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Finding dropped .ca domain names
Dropping a domain name is akin to recycling.
Where one domainers lets a .ca domain name go back to the CIRA, to be made available again, for someone else, that other person is likely to grab an excellent domain name which, with a little imagination, can be put to good use, perhaps in a very different context than what was originally thought.
Reusing previously owned .ca domain names is a good idea since some of them still have quality links pointing to them and between those and never registered names, chances are those that have previously been taken are either generic or of higher value, in one way or another.
As such, if you’d like to browse a huge database comprising hundreds of thousands of dropped .ca domain names, it’s now possible at MBNX, in its “dotca” subdirectory.
The names date all the way back to mid-October of 2006 and basically contain cleaned up versions of CIRA’s “To Be Released” domain name listings. To make searches more natural, the database has isolated the domain key in a field all by itself so a name like “domain.on.ca” has been archived as “domain”, “on” and “ca”, in three separated fields.
As such, finding a particular domain name with the “ca” keyword (probably meaning the short version of “canada”) is now possible. Previously, such a search would’ve “found” all the domain names because they all contain the “.ca” key.
So the very architecture of the database behind this free web service makes for an enjoyable dropped domain name browsing experience. Of course, this service is only offered for the .ca namespace so if you know about similar free services for other domain suffixes, please be sure to add them in the comments.
To get you started, you can check out the dropped .ca domain names for these particular keywords…
From this point on, you can search for any keyword you like. No censorship has been applied regarding these dropped domains so if it’s been dropped, in the last few years, it’s likely to be there.
Have fun finding domains you can’t resist registering, again!
Tags: domain names, .ca, dot ca, dropped domain names, dropped .ca, cira, tbr, to be released, good domain names, available domain names, search dropped domains, domainers, canada, canadian domains, mbnx
The .me suffix is all about speculation
While domainers may be buying into the speculative hype about new domain name suffixes like “.me”, prospective buyers are looking for true (and trusted) value plus, whenever possible, natural revenue.
It’s going to be a long, long time before .me gets enough traction to command a price which is higher than the normal $20-or-so acquisition price, even for so-called “premium” domains.
The main problem comes from the very fact that ICANN is trigger happy nowadays and all sorts of “dot-anything” are scheduled to hit the market. With every new dot, lots of inexperienced (and sometimes experienced) domainers rush to land quality names… with a largely worthless suffix!
So the registrars are taking in insane profits in very short periods of time as a new wave of domainers try to secure the names they feel will become hot, over time. Just about every single generic word is a candidate for registration, under these circumstances but for a name to be worth anything, it has to bring some kind of added value to the end user, which is usually -not- the case with .me domain names since, as they stand, most of the registered names point to pay-per-click landing pages!
So thousands of domainers are stampeding for the .me names, okay. Good for them! For those who have been “in the game” for a while, sticking with the .com is the way to win big, even with seemingly silly made-up names because, at the end of the day, people type them… and remember them, easily.
Granted, names like “blog.me” or “for.me” will probably net 10 (or 100) times their acquisition cost but that’s still a far cry from their .com counterparts. And if the ICANN continues to spin out new “dots”, it might not even be 10 times because people will grow tired of the “dot madness” and intuitively fall back on the “dots with the most value”, and that’s .com, .net and some country-level suffixes, like .co.uk, .us and .ca.
So if you come across a domainer putting hard-earned money into .me names, wish him good luck but be kind enough to point them to this article, before they’re all out of cash.
One or two .me domain names —for fun— is cool but betting the whole farm on such new ICANN suffixes could either prove to be the smartest move ever or, which is more in line with reality, a (very) long shot that’ll break the bank before it turns out 1 penny of true, natural revenue.
Tags: .me, dot me, me domains, me domain names, buy .me, buy dot me, buy me names, my .me, my dot me, my .me name, finding my domain, finding domains, domainer, domainers, domain names, domain name portfolio, new icann domains, icann domain suffixes, buying domains, acquisition costs, money, revenue
Identify key concepts which can translate into valuable domain names
In case you thought the domain name land grab was (already) over, it’s time to shake out of your relative inertia and jump into any of the countless niches where valuable —and soon to be valuable— key concepts, that are easy to translate into domain names, are just waiting to be discovered.
