Web Domain Spot

... I started buying and selling domain names in 1995. Domain speculation began sometime in 1994. I did appraisals and was one of the biggest advocates for registering generic domain names rather than made-up names or those that violated trademarks.

I made a good income from my domains because I did not just sell domain names, I sold domain names that had a business plan and a website while others were just trying to sell their domain names with no traffic, no business plan and no website.

Today many are still doing it that way. Although now they park them at SEDO or Go Daddy or somewhere to try to make adsense revenue while they list them for sale. So my background in domain names is good enough that I can dispel a few myths.

First TLD stands for Top Level Domain. .COM, .NET, .ORG are all examples of TLDs. The domain name most people refer to is what goes before the dot. The TLD is what comes after the dot.

These are some Common Myths about Domain Names;

.TV is for television or multimedia websites. Pure myth. Any domain name in any TLD can work for television, video, or multimedia. The TLD .TV does not give you any special tools for creating multimedia-rich content. .TV does not stand for television. It is the ccTLD or country-code TLD for Tuvalu Island. An island in the pacific that had no real use for owning a TLD so they sold the rights to sell domain names on their TLD to a company that leads people to believe it stands for television. It works. People buy them and use them and associate them with television and that is ok. It’s just a myth that .TV was created to mean television.

Another Domain Name Myth: If you want to build websites that people can access by their cell phone or PDA you need to get a .MOBI domain name. Just like dot tv does not give you any special capability for television or multimedia, dot mobi does not give you any special tools for mobile-capable websites. Any website on any TLD can provide content to cell phones and PDAs if it is made compatible for them. Many will lead you to believe that dot mobi somehow gives you the advantage when it comes to cell phones and PDAs. it doesn’t.

.ME Domain Names Myth: Coming soon to a domain registrar near you. Soon domain names will be marketing for the TLD dot ME. They will market them as great domain names for personal websites. They may be. But it was not created as such. It is the Country-code top-level domain designated for Montenegro.

.PN Domain Names: I own Blogs.pn. I would love to tell you it stands for Publisher network or something like that but it doesn’t. It is the Country-code top-level domain designated for Pitcairn Island. Another pacific island that did not have much use for a TLD so someone was authorized to sell dot pn domain names.

Soon ICANN will be allowing more TLDs to be created and domain names will be marketed in these new TLDs. More and more countries will also offer domain names for sale in their ccTLDs. So the market will be opening up and it may be confusing to some. The truth is what comes before the dot matters most. Getting a domain name in a TLD that makes sense to users can help you though.

Shorter Domain Names are better than Long Domain Names Myth: Only in certain circumstances is a shorter domain name better than a long domain name. Many domain gurus disagree. I don’t care. They talk about people being able to remember your domain name. Truthfully more traffic comes from people clicking links in search engines, on other websites, and on social bookmarking sites than comes from people who type in the domain name.

What is more important is that the domain name help you capture a phrase you want to target in the search engines. I can give you a ton of examples where having the exact phrase you want in the domain name has helped get a top position in Google and other search engines. So if the phrase is longer, do not abbreviate it just because you heard shorter domain names are better. Get the phrase you want to target.

If you are planning to advertise your domain name OFFLINE, in advertising on TV, radio, or even magazines and newspapers, shorter domain names ARE better. Offline, people have to be able to remember your domain name.

The best of both worlds: If most of your traffic comes from the web, shorter means very little. To cover both, get a domain name that matches your key phrase and put your website on that domain name. Then get a second domain name that is short and catchy and redirect or point it to the same website. Use the shorter-easy-to-remember domain name for your offline marketing and the domain that matches your key phrase for the search engines.

Anything other than a dot COM is worthless Myth: This is a favorite myth spread everywhere. It is based on the same myths about shorter domain names. If people have to remember it, then yes, they do remember dot com more often. If you are doing offline marketing, use a dot com.

Online your website can be on any TLD. People are clicking links. So again, get the domain name that matches your key phrase for your website whether it is on .com, net, org, tv, pn, cc, ws, or whatever. Start with dot com, try your phrase. If it is taken, move to the next TLD and try your phrase again. If it is taken, repeat your attempts to register until you find a TLD that your phrase IS available in and register it in that TLD.

