Wal-Mart Into Domains Now?

I've recently noticed ads all over the place for "SAM's CLUB Free Domains." So now Wal-Mart wants to compete in the domain registration business? Sheesh! They've recently forced Toys-R-Us out of the toy business. Now they want to take over the domain name industry? Is that the plan Wal-mart? Hmmmm...

I think one day we're all going to wake up and find that Wal-Mart owns everything.

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More Domain Names I'm Dropping: Come and Get It!

I am letting the domain name www.internetbanking.cc drop so it will soon be available for registration for anyone who is interested in this high profile keyword name. It's currently registered @ GoDaddy. If you decide to nab this one, post a comment here after you've secured the name. Thanks!

I'll be dropping more great keyword domain names in the very near future so stay tuned to this blog!

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My Loss Is Your Gain: www.GasPrices.biz & www.StockAlert.biz on eBay

I've listed the domain name StockAlert.biz on eBay. StockAlert.biz is an excellent name for any stocks, equities, investment, finance, etc. related website, blog, e-zine or email newsletter. Too much on my plate these days so this puppy needs a new home. I am hoping the winning bidder will develop the name into something great! It's a real gem of a name and I am sorry to see it go.

This is a no reserve auction and I've set a very low starting bid price. Here's a link to the auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5763160105

Another great domain name that needs a new home: GasPrices.biz:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5763416286

The cost of gas is in the news a lot these days so this name has the potential of doing great things!

Thanks for reading and happy bidding!

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All The Best to the New Owner of www.MyDirt.com

www.MyDirt.com has a new owner. I am sorry to let this name go but it deserved a new home; I am hoping the name will be developed into a great website. I was planning on developing the name into a "confessions" website or blog but I have too many things going on and not enough time! The new owner got a killer deal on eBay. All the best!

Stay tuned for more great domain names that need new homes.

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www.IPOAlert.biz on eBay

I've listed the domain name IPOAlert.biz on eBay. I registered this name with plans on developing it but I have too many projects going on right now so: my loss is your gain! This is a no reserve auction and I've set a very low starting bid price. Here's a link to the auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5763177019


IPOAlert.biz is a great name for any Initial Public Offering (IPO) related website, blog, e-zine or email newsletter.

Thanks for reading and happy bidding!

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.PRO Heading Down the Wrong Path

Looks like RegistryPro and Encirca are causing a stir for their irresponsible handling of .PRO registrations. According to ICANN rules, there is supposed to be a stringent verification process for registering .PRO domain names, the purpose of which is to ensure that the owner of e.g. doctor.pro is a real doctor or other verifiable medical professional.

Well, it seems that RegistryPro has permitted the registration of thousands of generic keyword .PRO names without enforcing the strict rules set by ICANN. The lack of discipline has left the nascent .PRO TLD a real mess with certain profane "4 letter word" names already resolving to live servers.

If this situation isn't cleaned up soon, I'm willing to bet that .PRO ends up being worth less than .INFO in the near future, and what a shame that would be.

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.JP: Vindication on the Horizon?

About a year ago, I was receiving a lot of reasonable criticism about my .JP domain name buying binge. The criticism was justified; .JP domains are some of the most expensive out there @ about $100 per name per year, and the fact that .JP domain owners were (and still are) required to have a Japanese snail mail address didn't help.

Certain Internet savvy folks living in Japan also speculated that the .JP name space would fail because .CO.JP was the extension of choice for some of the world's best known brands (a good example of this is microsoft.co.jp which resolves to MS's Japanese language homepage. MS also owns microsoft.jp but they haven't even bothered to setup any kind of domain forwarding for this name!) It was assumed that everyone would simply follow the lead of the MS's of the world and favor .CO.JP over .JP. Not me. In the domain game, shorter names are invariably more desirable than longer ones, and my thinking was that this would apply to domain extensions as well. I was willing to bet that--in the long term--.JP would eventually triumph over the longer and less efficient .CO.JP.

Well, according to the news Japan Registry Services, I may be proven right after all.

Though I still have a lot of faith in the .JP name space, I have recently cancelled a number of .JP domain names I was holding. I am still holding onto a select group of exceptionally strong keyword .JP domains like:

Buying.jp
Cellular.jp
Debt.jp
Feet.jp
Pills.jp
PrimeRate.jp
Rates.jp

The above names are generating enough traffic to pay for themselves so I can keep them without losing my shirt. The domains I ended up canceling were also great names but the mediocre traffic they were generating wasn't enough to justify the annual fees I'd need to cough-up in order to hang onto them, so they had to get cut!

.JP will continue to grow in lock step with the growth of the Internet in general; the name space has a lot going for it: Japan is a very strong, technology driven economy with some of the best educated people in the world. Furthermore, new registrars are offering creative (and legal) ways around the snail mail address requirement, while at the same time lowering the cost of ownership. I think we'll see some very exciting .JP activity in the near future.

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Be Careful with Your Content--And Your Web Host!

As domain owners, we want to provide quality content for people who stop by our sites. We want visitors to like our sites and to come back as often as possible. But we've always got to remember to be careful about the content we offer to others.

