DomainReport.ca
Thanks to a post today at Fusible.com
http://fusible.com/2010/12/will-namedias-social-networking-app-note-com-go-public-in-2011/
I decided to revisit Frank Schilling's Note.com site. I've seen the site before and the note form on some of his other sites, and even filled it in a few times. Today I noticed that on the right hand side of Note.com you can see people's comments, but also the domain name that each note came from. It's interesting to watch some of the notes scroll by and see how the comments relate to the keywords in the domain it came from.
Some examples:
"Does anyone know when Japan became a country?" - japaninfo.com
"Does anyone have a yorkie? Are they good?" - dirtypaws.com
"Can I use my SEP and Keough to pay off my homes first and second mortgage(s)?My homes value is under water and it hard to keep up in these rough times,please advise" - taxattornies.com (typo)
"hi kelly im sandy and i love your note about wolves.<3<3<3" - wolfpictures.com
There are also some funny and silly comments left, but that's what you can expect when you give some people a blank platform to list their comments.
By looking at the notes for a while what can you conclude? One thing is that many of these people are visiting the domains and have questions or comments about the keyword subject. Another thing is that you get the feeling you are getting some real-time comments from people who are out there in the world, looking for something online. It is also the same feeling you get when looking at Twitter tweets. Real time information coming from people all over. That is one of the great advantages of Twitter, you can get real-time feedback on all kinds of subjects, and see which ones are hot (trending) at the moment.
There is also an Ask Jeeves or Answers.com feel to the page, because many people are asking questions. As far as I know they are not getting any answers yet, but maybe that is a feature to come.
So where will this all take Note.com?
I don't think anyone knows yet, not even Frank, and it even says that on the site. But as we've seen from Twitter there is some value in getting real-time feedback from a large amount of people. Maybe I'd want a widget from Note.com to put on my websites so people can join the Note.com network. Maybe I'd want a widget that shows me whenever someone leaves a note about a subject like "U2" or "New York" or "Christmas". Could Note.com somehow become a blend between Twitter and Answers.com, with some other kind of twist?
It will be interesting to see how this experiment develops, but it surely looks like it is turning into something.
Make Millions!
Also today, I read a post about Mike Mann at SullysBlog.com
http://sullysblog.com/Mike-Mann
There is a nice interview there with Mike Mann. He is the person who started BuyDomains.com and now runs DomainMarket.com. He has built great portfolios of domain names, among the many other ventures he is involved with. Mike Mann seems to be one of those guys who does everything. The interview noted that Mike Mann has a book out called "Make Millions & Make Change!".
Whenever you get the chance to read a book by someone who has accomplished a lot, you should always take advantage of that. The book has a website at MakeMillions.com where you can order it from Amazon, read it online or download a pdf or audio version. I am definitely going to get my hands on a copy, I'm sure there are a few things in there that can help me! Thank you to Mike, and to Sully for the blog post!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
What Will 2011 Bring for the .CA extension?
DomainReport.ca
To start things off as 2010 comes to an end, I saw one .ca sale reported at Sedo this week.
Wonga.ca - 2,599 EUR
The domain is still parked at Sedo, and at first I was a little surprised because I don't know what Wonga means. But Wonga.com is a cash loan site from the UK, so perhaps they bought it to start up in Canada.
I think Ron Jackson of DNJournal.com will be publishing his last weekly domain sales report of 2010 today, and there may be some more .ca sales reported.
Looking back on 2010, to me it was not a standout year for the .ca extension. There were a few nice sales and many Canadian businesses and people continue to use the .ca extension, but I don't feel there was any major breakthrough in the aftermarket for .ca. The biggest event was perhaps the switch to an EPP code system from the previous registrar/registrant transfer system through CIRA. CIRA gave the registrars more control over the transfer of .ca's. Though it was a bit confusing at first, I think most people are now familiar enough with it.
Another big event of the last year was the TBR .ca domain drop being postponed for a few weeks while the new EPP system was implemented. Then we had a number of TBR drops cancelled, with the last cancellation causing a major stir amongst participants because although the drop was successful, CIRA decided that it wasn't a fair drop to all the registrars and so cancelled it again. Gladly, this event is now behind us!
What will 2011 bring for .ca domains?
I don't know! But seriously, here are a few of the things I see ahead for the .ca extension in the coming year or so. Some of these apply to domains in general, but I think that .ca will get caught up in the general trends of domain names.
.CA will continue to be a preferred (top 1 or 2 choice) for most Canadians. You still see a lot of people and businesses in Canada using the .ca. Governments use .ca and it is in advertisements everywhere. Since it continues to be reinforced in everyday life, I think the .ca remains on solid ground in Canada.
More businesses and people will need a good domain name. I think now more than ever most people realize that it's a virtual world, and you have to have an online presence to be relevant. People will want to have a cool domain name. Businesses will want to have their name as a domain name, or a domain that describes what they do. Unfortunately, many will find that their first choice for a domain name is already registered and/or being used by someone else. I got more end user enquiries this year than in the past - not by a huge amount but it's been picking up. Many only want to offer $100 to $300 for a domain, but I think this is the start of a trend. As good domains become more scarce, you will see prices go up. I think we are at the start of this happening in a significant way.
Domainers will continue to shed some domains and pick up new ones. The great thing about a domain name is that after you register it, you have a full year to evaluate it. Did it get any traffic, did you think of a good business use for it now or in the future? Is it still relevant a year later? Does it have value beyond it's registration fee? All these questions and more we ask ourselves as renewal time comes up. Some domains just don't seem to be worth keeping anymore, so we let those drop. We renew the good ones and most of us are always finding good domains available to register or buy. It is a never ending cycle.
I realize these aren't ground breaking predictions, but I think the .ca extension will just continue a steady course and slow rise as it's been doing already.
What big events could happen for .ca? The biggest change I could see happening would be for CIRA to open up the extension for anyone to register (not just Canadians or businesses with Canadian presence). I would say this is not likely to happen in the coming year, but you never know. It is always a possibility and seems to work fine for others like .es, .co, .de, .mx and .me. What this would do is bring in a whole new (and large) segment of domain investors who want a piece of the Canadian market. I just saw on the news today that Canadians in general are the most active online users in the world. We are a small market but very internet savvy.
Another big event would be a large .ca sale, or portfolio sale. There are some Canadians who own medium to large portfolios of Premium keyword .ca domains. I could see more of these types of domains being sold off in singles, or a large portfolio being acquired as was the case when Yellow Pages bought a big portfolio of .ca domains a number of years ago. Nothing shines a light at an extension more than a large sale, especially if it involves a well known company. Actually, sales like this probably occur from time to time with .ca, they just don't get reported publicly.
My advice for people who hold a portfolio of .ca domains remains the same, pick a few and try to develop them this year. A good place to start is with a blog about a subject you are interested in because you will have the incentive to keep it up, and you will already know about the subject matter. Another good blog or website subject would be to do with your local area - real estate, hotels, restaurants - if you live in an area you can more easily do an online site for it. Remember that you really only need one domain and one website to be successful, and there are many examples of this (Google, Facebook, Amazon). The problem domainers have is they can see the potential in many domains, and keep acquiring them but never do anything. Try this year to develop one or a few domains while you wait for the sales to happen.
An interesting Frank Schilling story
I will leave you with an interesting blog post that involves a person who was trying to acquire davey.ca for a family site. You can read his post here and also Frank's response, which I thought was well worded. I think the blogger's feelings are ones that are typical for many people who aren't familiar with the domain world.
http://www.reapazor.com/2009/09/27/domain-squatters-web-mafia/
All the best to you for 2011!
What are your opinions on the next year for the .ca extension?
To start things off as 2010 comes to an end, I saw one .ca sale reported at Sedo this week.
Wonga.ca - 2,599 EUR
The domain is still parked at Sedo, and at first I was a little surprised because I don't know what Wonga means. But Wonga.com is a cash loan site from the UK, so perhaps they bought it to start up in Canada.
I think Ron Jackson of DNJournal.com will be publishing his last weekly domain sales report of 2010 today, and there may be some more .ca sales reported.
Looking back on 2010, to me it was not a standout year for the .ca extension. There were a few nice sales and many Canadian businesses and people continue to use the .ca extension, but I don't feel there was any major breakthrough in the aftermarket for .ca. The biggest event was perhaps the switch to an EPP code system from the previous registrar/registrant transfer system through CIRA. CIRA gave the registrars more control over the transfer of .ca's. Though it was a bit confusing at first, I think most people are now familiar enough with it.
Another big event of the last year was the TBR .ca domain drop being postponed for a few weeks while the new EPP system was implemented. Then we had a number of TBR drops cancelled, with the last cancellation causing a major stir amongst participants because although the drop was successful, CIRA decided that it wasn't a fair drop to all the registrars and so cancelled it again. Gladly, this event is now behind us!
What will 2011 bring for .ca domains?
I don't know! But seriously, here are a few of the things I see ahead for the .ca extension in the coming year or so. Some of these apply to domains in general, but I think that .ca will get caught up in the general trends of domain names.
.CA will continue to be a preferred (top 1 or 2 choice) for most Canadians. You still see a lot of people and businesses in Canada using the .ca. Governments use .ca and it is in advertisements everywhere. Since it continues to be reinforced in everyday life, I think the .ca remains on solid ground in Canada.
More businesses and people will need a good domain name. I think now more than ever most people realize that it's a virtual world, and you have to have an online presence to be relevant. People will want to have a cool domain name. Businesses will want to have their name as a domain name, or a domain that describes what they do. Unfortunately, many will find that their first choice for a domain name is already registered and/or being used by someone else. I got more end user enquiries this year than in the past - not by a huge amount but it's been picking up. Many only want to offer $100 to $300 for a domain, but I think this is the start of a trend. As good domains become more scarce, you will see prices go up. I think we are at the start of this happening in a significant way.
Domainers will continue to shed some domains and pick up new ones. The great thing about a domain name is that after you register it, you have a full year to evaluate it. Did it get any traffic, did you think of a good business use for it now or in the future? Is it still relevant a year later? Does it have value beyond it's registration fee? All these questions and more we ask ourselves as renewal time comes up. Some domains just don't seem to be worth keeping anymore, so we let those drop. We renew the good ones and most of us are always finding good domains available to register or buy. It is a never ending cycle.
I realize these aren't ground breaking predictions, but I think the .ca extension will just continue a steady course and slow rise as it's been doing already.
What big events could happen for .ca? The biggest change I could see happening would be for CIRA to open up the extension for anyone to register (not just Canadians or businesses with Canadian presence). I would say this is not likely to happen in the coming year, but you never know. It is always a possibility and seems to work fine for others like .es, .co, .de, .mx and .me. What this would do is bring in a whole new (and large) segment of domain investors who want a piece of the Canadian market. I just saw on the news today that Canadians in general are the most active online users in the world. We are a small market but very internet savvy.
Another big event would be a large .ca sale, or portfolio sale. There are some Canadians who own medium to large portfolios of Premium keyword .ca domains. I could see more of these types of domains being sold off in singles, or a large portfolio being acquired as was the case when Yellow Pages bought a big portfolio of .ca domains a number of years ago. Nothing shines a light at an extension more than a large sale, especially if it involves a well known company. Actually, sales like this probably occur from time to time with .ca, they just don't get reported publicly.
My advice for people who hold a portfolio of .ca domains remains the same, pick a few and try to develop them this year. A good place to start is with a blog about a subject you are interested in because you will have the incentive to keep it up, and you will already know about the subject matter. Another good blog or website subject would be to do with your local area - real estate, hotels, restaurants - if you live in an area you can more easily do an online site for it. Remember that you really only need one domain and one website to be successful, and there are many examples of this (Google, Facebook, Amazon). The problem domainers have is they can see the potential in many domains, and keep acquiring them but never do anything. Try this year to develop one or a few domains while you wait for the sales to happen.
An interesting Frank Schilling story
I will leave you with an interesting blog post that involves a person who was trying to acquire davey.ca for a family site. You can read his post here and also Frank's response, which I thought was well worded. I think the blogger's feelings are ones that are typical for many people who aren't familiar with the domain world.
http://www.reapazor.com/2009/09/27/domain-squatters-web-mafia/
All the best to you for 2011!
What are your opinions on the next year for the .ca extension?
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Dec 8 .ca TBR domain drop
DomainReport.ca
Well it looks like we are finally back to normal in the wild and wacky world of .ca domain drops.
Yesterday was the first TBR since the 32,000+ name drop of Dec 1 that finally completed. This time everything went smoothly so I hope it will continue to be the same in the coming weeks.
This week's drop had just over 2,000 names in it, and about 257 of those domains were grabbed in the drop.
Some of the bettter names (or names I just like) that I saw on the list of dropped domains include:
med.ca
soycandles.ca
ssh.ca
annual.ca
263.ca
bankwire.ca
fruitbowl.ca
mist.ca - (good name to brand a product with, like a room spray or deodorant)
waterbottle.ca
328.ca
a-b.ca
spaceships.ca - (think of the future)
m-b.ca - (my brother's initials)
slope.ca
o-n.ca
quebecgolf.ca
santaletters.ca - (potential holiday business)
homeworker.ca
scramble.ca
swab.ca
hockeymoms.ca - (thanks to all those moms who take their kids to hockey!)
paydayloanscanada.ca - (nice search term)
cartevirtuelle.ca - (virtual greeting card in french)
siliconvalley.ca
powerzone.ca
Did you get anything good in this week's TBR? I only got one name, cartevirtuelle.ca
Well it looks like we are finally back to normal in the wild and wacky world of .ca domain drops.
Yesterday was the first TBR since the 32,000+ name drop of Dec 1 that finally completed. This time everything went smoothly so I hope it will continue to be the same in the coming weeks.
This week's drop had just over 2,000 names in it, and about 257 of those domains were grabbed in the drop.
Some of the bettter names (or names I just like) that I saw on the list of dropped domains include:
med.ca
soycandles.ca
ssh.ca
annual.ca
263.ca
bankwire.ca
fruitbowl.ca
mist.ca - (good name to brand a product with, like a room spray or deodorant)
waterbottle.ca
328.ca
a-b.ca
spaceships.ca - (think of the future)
m-b.ca - (my brother's initials)
slope.ca
o-n.ca
quebecgolf.ca
santaletters.ca - (potential holiday business)
homeworker.ca
scramble.ca
swab.ca
hockeymoms.ca - (thanks to all those moms who take their kids to hockey!)
paydayloanscanada.ca - (nice search term)
cartevirtuelle.ca - (virtual greeting card in french)
siliconvalley.ca
powerzone.ca
Did you get anything good in this week's TBR? I only got one name, cartevirtuelle.ca
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
.CA TBR tries again Today, Janssen.ca sale
DomainReport.ca
It's now been almost a week since CIRA cancelled the last TBR .ca domain drop results.
Last week's TBR went through fine from CIRA's end, however CIRA spent some time afterwards reviewing the process. Following this review, CIRA claimed there was confusion from some registrars about participating in the TBR based on information that CIRA had provided. These registrars therefore didn't catch any names, and so CIRA decided it was not a fair process and cancelled the results. The TBR was rescheduled to today, Dec. 1, and hopefully this time it will go through.
There has been a firestorm of discussion in domain forum threads, wondering if it was just one main registrar company affected, or many different (unrelated) ones. CIRA claims that it cannot identifiy which specific registrars were affected, only that it may have been 3 to 7. It's well known that larger registrar companies create many smaller registrars under their umbrella in order to have a better chance at catching dropping .ca domains. While many people still have suspicions, there is unfortunately no concrete evidence about what really happened and which registrars were affected. Some of the registrars that were successful in catching dropping domains last week claimed they couldn't see how a registrar would have had problems.
