Monday, November 30, 2009

New .CA domain Registrar launched

DomainReport.ca - A new .ca domain registrar has just launched called CanSpace Solutions (www.canspace.ca).

This new registrar plans to make their mark in the .ca space by offering the lowest registration prices. They also intend to offer excellent support and build a strong reputation.

From Canspace:
"Our live support is online about 20 hours a day, and all of our support staff is very knowledgeable about CIRA and the back-end processes. The domain control-panel is very straightforward and easy to use, and we do offer bulk registration and transfer tools."

The Canspace yearly dot-ca registration/transfer price is $9.75 per year. As far as I know this is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, price in Canada.

Canspace told me their goal is to always have the lowest price for .ca registration.

Canspace has also provided a promotional code I can pass along which will make domain name registrations and transfers $9.49 per year. The code is XMAS09-CA119 and runs until December 25th.

A bit about the company and person behind it...

Canspace was started and is owned by Sunil Singh. Sunil is a programmer by nature and education, and has a B.Sc in Computer Science from McMaster University. He has been in the web hosting & domain business for about 13 years now. Sunil started CanSpace because he felt there is still room to compete in the dot-ca registration market, and as the dot-com and dot-net TLDs continue to become overly saturated, he feels dot-ca domains will become even more popular. Sunil is a proud Canadian, born in Ottawa and fluent in both English and French.

I have to say I agree with Sunil's outlook on the .ca space!

I haven't yet registered a domain with Canspace, but I did want to report the news of their opening. There is always room for another registrar that offers low prices and good service. I also think they chose a good domain for their company.


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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Penticton Domainer Launches Shopping Websites

DomainReport.ca - Thanks to Elliot Silver at elliotsblog.com for posting this news, I thought I would also add my thoughts to the story since it has a Canadian connection.

Garry Chernoff of NetIncome Ventures has moved dozens of domains to shopping websites, and plans to do the same with many more. The domains lend themselves to ecommerce very well, since they are product names like BabyMonitors.com, LaserLevels.com and CarMats.com.

After looking at a few sites, it looks like they are very basic - they have some google adsense on the sides, and photos and descriptions of related products pulled from other brand name online stores. If you click on an item, it sends you to the partner website to buy it. But, you can compare items by price or category, and there is room to expand these basic sites, say by adding their own product lines, adding a forum, related news stories, etc. I also notice each site has a newsletter and is collecting emails, which will create a database of people interested in certain products that you can mail out to from time to time. This is very smart, because you might not get the sale from their first visit, but you might from the newsletter later on. Though the sites are basic, if you are searching for the product they're selling, you will think you've come to the right place when you land on them.

Will these sites perform better than ppc? They are targeted names and probably will convert well. PPC gets you a guaranteed payment with a click (which have been decreasing), going this new route you have to make a sale to earn commission. If you can get a lot of conversions, you can beat ppc, and that is likely one of the main points of this development. What was once a ppc click that paid you 17 cents could now be someone placing an order for 10 Hawaiian shirts, earning you $$ in commissions. How many ppc clicks would you need to make up one commission? For example, one dating affiliate program I use pays $55 for a paid sign up; I'd have to get up to 500 clicks on a ppc page to equal that!

If you've read the Domain Game book, you'll probably remember Garry Chernoff as one of the featured domainers. He started off in the 90's picking up web addresses that he thought would be valuable, and quit his day job when he found a $5000 domain payment cheque he'd forgotton about.

A few interesting things I also noticed is that the website for NetIncome Ventures is basically still a parking page (NetIncome.com), and one of his best domains, Jet.com, is still undevelopped.

The domains in the press release are all .com domains, I don't know if any of the new sites have .ca domains, or even if Garry Chernoff owns any .ca's. But since he is Canadian I wanted to highlight this story in my blog.

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Here is the full press release:

Canadian based NetIncome Ventures, an established domain investment and web development company founded and headed by serial entrepreneur Garry Chernoff has publicly launched dozens of shopping websites earlier this week just in time for the holiday shopping season. The e-commerce websites include HockeyJerseys.com, BabyMonitors.com, CarMats.com, FaxMachines.com, LaserLevels.com, CrossTrainers.com, HawaiianShirts.com and dozens more of niche specific e-commerce shops featuring hundreds of thousands of products.

