Domain News

I would like to introduce you to 20 great tools for researching domain names. These tools will help you gain insight into your own domain names and how you can better use, develop, sell or buy new domain names. Enjoy and please feel free to contribute to the list by adding a comment.

Domain Sales History

• DNJournal Domain Sales Archive - Most comprehensive and complete history of notable domain sales above $10,000 since 2004.
• NameBio - Searchable and sortable database of domain sales
• SoldNames.com - Premium sales history above six-figures

Free Domain Appraisals

• NamePros Appraisal Forum - Domainers willing to appraise
• Estibot - Automated appraisal tool
• DomainValuation - Free appraisal service
• DomainTops - Automated appraisal and keyword tool
• DomainScore - Compare “scores” between other similar domains

Domain Stats

• LinkScape by SEOmoz - Powerful new domain tool for SEO
• DNFame.com -Great information on social, search and reach data
• Archive.org WayBack Machine - History of any website built

Expired Domains

• FreshDrop.net - Powerful tools for searching and filtering domains
• NameJet.com - Marketplace for backordering expiring domains
• SnapNames.com - Marketplace for backordering expiring domains
• Pool.com - Marketplace for backordering expiring domains

Short Domains

• NameFunk - Extensive random character generator
• ReadableDomains - 5 Letter Vowel Swap
• DomainNameSoup - Random 5 Letter Generator
• 5Letter.com - 5 Letter Research
• MakeWords - Random “Word” Generator

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

20 Free Tools for Researching Domain Names

Original post by Mark Fulton

Dark Blue Sea Limited, parent company of Fabulous.com, released their September 2008 Quarterly Report (PDF) today.  The report contains DBS’ key performance indicators, trading performance, domain portfolio information, finacial position, strategic outlook and a brief on the impact of the Australian dollar versus US Dollar.The company revenue from direct navigation slipped again this quarter. Since their March 2008 quarterly report, DBS believes that “trading conditions have continued to worsen” in the online advertising industry.  They cite a weaker US economy, fewer companies advertising and other factors such as they Yahoo/Google deal as points that have contributed to the overall instability in the revenue from direct navigation traffic.

While the company remains uncertain about performance in the direct navigation and advertising sector, they seem optimistic about their second source of revenue, domain sales. The company saw softening in domain sales around the time of the US credit crisis in mid-September, but sales have rebounded.  In addition DBS points out the distribution deal with Godaddy continues to be developed.  DBS makes an important point about the growing shift in revenue from direct navigation to domain sales

“It is worth noting that the Company’s portfolio now generates more revenue from secondary market sales than advertising”.

In looking at the specific numbers it is important to note that the reason that domain sales revenue outpaced direct navigation is not a result of an increase in domain sales. Rather direct navigation revenue continues to decrease while domain sales remain mostly steady.  This is the second quarter that DBS’ domain sales revenue outpaced direct navigation. With the strategic partnership with Godaddy and the growing interest from domain portfolio owners in the company’s Domain Distribution Network, the company seems more and more focused on the domain sales channel.

DBS’ views in the Strategic Outlook section reflects on how this relates to other businesses in the domain space. It also highlights a growing focus on revenue through  domain sales .

“Historically, the domain services businesses. . . . have generated the majority of their gross profit from intermediating advertising revenue. As the advertising component of the industry has declined, industry profitability plummeted. Many service businesses that rely exclusively on advertising are no longer viable and the industry is ripe for consolidation.

Going forward the company sees secondary market domain name sales becoming a much more significant component of the industry . . .”

The company brings up industry consolidation again later in the report. DBS discusses that they are exploring consolidation in the context of strategic options. They believe from discussions with other industry participants that the timing for consolidation is appropriate.

What companies will merge or consolidate during the “trying times” and which will die off ?   Which company will become the leader in the domain aftermarket ?   Will domains become more liquid as the industry builds a better domain sales channel ?   If this DBS quarterly report is any indication of the current climate in the domain space, times are tough and we may start seeing some of these questions answered soon enough.  If you’d like more information on the company, the DBS Investors Presentation from October 2008 (PDF) provides a good synopsis of the company and the domain industry.

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Original post by Adam Strong

Here are the top Sedo sales for the week of October 27 to November 3. While there were more notable sales than last week, the biggest sale was much smaller at only $40,000 USD. The .me domains continue to sell on speculation, but it will be interesting to see the consumer reaction once these sites are actually developed and advertised.

Original post by Chad Kettner

TRAFFIC Down Under will hold a charity auction of ten premium domain names with the revenue to be donated to the Internet Commerce Association (ICA), a non-profit advocate for the domain name industry.