The task of identifying key concepts that are “domainable”, however, is serious business. Newbies can have fun poking around for good domain name candidates but those who invest the most effort usually end up getting the most valuable ones.
Each domainer seems to have proprietary methods for catching, early on, those key concepts which, according to them, are promised to a bright (and popular) future.
Here are a few ideas to get you going…
- Monitor the news for novel expressions, including those made up of slightly modified words;
- Scan specific RSS feeds (which interest you), on a daily basis, for leading edge concepts that few people know about but which sounds like it could be interesting for lots of people (who will -eventually- learn about that specific lingo);
- Become a statistics afficionado to mathematically identify where the action is happening (from a birds-eye view perspective) and translate that into domain names people will type;
- Read more government documents which typically hold a wealth of information people will be looking for. Load up on those key concepts, including the acronyms to designate all sorts of things;
- Listen to what people are saying and even more importantly, how they’re saying it. Languages evolve and very exciting domain name opportunities arise when a language shift is identified early on.
Fortunately, there exists tools to automate at least part of the general search for key concepts that can translate into valuable domain names but whatever a given domainer’s method, the more work is invested, the better the results will be.
Why search for key concepts, anyway?
For starters, all the obvious domain names have been snapped up so the niche, evolving and emerging niches appear to be the natural alternatives where less people tend to venture, hence the abundance of opportunities.
Newbie domainers might be tempted to buy “borderline domains” which closely resemble well-known brands but that’s just a ticket to get lawyer letters. It’s best to stick with the general concept of the public domain where creativity can run wild… without getting cease and desist letters!
At a low $8 a year for a “.com” domain name you feel has potential, it’s relatively easy to recoup your initial (annual) investment and even generate profits by setting up a blog, a wiki, a directory or an e-commerce destination people will appreciate.
Some domainers prefer to get help from DomainSponsor, DotzUp or Parked to monetize their domains but building your own web site is usually (much) better.
Don’t waste your time trying to register the (already registered) domain names everybody wants, become the creative domainer everybody will admire by looking for key concepts outside the beaten paths.
Tags: domain names, domains, domainers, domainable, domainables, key concepts, valuable domains, valuable concepts, key domains, .com, buy domains, newbie domainers, newbie domains, expert domainers, expert domains, low cost domains, affordable domains, $8 domains, cheap domains, finding domains, finding domain names, searching for domains, quality domains, good domains, available domains
Details about the new extensions
The 26th of June, 2008 will probably be remembered as the day the ICANN, gathered in Paris, France, decided to allow for an unlimited number of domain name extensions to be created by registrars (not individuals).
Here’s what registrars need to create a new domain name extension, under the recently approved ICANN recommendation:
- A good idea for the extension (such as “.gaming” or anything else, really);
- Money, ranging from 150k$ to 500k$… or more;
- The networking resources to support the new extension’ management.
So that’s basically it — the ICANN will likely receive a considerable number of proposals by interested registrars, some of which might be industry leaders like Ebay looking to launch a .ebay for anything relating to online auctions. Such speculation might not last too long, though. The ICANN has said new domain name extensions might be approved as soon as early 2009 (there are talks about the second quarter of the year).
Technically, there will be a limited application period where any established entity from anywhere in the world can submit an application that will go through an evaluation process. It is already anticipated that there will be additional rounds relatively soon after the close of the first application round for those who will wait along the lines to see how the first round pans out.
Trademark lawyers might have a lot of work defending the established brands in these new extension spaces since they won’t be automatically reserved. There will, however, be an objection-based mechanism for trademark owners where their arguments for protection will be considered. Needless to say this will cost a lot in terms of time, energy and money.
