Domain Owl

A website should serve its customers, educate the public, and form a basis by which clients can decide whether or not to use the services provided. The website for a public facility such structures as a college, university, hospital, government building, or large shopping mall or a business plaza or public bureau block can diffuse frustration and allow the public to navigate their business smoothly. Domainers can spot the opportunity to mount a website such as this when a company fails to do so.

A survey of a company website from internal and external sources can yield surprising results. Factors for consideration should ease of use, correctness of information, updated technology, language, terms and standards, grammar, bilingual options, and feedback or contact opportunities for customers who need help getting to the next step. This information can be amassed by careful research when a domainer obtains a hot domain name property, preferable a short name with direct search engine keyword value that can quickly gain optimized traffic.

The company website for a corporate entity should not necessarily be the public-facing website. The corporate internal site and the company network should not have the same functionality and thus will not serve the public. If administration officials and staff choose to believe their website has a functionality for the existing user base, the existence of a better site made by a outsider can come as a rude awakening. It can also be an embarrassment for management.

Websites that follow a model of corporate jargon company philosophy, and frank inefficacy beg to redone by a domainer or webmaster who can deliver real utility to researcher and site visitors. The architecture of a site should hold enough virtuosity that no copycat will take the time and trouble to reap marginal advantages. But a weak company website begs to exploited by domainers and webmasters capable of making a superior site.

Administrators should capture the opportunity to own their own online presence instead of underdelivering on their website enough to beg an improved site from a non-stakeholder. If the staff do not have the skills to construct a professional looking website, outsourcing should take place. A consultant should be brought in if there is any doubt holes in the current website leave room for an outside to reap a benefit from the company’s own facility and services.

Architecture of a facility website should include a perspective of the physical layout that allows visitors to navigate the premises as well as convey a sense of the organization as a whole. The system map should naturally progress to questions a newcomer would have about how the location or campus interacts with visitors. The TLD .org can be used to promote a information feel for site visitors, although an official disclaimer should be placed somewhere on the site.

The public institution website can also furnish background data on staff and allow outside agencies to research data objects in the proper manner. These can be helpful to print out, or give or send to someone else who may find them of use. Companies who overlook this basic functionality of web publishing are letting their slip show. Every type of public facility should form a committee of persons who can give feedback about the condition of the current website and how it meets the needs of visitors and customers.

What a customer based website should do is allow potential customers and clientele to understand what using your business will entail what it will be like, and what path they should navigate to get the services and products they need. It is a pain point of management if an outsider can deliver this better than the host company.

In every case, people who experience the premises as a daily job or familiar place may not be best suited to understand how the physical layout looks to a stranger.
Customers, visitor, members, or clients need to have an idea of what they are going to be doing. This includes where to go, where to ask questions, where to park, and where to get related services.

Transportation and communication are two elements which can be smoothed over by providing needed information, such as distance from freeway offramps and proximity to bus line stops nearby. other unique data points will present themselves as the site project unfolds.

If a location or campus processes require detailed explanation, directions, coaching, or expansion, this should be done in a bulletin point list, slide show, or even an audio stream which mobile visitors and website readers alike can experience.
An Adobe PDF document ,in an easy to print format, encapsulating the necessary information, makes an excellent addition to any facility or campus website, or a website that aids newcomers and first time visitors to use the physical location the website refers to.

In the year 2011, people are used to referencing the internet before making the trip to any physical campus or premises. They want to know what they will need, what documentation to bring, and what telephone numbers to have or other paperwork/and or materials. A roadmap of how to get to the correct department of office is helpful, especially in a large building. Site administrator, both of physical locations, institutions, and public facilities can grasp the website as a information tool for the next generation.

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Amidst all the cynical backbiting taking place over the three amigos kicked from Oversee.net, I have yet to hear the logic behind Monte Cahn leaving. Is this company as much of a mess as it sounds like? I can’t quite track the convoluted history of these Internet based companies. Some of the comment show some bad blood between not only domainers in general and Oversee.net, but to those individuals in particular. Were these cost cutting measures or disciplinary measures against specific individuals?

