DomainReport.ca
The first month of 2011 has started off with some fine .ca domain sales.
These sales are reported in DNJournal.com every week in the country codes section.
this past week saw the sales of:
KCC.ca - $6,720 (right now being used for Kamloops Computer Centre website)
Madura.ca - $2,137
Fotolia.ca - $1,000
and in the weeks before the following domain sales were reported:
PromotionalCodes.ca - $6,888
DUI.ca - $6,565
MortgagesForLess.ca - $2,000 (already goes to a developped site)
HorseRacing.ca - $19,000 (so far looks like a simple type of blog)
These sales together represent over $44,000 in total. Compared to the last few months of 2010 these numbers are great. Most of these domains are still parked, possibly until they are ready to develop into websites.
I think sales may be picking up for a few reasons (most of which I've mentioned in previous posts). Although only 10% of the US population, Canada is internet savvy and has high online penetration. We are right beside the US and have many of the same interests - therefore it's worth it for US companies to expand their market into Canada - kind of like adding another state the size of California. The .ca domain extension has high recognition in Canada, and is probably equal or close to the .com extension. And I also think spending a one-time few hundred or thousand dollars for a descriptive business domain name is a good investment for any company that operates here.
As I was typing this post and looking at a few other pages I have open, I see that a poster at DNForum.com has commented that OnlineCasinos.ca is reported to be sold at Sedo for $28,000. I just checked the recent market activity section on Sedo and yes, this sale is posted there.
Now the year is off to a really good start!
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Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
CIRA runs $5,000 .CA contest
DomainReport.ca
Do you have a .ca website?
If so, you may want to enter a contest CIRA is running. It's well worth it, the prize is $5,000 and some promotion for your website by CIRA. Here is an email I just received from them:
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is proud to introduce the .CA Impact Awards.
We are looking for people who use their .CA websites to make a positive difference. Impact can be social, cultural, political, technological or economic.
You could be a .CA Impact Award Winner and we want to hear your story! Winners will receive $5,000 and promotional visibility in CIRA communications. That would go a long way to helping a good cause!
Visit our website to enter.
http://www.cira.ca/awards/en/awards.html
Good luck if you decide to enter!
---
Do you have a .ca website?
If so, you may want to enter a contest CIRA is running. It's well worth it, the prize is $5,000 and some promotion for your website by CIRA. Here is an email I just received from them:
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is proud to introduce the .CA Impact Awards.
We are looking for people who use their .CA websites to make a positive difference. Impact can be social, cultural, political, technological or economic.
You could be a .CA Impact Award Winner and we want to hear your story! Winners will receive $5,000 and promotional visibility in CIRA communications. That would go a long way to helping a good cause!
Visit our website to enter.
http://www.cira.ca/awards/en/awards.html
Good luck if you decide to enter!
---
Friday, January 14, 2011
Do you have your Twitter username?
DomainReport.ca
I first joined Twitter back in the spring of 2007 (or was it 2008?), before it really took off the following winter. I had read about it somewhere and it looked like an interesting idea at the time. Being a domainer, I thought that having a good username could be a benefit down the road. Almost everything was available back then, for example a lot of major city names could be had. I had no idea how much Twitter would grow from that point.
Flash forward to 2011, and I've noticed in the past year especially that many domain companies and blogs now have Twitter accounts, along with almost everyone else in the media, sports, and entertainment worlds. Twitter is practically on a par with Facebook as an account you must have if you are using social media to advance your business. Many probably use Twitter and not Facebook, because Twitter is so easy to use, and gets your message out fast to a potentially huge audience (compared to Facebook, where only people who have connected with you will see your message).
For those who haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, I'd strongly suggest to go and register a Twitter account and pick a username that would suit your business, or future business plan. Because as it is with domains, every day the pool of decent available usernames is shrinking.
What can you do with Twitter?
- If you have a blog, send out a tweet with keywords every time you do a blog post. Remember a Twitter tweet can possibly be seen by anyone who has a Twitter account and is searching for those keywords.
- Let people know what you are doing in real-time. Having a sale? Product launch? Have a message you want to get out instantly? Send a tweet.
- Get feedback. People can contact you with questions or comments about your company. You can get this feedback in real time.
- Follow people you respect. Many people or companies you admire or respect probably have a Twitter presence. You can 'follow' them and get their info in real time.
- See trends and breaking stories. A lot of news these days gets posted first on Twitter by the people who are around it. It's a great way to find out what is happening right now.