The auction will benefit the ICA, a grass roots organization formed to ensure domain services and owners are robustly represented in areas of great risk and importance to the global domain community.

If you prefer, you can donate directly to the ICA, more info here.

The ICA utilizes dues and contributions to enable activities related to legislative lobbying, regulatory representation, industry public relations, legal test case support, industry publication of statistics and reports, revenue research, and market intelligence. In order for the association to continue and expand its activities, it requires the support and participation from current members and the entire professional domain name community.

We are happy to announce that the top ten domains to be auctioned off are:

• LanzaroteCanaryIslands.com - Kevin J. Sinclair
• CityChicks.com - Anonymous
• FreeRangeFoods.com - Howard Hoffman
• AudioCabinets.net - Rick Latona
• CarbBlockers.com - Fabulous.com
• FranchiseCompany.com - Fabulous.com
• BiometricReader.com - Fabulous.com
• MovingCosts.com - Fabulous.com
• DisplayUnit.com - Fabulous.com
• BodybuildingProducts.com - Fabulous.com

These domains are to be auctioned without reserves at the conference Gala Dinner on the 19th November. Rick Latona Auctions has also committed to donate their expertise and time to manage the charity auction.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

TRAFFIC Down Under Charity Domain Auction

Original post by Mark Fulton

Media General, an independent communications company and parent of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, has purchased Richmond.com for an undisclosed amount of money.

Richmond.com is an Associated Cities member and considered one of the most complete geo-domains ever created. The website has 120,000 unique monthly visitors who average nearly 2.7 million page views each month. By partnering with local businesses and organizations, Richmond.com is able to act as a local hub for local news, events, and searches.

“We have achieved our goal at Richmond.com,” explained John Whitlock, chairman of The Whitlock Group and principal owner of Richmond.com, “to be an innovative and collaborative champion of the Richmond region. Our partners, customers and staff have worked together over the past eight years to create an outstanding online resource that highlights all the best Richmond has to offer. I am excited about Media General’s commitment and ability to take it to the next level. I am sure the best is yet to come.”

The development, growth, and sale of Richmond.com stands to show that a well developed geo-domain really can compete with the big guys. I expect to see quite a few more sales such as this one in the future.

[via Richmond.com]

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Original post by Chad Kettner

Tucows (AMEX:TCX, TSX: TC) has just announced the launch of their YummyNames site, which lists domains from their portfolio of names for sale online. The company has before sold individual and groups of names directly and via various brokers and is now formalizing some of their offering under a new brand.

“YummyNames, the public face of our domain portfolio service group, provides an additional means by which to realize the value of our domain portfolio assets to drive continued growth for the Company,” said Elliot Noss, President and CEO, Tucows.

There are “ten thousands of names” listed on the site; Tucows’ portfolio is estimated to contain more than 70,000 domain names. Sample names listed for sale are countryrock.com, divorced.com, lemons.com, listener.com, mygarden.com, thepub.com, tool.com and veggies.com. While the site stats that “These premium domains are priced starting at $500 USD”, it appears that none of the names has actually listed a fixed price at this point. Names are being offered for purchase or lease. The site lists previous clients such as: Bell Mobility, CanWest Global Communications, EMI Music, General Motors, Grand & Toy, Harlequin Enterprises, Johnson & Johnson,  Microsoft, Nestle and RBC Royal Bank.

The Tucows domain portfolio mostly consists of names that were not renewed by registrants, as well as domain names that were purchased as part of the Netidentity acquisition. Some of the names now listed on the YummyNames website were part of those names that were accidentally auctioned off on AfterNIC in June of this year when the auctions were canceled after they had received pre-bids their conclusion.

Tucows joins a growing list of companies shedding the bulky portfolios and liquidating their domain name assets. Fabulous began selling off their expiring names through Namejet earlier this month, LiveCurrent announced the sale of domain assets yesterday, ppc company Oversee.net has sold portions of their portfolio recently, and domainer Rick Schwartz, who typically is not a liquidator put some of his domains up for sale sold a good chunk of his inventory at the last TRAFFIC auction as well.

[via Press Release]

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Original post by Frank Michlick

After DNForum launched a special forum in July where users could list expiring domains from their portfolio that they were not planning on renewing, Domaining.com has launched ExpiringDomains.com yesterday. The service allows you to list domain names from your portfolio that you are not planning to renew. The listing is free and domains prices always start at $100 and are dropped by $10 per day (at 5pm EST) if the name is not sold. The service charges a 30% commission if a name sells. New domains are added every day at 3pm EST for premium members and 4pm EST for all members.

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Original post by Frank Michlick

Economic times are rough and we’ve heard reports of domain parking revenue dropping significantly over the past year. However, there are still countless opportunities and tried-and-tested methods for making money online.