As for recent .ca domain sales, DNJournal.com posted one sale last week in their weekly sales report.
Janssen.ca - sold for $4,068 US
It looks like this domain was sold to Janssen-Ortho Inc., a healthcare company that already has a website up for this domain.
There will be another sales report out from DNJournal today. I also expect to see a lot of .ca auctions from the 32,000 + domains that are dropping today.
It's now been almost a week since CIRA cancelled the last TBR .ca domain drop results.
Last week's TBR went through fine from CIRA's end, however CIRA spent some time afterwards reviewing the process. Following this review, CIRA claimed there was confusion from some registrars about participating in the TBR based on information that CIRA had provided. These registrars therefore didn't catch any names, and so CIRA decided it was not a fair process and cancelled the results. The TBR was rescheduled to today, Dec. 1, and hopefully this time it will go through.
There has been a firestorm of discussion in domain forum threads, wondering if it was just one main registrar company affected, or many different (unrelated) ones. CIRA claims that it cannot identifiy which specific registrars were affected, only that it may have been 3 to 7. It's well known that larger registrar companies create many smaller registrars under their umbrella in order to have a better chance at catching dropping .ca domains. While many people still have suspicions, there is unfortunately no concrete evidence about what really happened and which registrars were affected. Some of the registrars that were successful in catching dropping domains last week claimed they couldn't see how a registrar would have had problems.
As for recent .ca domain sales, DNJournal.com posted one sale last week in their weekly sales report.
Janssen.ca - sold for $4,068 US
It looks like this domain was sold to Janssen-Ortho Inc., a healthcare company that already has a website up for this domain.
There will be another sales report out from DNJournal today. I also expect to see a lot of .ca auctions from the 32,000 + domains that are dropping today.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
CIRA cancels .ca TBR again - moves to Dec 1
DomainReport.ca
Disappointing to hear yet another TBR is cancelled. It actually went through but had a review by CIRA and was cancelled later into the evening. Here is the news release.
CIRA Cancels TBR Session November 24, 2010
Ottawa, November 24, 2010 - CIRA plays a stewardship role in managing the .CA domain space on behalf of all Canadians. This entails a responsibility to ensure that our processes meet the highest standards. We have encountered an issue that has affected the integrity of today’s TBR session.
Ambiguity in the usage of some fields created the situation where some Registrars were not able to participate in the session. This was not a result of any changes to the new .CA registry system nor the TBR system, which remains unchanged. Accordingly, there will be no changes to either of these systems as a result of this issue.
Fair and equal access is an important aspect of the TBR process. As today’s session was not fair and equitable to all participants, we have cancelled today’s TBR.
The TBR session of December 1, 2010 will include the exact same domain names as were in the November 24, 2010 session. No domain names will be added or removed from this list. Domain names cancelled after November 18, 2010 at 9:45 a.m. (ET) will be part of the December 8, 2010 TBR session.
We understand the disruption this has caused and apologize for the inconvenience. We are strongly committed to ensuring the integrity of the TBR session and have acted accordingly.
About CIRA
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages Canada's .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada's Internet community and represents the .CA registry internationally.
For additional information, please contact:
Jennifer Austin
Senior Manager, Communications and Marketing
(613) 237-5335 ext. 296
jennifer.austin@cira.ca
Disappointing to hear yet another TBR is cancelled. It actually went through but had a review by CIRA and was cancelled later into the evening. Here is the news release.
CIRA Cancels TBR Session November 24, 2010
Ottawa, November 24, 2010 - CIRA plays a stewardship role in managing the .CA domain space on behalf of all Canadians. This entails a responsibility to ensure that our processes meet the highest standards. We have encountered an issue that has affected the integrity of today’s TBR session.
Ambiguity in the usage of some fields created the situation where some Registrars were not able to participate in the session. This was not a result of any changes to the new .CA registry system nor the TBR system, which remains unchanged. Accordingly, there will be no changes to either of these systems as a result of this issue.
Fair and equal access is an important aspect of the TBR process. As today’s session was not fair and equitable to all participants, we have cancelled today’s TBR.
The TBR session of December 1, 2010 will include the exact same domain names as were in the November 24, 2010 session. No domain names will be added or removed from this list. Domain names cancelled after November 18, 2010 at 9:45 a.m. (ET) will be part of the December 8, 2010 TBR session.
We understand the disruption this has caused and apologize for the inconvenience. We are strongly committed to ensuring the integrity of the TBR session and have acted accordingly.
About CIRA
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages Canada's .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada's Internet community and represents the .CA registry internationally.
For additional information, please contact:
Jennifer Austin
Senior Manager, Communications and Marketing
(613) 237-5335 ext. 296
jennifer.austin@cira.ca
.CA TBR goes today, Ready.ca and MyID.ca
DomainReport.ca
After the last few once-weekly .ca domain drops (called TBR's, to be released) were cancelled, the dropped .ca domains have continued to pile up and should all be released today. There are just over 32,000 domains dropping. Registrars who try to catch these domains have had to set up special interfaces to allow hopeful domainers to better sort through the list - using features such as search by first letter, 3 character, etc. Most weekly domain drops usually have 4,000 or so names in them. Last week's attempted TBR was cancelled at the last minute. We are all wondering if today's TBR will actually go ahead, there is even a poll set up at DNForum.com where you can vote yes or no on whether you think it will take place.
In the midst of this TBR conundrum, a new .ca registrar has started up - Ready.ca. Ready.ca is run by a longtime poster at DNForum, Jason Brumwell. They have an opening special on right now. The next 300 customers get a promotional rate of $0.99 on new or transfered .ca domains. If you or someone you know owns a .ca domain, you can take advantage of this offer and save $10 (they do take paypal). I don't know many domainers who can pass up a 99 cent offer, and you get to test drive a new registrar. I'm sure they have many exciting promotions and features in the works, and wish them best of luck with their new venture! I did take advantage of their special and registered a domain I had dropped not long ago, but wanted to have back, m-n.ca
Also of note is the new MyID.ca TBR system. I have used MyID in the past to buy and sell .ca domains in their auctions, and have some names listed currently in their .ca Marketplace. The new TBR system just launched in the last couple weeks. It has the best sorting system I've seen, you can search .ca domains on the drop list by keyword, 3 characters, 4 characters, first letter and on. If you have certain keywords you are always looking for, this is by far the fastest way I've seen to find them. Especially this week with over 32,000 names. I don't know how many of my domains they will catch, and I guess that is really what it comes down to. Another nice feature is that the minimum bid on any domain is only $12. If there are multiple bidders on a name, the highest bid gets it unless the bid hits $60. If two or more people bid $60 the domain goes to auction where only those bidders can participate. I also have to say that MyID has given some nice email updates on what has been happening with the weekly TBR's, and their new system.
I can't finish the TBR topic without noting that Sibername has always done well for me. They catch a good number of domains I try to get, and many at their $35 minimum. They adjusted their TBR interface this week to allow a search by first letter, which was good. I hope they continue adding to this search feature.
Good luck everyone in today's TBR. Really hoping it works this time!
After the last few once-weekly .ca domain drops (called TBR's, to be released) were cancelled, the dropped .ca domains have continued to pile up and should all be released today. There are just over 32,000 domains dropping. Registrars who try to catch these domains have had to set up special interfaces to allow hopeful domainers to better sort through the list - using features such as search by first letter, 3 character, etc. Most weekly domain drops usually have 4,000 or so names in them. Last week's attempted TBR was cancelled at the last minute. We are all wondering if today's TBR will actually go ahead, there is even a poll set up at DNForum.com where you can vote yes or no on whether you think it will take place.
In the midst of this TBR conundrum, a new .ca registrar has started up - Ready.ca. Ready.ca is run by a longtime poster at DNForum, Jason Brumwell. They have an opening special on right now. The next 300 customers get a promotional rate of $0.99 on new or transfered .ca domains. If you or someone you know owns a .ca domain, you can take advantage of this offer and save $10 (they do take paypal). I don't know many domainers who can pass up a 99 cent offer, and you get to test drive a new registrar. I'm sure they have many exciting promotions and features in the works, and wish them best of luck with their new venture! I did take advantage of their special and registered a domain I had dropped not long ago, but wanted to have back, m-n.ca
Also of note is the new MyID.ca TBR system. I have used MyID in the past to buy and sell .ca domains in their auctions, and have some names listed currently in their .ca Marketplace. The new TBR system just launched in the last couple weeks. It has the best sorting system I've seen, you can search .ca domains on the drop list by keyword, 3 characters, 4 characters, first letter and on. If you have certain keywords you are always looking for, this is by far the fastest way I've seen to find them. Especially this week with over 32,000 names. I don't know how many of my domains they will catch, and I guess that is really what it comes down to. Another nice feature is that the minimum bid on any domain is only $12. If there are multiple bidders on a name, the highest bid gets it unless the bid hits $60. If two or more people bid $60 the domain goes to auction where only those bidders can participate. I also have to say that MyID has given some nice email updates on what has been happening with the weekly TBR's, and their new system.
I can't finish the TBR topic without noting that Sibername has always done well for me. They catch a good number of domains I try to get, and many at their $35 minimum. They adjusted their TBR interface this week to allow a search by first letter, which was good. I hope they continue adding to this search feature.
Good luck everyone in today's TBR. Really hoping it works this time!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
.CA TBR Nov 17 domain drop cancelled
DomainReport.ca
Hard to believe, but I just got a notice from Sibername and MyID that today's .ca domain name TBR has been cancelled. It has now been over a month since there was a Wednesday .ca TBR. Today's cancellation was based on a technical difficulty at CIRA, the .ca registration authority.
If there is a TBR next week, there will likely be over 30,000 domains on the list.
I was really looking forward to today's TBR, I had some good bids in and there were some decent names available. Stay tuned and hopefully CIRA will get this on track again.
Hard to believe, but I just got a notice from Sibername and MyID that today's .ca domain name TBR has been cancelled. It has now been over a month since there was a Wednesday .ca TBR. Today's cancellation was based on a technical difficulty at CIRA, the .ca registration authority.
If there is a TBR next week, there will likely be over 30,000 domains on the list.
I was really looking forward to today's TBR, I had some good bids in and there were some decent names available. Stay tuned and hopefully CIRA will get this on track again.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Recent .ca Domain Name Sales, TBR update
DomainReport.ca
Again there aren't a whole lot of .ca sales to report, but there were a handful reported in DNJournal.com in the last couple weeks.
Those sales were:
CouponCode.ca went for $3,000
UltimateFighting.ca sold for $5,000
DIT.ca exchanged for $3,453
TBR (to be released) update
The last couple TBR's were cancelled by CIRA, but now they look to resume this coming week with a boatload of dropped .ca's to become available. CIRA announced that the next .CA TBR domain drop will be held on Wednesday, November 17th at 2pm EST. Anyone who is interested better start looking over the list soon, because there will be well over 20,000 names dropping that day!
Again there aren't a whole lot of .ca sales to report, but there were a handful reported in DNJournal.com in the last couple weeks.
Those sales were:
CouponCode.ca went for $3,000
UltimateFighting.ca sold for $5,000
DIT.ca exchanged for $3,453
TBR (to be released) update
The last couple TBR's were cancelled by CIRA, but now they look to resume this coming week with a boatload of dropped .ca's to become available. CIRA announced that the next .CA TBR domain drop will be held on Wednesday, November 17th at 2pm EST. Anyone who is interested better start looking over the list soon, because there will be well over 20,000 names dropping that day!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
.CA sale, CIRA changes, Sell & Develop
DomainReport.ca
First, there is one .ca domain sale I saw in the previous month that I can report on:
Spigot.ca - $2,910
The bigger news in the past month is the CIRA change to an EPP system. Previously, if you bought or transferred a .ca domain, it had to go through your CIRA registrant profile and the whole process involved your registrar and CIRA - and CIRA approvals if you transferred a domain. You could log into your CIRA account and see your domains listed. Now, they are just using an EPP system where each domain has a unique transfer code, like is done with .com, .net and .org. In essence, it's supposed to be a much simpler system.
What I have seen so far is that you better have a good registrar who can handle this switchover quickly and professionally. I deal mainly with two .ca registrars, and have renewed some domains since the changeover. Most of the domains renewed but for two years (instead of one). I'm sure they will catch this and make the change.
Another domain I renewed didn't show up with the extra year until a few days later in CIRA, but it still doesn't show up as renewed in my registrar account.
Another thing I haven't figured out yet, is that before when a .ca expired it went into a 30 day suspension period where you couldn't use the domain, but could still renew it. If you didn't renew, it expired at the end of 30 days. I've heard that a registrar can now add time to this 30 day period, but it could come as a cost to the domain owner, and can differ between registrars.
So far my domains are all still working, and I don't think I've lost any, so I'm thankful for that. We will have to live with the system for a few more weeks or months to really get a feel for how it is working.
Sell & Develop
From talking to a few domainers recently, and reading other blog posts, it seems that many with large portfolios are getting more domain enquiries this fall. Could this mean the market is picking up? Or at least staying steady? From the importance the internet plays in most people's everyday lives now, you can see how the demand for domain names should be keeping up, despite rumblings in the economy. For many, if you aren't online with your own storefront or sales message, you aren't even in the game. I am also noticing that a lot more people want to develop their domains and partner with others in development - especially since PPC is falling off. This is all good and every domainer should have plans to develop at least some of their domains. But I don't think the importance of a good domain sale should be looked down on too much. People like Rick Schwartz and Frank Schilling sell names when the price is right - and that price is different for everyone and depends on many different things. When you have hundreds or thousands of domains, it's hard to imagine being able to develop each one into the best possible website it can be. And trying to mass-develop this many names is not yet possible in my opinion, at least to a quality degree.
So while you are learning development or building out some sites, remember that the odd sale can help float the rest of your domain renewals, or pay down some bills, or buy presents for Christmas which isn't too far away! If you worry about letting a domain go for too little, sort your portfolio into gold, silver and bronze quality names, and set a price range for each. That way when an offer comes along, at least you'll have put some thought into it beforehand.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Recent .CA domain name sales
DomainReport.ca
Just a short post this morning on two recent .ca domain name sales I saw in last Wednesday's DNJournal.com sales report.
homeownersinsurance.ca - $2,000 - sold at Sedo
basicfunerals.ca - $7,760 - sold at Godaddy auctions
It looks like both names are still parked. Basic funerals must be an important phrase in the funeral business, for people looking to avoid a high cost funeral package - the .com also looks to be used by a funeral company in Ontario Canada. Home owners insurance is obviously a well used term in the insurance business.
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Just a short post this morning on two recent .ca domain name sales I saw in last Wednesday's DNJournal.com sales report.
homeownersinsurance.ca - $2,000 - sold at Sedo
basicfunerals.ca - $7,760 - sold at Godaddy auctions
It looks like both names are still parked. Basic funerals must be an important phrase in the funeral business, for people looking to avoid a high cost funeral package - the .com also looks to be used by a funeral company in Ontario Canada. Home owners insurance is obviously a well used term in the insurance business.