If you don't think you need Twitter, or can't see a use for it now, it doesn't matter. Get an account and see what it offers. Somewhere down the line you will likely find that a Twitter account can be helpful to your marketing. Like others smarter than me have stated, 2010 is the year that the internet and social media have started to go mainstream, and Twitter is a service you just can't ignore anymore.
You can follow me on Twitter. I'm @DomainMedia
And if you want to check out how Twitter hashtags (#) work, and see popular Twitter hashtags, check out this Popular Twitter Hashtags site.
---
I first joined Twitter back in the spring of 2007 (or was it 2008?), before it really took off the following winter. I had read about it somewhere and it looked like an interesting idea at the time. Being a domainer, I thought that having a good username could be a benefit down the road. Almost everything was available back then, for example a lot of major city names could be had. I had no idea how much Twitter would grow from that point.
Flash forward to 2011, and I've noticed in the past year especially that many domain companies and blogs now have Twitter accounts, along with almost everyone else in the media, sports, and entertainment worlds. Twitter is practically on a par with Facebook as an account you must have if you are using social media to advance your business. Many probably use Twitter and not Facebook, because Twitter is so easy to use, and gets your message out fast to a potentially huge audience (compared to Facebook, where only people who have connected with you will see your message).
For those who haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, I'd strongly suggest to go and register a Twitter account and pick a username that would suit your business, or future business plan. Because as it is with domains, every day the pool of decent available usernames is shrinking.
What can you do with Twitter?
- If you have a blog, send out a tweet with keywords every time you do a blog post. Remember a Twitter tweet can possibly be seen by anyone who has a Twitter account and is searching for those keywords.
- Let people know what you are doing in real-time. Having a sale? Product launch? Have a message you want to get out instantly? Send a tweet.
- Get feedback. People can contact you with questions or comments about your company. You can get this feedback in real time.
- Follow people you respect. Many people or companies you admire or respect probably have a Twitter presence. You can 'follow' them and get their info in real time.
- See trends and breaking stories. A lot of news these days gets posted first on Twitter by the people who are around it. It's a great way to find out what is happening right now.
If you don't think you need Twitter, or can't see a use for it now, it doesn't matter. Get an account and see what it offers. Somewhere down the line you will likely find that a Twitter account can be helpful to your marketing. Like others smarter than me have stated, 2010 is the year that the internet and social media have started to go mainstream, and Twitter is a service you just can't ignore anymore.
You can follow me on Twitter. I'm @DomainMedia
And if you want to check out how Twitter hashtags (#) work, and see popular Twitter hashtags, check out this Popular Twitter Hashtags site.
---
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Are Cellphone domains becoming Passé?
DomainReport.ca
Is the cellphone era coming to an end, to be replaced by the smartphone or webphone era?
I noticed a couple of cellphone domain sales reported this week, and the prices seemed low compared to their quality. CellphoneCity.com for $4200 and CellphoneMarket.com for $2350. To me these are high quality brandable domains and I think they might have had a higher valuation a few years ago, before the iphone and other smartphones starting coming out.
Most people I know who upgrade their phone package now are going for iphones or smartphones. I think it will become standard for mobile phones to have internet connectivity and sharp screens for web surfing. And I also notice that people aren't calling smartphones 'cellphones'. They either just call it 'my phone' or 'my iphone'. They don't call them cellphones anymore.
So is it still a good idea to hold cellphone domain names? I don't think the cellphone market is dead, and maybe in some parts of the world simple phones like this are still in high use, but in developped countries I think the cellphone era is slowly being phased out, and in two or three years you will hardly hear the term at all. Would you want to put a lot of time and resources right now into a website that had 'cellphone' in the domain name, and was linked to the future of the cellphone market?
I bet when Gordon Gekko got out of prison at the beginning of the last Wallstreet movie, and took possession of his clunky 80's cellphone, it went right in the trash and he got himself a new iphone.
-----
Is the cellphone era coming to an end, to be replaced by the smartphone or webphone era?
I noticed a couple of cellphone domain sales reported this week, and the prices seemed low compared to their quality. CellphoneCity.com for $4200 and CellphoneMarket.com for $2350. To me these are high quality brandable domains and I think they might have had a higher valuation a few years ago, before the iphone and other smartphones starting coming out.
Most people I know who upgrade their phone package now are going for iphones or smartphones. I think it will become standard for mobile phones to have internet connectivity and sharp screens for web surfing. And I also notice that people aren't calling smartphones 'cellphones'. They either just call it 'my phone' or 'my iphone'. They don't call them cellphones anymore.