The same kind of logic applies to offensive names that’ll be subject to an objection-based process based on public morality and order. This process will be conducted by an international arbitration body utilizing criteria drawing on provisions in a number of international treaties. The ICANN will not be the decision maker on these objections.
This proposal has been in the works for a while and as such, the ICANN has a multi-stakeholder policy development process that served as the foundation for the process design. It involved consultation with domain name industry, trade mark attorneys, the business sector, users, governments and technicians. There might be a few adjustments here and there, along the way but the basic idea of opening up the number of domain name extension is set to change the domaining landscape in still unforeseen ways.
The potential is huge for almost everybody. Those who play the new domain name game with the most flair stand to win the most. If you missed out on the big .com landrush back in 1995, 1996 and 1997, the launch of new domain name extensions in 2009 will probably be your second chance and nailing the hottest domains online, when they become available.
One might even say that the potential is downright exponential. Take the case of the already discussed extension for New York City dubbed .nyc, there will be people looking to register the word “tourism” in every popular language, followed by .nyc, such as tourism.nyc, tourisme.nyc and turismo.nyc, to name just a few.
All domainers should immediately make plans to profit from this new extension multiplication era. Hopefully, you’ll be part of those who come out on top when the dust settles!
Tags: icann, new extension recommendation, domain names, domains, extensions, dot anything, .nyc, new york city, paris, france, domaining, domainers, legal names, offensive names, trademarked names, branded names, trademark lawyers
Huge growth expected for new extensions
There nothing like bad debt to force non-profits, like the ICANN, into dubious decisions which are, in the end, motivated almost entirely by greed, whatever the risks to “the rest” of the business model.
The ICANN has announced its plans to greatly expand the domain name extension market, way beyond .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .name and such, to include just about anything a registrar is ready to pay between 150k$ to 500k$ for.
So we might assist to a giant IT business like IBM, for instance, paying the ICANN to establish a new domain name extension labeled “.ibm” which could then be resold to anyone interested in paying the yearly registration fee, which would be likely left entirely to the discretion of the registrar.
Imagine an online web where almost anything of any significance has its own domain name extension — it could get very confusing, very fast. As soon as early 2009, actually since that’s when the ICANN plans to fast track the approval for such extensions. The astute domainer should therefore understand that the ICANN needs lots of new money, fast.
Name extensions like .london, .melbourne, .islands, .vehicles, .loveable, .unbelievable and just about anything out there are expected to pop up faster than we can count them, changing the online landscape forever.
The ICANN believes in “choice and opportunity” as the two main lines of thought behind their move but the idea of letting registrars expand the domain name extension pool ad infinitum also holds great risks of overly diluting the current domain name extension momentum.
Individuals won’t be allowed to establish new domain name extensions as only companies with very deep pockets and the resources to operate such a service will be fast tracked through the approval process. Under these conditions, it’s obvious that Network Solutions and GoDaddy, to name only those, will be well positioned to launch a slew of domain name extensions.
Forget the principle of fairness in the creation of these extensions. The ICANN has decided to unilaterally favor the rich registrars because this, for all useful purposes, is a huge money grab for the folks at ICANN who will surely vote themselves a nice salary increase to cover for the added workload of managing this new mess. If university students want to study a case where a non-profit corporation ditches coherence in favor of sheer greed, this is it.
From a legal standpoint, if you have a brand that you need to protect in the digital realm, expect to be financially fleeced out by the seemingly never-ending multiplication of domain name extensions, in the years to come. Keep in mind that the ICANN has no “overall” rule that’ll protect your brand within all domain name extensions since every single registrar may rule over their extension as they please. So unless you want to be sending nasty cease and desist letters all the time, paying your lawyer premium fees to do so, you’ll probably end up buying out your brand name in all of these extensions — in both cases, the ICANN has setup a system where almost everybody has to become paranoid about protecting their brand.
