"The Greatest Domaining Contest Ever"

That's what it is being called, John over at DNXpert.com (http://www.dnxpert.com/2008/05/19/greatest-domaining-blogging-contest-ever/) is holding this contest for domainers.

Feel free to click on the link but check out the list of prizes below! There are some great prizes for little work by the contestants.

• $700 in cash from We Build Pages who offer Link Building Services. ($700 value)


• $200 credit deposited into NameDrive domain parking account courtesy of NameDrive.com. ($200 value)


• $100 Godaddy Gift card from instantdomaintool.com. ($100 value)


• $100 credit in Bidvertiser account. ($100 value)


• $100 cash from WordPressFreelance. ($100 value)


• $50 cash from Ades blog ($50 value)


• $35 Cash from Tim Schroeder of eMonetized.com. ($35 value)


• $35 Cash from Web Hosting Reviews. ($35 value)


• $30 Cash from Life is colourful. ($30 value)


• 1 Market Leverage promo pack consisting of: MarketLeverage iFlip (digital camera), MLRewards card ($50), MarketLeverage USB Pen, MarketLeverage Polo and hat, MarketLeverage/Nike duffelbag. ($350 value)


• 2 x Market Leverage promo pack consisting of MLRewards card ($25), MarketLeverage USB Pen, MarketLeverage Polo and hat, MarketLeverage/Nike duffelbag. (2 x $220 value)


• 3 x Market Leverage USB Pens with $10 ML Rewards card. (3 x $35 value)


• 6 months subscription to MarketMotive.com. ($1794 value)


• 1 hour of SEO Consulting from Todd Malicoat from stuntdubl.com. ($500 value)


• 1 year’s PRO Subscriptions membership to FreshDrop.net. ($395.40 value)


• 5 x 1 license of the software product Domain Name Pro (5 x $64.95 value)


• 3 months membership at Aaron Wall’s SeoBook course. ($300 value)


• 3 x 1 copy of the Domain Graduate ebook. (3 x $87 value)


• 5 x 1 exclusive list of 100 expired domains from DNXpert.com (5 x $50 value)


• 6 months premium clustered hosting at iMountain.com (6 x $39.95 value)


• 2 months VIP membership at ClickMojo ($200 value)


• 15 minute one on one phone coaching session with Simon Johnson from Domainer Income ($200 value)


• 2 year subscription to DNSstuff pro tools. ($139 value)


• 1 x 100 domain parking account at WhyPark.com ($99.95 value)


• 1 copy of the Revenue Domains Exposed ebook ($97 value)


• 2 month subscription at Wordze.com ($90 value)


• 3 x 1 copy of the Domaining Manifesto ebook. (3 x $27 value)


• 1 copy of Wordze’s Guide to Keyword Research & Niche Wealth Building! ($80 value)


• 1 copy of a single use license of Brian Gardner’s Revolution blog theme of the winners’ choice ($79.99 value)


• 1 copy of Optin Comments WP plugin. ($77 value)


• 1 DNForum.com Platinum membership. ($59.95 value)


• 1 yearly subscription to Gold Account at iwebtool.com ($59 value)


• 3 x 1 copy of the Killer Domains ebook (3 x $17 value)


• 2 x 50 available domains from WordFuse.com (2 x $24.95 value)


• 1 featured listing on Sedo’s homepage for 1 domain. (worth $39)


• 1 DNForum.com Gold membership ($19.95 value)


• 1 Month DomainNews.com Newsletter Sponsorship - Top Position Advertizing ($500 value)


• 2 months 160×90 ad on ClickFire.com homepage (2 x $200 value)


• 1 Month text link on JustDropped.com search pages ($100 value)


• 1 month text link at DomainNameWire.com ($60 value)


• 1 month of 125×125 banner advertising on Winning the Web ($50 value)


• 1 month 125×125 banner advertising at DNXpert.com ($50 value)


• 1 month 125×125 banner advertising at DotSauce.com ($40 value)


• 1 month text link on blogaboutyourblog.com ($10 value)


• 1 copy of Darren Rowse's ProBlogger ebook ($16.49 value)

ICA gives instructions on how to fight the Snowe Bill

Read about it here

The ICA has put out a statement assisting people with a template letter and a list of senators to help fight the Snowe bill.

Click on the above link and start mailing!