So is it still a good idea to hold cellphone domain names? I don't think the cellphone market is dead, and maybe in some parts of the world simple phones like this are still in high use, but in developped countries I think the cellphone era is slowly being phased out, and in two or three years you will hardly hear the term at all. Would you want to put a lot of time and resources right now into a website that had 'cellphone' in the domain name, and was linked to the future of the cellphone market?
I bet when Gordon Gekko got out of prison at the beginning of the last Wallstreet movie, and took possession of his clunky 80's cellphone, it went right in the trash and he got himself a new iphone.
-----
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Some nice .CA TBR domain drops
DomainReport.ca
I have been meaning to do a post about some of the nice .ca domain drops that have happened in the past week. The drop on January 5 had some particularly good names in it. Today's drop had much less quality in my opinion, but still some decent names.
For those who don't know, .ca domains drop once per week on Wednesday, and the drop list comes out a few days beforehand.
The ones I liked are the domains that have relevant keyword terms, or words that could easily be used by a business. Some of them are just plain nice looking, or short!
From the Jan 5 drop:
been.ca
bigwhiterealestate.ca (Big White is a ski resort near Kelowna BC)
blew.ca
bookies.ca
cellphoneplan.ca
clientservices.ca
cloudweb.ca
commercialloan.ca
cookingforum.ca
creatives.ca
damp.ca
dams.ca
daze.ca
diameter.ca
directmailing.ca
dle.ca
drugscanada.ca
drogues.ca (drugs in french!)
feta.ca
feud.ca
flipflops.ca
handwash.ca
hemorrhoids.ca (correct spelling even!)
his.ca
hotrod.ca
internetdating.ca
kegs.ca
livingspace.ca (nice name for a home makeover tv show)
log.ca
mjr.ca
obsessive.ca
pokerroom.ca (the .com used to be a big poker site)
showboat.ca
slow.ca
sunhats.ca
virtualcity.ca
When I checked through last week's TBR list beforehand, I just searched based on keywords I normally like or go after. I didn't read through the entire list like I sometimes do. If I had, I'm sure I would have tried to get more of these domains, such as 'drogues' and 'directmailing'. There are more I probably could have added to this list, like some nice LLL and short keywords, but you get the idea.
Today's drop (Jan 12) had a few good names in it:
acronyms.ca
charitable.ca
cybershop.ca
description.ca
dietpatch.ca
dnf.ca
freemaps.ca
freshmen.ca
hologram.ca (should have tried for this one)
invoicing.ca
organicfruits.ca
premiumcoffee.ca (I tried to get this one)
puppyfood.ca
saved.ca
sherri.ca
shootingrange.ca
spokane.ca
zora.ca (why not?)
This is only my opinion, I probably missed some gems that were in there. I should probably go back to looking through the entire list beforehand like I used to do, so I don't miss any gems.
Did you get any .ca domain drops today or last week?
-----
I have been meaning to do a post about some of the nice .ca domain drops that have happened in the past week. The drop on January 5 had some particularly good names in it. Today's drop had much less quality in my opinion, but still some decent names.
For those who don't know, .ca domains drop once per week on Wednesday, and the drop list comes out a few days beforehand.
The ones I liked are the domains that have relevant keyword terms, or words that could easily be used by a business. Some of them are just plain nice looking, or short!
From the Jan 5 drop:
been.ca
bigwhiterealestate.ca (Big White is a ski resort near Kelowna BC)
blew.ca
bookies.ca
cellphoneplan.ca
clientservices.ca
cloudweb.ca
commercialloan.ca
cookingforum.ca
creatives.ca
damp.ca
dams.ca
daze.ca
diameter.ca
directmailing.ca
dle.ca
drugscanada.ca
drogues.ca (drugs in french!)
feta.ca
feud.ca
flipflops.ca
handwash.ca
hemorrhoids.ca (correct spelling even!)
his.ca
hotrod.ca
internetdating.ca
kegs.ca
livingspace.ca (nice name for a home makeover tv show)
log.ca
mjr.ca
obsessive.ca
pokerroom.ca (the .com used to be a big poker site)
showboat.ca
slow.ca
sunhats.ca
virtualcity.ca
When I checked through last week's TBR list beforehand, I just searched based on keywords I normally like or go after. I didn't read through the entire list like I sometimes do. If I had, I'm sure I would have tried to get more of these domains, such as 'drogues' and 'directmailing'. There are more I probably could have added to this list, like some nice LLL and short keywords, but you get the idea.
