Domain Owl

Can you afford not to renew, or bulk renew? Domain investors should check themselves because backorders have just gone to nigh $70 bucks. I advise domainers with specific names to keep in the feeder to set up a special funding channel through a Paypal or business credit card that can renew or bulk renew items at your registrar and save these costly fees.

Save a little cash and prepay renewals or make sure your tickler file is updated and all administrative contacts for each domain as recorded in the WHOIS and domain name registrar account properly. Unlike some domainers, I think $69 is too much to  pay and a little elbow grease in the registrar name account should save about fifty dollars off this when organized prudently.

On February 15, SnapNames will raise the starting bid for backorders for all deleting domain names from $59 to $69.  This starting bid increase applies only to orders for names that are deleted from their respective registries (not the expiring or privately held names listed from registrar partners or sellers).

This change applies exclusively to new orders—any previously placed deleting domain name backorders will be grandfathered in and remain at a starting bid amount of $59; thus, $59 will be the opening bid if the name enters our system.  (Note, if you are the only bidder in this scenario, like today you will be the buyer at $59. If another party backorders the same name after February 15, that party’s opening bid will be at $69 and the system will alert you to raise your bid if you so elect.)

As is the case today, all non-deleting domain names will enter our system at the starting bid price specified by the listing party.  Opening bids for those names will stay at the amounts originally set.

There is no change to auction procedures.  If there is only one bidder for a name at the time of its availability, the name will be awarded to that bidder.  For names with more than one interested party, the names will go to auction and the highest bid at or above the starting bid amount will prevail.

Questions can be directed to the SnapNames support team:

E-mail: support@snapnames.com
Web: http://support.oversee.net/login.php

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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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At this very moment your domain name could be underway to be sold somewhere online. Without your knowledge. Think it can’t happen? One of my colleagues in the domain firmament was flabbergasted today to learn that his domain name (and website) were being vended by a well-known auction site.

One catch: he still owns the domain name.

This can happen in the world of domain name buying and selling and sadly it happens more often than one would think possible. A lot is going on at any time online and it is almost impossible for a domainer with even a few dozen names to keep abreast of everything pertaining to each name taking place. Of course, the fusillades of daily spam don’t help. I am willing to bet some clickjacking or password guessing combined with some clever timing to release the name while owner was busy elsewhere.

Thus all the more reason to vigilantly update sites daily or as often as possible. Weeding through the spam and offers and solicitations for hosting products and suchlike, a domainer can quickly get tired of seeing important notices and notifications because of the sheer volume of the broadcasts. Hosting companies are so notorious for sending out offers and prompts and reminders and advertisements a domainer is practically immune to opening their email.

And that’s when the domain name pirate strikes. It’s a good bet the pirate of any domain name knows your IP address and can track your activity by a login or posting activity somewhere. Just Google someone’s IP address or their corresponding user name with their email and sooner or later a trail forms. What is not so clear is how liable a registrar or auction site is for hosting a sale of a name clearly in dispute of ownership.

This is the dilemma many domainers face when they register a name. If privacy is not purchased, then any working online operator can limp their way to some kind of hack or pose a sale if the domainer is busy enough not to notice. Many domainers watch the droplists and deleting domains auctions for just this reason. Being on good terms with your registrar and knowing their terms of Service doesn’t hurt either.

Keeping track of domain name activity that has been pirated started many years ago, when hijacked popmail addresses and phantom spam campaigns spouted reams of “reply -to” spam aimed at astonished webmasters who’d never even used their inboxes. I personally have had important emails topped out of my administrator email account only to find the limit reached. On a 100 GiG mailbox that’s a lot of spam.

What’s even more frustrating is that if a sale is reached via the fake auction listing, the third party “Buyer” becomes part of the mix. As a buyer in good faith, if he parts with hard earned cash for the name, is he entitled to it if the registrar ever sorts matters out? For a lucrative domain name with marketed traffic and keyword density with a site up, that’s a significant loss to the owner of the name, who wasn’t even listing the name for sale in the first place!