-----
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Recent .ca domain name sales
DomainReport.ca
It has been a while since I've posted, but I thought it was time to list some recent .ca domain sales that have happened over the last month or two. These sales were reported in DNJournal.com
kellerwilliams.ca - $1,500 (bought by a realty company?)
seasonique.ca - $4,000 (birth control pill)
nordiquesdequebec.ca - $1,300 (Quebec City's defunct NHL hockey team)
SFI.ca - $7,453
SummerJobs.ca - $6,600
Denizen.ca - $2,000
I also saw last week that the domain VM.ca was dropped and caught, then ended at just above $4,000 in an auction.
Last month I had a small sale myself, selling MyBFF.ca and MyBF.ca together for $650.
In other .ca business, the deadline for getting provincial extensions on any .ca domains you currently own appears to be Oct 13. Check this at CIRA or your registrar, but if you own domain.ca for example, you have until that date to get domain.bc.ca, or domain.on.ca, and so on. After that date it will still be possible to get a provincial extension, but it will likely be a more involved process. If you have some good keyword .ca's this is something you might consider doing.
---
It has been a while since I've posted, but I thought it was time to list some recent .ca domain sales that have happened over the last month or two. These sales were reported in DNJournal.com
kellerwilliams.ca - $1,500 (bought by a realty company?)
seasonique.ca - $4,000 (birth control pill)
nordiquesdequebec.ca - $1,300 (Quebec City's defunct NHL hockey team)
SFI.ca - $7,453
SummerJobs.ca - $6,600
Denizen.ca - $2,000
I also saw last week that the domain VM.ca was dropped and caught, then ended at just above $4,000 in an auction.
Last month I had a small sale myself, selling MyBFF.ca and MyBF.ca together for $650.
In other .ca business, the deadline for getting provincial extensions on any .ca domains you currently own appears to be Oct 13. Check this at CIRA or your registrar, but if you own domain.ca for example, you have until that date to get domain.bc.ca, or domain.on.ca, and so on. After that date it will still be possible to get a provincial extension, but it will likely be a more involved process. If you have some good keyword .ca's this is something you might consider doing.
---
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Support Zak Muscovitch for CIRA Board Member
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Check out today's domain deals at Godaddy
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DomainReport.ca
I am reposting this letter of support for Zak Muscovitch to become a CIRA board member. If you own a .ca domain or are interested in .ca domains, please go ahead and read. The DOAC is the Domain Owners Association of Canada.
I myself just registered today to become a CIRA member and intend on voting for Zak. Though I don't know him personally, I've exchanged a few emails with him over the years and have read about his work on behalf of protecting domainers interests. If I needed a lawyer to represent me for domains, Zak would be at the top of my list to contact.
------
Letter from Frank Michlick:
Dear DOAC Member, dear people interested in the DOAC,
The DOAC needs your help urgently. CIRA Board elections are underway. The only way that the interests of domain name owners can be effectively heard at CIRA is to have a person on the Board. Many of you know or are familiar with Zak Muscovitch, a domain name lawyer, who has represented domainers for over the past 10 years. Zak has resigned from involvement with the DOAC in order to run for a directorship. Zak Muscovitch is seeking a seat on the Board and we can count on him to ensure that our voice is heard loud and clear. We would therefore encourage you to show your support and vote for Zak. DOAC fully endorses Zak's candidacy and we hope that we can count on your support as well.
In order to show your support and vote however, you must be a CIRA member. Many of you have CIRA logins as .ca owners, BUT THAT IS NOT THE SAME THING AS BEING A CIRA MEMBER. Becoming a CIRA member involves a separate application. You can become a CIRA member by registering here:
https://member.cira.ca/en/member.html
PLEASE NOTE THAT CIRA HAS BEEN VERY SLOW IN PROCESSING MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATIONS, SO PLEASE ACT NOW TO REGISTER, WITHOUT DELAY. It will take you five minutes and we suggest you scan and upload your ID rather than use the I.D. guarantor option, since we believe that your registration will be processed sooner this way. If you have a domain under a corporation and/or personal domain names, you may be eligible for a number of votes.
To be included on the Final Members' Slate, Member Nominees must receive the support of at least 20 CIRA Members. Members will be able to ShowSupport from August 26, 2010 at noon (ET) until 6:00 p.m. (ET) on September 9, 2010.
Voting will take place between September 22 and 29, 2010. Results will be posted on CIRA's web site on October 6, 2010. Voting can be done online or at the CIRA Annual General Meeting. You can register to attend the Annual General Meeting here:
https://agm.cira.ca/en/registration.html
We will follow up with you several times to make sure that you have registered to become a member and to vote.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the below DOAC executives.
Rick Silver, rick@n49.com
Harold Simpkins, harold@emall.ca
Jeffrey Behrendt, jeff@domainbits.com
Larry Franschman, law@our.ca
Peter Maxymych, peter@emall.ca
Frank Michlick, i@m.fm
You can contact Zak Muscovitch at zak@dnattorney.com
We welcome your continued support and involvement in the DOAC, which is at its beginning stages. Please do not hesitate to contact any of us with questions or to become more involved. We wil be holding an annual meeting in conjunction with DomainConvergence ( http://DomainConvergence.com/ ) in Montreal, September 23-24, 2010.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think could be interested - more information about the DOAC can be found at http://doac.ca/ .
Yours truly,
DOAC
Check out today's domain deals at Godaddy
----------
DomainReport.ca
I am reposting this letter of support for Zak Muscovitch to become a CIRA board member. If you own a .ca domain or are interested in .ca domains, please go ahead and read. The DOAC is the Domain Owners Association of Canada.
I myself just registered today to become a CIRA member and intend on voting for Zak. Though I don't know him personally, I've exchanged a few emails with him over the years and have read about his work on behalf of protecting domainers interests. If I needed a lawyer to represent me for domains, Zak would be at the top of my list to contact.
------
Letter from Frank Michlick:
Dear DOAC Member, dear people interested in the DOAC,
The DOAC needs your help urgently. CIRA Board elections are underway. The only way that the interests of domain name owners can be effectively heard at CIRA is to have a person on the Board. Many of you know or are familiar with Zak Muscovitch, a domain name lawyer, who has represented domainers for over the past 10 years. Zak has resigned from involvement with the DOAC in order to run for a directorship. Zak Muscovitch is seeking a seat on the Board and we can count on him to ensure that our voice is heard loud and clear. We would therefore encourage you to show your support and vote for Zak. DOAC fully endorses Zak's candidacy and we hope that we can count on your support as well.
In order to show your support and vote however, you must be a CIRA member. Many of you have CIRA logins as .ca owners, BUT THAT IS NOT THE SAME THING AS BEING A CIRA MEMBER. Becoming a CIRA member involves a separate application. You can become a CIRA member by registering here:
https://member.cira.ca/en/member.html
PLEASE NOTE THAT CIRA HAS BEEN VERY SLOW IN PROCESSING MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATIONS, SO PLEASE ACT NOW TO REGISTER, WITHOUT DELAY. It will take you five minutes and we suggest you scan and upload your ID rather than use the I.D. guarantor option, since we believe that your registration will be processed sooner this way. If you have a domain under a corporation and/or personal domain names, you may be eligible for a number of votes.
To be included on the Final Members' Slate, Member Nominees must receive the support of at least 20 CIRA Members. Members will be able to Show
Voting will take place between September 22 and 29, 2010. Results will be posted on CIRA's web site on October 6, 2010. Voting can be done online or at the CIRA Annual General Meeting. You can register to attend the Annual General Meeting here:
https://agm.cira.ca/en/registration.html
We will follow up with you several times to make sure that you have registered to become a member and to vote.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of the below DOAC executives.
Rick Silver, rick@n49.com
Harold Simpkins, harold@emall.ca
Jeffrey Behrendt, jeff@domainbits.com
Larry Franschman, law@our.ca
Peter Maxymych, peter@emall.ca
Frank Michlick, i@m.fm
You can contact Zak Muscovitch at zak@dnattorney.com
We welcome your continued support and involvement in the DOAC, which is at its beginning stages. Please do not hesitate to contact any of us with questions or to become more involved. We wil be holding an annual meeting in conjunction with DomainConvergence ( http://DomainConvergence.com/ ) in Montreal, September 23-24, 2010.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think could be interested - more information about the DOAC can be found at http://doac.ca/ .
Yours truly,
DOAC
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
August 18 .CA domains in TBR
DomainReport.ca
I haven't done this in a while, but I thought I'd review the list of .ca domains that dropped in today's TBR and pick out some of the better ones. By 'better ones', I mean domains that have good keywords or are catchy terms that I could see being used for a website. Some are also just three letter domains, which make good acronyms.
My top picks from today are:
diamondshop.ca
blt.on.ca
ywb.ca
creditrate.ca
zaz.ca
warfare.ca
jest.ca
pellets.ca (good for a wood pellets site)
juiced.ca
bonbons.ca ('candies' in french)
ridgewood.ca
xdp.ca
sportsfitness.ca
bikerepair.ca
wxo.ca
bric.ca (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
muffinrecipes.ca
auger.ca
goldenticket.ca (think Willy Wonka)
domainmanager.ca
orlandoholidays.ca (for Disney World)
visitvegas.ca
businessblog.ca
pressurewash.ca
business101.ca
emailing.ca
customflooring.ca
sweeties.ca
skatingdresses.ca
myburnaby.ca
ganderhotels.ca
On a side note, I tried (unsuccessfully) to get three of these domains today. One of them was pellets.ca, I think it could be used for a website that deals with wood pellets and pellet stoves, used to heat homes. The second I tried for was bonbons.ca - I actually used to own this domain, having registered it back in 2000, but I let in drop in the early 2000's during the internet 'bust'. The third domain I am in auction for so I will keep that one to myself for now.
Did you grab anything that dropped today?
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I haven't done this in a while, but I thought I'd review the list of .ca domains that dropped in today's TBR and pick out some of the better ones. By 'better ones', I mean domains that have good keywords or are catchy terms that I could see being used for a website. Some are also just three letter domains, which make good acronyms.
My top picks from today are:
diamondshop.ca
blt.on.ca
ywb.ca
creditrate.ca
zaz.ca
warfare.ca
jest.ca
pellets.ca (good for a wood pellets site)
juiced.ca
bonbons.ca ('candies' in french)
ridgewood.ca
xdp.ca
sportsfitness.ca
bikerepair.ca
wxo.ca
bric.ca (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
muffinrecipes.ca
auger.ca
goldenticket.ca (think Willy Wonka)
domainmanager.ca
orlandoholidays.ca (for Disney World)
visitvegas.ca
businessblog.ca
pressurewash.ca
business101.ca
emailing.ca
customflooring.ca
sweeties.ca
skatingdresses.ca
myburnaby.ca
ganderhotels.ca
On a side note, I tried (unsuccessfully) to get three of these domains today. One of them was pellets.ca, I think it could be used for a website that deals with wood pellets and pellet stoves, used to heat homes. The second I tried for was bonbons.ca - I actually used to own this domain, having registered it back in 2000, but I let in drop in the early 2000's during the internet 'bust'. The third domain I am in auction for so I will keep that one to myself for now.
Did you grab anything that dropped today?
-----
Thursday, August 5, 2010
YP Goes for Digital Growth - Print Directories Not Dead
DomainReport.ca
Some interesting news today from Yellow Media Inc., owner of the Yellow Pages phone directories. It seems like they are expanding their efforts in web advertising and internet, and will add website building to their offerings. The company is also still profitable after earning $79.9 million in its latest quarter.
Following are some interesting parts of the article and some statements from the CEO Marc Tellier:
"The growth in digital products should be able to offset print pressure or traditional product pressure that we might have next year."
Tellier said he expects about 25 per cent growth in digital revenues in 2011.
Yellow Media already helps businesses that have websites improve their rankings with search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing and drive traffic to their sites, he said.
The addition of website building would essentially make the company a one-stop destination for small and medium-sized business for all of their digital needs, including email marketing, ratings and reviews for businesses, video production and search engine marketing.
But Tellier noted print directories aren't dead.
"The print Yellow Pages directory is still present in more than 90 per cent of households."
Yellow Pages owns and operates some of Canada's leading properties and publications such as Yellow Pages directories and websites such as YellowPages.ca, Canada411.ca, Auto Trader(.ca), Home Trader(.ca), and LesPAC.com.
The Yellow Pages Income Fund (TSX: YLO-UN.TO) reported that its profit was down 31.6 per cent from a year-ago as it continues to transition from a publisher of paper directories to an online-focused information provider.
Revenues edged higher to $420.4 million from $417.5 million.
Click here to read the full article.
---------
Some interesting news today from Yellow Media Inc., owner of the Yellow Pages phone directories. It seems like they are expanding their efforts in web advertising and internet, and will add website building to their offerings. The company is also still profitable after earning $79.9 million in its latest quarter.
Following are some interesting parts of the article and some statements from the CEO Marc Tellier:
"The growth in digital products should be able to offset print pressure or traditional product pressure that we might have next year."
Tellier said he expects about 25 per cent growth in digital revenues in 2011.
Yellow Media already helps businesses that have websites improve their rankings with search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing and drive traffic to their sites, he said.
The addition of website building would essentially make the company a one-stop destination for small and medium-sized business for all of their digital needs, including email marketing, ratings and reviews for businesses, video production and search engine marketing.
But Tellier noted print directories aren't dead.
"The print Yellow Pages directory is still present in more than 90 per cent of households."
Yellow Pages owns and operates some of Canada's leading properties and publications such as Yellow Pages directories and websites such as YellowPages.ca, Canada411.ca, Auto Trader(.ca), Home Trader(.ca), and LesPAC.com.
The Yellow Pages Income Fund (TSX: YLO-UN.TO) reported that its profit was down 31.6 per cent from a year-ago as it continues to transition from a publisher of paper directories to an online-focused information provider.
Revenues edged higher to $420.4 million from $417.5 million.
Click here to read the full article.
---------
Monday, July 26, 2010
Recent .ca Sales and End of Provincial Extensions?
DomainReport.ca
I thought I'd do a Monday morning post on some of the recent activity in the .ca market.
DNJournal posted their weekly sales report last week, and .ca domains filled two of the top four spots on overall sales (for all extensions).
Those sales were:
Poker.ca - $400,000 US
PW.ca - $60,000 US
Also listed in the sales report were the following .ca domains:
CleanEnergy.ca - $10,000 US
Beso.ca - $1,000 US
Poker.ca currently goes to a poker portal site, PW.ca is parked, and CleanEnergy.ca forwards to CleanEnergy Developments at www.cleanenergydevelopments.com. Beso.ca doesn't resolve yet.
You can view the entire weekly domain sales report at:
http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm
Last week's .ca TBR results featured many NNN.ca domains. There were dozens of NNN.ca expiring, and I'm pretty sure they all got taken.
Here are some of the better names that got taken in the TBR.
pretzels.ca
pretzel.ca
318.ca
fuelpumps.ca
989.ca
010.ca
pmn.ca
loaning.ca
screenshots.ca
babyportraits.ca
409.ca
855.ca
There is some early news or rumours out there that CIRA, the .ca registry, will be eliminating provincial extensions in October. When you buy a .ca domain name, you have the option of also getting the provincial extension. For example, domain.ca, domain.bc.ca, domain.on.ca, domain.qc.ca and so on. This feature would allow you to target a specific province, or show that is where you operate. Existing domains with provincial extensions will continue, but the ability to register new ones in the future will be gone.