Examples abound. Think of Apple Computer. They have their “apple.just-about-anything” brand established worldwide but what happens when .london pops up. They’ll probably want to buy apple.london. And then, what if 250 more popular european cities pop up. Apple will almost certainly want to buy apple.paris, apple.lyon, apple.rome (or apple.roma, for the locals) and if certain cities don’t see their extension purchased by such industry heavyweights, will they turn their back on them? For instance, if Apple chooses not to buy apple.prague, will the people living in Prague see this as an offensive gesture?
This is just one example among countless others that’ll make domaining a new, uncharted world of utter confusion, frustration and exploding costs.
Some domainers might get their hands on interesting domain names, like gamers.london or visiting.london but overall, there’s no guarantee these new extensions will draw natural visitors. The mainline .com will likely remain “king of the hill” for many years to come -but- seeing the failure of the much hyped .biz might send a chill down the back of those registrars who feel they can push any extension down potential domain owners’ throats.
It’s already expected that some of these new domain name extensions will be more attractive —and expensive— than others but if the ICANN allows for a seemingly uncontrolled expansion of the extension pool, it’ll almost certainly backfire and the internet, as a relatively healthy entity, could be hardly hit.
Let’s hope for the best with this latest ICANN move but at the same time, let’s also (discreetly) brace for a bumpy ride.
Tags: icann, new domain name extensions, new extensions, registrars, domain names, domains, domainers, domaining, rich registrars, expensive extensions, greed, internet, naming system, root dns, new names approval
Revisiting the CIRA’s TBR lists
If you had a very good “.ca” domain name, chances are you’d never let it go but life being what it is, stuff happens and as such, very good domain names pop up here and there in the CIRA’s wildly popular TBR list, every Wednesday.
TBR means “to be released” so when you spot a domain name in that list, you’re more than welcome to watch it be returned to the “available” domains on Wednesday, from 3 PM up to around 9 PM.
The trouble is, you may not be the only one looking to get your hands on the best domains, namely the shortest, those why match generic terms and those with special contextual value. Those “superstar domains” are being heavily fought over so you’re chance of registering it “manually” when it becomes available is non-existent — unless you can query the name every 1/60th of a second for hours on end.
So how do you get those “soon to be available” domain names with significant street value? You bid on them, just like everybody else. Bare Metal offers an excellent TBR monitoring service which will work for you to get the domain names you want. You only pay if they get the name on your behalf so pretty much anybody can “play the TBR game”, with Bare Metal.
Of course, if Bare Metal scores your domain name and more than one potential registrant has requested it (at Bare Metal, specifically), then if goes into an auction that can quickly bump up the price for a domain name in the tens of thousands.
As such, CIRA has allowed for Canadian registrars to offer the names they “catch” through auctions and although this system makes sense for the richer domainers, it’s a total nonsense for the average Canadian attemting to buy a relatively good “.ca” domain name — this is becoming a real problem as most of the very good names are being concentrated in the same hands, creating huge portfolios of “parked” names.
So while the CIRA presents the TBR lists as a fair way for Canadians to grab domains which aren’t required anymore by their previous owners, the reality of the TBR is more a matter of money than fairness.
If you intend to win at the TBR monitoring game (and it can happen, from time to time), you better keep in mind that the system is being predated by rich domainers who will likely have an unfair advantage of you, the average Canadian looking for a good name.
To make matters even trickier, a handful of very rich domainers also own their registrar licence so they can buy up a domain, try it for seven (7) days and if it performs well, they can keep it and if it doesn’t, they just file for a full refund and return it to be “released” again. Since these domainers (who also happen to be registrars) are free to check the performance of as many domains as they want, with this scheme, almost all good TBRed names are likely to be grabbed before the average Canadian even has a chance to get to them.
So the Canadian TBR system isn’t fair.
It’s a nice try but it’s profoundly broken in the sense that money will almost always win over “a fair chance for everyone”. But that shouldn’t stop you from monitoring TBR names, especially if you’re seasoned in a specialty niche, because even rich domainers may miss “niched names”, once in a while.
