Best Forum Moderator Is…

Elliot Silver
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8

I asked you to nominate the best domain industry forum moderators, and you guys nominated five, and you then voted on the nominees. After the votes were tallied, there was only a difference of about 30 votes between the top vote getter and the final nominee.

I want to congratulate Donna Mahony of Domain Boardroom (a private domain forum) for receiving the most votes. I will send Donna a check for $200 for winning the vote.

Congratulations to all of the nominees, and a special congratulations to Donna. Being a moderator isn’t easy, but the job they do is appreciated by all of us who participate on domain forums.

If you want to learn more about Donna, you can check out an interview I posted a while ago.

$200 Contest: Your Favorite Domain Forum Moderator

Elliot Silver
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41

The last cash contest I ran was a pretty big hit, so I am going to run another contest. I’ve said in the past that being a domain forum moderator isn’t an easy job, can cause personal and business conflicts, and it doesn’t generally pay well (if anything).

Forum moderators need to be able to  diffuse  problems effectively and maintain good relationships with people who may question their decisions and be rude to them in response to doing their job. Put simply, domain forum moderators have a difficult job for which they aren’t compensated very well.

I am seeking out your nominations for the best domain industry forum moderator. I will then run a poll with the nominees, and the winner of the vote will receive $200 from me via Paypal or check. No strings attached.

I will post the voting rules once the poll is up in a few days, but you are welcome to nominate a moderator in the comment section below. Feel free to post the person’s user name and the forum to be counted. Someone only needs to be nominated once to be eligible. Please only submit one nomination or your comment will be deleted.

Nominations will close on Friday, July 13th in the evening (my time) and the poll will be posted sometime early next week. I am currently traveling, so comments may take a bit longer to approve than usual.

Best Rates for .ORG Domain Names

Elliot Silver
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3

As I mentioned earlier, there is a  .ORG price increase tomorrow, July 1, 2012. The Public Interest Registry, the organization that manages the .ORG registry, is raising prices, and domain registrars will almost certainly follow suit.

I have listed the current .ORG prices at leading domain registrars as of this afternoon, and I would bet most of the prices will increase tomorrow.  You may be able to get better rates if you transfer instead of hand register names, and some customers of registrars are able to get better rates based on their relationship with the registrar.

Here are the current advertised .ORG prices on hand registrations (not logged in to any of my accounts):

  • Dynadot – $9.75
  • Enom – $13.95
  • Euro DNS – $23.75
  • Fabulous – $9.49
  • Go Daddy – $6.99
  • Moniker – $8.82
  • NameCheap – $10.69
  • Name.com – $9.99
  • Network Solutions – $34.99
  • Register.com – $35.00

There are some discount / promo codes and coupons that you can find, so look around to get better rates on registrations and transfers. You can also probably get better pricing on larger order. There are just a few hours to go before prices will most likely increase.

Web.com To Sponsor PGA Tour

Elliot Silver
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2


As you can see from the embedded tweet, Web.com has announced a 10 year sponsorship of the PGA Tour. In a blog post  posted this morning on its website, Web.com “signed a 10-year contract with the PGA to become the title sponsor of the newly renamed Web.com Tour.” The Tour was previously known as the Nationwide Tour.

This is pretty good news for domain name investors, as it will certainly bring additional attention to domain names. The great thing about the PGA Tour (in my opinion) is that many business decision makers watch golf tournaments, and any time attention is brought to domain names, it’s a very good thing.

Go Daddy has done very well with its sports sponsorships, and it seems that the company continues to increase its visibility, with auto racing, Super Bowl, bull riding and other sporting event sponsorships and marketing campaigns. 1 & 1 has also been advertising during popular sporting events, although the focus seems to be on small business websites in its commercials.

Web.com’s primary focus is on business websites, and in the last couple of years, the company acquired Register.com and Network Solutions.

.Org Prices to Increase on July 1

Elliot Silver
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3

Public Interest Registry (PIR), the domain registry that manages .org domain names, will be raising the wholesale prices for .org domain names on July 1st, 2012. Most domain registrars typically follow suit, and the amount of the price increase generally depends on where you register domain names.

Domain registrars have been sending out emails to clients, and registrars like NameCheap have also been blogging about the price increase. While the increase isn’t much, it can be a burden for people and companies that hold a significant number of .org domain names.

There are a couple of ways you can save money though. First, you can renew, register, or transfer your .org domain names for the 2012 price prior to the July 1 price increase. A second way to save money is to see if your preferred registrar is running any .org registration or renewal deals in advance of the deadline. I’ve found that companies may run special offers to encourage customers to renew for several years to save money.

After June 30, prices on .org domain names will be going up, so if you have any in your portfolio, now is a good time to renew them.

Thank You For Helping Me Support a Great Organization

Elliot Silver
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2

Yesterday morning, I offered the opportunity for three companies to post a guest post on my blog in exchange for a donation to Ronald McDonald House, a non-profit organization that helps children with cancer and their families. Since I learned about RMH, it’s been my favorite organization to support.

Within hours after posting my offer, three companies have reserved the guest posts, and I want to say thank you in advance for their support. Thank you to Peter Askew of DudeRanch.com, Go Daddy, and iWhois.com for each agreeing to donate $500 to my fundraising effort on behalf of Ronald McDonald House in exchange for a guest post on my blog.

The blog posts will appear on my blog sometime in the next few weeks.

Thanks to them and to you for continuing to read and visit my blog! If you want to help Ronald McDonald House, I invite you to donate today. We’re getting closer to the $10,000 fundraising goal, and I thank you for helping me help them.

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