Domain owners are discussing the implications of this and wondering if it's worth getting the provincial codes of their better domains while it's still possible. For example, if you owned a strong keyword in .ca, it may be worth getting each provincial extension for it, either to have more domains to develop, or for future sales. I haven't seen this news posted on the CIRA site yet, so far this news has just come from a registrar. There are also indications that more changes are afoot at CIRA, but we'll have to wait and see for now.
I thought I'd do a Monday morning post on some of the recent activity in the .ca market.
DNJournal posted their weekly sales report last week, and .ca domains filled two of the top four spots on overall sales (for all extensions).
Those sales were:
Poker.ca - $400,000 US
PW.ca - $60,000 US
Also listed in the sales report were the following .ca domains:
CleanEnergy.ca - $10,000 US
Beso.ca - $1,000 US
Poker.ca currently goes to a poker portal site, PW.ca is parked, and CleanEnergy.ca forwards to CleanEnergy Developments at www.cleanenergydevelopments.com. Beso.ca doesn't resolve yet.
You can view the entire weekly domain sales report at:
http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm
Last week's .ca TBR results featured many NNN.ca domains. There were dozens of NNN.ca expiring, and I'm pretty sure they all got taken.
Here are some of the better names that got taken in the TBR.
pretzels.ca
pretzel.ca
318.ca
fuelpumps.ca
989.ca
010.ca
pmn.ca
loaning.ca
screenshots.ca
babyportraits.ca
409.ca
855.ca
There is some early news or rumours out there that CIRA, the .ca registry, will be eliminating provincial extensions in October. When you buy a .ca domain name, you have the option of also getting the provincial extension. For example, domain.ca, domain.bc.ca, domain.on.ca, domain.qc.ca and so on. This feature would allow you to target a specific province, or show that is where you operate. Existing domains with provincial extensions will continue, but the ability to register new ones in the future will be gone.
Domain owners are discussing the implications of this and wondering if it's worth getting the provincial codes of their better domains while it's still possible. For example, if you owned a strong keyword in .ca, it may be worth getting each provincial extension for it, either to have more domains to develop, or for future sales. I haven't seen this news posted on the CIRA site yet, so far this news has just come from a registrar. There are also indications that more changes are afoot at CIRA, but we'll have to wait and see for now.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
High Profile T.CO domain is Live - Did you know?
DomainReport.ca
The opening up of the .co domain extension yesterday has prompted many blog postings and comments, and posts in domain forums. From what I've seen, quite a few people have regged one or a handful of .co's that are good quality keywords to them, or words that have special meanings to them (first name, existing business, familiar location, etc.). There also doesn't seem to be as many people bashing .co as were bashing .mobi and .me when they launched.
The best points about .co (to me) are that it has a known meaning of 'company', it is short, and it looks close to a .com. Yes, it is still a country code extension, but like .tv .me or .nu (to the Swedish), it has marketing features that some may be able to use. There is also the potential for traffic from web users forgetting the 'm' when typing in .com, however as long as you are not infringing on trademark terms it is just an extra benefit.
There were a few high profile .co sales prior to the general opening yesterday, where are they now?
E.co - domain still forwards to the auction page
O.co - domain forwards to Overstock.com, but if you check O.biz it has it's own webpage, which might be in the works for O.co
T.co - Twitter url shortener, if you go to the page it has a short write-up. I don't know how long it's been up, but it must be fairly new. The page says:
Twitter uses the t.co domain as part of a service to protect users from harmful activity, to provide value for the developer ecosystem, and as a quality signal for surfacing relevant, interesting tweets.
If you click on 'Learn more' it continues to say: Twitter’s link service at http://t.co is used to better protect users from malicious sites that engage in spreading malware, phishing attacks, and other harmful activity. A link converted by Twitter’s link service is checked against a list of potentially dangerous sites. When there’s a match, users can be warned before they continue. Our link service will also be used to measure information like how many times a link has been clicked. Eventually, this information will become an important quality signal for our Resonance algorithm—the way we determine if a Tweet is relevant and interesting.
To end off, yes I did pick up a few .co for myself. I wanted to get Nelson.co (BC city name) or my first name (or a first name of someone in my family), but all those were taken early on. I did manage to get these in .co
Voyance (french word for fortune telling, a big online market)
Maquillage (french word for makeup)
Revelstoke (town in BC Canada that is building a massive ski resort)
NAA (a good acronym and I also own the .mobi)
That's it, for now I am done with .co unless something else comes to mind.
What .co did you get?
The opening up of the .co domain extension yesterday has prompted many blog postings and comments, and posts in domain forums. From what I've seen, quite a few people have regged one or a handful of .co's that are good quality keywords to them, or words that have special meanings to them (first name, existing business, familiar location, etc.). There also doesn't seem to be as many people bashing .co as were bashing .mobi and .me when they launched.
The best points about .co (to me) are that it has a known meaning of 'company', it is short, and it looks close to a .com. Yes, it is still a country code extension, but like .tv .me or .nu (to the Swedish), it has marketing features that some may be able to use. There is also the potential for traffic from web users forgetting the 'm' when typing in .com, however as long as you are not infringing on trademark terms it is just an extra benefit.
There were a few high profile .co sales prior to the general opening yesterday, where are they now?
E.co - domain still forwards to the auction page
O.co - domain forwards to Overstock.com, but if you check O.biz it has it's own webpage, which might be in the works for O.co
T.co - Twitter url shortener, if you go to the page it has a short write-up. I don't know how long it's been up, but it must be fairly new. The page says:
Twitter uses the t.co domain as part of a service to protect users from harmful activity, to provide value for the developer ecosystem, and as a quality signal for surfacing relevant, interesting tweets.
If you click on 'Learn more' it continues to say: Twitter’s link service at http://t.co is used to better protect users from malicious sites that engage in spreading malware, phishing attacks, and other harmful activity. A link converted by Twitter’s link service is checked against a list of potentially dangerous sites. When there’s a match, users can be warned before they continue. Our link service will also be used to measure information like how many times a link has been clicked. Eventually, this information will become an important quality signal for our Resonance algorithm—the way we determine if a Tweet is relevant and interesting.
To end off, yes I did pick up a few .co for myself. I wanted to get Nelson.co (BC city name) or my first name (or a first name of someone in my family), but all those were taken early on. I did manage to get these in .co
Voyance (french word for fortune telling, a big online market)
Maquillage (french word for makeup)
Revelstoke (town in BC Canada that is building a massive ski resort)
NAA (a good acronym and I also own the .mobi)
That's it, for now I am done with .co unless something else comes to mind.
What .co did you get?
Monday, July 19, 2010
Recent .ca domain sales and news
DomainReport.ca
Here are some recent .ca domain sale of note that I saw reported over the weekend.
osez.ca and cleanenergy.ca both sold at Sedo, while the baja.ca sale was reported in last week's DNJournal.com sales report.
osez.ca - $650
CleanEnergy.ca - $10,000
Baja.ca - $2,250
Also, if you follow the .ca market, you'll be interested to read this month's DNJournal cover story on the life and online business of Rick Silver. Rick runs N49 Interactive at N49.ca which uses generic .ca domains as a basis for a directory type service. Some of his domains include Concerts.ca, Dining.ca, Flights.ca, Flooring.ca and Painters.ca. I always enjoy reading the cover stories at DNJournal because they give you the history of the person, where they grew up, what their family life was like, where they went to school and started in business, and how they ended up working with domain names. The article can be found at:
http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2010/june-july.htm
Enjoy and have a great summer week!
---
Here are some recent .ca domain sale of note that I saw reported over the weekend.
osez.ca and cleanenergy.ca both sold at Sedo, while the baja.ca sale was reported in last week's DNJournal.com sales report.
osez.ca - $650
CleanEnergy.ca - $10,000
Baja.ca - $2,250
Also, if you follow the .ca market, you'll be interested to read this month's DNJournal cover story on the life and online business of Rick Silver. Rick runs N49 Interactive at N49.ca which uses generic .ca domains as a basis for a directory type service. Some of his domains include Concerts.ca, Dining.ca, Flights.ca, Flooring.ca and Painters.ca. I always enjoy reading the cover stories at DNJournal because they give you the history of the person, where they grew up, what their family life was like, where they went to school and started in business, and how they ended up working with domain names. The article can be found at:
http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2010/june-july.htm
Enjoy and have a great summer week!
---
Friday, July 9, 2010
Recent .CA domain name sales of note
DomainReport.ca
In recent months the number of reported .ca sales have been very few, at least in $1,000 plus range. However, there are now a few sales worth mentioning.
Slots.ca - $206,906 (sold through Moniker private transaction)
LogoDesign.ca - $4,500 (sold at Sedo)
Oil.ca - $21,375 (sold at MyID.ca TBR auction)
Of interest to .ca owners is that the Slots.ca sale was the highest priced domain sale in any extension for the last two weeks according to the DNJournal sales report. The next highest sale was a two letter .com, SZ.com, for $125,000.
You can see the sales report here:
http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm
Oil.ca was a domain that the previous owner dropped or didn't renew 30 days ago. It went into the To Be Released (TBR) queu and was caught on Wednesday by MyID.ca. MyID promptly started an auction for the domain and got a healthy price for it.
The summer months are generally quiet for domain sales, but maybe we're starting to see more action in the .ca market. The overall domain market doesn't seem to have slowed down this year, probably because the internet is one area of the economy that is still growing. Smartphones, notebook computers and the iPad allow people to be online these days as much as they want.
---
In recent months the number of reported .ca sales have been very few, at least in $1,000 plus range. However, there are now a few sales worth mentioning.
Slots.ca - $206,906 (sold through Moniker private transaction)
LogoDesign.ca - $4,500 (sold at Sedo)
Oil.ca - $21,375 (sold at MyID.ca TBR auction)
Of interest to .ca owners is that the Slots.ca sale was the highest priced domain sale in any extension for the last two weeks according to the DNJournal sales report. The next highest sale was a two letter .com, SZ.com, for $125,000.
You can see the sales report here:
http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm
Oil.ca was a domain that the previous owner dropped or didn't renew 30 days ago. It went into the To Be Released (TBR) queu and was caught on Wednesday by MyID.ca. MyID promptly started an auction for the domain and got a healthy price for it.
The summer months are generally quiet for domain sales, but maybe we're starting to see more action in the .ca market. The overall domain market doesn't seem to have slowed down this year, probably because the internet is one area of the economy that is still growing. Smartphones, notebook computers and the iPad allow people to be online these days as much as they want.
---
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Hometown newspaper closing doors - sign of the times
DomainReport.ca
In more signs of the times, the five day a week newspaper in the small town where I live (population ~ 10,000) is closing down this summer. The newspaper was one of many in Canada bought by Black Press from Glacier Media. Black Press is keeping some newspapers alive and shutting others down because they already operate competing newspapers in the area.
The Nelson Daily News has been in operation for 109 years. Although I knew newspapers were losing ground due to the internet, I didn't think the paper would be completely eliminated. Maybe it would go to only 3 or 4 days a week, but not disappear entirely.
Black Press operates a competing paper in the area called the Nelson Star. It is free, comes out one day a week, and has an online website. The Nelson Daily News costs a dollar per issue, comes out 5 days a week, and only started an online edition last year. The online site seemed to be well received by the community, maybe things would be different if they had started it sooner.
Black Press feels the community size only warrants a weekly release, and will continue with their Nelson Star.
I'm not completely surprised, but when you see a business that's 109 years old go under, it really puts things in perspective on how the world is changing. I also feel for the 25 workers and their families, some of whom I know, who will feel the effect of this through lost jobs and income during a time when good employment is hard to find.
Here is a link to this news:
http://www.nelsondailynews.com/article/20100706/NELSON0101/307069986/-1/nelson/after-109-years-ndn-s-run-over
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In more signs of the times, the five day a week newspaper in the small town where I live (population ~ 10,000) is closing down this summer. The newspaper was one of many in Canada bought by Black Press from Glacier Media. Black Press is keeping some newspapers alive and shutting others down because they already operate competing newspapers in the area.
The Nelson Daily News has been in operation for 109 years. Although I knew newspapers were losing ground due to the internet, I didn't think the paper would be completely eliminated. Maybe it would go to only 3 or 4 days a week, but not disappear entirely.
Black Press operates a competing paper in the area called the Nelson Star. It is free, comes out one day a week, and has an online website. The Nelson Daily News costs a dollar per issue, comes out 5 days a week, and only started an online edition last year. The online site seemed to be well received by the community, maybe things would be different if they had started it sooner.
Black Press feels the community size only warrants a weekly release, and will continue with their Nelson Star.
I'm not completely surprised, but when you see a business that's 109 years old go under, it really puts things in perspective on how the world is changing. I also feel for the 25 workers and their families, some of whom I know, who will feel the effect of this through lost jobs and income during a time when good employment is hard to find.
Here is a link to this news:
http://www.nelsondailynews.com/article/20100706/NELSON0101/307069986/-1/nelson/after-109-years-ndn-s-run-over
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Saturday, July 3, 2010
Slots.ca sale and Frank Schilling blogs again
DomainReport.ca
There hasn't been a whole lot to report on for .ca since the Vancouver TRAFFIC auction saw some .ca sales, however one big sale was reported earlier this week.
Slots.ca was sold through Moniker for an amount over $200,000. The exact sale price wasn't given, nor was the buyer identified. Today the domain isn't resolving, and it looks like the domain has Whois privacy or hasn't been transferred to the new owner yet. I learned of this sale from a blog post at TheDomains.com, but haven't seen this news posted in many other places.
http://www.thedomains.com/2010/06/30/moniker-sells-slots-ca-in-excess-of-200k/
In other domain news, it was a nice surprise to check in to Domaining.com and learn that Frank Schilling has taken up blogging again. Today he did his first post in many years, and he gives his opinion on where domains are at now, and his thoughts on the future of domains.
It looks like he will be blogging less frequently, and he isn't taking comments on his posts, but it's still good to see him back. Keeping a daily blog going and reviewing and responding to posted comments takes a lot of work, so I'm not surprised he is scaling down.
I'm sure even one or two posts a month from Frank will be appreciated by most in the domain industry.
Frank's latest blog post can be found here:
http://domainnamesales.com/sevenmile/2010-07/the-world-changes-but-domain-names-stay-the-same/
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There hasn't been a whole lot to report on for .ca since the Vancouver TRAFFIC auction saw some .ca sales, however one big sale was reported earlier this week.
Slots.ca was sold through Moniker for an amount over $200,000. The exact sale price wasn't given, nor was the buyer identified. Today the domain isn't resolving, and it looks like the domain has Whois privacy or hasn't been transferred to the new owner yet. I learned of this sale from a blog post at TheDomains.com, but haven't seen this news posted in many other places.
http://www.thedomains.com/2010/06/30/moniker-sells-slots-ca-in-excess-of-200k/
In other domain news, it was a nice surprise to check in to Domaining.com and learn that Frank Schilling has taken up blogging again. Today he did his first post in many years, and he gives his opinion on where domains are at now, and his thoughts on the future of domains.
It looks like he will be blogging less frequently, and he isn't taking comments on his posts, but it's still good to see him back. Keeping a daily blog going and reviewing and responding to posted comments takes a lot of work, so I'm not surprised he is scaling down.
I'm sure even one or two posts a month from Frank will be appreciated by most in the domain industry.
Frank's latest blog post can be found here:
http://domainnamesales.com/sevenmile/2010-07/the-world-changes-but-domain-names-stay-the-same/
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Thursday, June 10, 2010
TRAFFIC Vancouver .CA auction results
DomainReport.ca
TRAFFIC Vancouver is getting good reviews from all the domain bloggers who've been reporting back on the show. I am looking forward to reading the post-show review that will be at DNJournal.com.
