February 2020 - The Domain Name BusinessThe Domain Name Business

February 2020 Top Trending Domain Registration Keywords. Tried and True, Headlines and ..YatiVip??

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Page Howe

1 Comment

We look at the Verisign DomainScope to track the most popular keywords in domain registrations. I’ll look at some surprises, the always strong tried and true words and then the recently popular increasing strings.

But an unlikely word shows up when looking over the last 90 days…and the winner is YatiVip. Its the latest in a series of words we posted about last year that can go from zero to up to 3-5k or more registrations in a single day. Great for Godaddy and Verisign.

Last November it was yayuvip and yaqibet doing 15,000 and 30,000 names.

So what is … Read the rest

New Chrome Turns on Privacy Concerning Deep Linking Automatically, But Says Don’t Worry, its OK.

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Page Howe

The feature rollout serves to illustrate that the consensus-based web standards process doesn’t do much to constrain the technology Google deploys. Source

Chrome

… Read the rest

Lawsuits Rise. Is Your Website ADA Complaint? Steps to Take.

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Page Howe

California now Home To Increasing Numbers of Lawsuits about Accessibility.

Is your public facing website compliant for the blind and disabled?

On a recent trip to LA promoting .LA a business owner friend told me about what he called, “The Attorney Retirement Fund Act”. If your in California you have probably received a letter about your website, and if its compliant with screen reader technology for the blind, and other accessibility issues.

If your in the regulated group, any customer who can’t access and use your site, and all technologies within, can bring an action. Even if your not, knowing … Read the rest

.AR Opens up to Second Level Registrations – GA Pushed to March 10th

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Page Howe

4 Comments

.AR General Availability

.AR is the country code for Argentina and recently they started a process to allow second level registrations. Meaning you can get GreatName.ar, instead of previously being limited to greatname.com.ar

I Spoke with Simon Penchansky, COO at Toweb, one of our sponsors, about .ar. Simon is based in South America. We use Toweb to manage registrations in global cctlds, especially those with complex registration requirements.

Simon shared the General Availability opens March 10th 2020, midnight local time which is GMT -3. That means it is March 9th, late night, for many North American investors, and various … Read the rest

Do We Need The “cc” Anymore? ccTLD Updates and .GG Notes

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Page Howe

1 Comment

One of our sponsors Toweb keeps an eye out for the news in cctlds. I use them for registrations in countries that have residency requirements and/or manual processes. I’ll review some cctld topics and .GG in todays post. Btw, I think the “cc” will soon be dropped and we may call all domains just TLD’s or Domains.

What are cctlds? These are the 2 Letter combinations used to identify local domain names for countries globally. They are usually owned and managed by the country, operate separate from ICANN from an authority point of view; but are inside the internet community … Read the rest

Godaddy buys Uniregistry. Uniregistry Names will be on Fast Transfer

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Page Howe

33 Comments

Godaddy acquires Uniregistry

Congratulations Godaddy and Frank Schilling at Uniregistry for the acquisition.

I have been customers of both for many years. I hope they both learn from the things each has done well.

One benefit for me personally is Uniregistry names will be eligible for Fast Transfer at afternic.

From the extended press release. “We will be adding Afternic DLS Fast Transfer”

Now “when” could be 2 years, but I am hoping its quicker.

On consolidation. My personal feeling is Godaddy has done less innovation since they started acquiring companies. They keep the registration platform and administration working, … Read the rest

Will Verisign Advertise or Embrace Investors? Or Page Predicts Registrations Could be Down in 2020.

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Page Howe

1 Comment

Verisign reported their quarterly results, the last before their projected price increases kick in. It looks like they will need the price increases. The results are flattish to disappointing, and I don’t think that bodes well for the future unless they start marketing. But marketing hurts margins, and every $.01 miss on earning punishes the stock, will they have the courage to spend on marketing? I hope so. .COM is still the best global TLD.

Even though they “say” they expect the name base to to increase 2-4%, I don’t see how that is possible as the average duration of … Read the rest

Intro to 10 Things – The Biggest Myth in Domaining

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Page Howe

9 Comments

This post is part 1 of 2 in the series 10 Things to Do - Sell Domains

The Biggest Myth in Domaining

You Can Make Money by “Buying” Domain Names

Longer Read 9-15 minutes.

So I’ve fallen prey to this many times, so its time to get real. I’ve said it before, domaining can be a delusional business sometimes because you can buy a domain name, tell yourself you bought it at a discount to its true value, and go home that day booking mental profits, thinking you made money. Walking tall, feeling good. Your Up!

They Told Me I Would Sell 1-2% a Year

So you hear you will sell 1-2 % a year, so buy

… Read the rest