Internet Domain Names Seized
September 24, 2008 by Stephen S Alison · Leave a Comment
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Online Gambling Internet Domain Names Seized by Pro-Gambling Kentucky Governor. It has been reported in the international press that Steve Beshear, the Kentucky governor, has decided to attempt to shut down all online gambling in Kentucky by seizing control of Internet domain names.
Beshear has asked a Franklin County Circuit Court judge to grant control of 141 Internet gambling sites. According to Kentucky Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown, the state has already seized the domain names of the online casinos, and is seeking forfeiture.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Thursday.
Ironically, Beshear happens to be governor of the state most identified with horse racing, a wagering sport that is allowed Internet gaming privileges. This inconsistency is an issue with the Remote Gaming Alliance and the European Union, groups that argue selective enforcement of laws regarding online gambling amounts to protectionism and violates international trade agreements.
While organizations that weren’t foolish enough to register their domain names in countries forbidding online gambling may be OK, any site registered in the U.S. rather than in an area with liberal gaming laws may be in trouble maintaining their ownership on the Web.
As far as anyone can tell, no notice of this action was given to any of the registrants, nor was any hearing held giving the registrants an opportunity to appear and appeal.
Included in the list are “parked” domains. So if you own an online gambling domain, you may wish to check the list of Internet Domain Names Seized to see if your website is included…
Tags: domain, Domain Names, internet domain names seized, web, Website BuildingDo You Have Duplicate Content
September 22, 2008 by Stephen S Alison · Leave a Comment
Do You Have Duplicate Content On Your Website? It may sound crazy but it is possible you might be creating duplicates of your own content without even knowing it. It’s important for you to understand how to avoid duplicating your own content so that you can stay in control of which of your Pages Rank in the Search Engines.
If the Search Engines see duplicates of your pages they automatically choose which page to rank and shove the rest in to their supplemental index (the black hole of Search Engine traffic).
The two main possible causes for this are:
- Duplicate Domain URL’s;
- Internal Duplicates;
Duplicate Domain URLs – The Search Engines view all the following URL’s as “separate” pages even though they all actually point to the same page…
- http://yourdomain.com;
- http://yourdomain.com/;
- http://yourdomain.com/index.html;
- http://www.yourdomain.com;
- http://www.yourdomain.com/;
- http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html;
If you (or others) are linking to your site using a variety of these different URL’s you’ll not only be diluting PR (Page Rank) on your site but you also stand the chance of having your content labelled as duplicate. At the time of writing Google is known to be aware of this issue and are working to solve it. However, I urge you to not leave it to fate. Take control of the situation as soon as you can.
Internal Duplicates – Are you 100% certain you do not have duplicates of your own content within your own sites?
If you are using one of the popular free content management systems (i.e. WordPress) your site might already be suffering from this.
For example, WordPress the popular Blog management system, automatically creates archive and category pages on your Blog. The default settings of WordPress result in these archive and category pages containing duplicates of the exact same posts appearing elsewhere in your Blog.
When Google finds all the multiple versions of your post their bot tries to determine which page to rank and places all the rest in to the supplemental index. This might not sound like a major problem because one way or another your content it still getting ranked but if it is left up to the Search Engine bots you may not get the page *you* want to rank.
If you are putting in all the effort required to make sure your content is unique you really don’t want to fall over at this last hurdle. Jason Katzenback from PortalFeeder has created a YouTube video tutorial showing the code you need and how to use it. Check Do You Have Duplicate Content here:
Latest Domain Name News
September 12, 2008 by Stephen S Alison · 1 Comment
Here is an in-sight on the Latest Domain Name News from the domaining blogosphere:
Vietnamese domain name unmarketable (Vietnam Net) – since they were first issued 18 months ago. Most site owners said they registered their domains in Vietnamese to not miss advertising opportunities on search engines like Google or Yahoo. More on this domain related news. …
The Love Affair With Short / Brandable Domain Names – The nay-sayers might not like it, but short/brandable domain names are here to stay. I was looking through TechCrunch today and saw a whole bunch of websites…
WeValuer.com, the hottest Domain Name Appraisal Website Implements … – WeValuer.com, the leader in internet domain name appraisals has just updated the look and process of their domain appraisal site. They now have the most accurate process available to domain buyers… Visit Adamdicker.com to read more
Fake Antispyware Purveyor Doubles as Domain Registrar (Washington … – A cyber gang known for aggressively spreading fake anti-spyware programs through hijacked and malicious Web sites has become an authorized reseller of domain names. Security Fix has learned that this gang is using its access as a …
Advertisements Can Lead to Trademark Infingement – By Liz Oliveira, Legal Team On August 1, 2008 a US District Court in Minnesota held a company liable for trademark infringement when they used a competitor’s mark as a keyword to trigger an online advertisement. Google’s AdWord program …
The Era of ccTLDs – By Sara Beninato, Traffic Quality Manager A new era in the domain industry seems to be underway as hype for country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) continues to increase. With the steady growth of the .cn and the recent success of the …
Evaluating Direct Navigation Traffic – Direct navigation traffic is Web site traffic driven by users searching via domain name rather than a search engine. One in 6 searches are conducted this way, and it accounts for approximately 3-4% of Google’s search engine revenues.