Yesterday they held the .ca auction, and today will be the main auction, followed by the online auction that occurs after each show.
Here are the domains that sold in the .ca auction yesterday:
Vehicles.ca - $9,000
Denim.ca - $500
Diet.ca - $20,000
SurreyRealty.ca - $400
HL.ca - $2,800
Jazz.ca - $1,500
(1) Lot of 50 LLL.ca's - $1,300
(2) Lot of 50 LLL.ca's - $1,200
(3) Lot of 50 LLL.ca's - $1,100
Lot of 500 LLL.ca's - $4,500
HL.ca and Jazz.ca went for lower prices than I would have expected, so good deals for the buyers. The LLL.ca's were also good deals, although when the domains are transferred to the new owners, they will have to pay a registrant fee of about $10 per domain (which also extends the renewal period by one year). For a 50 domain lot this is an extra $500, for a 500 domain lot it's an extra $5,000.
There were a few non-.ca domains listed in the auction, mostly with Vancouver or Canada related keywords. Surrey is a city located beside Vancouver that is large and growing in population (over 400,000 people), so it was not surprising to see this .com domain sell. Perhaps it was bought by Kevin Ham, who owns the Vancouver.com city portal website. Owning Surrey.com would give him the second largest city Geo .com domain in the Lower Mainland of BC.
non-.ca sales:
Surrey.com - $195,000
NovaScotiaJobs.com - $1,000
Ron Jackson at DNJournal has a nice write up on day 2 of the TRAFFIC show, including comments on CIRA and the .ca auction:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2010/dailyposts/20100610.htm
The main TRAFFIC auction starts at 3:45 PST today, and there will be more .ca domains in that auction.
----
TRAFFIC Vancouver is getting good reviews from all the domain bloggers who've been reporting back on the show. I am looking forward to reading the post-show review that will be at DNJournal.com.
Yesterday they held the .ca auction, and today will be the main auction, followed by the online auction that occurs after each show.
Here are the domains that sold in the .ca auction yesterday:
Vehicles.ca - $9,000
Denim.ca - $500
Diet.ca - $20,000
SurreyRealty.ca - $400
HL.ca - $2,800
Jazz.ca - $1,500
(1) Lot of 50 LLL.ca's - $1,300
(2) Lot of 50 LLL.ca's - $1,200
(3) Lot of 50 LLL.ca's - $1,100
Lot of 500 LLL.ca's - $4,500
HL.ca and Jazz.ca went for lower prices than I would have expected, so good deals for the buyers. The LLL.ca's were also good deals, although when the domains are transferred to the new owners, they will have to pay a registrant fee of about $10 per domain (which also extends the renewal period by one year). For a 50 domain lot this is an extra $500, for a 500 domain lot it's an extra $5,000.
There were a few non-.ca domains listed in the auction, mostly with Vancouver or Canada related keywords. Surrey is a city located beside Vancouver that is large and growing in population (over 400,000 people), so it was not surprising to see this .com domain sell. Perhaps it was bought by Kevin Ham, who owns the Vancouver.com city portal website. Owning Surrey.com would give him the second largest city Geo .com domain in the Lower Mainland of BC.
non-.ca sales:
Surrey.com - $195,000
NovaScotiaJobs.com - $1,000
Ron Jackson at DNJournal has a nice write up on day 2 of the TRAFFIC show, including comments on CIRA and the .ca auction:
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2010/dailyposts/20100610.htm
The main TRAFFIC auction starts at 3:45 PST today, and there will be more .ca domains in that auction.
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Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Poker.ca sells for $400,000 at Auction
DomainReport.ca
I saw it reported on a domain blog this morning that the domain name Poker.ca sold for $400,000 US at the SnapNames.com iGambling auction.
http://www.thedomains.com/2010/06/02/poker-ca-sells-for-400k
To my knowledge, this is the second highest known .ca sale ever, the highest sale was Jobs.ca which sold for $600,000 (and reportedly came with a decent amount of type in traffic). I'm sure Poker.ca also gets it's share of type in traffic from poker lovers across Canada.
As to the identity of the domain buyer, I haven't seen that yet. My guess is it was the entertainment and lifestyle company Bodog, whose owner Calvin Ayre is Canadian. Bodog recently bought the domain Slots.com for over $5 million dollars, so perhaps they are in the market for premium gambling domains. Whoever it was, I'm sure the owner will be revealed in time.
The DNJournal.com sales report is due out tomorrow, one day behind due to the Monday holiday in the US. Perhaps we will see some more .ca domain sales. The TRAFFIC Vancouver show takes place next week and will feature a domain auction for .ca's only.
Check out today's domain deals at Godaddy!
--------------------------
I saw it reported on a domain blog this morning that the domain name Poker.ca sold for $400,000 US at the SnapNames.com iGambling auction.
http://www.thedomains.com/2010/06/02/poker-ca-sells-for-400k
To my knowledge, this is the second highest known .ca sale ever, the highest sale was Jobs.ca which sold for $600,000 (and reportedly came with a decent amount of type in traffic). I'm sure Poker.ca also gets it's share of type in traffic from poker lovers across Canada.
As to the identity of the domain buyer, I haven't seen that yet. My guess is it was the entertainment and lifestyle company Bodog, whose owner Calvin Ayre is Canadian. Bodog recently bought the domain Slots.com for over $5 million dollars, so perhaps they are in the market for premium gambling domains. Whoever it was, I'm sure the owner will be revealed in time.
The DNJournal.com sales report is due out tomorrow, one day behind due to the Monday holiday in the US. Perhaps we will see some more .ca domain sales. The TRAFFIC Vancouver show takes place next week and will feature a domain auction for .ca's only.
Check out today's domain deals at Godaddy!
--------------------------
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Win a Vancouver TRAFFIC ticket at Auction
DomainReport.ca
The website PennyAuction.ca is auctioning off a ticket to TRAFFIC, and the current bid is only 5 cents with just under two days to go. The auction ends June 3 at 6:30pm PST.
You can also use a buy it now feature to just purchase a ticket for $1150 Cdn, which is still less than the ticket value.
Penny Auction uses a format where you have to buy bids to place a bid, you can see it explained on their website, but it can make an auction more interesting in the final minutes.
If you use the coupon code "rob" when buying a bid pack, it will double the amount of bids you get.
Also on auction are a couple of three letter .ca's, currently the bids are still in the pennies:
APY.ca
BLJ.ca
Good luck if you decide to bid.
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The website PennyAuction.ca is auctioning off a ticket to TRAFFIC, and the current bid is only 5 cents with just under two days to go. The auction ends June 3 at 6:30pm PST.
You can also use a buy it now feature to just purchase a ticket for $1150 Cdn, which is still less than the ticket value.
Penny Auction uses a format where you have to buy bids to place a bid, you can see it explained on their website, but it can make an auction more interesting in the final minutes.
If you use the coupon code "rob" when buying a bid pack, it will double the amount of bids you get.
Also on auction are a couple of three letter .ca's, currently the bids are still in the pennies:
APY.ca
BLJ.ca
Good luck if you decide to bid.
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Tuesday, May 25, 2010
New Domain Promo Codes website
DomainReport.ca
Like most everyone else I like to save money on purchases, and as a domainer I like to save on registering and renewing domains. Factors that can weigh on a domainer include not selling your domains as quickly as you thought you would, or maintaining a large portfolio with high renewal costs. One thing that can help you stay alive in the business is being able to reduce the cost of registering and renewing your domains.
When registering or renewing your domains you should use promo codes as much as possible to save.
Here are some savings tips from DomainPromoCodes.com:
1 - Google it! Just type your registrar's name and add "promo code" eg ; "netfirms promo code" to see what deals you can find.
2 - If you find a good domain promo code site, Digg it
Here is one domain promo codes site you may be able to use:
This domain promo code site allows visitors to share, rate and comment on the codes easily. Updates are frequent and live.
You can find .ca domain promotions by searching here.
http://www.domainpromocodes.com/search/.ca/
The site includes many Canadian registrars such as Netfirms.Ca (you can use netfirms.com promo codes at netfirms.ca), Domainsatcost.ca, Register.com and Godaddy.com
Here are some promo codes you can find on the site:
There is a 3.99$ super domain promotion. You have to use the code Canada25
Canada25
You can also save 25% on Register.com's .ca domain promotion
Dollar domain
Dollar domain
* These promo codes have expiry dates, if they have already expired use the site to find more.
Enjoy the savings, I always do!
----
Like most everyone else I like to save money on purchases, and as a domainer I like to save on registering and renewing domains. Factors that can weigh on a domainer include not selling your domains as quickly as you thought you would, or maintaining a large portfolio with high renewal costs. One thing that can help you stay alive in the business is being able to reduce the cost of registering and renewing your domains.
When registering or renewing your domains you should use promo codes as much as possible to save.
Here are some savings tips from DomainPromoCodes.com:
1 - Google it! Just type your registrar's name and add "promo code" eg ; "netfirms promo code" to see what deals you can find.
2 - If you find a good domain promo code site, Digg it
Here is one domain promo codes site you may be able to use:
This domain promo code site allows visitors to share, rate and comment on the codes easily. Updates are frequent and live.
You can find .ca domain promotions by searching here.
http://www.domainpromocodes.com/search/.ca/
The site includes many Canadian registrars such as Netfirms.Ca (you can use netfirms.com promo codes at netfirms.ca), Domainsatcost.ca, Register.com and Godaddy.com
Here are some promo codes you can find on the site:
There is a 3.99$ super domain promotion. You have to use the code Canada25
Canada25
You can also save 25% on Register.com's .ca domain promotion
Dollar domain
Dollar domain
* These promo codes have expiry dates, if they have already expired use the site to find more.
Enjoy the savings, I always do!
----
Sunday, May 23, 2010
OUV.ca closes today on PennyAuction.ca
DomainReport.ca
New auction website PennyAuction.ca is offering for sale the domain name OUV.ca which had a start of 0$, and is now currently bid at only 3 cents with less than 8 hours to go.
If you want to get a good deal on a three letter .ca, you can check out the site and if you register, you get three bids for free. Additional bids will have to be bought in 'bid packs', which is different from most other auction sites. At Penny Auction, you have to pay for your bids, and it looks like the cost is 50 cents per bid or less, depending on which pack you buy. The flip side is, there are items on auction like $25 gift cards which are currently only at pennies, so if you are careful you could get a good deal. It looks like a bidder has to balance the cost of their bids vs the final price they would pay to make sure they get a good deal. This is an interesting twist to other auction sites.
Another domain, EJU.ca, will be auctioned next.
From their site:
PennyAuction.ca is Canada’s newest pay per bid auction website where fun, excitement, and huge savings are just part of the experience! PA is one of the best auction websites available, and it is based in Canada. On PA, you can buy gift cards, popular electronics such as cell phones, video games, laptops, and much more for extraordinary low prices. Visit our homepage to see what deals we have up for auction today.
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New auction website PennyAuction.ca is offering for sale the domain name OUV.ca which had a start of 0$, and is now currently bid at only 3 cents with less than 8 hours to go.
If you want to get a good deal on a three letter .ca, you can check out the site and if you register, you get three bids for free. Additional bids will have to be bought in 'bid packs', which is different from most other auction sites. At Penny Auction, you have to pay for your bids, and it looks like the cost is 50 cents per bid or less, depending on which pack you buy. The flip side is, there are items on auction like $25 gift cards which are currently only at pennies, so if you are careful you could get a good deal. It looks like a bidder has to balance the cost of their bids vs the final price they would pay to make sure they get a good deal. This is an interesting twist to other auction sites.
Another domain, EJU.ca, will be auctioned next.
From their site:
PennyAuction.ca is Canada’s newest pay per bid auction website where fun, excitement, and huge savings are just part of the experience! PA is one of the best auction websites available, and it is based in Canada. On PA, you can buy gift cards, popular electronics such as cell phones, video games, laptops, and much more for extraordinary low prices. Visit our homepage to see what deals we have up for auction today.
----
Friday, May 21, 2010
Bazooka.ca - End user domain sale?
DomainReport.ca
I often list all the .ca domain sales I see over the past week, usually found at DNJournal.com. Sometimes there are no sales, or maybe one sale for a small amount that I don't bother reporting.
This past week there was one .ca sale at Sedo:
Bazooka.ca - $1,100 US
I was going to make a short post about this sale because I haven't posted many sales lately, but first I checked the domain to see where it now resolves.
Today the domain forwards to:
http://www.topps.com/candy/brands/bazooka/index.htm
It seems like the domain is owned by the Topps trading card and candy company, but the whois doesn't show them as the owner. Perhaps the domain hasn't completely changed hands yet, or the new owner is forwarding it to the Topps page for some reason.
When I saw this sale, I didn't think of the gum but rather the bazooka weapon. But ofcourse the Bazooka gum brand has been around forever, and most of us have probably enjoyed some when we were kids.
Regardless, it's nice to see a .ca domain pointing to a relevant site instead of simply being parked after a sale.
-----
I often list all the .ca domain sales I see over the past week, usually found at DNJournal.com. Sometimes there are no sales, or maybe one sale for a small amount that I don't bother reporting.
This past week there was one .ca sale at Sedo:
Bazooka.ca - $1,100 US
I was going to make a short post about this sale because I haven't posted many sales lately, but first I checked the domain to see where it now resolves.
Today the domain forwards to:
http://www.topps.com/candy/brands/bazooka/index.htm
It seems like the domain is owned by the Topps trading card and candy company, but the whois doesn't show them as the owner. Perhaps the domain hasn't completely changed hands yet, or the new owner is forwarding it to the Topps page for some reason.
When I saw this sale, I didn't think of the gum but rather the bazooka weapon. But ofcourse the Bazooka gum brand has been around forever, and most of us have probably enjoyed some when we were kids.
Regardless, it's nice to see a .ca domain pointing to a relevant site instead of simply being parked after a sale.
-----
Recession? I still won't give up my...
DomainReport.ca
I will move back in with my parents or to a smaller place, sell my furniture, books or bike, but I'm keeping my laptop and internet!
The recession has made many people cut back their spending on a lot of items, but Yahoo just published an article with 10 areas where people aren't cutting back, or are cutting back less.
Can you guess what they are?
At least four of them are related to the internet, those being internet access, portable computers (laptops, ipads), smartphones and music downloads.
It re-affirms what I've thought for a while, that you can take a lot away from people, but don't take away their connection to the outside world! You need the internet for email, job searching, news, and to socialize with friends. It's just the way more and more people are communicating nowadays. And this bodes well for domain names. If you want to get in on the internet game, you need a domain name to play.
To see what the other 6 items are, you can find the article on my Howl site at:
http://www.howl.com/news
If you want to aggregate your favorite blog posts, videos, articles and any sites of interest on the internet, you can get a free account at Howl.com I just learned about this site and it's new, so grab a great username while you can!
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I will move back in with my parents or to a smaller place, sell my furniture, books or bike, but I'm keeping my laptop and internet!
The recession has made many people cut back their spending on a lot of items, but Yahoo just published an article with 10 areas where people aren't cutting back, or are cutting back less.
Can you guess what they are?
At least four of them are related to the internet, those being internet access, portable computers (laptops, ipads), smartphones and music downloads.