The EFF Speaks out against the Snowe Bill

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has issued a statement on the Snowe Bill, calling it a "free speech double-whammy".
Read it here

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Posted by Corynne McSherry

Congress is contemplating a so-called “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act” (APCPA) that takes an odd view of consumer protection. In the name of stopping phishing schemes, Senator Olympia Snowe has introduced S. 2661, a bill that would expand trademark law, limit consumer access to information about competitive products, and eviscerate key protections for anonymous speech. Co-sponsors are Senators Bill Nelson and Ted Stevens (yes, THAT Ted Stevens).

The bill starts off relatively inoffensively by prohibiting the use of false information to solicit identifying data from a computer (this was already illegal, but we’ll let that go for now). But then it goes on to forbid the use of brand names in domain names, and the use of another’s domain name in emails, on websites, or in web ads. This prohibition is unnecessary: if the use of a brand name in a domain name is confusing, it is already actionable under trademark law. And it is dangerous because, unlike current federal trademark law, the APCPA does little to protect noncommercial and comparative advertising uses of trademarks. For example, U.S. trademark dilution law excludes noncommercial, parodic and comparative uses. Under the APCPA, however, noncommercial use is merely a factor to be “considered,” not a clear exclusion, and comparative use is not explicitly protected at all. Given that trademark law simply doesn’t apply to noncommercial uses of marks, such meager “protection” for noncommercial use is unacceptable. Moreover, it appears that the bill would give a new weapon to folks like Sanofi-Aventis, the pharmaceutical giant that tried to use trademark law to shut down a news site about a new and controversial drug, Acomplia, because the site (www.acompliareport.com) included the name of the drug.

To make matters worse, another provision allows any Tom, Dick or Harry to force domain name registrars to reveal a customer’s personally identifying information by simply sending an email alleging that the customer has violated the new law. No need to comply with the traditional legal niceties of, say, an actual filed lawsuit or a subpoena that might permit the customer to go to court to protect her anonymity. A mere allegation is enough.

Sure, phishing is a problem. But you don’t solve it by rewriting trademark law and depriving lawful speakers of the chance to keep their identities private. This ill-conceived legislation should be

STOP THE SNOWE BILL!

I don't have much time to discuss this but click on the link above to read about a new bill that can kill the domaining industries and give corporations the ability to just take domains from anyone for any reason.

This is a blatant attempt to commercialize the web and take control of domains. This is a huge industry that they are trying to kill so these corporations can pad ther own wallets by taking the money away from domainers.

Also, CADNA has an article on their site:
http://www.cadna.org/en/press-release-february-26-2008.html

Abuse is one thing but allowing companies to take long time registered domains because of newly registered trademarks, regardless of their use, is plain old legal theft. This is another attempt from our government to let corporations control the internet and the economy while taking it away from the average consumer.

NNNNN.com update

It seems that a Chinese company has many NNNNN.com domains on backorder (most) and gets them rather quickly and efficiently. They then turn around and sell them in the mid $xx range ($35-$75). This is a nice little bump for the values of these domains.

In reality, people have been asking low to mid $xx for them ($25-$35) and most have been selling in the $15-$25 range. The price has gone up a little but nothing too huge right now.

Stay tuned for more details.

Consumers stand up for their rights: Network Solutions sued!

It's amazing where the general populace will act when ICANN won't.

Network Solutions, a domain registrar, has been under scrutiny because of a policy. You search for a domain that you are interested in there, THEY register it (without your permission), park it (making money), then force you to pay their $35 registration fee (as opposed to every one else's $7-$10). They can do this with a 5-day grace period where people who buy domains can get a full refund if they decide they do not want the domain (say you spell it wrong etc..).

This is the equivalent of shopping for a car. When you find the exact car you want, the dealership charges you 3X the sticker price and buys all of the same models in the area (or disallows other dealerships to sell it). ICANN is in the USA, they should know about capitalism but obviously don't support it. ICANN has investigated this issue and "found nothing wrong" but now people are fed up.

The law firm is also suing ICANN for allowing this to go on despite the complaints and concerns. Good for them. No one went after RegisterFly after they lost their ICANN backing (and tens of thousands of people lost their domains because of it). ICANN allowed them to continue on with questionable practices and they're doing the same with Network Solutions.

It's good to see that ICANN is (finally) being held responsible for their lack of action, maybe they'll wisen up and start paying attention to what is actually going on in this industry.

A few more NNNNN.com sales..

Not a lot sold, ut a few did sell the past few days:

Seller was selling:
42148.com
04386.com
04379.com
And wanted $35 for the bunch.

It sold for $30 in less than an hour (IMO the seller should have waited) on DNForum.com. $10 each - not much more than a registration fee and quite a bargain to the buyer, IMO.