This could make sense in the long run. I find it hard to believe any above-the-line talent in a high profile domaining company needs to be let go in such a public manner unless there is an underlying reason for having made them redundant that will be made clear in the fullness of time. Gee it’s hard to believe parking didn’t work out to be a money printing machine, right?

I still take issue with internet companies so bloated with infrastructure they can’t do more that publish parking programs and weave together parking networks. That’s just not a full days’ work for any domainer, in this domain owner’s humble opinion.

The news of these job cuts has alerted domainers to the money machine that parking is built on. Affiliate programs are always only as good as their bank balance.

At the same time naysayers are shuttering offices at Oversee.net, five figure domains sales are still taking place on public worldwide auction platform. That three of the big recent sales were .co name is serious food for domaining thought. Apple buying icloud.com for $4.5 million is the kind of sale may keyword domain buyers dream of. (What took them so long?)

Some marquee six figure sales broke profitably as well. That’s a dichotomy that should speak loudly to any domainer. The parking companies are going broke but the buyers market for big dollar domains is a blown out as ever.

eNom Expired Domain Name Software. Snap Expired Domain Names the Second They become Available for Registration.

That Amazon.com is buying single consonant domain names shows that a program of investment in domain names is still happening among large to global sized corporations. This complements the small to medium sized business purchase of a brand name or entity name to support online marketing and brand promotion.

Tap your feet three times if you “get it”. As reporters and broad stream media become more conversant in the domain name game, the open market for first time domain buyers and resales will sharpen. The recent appearance of the “Get Rich Click” author on the View reflects how this is done. It’s hard to believe the domain model for online marketing and resale profit, as well as affiliate sales derivation is still a mystery to anyone, but evidently this is so.

For domainers thinking strategically, this puts them at the middle of the demand market, behind the huge portfolio holders but ahead of the newbs with B2B needs for domains as yet to be determined. Any domainer can leverage existing domains into a worth position by multiplying their investment using coupon codes, the most recent of which was the Godaddy.com Indy car event code.

The B2B and side business potential of a domain name career continues to grow. I am surprised nobody has built a domain name shop franchise for the all the hue and cry that startups have in the world today. Today the Internet market for affiliate earnings is more suited to specialized end users, specialist webmasters,  and niche authors than ever.

For the right name the right customer is out there. Do the math: if you buy three domains a year at $1.29, and spend about $50 hosting them all, that’s a potential of $100 profit if even one of those websites sells intact with the name. On that formula, selling the right customer the right name should be simple. All they have to do is add content, link liberally to their social networking groups, and blend on low speed.

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The domain world is like both the sports world and the business world, where the big names make big news and the legal ramifications and business parameters change at any moment. But recently the doings of the domain bigwigs, as well as the business restrictions and legal shifts associated with domain name trading and purchase and auction sales, have caused long term market watchers to re-estimate the current market for name trade potential.

Monte Cahn suing Moniker/Oversee is an eye-opener, unless one considers the ramifications of pouring one’s hearts-blood into an enterprise during critical business cycles of the domain game and then having the rewards twisted out of all regard. The encomiums that followed Cahn’s exit of Moniker could hardly have been garnered by a self-serving coterie intent on cementing future lawsuit goodwill.

The big impact of the February Domainer Flu Outbreak (dubbed the Playboy mansion DotCom malaise by some) seemed to be the proof that domain industry news was in fact media worthy, but the mainstream media still does not absorb and reflect domain name industry news accurately or assess its importance and relevance efficiently. What is this opaque banner between the media and general public and the domain industry? Is it only visible when one is outside the domain world?

A full week after initial reports were coming down the domain blog pike, network news, even in local areas was slow and sloppy. The attempts to cover the story , even with competition of global tabloid saturation on every Hollywood street corner, was clumsy and often inaccurate. For those looking to expand their B2B media offerings, thinks about delivering a new pipeline to broadcast media sources unable to decipher the terms, importance, or relevance of domain news to their own lives and commercial enterprises.