It re-affirms what I've thought for a while, that you can take a lot away from people, but don't take away their connection to the outside world! You need the internet for email, job searching, news, and to socialize with friends. It's just the way more and more people are communicating nowadays. And this bodes well for domain names. If you want to get in on the internet game, you need a domain name to play.
To see what the other 6 items are, you can find the article on my Howl site at:
http://www.howl.com/news
If you want to aggregate your favorite blog posts, videos, articles and any sites of interest on the internet, you can get a free account at Howl.com I just learned about this site and it's new, so grab a great username while you can!
---
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
TRAFFIC Vancouver looks to be Great
DomainReport.ca
The next TRAFFIC domain show is set for Vancouver, BC, Canada June 8-10.
It's hard to believe this is only the first TRAFFIC show in Vancouver, because many well known domainers got their start, or currently live, in Vancouver. To name a few, there is Frank Schilling, Kevin Ham, Yun Ye and Richard Lau.
Perhaps the most exciting thing to me is that in an interview with DN Journal, Rick Latona stated that Kevin Ham and Frank Schilling will be attending the show, and that Kevin and his brother will try to get Yun Ye to attend the show too. Yun Ye has to be the most reclusive domainer ever, no one has heard much from him in the media since he sold his domain portfolio to Marchex for a nine figure sum. The story of Yun Ye firing up his computer programs to grab dropped domains before anyone else back in the 90's is now legend. Some people probably still think he doesn't even exist, or was made up!
If you haven't read the DN Journal interview, it's at
http://www.dnjournal.com/events/2010/traffic-vancouver-preview.htm
The other exciting development is that Rick Latona dropped the fee to attend the Vancouver show, in order to encourage the highest turnout possible.
For us .ca domainers, day 2 of the show will have a domain auction restricted to .ca domains only. I am very interested to see how this goes over, given you need to have a Canadian presence to own a .ca domain. Not all the people attending will be able to own a .ca domain, and so can't even bid at this auction. Wouldn't this be a great venue for CIRA to announce that the .ca extension is open to anyone to register and own? Probably just wishful thinking, but you never know.
Day 3 of the event will have the Main auction featuring Premium domains.
I lived in Vancouver for a few years while attending university at UBC, and then again for a few years in the mid 90's, probably around the time Yun Ye was building his portfolio, though I had no idea about domains back then. Aside from the show, there is a lot to see and do in Vancouver that's close by to downtown. You can take a short boat trip over to the Granville Island produce market, walk or bike around the seawall that circles most of the city, visit Stanley Park to see preserved rainforest, get a great coffee at one of the many coffee bars, get a great meal at one of many Asian themed restaurants, go shopping on Robson street or Granville street, or just hang out at the beach and enjoy the fresh air.
Hopefully the weather will be good, and I'm already looking forward to the DN Journal write up on this show once it's completed.
------
The next TRAFFIC domain show is set for Vancouver, BC, Canada June 8-10.
It's hard to believe this is only the first TRAFFIC show in Vancouver, because many well known domainers got their start, or currently live, in Vancouver. To name a few, there is Frank Schilling, Kevin Ham, Yun Ye and Richard Lau.
Perhaps the most exciting thing to me is that in an interview with DN Journal, Rick Latona stated that Kevin Ham and Frank Schilling will be attending the show, and that Kevin and his brother will try to get Yun Ye to attend the show too. Yun Ye has to be the most reclusive domainer ever, no one has heard much from him in the media since he sold his domain portfolio to Marchex for a nine figure sum. The story of Yun Ye firing up his computer programs to grab dropped domains before anyone else back in the 90's is now legend. Some people probably still think he doesn't even exist, or was made up!
If you haven't read the DN Journal interview, it's at
http://www.dnjournal.com/events/2010/traffic-vancouver-preview.htm
The other exciting development is that Rick Latona dropped the fee to attend the Vancouver show, in order to encourage the highest turnout possible.
For us .ca domainers, day 2 of the show will have a domain auction restricted to .ca domains only. I am very interested to see how this goes over, given you need to have a Canadian presence to own a .ca domain. Not all the people attending will be able to own a .ca domain, and so can't even bid at this auction. Wouldn't this be a great venue for CIRA to announce that the .ca extension is open to anyone to register and own? Probably just wishful thinking, but you never know.
Day 3 of the event will have the Main auction featuring Premium domains.
I lived in Vancouver for a few years while attending university at UBC, and then again for a few years in the mid 90's, probably around the time Yun Ye was building his portfolio, though I had no idea about domains back then. Aside from the show, there is a lot to see and do in Vancouver that's close by to downtown. You can take a short boat trip over to the Granville Island produce market, walk or bike around the seawall that circles most of the city, visit Stanley Park to see preserved rainforest, get a great coffee at one of the many coffee bars, get a great meal at one of many Asian themed restaurants, go shopping on Robson street or Granville street, or just hang out at the beach and enjoy the fresh air.
Hopefully the weather will be good, and I'm already looking forward to the DN Journal write up on this show once it's completed.
------
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
A Hell of an Auction
DomainReport.ca
I noticed Rick Latona's post today about the upcoming Vancouver TRAFFIC show, and didn't realize it was coming up so soon (June 8-10). I'm sure it will be a great show, because Vancouver is a hotbed of domaining and has produced some of the best known domainers in the world.
I decided to see if I could submit some domains for the auction, and opened an account at the Latonas.com site. After submitting my names, I checked out what auctions are going on now. The TRAFFIC Milan extended auction is now running, and one name in particular caught my eye - Hell.com
Hell.com doesn't have any bids yet, and the minimum bid is 487,500 Eur. The reason it caught my eye is because it is possibly one of the domains that well-known domainer Kevin Ham might want to own. He has said in the past that there is a small number of domains he just had to own, and he has acquired some of them. Most of the domains are very strong religious keywords, like God.com. Hell.com might be one of the others he doesn't have, so it will be interesting to see if any bids come in. There are just over 6 days left in the auction.
-----
As for .ca news, I haven't blogged in over a month now due to work demands, and the fact that there hasn't been any significant developments or sales in the .ca space. Hopefully that will change soon! There is a two week sales report coming from DNJournal today.
----
I noticed Rick Latona's post today about the upcoming Vancouver TRAFFIC show, and didn't realize it was coming up so soon (June 8-10). I'm sure it will be a great show, because Vancouver is a hotbed of domaining and has produced some of the best known domainers in the world.
I decided to see if I could submit some domains for the auction, and opened an account at the Latonas.com site. After submitting my names, I checked out what auctions are going on now. The TRAFFIC Milan extended auction is now running, and one name in particular caught my eye - Hell.com
Hell.com doesn't have any bids yet, and the minimum bid is 487,500 Eur. The reason it caught my eye is because it is possibly one of the domains that well-known domainer Kevin Ham might want to own. He has said in the past that there is a small number of domains he just had to own, and he has acquired some of them. Most of the domains are very strong religious keywords, like God.com. Hell.com might be one of the others he doesn't have, so it will be interesting to see if any bids come in. There are just over 6 days left in the auction.
-----
As for .ca news, I haven't blogged in over a month now due to work demands, and the fact that there hasn't been any significant developments or sales in the .ca space. Hopefully that will change soon! There is a two week sales report coming from DNJournal today.
----
Monday, March 29, 2010
Recent .ca Sales & Jobs.ca Radio Ads
DomainReport.ca
It's been a while since I've posted, but I thought there were a couple of recent .ca sales worth posting.
Gaming.ca - $16,000 US (Moniker, domain fest auction)
This sale took place a while ago, but just recently closed. Last week in the DNJournal.com sales report, Gaming.ca was the 12th sale overall in price, and number 4 for country code domains.
Snowglobes.ca - $1,750 US (Sedo)
A nice product domain name and a natural for a snow globes sales website.
Both of these domains still show as parked.
---
In other .ca news, I was driving to my first aid course on Sunday, and heard a radio ad for the Jobs.ca website. This was a big domain sale a while back (six figures), and now it looks like they have finished developping the website, and are starting the promotion. It was interesting to know the history of this domain, and to hear the website advertised in traditional media. My feeling is that using offline promotion will work and help get job seekers online to the website. Facebook ads targetted to Canadians would probably also work well.
I had a quick look at the website and it looks good; white background, nice colors (reminds me of the Winter Olympic colors, blue and green), clear layout, easy to find what you're looking for.
The Jobs.ca website is run by the same group that runs Kelowna.com, a growing city in the southern interior of British Columbia.
From the Jobs.ca website:
Jobs.ca has been designed to be the premier Canadian job portal - easy to use with excellent results for both the Employer and Job Seeker. Jobs.ca is the core of a growing network of employment related web portals, including Resumes.ca and JobSearch.ca. Owned by Ogopogo Media Inc, these websites are Canada's most intuitive internet destinations for the industry and are a prime example of Ogopogo Media's overall internet strategy.
Ogopogo Media Inc is based in Kelowna, BC.
-----
It's been a while since I've posted, but I thought there were a couple of recent .ca sales worth posting.
Gaming.ca - $16,000 US (Moniker, domain fest auction)
This sale took place a while ago, but just recently closed. Last week in the DNJournal.com sales report, Gaming.ca was the 12th sale overall in price, and number 4 for country code domains.
Snowglobes.ca - $1,750 US (Sedo)
A nice product domain name and a natural for a snow globes sales website.
Both of these domains still show as parked.
---
In other .ca news, I was driving to my first aid course on Sunday, and heard a radio ad for the Jobs.ca website. This was a big domain sale a while back (six figures), and now it looks like they have finished developping the website, and are starting the promotion. It was interesting to know the history of this domain, and to hear the website advertised in traditional media. My feeling is that using offline promotion will work and help get job seekers online to the website. Facebook ads targetted to Canadians would probably also work well.
I had a quick look at the website and it looks good; white background, nice colors (reminds me of the Winter Olympic colors, blue and green), clear layout, easy to find what you're looking for.
The Jobs.ca website is run by the same group that runs Kelowna.com, a growing city in the southern interior of British Columbia.
From the Jobs.ca website:
Jobs.ca has been designed to be the premier Canadian job portal - easy to use with excellent results for both the Employer and Job Seeker. Jobs.ca is the core of a growing network of employment related web portals, including Resumes.ca and JobSearch.ca. Owned by Ogopogo Media Inc, these websites are Canada's most intuitive internet destinations for the industry and are a prime example of Ogopogo Media's overall internet strategy.
Ogopogo Media Inc is based in Kelowna, BC.
-----
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sex.com topic on CBC radio 'Q' tomorrow
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Sex.com auction getting mainstream press coverage
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Are available hand registrations getting better?
----------
Check out today's domain deals at Godaddy
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DomainReport.ca
Because of the poor economy of the last year (I'm guessing) I have been able to hand register some .com domains that I either own in .ca, or would like to own in .ca. These are .com domains that were registered before and recently dropped, and made it back to open availability. The .ca and .com extensions are both well used and well known in Canada.
For example, a couple months ago I registered a 'Cityname RealEstate'.com domain where I already owned the .ca version. Someone had recently dropped the .com domain and it just showed as available one day. The city is only about 10,000 population, but has a few active real estate agencies, a major industrial plant, and a vibrant community. The domain started getting traffic on day one, and gets a little traffic every day.
Last night, I was checking 'Cityname Homes'.com's for cities in my area, and another one came up as available (so I regged it). This city is smaller but is a vacation destination for downhill skiing, mountain biking, and all sorts of outdoor activities in a mountainous setting. The .ca version of this domain is taken by a realtor.
Both of these cities have homes that sell in the $200,000 to $400,000 range, and higher.
I am surprised domains like this are being dropped, and making it through drop catchers lists without being grabbed. I can only determine that the poor economy is making people shed their less profitable names, and people are sticking to very high quality grabs in the drops. If the previous owners were only parking these names and used that to determine value, then that could be why they dropped. A 'Cityname Homes' domain, especially in .com and for decent size cities, should easily pay for it's renewal and more if developed into an information webpage or site.
If names like this are becoming available in .com, I can only imagine that similar drops are happening in .net, .org and other extensions. I would only touch other extensions if they were very high quality (e.g.: google searches over 100,000 in a marketable subject, or 'cityname homes' type domains with 100,000 plus population, for example). While I look at the potential for building a site on a domain and it's potential for getting visitors, I also consider the resale value and .com's always seem to be best in that department.
It's a great feeling to hand register a .com domain these days that is the exact term you are interested in. Especially if it was unavailable before and you would have thought it would cost $x,xxx to buy.
If you have certain areas that you focus on for domaining, like real estate, loans, flowers, games, etc - I would check on available terms you are interested in every now and then, because you never know when a domain that was once registered will become available again. I don't have an exact system or method I use to check, I just do it every once in a while and see what I come up with.
Have you noticed an increase in the quality of drops and available hand regs?
Have you been able to hand register some nice domains lately?
--
Check out today's domain deals at Godaddy
----------
DomainReport.ca
Because of the poor economy of the last year (I'm guessing) I have been able to hand register some .com domains that I either own in .ca, or would like to own in .ca. These are .com domains that were registered before and recently dropped, and made it back to open availability. The .ca and .com extensions are both well used and well known in Canada.
For example, a couple months ago I registered a 'Cityname RealEstate'.com domain where I already owned the .ca version. Someone had recently dropped the .com domain and it just showed as available one day. The city is only about 10,000 population, but has a few active real estate agencies, a major industrial plant, and a vibrant community. The domain started getting traffic on day one, and gets a little traffic every day.
Last night, I was checking 'Cityname Homes'.com's for cities in my area, and another one came up as available (so I regged it). This city is smaller but is a vacation destination for downhill skiing, mountain biking, and all sorts of outdoor activities in a mountainous setting. The .ca version of this domain is taken by a realtor.
Both of these cities have homes that sell in the $200,000 to $400,000 range, and higher.
I am surprised domains like this are being dropped, and making it through drop catchers lists without being grabbed. I can only determine that the poor economy is making people shed their less profitable names, and people are sticking to very high quality grabs in the drops. If the previous owners were only parking these names and used that to determine value, then that could be why they dropped. A 'Cityname Homes' domain, especially in .com and for decent size cities, should easily pay for it's renewal and more if developed into an information webpage or site.
If names like this are becoming available in .com, I can only imagine that similar drops are happening in .net, .org and other extensions. I would only touch other extensions if they were very high quality (e.g.: google searches over 100,000 in a marketable subject, or 'cityname homes' type domains with 100,000 plus population, for example). While I look at the potential for building a site on a domain and it's potential for getting visitors, I also consider the resale value and .com's always seem to be best in that department.
It's a great feeling to hand register a .com domain these days that is the exact term you are interested in. Especially if it was unavailable before and you would have thought it would cost $x,xxx to buy.
If you have certain areas that you focus on for domaining, like real estate, loans, flowers, games, etc - I would check on available terms you are interested in every now and then, because you never know when a domain that was once registered will become available again. I don't have an exact system or method I use to check, I just do it every once in a while and see what I come up with.
Have you noticed an increase in the quality of drops and available hand regs?
Have you been able to hand register some nice domains lately?
--
Recent news in .CA
DomainReport.ca
I just have a few items of miscellaneous news in the .ca world to post today.
.CA Sale
First, there was one .ca sale reported in this week's DNJournal sales report.
treadmillreviews.ca - $1,500 US
Checking Google keywords, the term "treadmill reviews" has a global search count of 74,000, and a Canada search count of 18,100. Not huge numbers, but not bad either. The domain is still on a Sedo parking page. Interestingly, the singular version 'treadmillreview.ca' was registered at the same time as the plural back in 2007, and the hyphen versions (treadmill-review.ca and treadmill-reviews.ca) are also registered. I think the name has good potential for a website, the Google numbers show there are people searching for information on treadmills, and a website that offers reviews, and likely links to purchase treadmills, could do well.
