The second largest domain name sale of 2018 (to date) is the $900,000 sale of Great.com. The domain name was bought by a tech entrepreneur named Erik Bergman at this year's NamesCon live domain name auction on NameJet. Erik reached out to me discuss why he spent nearly seven figures on Great.com and to let me know how Great.com will be used by him.

Erik is an online entrepreneur who built a large business with a focus on affiliate marketing. His specialty has been SEO, conversion optimization, and email marketing, all of which help make someone make money through the affiliate channel. He co-founded a company called Catena Media, and Erik told me he and his partner took the company public in 2015. Erik did very well financially from the public offering, and this is what spurred him to think about charity and helping others. It is with this in mind that Erik acquired Great.com.

According to Erik, Great.com will be a commercial endeavor with the goal of giving away all of the proceeds to charitable causes. Here's what Erik told → Read More

The other day, I realized that NameJet still had the NamesCon link in its header, and now I know why. NameJet is re-auctioning a large group of domain names that did not sell during the NamesCon live or silent auction.

According to an email I received from NameJet announcing this "NamesCon 2018 Remix," there is a secondary auction made up of unsold NamesCon auction domain names. Many of the reserve prices have been lowered by their owners to help induce a sale. People who kept their backorders for auctions likely noticed the domain names coming up for sale again, but others may wish to take another look to see if the reduced reserve prices make some of the domain names more interesting.

Some of the better domain names that are coming up for auction again include the following: (more…) → Read More

.@CloudFest and #NamesCon India are returning to Mumbai on May 23 and 24! Registration will open later this month. In the meantime, learn about our partnership opportunities. https://t.co/zrcDQfgvyB pic.twitter.com/rZBccCWh10

— NamesCon (@NamesCon) March 9, 2018

In the wake of a successful NamesCon Global conference in Las Vegas last month, NamesCon organizers just announced that Domaining Europe is becoming NamesCon Europe. Domaining Europe founder Dietmar Stefitz will be retiring from producing the conference after this year’s show, and it will become a NamesCon event going forward.

NamesCon will now have three domain name specific events held annually throughout the world. NamesCon Global will continue to be held in the United States (Las Vegas) at the end of January, NamesCon India (which is a part of Cloudfest India) will be held in Mumbai, India in May, and NamesCon Europe will be held in June.

This year’s Domaining Europe conference will be held (more…) → Read More

One of the most popular and helpful keynote speeches at NamesCon was the one given by Paul Nicks, GM of the Aftermarket at GoDaddy. In his speech, Paul discusses how GoDaddy prices, sells, and manages its NameFind portfolio.

I was unable to attend the speech due to the conflicting ICA panel held at the same time as the keynote, so I have been hoping video of the keynote would be shared online. Joe Styler just tweeted about the video, and I embedded the keynote below for your viewing pleasure.

If you have questions for Paul in response to his keynote, you are welcome to share them in the comment section. I have not yet had the chance to watch the video, but I plan to watch it as soon as I have some free time.

→ Read More

I attended my fifth NamesCon this past week and have a special lapel pin to show it. As I have come to expect, the conference was top quality, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see friends and colleagues. This year's event seemed to run even more smoothly than ever, and the NamesCon organizers were on point throughout the event. Now that I am back home and rested, I want to share my NamesCon recap with you.

It is very important to note that I spent very little time in the panels and sessions. In fact, the ICA panel about UDRP proceedings was the only panel I attended - in addition to parts of the domain auction. For additional transparency, I should also add that I paid for my conference ticket right after last year's conference and NamesCon has been advertising on my blog.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, here are some thoughts I am back in the office: (more…) → Read More