Domain name professionals are still weighing the value of the dot-co market. Godaddy certainly has made the introduction of a dot-co domain name into the portfolio cost friendly. Godaddy continues to sponsor entry level domainers into the name game by providing discount coupon codes. These dotcom name purchase codes, the recent feature .co registration discount, and the .info cost reduction are mighty incentive when crafting a domain development plan or business agenda for monetizing a name. These savings can really add up to domain name holders with sizeable portfolios.

It’s unsettling to realize that the domain world has been around long enough to mystify and alienate would-be industry buyers and potential players in the domain space. The battles for real estate on the domain name corporate playground show testimony to the fact that this is valuable territory to acquire and own.  Changes continue apace in the online and domaining world.
Online security is no longer a buzzword but a vulture circling over the shoulder of every webmaster.

Denial of service attacks for the Barcelona DomainFest event and the subsequent cancellation resonate with the mobile phone hacking scandal in the UK and the “Hacktivism” website hack of the PBS website in the United States. Until forthright security measures for data, hosting, and website architecture layers are followed, hacking will continue as a fact of life,  as online malice spares none. There seems to be a measure of dissonance that cognitively persuades technology officers these threats are not real, and it is a salutory effect of the many hack reports that gives webmasters worldwide a chance to correct their online security and programming integrity omissions. Will they take the chance?

Some changes are long overdue. Rick Latona’s website actually looks like a website brokerage now and not a watch shopping cart. The doings of ICANN continue to amaze Internet passersby and dubious domainer onlookers. To see Frank Schilling offer parking services is not a surprise, but my expectation is that the parking market is long diminished (except for the Whypark engine). The reluctance of some domainers to develop websites that function as new media and communication portals, with provision for any level of visitor interaction, is a long standing weakness of many domainers.

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The resources available at a website used to be distributed freeware or easily accessible downloads mirrored many other places online. But today’s B2B website can draw visitors, links and inbound site traffic if there is an incentive that demands the site visitor interact with the site in a manner that is meaningful to derive the benefit they want. The facility of almost any WordPress or Joomla application today allows upload and user rights to download and customize a third party application or a resident file document from the hosting server.

People researching free software, white papers and offers look for downloadable B2B content for almost everything. It’s true that Google Apps has free software, but like as not the casual or first time user of today does not know how to customize the spreadsheet or tweak a templet business report to suit their needs. Business publishing can be a lucrative way to finalize a website into a real application. the question and answer part of the user’s quest to make use of the document tool or instrument will make clicks recur and read-again session traffic pick up.

Business websites specializing in these types of programs ultimately have a gateway service where there is a charge for portal access, customer service, analysis of spreadsheets gone wrong, and the like. Generally speaking if a customer likes the look and feel of a spreadsheet or business report they can live with a few additional charges to finalize the document and lead them to the next step on their agenda. This is where the domain owner or B2B specialist can apply price controls to document access and create revenue streams.

Video marketing using Youtube can help show site visitors how to use the software and see results. This type of visual advertising stems from decades of effective television product promotion. The insertion of basis Youtube links is almost self explanatory. Webmasters looking to supply their visitor with audio and music features can utilize the Youtube insertion to provide this feature without a lost of problematic custom programming. Overthinking the design is not necessary, but investing some time in selecting the appropriate WordPress template is praiseworthy.

The domain name for such a website should be very simple, and relate immediately via keywords which depict the functionality. A blog setup serves to organize the look and feel of the website with SEO friendly templates. Webmasters should know that every single web application today has been adapted for use with Wordpress which has become the universal skin for websites.

Thus the basic website building approach now stems largely from an adaptation of a template made for a WordPress site. Now the business to business or client-side perspective tweaks the offering. Think about a website that saves people time researching the best and worst WordPress templates. What about a site that rates the best and worst WordPress sites according to reviewer quality and reader feedback?