I recently viewed the results of a poll on ProBlogger in which only half of respondents stated that they make money by means other than blogging.  Kind of a depressing result, however his readers are, of course, thousands of bloggers. Here we are domainers and developers!

I am sure there are many different ways we all go about earning our income in this industry.  I have put together a poll featuring all the ways I could think of that domainers earn money online.

Check all the boxes that state ways you make money online or please fill in your own answer if I missed something.

How Do You Make Money Online? Check all that apply.
( surveys)

The results should be interesting after a good amount of response. Hopefully the results can inspire us to branch out and discover new ways of earning money with domains and web development.

What are your thoughts on making money today in the domain and development industry? Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

Poll: How Do You Make Money Online?

Original post by Mark Fulton

The top Sedo sales from October 20-27 included moneywatch.com for 125,000 USD, gmbh.de for 73,185 EUR, and faire-part.com for 46,501 EUR. View the full list after the jump.

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Original post by Chad Kettner

The AQDN.com domain sales marketplace launched just 2 weeks ago and has already sold many domains because of low reseller pricing and high quality keyword phrases.  These domains have obvious development potential with strong call to action brands.

Introducing the AQDN Affiliate Program

Just announced, the AQDN Affiliate Program pays you 15% commission for any and all domain sales you refer!  It is free to sign up and you can begin promoting our domains to your clients, friends and fellow domainers.  These quality domains sell themselves!

Listed below is a peak at the current inventory of domains still available to purchase on AQDN.  Sales are made on a first come, first serve basis.  Act now, these great .COM domains will be sold soon!

Click Domains for a Detailed Description

$35 - NetworkingProfiles.com
$35 - MajorFile.com
$35 - ButtonTrade.com
$35 - FunDiscussion.com
$35 - DesignerCSS.com
$35 - SendLuck.com
$35 - DailyCDs.com
$35 - FeedFollow.com

$55 - LocalWAN.com
$55 - DownloadRebates.com
$55 - DiscussFM.com
$55 - LowerMileage.com

$75 - Hapse.com
$75 - XboxPreviews.com
$75 - GuardWear.com
$75 - ShowcaseCards.com

$125 - ImmediateLegal.com
$125 - SaleDuJour.com
$125 - WebDeveloperJob.com
$125 - BlogBookstore.com

$149 - WirelessBookReader.com

Stay Updated on New Domain Deals

The AQDN email newsletter is sent directly to your inbox each time 5 or more domain names are listed for sale. Get an edge on the competition, subscribe now for free.

Thanks for checking out AQDN! Please feel free to comment below with any suggestions or questions you might have. Carpe Nomen ~ Seize the Name!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

Great Deals on Quality .COM Domain Names

Original post by Mark Fulton

Here are the top Sedo sales from October 13-20. The two sales that impressed me the most were espresso.ca at $18,000 USD, which seems to show that Canadian domains are growing in value, and kro.me for $10,000 USD, which sets a strong tone for future lll.me sales.

*Note: There’s a bit of overlap from last week’s sales list, which went to October 14.

(c) 2008 DomainNameNews.com

Visit our Calendar of Domain Industry Events.

Original post by Chad Kettner

This news just in from the DOMAINfest email newsletter.  The DOMAINfest website now has a beautiful and easy to use site design and some exciting new information and features for the the upcoming Global event to be hosted in Hollywood, CA during January 27th through the 30th.

Preliminary Agenda - Just Released!

Agenda highlights include five hard hitting sessions with fresh speakers sharing their insights, two amazing parties, three Moniker Domain Auctions, a Domainer Boot Camp pre-show event, and lots of networking time. More details to come soon. View the Agenda here.

Moniker Auctions - Submissions Open!

Get your domains into the auctions! You won’t find a bigger or better audience in terms of spending power and motivation. Submit your best names to Moniker by November 21, 2008 for consideration. The preliminary catalog will be released in early December. Submit your domains here.

Join DOMAINfest Connect Community

A new online community designed to help you quickly identify and connect with people who share your personal and professional interests before, during and after the event. It’s open to everyone - you don’t have to register for DOMAINfest Global to join. Create a profile today and start networking effectively! Visit DOMAINfest Connect.

Keynoter: Steve “The Woz” Wozniak
Legendary Entrepreneur & Apple Co-Founder

Just announced! Silicon Valley icon, Steve Wozniak, will deliver the keynote address at DOMAINfest Global ‘09. Wozniak is one of the most influential innovators in tech history and is credited with helping shape the personal computer industry with his Apple designs. His keynote “fireside chat” is sure to reinvigorate your entrepreneurial drive and spur some great - and perhaps unconventional - ideas. Read more about “The Woz” here.

