Nov15
Domain Name News received word today that PriveCo Inc has purchased Vibrators.com for $1 Million. The Michigan based company has been running the website at Vibrators.com since 2002. PriveCo runs several other e-commerce websites focusing on the sale of items which people often prefer to buy in privacy via the internet. Some of PriveCo’s sites include ShopInPrivate.com, Bachelorette.com, BacheloretteParty.com, BacheloretteParties.com and SexToyParty.com.
A few people have raised a concern that the sale looks suspicous, as the domain has not changed ownership according to the whois records. DNN spoke to PriveCo President Tom Nardone on the phone and he gave us the exact details of the transaction. Priveco has closed on the deal to buy the domain outright, but whois ownership has not changed because the current owner is financing the deal. Priveco made a six-figure down-payment on the domain name and will be paying the rest off over the next few years with an 8% interest rate.
UPDATE : Nardone gave me the original numbers but I kept them out of the story as a courtesy to keep some of the specifics on the deal private. Since TechCrunch just released added those, we’ll put them up too. PriveCo paid $200,000 down and will pay $800,000 off over 5 years at 8% interest.
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\\ tags: Domains
Nov15
The termination of ICANN-accredited registrar EstDomains is to go ahead, effective 24 November 2008.
On 28 October 2008, ICANN sent a notice of termination to EstDomains, Inc. (EstDomains) based on an Estonian Court record reflecting the conviction of EstDomains’ then president, Vladimir Tsastsin, of credit card fraud, money laundering and document forgery.
Pursuant to Section 5.3 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), ICANN may terminate the RAA before its expiration when, “Any officer or director of [a] Registrar is convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor related to financial activities, or is adjudged by a court to have committed fraud or breach of fiduciary duty, or is the subject of judicial determination that ICANN deems as the substantive equivalent of any of these; provided such officer or director is not removed in such circumstances.”
ICANN received a response from EstDomains on 29 October in which it indicated that the Estonian Court record on which ICANN relied was not final and had been appealed. ICANN pended the termination of EstDomains’ RAA to analyze the claims made by EstDomains and to obtain independent information regarding the status of the alleged appeal.
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\\ tags: EstDomains, ICANN
Oct27
Whenever you create a website or a blog it usually can be accessed either through “http://www.domain.com” or “http://domain.com”. While this feature might appear useful at a first sight (since people can type whatever version they prefer) over the long run it will harm your search engine ranking.
The problem arises because Google and other search engines view the two versions as two distinct sites, even if they have the exact same content (technically, in fact, the “www” denotes a subdomain that could point to different content).
Search engine ranking is based, among other things, on the number of incoming links to your site. If you keep the two versions available some people will link to “http://www.domain.com” while other people will link to the “http://domain.com”, basically splitting your backlink count.
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\\ tags: WWW
Oct27
What kind of impact will a domain name have on the success of the website hosted there? There are basically two schools of thought around the web.
a) “The domain is not a big deal” school: those people argue that while a good domain can help on the success of a website, it is not an important factor, because people are increasingly using browser bookmarks and subscription tools like RSS feeds, removing the need for them to remember the name of the website that they want to visit.
b) “The domain is vital” school: those people argue that despite bookmarks and RSS feeds, domains still play a very important role on the success of the websites built upon them. A good domain, therefore, can be the difference between a successful site and a flop.
Before proceeding with my analysis, however, I think it is important to define what a “good domain name” is. Summing it up, a good domain:
- is short
- is easy to remember
- is easy to spell
- is descriptive or brandable
- does not contain hyphens and numbers
- has a .com extension
You can read more about that on the article The 7 Characteristics of Good Domain Names.
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\\ tags: Domain Names
Oct27
Last Monday I launched a poll asking our readers if they trusted more .org or .net domains. If you ever searched for domain names you probably know that the .com extension, albeit being the best one, is most of the times taken already. People therefore are left with two main options: a .net or a .org version of their wanted domain.