Penticton, B.C., Canada (PRWEB) November 19, 2009 -- Canadian based NetIncome Ventures, an established domain investment and web development company founded and headed by serial entrepreneur Garry Chernoff has publicly launched dozens of shopping websites earlier this week just in time for the holiday shopping season. The e-commerce websites include HockeyJerseys.com, BabyMonitors.com, FaxMachines.com and dozens more of niche specific e-commerce shops featuring hundreds of thousands of products.

Garry's vision for the websites into 2010 and beyond is to become leaders in their respective niches by featuring a complete product catalog where each and every visitor can research and purchase exactly what they are looking for in one place and for the most affordable prices around. NetIncome Ventures has already teamed up with leading retailers and includes products from Buy.com, Boscov's, OnlineSports.com, Fans Edge, ShoppersChoice.com, The Shopping Channel, Overstock.com, NBC Universal Store, Autogeek.com and hundreds of other strategic partners and popular internet based discount stores.

NetIncome Ventures Inc currently owns thousands of targeted and category leading keyword domain names such as BridalShop.com, Beads.com, CellShop.com, MensWear.com, Replica.com, Runners.com, SportsGear.com, Veils.com, etc. and plans to develop and launch at least a few hundred more e-commerce shops by March of 2010. Mike Cohen of WannaDevelop.com and NYC based Logiko group have been coordinating all web development and marketing efforts for NetIncome Ventures newly launched shopping e-businesses.

"We have put in a lot of time and effort into these websites the past few month's and with Garry Chernoff's guidance and vision from day one we have been able to accomplish a truly great thing here with this week's launch and mass deployment of dozens of category specific websites on targeted keyword domains that can now serve visitors from across the globe as a one stop shop featuring product catalogs of up-to 100,000 or even more relevant and unique items on each and every website."

NetIncome Ventures Inc Contact:
Garry Chernoff
250-493-3700
biz(at)netincome.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20091119/bs_prweb/prweb3230534_1



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Thursday, November 19, 2009

.CA domain news gets mention in DNJ

DomainReport.ca - It's been a long dry spell of .ca domain names left out of the DN Journal weekly sales reports, however some .ca news was mentioned in the DNJ lowdown section yesterday.

Though reported .ca sales have been few lately, country code domains are still as strong as ever in other extensions, such as .de and .co.uk.

The DNJ lowdown section reported on two items, the start-up of Dropping.ca (new site that will catch TBR .ca domains for you), and the Domain Owners Association of Canada (DOAC), both stories I've already mentioned in this blog.

To read the DN Journal account, go here:

http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/20091118.htm

At any rate, it's good to see .ca domains being mentioned in mainstream domaining circles. If you were watching the sales results of recent weeks, you would understand why some might have forgotten that .ca domains even existed!

So why the slump in sales for 2009? Especially after the successful MyID auctions in 2008?

My feeling is that there are a few reasons, some being the economic climate, the restriction on .ca ownership, and the relatively low Canadian population. Countries that are experiencing high cctld sales like Germany and the UK have a much larger population base, and more open registration rules than .ca.

Despite this, I have heard of some .ca domain sales that weren't reported (in the several thousand dollars range). You have to remember that the weekly domain sales report doesn't include all sales, many private transactions are still happening. I believe the future is still good for quality .ca domains, though it would be nice to see more sales happening to reinforce this.

What do you think is the reason for the recent slump in .ca sales?

Has 2009 been a good year for you in domains?



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Friday, November 13, 2009

Promotion for 16,000 domain name sale

DomainReport.ca

10 free domain names were given away today at DNForum.com by member acesfull to help promote a sale of 16,000 .com domains.

The remaining domains on the list are $150 each, or $100 each if you buy 10 or more.

I haven't scanned through the whole list yet, but in my opinion there are domains there of a quality I've seen sell in the $xxx to $xxxx range.

