NEW YORK - Here are a few shots from inside NamesCon Global 2018 which is in its second day. Tomorrow will be the big event when the live auction takes place from 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM Pacific. The live auction is hosted by NameJet and Monte Cahn's RightOfTheDot, with a long list of names consisting of both legacy domains such as .com, .net, .org as well as many new gTLDs such as .club, .tickets and others. To look over the domains being sold visit the NameJet list; there are … [Read more...]
It’s Here: NamesCon Officially Starts Tomorrow at the Tropicana in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, NV – The long anticipated NamesCon event begins tomorrow with its 11:00 am - 11:45 am "Welcome to NamesCon" photo and session. Domain enthusiasts from around the world have begun rolling in since this morning, myself included. The event is taking place at the Tropicana, which is one of the first hotels on the Las Vegas strip located on the east corner of Tropicana Boulevard. Known as the largest Domain Name Conference in the United States (maybe the world), … [Read more...]
RegistrarStats.com to Shut Down Due to Dwindling Interest? What Say You?
NEW YORK, NY – I received an email the other day about RegistrarStats.com being shut down next month in February (the 19th) and I took special interest in that email notification as I had just used the site the day before to point out some gTLD stats. I never realized that the site was owned by Donuts Inc., but seeing the email notification, it’s pretty obvious. Donuts is a company that has applied for hundreds of new gTLDs and is somehow affording to pay-for and renew at … [Read more...]
Why I Told My “New gTLD” Project to “Suck It” – Will Rebrand with King of all URLs
NEW YORK, NY - It takes a lot for a guy like me to give-up on a project or otherwise throw-in-the-towel, especially when I am not even sure how hard I really tried to begin with, but I like to be two steps ahead, and I like to work smart, not hard. That’s why I told Uniregistry to keep the Find.cars URL domain - forget it, let it expire, I’ll just re-brand as FindCarsforSale.com. Here’s my thought process and how it all went down; hill. Two years ago, when .cars domains … [Read more...]
New gTLD Domain Sales from Major Marketplaces; What’s Developed?
NEW YORK, NY – Another list is being published today; this one is for new gTLD domain names which have been recorded at NameBio. All off these transactions have taken place over the last five years and this list ONLY contains the sales which are listed at NameBio - there are many hand registered and private or unrecorded domain sales which will not be here. Note: I only examined 100 domains max from each extension, highest dollar amounts first. Here is what I looked … [Read more...]
Near 16,000 Bets Placed on Newer “.Art” gTLD Domain Name So Far This Year
NEW YORK, NY - On May 10th, 2017 during general availability I registered two .art domain names; the cost? That is simple: $24.57. The reason? That’s not as clear as I only have a handful of gTLDS. I guess I was trying to do what most domainers do when they happen to remember a new domain name is being released and it also happens to be general availability time - get the jump on others and grab some good ones to resell in the future. The two domains I registered were … [Read more...]
Verisign Releases 2017 Second Quarter Industry Brief on Domain Name Market
NEW YORK, NY – In an endless sea of opinions (I admit, including my own) it is great to look at meaningful data when it comes to where our industry is going as far as growth, innovation and trends. If you would like to read-over the Verisign’s 2017 Second Quarter Industry report, it is online here (PDF). Some key takeaways: .com registrations are up to 129.2 million. .net and .org are still major players, but in number of registrations, far behind ccTLDs such as … [Read more...]
List of 424 New gTLD Domain Names Which Changed Hands This Year (NameBio)
NEW YORK, NY - I hate to sound like I am complaining, because no-one asked me to look into this, but I am pretty confident I just inspected the longest list of broken, junk, parked, meaningless web sites I've seen in a single sitting. Long, grueling, and very unrewarding we'll call it - as I've learned not much more than I already suspected before, which is that most of these new gTLD domains seem like hypothetical, wishful-thinking lotto tickets that will likely be bets (or … [Read more...]
Name Summit Digital Branding Conference; Entrepreneurs, Experts, Domain Enthusiasts
NEW YORK, NY – “NameSummit – The Digital Branding Conference” is just one week away. There will be over 40 speakers, including entrepreneurs, experts and digital branding superstars ready to engage with attendees. Expert panels will discuss leading trends in branding, influence marketing, social media and showcase the continuing evolution of domain names as an important part of powerful branding and advertising campaigns. Below is the updated line-up of experts; an … [Read more...]
Infographic: Domain Retail Sales Prices; Name Ninja Setting ‘Right Expectations’
NEW YORK, NY - Every once in a while I will promote an Infographic if I feel it ads value to the discussion. Here is a past one on conversions. This infographic below was created by Name Ninja with information from a site I use and reference often, NameBio, for its data on domain sales history. Name Ninja is a strategic domain name acquisition consultancy firm which helps customers acquire the best name for their project. As most people know, most if not all .com domain … [Read more...]
Name Summit Conference in New York City Shaping Up to Be “Very Big Event”
Agenda includes long list of Industry Veterans; Live Domain Auction for WallStreet.com; Event Ending with Undisclosed "Presentation for Exclusive Asset Sale" yet to be revealed!! NEW YORK, NY – A few days ago I spoke via telephone (yes, that clunky old device still in use) with some of the people at NameSummit to discuss interesting developments for the upcoming event in New York City which is just weeks away. If you have not yet booked your tickets and stay to New York … [Read more...]
New gTLD Domain Operator Find.cars Search Service Granted Federal Trademark
PRESS RELEASE: WHY SEARCH WHEN YOU CAN FIND?® trademark encapsulates attitude, effectiveness of the internet’s premiere used car searching service. (COMMACK, NY) Cars Digital Inc., through parent company, Long Island Media, Inc. has announced the successful registration of a federal trademark WHY SEARCH WHEN YOU CAN FIND?® with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its Find.Cars service, establishing the phrase as a catch-all motto that encompasses the spirit … [Read more...]
New gTLDs: Revolution of New Dots Is Here; There Will Be Winners, There Will Be Losers
NEW YORK, NY - One of the most problematic things about the new gTLD space is that all of the applicants are trying to accomplish the same exact thing, either ahead or before the other; to create a single authoritative place for their industry or brand. They all want 'their' dot, to be “the” dot. However, what they all seem to be aligned in parallel with, is the concern of, risk for, or fear that users will fail to adopt to the change, and that all the good .coms are already … [Read more...]
A Look at the Top Performing “Alternative” Top Level Domain; What’s Up with .XYZ?
NEW YORK, NY - It’s now been near two years from when Google’s new parent company Alphabet Inc. decided to launch their new corporate website on the .xyz domain, naming it abc.xyz. It’s also been near two years from when .xyz founder Daniel Negari forecasted that Google’s surprising move would effectively end .Com dominance worldwide. Not much has happened. Aside from the 5.2 million .xyz domain names registered, according to NameStat, it has done nothing but decline since … [Read more...]
List of Newer “Keyword Rich” gTLD Domains Changing Hands So Far This Year (NameBio)
NEW YORK, NY - This is not going to be an all inclusive list as some domain sales go unreported and some I've heard of which are not listed, such as "Homes.Forsale" and "Houses.Forsale", but this will give you a good idea of the types of names changing hands and the types of dots which are building momentum. The following list of gTLDs were listed at NameBio as closing sometime during this year (2017). They are listed in alphabetical order by TLD. The list does not include … [Read more...]