These are some Myths about Trademarks and Domain Names;

Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #1: If I own a trademark I need to register my trademarked name in every TLD. Pure Myth and a worthless, time-consuming strategy promoted by Intellectual Property Lawyers who need to justify what you are paying them.

Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #2: When you register a trademark, you have to choose a classification for that trademark such as “entertainment television”, “clothing and apparel”, “beverages”, etc.

You do not own the phrase you trademark. You are being allowed to use that trademark in commerce within the classification you chose. Someone else can register the same exact trademark and choose a different classification.

In addition to that, the geographical area you registered your mark in only covers that area. Someone could have the same trademark in the same classification in a different geographical location.

So again, you do not own the phrase you trademarked, so no need to register every TLD in existence. It could even be construed as anti-competitive business practice to do so.

Domain Name VS Trademark Myth #3: If you chose the trademark, “goofball lawyer stuff” and chose the classification “clothing and apparel”, I could still register the domain name http://goofballlawyerstuff.com or net or org or whatever.

As long as I do not sell clothing or apparel, link to anyone who sells clothing and apparel, or try to confuse people into believing my website is owned by you, I have not violated your trademark rights. Get over it.

I hope this helps you dispel a few of the most common domain name and trademark myths you may have been reading about.


Chris McElroy aka NameCritic has been involved in domain names and Internet marketing since 1995. Visit his SEO Blog, his SEO Website, or SEO Hosting Provider for more information.

... Now is the time for Webmasters to get in on Central nic domain names! That’s right—thanks to the availability of central nic domain names, all webmasters can get a chance to get the domain name they desire by registering for a domain name with any registrar that handles central nic names. Think about it; registering for a central nic domain name has so many advantages. Let’s take a look at the many benefits of registration below:

1.Central nic is a domain registry offering alternative to the TLD and Country level domains. If you missed out on your chance to get the domain name you desired, now you are offered a second chance to get in on the action. Get the domain name you want with a .com extension!

uk.com, gb.com, .eu.com, and more are all available from domain registrars. Thus, if you missed out on your opportunity to get a .uk, .gb, or a .eu domain name, you will get a second chance to get the domain name you desire when you register for a central nic domain.

3.If you are set on a name that has been taken by another Webmaster, a Central nic name can be a good alternative. With a Central nic domain name you can still get the domain name you want with the added commercial extension. Don’t settle for a second choice domain name—get your central nic domain name precisely the way you want your domain name to be.

The commercial extension in a central nic domain name is already well established. So many websites on the Internet use .com extensions that it has become a near universal aspect of many domain names. Plus, the short extension is unobtrusive—it does not hurt the overall length of your domain name—nor does it decrease the effectiveness of a central nic domain name.

Using keywords in a domain is useful for SE purposes—yet, it can be difficult to get a domain name that is keyword enriched if the applicable domain names are already taken. Now, with our central nic domain name offerings, you get another great opportunity to get a keyword enriched domain name that will immediately improve your search engine ranking.

With a short commercial extension, Webmasters will still have a domain address that is easy to remember. You don’t have to worry about compromising a memorable domain address—the .com extension is easy to remember and hardly increases the length of a domain name at all. In fact, with so many domain names ending in .com, the commercial extension is almost expected by web users.

Registering for a central nic domain name now will ensure that you get in on the most popular domain names available. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get the most popular domain names available. Popular domain names that draw significant traffic to websites will disappear quickly. Thus, the sooner you register for your central nic domain name, the better your chances will be that you get the exact domain name that you desire.

Beat the rush—you already know that on April 7, 2006, the Landrush phase for .eu domain names will commence. Why submit an application in hopes that you will be able to get the domain name you desire. Instead, secure a central nic domain now with a .com extension and ensure that you get the domain name you want. Thus, while everyone is struggling to get in on the .eu domain names, you will be ahead of the game when you register for your central nic domain name.

Whether you want to establish a business website or a personal website, there is no restrictions when you apply for a central nic domain name. That’s right; anyone can apply for a central nic domain name, even if their website is not for commercial use. No need to wait for the proper time to submit your application—if you want to register for a central nic domain name you an do so right now—today, this very minute!