Contest at CIRA
CIRA, the manager of the .ca space, is running a contest at showusyour.ca. You can win prizes and marketing exposure. If you have a .ca website, you need to submit a video telling why your .ca is important to. Winners will receive free exposure on the CIRA website and in their upcoming marketing campaign. Other prizes include a 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro laptop, a 64GB iPod touch
and a flip UltraHD camcorder. Visit ShowUsYour.ca for more details and to enter.
TBR domains this week
The weekly TBR .ca domain drop happened yesterday, so I thought I would post some of the more interesting names that dropped. Here are some that caught my eye.
ssn.ab.ca
snowboarders.ca
loanrates.ca
leaftickets.ca
nyb.ca
7up.ca
gmm.ca
organicherbs.ca
sleepmasks.ca
social-media.ca
skitour.ca
websales.ca
mydentist.ca
-----
I just have a few items of miscellaneous news in the .ca world to post today.
.CA Sale
First, there was one .ca sale reported in this week's DNJournal sales report.
treadmillreviews.ca - $1,500 US
Checking Google keywords, the term "treadmill reviews" has a global search count of 74,000, and a Canada search count of 18,100. Not huge numbers, but not bad either. The domain is still on a Sedo parking page. Interestingly, the singular version 'treadmillreview.ca' was registered at the same time as the plural back in 2007, and the hyphen versions (treadmill-review.ca and treadmill-reviews.ca) are also registered. I think the name has good potential for a website, the Google numbers show there are people searching for information on treadmills, and a website that offers reviews, and likely links to purchase treadmills, could do well.
Contest at CIRA
CIRA, the manager of the .ca space, is running a contest at showusyour.ca. You can win prizes and marketing exposure. If you have a .ca website, you need to submit a video telling why your .ca is important to. Winners will receive free exposure on the CIRA website and in their upcoming marketing campaign. Other prizes include a 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro laptop, a 64GB iPod touch
and a flip UltraHD camcorder. Visit ShowUsYour.ca for more details and to enter.
TBR domains this week
The weekly TBR .ca domain drop happened yesterday, so I thought I would post some of the more interesting names that dropped. Here are some that caught my eye.
ssn.ab.ca
snowboarders.ca
loanrates.ca
leaftickets.ca
nyb.ca
7up.ca
gmm.ca
organicherbs.ca
sleepmasks.ca
social-media.ca
skitour.ca
websales.ca
mydentist.ca
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010
MyID opens .ca domain name Market Place
DomainReport.ca
Some news from MyID on their official opening of their .ca domain name Market Place today.
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MyID.ca is pleased to announce that a comprehensive .ca domain marketplace has now launched offering tens of thousands of .ca domains for sale. This is a domain marketplace exclusive to dot ca domains and is the first of its kind.
Now for the very first time, Canadians and Canadian businesses have this highly secure and fraud-free marketplace to check when they are seeking a great .ca domain that best fits their identity, products and services.
The .ca domains listed span more than 40 categories and cover a wide range of pricing from less than $100 to more than $100,000. All are offered within a very intuitive and easy to use interface.
MyID.ca has teamed up with the vast majority of domain investors to offer an extraordinary, unparalleled, and exhaustive list of .ca domains for one to choose from and all through a very secure and fraud-free system that is extremely easy to navigate. One can literally find the domain they are seeking in less than 2 minutes.
We at MyID.ca are very excited at this domain marketplace and look forward to making it a household name for all Canadians and Canadian Businesses.
MyID.ca Domain Marketplace is located at:
http://domainmarket.myid.ca
Should you wish to contact us, you can do so at support@myid.ca or toll free at 1-866-2244095.
Here's to your success and prosperity
MyID.ca Domain Marketplace Team
-----
Some news from MyID on their official opening of their .ca domain name Market Place today.
----
MyID.ca is pleased to announce that a comprehensive .ca domain marketplace has now launched offering tens of thousands of .ca domains for sale. This is a domain marketplace exclusive to dot ca domains and is the first of its kind.
Now for the very first time, Canadians and Canadian businesses have this highly secure and fraud-free marketplace to check when they are seeking a great .ca domain that best fits their identity, products and services.
The .ca domains listed span more than 40 categories and cover a wide range of pricing from less than $100 to more than $100,000. All are offered within a very intuitive and easy to use interface.
MyID.ca has teamed up with the vast majority of domain investors to offer an extraordinary, unparalleled, and exhaustive list of .ca domains for one to choose from and all through a very secure and fraud-free system that is extremely easy to navigate. One can literally find the domain they are seeking in less than 2 minutes.
We at MyID.ca are very excited at this domain marketplace and look forward to making it a household name for all Canadians and Canadian Businesses.
MyID.ca Domain Marketplace is located at:
http://domainmarket.myid.ca
Should you wish to contact us, you can do so at support@myid.ca or toll free at 1-866-2244095.
Here's to your success and prosperity
MyID.ca Domain Marketplace Team
-----
Yellow Pages Group buys 411.ca directory
DomainReport.ca
Yellow Pages is trying to get more out of local (online) search.
YPG has signed an agreement to buy the 411.ca search directory brand including domain names. They are also picking up an ownership interest in the 411 Local Search Corp.
Yellow Pages already owns and operates the Canada411.ca directory.
I think this deal makes sense for YP. Paper phonebooks are declining in use because more people are doing their local searching online. YP either has to take advantage of this trend or wither away.
Thanks to the tip from DomainAssets.ca on this story.
Full news release from MarketWire:
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Feb 22, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Yellow Pages Group (YPG) and 411 Local Search Corp., operator of 411.ca(TM), announced today that they have signed an agreement under which terms YPG will purchase the 411.ca brand and domain names and acquire an ownership interest in 411 Local Search Corp. The agreement will further enable both companies to leverage the online traffic between YPG's leading Canada411.ca(TM) and YellowPages.ca(TM) properties, and 411.ca, a fast-growing online directory. This agreement that unites two of Canada's largest local search engines will provide enhanced online reach for advertisers and a greater experience for users.
"We are continuing to expand our reach, making it simple and easy for businesses to attract customers locally through our continually growing network of properties," said Stephane Marceau, Chief Marketing Officer at Yellow Pages Group. "With the acquisition of the 411.ca trademark, we gain a top-of-mind brand, reinforcing our leadership position as the destinations where people go to find the businesses, products, people and places that they are looking for."
411.ca has grown to attract close to 10% of online users, generating 13 million queries for local Canadian businesses each month. The addition of the 411.ca site will add approximately one million unduplicated unique visitors to YPG's network reach.
"We are very excited to establish this relationship with Yellow Pages Group," said Stephen K. Curry, President and Chief Executive Officer at 411 Local Search Corp. "Canadian businesses want results from their advertising programs that have a measureable impact on their bottom line. This deal will allow us to develop new programs and tools that will help 411.ca advertisers attract even more clientele."
Under the agreement, 411 Local Search Corp. will have an exclusive license to use the 411.ca trademark until YPG purchases the balance of outstanding shares in the company within approximately three to five years. YPG intends to close this transaction in early March 2010, subject to certain conditions, including the approval by 411 Local Search Corp. shareholders. Alexander Capital Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to YPG on this transaction.
About Yellow Pages Group
Yellow Pages Group (YPG) is Canada's leading performance media and marketing solutions company. The Company brings consumers and businesses together locally through its network of print, digital and mobile properties. YPG enables consumers to make smarter decisions, helping people find what they need wherever and whenever. The Company partners with businesses to build successful marketing and lead generation programs, helping them grow their business. YPG owns and operates some of Canada's leading properties and publications including Yellow Pages(TM) directories, YellowPages.ca(TM), and Canada411.ca(TM). YPG is indirectly held by Yellow Media Inc. /quotes/comstock/11t!ylo.un (CA:YLO.UN 5.86, 0.00, 0.00%) . For more information, www.ypg.com.
About 411.ca
411.ca Canada's Local Search Engine(TM), is the most visited pure online local search engine in Canada. Each month over 2 million Canadians use 411.ca to connect with businesses and individuals in their community. Through cost-effective advertising programs that drive sales and maximize brand exposure, 411.ca helps businesses of all sizes to grow and prosper. Currently the site features over 1.5 million basic, Owner Verified(TM) and premium local business listings. 411.ca is owned and operated by 411 Local Search Corp., a privately-held Canadian company with offices in Toronto and Montreal. For more information and other facts visit www.411.ca.
-----
Yellow Pages is trying to get more out of local (online) search.
YPG has signed an agreement to buy the 411.ca search directory brand including domain names. They are also picking up an ownership interest in the 411 Local Search Corp.
Yellow Pages already owns and operates the Canada411.ca directory.
I think this deal makes sense for YP. Paper phonebooks are declining in use because more people are doing their local searching online. YP either has to take advantage of this trend or wither away.
Thanks to the tip from DomainAssets.ca on this story.
Full news release from MarketWire:
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Feb 22, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Yellow Pages Group (YPG) and 411 Local Search Corp., operator of 411.ca(TM), announced today that they have signed an agreement under which terms YPG will purchase the 411.ca brand and domain names and acquire an ownership interest in 411 Local Search Corp. The agreement will further enable both companies to leverage the online traffic between YPG's leading Canada411.ca(TM) and YellowPages.ca(TM) properties, and 411.ca, a fast-growing online directory. This agreement that unites two of Canada's largest local search engines will provide enhanced online reach for advertisers and a greater experience for users.
"We are continuing to expand our reach, making it simple and easy for businesses to attract customers locally through our continually growing network of properties," said Stephane Marceau, Chief Marketing Officer at Yellow Pages Group. "With the acquisition of the 411.ca trademark, we gain a top-of-mind brand, reinforcing our leadership position as the destinations where people go to find the businesses, products, people and places that they are looking for."
411.ca has grown to attract close to 10% of online users, generating 13 million queries for local Canadian businesses each month. The addition of the 411.ca site will add approximately one million unduplicated unique visitors to YPG's network reach.
"We are very excited to establish this relationship with Yellow Pages Group," said Stephen K. Curry, President and Chief Executive Officer at 411 Local Search Corp. "Canadian businesses want results from their advertising programs that have a measureable impact on their bottom line. This deal will allow us to develop new programs and tools that will help 411.ca advertisers attract even more clientele."
Under the agreement, 411 Local Search Corp. will have an exclusive license to use the 411.ca trademark until YPG purchases the balance of outstanding shares in the company within approximately three to five years. YPG intends to close this transaction in early March 2010, subject to certain conditions, including the approval by 411 Local Search Corp. shareholders. Alexander Capital Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to YPG on this transaction.
About Yellow Pages Group
Yellow Pages Group (YPG) is Canada's leading performance media and marketing solutions company. The Company brings consumers and businesses together locally through its network of print, digital and mobile properties. YPG enables consumers to make smarter decisions, helping people find what they need wherever and whenever. The Company partners with businesses to build successful marketing and lead generation programs, helping them grow their business. YPG owns and operates some of Canada's leading properties and publications including Yellow Pages(TM) directories, YellowPages.ca(TM), and Canada411.ca(TM). YPG is indirectly held by Yellow Media Inc. /quotes/comstock/11t!ylo.un (CA:YLO.UN 5.86, 0.00, 0.00%) . For more information, www.ypg.com.
About 411.ca
411.ca Canada's Local Search Engine(TM), is the most visited pure online local search engine in Canada. Each month over 2 million Canadians use 411.ca to connect with businesses and individuals in their community. Through cost-effective advertising programs that drive sales and maximize brand exposure, 411.ca helps businesses of all sizes to grow and prosper. Currently the site features over 1.5 million basic, Owner Verified(TM) and premium local business listings. 411.ca is owned and operated by 411 Local Search Corp., a privately-held Canadian company with offices in Toronto and Montreal. For more information and other facts visit www.411.ca.
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Monday, February 15, 2010
MyID .ca Marketplace Goes Live Feb 22
DomainReport.ca
Here is the latest news on the upcoming MyID .ca domain name Marketplace, received in an email last night.
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This is a quick note to let you know that the MyID.ca Domain Marketplace is going live on Monday February 22 at 2:00 pm EST.
More than five thousand dot ca domains have already been submitted with a wide price range from less than $100 to more than $100,000 and these, with all future submissions, will be available for sale when the domain marketplace opens up on Monday.
All domains submitted will be included with the exception of domains with trademark issues. If you have submitted any domains that violate any trademark, please delete these ASAP.
Now that the live date has been finalized, we will start actively promoting the marketplace. And there are opportunities for you to earn from this release even without selling any domains.
More details will be shared in our next message on Wednesday.
Best of luck to all!
MyID.ca Domain Marketplace Team
--------
Here is the latest news on the upcoming MyID .ca domain name Marketplace, received in an email last night.
-----
This is a quick note to let you know that the MyID.ca Domain Marketplace is going live on Monday February 22 at 2:00 pm EST.
More than five thousand dot ca domains have already been submitted with a wide price range from less than $100 to more than $100,000 and these, with all future submissions, will be available for sale when the domain marketplace opens up on Monday.
All domains submitted will be included with the exception of domains with trademark issues. If you have submitted any domains that violate any trademark, please delete these ASAP.
Now that the live date has been finalized, we will start actively promoting the marketplace. And there are opportunities for you to earn from this release even without selling any domains.
More details will be shared in our next message on Wednesday.
Best of luck to all!
MyID.ca Domain Marketplace Team
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Friday, February 5, 2010
MyID .ca Domain Marketplace opening
DomainReport.ca
Just received an email update today from the team at MyID about their .ca domain name Marketplace. They are starting to take submissions and go live on or around February 15.
I had also hoped to post some .ca sales from DNJournal's sales report that came out yesterday, but unfortunately there were no .ca sales reported! Country code domain sales still remain strong however, and I'm sure we'll see some action in the .ca market in 2010 - hopefully with sales, development of .ca domains, and more opportunities for .ca domainers.
MyID had some good success running .ca auctions in the past, in particular 2008 was a good year for auctions. The downturn in the economy in 2009 slowed things down, but now it looks like they are ready to take the .ca market to another level.
Below is the email I received on the MyID .ca Marketplace:
-------
We are pleased to announce that MyID.ca Domain Market Place is now open for seller submissions. We expect to take it live around Feb 15.
If you would like to list any of your domains for sale, please do so ASAP. Lots of buzz will take place in the days leading to the release and it may be to your benefit to have your domains listed during the launch.
The MyID.ca Market Place is the first marketplace exclusive to .ca domains and it is a very comprehensive place to buy and sell .ca domains all with the same ironclad security and fraud free environment that marked all our prior auctions. Today we have a 100% success rate in gettting every domain seller their earnt funds and every domain buyer their purchased domains.
Here are some highlights of what you can expect:
1) Bulk submission ability either via form or text file
2) Payment for all your sold domains within 48 hours of whois changing info.
3) Email notification to buyers for any domains that match their criteria
4) No credit cards or agreements to fax. All is streamlined and completed online.
5) Frequent Seller Rates Discount with commissions starting at 12% and reaching as low as 4%
6) Comprehensive and sophisticated accounting system that allows you to keep track of all your invoices, earnings, and Frequent Seller Rate Discount.
7) Advanced and generous affiliate system that is expected to send lots of qualified buyers to the marketplace.
