Rightside

Steve Banfield Interviewed on SocalTECH

Rightside GroupSteve Banfield is the SVP and GM of Registrar Services at Rightside, and in that role, he works closely with eNom and Name.com, as well as resellers such as Namecheap. Although Rightside is a new company, it was created with the domain name services arm of Demand Media, and it is in the process of being completely  spun off from DMD.

Steve Banfield is in a fairly unique position within the domain industry, as he is intimately familiar with new gTLD registry operations as well as registrar operations. Rightside has applied for and will be managing several new gTLD extensions via its Rightside Registry arm, and it owns domain name registrars and manages domain name resellers. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other person (Frank Schilling) that is as intimately involved with both registry and registrar operations.

With all that said, I think an interview with Steve Banfield that was posted today on SocalTECH.com is well worth a read, specifically for people who are involved in the business of domain investing.  Some of the topics Banfield discusses in the interview include:

Rightside Announces One.Menu Product

One of the things I believe may help make the new gTLD domain names more appealing to small businesses is if there are special products or services associated with the TLD that can only be used in conjunction with a particular TLD. Rightside, through a proprietary (yet to be named) platform, will be offering One.Menu, a product targeting restaurants who want to operate websites on .Menu domain names that allow people to easily see dining menus no matter what browser they are using.

Many restaurants have trouble displaying their menus on their website without having to use pdf files. The One.Menu product will allow restaurants to create customer friendly websites with an easy to use website editing tool. There are many designs that restaurants can choose from, and it looks like it will be easy to add products, descriptions, pricing, and photos. The product will be especially helpful for restaurants to create mobile-friendly menus and menus that can be viewed on phones, desktop computers, tablets, and other devices.

Although Rightside is

What Does SnapNames Acquisition Mean for Domain Investors?

On Friday evening, I reported that two Web.com employees tweeted that Web.com had acquired SnapNames, a once thriving domain auction platform. SnapNames may still be thriving, but truthfully, I have not participated or followed very many auctions on the platform in a few years. This morning, Web.com officially announced the acquisition in a press release, although terms of the deal were not disclosed.

From my perspective, in the last few years, SnapNames became more well known for its private domain auctions rather than its expiring domain auctions. I remember when SnapNames reported “bonkers” sales numbers for expiring domain names. The numbers may say otherwise, but that’s what it seems like to me anyway. When thinking about expiring domain auction houses though, I still consider NameJet, SnapNames, and GoDaddy to be the “big three,” again keeping in mind that I almost exclusively use NameJet these days.

For a while now, SnapNames has maintained one of the

Super Bowl Bet: Name.com vs. Enom

As I predicted last week when the Broncos and Seahawks won their respective conference championships to earn the right to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday, Name.com and Enom have been sharing some fun banter before the game. They also have a Super Bowl bet that seems like a lot of fun for both companies, and they are sharing special offers and discounts for customers.

If the Denver Broncos win the Super Bowl (Name.com is located in Denver), Name.com’s  Jared Ewy will visit Enom’s Seattle area headquarters and run the office for the day. In his words, “I’ll have their management bring me coffee and snacks, and occasionally— like every 10 minutes, I’ll shout OMAHA and everyone will have to switch desks. If you don’t know who I am, then here’s a sneak peak at  my leadership style.”

If the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl,

United TLD Rebrands as Rightside Registry

rightside_registry_logoUnited TLD, a division of publicly traded Demand Media (DMD), applied to manage more than 25 new gTLD domain extensions. Yesterday, the company announced that it is rebranding and will now be called Rightside Registry.

As you are likely aware, Demand Media is splitting off its domain companies and assets into a new company called Rightside, which DMD hopes will become publicly traded. A couple of weeks ago, DMD  filed a  Form 10 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to move this process along.

I do not believe that Rightside Registry will

Namecheap Announces Redesigned Website & Logo Update

NamecheapNamecheap is a domain registrar that has a considerable following with enthusiastic client supporters. As Domain Incite reported this morning, Namecheap is also “in the top 10 largest registrars in terms of domains under management, judging by data in regulatory documents filed by eNom parent Rightside.” Namecheap just announced a major website redesign along with an updated logo.

The company sent out an email to clients and press this morning announcing some of the changes, most of which appear to be focused on the design to help make it easier to find and purchase products and services. The website’s responsive design self-optimizes for the user depending on his or her browser type and size. For me, the website is loading very fast, although I can’t really compare it to the previous iteration of the Namecheap website.

According to the company, “It will be easier to purchase services from Namecheap, from domain names, to web hosting programs, to SSL certificates, and more. The process should be faster as well as code has been optimized for an expedited experience.”

I really like the logo change and color scheme. Previously, the Namecheap logo had a yellowish green icon and black logotype. The new logo is a two-toned orange, and the logotype has changed just a bit. Namecheap is now all lowercase and is in a grey font. The company didn’t add the .com to the logo before, and that has carried over to the new logo.

The full press release announcing the update is below. Congratulations to the Namecheap team on this relaunch.

Domain name registrar and web host Namecheap has launched a new redesign for 2014.
http://www.namecheap.com [Web host and domain name registrar] Namecheap.com has unveiled its newest redesign, focusing on the latest in design achievements while also sporting a friendly and intuitive interface that is responsive and thus accessible from all types of devices.

“The Internet is all about the people who comprise it. The Internet is used by people to tell stories, reach their goals, and execute their ideas,” Richard Kirkendall, CEO of Namecheap said. “Namecheap is here to help, reworking our design to best fit this purpose and to respond to the users’ goals and challenges.”

It will be easier to purchase services from Namecheap, from domain names, to web hosting programs, to SSL certificates, and more. The process should be faster as well as code has been optimized for an expedited experience.

About Namecheap
Namecheap is a Los Angeles-based ICANN-accredited domain registrar founded in 2000 by CEO Richard Kirkendall. With over 1,000,000 clients and millions of domain under management, Namecheap is one of the top domain registrars and web hosting providers in the world. Find out more by visiting us at http://www.namecheap.com.

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