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Domains in the News

Since I started out as a domain investor, I have compiled an extensive list of articles and press coverage on domain names. Many of these articles have helped the domain industry grow a lot since the late 1990s, because they informed the general public and new investors about the many opportunities in the world of domain names. Today, there are many professional domainers making a living off domaining and there are big domain companies raking in multi-million dollar revenues. Although the domain industry still has a long way to go, it sure has matured to a great extent if you look at where it was just a few years ago. This development as well as the general importance of high-quality domain names for businesses all over the world has been documented by the articles and press reports linked to below.

Unfortunately, a few of the articles are not available on the web anymore. If you happen to find them again anywhere on the Internet, please let me know so I can add a link. Also feel free to contact me if you have recently come across an interesting domain-related article that you think might be a good addition to this list. I’m always looking to add more articles whenever possible!

Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2010
Web.com to Buy Domain-Name Firm Register.com for $135M

Financial Times, June 17, 2010
A battle for online naming rights

Miami Herald, May 14, 2010
Internet domain names bring in millions at Fort Lauderdale auction

Bloomberg (DomainNameWire.com link), May 05, 2010
Bloomberg Television feature on Directi and its founder

CNN Video (YouTube.com), May 03, 2010
Live CNN Television Interview on IDNs

Long Island Business News, October 16, 2009
Long Island internet marketer is master of domain names

TechCrunch, October 09, 2009
Insure.com Sells For $16 Million

Los Angeles Times, August 03, 2009
Mark Madsen: Clipper, ex-Laker and domain name speculator

Associated Press, August 03, 2009
NJ man is first to be charged with Web name theft

BusinessWeek, July 17, 2009
The Domain Name Business

New York Times, July 14, 2009
Brokering Peace Between Brand Owners and Domainers

Boston Herald, July 13, 2009
Key Web names seen as “free” advertising

Forbes, July 09, 2009
Get Your Internet Domains Now

Inc. Magazine, July 01, 2009
Good Domain Names Grow Scarce

CNET News, June 30, 2009
Do URLs matter anymore?

TechCrunch, June 05, 2009
Candy.com Sells For A Sweet $3 Million

Wall Street Journal, March 03, 2009
How to Create a Successful Web Site For Nothing (or Almost Nothing)

TechCrunch, February 27, 2009
Toys’R'Us Buys Toys.com At Auction For $5.1 Million

E-Commerce Times, January 07, 2009
Negotiating the Domain Name Thicket

Inc. Magazine, January 01, 2009
And the Money Comes Rolling In

The Deal Book (NY Times), December 15, 2008
First, the Scandal. Then the Web Site?

Wall Street Journal, December 05, 2008
What’s in a Name? More and More, a Number

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German), November 12, 2008
Top Ten der teuersten .de-Domains

Financial Times Deutschland (German), November 11, 2008
Lukrativer Handel mit Domain-Namen

Focus (German), November 10, 2008
900.000 Euro für Kredit.de

Forbes, November 08, 2008
Flipping For Domains

MSNBC/Entrepreneur.com, July 30, 2008
Imminent Domaining

Los Angeles Times, July 16, 2008
Demand Media wags a long tail of niche websites

Globes Magazine (Israel), June 10, 2008
Realtors of the Web

Boston Globe, May 19, 2008
Is America.com a $12m name like Sex.com?

The Industry Standard, May 06, 2008
The allure of the .com domain name

The Huntsville Times, May 02, 2008
Master of their domains: Mark Van Dyke owns popular military, college sports Web names

InformationWeek, April 18, 2008
Domain Name Sales Boom During Real Estate Bust

Washington Post, April 07, 2008
Building His Own Start-Up Ecosystem

Times Online, March 23, 2008
Get a good name on the web

The Observer/Guardian, March 16, 2008
Trade in web names worth millions

Boston Herald, March 14, 2008
Right domain name key to Web success for company

Investor’s Business Daily, February 11, 2008
Domain Name Game Still Going Strong; Tad Less Secretive

The Christian Science Monitor, February 07, 2008
What’s in a (Domain) Name? Some serious cash.

