Domain Name Wire » Search Results » godaddy

Hundreds of Whitney Houston domains registered after death

Andrew Allemann — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:55:07 +0000

Singer’s death prompts speculators to register Whitney Houston related domain names.

Speculators have registered a flurry of domain names related to Whitney Houston since the singer’s death yesterday.

According to domain registrar GoDaddy, 325 Whitney Houston related domain names were registered in fewer than 24 hours after her death.

You’ll find a lot of Houston domain names on eBay. And most of them are worthless.

You can pick up WhitneyHoustonDiedAt48.COM for $500.

Looking for something even more speculative than a domain to take advantage of her death? Try WhitneyHoustonHeartAttack.com for $21 million. My guess on this one is the seller just wants attention to the site they link to in their eBay listing.

For a starting bid of 99 cents you can have a shot at what the seller describes as an “Authentic Whitney Houston Domain”. What’s an authentic domain? I don’t know, but the seller is trying to offload Whitney-Houston-Legacy.com.

A search for “Whitney Houston Domain” returns 41 hits on eBay right now.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

GoDaddy Auctions sold 38,366 domains last month including Go.Pro for $40k

Andrew Allemann — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:34:35 +0000

A phenomenal .pro sale among domain sales on GoDaddy Auctions.

GoDaddy Auctions sold 38,366 domain names last month, about 1,000 fewer than it sold in December.

That includes the eye popping sale of Go.Pro for $40,000.

That’s not a typo. The domain was purchased by a doctor in Maryland.

Other top sales for the month include:

diy.org $60,000
bestrecipes.com $45,000
uros.com $30,000
quod.com $30,000
10-4.com $16,000
eventguru.com $15,925
retireme.com $15,495
definedbenefitplan.com $15,000
gamebreak.com $12,650

About half of the domains were sold via auction and the other half via “buy now” listings.

The top word included in domains sold was “online”, followed by “best”, “blog”, and home. Other popular keywords include:

news
music
free
casino
business
insurance
design
home
video
shop
health
site
club
your
world
auto
life

“Online” is almost always the most often included keyword you’ll find in GoDaddy’s domain sales report. Domainers should take note.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

Orphaned domain listings still mucking up domain sales process

Andrew Allemann — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:22:00 +0000

When domains change hands or expire, “for sale” listings remain.

[Update: I received a message from GoDaddy saying a solution is in the works and should be complete within a couple weeks.] In October I wrote about how domain name marketplaces still struggle with “orphan listings”. These are domains listed for sale that have either expired or were listed by their previous owner.

A couple people have recently relayed to me issues related to orphan listings and how this has become a bigger issue with listings being syndicated to GoDaddy.

In one case exactly like the one I described in October, a customer tried to hand register a domain on GoDaddy.com that had already expired. The domain was still listed on GoDaddy Auctions, though. GoDaddy.com said the domain wasn’t available for registration but could be purchased on GoDaddy Auctions. The user ended up having to use the GoDaddy app to register the domain. (GoDaddy doesn’t show auction listings in the registration path to mobile users.)

I discovered another person on NamePros who won an expired domain backorder and promptly listed the domain for sale on GoDaddy Premium Listings. He was surprised what he saw when he searched for the domain on GoDaddy. Instead of showing his Premium listing, the site showed an old Sedo “buy now” listing from the previous owner.

I know there are domains I own that still show up for sale on Sedo that were listed by previous owners. This can cause a whole slew of problems. I keep waiting for the day that someone files a UDRP on one and claims I listed it for sale on Sedo…when it was really someone else.

There are solutions, at least when it comes to fixed priced domains. Both Afternic and Sedo have mechanisms in place to monitor domains listed with instant transfer capabilities. But that doesn’t cover all domains, as was the case here.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

6 questions about DOMAINfest answered

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:11:07 +0000

A look back at last week’s DOMAINfest conference.

Before heading to DOMAINfest I posed six questions that would be answered by the end of the week. Here are the answers.

1. How will Oversee.net’s new leadership present itself?

Just before the conference began, Oversee.net announced that co-presidents Debra Domeyer and Scott Morrow had been promoted to co-CEOs.

I haven’t seen many “co-CEO” type situations end favorably, but they seem to be handling it well so far.

Most people I talked to at the conference were positive about the new leadership. Domeyer will be more visible to domainers since she handles the domain monetization side of the business. Morrow covers the vertical markets properties.

The new leadership gives Oversee a “fresh start” after a rough few years.

