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Yesterday, Jay Westerdal wrote that, according to confidential sources, Google might be going to stop monetizing domains that are less than 5 days old. If they are indeed going to introduce this new policy this will most likely result in less domain tasting, although I doubt it will successfully “kill” domain tasting. It is still possible, even likely, that many domain tasters will just move their domain names to a parking company using a Yahoo feed. Still, Google’s AdSense for Domains program is the most-used PPC feed in the domain business, so any decision they make has an influence on the behavior of domain investors as well as domain tasters for sure. If anybody can stop domain tasting and domain kiting, it is the pay-per-click providers (Google, Yahoo) and the advertisers. As long as these two parties continue to pay for traffic from tasted domains, there will be no end to the practice of domain name mass-tasting. So, the question remains, will Yahoo stop monetizing newly registered domains, too?
(via Jay’s blog)
Domain aftermarket Sedo has released its Domain Market Study for the year 2007. The report says that Sedo sold a total of more than $72 million worth of domain names in 2007, which is a 60% increase from 2006. I’m sure the introduction of Sedo’s new auction system as well as the acquisition of GreatDomains have helped a lot to boost sales last year. Sedo continues to be the power broker of the industry. I interviewed the company’s CEO Tim Schumacher, who is very knowledgable about the domain space and a frequent speaker at domain conferences, for a newspaper article on domain names in 2005. At that time, Sedo had just opened its office in Boston and reported sales of about $11 million for 2004, aiming for $20 million in 2005 (they ultimately exceeded that goal by more than $6 million).
What is also interesting, is that the average sales price per .com domain name sold at Sedo was $5,016, up 54%. The sales prices reported by large domain aftermarkets are a good indicator for the overall domain market, in my opinion, because aftermarkets complete more sales and domain transfers than anybody else. Therefore, they can compile quite accurate stats and give good perspectives of the near future of the domain industry. Given the rise in value of domains in 2007 and the sales we’ve seen this year already, I’m absolutely positive 2008 will be another great year for this industry and set new records when it comes to both the average sales price and the total value of domains sold to end users.
The full Domain Market Study 2007 is available on Sedo’s website.
Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the world wide web in 1989, shares my opinion on design versus usability:
Web users ultimately want to get at data quickly and easily. They don’t care as much about attractive sites and pretty design.
I don’t want web 2.0 sites that look pretty but are terrible to use. Keep your sites simple, with not too many links and content per page. If a commercial website is easy to use, that is the first step towards successfully converting visitors into buyers. Same concept that helped Google become popular so fast.
Media Corporation has acquired Sport.co.uk for £135,000. The company plans to develop the domain into a sports website with news and statistics. Justin Drummond, chief executive of Media Corporation, said:
The value of a top-tier domain name combined with a profitable advertising-driven business model was recently illustrated by the Group’s successful sale of Casino.co.uk for up to £3.625 million. We are aiming to replicate this success with Sport.co.uk as we continue to increase the scale and diversity of the Group’s Web Publishing business.
Buying generic domains, then increasing their value by developing and promoting them is a good strategy for investors who have enough funds available to acquire one- and two-word domains. Keyword domains have lots of revenue potential, so they should not be parked forever. In addition, developing a domain will put you in a better situation when negotiating the possible resale of that domain. It’s easier to develop a generic domain than a made-up name, because you usually start off with existing direct navigation traffic already. Owners of generic domain names also have a head start when it comes to search engine optimization, due to search engines often listing generic domains that contain the term the user is searching for higher than other domains without that keyword.
Media Corp. also owns other online ventures, including Gambling.com, CreditCardExpert.co.uk and FlightComparison.co.uk.
[Press release]
Domain registrar GoDaddy, Afilias Global Registry Services and Mo-Net will operate and market the Montenegro domain extension .ME, which is due to launch this year. From the press release:
Go Daddy will use its renowned marketing muscle to globally promote .ME, while Afilias will provide world-class registry technology, similar to what it uses to support other domains such as .INFO and .ORG.
“We’re excited about the phenomenal potential of .ME and our ability to market it to you, all Web users, as well as other registrars – and of course we’ll promote it in true GoDaddy-esque style,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “Couple .ME with our first-in-class customer support and the registry systems of Afilias and the possibilities are unlimited.”
The new registry alliance plans to invite all registrars, country code (CC) and top level domain (TLD) resellers to add .ME to their own list of offerings. However, the new .ME can be used by anyone – an affiliation with the country of Montenegro is not required.
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