New York Times, February 01, 2008
Coins in the New Realm

International Herald Tribune, January 31, 2008
What’s in a domain name? Serious money

Sydney Morning Herald, January 29, 2008
Domain king’s rivers of gold

Fortune, January 25, 2008
Are domain names recession-proof?

Los Angeles Times, January 24, 2008
No slump in online real estate

Business 2.0, September 27, 2007
The Web’s local mogul

Forbes, September 26, 2007
The Mixologist

Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2007
Web-Address Theft Is Everyday Event

E-Commerce Times, August 31, 2007
Domain Names: The Latest Real Estate Deals

BusinessWeek, August 13, 2007
Does Success Hinge on a Domain Name?

Red Herring, August 06, 2007
Pharmacy.com For Sale

USA Today, July 21, 2007
Internet domain names the 21st century real estate

Business 2.0, July 17, 2007
How to beat Yahoo at its own game

Forbes, June 29, 2007
The Most Expensive Web Addresses

New York Times, June 27, 2007
More Than Just Squatting (on Domain Names)

Red Herring, June 25, 2007
Domain Auctions: Heady Days (article not available)

BusinessWeek, June 25, 2007
The Domains Of The Day

Nashua Telegraph, June 22, 2007
Virtual properties paying off

New York Post, June 22, 2007
Dot.Com Sale Nets Big Bucks

Lowell Sun Online, June 11, 2007
Domain Game (article not available)

Financial Post, June 09, 2007
B.C.’s masters of their domain

Sidney Morning Herald, June 05, 2007
Masters of their domains

Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2007
How Najafi Cos. Hit The Buyout Jackpot

New York Times, May 28, 2007
Millions of Addresses and Thousands of Sites, All Leading to One

Business 2.0, May 22, 2007
The man who owns the Internet

E-Commerce Times, May 08, 2007
Don’t Buy the Keyword – Buy the Domain

Palm Beach Post, March 02, 2007
Fred’s Head: What’s in a (domain) name? Millions (article not available)

CircleID, February 28, 2007
Domain Aftermarket Overdue for an “Asset Repricing”

USA Today, February 19, 2007
Entrepreneurs profit from free Web names

SiliconValley.com, January 26, 2007
Cyberspace land grab (article not available)

CircleID, December 20, 2006
The Closing Window: A Historial Analysis of Domain Tasting

Reuters, December 14, 2006
Russian vodka maker buys Vodka.com domain for $3 mln

David Kesmodel, December 14, 2006
Vodka.com Sold for $3 Million

Austin American-Statesman, November 07, 2006
Austin firm buys site for comparing credit cards (article not available)

Forbes, October 31, 2006
Master The Domain Name Game

IT Week/Computing.co.uk, October 31, 2006
Value of generic domains questioned

Tophosts.com, October 30, 2006
Sedo Makes Another Record Domain Name Sale With gays.com (article not available)

Red Herring, October 26, 2006
There’s Hell To Pay!

Washington Post, October 22, 2006
‘Click Fraud’ Threatens Foundation of Web Ads

BusinessWeek, October 02, 2006
Blogging for Dollars

Business 2.0, October 01, 2006
New ways to strike it rich on the Web

BusinessWeek, August 14, 2006
Valley Boys

USA Today, August 14, 2006
Google search ads find momentum

CNN Money, August 02, 2006
A domain by any other name is not the same

Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2006
All the Good Ones Have Been Taken – In Domain Names, Too

Houston Business Journal, May 19, 2006
Internet REIT nets big names

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 17, 2006
Speculating on domain names

USA Today, April 13, 2006
Sellers of Internet addresses surf for – and get – some big payoffs

Business 2.0, December 01, 2005
Master of their Domains

Wall Street Journal, November 17, 2005
Thanks to Web Ads, Some Find New Money in Domain Names

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 24, 2004
Marchex solidifies its Web presence

Puget Sound Business Journal, November 23, 2004
Marchex agrees to $164.2 million purchase of domain operator

MSNBC, July 20, 2004
Domain name sells for $2.75 million

MyBusiness Magazine (NFIB.com), July/August 2001
The 6:30 a.m. Domain Gold Rush (article not available)

Wired, June 01, 2001
Drugs.com Kicks Domain Habit

Wired, March 06, 2001
MP3.com Joins Domain Scheme

Wired, November 17, 2000
Do We Really Need New Domains?