To see the full thread at DNForum, go to:

http://www.dnforum.com/f5/sale-over-16-000-domains

Or, if you would like to get a copy of the list to review, send an email to:

sale (at) gnomailbox.com

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from the DNF thread:

I am selling over 16,000 Domain names, 16,000 dot-coms (only 20 with hyphens) and only 57 with other extensions (not dot-coms).

The domains are being offered for sale, for $150 each. OR - $100 each if you purchase 10 or more at one time. For the $100 price - your purchase must be for at least 10 domains at a single time.

Payment: I'll accept payment via Paypal for purchases up to $1000. Larger orders can be paid for with Moniker Escrow (I'll split the escrow fee with the buyer). For purchases over $1,000 for buyers IN CALIFORNIA ONLY, the purchase is to be made through escrow.com, or bank wire.

Domain Transfer: Transfers will be made ONLY through a Moniker account push. You are required to provide your Moniker Account Number and Current Authorization Code. (If you don't have a Moniker.com account already, you'll have to create one, to receive your domains).

For any unforeseen circumstances, I may add restrictions or other conditions.

Stats will not be provided for any domains. Assume minimal traffic and revenue.

Domains have been registered going back to 2001 or earlier. Expiration dates range from January 2010 to August 2011.


Link to full posting:

http://www.dnforum.com/f5/sale-over-16-000-domains



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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Domainer Dinner to be held in Toronto

DomainReport.ca - The 9th Toronto Domainer Dinner will once again take place at the Rosewater Supper Club on November 25, 2009.

Tickets are $90 + evenbrite fee and include food and two drinks. The amount of seats is limited.

To register for the dinner, click here:

http://domainerdinner9.eventbrite.com/

I wish I could be in Toronto for this, so all you Toronto domainers make sure to take advantage of this event!



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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

MyID announces Marketplace for .CA domains

DomainReport.ca - As I've noted in recent postings, the .ca newsfront has been very slow in recent months. Today there was an interesting TBR drop with at least two great domains, senior.ca and mutualfunds.ca

In addition to this, I received an email from MyID about a new .ca Marketplace they are launching. There are many components to this marketplace with different auctions and sales venues.

They are also looking for 10 beta testers to try out the system, if you're interested contact MyID at support@myid.ca

I've decided to re-post the email here and let everyone read it for themselves.

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As you alll know, MyID.ca had its first auction of existing .ca domains in May 2008, almost 18 months ago. We were the pioneers in having the first auction platform dedicated to a cc tld and a motivation to many others that followed suits. In addition, we always stressed security and made it our an integral part of our operation. We actually implemented our authentication process before anyone else and others have since followed suit.

Since then, hundreds have been authenticated through our system and we currently enjoy 100% success rate without a single instance of any domain investor parting with their domain and not getting paid and not a single buyer parting with their funds and not getting their domain. We were adamant in our authentication process and weeded out those that we felt should not be part of our secure system and its community of users.

Throughout these last 18 months, we got to know all those that used our platform. We streamlined our operations and managed tens of thousands of domain submissions without a single incident or technical issue. We ran numerous types of auctions, some public, others private, some with a variable range of reserves and others with fixed ones. We experimented with auctions of different themes, durations, and ending time and even had once an auction that ended at 9 pm.

And we always, always reached out to our users and asked for feedback and their input as to how we can improve and serve their needs better. And we always listened. As a matter of fact, most of the variety in the auctions we ran, including the 9pm end time was influenced to a variable degree by the feedback from our users.

Fast forward to November 2009.

We are proud to announce the pending release of a comprehensive marketplace dedicated to dot ca domains. This is a very involved system that will allow dot ca owners to effectively market their domains and significantly improve the likelihood of end users finding the dot ca domains they want.

This system which we have been working on for many many months now will bring tremendous features while staying true to our dedication to a secure and fraud-free place.

There will be four main components in this new system:

A) Domains for Sale:

This will host tens of thousands of dot ca domains that are available for sale. Each would have a fixed price, BIN, or a 'Make offer'. All domains listed would be by authenticated sellers and all offers made would be by authenticated buyers. We expect to retain our record of legitimate transactions where each offer made is irreversible and irrevocable and placed by a serious buyer that intends to follow through.