America.com is still Available! – Paolo Belcastro and his team behind Internet Media Consultants, SA, was hired to broker the world-class domain name; America.com . The domain name fell short of a sale, it received multiple bids during the online auction held at …
Godaddy .net And .org Prices Drop – If you are not aware, October will see a $0.40 price increase industry wide (will affect all registrars). NameCheap have already sent out a mailing to all customers informing them that they will be upping their domain registration . …
Domain Name Generators – Even though many domainers prefer the DNXpert free expired domain name service, some domainers resort to domain name generators when looking for that elusive domain name to start their new website on. Most domain generator sites have a …
GoogleBlog Discusses the Future of Search – I came across an interesting discussion on Google’s Blog site discussing the overall future of search engines from their perspective and I wanted to share this. Visit http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/future-of-search.html …
Tags: .cn, ccTLDs, direct navigation, domain name appraisal, Domain Names, domainers, Domaining, latest domain name news, websitesThe Rising Value of Internet Real Estate
September 10, 2008 by Stephen S Alison · Leave a Comment
The Rising Value of Internet Real Estate – I have just read the PRWeb Press Release announcing the Auction of the Performance Wealth.Com Domain Names.
It starts off as follows: “The business of buying and selling domain names is continuing to heat up as individuals attempt to turn a $10 registration into a long-shot investment worth millions. In 2008, the public has seen sales of at least three seven-figure domains and another 70 six-figure domains. That’s the range expected for the private auction of PerformanceWealth.com, a set of 16 premium domain names with an opening bid of $250,000.00, scheduled to start September 1, 2008 and end November 5, 2008.”
And here are some direct quotes from Matthew Leeds, owner of Whitefrog Design, LLC and coordinator of the PerformanceWealth.com auction:
We are seeing the large pool of registered domain names maturing as valuable assets and that means a lot of new business opportunity in Internet real estate. As these assets mature, the prospect of selling domain names becomes less about volume and more about quality.
Out of interest I visited the auction website PerformanceWealth.com to find out more about this auction. My principal objective was to see what I could learn as a domainer, so that I can sharpen and improve my domaining skills.
Here are the main facts I established (I have highlighted some text):
- the auction is described as a set of 16 premium domain names;
- all 16 domain names have similar titles;
- all the domain names include 2 generic words “perform” and “wealth”;
- 4 domain names were registered in June 2008;
- 12 domain names were registered in July 2008;
- 4 domain names have a .COM tld extension;
- 4 domain names have a .INFO tld extension;
- 4 domain names have a .NET tld extension;
- 4 domain names have a .ORG tld extension;
From a domaining strategy point of view, here are my initial thoughts:
- Premium Domain Names – the subject domain names meet the usual criteria for being considered as “premium domain names” i.e. there are less than 5 sequential words; consist of generic words; no domain name exceeds 21 characters; there are no numeric characters; do not contain hyphens;
- Domain Names are Business Focused – the domain names are business oriented and focused and should attract a large audience including finance, private banking, asset management, wealth management or similar – individuals and institutions with fat cheque books;
- TLDs – there is an obvious bias for .COM TLD extensions in the domain name aftermarket. However, .NET and other TLD extensions are gaining in popularity. So the 12 non .COM domains being auctioned should help to increase awareness of and boost the popularity of other TLDs. My own personal strategy is to have a sprinkling of other TLDs in my portfolio, mostly as a defensive move. See my 2 articles on European Domain Name Registration I and European Domain Name Registration II;
- Single Domain Name vs Package with Inter-Related Domain Names – most auctions are usually for a single domain name or a mixed-bag of un-related names. As a strategy, offering a package of related domain names seems to make sense as it might generate better financial returns;
- .NET, .INFO, .ORG TLD Extensions – whenever I register a domain name, I do not always register any of the other TLDs available for the same name because of $cost. On reflection, as a strategy, registering a domain name with all the available TLDs at the same time and offering them as a package, rather than individually, makes a lot of sense;
- Average Profit of $15,625 Per Domain Name in Less Than 3 Months – The domain names being auctioned were all registered less than 3 months ago at a total cost of approx. $160. Assuming that the package sells for at least the initial amount of $250,000, that equates to an average profit of $15,625 per domain name in less than 3 months. I believe that this demonstrates that there are still lots of opportunities out there;
Finally, I wish the vendors, Whitefrog Design, LLC a successful auction and I look forward to reading about the eventual financial result.
Interested? You can read the full press release HERE…
Tags: .com, .info, .net, .org, Domain Names, the Rising value of internet real estate, TLDsDomain Name Report
September 6, 2008 by Stephen S Alison · Leave a Comment
The Verisign Domain Name Report September 2008
As the global registry operator for .com and .net, VeriSign reviews the state of the domain name industry through a variety of statistical and analytical research. As a leading provider of digital infrastructure for the Internet, VeriSign provides this briefing to highlight to industry analysts, media, and businesses important trends in domain name registration, including key performance indicators, and growth opportunities.