South Florida Business Journal, September 22, 2000
The king of domains

Forbes, December 30, 1999
The name says it all

BBC News, December 06, 1999
Betting on banks.com

New York Times, December 01, 1999
What’s in a Cybername? $7.5 Million for the Right Address

TheStreet.com/Jim Cramer, December 01, 1999
Did Jake Winebaum Overpay for the Rights to Business.com?

San Francisco Chronicle, November 26, 1999
Porno.com – It’s Big, It’s Really Big

New York Times, August 22, 1999
Unreal Estate

Palm Beach Post, August 16, 1999
Want Web Address? Talk To The Landlord

Wired, August 13, 1999
Tadpoles Hopping onto Drugs.com

New York Times, August 09, 1999
Net Address Sold at Auction for $823,456

Wired, July 21, 1999
A Prescription for Riches?

New York Times, July 15, 1999
At Least Some Domain Names Draw Money at Net Auctions

Time Magazine, August 31, 1998
What’s In A Name?

Sacramento Business Journal, March 16, 1998
Internet domain name sold for $100,000

BBC News, February 25, 1998
Gambling on e-future

Bill Gates, February 25, 1998
“Domania” rules the World Wide Web (article not available)

The Independent, June 15, 1997
Smart Net address nets $150,000 profit

CNET News, June 04, 1997
Domain name fetches record price

New York Times, May 12, 1997
Prototype Internet Name Is Sold for $100,000-Plus

CNET News, May 04, 1996
What’s in a name? bigmoney.com

Wired, October 1994
Billions Registered

Again, if you have recently found an interesting article about domain names or if you know of an old article not yet listed here, please send me a note so I can add it. Thanks!

Marchex Adhere adds premium websites to its advertising network

Marchex, Inc.Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHX), a leading local search and performance advertising company, today announced that it has added 16 premium local and vertical Web sites, including Internet.com (a division of WebMediaBrands), The Big Money, BondsOnline, and Incisive Media’s Law.com to Marchex Adhere™, its vertical performance advertising network.

“At Internet.com, we appeal to a blend of IT and business professionals looking for global news and analysis on products and services that impact their everyday lives. When they visit our Web site, we want to ensure we are delivering advertising that is highly relevant to their interests and needs,” said Gus Venditto, Senior VP and General Manager, WebMediaBrands. “Marchex Adhere delivers top quality industry-specific advertisers that are well matched to our content, allowing us to maximize our ad inventory and revenue.”

Marchex Adhere features more than 200 premium publisher Web sites and newsletters, including BusinessWeek, Kiplinger.com, and RealtyTrac, across numerous verticals, including business, finance, real estate, information technology, and human resources. Unlike traditional ad networks, Marchex Adhere gives publishers control over their own inventory and provides advertisers transparency on where their ads appear on the network.

“Publishers are increasingly looking for the most effective and efficient ways to maximize their yield, while advertisers want to place their ads where they are most relevant and generate the highest return-on-investment,” said Sloan Seymour, Senior Vice President, Marchex Adhere. “Marchex Adhere is helping both parties maximize their results, providing transparency and control along the way.”

“Marchex Adhere offers a breadth of premium Web sites, across a wide range of industries, giving us the ability to reach a highly qualified audience,” said Jeff Coveney, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Application Security. “Using several site- and category-specific campaigns, we were able to cost-effectively target those businesses that utilize our solutions, resulting in higher conversion rates and more qualified sales.”

