Trump .Sucks the Most

October 15, 2018

VoxPopuli, the company that owns and operates the .Sucks domain name registry, is hosting a .Sucks domain name contest. Here’s what I was told about the contest:

“Starting today, the company announced a marketing rebate of 99 percent on new registrations, and complimentary web hosting for a year to whoever creates the most creative, original personal business or cause-related URL. Winners will be announced on November 14, December 15, and January 15, 2019, which is the day the promotion ends.”

Not surprisingly, I was also told the most popular registration theme entry in 2017 was Donald Trump related domain names. I guess people think he “.Sucks” the most. I would not be surprised if the same theme hold true again this year, although US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh could potentially give President Trump a run for his money.

For those who are interested in entering the contest, the press release and details are below. More information about the contest, along with important details and disclaimers, can be found on the contest website, TellUsWhat.Sucks.

Personally, I think the contest prize could be a bit more inspiring than a 99% rebate and free hosting, but I wouldn’t enter the contest either way so my opinion probably doesn’t matter much.

Press release:

Apple Marketing New iPhones on a .Apple Domain Name

Elliot Silver

September 21, 2018

Apple is now using its .Apple domain name extension in a meaningful way.

According to an article written by Benjamin Mayo in 9to5Mac, Apple is using Experience.Apple as a marketing tool for its new line of iPhones, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. From the article:

“Apple is using its own top-level domain in a major way for the first time. Visit http://experience.apple/iphone/ on a mobile device to see the new microsite for iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.”

A Google search for “site:.Apple” shows just two other .Apple domain names indexed: Newsroom.Apple and Nic.Apple. The newsroom url forwards to a page within Apple.com, and it is primarily used as a link sharing url. The Nic url also forwards to a page within Apple’s .com website that discusses the .Apple TLD policies.

Surprisingly, the company

.NYC Running “Best of Boroughs” Contest with $25k in Prizes

Elliot Silver

September 4, 2018

Neustar, the company that operates the .NYC registry, is running a contest to help promote its .NYC extension locally. The contest is dubbed the “Best of Boroughs,” and it will award five prizes in the amount of $5,000 each. There will be one winner chosen from each of New York City’s five boroughs (Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island).

The contest is for people and organizations who use a .NYC domain name for their website. Here’s how the contest is described:

Best of the Boroughs in a citywide contest that celebrates the local businesses, organizations and community individuals that make our city, and each borough, a unique place to live. These individuals love the City so much it’s in their web address.

Entrants across NYC will submit applications on what makes their .nyc business, website, store, organization or idea the best of their borough. There will be one winner chosen from each of the five boroughs and named the Best of Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens or Staten Island, depending on the borough in which they reside.

The contest is open to “any business or entity with a working .nyc website in use prior to 9/4/2018.” I am sure there are

.ForSale Domain Names Bought for Political Reasons

Elliot Silver

July 23, 2018

There’s an interesting Associated Press article published by the New York Times this morning discussing the purchase of .ForSale domain names for political purposes. “The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee acknowledged to the AP that it had quietly purchased the addresses, which use a new internet suffix “forsale,” in March for at least 27 incumbent senators facing re-election this fall and in 2020, without telling the senators,” wrote the AP.

According to the article, the implication was going to be made that some US Senators were “for sale.” Now that these domain registrations have been revealed publicly in advance of launching websites, I would imagine it will be unlikely that we will see these domain names used, marketed, or publicized – unless someone else picks up the torch somewhere.

As I carefully navigate the often murky territory of discussing politics on my

Donuts Announces 6 Figure .News Deal

Elliot Silver

July 12, 2018

In a press release published this morning, Donuts announced a six figure sale involving a package of .News domain names. The health and environmental domain names were acquired in late 2017 by a company called WebSeed, Inc., which launched websites on them earlier this year. The domain names that were sold in this package deal are:

Science.News
Food.News
Health.News
Medicine.News
Pollution.News
Cancer.News
Climate.News

Donuts did not share the individual sale prices for these domain names, nor did they comment on the price of the package beyond saying it was “a six-figure price.”

I think deals like this benefit the registry for two reasons. Not only does Donuts get revenue from the sale, but perhaps more importantly, it controls who is buying the domain names. This allows the company to understand how the domain names will be used, and the usage could provide benefits to the extension once they gain awareness. The registry can choose who gets to buy its “Platinum” (registry-reserved) domain names, which can be based on factors of its own choosing.

According to the press release, these sites are ranking well in search engines “[D]ue in part to the sites’ names matching popular organic search terms.” It’s an interesting observation in light of Google’s downplaying of the importance of keyword domain names, as discussed in this SEOBook article. I still think keywords help play a role in rankings, especially when it comes to fully developed websites.

Here’s the press release I was sent:

Largest ICO Uses a New gTLD Domain Name

Elliot Silver

June 1, 2018

To date, the largest ICO (initial coin offering) in terms of funding raised is a company that operates on a new gTLD domain name. A company called Block.One, which utilizes a .One domain name, raised over $4 billion in its ICO, according to an article in CNBC:

A Cayman Islands start-up has raised $4 billion, eclipsing the world’s biggest initial public offerings on stock exchanges this year. But its flagship product is not even live yet. https://t.co/QUpQMbIhtq

— CNBC (@CNBC) June 1, 2018

The $4 billion that was raised outpaces every stock exchange IPO (initial public offering) and other ICOs.

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New gTLD

Trump .Sucks the Most

Apple Marketing New iPhones on a .Apple Domain Name

.NYC Running “Best of Boroughs” Contest with $25k in Prizes

.ForSale Domain Names Bought for Political Reasons

Donuts Announces 6 Figure .News Deal

Largest ICO Uses a New gTLD Domain Name

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