Domainers can use keywords to show researchers how the best WordPress template they need can be found in a few clicks versus thousands of results. By shoring up the best choices in template functionality for time starved site visitors, the domainer can utilize the best web architecture tools and the design flexibility of WordPress while incorporating the brand as a content feature.

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Whenever I hear someone say “We’re working on the website” or “We haven’t decided which way to go with the domain name”, my domaining ears perk up. The expertise a career domainer can offer someone in this position is priceless. Fending off the domain name purchase is pointless, but so many great sites die in these birth pangs. Witness so many arbitration cases being lost because the domain owner dropped the ball very early in the value creation race. The real way to manufacture a domain sale for profit is the consulting or domain launch process for others.

The growth process for every domainer is different. People of different backgrounds and varying degrees of education and technical background can become domainers almost by accident. But like many businesses, the ability to profit comes from the ability to strike when the iron is hot. Waiting for the client to realize the “now” moment doesn’t work. Domainers need to groom their domain clients into realizing website plans online. Then the income building and profit making can begin.Domain names are not like new clothes, they derive value from use, not disuse.

And for a domainer, hearing the growing pains of a non-web savvy domain prospect is music to their ears. Because the domainer holds the upper hand and can educate the new business owner or operator about the ways their domain can grow as a business tool. Just the incentive to build a site and get a domain into the SEO mix is the impetus that drives the primary marketing effort of any domain name. Every business opportunity that is idling is actually a live business opportunity being strangled to death.

Business people or individual entrepreneurs tend to look for the money before they develop any content. This is a self -circular defeat mechanism, because how can there be affiliate programs, sponsors, microtransactions or paying memberships for a site that doesn’t exist? Building the content is always the most important primary step in building any website. Building a website is the primary component in growing domain value and building traffic statistics. Domainers can execute a site before any plans or agreements for ads or sponsors take place.

The cost of marketing s often overinflated. The reason viral marketing can fall flat is that promoting a website and domain name with little or no application value at the destination is fruitless. Referral traffic can make or break a new site, which is why niche audiences need to overlap. People are looking for things to do. The utmost business model online is to find a need and fill it. Find “x” domain to fit “y end user and create “z” application for the equation.

A huge error many would-be domain entrepreneurs make is anticipating stopgaps and blocks to their success before the intangibles even become defined. A failed imagination counts the hurdles, a strategic thinker calculates the potential for success. But partnering talent and handing off responsibilities makes a delegation opportunity for smart leaders with vision.

Groundbreaking websites weren’t built by individuals who quoted sound reasons for not going ahead with their project. Smart domainers know how to turn the “no” in this sentiment into a “yes”. Nobody ever made a lot of money following someone else’s roadmap. if the entity doesn’t exist, it’s because everyone else is waiting for another entrepreneur to cross the finish line to have a reason to start the race. Smart players get coaching advice, successful winners work with expert trainers, and ultimately, the best domainers go where they are needed the most, in development cycles stalled in doubt.

Even flawed organizations are kept alive by the quality of the strengths of the key players. Knowing when to attach advanced talent and utilize resources for advancing agenda items can’t be done if all planning is forestalled by anticipatory question that circle the drain powered by doubt and hesitation. Faint heart never won the day. Certainly not in domaining, anyway.

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Getting started on a business blog can help with future projects down the road. Even if the new idea is not ready, you can build a community and start your readership now. The collaboration between partners on global scale efforts, be it coding, organizational, environmental or business motives is an everyday reality bloggers can exploit. A blog can have an impact on your reputation in your current business community as well.
The idea of a blog has evolved from a technological communications to a stream of consciousness tool. Now the world sees the Internet not as a potential marketing tool but a required one. Woe betide the businessperson who can’t wield a Twitter or sling a Podcast, or at least author a blog. The information inside blogs is not necessarily permanent, and regarding its being time sensitive, content only has a few years before it is eclipsed from the Internet entirely.
Blogging as a profession is not for everyone. And blogging daily is not required. the blog software available today answers to its operator’s commands. The weekly blog post or even biweekly update may be all that’s necessary. A blog makes an excellent journal for feedback. The communication capability of a blog, especially when augmented by social networking, can create new discussions and conversations that otherwise might never have taken place.
The drive towards SEO has changed the way the public reads a blog. The blog can be a source of feedback about the way a businessperson intends to go forward with a project. Before they commit resources they can test the waters. The reading community of global individuals cruising the Web for information and discussion about their favorite topics will never be stronger than right now. People are more educated and in search of the next step than ever.