Virtual records are all very well, but printed purchase receipts and domain transfer records with renewal dates and expiration projections can work to demonstrate original chain of title to a domain name. It then becomes the registrar’s responsibility to disclose why they released a name not unlocked for sale by owner. Domain locking is enabled for just this reason. The IP tracking of the registrar or hosting company should underscore this utility.

One final point: if you go into partnership with another domainer or sponsor for a site or name project, keep a record of the email communication where rights and titles and participating profit percentages and shares of the enterprise are clearly spelled out.These can be handy reminders when project leads forget where their enterprise is going or where it came from.

Every development deal is its own ship sailing to a unknown destination. Online webmasters and site operators need to helm their own vessel. Attention to detail is key. Backups and records of performed work are advisable, especially when billing is ongoing. Clarify deal points with partners and keep track of time and billable hours spent contributing to the project. A hosting company will have records to confirm your login time and access.

To keep all your domain names in the batter’s box, review the lineup from time to time. Keep renewal date checks current and know all the procedures to transfer or billing inquiries ahead of time. View the traffic hits as RBI’s and police site errors. (Hostnames may form some kind of infield fly rule). If your domain names are playing every inning, they can’t go AWOL. This way, when it’s time to have a time out and call the umpire, you have all your ducks in a row.

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Building, creating, buying and forming a domain name is an art elevated to into an industry by a few hundred thousand people worldwide. The sky can be the limit and the only cutoff factor is an already registered or held domain name. A domain name can be as fun or serious as its maker. Many similar names can be formed at once and bought in a block as a strategy.

Generally domain names are bought for one year blocks of time. Multiyear options are available. The actual domain name is operated by ICANN, and for a fee is purchased from registrars and licensed to the owner for use. The better known a registrar company is, the better likelihood fewer misunderstandings about ownership will arise. These regulations are not subject to negotiation.

Registrar sites make excellent touching off points for searching for available domain names. Typing brainstorm ideas and checking all the top level domains and lower sub level domains can show the newby domainer who has also thought of this idea. If the domain is available for purchase, the registrar will indicate what other tld’s and sub-tld’s are available as well.

Let us use the example of a noun that can also be a verb. If the word is an established word, the chance is highly likely that adding “ing” will form a domain name that is already registered. But a new word or term may not have its verb form registered yet.  Of course, many domainers buy “nonsense” names, but for the purpose of buying a domain name with associated meaning, let’s pursue the concept of registration of a legitimate term domain name.

The morphology of the base word into a domain name can also occur when a synonym for that word is used. For instance, a site name for purses might have “sack” or “bag” in the name. A site name for writing might have “tome” or “writer” or “author” or “scribe” in it. Some prefixes and suffix words may be added to form a more specific (but limiting) name. Buypurses.com or Sellpurses.com are examples.

A large part of creating a domain name is investigating the flexibility of language. The appeal of a domain name lies in the ability of it to convey the focus or function of the website behind it. Inventing a fun name or finding new ways to combine keywords is a large part of the most fun part of domaining. Assigning meaning to a word for a action or thing is a form of linguistics.

The linguistics of domain name formation follow certain gestalts. If the intended site is for a shopping or information website, the word “store’ or the sub TLD .info could be used, if not just the word “info” itself tagged onto the main base word. Putting the prefix “new” in front of any word makes almost a more appealing site name than before. Putting the word “old” in front of the word makes a site about used or antique items.

Most people are used to thinking about domain names in terms of dot-com. But multiple top level domains exist. TLD’s of dot-net and dot-org were among the most common when the Internet first started out. Today there are country codes like .ca for canada that also are functioning in this manner. Dot-biz and dot-TV, as well as dot-info, make intriguing propositions out of any domain name formation.

If the goal of the domain name purchase is to mount a website or an online presence related to that base word, checking to see what the dot-com or dot-net sites for the domain first thought of might look like is suggested. This can make for a family fun game or a strategic challenge to get the right name if it can be found and is available.

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Domainers need to know how to execute a few basic operations. How do you get started in domaining? Here are the facts. A domain name career can be as broad or as narrowly defined in terms of skills and operations as the individual chooses. One of the first skills a domainer often learns is the domain registration lookup. Domain lookup information is critical to domainer decision making.

