Allen’s E-Commerce Blog

The Mystery of LameDelegation.net - registrars parking your names

Posted by Kevin under Domain Name News, Domain Names

We all know that registrars have started taking ownership of names that registrants let lapse. Registrars even go through their non-resolving names and change them to point their own parking pages instead. So it is always an important task for the domain portfolio manager to keep an eye on their names and where they are pointing to.

One of the latest registrars to join the club, appears to be Melbourne IT with over 21,000 names pointing to the MITparked.com nameservers. They might have been doing this for a while already, but it was new to me when I came across of one of the names in early May. It appears they are using a Yahoo! PPC feed.

So how long before a registry parks your “unused” names for your, out of pure “courtesy”. Well, it turns out that we don’t have to look far (more an that below). And surprise surprise, Verisign and NetworkSolutions (netsol) play a role in this play. No wonder Najafi was able to buy Netsol, the former monopoly registrar for $20 Million and $80 in assumed debt in 2003 and turn around this year and sell the company for $800 million to General Atlantic LLC.

With being THE original monopoly registrar, NetworkSolutions holds many valuable domain names. When the monopoly broke, it was almost the time of the bubble, and to this date NetSol holds many names that were registered for 10 years back then, some of them pointing to NetSol’s own parking page. Some of the expired ones are now listed in the whois with whois privacy, so it’s a safe bet to assume that they were taken over by there registrar.

So what do Verisign and Netsol have in common with some of those valuable names? Enter “lamedelegation.net”. The following graph (from IPWalk) shows the amount of domains pointing to the”lamedelegation.net” nameservers over the previous six months:

Originally the “lamedelegation.net” nameservers were used when a domain’s nameservers were not responding correctly. The registry would then change the nameservers on the domain and notify the registrar, so the registrar can contact the registrant. Today it appears that Network Solutions has made this their “parking nameservers” and it looks like they have been switching all of the non-resolving domains in their registrar over to them.

Co. buys back Bush library domain name for $35K

Posted by Kevin under Domain Name News, Domain Names

George Bush Seniors Library

Raleigh, N.C.-based Illuminati Karate paid less than $10 for the http://www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com domain name and sold it back earlier this year for $35,000 to the library’s contracted Web developers, Yuma Solutions, said George Huger, lead Web developer for Illuminati Karate.

Mark Mills, owner of Yuma Solutions, did not immediately return calls seeking comment Thursday.

The Tallahassee, Fla.-based company has a history with the Bush family, hosting Web sites for Bush’s 2000 campaign and for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s 1998 and 2002 campaigns.

Records indicate that in March 2007, the George W. Bush Library Foundation, using Yuma Solutions as its contractor, bought the domain name from a private citizen for $3,000. But the registration was set to expire within a few months.

Huger said he grabbed the library name, seeing its potential, while searching through a public list of names that were about to expire, The Dallas Morning News reported in Thursday.

Months later, Huger had received some offers on it, but he declined to provide details.

After the Morning News reported that the library had lost the domain, Mills contacted Illuminati Karate and asked to buy it back, Huger said.

At the time, a library foundation spokesman said officials were unaware that the name had been lost.

Yuma finally reached a deal to buy the Web address back for $35,000, which the company, not the library foundation, apparently paid, Huger said. The site changed hands in April and won’t expire until 2013.

Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Library Foundation, said he didn’t know about the Web site being lost and recovered. But, he said, he would know if the library had been stuck with a surprise $35,000 expenditure.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center — which will include a library, museum and public policy institute — is being built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

How trying to find a job on a sidewalk can relate to domain names!

Posted by Kevin under Branding, Domain Name News, Domain Names, Entrepreneur, Humor, Marketing Resources & Tools, Money & Finance, My Thoughts On The Internet, News Stories That Interest Me, Online Marketing

An out-of-work banker who became a symbol of the looming financial crisis by trudging Manhattan streets wearing a sign advertising “MIT grad for hire” has landed on his feet - scoring a well-paying job at an accounting firm.

In a more hopeful sign of the times, Joshua Persky got rid of his sandwich board and demonstrated that creative people can bail themselves out without any help from the government.