(Press release via Marchex)

America’s Most Expensive ZIP Codes (.com)

Forbes released the new list of America’s most expensive ZIP codes, which the company compiled by looking at the median sales prices of homes in those areas. From a domainer’s perspective, it is interesting to note that Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) does not own many of those ZIP codes, although Marchex is the owner of MyZip.net and holds a respectable portfolio of ZIP code domain names.

The top spot on the list goes to 33109, which is Fisher Island, Florida. There, the median sales price of a home was $3.85 million. The domain 33109.com is owned by Blue Marble Partners; it has been developed into a mini-site.

Number two on the list is 07620: Alpine, New Jersey. 07620.com is owned by Namesonic; there is a web page under the domain but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it has been developed into a full website or online business. Namesonic is also the owner of other ZIP codes on the Forbes list, namely 11765.com (#3 – Mill Neck, New York), 92657.com (#4 – Newpoart Cost, California), 94027.com (#6 – Atherton, Calif.), 93108.com (#7 – Santa Barbara, California), and 92067.com (#9 – Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.). Namesonic uses the same template for all of its ZIP code domain names.

11976(.com), which is listed as the number 5 ZIP code and belongs to Water Mill, NY, is owned by a registrant from an Asian country.

Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHX)11975(.com), number 8, Wainscott, NY, has been registered through Network Solutions with domain privacy on, but according to the nameservers (ULTSEARCH.COM), the domain belongs to Marchex. Finally, number 10 on the Forbes list of America’s most expensive ZIP codes might just be the most famous area code: It’s the ZIP code of Beverly Hills, CA: 90210(.com). This domain is owned by Marchex. It too belonged to the Ultimate Search portfolio of Yun Ye, which Marchex acquired for about $164 million in 2004.

Looking at the domains and their owners, I think Namesonic’s portfolio would be a nice acquisition target for Marchex. MCHX has a very advanced traffic monetization and content network in place that could probably make the most out of these geocentric domains.

Either way, not one of the domains has been turned into a fully operating website, so there is still lots of potential for the development of ZIP code domain names. Marchex’s template looks best and their names have been integrated into their large network, but the company still has a long way to go in terms of the monetization of the targeted local traffic it receives.

As I’ve said earlier, the potential of the local Internet is huge, the only question is, which company will be the first to unlock that potential?

McDonald’s serves unsnobby coffee (.com)

http://adage.com/video/article?article_id=130611

McDonald’s registered the domain name UnsnobbyCoffee.com about one year ago in 2007. It has now launched a website under this two-word generic domain, using it for a local marketing campaign targeted at the Seattle area. In Seattle, McDonald’s hasn’t really been able to break into this lucrative market yet, which is still heavily dominated by Starbucks.

Not only do I like McDonald’s’ local marketing efforts, including stylish coffee trucks and giveaways, but I also like their UnsnobbyCoffee.com website and domain name. Although this is no Coffee.com (that domain is owned by Peet’s Coffee & Tea), it is still a nice semi-generic domain the company is now using to establish its McCafé brand name in that particular area. It delivers a better message than the brand domain names McCafeSeattle.com or McDonaldsSeattle.com could ever do, in my opinion. McDonald’s has chosen a domain that is both descriptive and brandable, hence making it perfect for the corporation to grow its business.

Just as local advertising is getting increasingly important on the Internet, it also offers great opportunities offline. Marketing campaigns specifically targeted at smaller local markets can be designed to achieve more positive responses than broad nationwide campaigns. The Internet, in turn, does not only grow along with the local advertising dollars rolling in, but above all it is the very tool that has made local advertising easier and more efficient than ever before, even making it affordable to small businesses, too.

That’s one reason why local advertising companies like Marchex.com hold great value in their hands. If those companies hold a quality domain portfolio consisting of generic and geocentric domain names on top of their cutting-edge technology in order to support their clients’ marketing campaigns, as Seattle-based Marchex has been doing for a long time, I’m sure they will continue to grow and succeed not only in the near future but for a long time to come.