This can be done at an online registrar or hosting company which maintains a free search tool online at their site. Registrar companies are entitled to claim expired domains and have regulated policies about how to gather information from buyers and display it online. Domain name registration data can inform a potential buyer or investor regarding who has owned the name before them, or who owns similar domain names.

Privacy options are available when buying a domain name to keep the companies from disclosing name address and contact information like email addresses and telephone numbers to strangers online. No laws exist for usage of domain name data and personal privacy. Drawbacks to providing personal contact data in the domain registration for public WHOIS lookup abound. Email campaigns of spam and snailmail increases of junk mail are often associated with domain name purchases.

Performing domain lookup searches and name registration data queries is one of the primary skills of the domain game. It may be a long time before a new domainer even wants to buy a domain name. A web domain may be purchased but undeveloped.  the domain name may be parked for revenue upon traffic visitor participation. The privacy option may terminate the searcher’s ability to find out who owns it and where they live.

Domain lookup searches allow a new domain namer to see what kinds of data is revealed when they register a name. New domainers may not fully make the connection the first few times they buy a domain name what happens to the registration data and how public it is. These lookup searches are called domain checks. they show if a domain is registered, for how long, and who to. Contact can be made to offer a purchase price for the domain name directly.

Many new domainers fall into the enticing trap of cheap domain names. But no law of averages determines the resale value of any domain name. However cheap the domain name, the risk is assumed by the buyer or creator of the domain name. This can be seen when cognate domain lookups yield the same registrar owner. Bulk registrations happen when registering domainers get discounts on numerous domain purchases.

Bulk registrations can expire at the same time, filling drop list auctions with unwanted cognate names. Domain checkers can relate the date the domain was purchased. this can be very relevant when disputes arise between domain name owners. WHOIS registration records of domain ownership become the basis of dispute settlement criteria. Options at domain registration include assigning WHOIS data to a privacy record or company name.

Domain hosting is a valuable feature because it simplifies domain name ownership responsibilities to one website and one secure login. Domain hosting may add fee services like parked pages or other features that come with the domain purchase. Forwarding, masking, or cash parking for a fee occur. The domain host or registrar may discount or offer a limit to parked or hosted domains within an account determined tolerance.

An online banking account or credit card may be required to complete the sale. A domain reseller may be able to execute a transaction in a currency a new domainer does not use or make a bid when the membership requirements for proxy bidding  demand a history of reliable domain transactions. Some registrars require a registration and membership for domain auction bidding.

Domain name lookups and domain registration checks are advised before initiating personal domain transfers or private auction domain transactions. Domain lookup searches can verify a domain name belongs to the offering entity. Domain name length of ownership, country of ownership, and proxy contact information is available for every single domain name registered.

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New domainers can spend time combining keywords to make new domain names, or they can browse the clearance aisles of the domain world. Drop lists are churning every day, throwing deleting domain names into the shark pool of auctions. The victory belongs to the brave few who can master these drop list scanning chores and pull the gems from the silt.

Drop lists, or deleting name auctions, are composed from various sources. The chief source is the body of renewing names the owners have elected not to renew. These names recur to the domain registrar for ownership and record keeping. The domain owners may not be in the domaining business sector any longer or they may simply be streamlining their domain portfolio. Differing  reasons a name might expire or not be renewed make the excitement of what domain may pop up on the droplist potent for domainers.

Some domainers take the view that only the “dogs” of the domain industry make the droplists. This is not true. The fact is, most domain owners respond to the expiration and renewal notices their various registrars may send. Timely and repeated notifications of domain name renewal are a sign of a conscientious registrar. Godaddy.com, Networksolutions,com, Enom.com and other have a history of reliable “expiration period” pre-droplist domain notification practices.

Yet the domain name of value may yet slip through the the cracks and debut on the drop list to a sea of interested domain name bidders. the challenge for domain main investors is to seed their portfolios with enough anterior names, traffic domains, and lucky finds to increase value in the domain portfolio overall.  Original domain names take longer to seed into the existing SEO vocabulary than established domains with search engine traction.