8) Our ironclad security and fraud protection measures.
And in a few weeks the system will:
9) Make domains available for lease with recurrent credit card payments
10) Accept a group of domains to be sold in one transaction.
11) Accept payment installments.
12) Send domains that receive multiple offers to auctions
We are very excited about this system and believe it will help with our dedication to increase the exposure and value of .ca domains.
Adding domains to MyID Domain Marketplace is simple and consists of the following steps
a) Get authenticated
b) Accept the seller agreement
c) Choose a membership plan
Should you have any question, ideas, or feedback, please do not hesitate to send them our way. As always, we listen and act on what you suggest and feel will improve this domain market.
Thank you again for your support with our auctions and we look forward to serve you more with the MyID.ca Dot Ca Domain Marketplace.
Sincerely,
Gus, Danny, and the MyID Team
----
Just received an email update today from the team at MyID about their .ca domain name Marketplace. They are starting to take submissions and go live on or around February 15.
I had also hoped to post some .ca sales from DNJournal's sales report that came out yesterday, but unfortunately there were no .ca sales reported! Country code domain sales still remain strong however, and I'm sure we'll see some action in the .ca market in 2010 - hopefully with sales, development of .ca domains, and more opportunities for .ca domainers.
MyID had some good success running .ca auctions in the past, in particular 2008 was a good year for auctions. The downturn in the economy in 2009 slowed things down, but now it looks like they are ready to take the .ca market to another level.
Below is the email I received on the MyID .ca Marketplace:
-------
We are pleased to announce that MyID.ca Domain Market Place is now open for seller submissions. We expect to take it live around Feb 15.
If you would like to list any of your domains for sale, please do so ASAP. Lots of buzz will take place in the days leading to the release and it may be to your benefit to have your domains listed during the launch.
The MyID.ca Market Place is the first marketplace exclusive to .ca domains and it is a very comprehensive place to buy and sell .ca domains all with the same ironclad security and fraud free environment that marked all our prior auctions. Today we have a 100% success rate in gettting every domain seller their earnt funds and every domain buyer their purchased domains.
Here are some highlights of what you can expect:
1) Bulk submission ability either via form or text file
2) Payment for all your sold domains within 48 hours of whois changing info.
3) Email notification to buyers for any domains that match their criteria
4) No credit cards or agreements to fax. All is streamlined and completed online.
5) Frequent Seller Rates Discount with commissions starting at 12% and reaching as low as 4%
6) Comprehensive and sophisticated accounting system that allows you to keep track of all your invoices, earnings, and Frequent Seller Rate Discount.
7) Advanced and generous affiliate system that is expected to send lots of qualified buyers to the marketplace.
8) Our ironclad security and fraud protection measures.
And in a few weeks the system will:
9) Make domains available for lease with recurrent credit card payments
10) Accept a group of domains to be sold in one transaction.
11) Accept payment installments.
12) Send domains that receive multiple offers to auctions
We are very excited about this system and believe it will help with our dedication to increase the exposure and value of .ca domains.
Adding domains to MyID Domain Marketplace is simple and consists of the following steps
a) Get authenticated
b) Accept the seller agreement
c) Choose a membership plan
Should you have any question, ideas, or feedback, please do not hesitate to send them our way. As always, we listen and act on what you suggest and feel will improve this domain market.
Thank you again for your support with our auctions and we look forward to serve you more with the MyID.ca Dot Ca Domain Marketplace.
Sincerely,
Gus, Danny, and the MyID Team
----
Monday, January 25, 2010
.DE hyphen sales, .EU IDN sales
DomainReport.ca
If you review the weekly sales reports from DNJournal.com, you've probably noticed a general trend in country code sales lately in that there are quite a few .de (Germany) domains selling with hyphens in them, and also many .eu (Europe) IDN sales.
A few recent examples of these sales from DNJournal.com are:
Free-SMS.de - $162,150
browser-game.de - $1,588
future-business.de - $1,378
fussball-blog.de - $1,160
Diät.eu - $4,301
Rechtsanwälte.eu - $4,100
börse.eu - $3,032
währungsrechner.eu - $1,413
I'm not sure when I noticed this trend, but it's hard to ignore if you follow country code domain sales.
Domains with hyphens aren't normally desirable for even the .com extension, so to see repeated country code domains sell for good prices stands out to me. The only thing I can tell is that the .de extension is a hot seller for country codes, so maybe that has spilled over to hyphen versions too. As a side note, I do own some hyphen domains and think they can work well if the keywords are strong.
As for the IDN .eu sales, you don't often see any IDN sales in the DNJournal report (though they've been picking up a bit lately). Now all of a sudden you see IDN .eu sales popping up every week.
If anyone can add to the discussion of these sales please go ahead!
If you review the weekly sales reports from DNJournal.com, you've probably noticed a general trend in country code sales lately in that there are quite a few .de (Germany) domains selling with hyphens in them, and also many .eu (Europe) IDN sales.
A few recent examples of these sales from DNJournal.com are:
Free-SMS.de - $162,150
browser-game.de - $1,588
future-business.de - $1,378
fussball-blog.de - $1,160
Diät.eu - $4,301
Rechtsanwälte.eu - $4,100
börse.eu - $3,032
währungsrechner.eu - $1,413
I'm not sure when I noticed this trend, but it's hard to ignore if you follow country code domain sales.
Domains with hyphens aren't normally desirable for even the .com extension, so to see repeated country code domains sell for good prices stands out to me. The only thing I can tell is that the .de extension is a hot seller for country codes, so maybe that has spilled over to hyphen versions too. As a side note, I do own some hyphen domains and think they can work well if the keywords are strong.
As for the IDN .eu sales, you don't often see any IDN sales in the DNJournal report (though they've been picking up a bit lately). Now all of a sudden you see IDN .eu sales popping up every week.
If anyone can add to the discussion of these sales please go ahead!
.CA domain sales of past two weeks
DomainReport.ca
There were three .ca domain sales reported at DNJournal.com in the past two weeks. One was a modest sale at Sedo, and two were premium level sales sold by N49 Interactive.
If you haven't heard of N49 Interactive before, they are a web design company based in Toronto. Their website shows a diverse portfolio of websites they have designed. I believe they also own a large portfolio of .ca domain names.
The three sales reported by DNJournal in the last two weeks are:
Proxxon.ca - $1,750 US (Sedo)
Play.ca - $34,000 US (N49)
Vans.ca - $25,000 US (N49)
Not a bad start to the year for .ca sales, and the weekly .ca TBR drops are still competitive from what I've seen too.
---
There were three .ca domain sales reported at DNJournal.com in the past two weeks. One was a modest sale at Sedo, and two were premium level sales sold by N49 Interactive.
If you haven't heard of N49 Interactive before, they are a web design company based in Toronto. Their website shows a diverse portfolio of websites they have designed. I believe they also own a large portfolio of .ca domain names.
The three sales reported by DNJournal in the last two weeks are:
Proxxon.ca - $1,750 US (Sedo)
Play.ca - $34,000 US (N49)
Vans.ca - $25,000 US (N49)
Not a bad start to the year for .ca sales, and the weekly .ca TBR drops are still competitive from what I've seen too.
---
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
TBR.ca - New .ca domain drop catcher
DomainReport.ca
TBR.ca, a new .ca domain drop catching service, is now open for business at http://www.tbr.ca. I thought this service would be of interest to anyone who buys .ca domain names, especially in drops, so I have posted their announcement below.
The site is currently in beta stage.
-----
TBR.ca offers full statistics of each name that is dropping; these statistics currently include:
Google Links
Number of Google Pages
Archived at Archive.org
Yahoo pages
Yahoo Links
Bing Pages
whether it has alexa ranking
Dmoz Listed
Google Page Rank
In the future TBR.ca will be able to provide more statistics, and suggestions are more then welcome on researchable statistics to provide.
Searching
Visitors can search by:
Length
Number of words in the domain
Language, we can detect english, french and bilingual names
Any of the stats mentioned above
Categories, domains when imported are assigned a category based on keyword recognition. This will be enhanced and automated as our keyword database grows. To start categorizing may not be fully available.
Keywords, keywords that are located within the domain name
Searches can be named and saved to your search filters for use in future drops, eventually it is planned that we would notify you if any domains are dropping that match your criteria in our Featured email each week.
Pricing
Our pricing structure is a minimum of $10 backorder price +
Registration fee of $8.93, making the minimum purchase amount $18.93
Payment Methods
Tbr.ca currently accepts credit card, interac, paypal, moneybookers, bank transfer and check payment methods.
Bank wire payments incur a $10 processing fee.
Members can also make partial payments from any of the sources above,
meaning if you have cash in your paypal you can use that then pay the
remaining on another payment method.
Payment Plans
We offer an indepth Payment Plan which can be used to differ the payment into increments for up to 4 months from the purchase date. The minimum purchase amount for a payment plan is $200.
More information is available on this during the auction and at checkout, we have included a detailed payment calculator so you can see the exact breakdown before proceeding.
Bidding Incentives
Currently our auctions are schedule to be held from Wed to Friday closing from 12pm - 5pm EST, our current policies enable a discount based on when the winning bid was made. Winning bids placed on Wed receive a 20% discount on the final purchase price, bids placed on Thurs incur a 10% discount on the final purchase price, there are no
discounts for bids placed on Fridays.
Bids are defined as either proxy or bids that are made after the auction has started and backorder bid amounts are exempt from the discount.
There is more information on this feature
http://www.tbr.ca/terms/earlybidincentive
Open or Closed Auctions?
Our auctions are available to all members of the site, there is a direct incentive to backordering prior to the auction.
Watchlist
Ever wanted to be kept up to date on an auction/backorder, we have
implemented a watchlist service where you can receive email updates as
the auction progress, or if we are able to backorder the domain.
Bidders who have not backordered the domain prior to it going to
auction are allowed a single binding bid that does not utilize the
proxy bid system.
We feel that this gives a huge benefit to the members that have
backordered the domain with TBR.ca.
Auctions
Our anti sniping rule is if a bid has been made in the last 5 minutes
of an auction the timer is reset to five minutes.
Minimum Bidding Increments are:
Less then $100: $10.00 increments
Less then $500: $25.00 increments
Less then $1,000: $50.00 increments
Less then $5,000: $100.00 increments
Less then $7,500: $250.00 increments
Less then $10,000: $500.00 increments
Less then $1,000,000: $1,000.00 increments
More information on auctions can be found here http://www.tbr.ca/terms/auction/
Invoicing
Our invoices are generated after all auctions have been completed
allowing for multiple purchases to be placed on a single invoice.
DNS Servers
Under your account you have an option to set default DNS servers, once
auctions have been completed and the invoice paid in full, the winning
domains dns servers will be adjusted. This is currently not yet
implemented but should be by next week.
Partnerships
TBR.ca is working on a system to allow current registrars to partner with us to utilize our auction system as well as allowing investors an opportunity to partner with TBR.ca, while remaining able to utilize the site without any unfair advantages. More information on this will be available as we iron out the details, if you are currently running a registrar or may be open to partnering with TBR.ca in the future feel free to shoot me an email and I can pass along the information when it becomes available.
Beta Special
During the beta stages of the site we are covering the registration fee on all purchases, this discount will be automatically added to all invoices.
Any bug reports can be sent through the support form or directly to
JBrumwell *@* ReadyNetwork.ca
------
TBR.ca, a new .ca domain drop catching service, is now open for business at http://www.tbr.ca. I thought this service would be of interest to anyone who buys .ca domain names, especially in drops, so I have posted their announcement below.
The site is currently in beta stage.
-----
TBR.ca offers full statistics of each name that is dropping; these statistics currently include:
Google Links
Number of Google Pages
Archived at Archive.org
Yahoo pages
Yahoo Links
Bing Pages
whether it has alexa ranking
Dmoz Listed
Google Page Rank
In the future TBR.ca will be able to provide more statistics, and suggestions are more then welcome on researchable statistics to provide.
Searching
Visitors can search by:
Length
Number of words in the domain
Language, we can detect english, french and bilingual names
Any of the stats mentioned above
Categories, domains when imported are assigned a category based on keyword recognition. This will be enhanced and automated as our keyword database grows. To start categorizing may not be fully available.
Keywords, keywords that are located within the domain name
Searches can be named and saved to your search filters for use in future drops, eventually it is planned that we would notify you if any domains are dropping that match your criteria in our Featured email each week.
Pricing
Our pricing structure is a minimum of $10 backorder price +
Registration fee of $8.93, making the minimum purchase amount $18.93
Payment Methods
Tbr.ca currently accepts credit card, interac, paypal, moneybookers, bank transfer and check payment methods.
Bank wire payments incur a $10 processing fee.
Members can also make partial payments from any of the sources above,
meaning if you have cash in your paypal you can use that then pay the
remaining on another payment method.
Payment Plans
We offer an indepth Payment Plan which can be used to differ the payment into increments for up to 4 months from the purchase date. The minimum purchase amount for a payment plan is $200.
More information is available on this during the auction and at checkout, we have included a detailed payment calculator so you can see the exact breakdown before proceeding.
Bidding Incentives
Currently our auctions are schedule to be held from Wed to Friday closing from 12pm - 5pm EST, our current policies enable a discount based on when the winning bid was made. Winning bids placed on Wed receive a 20% discount on the final purchase price, bids placed on Thurs incur a 10% discount on the final purchase price, there are no
discounts for bids placed on Fridays.
Bids are defined as either proxy or bids that are made after the auction has started and backorder bid amounts are exempt from the discount.
There is more information on this feature
http://www.tbr.ca/terms/earlybidincentive
Open or Closed Auctions?
Our auctions are available to all members of the site, there is a direct incentive to backordering prior to the auction.
Watchlist
Ever wanted to be kept up to date on an auction/backorder, we have
implemented a watchlist service where you can receive email updates as
the auction progress, or if we are able to backorder the domain.
Bidders who have not backordered the domain prior to it going to
auction are allowed a single binding bid that does not utilize the
proxy bid system.
We feel that this gives a huge benefit to the members that have
backordered the domain with TBR.ca.
Auctions
Our anti sniping rule is if a bid has been made in the last 5 minutes
of an auction the timer is reset to five minutes.
Minimum Bidding Increments are:
Less then $100: $10.00 increments
Less then $500: $25.00 increments
Less then $1,000: $50.00 increments
Less then $5,000: $100.00 increments
Less then $7,500: $250.00 increments
Less then $10,000: $500.00 increments
Less then $1,000,000: $1,000.00 increments
More information on auctions can be found here http://www.tbr.ca/terms/auction/
Invoicing
Our invoices are generated after all auctions have been completed
allowing for multiple purchases to be placed on a single invoice.
DNS Servers
Under your account you have an option to set default DNS servers, once
auctions have been completed and the invoice paid in full, the winning
domains dns servers will be adjusted. This is currently not yet
implemented but should be by next week.
Partnerships
TBR.ca is working on a system to allow current registrars to partner with us to utilize our auction system as well as allowing investors an opportunity to partner with TBR.ca, while remaining able to utilize the site without any unfair advantages. More information on this will be available as we iron out the details, if you are currently running a registrar or may be open to partnering with TBR.ca in the future feel free to shoot me an email and I can pass along the information when it becomes available.
Beta Special
During the beta stages of the site we are covering the registration fee on all purchases, this discount will be automatically added to all invoices.
Any bug reports can be sent through the support form or directly to
JBrumwell *@* ReadyNetwork.ca
------
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