Why wait until April when Eurid opens to the public, to get your domain name, when you can register for a central nic domain name and get your domain name quickly? Now is the time to get in on all of the central nic domain names available—the more time you spend delaying—the lower your chances are for getting in on the most popular central nic domain names.

Mark Lawson is the technical manager of Discount Domains http://www.discountdomainsuk.com a leading UK Domain Registration Service.

... The “Should I park my domain name and monetize it that way or should I develop a website?” is a pretty old debate among domainers. And I believe it’s proof that laziness will always win over sensibility.

There are a variety of ways to monetize a domain name. Most domainers who deal with a lot of domain names like to park their domains at Sedo, GoDaddy, or other services that help them monetize the name.

Others build made-for-adsense websites that have little real value, intending to get visitors to click the adsense ads. This is not much different from parking the domain names.

Very few domain name sellers or speculators develop real websites or blogs on their domain names. Why?

Even though they intend to sell their domain names, they know that this usually takes a lot of time. Finding a buyer isn’t an overnight process in most cases. Most domains that are finally sold have been owned by the speculator for years.

Parking those domain names is the way they try to cover their costs of registering the names year after year. Most of their domain names will never sell because they want way more than they are worth. Most domain speculators are hoping for that one big sale, kind of like playing the lottery.

During all that time they are holding onto their domain names, they could be building websites, doing affiliate marketing, blogging, and more. The problem is that those things require work. And we all know how much people like work.

Most people who join MLM programs, get involved in domain speculation, or fall for get rich quick schemes do not want to work. They are hoping to fall into thousands of dollars without having to do any real work.

This article won’t win me any popularity contests among domainers. But if the truth hurts, too bad. It is not ALL domainers who are lazy. There are many who work very hard at their profession. They learn to master the traffic their domain name brings in and make a business out of it.

This article is more about those who just go out and register a bunch of domain names they believe are creative, hoping that someone is going to come along someday and give them a bunch of money for what they consider to be creativity.

For some it is their second job or hobby. For others it is a habit. I’ve known domainers who mortgaged their house to buy a lot of domain names they will likely never sell for enough to cover the loan.

In my opinion, the smart move is to develop those domain names into real online businesses. If you own one-word generic domain names that have type-in traffic, this doesn’t apply to you. But if you are like most domainers and you own a bunch of made up domain names, two and three word domain names, etc., then you should think about developing those domain names into a business.

A domain name’s real value is in the traffic it generates and what that traffic may or may not buy based on the keywords that helped them find that domain or website in the first place.

Let me rephrase it again. Your domain name is not worth anything more than you registered it for when you first register the name. Once you analyze the traffic that domain gets, it may or may not increase in value.

If just parking the domain name gets very few clickthrus for the ads placed on it, then your domain name is not worth but a few pennies over the price of registration.

All it proves is that a few people who end up on that domain name will click an adsense ad. To a business, that means nothing. It doesn’t even prove that any of the traffic generated by that domain name will actually buy something.

However, if you create a business plan that matches the domain name, and you develop a website based on that business plan, and people do actually buy products, services, subscribe, join, or click through to your affiliates, you show that the domain name you own has business potential.

A business owner is much more likely to buy your domain name if it has a proven profit potential than if they just think you have a cute catchy short domain name.

It can be as easy as installing free wordpress software and picking a free theme for your blog and writing to it daily with original content.

The bonus is that it may also rank well for your keywords if you do it right and know a little about seo and social bookmarking.

If you develop a business model that is just moderately successful and you add that it has a good ranking for some key phrases, the value of your domain name is quantifiable and much more appealing to anyone that may consider buying it from you.

My opinion is based on having developed hundreds of websites and blogs and having bought and sold over 500 domain names.

There are a few people around who have bought and sold more than I have.

There are domainers who have made a lot more money than I have by monetizing their domain names or by directing the traffic from their domain names directly to websites that are owned by businesses.

But, again, they have the right domains and tools to do that with. Making up domain names or owning a bunch of 2-3 word domain names does not mean you will be one of these. You won’t be. Those I referred to in this article should begin thinking about developing their domain names if they want them to have any actual value.


