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ICA Extends Nomination Deadline for 2 Industry Awards

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The ICA is seeking nominations for two domain industry awards, and the nomination deadline has been extended to this coming Sunday (11/3). All members of the domain name community are invited to submit a nomination. ICA members will vote on the award winner from the list of nominees.

The two awards are the Lonnie Borck Memorial Award and a new one for 2025 – The Trailblazer Award. Both awards will be bestowed upon the winners at the annual ICA member meeting in January.

Here’s a description of each award:

Why I Am Not Testing More Services

A colleague emailed to ask me why I am not working with a specific landing page service he has been using. I neither have enough domain names to really give a company a fair shot, nor do I have the desire to set up many accounts at different platforms, giving access to private data to many companies.

The first issue is the primary issue. If I set up an account at a new landing page or parking service and only test 50 domain names, there’s a pretty good chance there will be very minimal impact – either positive or negative. Is that the fault of the service provider? No, of course not. I can’t pass judgment on the performance of a company with a limited number of domain names for a limited amount of time. If the service sucks or is bonkers, I won’t know if it’s the service, the names, seasonality, or a multitude of other factors beyond their control. It would be silly to test out a whole bunch of services when I can’t really determine why a test went well or went poorly.

Managing Your Own Landers Can be Difficult

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One of my favorite aspects of the business of domain investing is negotiating my own deals with prospective buyers. In order to generate some of my inbound leads, I operate a variety of my own landing pages and inquiry forms, supplemented by Efty landing pages.

There is a downside to operating my own landing pages and inquiry forms. I am fully responsible for all technical aspects of the landing pages – from their design to their resolution and functionality. This is something I do with the help of a developer, but a great deal of the management is on me.

Com Laude Hosting DotBrand Webinar with ICANN’s Andee Hill

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The second application round for new gTLD applications seems to be gearing up. ICANN has slowly been releasing new information about applying for a TLD in the 2nd round of applications. According to ICANN’s website, the next round of applications is expected to commence in April of 2026.

I couldn’t even take a guess at how many new TLD strings will be applied for, but I suspect a good portion of them will be brand-related TLDs. Some brands that weren’t created when the first round of applications started in 2012 as well as those that may have missed out will likely have an interest in applying for a brand matching TLD.

Diligence Tip: Remove the Domain Name from Email

I do diligence on a prospective buyer because I like to know who is on the other end of an inquiry/offer email. In general, most people will reply with their full name and email address. Some people may reply with a fictitious name or nickname to try and retain some level of anonymity. For the most part, prospects don’t completely obfuscate who they are.

For my inquiry forms, the only mandatory fields are name and email address. A person may use a fake name or nickname to shield their identity, but most won’t use a unique email address nor do they take the time to create one for the purpose of inquiring about a domain name.

Rocket.com Buyer Revealed

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In September, I reported on the sale of the Rocket.com domain name. Rocket.com was sold for an undisclosed amount of money in a deal overseen by Andrew Miller of Hilco Digital. Following the sale, the domain name was transferred to CSC under Whois privacy, leaving the identity of the buyer unknown.

I have been periodically visiting Rocket.com and checking for any Whois or nameserver updates to try and learn who acquired the domain name. This morning, a new landing page appeared on the domain name, and the buyer has been revealed – Rocket Companies, Inc.

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ICA Extends Nomination Deadline for 2 Industry Awards

1
The ICA is seeking nominations for two domain industry awards, and the nomination deadline has been extended to this coming Sunday (11/3). All members...

Why I Am Not Testing More Services

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A colleague emailed to ask me why I am not working with a specific landing page service he has been using. I neither have...

Managing Your Own Landers Can be Difficult

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One of my favorite aspects of the business of domain investing is negotiating my own deals with prospective buyers. In order to generate some...

Com Laude Hosting DotBrand Webinar with ICANN’s Andee Hill

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The second application round for new gTLD applications seems to be gearing up. ICANN has slowly been releasing new information about applying for a...

Diligence Tip: Remove the Domain Name from Email

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I do diligence on a prospective buyer because I like to know who is on the other end of an inquiry/offer email. In general,...