But many excellent would-be bloggers get caught up in design and template issues. All that is really important to get the message out there is a functional blog, and WordPress has set a very high standard. The etiquette of speaking to a public can be very natural and not at all like some authors fear it “must” appear. Other would be bloggers fear they have no authentic credentials. But the beauty of a blog is that anyone can cement their opinion simply by having one and posting it.
Moderating comments on a blog can be an enlightening way to find out what people really think. And these contacts can be followed in email communication. Online users are much more likely to find a blog and follow after deciding if it speaks to their interests. And a lurker can become a commenter when the blog post moves them to the effort. Passions really come to the fore once the blog channel is opened up, it’s the way humans are wired to interact and verbalize what they care about that makes blogs so successful.
The research capabilities of a blog can be extremely rewarding if the blogger makes very specific requests about what they are looking for. Blog readership can be an amazing resource for disseminating data, finding discounts, forming new partnerships, and getting a debate going about topics in the news. The transparency and impression of leadership afforded by a blog can become a a very valuable credential in the new online marketplace. And someone who means business today can’t afford not to have one.

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Not every person doing business online knows how to research and obtain a factual finding for their chosen domain. Looking to buy a certain domain they may stop short of getting it. They may know how to type it in, but that is not the end of the road. But most people know very few of the domain name tools that domainers use every day.

Today I heard neighboring diners at a restaurant throwing in the towel because they saw their favorite name was “taken”. I knew instantly that the prospective buyer’s path to their chosen domain name had stopped about eight steps too early. But trying to convince someone on the fly is near to impossible. Here is the truth:

A researcher can find the estimated value of a domain name at Estibot.com, test the page ranking at Alexa.com, or use Yahoo or Google keyword indexes to compare the relative value of the content on the website.  If there is no website, an error occurs while loading it (404), there are no ads, or the page is parked with a template from a hosting company showing, the owner might be glad to have the domain name off their hands.

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There are domain research tools that might be used to acquire the most desirable name for any online enterprise or venture. just shrugging and walking off into the sunset isn’t the answer.

1. If the domain name has a website up or has been purchased by someone else, that is not the end of the  line. Non-domainers may become unhappy if they think someone is using the domain name actively or promoting it with a live website. But this may be a placeholder and the owner may be unknowing of any interest for a potential sale and disinterested otherwise.

What may look like a live website to a newcomer may be an old template programmed to show updates. The owner may be looking to get rid of it. Motivated sellers will make sure their listing or proxy is activated and working smoothly. Not every domain name owner is greedy and will automatically name a high price for any domain name.

2. The lookup record will be displayed to tell you who owns the domain name is the WHOIS database. Access to this database may be found from every registrar, or domain name online selling platform. The researcher may want to search for other domain names with similar top level domains suffixes, such as -net or -org, -biz and -tv. These are more in use than ever before.

If the domain name record has been established using privacy, a contact email will be provided for contact and anonymous forwarding. If the owner wants to entertain offers, they will check their email. If the registrar elects to offer a formal offer conveyance, the lookup researcher can click that option and their information and interest will be communicated to the seller.

3. WHOIS records detail the email, first and last name, address and company name with phone number and fax number of the current owner. This person may be contacted using this number and the administrative contact information. There is always going to be a real person for this information, as ICANN requires checkup procedures to verify ongoing accuracy in domain registration and WHOIS submissions and updates.