Two other sales were reported the past couple of days:
91200 - $73
12682 - $21

Not bad. The first one is a premium name (multiple of 100) and the second one would be more like most NNNNN.com sales.

NNNNN.com - the increase begins

It's started - NNNNN.com domains are now selling higher than a reg fee (whereas a few weeks ago, the "bad" ones sold for a registration fee or lower.

Here's a recap of some recent sales (and where they were sold):
Snapnames:
01140.com $22
00108.com $29
05211.com $22

NamePro
87816.com $12.5
87826.com $12.5
37535.com $12.5
37675.com $12.5
38417.com $12.5

72252.com $15
82292.com $15
71131.com $15
75525.com $15
72292.com $15
37467.com $15

(Thank you to Michael Goldman for posting these here: DNForum.com )

Not much, the lowest going $12.50 but that's a 25$ to 50% increase over a registration fee (depending on when they were bought, it could be as high as a 100% price increase).
The "better" ones are already $25 each, not bad for some domains that were being registered for $7-$10 a week ago.

Sales are very low at this time but I've already seen an increase in the prices of NNN.com and NNNN.com domains. I'd say in a few months these NNNNN.com domains will rise up in value. If you can, grab some, even "bad" ones for $10-$15 each then wait a few months, even the bad ones then might be $25-$30 each.

Just like that they're all gone

Sometime before 7:00AM EST (roughly noon GMT) all the NNNNN.com domains were registered not including drops. I take no shame to admit that I was part of this virtual land rush, purchasing a few of these domains over the past few weeks.

What’s an “NNNNN.com” domain you ask? It is a reference to a domain that only consists of 5-numbers, for example 12345.com. In the domaining world, there are pseudo-acronyms like this. CCCCC.com is a domain consisting of 5 alpha-numeric characters (1A4RXC.com), LLLL.com is a domain consisting of 4-letters (ABCD.com) and CCVV.com is a domain consisting of two constantans followed by two vowels (BBAA.com).

Big deal some people say. To some, it is a very big deal.

First of all, everyone who was lucky enough to register a NNNN.com should expect a sharp increase in their values. Why? No, NNNNN.com domains will sell for about what NNNN.com domains sold when they sold out. Since the NNNNN.com domains are now selling for higher prices, NNNN.com domains will jump in price (the fewer characters, the more valuable the domain is). I’ve seen a couple people trying to get into the post-action quickly (and cheaply) by offering minimum $15-$25 for these NNNNN.com domains (not bad for an investment that cost between $6 and $10 a few days to a week ago).

Who cares about 5-number domains. They can’t be used for anything!

Wrong! Think about zip codes (all the zip code domains have been registered for years and are considered extremely valuable now). This includes zip codes outside the US (some were still available last night!). Some say dates, I don’t like that idea. Eh, I’ll pass on the date, I don’t see many people typing in 10108 for January 1, 2008, we can keep these for the NNNNNN.com domains). What else? Addresses? MainStreet.15000.com has a nice ring to it (not the best, but not bad either).

A lot of cultures use numbers as a part of their beliefs (numerology). A good combination of numbers might be worth a lot to them. You can have a PhD in mysticism but still not even know a fraction of these cultures. Research and find good ones that might still be available.

Why are numeric domains so valuable? I thought it was all about letters.

Letters are good, and many LLLLL.com domains are available, but they are far more common than number domains. Consider this:

LL.com domains – 676 combinations

NN.com domains – 100 combinations

6:1 Ratio

LLL.com domains – 17,576 combinations

NNN.com domains – 1,000 combinations

17:1 Ratio

LLLL.com domains – 456,976 combinations

NNNN.com domains – 10,000 combinations

45:1 Ratio

LLLLL.com domains – 11,881,376 combinations

NNNNN.com domains – 100,000 combinations

118:1 ratio

See where this is going? The more characters, the rarer the numbered domains become and this ratio grows exponentially as there are more characters added. IN any economy, the rarer something is the more valuable it becomes.

What’s next?

Some people will sell their NNNNN.com domains for a quick profit; others will sit on them for a while to see where the market goes. Some are now looking at NNNNN.net, NNNNN.org and other TLDs (top level domains, like .com, .org, .info etc...). Others will take a step back and seriously look at CCCC.com domains (still plenty of these available), CCC.net, CCC.org (plenty of these available, too). I have my plans on what to do next.

There are many doors that are wide open that may be closed by the end of this year. Don’t go crazy and go broke doing this, but with some research, time, and patience, you might find a little nugget of gold that will be very valuable someday for as little as $10.

I’ll see you at the next milestone party and I’ll bring the sandwiches.