For instance, on this very day, the following names are scheduled to be released:
Several more quality names, out the thousands being released, might turn out being excellent buys. You have to look at the list by yourself to locate those which relate with your areas of interest.
Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to grab the hottest domains because sometimes, a niche portfolio will do just fine to bring you that much closer to financial freedom.
Tags: cira, tbr, to be released, soon to be made available, domain names, domains, domainers, registrars, canada, dot ca, ca, dropped domains, expiring domain names, expired domains
The ongoing internet land grab
Any seasoned domainer knows that domain names are big business, nowadays.
The gTLD (.com and such) accompanied by the ccTLD (.ca, .co.uk, .be and such) make for a outstandingly comprehensive index to the world’s companies, products and services for the average web user, hence the sustained “direct navigation” popularity.
So while the richer end of domainers deal in heavily advertised auctions where the prime domain name properties are dealt, some of the most surprisingly valuable domains can be snapped up for around 10$ per year, namely when their previous owner lets them go (for whatever reason we’ll never quite know).
Also, technologies evolve daily and new “spin-off terms” are created, some of them being serious dictionnary-worthy candidates — these make for excellent “.com” registration opportunities. Hunt around for new trends and you too could find unregistered keywords that will become very obvious, in the near future.
If you’re just starting in the domaining business and want to create a nice portfolio of domain names for yourself, use your imagination to come up with brandable, memorable and inventive monikers that’ll likely become credible ambassadors for your upcoming projects, online or off.
Be aware that country-level domains might also be a lucrative niche in which to own domain names. The virtual land grab has started over 10 years ago but even if a lot of prime domain properties have already been bought, lots of opportunities abound for the venturing domainers.
There is little chance that the domain name system (the DNS and the idea behind the way domain suffixes are implemented) will ever be replaced. Too many countries, governments and companies have invested billions of dollars in properly setting up their branding to let it fade away.
As such, domain names are here to stay and those who grab some hopefully valuable land today stand to make the most money, tomorrow.
Tags: domains, domain names, domainers, internet land grab, online property, dns
Verisign yanks up domain name fees — again
If you own a “.com” or “.net” domain name, this is very bad news, on all fronts.
Verisign, for the second time in just 6 months, is asking every single domain name owner to shell out even more money to register, transfer or renew their “dot coms” and “dot nets”.
Take notice that starting October 1st, 2008, California-based Verisign which operates the “.com” and “.net” domain name suffixes will raise the fees required to own them. And these aren’t insignificant raises, we’re seeing the “.com” increase from 6.42$ to 6.86$ per DNS (a 6.86% raise) and the “.net” go from 3.85$ to 4.23$ (a 9.87% raise).
Non-content of taking in astronomical amounts of fees for the “.com” and “.net” namespaces, Verisign says that rising traffic on the internet, allegedly from web-connected wireless devices, new technologies that use DNS and demands on improving net security, drive the newly imposed increase.
Domain name owners would be entirely justified, yet again, to interpret this latest increase as sheer greed on the part of Verisign, an incestuous monopoly that’s been decried by both domain name owners and ICANN representatives alike.
Without any dependable independent audit being conducted, Verisign alleges that it handles approximately 33 billion DNS queries daily, with a maximum potential volume of 400 billions — which shows, among other things, how very, very far we are from putting any meaningful stress on Verisign’s current technological setup. Furthermore, Verisign intends to expand that DNS handling capacity to 4 trillion per day, within a couple of years.
For those who keep tabs of Verisign’s arrogance and greed, keep in mind that the last time the billionnaire company bumped up the “.com” and “.net” fees was October 15, 2007 when the “.com” rose from 6$ and the “.net” from 3.50$. Prior to the latest “greed shots”, fees had remained stable since 1999, when the ICANN first set up a DNS pricing scheme.
Because of arrogant price hikes like this one, both Verisign and the ICANN, a for-profit firm that works with the U.S. Department of Commerce to set DNS policy, are continuing to meet with significant resistance from the internet community, as a whole, who view such price hikes as unjustifiable taxation.