4. If the domain name record is incomplete and no answer to the listed email is received, contact data for the domain name may be found elsewhere. The email address, employment, even access to a hosting account and connected email names may have been lost. A phone call or even formal snailmail communication may quickly discover who owns the name and who can speak for its brokerage or sale.

5. If the domain name researcher uses a search engine to find other records of the domain name, they may find the owner using it as a signature link in a forum or blog entry.The less search engine results the researcher finds, the more possibility there is the domain name can be acquired easily. A domain name owner who has not spent time developing links or building an online presence has invested less value to lose.

Emailing the admin of the blog to find out who the link holder is might clear things up. The email address of the poster will be evident to the administrator of the blog or website. They may email the operator of the account a communication letting them know you want to open a conversation about domain name ownership for “x” name. From there, its anyone’s game.

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Since the first decades of manufacturing and business processes have moved on after Internet platforms, online directories, and web vending, the time for convergence of client side and consumer portal applications is at hand. Site visitors and mobile users aren’t looking for individual site experiences, unless the site has gaming or video or audio products to entertain them.

Today’s web users are actually mobile web users, people who want to bank while they wait in line at the food truck, who want to shop while the bus or subway train is locked in transit, and the want hyper-reactivity to texting speeds. that jump off the charts. Mobile users want low click access volume, but will tolerate high volume clickable apps like games or shopping once the access has been ported.

High style, broad applicability, excellent performance and smooth design are what mobile, tablet, netbook and laptop device users want from website today. Tolerance for old school flash intros and brand-stamping tooting your own horn just get in the way. This builds a new market for domainers looking to find answers to their questions. information as always, is the Queen to the content King in domains.

Keywords like cloud, track, mobile, one touch, tech, tablet, phone, and a combination word of any other keyword, like store, shops, net, hub, can make a brand out a new site idea quickly. With the site vending and domain name auction volumes in the ranges it has been lately, developing even one app for directory for any niche topic or entertainment accessible by phone or tablet makes a domain a full fledged website.

Mobile users don’t text idly. They don’t stand around rubbernecking on the information superhighway. They want a usage value for any domain name. The shorter the domain name, he easier it is to type in while in the car, on the bus, in the train or waiting around for mom and dad. Parking won’t deliver the way development can.

Use your domain development energy to focus on one time and type saving app for your end users out there with time to waste and downloadable tolerances left on their wireless plans. The mobile end user site you make could be part of the final convergence to personal computing for everything under the sun.

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I am considering the news of the verdict in the reverse hijacking lawsuit between X6D Limited (XPAND 3-D sunglasses) and Telepathy, the original xpand.com domain owner, and I have two main streams of consciousness about this legal outcome. I must say the process is very confusing no matter how many times I read it.

1. I like that the original domain name owners do not have to release their domain because some clown came along years later, liked the name, and decided to found a company on it without securing the name.Were the business people involved inexperienced, arrogant, or simply not thinking ahead?

In this case allegedly the sunglasses company went ahead and made their brand the equal of an existing domain name, then either refused to acknowledge lack of due diligence or decided to force the court’s hand. That is not only the lazy man’s way to doing business, but makes one wonder how critical the business drivers are to let it happen.

Of course, this is why domain name owners track lookups and clicks. they want to know if someone is repeatedly checking out if there is a site or not, who owns it, and how much they might offer. This is the fear of many large portfolio domainers, that they will not be able to predict if some company is waiting for their dream name to expire unwanted. They’ll give it up and see another organization reap traffic and clicks on their effort.

2. I don’t like that if you find the perfect name, you are being held up for greenmail by the wild-eyed money grubbing domainer who has aid the renewal fees since the name’s acquisition or inception. Many domainers assume anyone serious about starting a company will secure the domain name before founding the brand, printing the business cards, funding the business model and painting the shingle.