Will you be attending DOMAINfest Global?  Have fun at DOMAINfest Hollywood?  Would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

DOMAINfest Launches New Website and Releases Agenda for 2009 Conference

Original post by Mark Fulton

I discovered IncSpring a few days ago on Twitter and quickly checked out their website to see what the buzz was all about.  IncSpring is a community of graphic designers who create “brands” for sale, beautiful logo designs with fictional company names.  Occasionally a brand for sale on IncSpring will come packaged with a domain name.

Matching up a quality domain name with a well designed logo really has potential.  Unfortunately, many of the domain names graphic designers choose to use are not the best quality.

An example would be, “Alidocious.com” which is currently listed with a pretty logo featuring an umbrella and stars.   While this is creative (Mary Poppins reference) it is not a functional or user friendly domain name.

I would love to connect with a great logo designer (have a few in mind already) to match up with some high quality .COM names to be listed on IncSpring.

IncSpring is a new site still in beta, so if you do sign up and start posting your brands for sale, don’t expect them to sell the next day. Over the coming weeks and months I expect IncSpring to draw more traffic and more potential brand buyers.

Visit IncSpring.com now if you’re in the market for a great brand or interested selling your own.

 Easy Can Openers

What do you think about IncSpring and it’s potential as a domain sales venue?  Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry’s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

IncSpring: The Future of Domain Sales?

I just received news that after a few months of VIP Beta (Ning social network), GrandNames.com is now live and will be announced to the world in all it’s glory sometime next week in a press release.

I want to make it clear here that I have nothing personal against the owner, Mr. Frager, a marketing and business expert turned domainer.  Frager is a very inspirational person who stays in the loop on domain news, often sharing valuable and thought-provoking blog posts.  I also enjoy his email newsletter.

I simply feel that the service and domains themselves found on GrandNames are over-rated and over-priced.

The majority of house listings, which I assume are owned by Mr. Frager, are completely worthless.  Yes, I am a realist who is quite picky when it comes to the quality of a domain name and potential for a domain name to be used and benefit an end-user.

• OutOfStealthMode.com - $999 (DotSauce Appraisal: $0)
• PeoplePlanetProfits.org - $999 (DotSauce Appraisal: $0)
• ReservedSeat.com - $999 (DotSauce Appraisal: $200)
• SoundsFunnyToMe.com - $999 (DotSauce Appraisal: $0)
• Too-Sexy.com - $899 (DotSauce Appraisal: $8)
• WhosTheRealDaddy.com - $999 (DotSauce Appraisal: $0)
• GrandmaGotCoupons.com - $899 (DotSauce Appraisal: $0)

How could you, in good conscience sell domains like these?  This is just a small sampling of some of the domains found on GrandNames.To be fair, only about 25% of the domains listed on GrandNames are these terrible house listings. With the VIP listings it almost gets worse.  The same trend of high prices for mediocre domain names continues.  You can view all the domains listed here.

I paid $15 a long time ago when the beta was first announced, the price is $49.95 a year as of today.  I was able to submit a handful of domains to be listed… though I did not opt for fee based premium marketing services (a blog post).

• DiscSet.com -  $900
• TelephonePrank.com - $750

While I hope they sell through the miracle of marketing and promotion to Mr. Frager’s clients, I have my doubts and feel these could be better promoted elsewhere on forums or other domain marketplaces.

In summary, I do not recommend GrandNames as a domain buyer,  seller or end-user. Do the research yourself, DotSauce has lots of great articles to help.  Launch your own free domain portfolio and get the word out.  Marketing and advertising isn’t that hard if you put the hours in. Think for a minute before you register a worthless domain name.

What are your thoughts?  Please comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine - The Domain Industry′s HOTTEST Publication!

Sponsored By midFlux.com! Providing affordable and accurate domain appraisals. We also provide domain articles and valuable information to help you with your domain needs.!

GrandNames or a Grand Waste of Money?

Original post by Mark Fulton

Rick Latona's Internet Retailer Ad

Rick Latona announced in August that he would be advertising in Internet Retailer magazine and, as is typical of Latona, he went big. (Check the picture).  The ad takes up the middle spread of the magazine in the October issue. It’s the first thing I saw when I opened it up. Since the issue is light on content (only 64 pages) the magazine almost immediately opens to the center spread.  Some of the names like LotteryNumbers.com or DayTraders.com don’t seem to be targeted to the Internet Retailer audience, but the ad surely makes an impression.  I’m surprised others like Buydomains, Sedo and Fabulous haven’t made a splash like this before now.

Share

Original post by Adam Strong