Yesterday, "BuLLDoG," a NamePros regular, got an email from his web host informing him that the FBI and Scotland Yard are investigating BuLLDoG for copyright violations; BuLLDoG's website provided visitors with ring tones and song lyrics for free. The Web Host in question--AventureHost--has taken down BuLLDoG's website and they want to levy a $1500 fine for violating their terms of service!

Now, before you make summary judgments in this case, you need to know more about AventureHost. A section of the email they sent to BuLLDoG read:

"The URL(S) stated above is in violation by way of using a trademarked name and pictures to fraudulently gain logins and passwords to accounts"

BuLLDoG wasn't trying to "gain logins and passwords to accounts!" Furthermore, he was never contacted by the FBI or Scotland Yard about any trademark or copyright violations.

So it seems that AventureHost is the real villain of this tale. They used the free content being offered by BuLLDoG as an excuse to try and extort $1,500 from him.

I've had to deal with some pretty shady web hosts in the past but nothing as bad as this! Click here to visit the forum and read more about this saga.

If you've had any experience with AventureHost, post a comment here. If they are as bad as BuLLDoG's story indicates, then we'll have to initiate a major boycott.

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Real Competition for AdSense?

Domainers, it looks like a new age in upon us. We all know how great AdSense is; they have the industry's best content matching, consistent, no-nonsense payouts, easy and efficient code implementation and management, excellent statistics & tracking--shall I go on? But there are many domainers out there who like me have invested a great deal in the AdSense program and that's scary from a business perspective. We all know that it's never a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket. I have AdSense code on over 400 sites. I've experimented with some competing programs but they've all failed to measure up. I've committed to AdSense, and that means that if something were to cause my account to be suspended or terminated--not for cheating as I would never do that--it would be a real punch in the gut. According to some, it is possible for a malicious competitor to generating clicks that would be considered "fraudulent" to the AdSense people and that could get my account terminated. I personally have faith in their system's ability to find the real cheats and not victimize the innocent, but you never know.

Well, Yahoo has stepped up to the plate and lots of people are very excited. AdSense has needed some serious competition for some time and it looks like it's finally arrived. I've checked out a prototype ad on a Yahoo employee blog site and it looks pretty good.

Many AdSense participants have complained about the lack of disclosure about certain policies and the strict rules imposed by Google. Justified complaint? Well, somewhat. I'm in business so I can understand that Google needs to protect it's technologies and other secrets. I am 100% certain that competing programs would love to get their hands on Google's secrets. But, on the other side, I think that Google should be more open. I was not happy to read about Google's decision to keep a larger cut of the revenue generated from ads displayed on publishers' sites. I read this news on some news website. It would have been nice to have gotten that news from Google, know what I mean, jelly bean? So maybe this new (and serious) competition will cause Google to relax their rules a bit. We'll see, I guess.

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Cancelled Domains: My Loss is Your Gain!

I've recently cancelled a number of novelty .BE domain names that will be freely available for anyone to register in the near future. These are some great novelty names but I am now in the process of making my domain portfolio more manageable so: my loss is your gain! Here's a lists:

ALLTHATUCAN.BE
ALLTHATYOUCAN.BE
BRIDE2.BE
BRIDETO.BE
COOL2.BE
FATHERTO.BE
HOPE2.BE
HOPETO.BE
LEARN2.BE
LEARNING2.BE
LEARNINGTO.BE
LIKE2.BE
LIKETO.BE
LOVE2.BE
LUV2.BE
MADE2.BE
MADETO.BE
MOMTO.BE
MOTHER2.BE
MOTHERS2.BE
MOTHERSTO.BE
NEEDTO.BE
PARENTS2.BE
PARENTSTO.BE
STRIVETO.BE
TRY2.BE
TRYTO.BE
WHENTO.BE


The above domains were all registered @ www.GoDaddy.com and I'm quite certain that www.GoDaddy.com still has the best price for .BE domain names.

If you decide to take any if these .BE names, post a comment here once you are done registering the name(s). I'd like to see what development plans people might have with these names. Thanks!

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Domain Roundtable Conference

WhoIs.sc (WhoIs Source) is holding a domain conference. Looks interesting. Click here for the conference agenda.

I think the conference would be a great networking opportunity.

According to the conference organizers, proceeds will benefit Tsunami Relief via
www.AmeriCares.org. Post a comment here if you plan on attending. Thanks.

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.IN Names Already Starting to Sell!

Looks like the .IN name space is off to a good start. Veteran domainer "Wot" sold the domain name WhoIs.co.in for $2,500, a very fair price for this great name. I've seen some other .IN names around with great potential, like Whats.in. Whats.in is an excellent novelty name and to be perfectly honest I am quite envious! Come on you .COM diehards, think about it: which is a better name a) whats.com or b) whats.in? Whats.in is exceptionally brandable and memorable, no doubt. You can start entire publishing empire around a domain like that. It's very easy to imagine a Fashion/Stlye magazine called Whats.in.

I'm looking forward to tracking more .IN & .CO.IN sales.

In other interesting sales news, PetSupplies.com fetches a very handsome $75,000 on AfterNIC. Now don't you wish you'd invested in a few pet related domain names? I know a lot of domainers are salivating at the news of this sale, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a mad rush of new registrations for pet related domain names in all extensions.

Isn't it nice to see a notable sale of a real domain name and not a typo domain name?

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