to 43.2 percent for the same quarter in 2011.
VeriSign Management Discusses Q2 2012 Results – Earnings Call Transcript – 26-Jul-12
Good day, and welcome to the VeriSign Second Quarter 2012 Earnings Call. Today’s conference is being recorded. At this time, I’d like to turn the conference over to David Atchley. Please go ahead, sir.
VeriSign blames domain monetization for lower renewal rate – 26-Jul-12
Verisign had its second best quarter ever for new domain name registrations last quarter, but its renewal rate was lower than usual.
Go Daddy, Neustar and eNom join White House fake pharma takedown project – 26-Jul-12
Big name companies from the domain name industry are among those leading a new White House-backed project aimed at tackling bogus internet pharmacies. DI first reported on the formation of the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies back in December 2010, but it only fully announced itself on Monday this week.
Worst Web Domain Names. Ever. – 26-Jul-12
Before you plunk down a pretty penny to register a new domain name, please think twice about what you choose. These 21 websites didn’t. Or perhaps they thought the double entendres their names created when strung together as URLs were just too funny to be passed up.
Go Daddy Releases Its Three Olympic Ads – 26-Jul-12
Go Daddy has released the three television commercials it will run during the Olympics. You may have seen the first one a few weeks ago, called “Inside Out – Otter”.
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