Today's drop (Jan 12) had a few good names in it:
acronyms.ca
charitable.ca
cybershop.ca
description.ca
dietpatch.ca
dnf.ca
freemaps.ca
freshmen.ca
hologram.ca (should have tried for this one)
invoicing.ca
organicfruits.ca
premiumcoffee.ca (I tried to get this one)
puppyfood.ca
saved.ca
sherri.ca
shootingrange.ca
spokane.ca
zora.ca (why not?)
This is only my opinion, I probably missed some gems that were in there. I should probably go back to looking through the entire list beforehand like I used to do, so I don't miss any gems.
Did you get any .ca domain drops today or last week?
-----
Monday, January 3, 2011
Coupon.ca sale nice way to end 2010
DomainReport.ca
Last week I did a blog post here, just before Ron Jackson's DNJournal.com sales report came out. If I had held off a little bit, I would have mentioned the following sale in my post.
Coupon.ca - $75,600 US
This domain was the #2 sale on the overall board last week, and #1 for country codes.
As well as being a nice way to finish off 2010 and start 2011 for the .ca extension, this sale also puts a cap on the 'Group Coupon sites' type mania that flourished last year. Group buying sites seemed to be popping up everywhere, and related domain names were selling well in the aftermarket. Coupon.ca would be a great and memorable domain to market online coupons with in Canada.
Coupon.ca was sold at ExcellentDomains.ca. Another recent coupon domain that sold was CouponCode.ca for $3000 back on Nov 12. I don't think either domain is being used yet for a coupon type site.
Blogs a Good way to Go
The more I use Blogger and look around for options to develop domains, the more I am seeing that blogs are a great way to go, especially for subjects that interest you. I would like to learn WordPress but just haven't had the time. However, Blogger seems to do a lot of the same things, and you can start multiple blogs from your dashboard. They have a lot of advantages:
- You can update the site/blog regularly
- You can post news or comment on other news with your own perspective
- You can post photos/videos
- You can add links, ads, affiliate banners and so on easily
- Blogger keeps it all organized for you
There are lots of options out there, but starting a blog is looking like a better one to me all the time for those reasons.
The latest blog I started is VirtualWorld.ca - this is a domain I thought I'd never be able to own, yet it dropped about a month ago and I won it for a reasonable price at MyID without going to auction. I think the multiple cancelled TBR's and large list of domains people were chasing might have helped me get this name.
In terms of two word terms that start with virtual, Virtual World has to be one of the top phrases that would come to most people right away.
I already own a number of other domains that start with 'Virtual' because after all it's turning into a virtual world. Right now I plan to use this new blog to comment on anything and everything in the Virtual Realm, such as social media and gaming. We'll see how it goes!
Last week I did a blog post here, just before Ron Jackson's DNJournal.com sales report came out. If I had held off a little bit, I would have mentioned the following sale in my post.
Coupon.ca - $75,600 US
This domain was the #2 sale on the overall board last week, and #1 for country codes.
As well as being a nice way to finish off 2010 and start 2011 for the .ca extension, this sale also puts a cap on the 'Group Coupon sites' type mania that flourished last year. Group buying sites seemed to be popping up everywhere, and related domain names were selling well in the aftermarket. Coupon.ca would be a great and memorable domain to market online coupons with in Canada.
Coupon.ca was sold at ExcellentDomains.ca. Another recent coupon domain that sold was CouponCode.ca for $3000 back on Nov 12. I don't think either domain is being used yet for a coupon type site.
Blogs a Good way to Go
The more I use Blogger and look around for options to develop domains, the more I am seeing that blogs are a great way to go, especially for subjects that interest you. I would like to learn WordPress but just haven't had the time. However, Blogger seems to do a lot of the same things, and you can start multiple blogs from your dashboard. They have a lot of advantages:
- You can update the site/blog regularly
- You can post news or comment on other news with your own perspective
- You can post photos/videos
- You can add links, ads, affiliate banners and so on easily
- Blogger keeps it all organized for you
There are lots of options out there, but starting a blog is looking like a better one to me all the time for those reasons.
The latest blog I started is VirtualWorld.ca - this is a domain I thought I'd never be able to own, yet it dropped about a month ago and I won it for a reasonable price at MyID without going to auction. I think the multiple cancelled TBR's and large list of domains people were chasing might have helped me get this name.
In terms of two word terms that start with virtual, Virtual World has to be one of the top phrases that would come to most people right away.
I already own a number of other domains that start with 'Virtual' because after all it's turning into a virtual world. Right now I plan to use this new blog to comment on anything and everything in the Virtual Realm, such as social media and gaming. We'll see how it goes!
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