2. Will Oversee.net address Moniker?

Yep. KeyDrive, which owns NameDrive and Key-Systems, announced that it acquired both Moniker and SnapNames. That leaves a lot of of questions up in the air, but I think this is a good thing. Oversee had been trying to get rid of these properties for at least a year. It’s good to have them in the hands of a company that wants to invest in them. More on that in a future article.

3. Will the new parties make up for the (lack of) Playboy Mansion?

I think both parties were good. But I’ll let others chime in here.

4. How many people will be there?

About 600 people were expected to attend. More on that in a future article.

5. Can DOMAINfest successfully include topics outside the typical domainer realm?

Confession time – I didn’t really go to any of the sessions. But they were well attended, with 200-400 people in many of the sessions. I’d say it was another step toward bridging the domainer and internet marketing communities. These are two communities that historically haven’t understood much about each other.

6. What big company announcements will be made?

Sedo announced a big deal with GoDaddy, but KeyDrive probably grabbed the most attention with its acquisition.

…

Now, a bigger question: where do Oversee.net and DOMAINfest go from here? They have emerged a smaller, leaner company after the sale of Moniker and SnapNames. Now they have a vertical markets division and DomainSponsor. They’re a smaller part of the domainer lifecycle and have only about 100 employees, down from 200 just a few years ago.

Is DomainSponsor alone enough to justify holding a large conference each year? Will it team up with KeyDrive for future domain auctions at its conferences?

Will the conference eventually morph to a point where it no longer makes sense to put “domain” in the title?

Coming soon: Domain/Affiliate/LeadGen/SEOfest, presented by Oversee.net.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

GoDaddy’s BYOB: Build Your Online Business

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:11:56 +0000

Company plans to start promoting a different kind of BYOB.

It looks like GoDaddy.com will start promoting BYOB, but it has nothing to do with beer.

The company filed two trademark applications at the end of last month. The company filed application 85527616 for BYOB and application 85527612 for BYOB Build Your Online Business. Here’s what the applications have to say about the intended use:

C 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Providing on-line information, namely, help-articles and business resources in the fields of business development and business management; Providing online services to businesses in the nature of bundle programs comprised of one or more functions, namely, domain services, email services, website builder, hosting services, services to increase traffic flow, social media integrations, email marketing, calendar, large file sharing, eFax integration and site analytics, to meet the individual needs of businesses related to online business development, marketing and business marketing

IC 045. US 100 101. G & S: Registering domain names for use on a global computer network

Both applications were filed as 1B, which means the company intends to use the marks in the future.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

GoDaddy says it saw record Super Bowl Sunday sales

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:09:16 +0000

Two GoDaddy.com Super Bowl commercials drive new sales record.

The results are in…

Regardless of what you thought of GoDaddy.com’s two Super Bowl commercials yesterday, they appear to have had the intended result for the world’s largest domain registrar.

According to the company, yesterday saw its highest sales ever for a Super Bowl Sunday. This is the company’s eight consecutive year advertising in the Super Bowl.

The company also says that .co saw a tenfold increase in registrations. That’s an early number from last night. Last year .co reported a 35x increase compared to a typical Sunday. Although I doubt .CO Internet pays for its ad with immediate registrations, the Super Bowl ad goes a long way to building its brand. Don’t be surprised if proprietors of some new top level domains try this tact in future years.

GoDaddy was the only advertiser to include a QR code in its ad, and the company says it received record mobile traffic. I think this was a smart move given that many people are away from home when they watch the Super Bowl.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

GoDaddy and .Co take center stage with Super Bowl Commercials

Andrew Allemann — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:25:31 +0000

Over 100 million will watch GoDaddy Super Bowl commercials tonight.

The world’s largest registrar along with the .co top level domain will get a lot of attention today.

That’s because GoDaddy will air two Super Bowl ads today, including one about the .co domain name.

The first half commercial stars lingerie model Natalia Velez getting the body paint treatment from Jillian Michaels and Danica Patrick to promote .co. Velez was unveiled in person at DOMAINfest last week.

Many people wondered if .co got the “bang for its buck” that it expected after a similar GoDaddy commercial last year. I think we have our answer now.

The second half commercial features the Pussycat Dolls.

GoDaddy pre-released both commercials this year. It has pre-released ads in the past. This is a good strategy for the company, especially since it releases “continuations” of each commercial on Super Bowl Sunday. In other words, even if you see the commercials ahead of time you end up returning to view the continuation after the ad airs on TV. And the company doesn’t really care when you view its ads, as long as you end up on its site (and hopefully make a purchase).

Of course, pre-releasing also lets your competitors get some pre-game buzz, such as with this Name.com spoof featuring Denver running back Willis McGahee.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.