The domain drop list market is opportunistic and highly competitive. One day a hundred thousand domainers might peruse the domain drop lists and fuel frantic domain name bidding. On a holiday or Sunday many domainers skip the list one domainer might find a fistful of PR treasure and SEO gold for very modest resale amount prices.

Droplisting can save time for the domain name investor because  instead of inventing a new name and taking the associated risk, they can get a known domain name. Instead of guessing via WHOIS domain name data for the entire pantheon of existing and available keyword combination terms and domain names they can simply select to buy or not to bid for existing names.

Many domainers construct cognate domain name clusters within their portfolio as a strategy to capture traffic for a certain subject, hobby, term, or keyword combination. They can resell these names to new project investors or other domainers looking to consolidate an existing position among top terms, keyword base names, and words.

A side benefit of the droplist treasure hunt is that the domain name already has a “presence” within Google and other search engine entities. Bidders can check the rankings themselves using SEO evaluation sites and PR site ranking reports online. Such finds can happen, especially when the drop list techniques for scanning become rote and efficiency rises.

Droplists continue to serve as a way for a domainer to augment an existing portfolio by watching for keywords or terms very similar or cognate to the existing owned domain name the domainer already has. A domain name speculator can vary his “bet about certain technologies or terminologies becoming robustly searched by allotting key resources of investment to the same group of keyword names or related “traffic” urls.

The various email addresses, changed contact numbers, and new addresses can prove a challenge for the registrar to finitely contact the domain owner. This is why WHOIS registry data is so explicitly gathered at the time of the original domain purchase. The administrative and other contacts are used if the registrar feels their customer is somehow not responding. Conscientious registrars guard the domains of their customers.

But if they miss a notice and the renewal period stretches on with no action, the registrar takes control of the “abandoned” name. The registrar may elect to keep the name rolling through their domain name base, or try to vend it for sale in the next chronologically occurring auction. International website owners and domain name brokers can play a part in this process as well.

Shopping the domain name auctions as the names expire and move through the hopper can be fun. Many domainers scrutinize the droplists just to see which trends in domain name buying are being sold off. A bulk selloff tips them off that a name type or lexicon of names is “over”. These maturations of names, especially trendy or “buzzword” names, happen in cycles.

But scanning drop lists, running search scripts, and searching by TLDs and country codes can save time for the busy domainer. Pool.com is one such site, Sedo.com is another.Some domainers specialize in finding keyword names for other domainers. Many registrars feature a droplist augmented service and auction events.

If domainers can identify their niche market or likely keyword dependent domain name for development, they can shrink the cycle of their time spent searching for names of interest online. Tools, scripts,  and droplist sites can save searches to expedite the droplist scan. And they can save their time for domain development, the meat and potatoes of the domain world.

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Word on the wires is that the new compendium of Oracle after swallowing Sun is giving birth to a great new brainchild. This new bonanza is a crashing spear into the world of domaining; A new domain name registrar and hosting company that will blow the socks off current market leaders (rhymes with Schmoe-daddy).  Sparcstations off the forward bow!

No name has been chosen by Sun/Oracle yet, but super secret teams in Cupertino and Mountain View are already clashing over turf. The technical entity will not be in violation of any super secret hosting or redundancy agreements because the new spinoff corporate entity will be a separate company. Sweet! The domainer’s mouth waters at the possible debut deals offered….

Domainers in the know and technical cognoscienti scoff that nobody can topple the Danica-fronted Big Daddy.  But hosting service watchers have heeded the firestorm of complaints that “Schmoe-daddy” customers have. Buying the registrar is the nice part, some domainer running an ICANN-powered fruit stand will make a tidy bundle.

Godaddy is going to lose a lot of share to the next big name/hosting reg that comes along.  A catchy name, a viral vid, and tier pricing by “Sunacle” could bring an avalanche of hosting customers their way. If Oracle and Sun can bring it to market and capture the whole domaining market, Sun will finally have beat Cisco at something.

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