Monday, June 22, 2009

MyID Premium .ca Auction Starts June 24

DomainReport.ca - Premium .ca domain names will be auctioned at MyID.ca starting this Wednesday.

Job.ca is touted as the top domain in the auction, with a reserve of $250k -$300k.

Other domains in the auction include:

Theatre.ca
Takeout.ca
Timeshares.ca
Force.ca
Newspapers.ca
Fees.ca
Mike.ca
Eating.ca
Fines.ca
YS.ca
MZ.ca
Dancer.ca
Her.ca
Luxe.ca
Relationships.ca
Band.ca
Giftshops.ca

and many more.

The full list of domains auctioned can be reviewed here:

http://auction.myid.ca/premium

Auction starts on Wednesday at 1:00 pm and ends on Thursday at 1:00 pm EDT.


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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Peak Domaining Theory? I disagree.

DomainReport.ca - I was reading some recent domain blog posts about the idea of 'peak domaining', the fact that type in's and typing in domain names to navigate will become obsolete.

http://www.greentaxi.com/peak-of-the-domain-market/

http://fragerfactor.blogspot.com/2009/06/peak-domaining-doomsday-scenario.html

In fact, reading these posts gives you the idea that domain names are becoming less relevant, and prices have reached a peak.

Thought I respect their opinions, I couldn't disagree more.

I used to wonder if there would ever by a system developed to do away with domain names for navigating on the internet. After coming back to this point many times over I just can't see it happening. It's possible that it could happen, I just don't see any way for it at this time.

Sure, the economy is down now. Online advertising spending went down in the last quarter. But the fact some people are predicting 'peak domaining' makes me think the opposite, that we are in for more growth in domain name values.

Here are some of my points against the idea of peak domaining.

I am seeing domain names in offline advertising now more than ever before, both country code domains and .com .net .org. Meaning, businesses aren't relying on only Twitter and search engines to be found.

There are other ways to navigate the internet for sure - links, portals, icons, favorite lists, search engines - ways that negate having to type in a domain name. But I'm sure most of us still type in at least one domain name every time we're on the net. What about new sites and urls you see on tv or offline - you have to type those in at least one time to see what's there.

New people are coming online all the time (think young kids growing up, or older people finally hitting the web, people in developing countries), and people get interested in new subjects all the time. What do they do? They'll do at least some type-ins to find subjects that interest them - hmmmmm, I wonder what's at wine.com, or travel.co.uk, or hockeycards.com. There are billions of people with billions of interests, and all kinds of subjects can get typed into the browser out of curiousity.

Search engines and portals can't be perfect in returning results. If you are a business owner depending on organic traffic from search results, you better be found on the first page and high up. To supplement this, you could also get a quality domain that people will remember when they see it in the newspaper, or that will get some type in traffic.

Most people aren't internet search/browser/domain experts. Many will type in the domain even if there is a link on the page in their favorites. Why, I don't know.

As for voice recognition, do we really want to surf the web by talking to our computer or phone? To me, it's usually more of a quiet experience, like reading a newspaper. I don't want to talk to my tv, book or dishwasher either.

Recent reports from sites like dnjournal and afternic have noted that small to medium size businesses are increasing or at least maintaining their domain name buying levels during this economic downturn. Many small and medium businesses still don't have a website.

There are lots of examples showing that premium domains can fail as a business. A domain name needs a good business model behind it to succeed, no matter how good the domain. But still this year we saw the sales of domains like Auction.com and Toys.com to companies that were happy to own these premium domains that relate to their markets. Why do they spend millions on these domains if domains are supposedly becoming less relevant, and we are passed 'peak domaining'?

I see that the domain name will always be needed - a person or business that gets a website will have to have a way to tell someone where they are. Just like phone numbers, which have been in use for decades and are still relevant today. But domains also have the quality of real estate, in that if the property is higher quality (better keywords), it will increase your chances of success.

And the domain name that is needed will need to be relevant to the business name, product, or the owner's name. And there is a finite supply of these domains in every industry in a relevant or desirable extension.

The 'peak domaining' theory is based off the 'peak oil' idea, which says that there is a finite amount of easy oil to be drilled, and we may be passed that point. The other side of this idea is that oil will become more expensive to find and drill as the remaining deposits are more remote, which will increase the price of oil as it becomes more scarce. For domains, once the good ones are in use and locked up by individuals and companies, quality domains will be harder to acquire which should in fact push up prices.

So maybe there is a side to 'peak domaining' I can agree with after all.

I'd like to see everyone else's ideas about this theory, whether pro or con, so please comment.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Job.ca to be auctioned at MyID

DomainReport.ca - MyID has just announced today that their June 24 auction will feature the domain Job.ca

June 8, 2009, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:

MyID.ca announces that it will be conducting a .ca domain auction on June 24-25 with an excellent selection of .ca domains, the majority of which having never been made available before.

At the top of this list is the most spectacular dot ca domain to ever be auctioned and that's the highly sought after top tier employment domain, JOB.ca.

Job.ca was registered befored CIRA opened its doors and is one of the earliest .ca domains registered.

This is the first time ever it is placed on the market.

Last year Jobs.ca sold for $600k, Emplois.ca sold for $56k, and CV.ca sold on MyID.ca auction for $54k. Numerous job related domains have been sold on MyID.ca dot ca auctions for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Job.ca reserve will be announced later today when the full June 24 auction list will be released.

Parties interested in bidding must complete the process outlined here:

http://auction.myid.ca

Best of luck to all.

MyID.ca Auction Management Team

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Premium .ca domains in MyID auctions

DomainReport.ca - I received an email this week from MyID with some of the premium .ca domains they will be listing in their June auctions.

This is the first set of premium names they have posted, a second set of names will be released soon. It's hard to choose, but my favourites among these are BU, Luck, New, 69, SM, and Teen.

Here they are below:

General Auction June 10-11

BU.ca
Diplome.ca
Force.ca
Luck.ca
New.ca
Payment.ca
Pharmacien.ca (Pharmacist in French)

Adult Auction June 17-18

69.ca
Gays.ca
Pose.ca
SexCam.ca
SM.ca
Strippers.ca
Teen.ca

General Auction June 24-25

Layouts.ca
Mask.ca
Moves.ca
Pies.ca
Relationships.ca
Timeshares.ca

Thursday, June 4, 2009

West.bc.ca sells at TBR auction

DomainReport.ca - The domain west.bc.ca has sold at a Sibername TBR auction for over three thousand dollars (Cdn).

West.bc.ca - $3,150

According to Sibername's request from Cira, registration of the top level domain name WEST.CA is currently restricted, but will be available for registration in August, 2009.

Therefore, whoever won this domain will be able to register west.ca in August. Normally they would have been able to do so right away.

West.ca is a great domain to own, short and simple, and could be used to promote Canada's western provinces of BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan, which have been the areas of much of Canada's economic growth in recent times.