I came across this news story You can read the full article here

But after reading it a couple things really hit me and how it his basic story applies to the internet, domain names, marketing and so much more. I think the first thing that hit me was having the courage or “balls” as I would say it since I tend to say it how it is rather some “PC” bullshit but anyways this guy had the courage to set aside his pride and take measures into his own hands and do what he needed to do to take care of his needs and his family!

I think a lot of domainers and for the most part entrepreneurs in general sometimes need to check pride and ego at the door and just do what they need to do. Whether that’s taking on a partner because your skill set alone isn’t able develop a web property, running and growing a business properly, marketing efficiently, web programming, cash flow/finances, or whatever it might be that your skill set or situation is missing for your venture to shine. Sometimes making some concessions here and there are needed to get a desired outcome and other times patience is needed for that. This guy did just that… Set up shop on the curb and pimped himself to bankers, accountants, stock traders and anyone in the financial district in downtown new york and had the patience to do it for a couple months.

The second thing that hit me was the simple notion that he “Got it”, You might be asking what it is he got, but us domainers, or real estate investors know this all too well… location location location. This guy parked his unemployed ass on a street exactly where his audience / customers would most likely come through the city streets in the financial district. Now that last sentence said a lot, but I will break it down a little… Location is one piece of the puzzle for businesses, the second thing was traffic which in my eyes was most important. You can have a great location with traffic or without depending on your particular situation/plan and what the location does for you, increases sales? brand awareness, raw materials, talent, etc….

He figured out that in the end it more effective to play the numbers game more effectively than sitting at home pressing the submit button to hundreds of online job applications, mailing and calling with no luck for hours on end. The best analogy would be going duck hunting with a sniper rifle from a long distance or sitting behind some brush by a pond that ducks ALWAYS come to with a automatic shot gun with a 30 round clip, then again shotguns don’t have clips last I checked but you get the point.

Choosing to setup shop in prime location, targeted audience of thousands of bankers, accountants, lawyers, stock traders, investors all walking the streets in the financial district every day who probably know someone who could use a banking / finance guy… How many streets in America or job sites could one find a comparable location and marketing opportunity to expose your talents, products, and or services?

You can’t!

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“In his weeks as a walking classified ad, he got several job interviews.”

“Obviously, I had vigorous interviews, but I think it was [the blog] which sealed the deal,” Persky said.”

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This is the same thing any Web developer, business owner, or domainer faces. For the developer its finding the right thing to develop at a given location in a specific time period of time. The business owner is very much in the same boat as the developer but he also faces picking the right location, having the right product or bait, and having traffic to feed his business… The domainer or e-real estate investor has to pre emptively forecast where people will want to be in the future for development whether for himself, other real estate investors, or someone else. The other argument a real estate investor can ask himself is can I broker or rent this space / traffic to someone else for a profit.

“The publicity I got from the sandwich board encouraged me to set up a blog to document my experience,” said Persky, 49.

A headhunter spotted the blog and brought it to Weiser’s attention.

“Obviously, I had vigorous interviews, but I think it was [the blog] which sealed the deal,” Persky said.

“It feels so great to be back at work. I went through some frustrating times, but every day I tried to be optimistic.”

He posted the happy news on his blog and got cheers from around the world.

Now the father of five - who declined to discuss his new salary - is looking forward to being reunited with his family.

His wife and youngest kids, 4 and 5, had moved to her parents’ home in Nebraska to save cash. But they’ll be returning to New York after the end of the school year.

“We’re looking forward to being back together,” he said. “It’s hard being a telephone dad.

“There is all this holiday spirit around me, all these holiday parties, and I’ve got such a lot to be grateful for myself. It’s like I’m celebrating twice this year.”

Online entrepreneurs should take note it can be done, you just have to position yourself to be ready when the opportunity presents itself.

Kentucky Grabs Mortgage Domains »

Posted by Kevin under Domain Name News

Kentucky Grabs Mortgage Domains »

BoycottKentucky.com - is live and it’s not a joke.

The actions by the Kentucky Governor to try and take domains from various domain owners is no laughing matter.  His timing could not be any better with the presidential election headlining all the news but regardless of who wins the election this decision will last for a while – possibly longer than any of the two candidates employment.