You can read more about domain selling, domain buying, and domain name development at Chris McElroy aka NameCritic’s Personal Blog or at the SEO Service Provider Blog.

... An IDNForums.com member recently asked me a good question and I took the time to answer it. I thought that I would share my answer here, although I have of course removed the specifics from the situation and changed some facts to keep things confidential. Accordingly, the domains etc. referred to below are made-up for illustrative purposes only. If anyone has any thoughts on this I would like to hear them. In particular, I am still on the look out for a case that pits a foreign language domain name against an ASCII transliteration.

Your question to me was whether your Chinese language domain name, which you have owned since 2001, meaning EXCITEMENT, is safe from a UDRP if you never offer to sell it or put ads on the site, considering that there is a well established web site owned by a large company that has the ASCII Chinese transliteration equivalent, and they have been around since before you registered the Chinese character version.

The UDRP covers Chinese language dot coms (See this Verisign FAQ). Pursuant to the UDRP, any claimant would under would have to meet the three-part test:

1. Whether the domain name is confusingly similar;
2. Whether the registrant has a legitimate interest in the domain name; and
3. Whether the registrant registered and used the domain name in bad faith.

There does not appear to be any consensus or conclusion regarding how the three part test applies to IDN’s when it comes to foreign language equivalents of ASCII trademarks (See for example this article, and see also this one).

In my opinion, a UDRP Panel hearing an IDN case involving foreign language equivalents of a trademark, would first determine whether in fact the Complainant owns an alleged trademark that pre-existed the disputed domain name.

I would start by checking out the trademark registry in China and performing a thorough search for both the ASCII transliteration version and the Chinese language equivalent.

I would be somewhat surprised if the operator of EXCITEMENT.COM (Chinese language) did not have a trademark registered before your domain registration. Even if they didn’t however, it is my opinion that they would likely be found to have held “common law trademark rights” prior to your domain name registration based upon extensive use of the domain name. I come to this conclusion based upon the fact that they had operated the site for some time before your registration (see archive.org).

Accordingly, the next step would be for the Panel to determine if the disputed (Chinese language) domain name was confusingly similar with ASCII Chinese transliteration. This is where the law is unsettled in particular. Nevertheless, it is my opinion that the Panel would apply the doctrine of foreign equivalents and thereby determine that the disputed domain name and the common law trademark are confusingly similar.

The Panel would then look to see if you had a legitimate interest in the domain name. In order to show a legitimate interest, the best evidence is your actual use of the domain name. I realize that the Chinese transliteration EXCITEMENT.COM portal covers a lot of topics, it being a general search portal full of content, but there is still plenty of room to build a web site for all kinds of things, for example, a web site development company. You would be well advised however to ensure that there are no conflicting trademarks in connection with your use of the domain name. Not using a domain name is sometimes considered “passive holding” and shows a lack of legitimate interest and sometimes bad faith. Furthermore, PPC links are always problematic, even though some Panels treat them as a legitimate use.

In this part of the test, you would also show that your domain name is a common word, meaning "excitement". You would argue that you have a legitimate interest in any descriptive, common dictionary word. You would also show how the term, "excitement" and the Chinese transliteration equivalent are used by numerous companies for all kinds of goods and services and the Complainant does not enjoy any kind of monopoly on the term. You would also point out that they have sat on their rights, if any, by not trying earlier to take the domain name.

Then it comes to whether you registered and used the domain name in bad faith. The Panel might look to what other domain names you have registered to see if there is a pattern of registering trademarks or other domain names that try and take advantage of someone’s ASCII domain name. They would want to see if you targeted this domain name because you likely knew about the ASCII site, or whether this dictionary term was just one amongst many other dictionary terms that you registered, thereby showing that you likely registered it because it is a common term, not because of the trademark owner’s web site.

So, in conclusion, not offering to sell and not using PPC is a good idea, but developing is the best idea. Furthermore, you need to make sure that your background is clear of any evidence that could be used to show a pattern of registering infringing domain names, and also clear of any evidence that could indicate that you targeted the ASCII web site.

by Zak Muscovitch