http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/ebay-we-booted-shady-typosquatter-from-our-affiliate-network-in-november-ebay-amzn
Again, here comes negative press for the domain industry, and it’s due to Kevin Ham. The Silicon Alley Insider reports on the Amazon.cm typo domain name which is being forwarded to eBay. The domain is apparently owned by a person or entity in Venezuela. It first forwards visitors to the domain iCarFinder.com, which then sends them to eBay via an affiliate link. According to the Silicon Alley Insider, eBay has already thrown the domain owner out of its affiliate program in November, but the domain still points to eBay, so not sure if that’s true. One would think the affiliate would stop sending traffic to eBay if it wasn’t making them money.
Any way, it’s up to Kevin Ham and Cameroon to stop the bad-faith use of .cm domain names. As posted on this blog already in 2007, monetizing the typo traffic originating from domain extension typos is not illegal as-is. I’ve already written more than once that you should differentiate between the monetization of a generic .cm domain and a TRADEMARK.CM domain (e.g. Amazon.cm; Google.cm). But knowing that Cameroon (owner of the .cm TLD) and Kevin Ham are making money from trademark-infringing typo traffic, I sure hope this practice will stop soon. For the record, I’ve been defending Dr. Ham in the past, because many uninitiated readers have attacked practically everything his company has been doing, but I’d like to clearly state that profiting from a trademark domain you do not rightfully own may not be tolerated. (On a related note, large corporations like Microsoft, Google and Verizon are monetizing typo traffic, too!)
To be fair, I believe Kevin Ham is not making money off Amazon.cm at this time, as it is not monetized through Agoga, but nobody knows for sure if his company not only participates in the parking revenues from the unused .cm domains but also from the registration fees collected by the Cameroon government. In any case, it would be the best to single out the obvious trademark infringements and not allow the registration of those .cm domains anymore. Otherwise, this will always fall back on everybody else in the domain industry.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c6338b00-dddb-11dd-87dc-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
As reported by the Financial Times in the article linked above, Microsoft (MSFT) is again (or perhaps still) interested in Yahoo’s search business (YHOO). Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, told the FT that the software company was not going to fully take over Yahoo, but it was going to get a search deal done with the world’s number two search engine. Both companies are currently going through changes in their management teams: Yahoo is looking for a new CEO and Microsoft now has Qi Lu, Yahoo’s former search chief, leading its online division. That would make it a perfect time for the search deal, said Ballmer.
I don’t want to go into the details of the ongoing negotiations between MSFT and YHOO, where even Google (GOOG) has played a role for some time, but I can say that after more than one year I’m actually tired of hearing the many rumors about Microsoft and Yahoo. I’m sure Google has been laughing all the time while slowly but steadily growing its market share in the online search and advertising markets. That’s why I can only hardly understand why Microsoft and Yahoo haven’t been able to get into a partnership, yet. Both companies are not in a position to compete with Google as of today, so merging or at least working together in some way would be the right decision for both companies.
It would also be interesting to know what influence the back and forth has had on Yahoo’s brand. I guess Yahoo has suffered a severe image loss since saying no to Microsoft’s offer to acquire the company for close to $50 billion in 2008 (Yahoo’s market value has since dropped to $17 billion). Following that were disputes with Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang and more negative press.
But I think that Balmer may have talked to Yahoo already considering that he has made the above public statements in a newspaper. Otherwise, I guess, he would have remained silent for the time being. Who knows, maybe the Microsoft/Yahoo deal is just around the corner? (Or that’s just wishful thinking of mine.)
Short announcement: Domain news site DNKitchen.com is no more. As of today you will find it under the new name ChefPatrick.com. The owner and main contributor to the former DN Kitchen website, Patrick, decided to rebrand his blog. Some of you may already know him by the name “Chef Patrick”, so transferring to that domain name should make the transition an easy one.
Patrick, I wish you all the best with your new blog!
Today I received an email from the MyLink500 LinkedIn group that I’ve been a member of. The group is going to rebrand under what may be the best domain name for this purpose: OpenNetworker.com. An open networker is a person who will accept all invitations to connect to further grow her network. As you will know, networking is a great thing that can help you grow your business. That is why I’ve been an open networker on LinkedIn and other business networks for some time now.
The rebranding of the popular MyLink500 group, which has more than 8,000 members as of today, under OpenNetworker.com has been a wise decision by the founders of the group. It’s a top-notch generic domain perfect for this type of website, and it should help further promote the group for the benefit of its many members.
By the way, I’m an open networker on LinkedIn. If you’d like to connect, feel free to get in touch with me.
Online dating website Match.com is going the free-way: In addition to its paid service, it has launched a free online dating service under the domain name DownToEarth.com. Apparently, it became too difficult to compete with the many free dating sites on the Internet, especially with the widely popular PlentyOfFish.com.
The domain DownToEarth.com is really great, in my opinion. For one, it’s a generic term. But it is also very catchy and brandable. In this context it may even describe the people you will find there: Down to earth, friendly people. Match.com is a top generic and branded domain as well, of course.
As it looks, Match.com is a company that understands the concept of domain names, hence successfully using them to better brand its businesses.
(Hat tip to Markus Frind.)
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