But the reverse hijacking case had me worried. What if any company could simply hijack the name and start a company, then run to a judge (like in this case) and say golly this domainer has ESP and stole our name in advance! Securing the domain name of a company before releasing, titling, labeling or promoting any product of a same name is simply common sense. Companies who find the name already in play either buy it or move on.

The panel decided rightly, since they know that the plaintiff corporation could easily have chosen one of a billion brands to associate with their goods and services. If they had started the company in 1979, maybe they had not thought of acquiring the domain because the internet did not exist yet. but in that case the precursor of copyright would have belonged to the plaintiff, and no domainer would have bought (or renewed) a domain name protected by the copyright of another company.

All in all, it looks like the best case business practice is to consult with a new media or domain name attorney when forming a business to get an informed opinion. The record of this type of inquiry may come in handy later in court.

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In working inside the domain world, people become independent business men (and women) without even knowing it. Internet individuals of every age and rank, teenagers, men and women acquire domain names and offer them for sale constantly, yet they seem to maintain a sort of naivete about the fact that what they are really doing is functioning as their own carnival barker-cum-insurance- salesman. This carries risks which the domainer (possibly unknowingly) is assuming.

Brokering your own domain name sale can have its challenges.  Escrow services have popped up online and established a benchmark many domainer trusts. These domain name escrow service companies work to form a break against the tide of aggression happening with entrepreneurs trying to vend their names to people who may not even speak their language but understand the value of the domain on offer or up for auction.

In observing a heated discussion today between two bidding domainers in a private auction, I realized the lava was being generated by the fact that the seller’s decision to vend the name had not been covered by a reliable domain name broker service. Somewhere in the bid process, confusion had arisen as to how the domain sale would actually be executed. Suddenly, the history of each bid and the goodwill of both bidders was attached to a wild insistence to doing things “their way”.

This angst could have been avoided by stating as Terms of Sale a named broker service acting as name agent. Otherwise, the tension of a bid/offer scenario is reduced to a clammy sandwich of broken promises, dying away email communications, and eroding forum threads, which might have formed the basis of a profitable domain sale. The world is full of domainers who have been caught up in the bonfire of anxiety, exhilaration, excitement and pure greed a bidding frenzy whips up.

Both bidders wanted to use their own version of a buyer’s contract, which of course didn’t meet with the approval of the seller. The actual excitement of the name and who would win it was mired down in discussions of “Tastes Great/ Less Filling” variety vis a vis online business contracts. The seller was suddenly caught in the crossfire of dissenting opinions due to his own lack of foresight in covering his bases.

How did the sale pan out? It didn’t.

As the discussion wound down so did the eagerness of both domainers to get the name. The seller had lost a good opportunity and squandered the good faith of both customers. The deer in the headlights was the seller, whose paying customers had moved on to greener pastures. The domain name was the unfortunate roadkill meeting its ugly demise by the side of information superhighway.

All this pain and suffering could have been avoided if the seller had just involved a listing and brokering service that would have wrapped up every question in  neat set of FAQs. When domains are at issue, good faith and the Internet part company when dollars cross the international dateline. Always cover your bets where a domain registration or name sale is concerned. Always respect the rights of the other (domaining) party in the the transaction. Translated: Nobody “has” to do anything.

Ethical domainers do business this way. (Hint: Don’t look to PayPal to police your four-figure domain sales. ) The benefit of a growing “rap sheet” of successful domain sales at any escrow service is the enlistment of those same escrow services on your behalf in times of trouble. Your good behavior will serve you in good stead when some upstart tries to steal your domain or hijack your site. “Free rent” is a negligible concept where hosting and bandwidth costs are concerned.

Yes, escrow services charge a fee. But so do most non-banking institution ATMs and that hasn’t stopped people from using them. A slice of the action is a small price to pay for delivery of the big bid. If you’ve got online real estate, trust the professionals to turn over the big amounts and rest easy that all is copacetic. Escrow services for domain names transfer the worry of a big dollar domain sale to the heavy hitters who pave the way for a legitimate and legal domain name sale payday.

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