Tags: .com, .net, domains, domain names, verisign, icann, internet, price hike, fees, greed
Volunteering for the ICANN
If you’re looking to have a say in the future decisions the ICANN takes regarding the stewardship of the domain names you’ve grown to like so much, now’s you chance!
Under the theme “Make the Internet Your Business”, motivated individuals are invited to submit a Statement of Interest by April 15th, 2008, at 23:59 UTC.
You’ll probably be interested to know that the Nominating Committee is independent of the ICANN and it’s specifically tasked with searching the world for hopefully experienced individuals to fill the following key positions on ICANN’s Board as well as its Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees:
- 2 Board Directors
- 1 GNSO Council member
- 1 ccNSO Council member
- 2 ALAC members (who will represent Europe and North American regions)
Hagen Hultzsch, Chair of the Nominating Committee (NomCom), describes the challenge for the selected individuals as follows:
“Beyond its responsibilities for keeping the internet secure, stable and interoperable, ICANN’s mission is to grow and evolve its global multi-stakeholder decision-making process, so it is the individuals who make up the wider internet community who direct and decide the internet’s future.”
It seems some of the upcoming discussions might be about the multilingual issues in bringing the world’s languages to the domain names and also, the opportunity to offer consumers more “suffix” choices (beyond the common “.net”, “.org”, “.biz” and “.info” alternatives to “.com”).
So if you’re fluent in gTLDs, ccTLDs, DNS logic and related matters, this might be your time to “make the Internet your business” and join the influential team of ICANN leaders — good luck to all applicants.
Tags: icann, committees, organizations, gtld, cctld, dns, domains, domain names
Hot market for domain names
Domainers have known this for quite a while but now, the mainstream business world is now taking a second look at the hot market for domain names.
CNN recently published an article about the current state of the domaining business and by all means, it’s on a roll.
The article describes how two domainers, Larry Fisher and his financial backer, Ari Goldberger, battle for the highest bid to land prestigious domains, like “megayachts.com” for a cool 150,000$. During the online bid, Larry and Ari are on the phone discussing ways to land the names they value most. Larry does the bidding from his laptop and Ari runs some background research on the coveted names.
This dynamic “Larry & Ari” duo is the only team of tech-savvy netrepreneurs looking to bank on the rush to buy up quality “type in” domain names.
The better the domain, the more chances web surfers will directly navigate to it, entirely bypassing the search engines while providing a healthy (pay-per-click) revenue stream for the domainers owning the name.
Services such as DomainSponsor, DotzUp and Parked help domainers monetize their domain name portfolio. Their services are especially useful when a domainer owns many domains and can’t optimize them all — external help then makes perfect sense.
The industry is estimated to be generating 2 billion dollars, just related to the buying and selling of domain names. That number is expected to explode to a whopping 4 billion dollars, by 2010. Not too bad for an industry that’s not even a decade old. Needless to point out how exciting this is for domainers, especially those who happen to already own quality web names.
Since domain names are inherently unique, domainvestors see them as a stake in the online world, a virtual real estate lot, if you will. The “.com” names stand to win the most from this growth but different names can have regional (such as “job.ca“) or vanity value (like “greatest.name“) as well.
If a name is bound to be naturally typed in by users, it has value. In a web 2.0 era, perhaps a name like “staffr.com” will someday rise up to become an online brand. Invented words fare well with millions of users looking to explore new business concepts and ways to connect with one another. Domain names are often the foundation for entire business concepts. A name like “flickr.com” proves that point quite well.
If you’re looking to join the millions of domain name owners who are participating in this massive “virtual land grab”, it costs a mere about 8$ per year (everything included) to have a “.com” name. Once you’ve purchased all those you like (which happened to be available), you can sign-up (for free) with DomainSponsor, DotzUp or Parked so they can help you monetize your domain name portfolio — until you figure out what kind of web destinations you’d like to turn you names into.
Happy domaining, everyone!
Tags: domain names, domains, domainers, domaining, monetize, pay-per-click
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