B) Do Not Release:

This would allow domain owners to list their soon to be released domains for sale and gauge whether any would be sold before TBR date. Domain inventory would be updated each day at the same time to allow users a fair chance of getting the domains they may be interested in. This should give domain investors one final chance to monetize the domains they are planning to not renew.

C) MyID Bulk:

This is a registrar dedicated to domain investors with features that would undoubtedly significantly reduce the registration and renewal cost and domain management time. Features we have planned will take the domain investor registrar experience to a whole new level including a great interface, comprehensive bulk management features, detailed security, and excellent support.

D) MyID Auctions:

These will take place regularly but there will be a significant change in what domains get listed. In contradiction to the earlier auctions, only domains that have received offers through the domain marketplace will be included. This should translate to a much higher rate of sales and better use of everyone's time resources.

E) Rent an Auction:

We will allow individual domain owners to rent our platform and have dedicated auctions for their domains only.

F) TBR with steroids:

An upcoming TBR service that raises the bar for all engaged in TBR registrations. Trust us when we say that this will be like nothing you have seen so far from any current TBR service.

All the above will share the following:

1) Authentication will be required but the process is now simpler while still secure.

a) Getting authenticated to one service will translate to being authenticated to all. So all those that are already authenticated for our auctions, are already authenticated for the rest.

b) The authentication process used to be simple but is now much much simpler. There is no more need to fax or scan any credit cards. Details will be released soon.

B) No more need to return any seller or buyer agreements: The seller and buyer agreements are now streamlined and can be completed online without the need to fax or scan anything. This should tremendously decrease the handling time previously required of frequent users.

C) A comprehensive frequent seller program:

The more you sell domains on MyID Auctions, Do Not Release, and dot ca marketplace, the lower your commission will be. The way we look at it is there was a significant cost incurred in creating this marketplace and recurrent expense to manage it. This naturally will be covered by our proceeds from the sales occurring on these platforms. So the more income we make from a particular user, the more that user has helped us recoup our investment and thus the more discounts and special treatment this user deserves. And we do it all in a public and very transparent fashion so that one can always tell what it would take to get to a lower commission level. And once a seller reaches a lower commission level, they can never go back to a higher rate. So the frequent seller benefits are cumulative and even a 4% commission is within reach.

D) An elaborate affiliate program with significant rewards to those that refer new users to us.

In preparation for our imminent release, we are seeking beta testers to test drive our system and uncover any bugs prior to releasing it publically. Should you be interested, please contact us at support@myid.ca ASAP and let us know that you would like to be a beta tester.

There are only 10 spots available and they will likely fill up soon so act fast.

Here's to more ways for you to market and sell your domains


MyID.ca Dot Ca Marketplace Team



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Monday, November 9, 2009

Google to Acquire AdMob

DomainReport.ca - It's a sign of the mobile times we're in.

I received an email from admob today telling me that they have been acquired by Google. I think this shows how important mobile advertising is to Google, and therefore how important the mobile platform will be in the future. Google paid $750 million to buy this company that helps to monetize mobile websites.

Up until now the mobile sites I've built have been very simple, but I'm feeling I should concentrate more of my efforts on mobile now because more and more internet surfing is being done on mobile devices and smartphones. And I think it will only increase in the coming years.

Below is the email sent to me from admob, as I use their service on some of my mobile sites:

Today we announced that AdMob has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google for $750 million. We are extremely excited about this new partnership and what it means for our publishers.

AdMob’s people, products and tools will continue to work to effectively monetize your mobile traffic – no interruptions. Our product and engineering teams will keep building great products for our customers. Our sales team will keep working with our thousands of advertisers to deliver successful campaigns.

After our deal closes, AdMob will work with Google to accelerate the pace of innovation in mobile and do an even better job for you. We believe this deal will benefit our developer and publisher partners by:

*Building even more powerful technology and tools to monetize mobile traffic.

*Increasing the effectiveness of display advertising on mobile devices by leveraging Google sales team, infrastructure and relationships.

*Improving the already high level of service and support we deliver to our publishers.

You can read more about this deal at www.admob.com/google.

Omar