ComWired: Helping Domainers & Developers

Elliot Silver
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Sean Stafford is at it again. Every few months, it seems that Sean is building something helpful to domainers, and I think his new service, ComWired.com can help domainers and domain developers.

The DNS service is billed as a way to split up a domain name’s traffic depending on where the traffic originates.   For example, if you have a parked domain name that receives traffic from the US, Mexico, Japan, China and Russia, you can choose where to send traffic from each country, depending on where you find that it can be monetized better.   This is a neat concept for domain investors, but it can similarly work for domain developers, too.

Portland.com is the online guide to Portland, Oregon. Being from New Hampshire, when I hear Portland.com, I immediately think of Portland, Maine. Knowing the brains behind Portland.com, I am sure they analyzed their traffic to know that its looking for information about Portland, Oregon rather than Maine, however, I am sure there is some traffic looking for information about Portland, Maine.

With help from ComWired.com, the owners can detect where the traffic is coming from, and if it’s coming from New England cities, hypothetically, they can send it to Portland.com/Maine, which would theoretically have a site all about the city in Maine. All other traffic can be sent to the main (ha ha) site where they would find information about Portland, Oregon. This could also be effective for country based geodomains.

I should add ComWired.com can only split up traffic by country at the moment, but they expect to be able to split it by city in a few short weeks.   For now, the service is free to use, although that will probably change in the future.

DNJournal’s Ron Jackson Interviewed by ABC News

Elliot Silver
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DNJournal’s Ron Jackson made the mainstream press again, this time in an interview with ABC News regarding the Toys.com sale to Toys R Us in last week’s bankruptcy auction.   It’s good to see mainstream coverage of the domain business, and I am glad news outlets continue to seek out Ron Jackson for his expert opinion.

Good News for Gambling Domain Owners

Elliot Silver
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According to an article appearing in Reuters today, it looks like Democratic lawmakers may be pushing for an end to the ban on Internet gambling to quell anger from the European Union. If this happens, owners of gambling domain names may be more free to monetize them and have higher payouts.

From the article:

“A senior Democratic lawmaker will push legislation this year to repeal a U.S. ban on Internet gambling that has hurt trade ties with the European Union, a congressional aide said.

“The bill introduction should happen in the next month,” a spokesman for House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said.”

Two New Features I like About Domaining.com

Elliot Silver
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There are two new features I really like about Domaining.com. The first is that I can now filter the blogs and domain news sources I want to read from those that I don’t. There seems to be data overload in the domain space, and it’s annoying when I miss a good article from someone I respect because it got pushed down by articles I avoid.

The second feature I like and could probably create on my own (but don’t) is the Twitter feed with “domain” as the keyword. Any time someone posts a Twitter update and it contains the word “domain,” it is featured on Domaining.com.

There have been a few times where people ask simple domain related questions that can be answered by an industry pro. This can open new doors and lead to new introductions. There have also been plenty of times where people are critical of domain owners, calling them squatters and other uninformed comments. This creates a good opportunity to educate.

As far as Twitter goes, I am just a rookie but am quickly learning about the power it has. People across every walk of life use Twitter, and it gives unparalleled access into places you might never have imagined going.

Marchex Layoffs Announced

Elliot Silver
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Although they don’t consider themselves domainers, Marchex owns thousands of domain names, and the company is one of the few publicly traded domain-related companies. This morning, Marchex announced that the company is laying off 15 employees, about 4% of its workforce.

They also announced a couple of senior management changes, naming Peter Christothoulou Chief Operating Officer and Matthew Berk Executive Vice President of Product Engineering.   In November, Mike Berkens blogged about Marchex and how it’s market cap was just slightly more than the total amount they paid for Yun Yee’s portfolio. While the stock price has increased since Mike’s post, the economy is still taking a toll on the company.

Bloggers Soapbox on WebmasterRadio.FM

Elliot Silver
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Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI had the great opportunity to participate in the Bloggers Soapbox on the Domain Masters show on WebmasterRadio.FM. Victor Pitts from Moniker filled in for Monte Cahn as the host, and I was interviewed along with Mike Berkens and Michael Gimour.

A transcript of the show has been posted on WebmasterRadio.FM, and I appreciate the opportunity speak tonight.

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