Marchex Launches Adhere

Marchex, Inc.Marchex Launches Marchex Adhere to Better Serve National and Local Advertisers;
Further Extends Reach through New Distribution Relationships

New pay-per-click advertising channel delivers a national presence and local impact

SEATTLE, WA – June 9, 2008 – Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHX, MCHXP), a local search and advertising company, today launched Marchex Adhere™, a new pay-per-click advertising channel that provides advertisers and agencies with exclusive placement on hundreds of premium publisher Web sites and on Marchex’s OpenList® network. Marchex is also adding several new premium publishers and locally focused Web sites to Marchex Adhere, further expanding the breadth and depth of the network and enhancing Marchex’s leadership position in local search and advertising.

Marchex Adhere allows advertisers of any size and budget to reach a unique, highly-qualified audience at scale:

  • It enables national advertisers to efficiently fulfill their online budget in the same manner as they purchase offline advertising; namely national, spot and local in a single media buy.
  • It provides small- and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to reach local customers directly through Marchex’s OpenList and reach national customers through premium, vertically focused publishers.

“Local advertising isn’t just for small businesses,” said Pete Christothoulou, Marchex Chief Strategy Officer. “National advertisers are responsible for more than two-thirds of the $100 billion in local ad spending¹. With the increasing fragmentation in the local market, it is nearly impossible for national advertisers to take full advantage of the tremendous local opportunity and find enough quality traffic at scale to fulfill their campaign needs. Marchex Adhere provides a single source for advertisers and agencies to reach exclusive national, vertical and local traffic.”

“Many of our clients are increasingly looking to build their brand awareness on a national level while leveraging that brand to drive transactions at the local level,” said Michael Lee, Director, Strategic Partnerships, DoubleClick Performics. “The ability to target premium publisher Web sites as well as vertical and local search sites in one source enables us to deliver additional quality traffic, at volume, to our clients in a very cost-effective manner.”

Marchex is one of the biggest players in local search and advertising. Currently, more than 65,000 national and local advertisers use Marchex’s advertising products and services to reach consumers online, including the more than 30 million people monthly who visit Marchex’s OpenList² network to make more-informed local buying decisions.

National Presence, Local Impact
Marchex Adhere allows advertisers and agencies to select site-specific or category-based placements on more than 200 premium publisher Web sites including BusinessWeek Online, Bankrate.com and Kiplinger.com, as well as keyword-targeted placements on top search, vertical and local Web sites, including Marchex’s OpenList.

In conjunction with today’s launch, Marchex is adding several new premium publisher and local Web sites to Marchex Adhere through new and expanded distribution partnerships, including:

  • IDG – Publishers of PC World, CIO Magazine and Macworld
  • Ziff Davis Enterprise – Publishers of eWeek, CIO|Insight and Publish
  • Banks.com – Timely advice and first-class tools for building personal wealth – covering banking, loans, investing, insurance, taxes, real estate and autos
  • RealtyTrac – the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value
  • AmericanTowns.com – a national network of community-based websites where people can find & share the best local information for every town in America
  • YourStreet.com – Indexes and maps thousands of articles, blogs, and conversations down to the street level
  • Lat49 – an online ad network providing local and brand advertisers with delivery of geo-targeted and contextual ads across a network of online maps
  • HelloMetro – city level information on local history, attractions, real estate, jobs, Yellow Pages, White Pages and local resources

“Marchex’s relationships with top-tier publishers combined with our own local traffic and high level of client service helps advertisers and agencies obtain both a national presence and local impact online,” added Christothoulou. “According to recent data, local searches are growing more than three times faster than other searches and 86% of search engine users search locally for products and services³. Marchex’s laser-sharp focus on local, combined with the reach, breadth and volume of our traffic enables advertisers to capitalize on the local opportunity now and as it continues to grow exponentially.”

With the launch of Marchex Adhere, Marchex subsidiaries, IndustryBrains and Enhance Interactive are unified under the powerful Marchex Adhere brand.

(Source: Company Press Release)




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