Has the governor tried to grab mortgage domains?  Not yet, but I did want to give some examples to hopefully heat up some people and remember – I am not a lawyer so if I’m wrong here somebody who is an attorney please correct me.

If the court rules in favor of the governor their decision is NOT limited to gambling domains.  How does this affect you?

1.) Do you run a mortgage lead generation site but do not have a mortgage license? Somewhere, in some state, providing financial advice must be illegal therefore the government could request to take your domain.

2.)  Do you offer stock and financial opinions? Not licensed as a financial advisor – again, government has a precedent to ask for your domain.

3.)  Are you selling aftermarket tickets to sporting events, concerts etc? Brokering tickets for more than face value is illegal in many states – and again, the government can request your name.

This case is probably the biggest case the industry has seen to date.  There is no time for Kentucky jokes here because the governor will be the one laughing how Kentucky laid the law for the government to rule the internet.

The USA is not the internet, Kentucky is not the internet – the WORLD is the internet and no US court should have the power to do this so boycotting is not enough, call your senator or congressman – do something, you can bet I am.

Eleven steps to buying a domain name that doesn’t suck

Posted by Kevin under Domain Name News, Domain Names

Whether you’re a multinational Internet retailer or a lone human just entering the Web world, there are many things to consider when purchasing a new domain name, not the least of which are core SEO (search engine optimization) parameters. Following is a list of considerations I’d supply to either entity mentioned above or anyone in between. Some may seem ridiculously obvious, but a friendly reminder won’t hurt.

* Keyword research: Does the domain use popular and focused keywords? Make sure the domain and its associated URLs will be conducive to search engine visibility. Check it on tools like Overture Keyword Selector, Google Suggest, WordTracker, and Keyword Discovery.
* Linkability: Does the domain have appeal to bloggers and Webmasters who might consider linking to you? Links are crucial to your site’s SEO. For example, NeopetsFanatic.com has link appeal, whereas free-neopets-cheats-hints-tips.info does not.
* Top-level domain: Choose the proper top-level domain (.com, .net, .org, .info, and so on). If your business is in the United States, then you should use .com as your domain. While there is nothing wrong with .net and .org domains, they are not perceived as being as “professional” as .com domains. The .org domain is still perceived as nonprofit. Sometimes that is a positive though–such as for my blog ChangesForGood.org, because in that case I wanted to distance the blog from any commercial interests. Top-level domains like .info and .biz are often associated, rightly or wrongly, with spammers.
* Used URLs: Check indexation levels of a domain name to see if anything is still indexed. Use query operators to check your site even if you’re not buying it from a secondary source (DomainName.com). Or simply use an indexation checker like URL Check.
* Site age (if a used URL): Run the URL through The Wayback Machine. Make sure there aren’t any previous associations with pornography, hate or violence. If there are, avoid the domain.
* Back links (if a used URL): Make sure a previously used URL doesn’t have negative (see above) links coming into it. Use the query operators DomainName.com to check this.
* Blacklists check: See if the URL or its associated IP address has been blacklisted at a site like Moensted.dk .
* Relevancy: Make sure your domain name is relevant to your business. Don’t buy a URL because it sounds cool or it has personal merit. Buy it because it has direct, focused keyword relevance to you business.
* URL length: On the other end of relevancy is the issue of being too specific. Don’t get too long and detailed at the top; you can always get more specific as you go deeper into subdomains. Shorter domain names are also easier to remember–and type!
* Potential for legal conflict: Be aware of trademarks and copyrights belonging to other entities. While a URL like www.amazonbooks.com might be accurate to your bookstore in Amazon, Canada, it’s also an issue with an existing business. Use the search engines to research the keywords contained in your URL. If something comes up that seems like a conflict, it most likely is.
* Double meanings: Does your keyword-rich URL have a secondary meaning? For instance, let’s say you’re starting a Web site that helps people to locate psychologists in their area. You come up with www.therapistfinder.com. But look more closely. Is there a second meaning in the URL? When joining words without a hyphen, take a step back and look again.

Originally posted at Searchlight