Which one should you pick, however, if you want to maximize the number of people that will trust your website? According to our poll, a .org is slightly more trusted than a .net extension. The result was 55% against 45%.
The total number of voters was 217, where119 voted for the .org extension and 98 for the .net.
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\\ tags: Domains
Oct27
A long time ago, I wrote a post on domain name selection that’s sorely in need of an update. Time to deliver…
For 99% of the projects we take on, a domain is already part of the equation. However, in some circumstances, we’ve been called on to provice advice for naming a domain, either for a new blog, a company launch or even just a friend’s website. Below, I’ve listed 12 tips I find indispensable when helping people select a great domain name.
1. Brainstorm 5 Top Keywords
When you first begin your domain name search, it helps to have 5 terms or phrases in mind that best describe the domain you’re seeking. Once you have this list, you can start to pair them or add prefixes & suffixes to create good domain ideas. For example, if you’re launching a mortgage related domain, you might start with words like “mortage, finance, home equity, interest rate, house payment” then play around until you can find a good match.
2. Make the Domain Unique
Having your website confused with a popular site already owned by someone else is a recipe for disaster. Thus, I never choose domains that are simply the plural, hyphenated or misspelled version of an already established domain. I still believe that Flickr desperately needs to buy Flicker.com - I hear kids in their 20’s tell parents in their 40’s and 50’s to see photos on Flickr and always envision that traffic going straight to the wrong domain.
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\\ tags: Domain name
Oct27
Domain name selection gets tougher and tougher as more names get snapped up. If you’re unwilling (or unable) to afford buying an old domain (which I highly recommend), your best option is to follow some of these basic rules for domain name selection:
Keywords are Nice, But they Don’t Matter Much
Don’t choose a domain name based on keywords in the URL. If you can’t get the short, sweet version, go for something cool and original, and if you can fit in one or more terms, you’re golden.
Type-Ins are Important
Don’t have a domain name that’s hard to type or hard to give out in person. People who’ve met you are much more likely to go home and check out your URL if you’ve got a catchy name that can be typed in easily. Between 5 and 15 characters is still short enough to where it can be remembered, and if you combine two simple words (that don’t run together with strange vowels), you can achieve a very usable name.
Build a Brand
Don’t choose something generic - make a brand for yourself. Unless your name brand is glasses.com or sportscars.com, its far better to be branded and individual if you’re shooting for long term recognition.
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\\ tags: Domain name
Oct27
When I saw the domain name of Kevin Rose’s newest venture, Pownce.com, I thought that maybe I should buy some short albeit weird domains myself.
Anyway, after researching a bit I managed to find two interesting tools for that purpose. The first one is dyyo.com, a search engine that will help you find 4 letter domain names.
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\\ tags: Domain Names
Oct27
In the early days of the Internet when a domain name expired it was already available for other people to register it. Nowadays the process is more complex; the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) created what is called “Grace Period” to protect the registrants.
The Daily Domainer blog has an interesting article titled “Expired – But Not Gone” describing the process in detail. Basically once a domain expires it enters into the “Auto Renew Grace Period”. This period usually lasts 30 days and the owner of the domain is able to renew anytime during that time frame. Should the owner fail to renew the domain it will enter into the Redemption period.
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\\ tags: Expired Domains
Oct27
One of the best things you can do to improve your blog is buy your own domain. Free blog platforms like Blogger are fine to get a first contact with the blogosphere, but as soon as you decide that you will invest time in your blog I highly recommend that you buy a domain.
Once you decide to buy a domain you will need to search for domains that are not registered yet, but where exactly should you go? Below I will list 3 useful services for someone looking for domain names.
Who.is: you type the domain name and the server will check the availability with most of the extensions (.com, .net, .org, .biz, .us, .tv and so on). The advantage of this service is that, if the domain is already registered, it will also display the details of the registration (date, registrant, company, etc.).
Instant Domain Search: this site checks the availability of .com, .net and .org domains only. The advantage is that it reports the results in real time. As you type the domain you will see whether it is free or not, letter by letter.
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\\ tags: Domain name