Below are some interesting statistics I have extracted from the report. This report demonstrates to me, that despite gloomy financial forecasts worldwide, the domaining industry is alive, growing and vibrant and still presents the investor with tremendous profit opportunities.
Summary: In terms of total registrations, .com has the highest base followed by .de (Germany), .cn (China), and .net.
- At the midpoint 2008 there were 168 million domain name registrations;
- The base of Country Code Top Level Domain Names (ccTLDs) totaled 65 million domain names;
- Domain name registrations grew by 4% over the 1st QTR 2008;
- Domain name registrations grew by 22% over the same QTR of 2007;
- ccTLDs showed a 4% increase QTR over QTR;
- ccTLDs showed a 27% increase year over year;
Industry Growth and Composition: The number of new domain name registrations across all TLDs in the 2nd QTR 2008 was 11.7 million.
- The composition of the domain name industry and rank order in terms of base size remained relatively constant;
- The largest TLDs in terms of base size were .com, .de, .cn, .net, .uk, .org, .info, .nl (The Netherlands), .eu (European Union), and .biz.;
The .Com and .Net Base and New Registrations: The overall .com and .net domain names adjusted base increased by 3% QTR over QTR…This represented a 20 percent increase year over year.
Focus on Latin America: The Internet has been booming in Latin America with the key indicators showing strong signs of growth. The number of Internet users in Latin America grew 30% percent over the last year. This equates to 22 percent of the population using the Internet. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina have the greatest number of Internet users in the region.
Interesting? You can download your personal copy here…
Additional Reading from the Blogosphere:
Domain Name Report – The Verisign Domain Name Report September 2008 As the global registry operator for .com and .net, VeriSign reviews the state of the domain name industry through a variety of statistical and analytical research. …
VeriSign Domain Report Shows Domain Name Growth Remains Strong – The number of domain names continues to grow around the world with 168 million domain name registrations across all of the TLDs in the second quarter of 2008, representing a four percent increase over the first quarter of 2008 and 22 …
Verisign Domain Report Shows Internet Growth Remains Strong – VeriSign processed peak loads of more than 48 billion Domain Name System (DNS) queries per day in the second quarter of 2008, resulting in millions of Internet users accessing Web sites or sending email. The VeriSign DNS continued to …
Domain Name Industry Stats – Weekend Reading – Verisign has just released its quarterly report into the domain name industry. You can download the .pdf for your weekend reading.Here are a few poin 5 Vote(s)
Domain Name Industry Stats – Verisign has released its quarterly report into the domain name industry. You can download the .pdf.
Domain Industry Update for Q2 2008 – Verisign has released its report for the second quarter of 2008. (Available here.) Domain name registrations across all of the Top Level Domain Names (TLDs) totaled to 168 million at end of Q2 2008, marking a four percent (4%) growth …
VERISIGN DOMAIN REPORT SHOWS INTERNET GROWTH REMAINS STRONG – VeriSign computerized extreme loads of more than 48 1000000000 Domain Name System (DNS) queries per period in the ordinal lodge of 2008, resulting in jillions of cyberspace users accessing Web sites or sending email. …
Domain Name Industry Stats – Weekend Reading – Verisign has just released its quarterly report into the domain name industry. You can download the .pdf for your weekend reading. Here are a few points from the Exec summary:. In mid 2008 there were 168 million domain name …
Verisign's Latest Domain Name Industry Brief Shows Registrations … – Verisign has released their latest quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief covering the second quarter of 2008. The new report shows demand for domain names continuing to surge at double digit rates. We have the key numbers from the latest …
No tag for this post.Today In Domaining
September 3, 2008 by Stephen S Alison · Leave a Comment
Domaining – the art and science of buying and selling domain names as virtual real estate investments. Here is an in-sight on the major news stories today in domaining:
Moniker Releases Updated List of top TRAFFIC Event Domains – Less than 20 business days to go until TRAFFIC New York, and Moniker continues to refine and polish their list of top inventory for the premier Live Domain Auction. With more than 87000 domains submitted for consideration so far, …
Domain name disputes jump 30 per cent (Computing.co.uk) – Phil Muncaster, Computing , Monday 1 September 2008 at 14:37:00 Firms urged to improve domain management or face costly resolution Businesses must improve their domain name management or risk… Visit Adamdicker.com to read more of this …
Domain Law in Canada – Simply because a domain name is identical or similar to a trademark name does not result in the transfer of the domain name to the trademark owner. Unless there is some evidence that the use of the domain name infringes on the use of …
Is Dot-mobi Doomed? – Is Dot-mobi doomed? That’s the question asked in a recent article in ClickZ Network who say the gTLD lived a brief (and not particularly productive) life. The article suggests the iPhone killed it.
Domain Name Scammers and Criminals Register Gustav Domains – used by bogus charity and relief scams after the storm strikes the US Gulf Coast reports Computerworld. Original post by Domain Name News, The Domain Industry News, ICANN News, Registry News, Domainer News More…
Tags: Domain Names, domainers, Domaining, domains, today in domaining
