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DomainFest Highlights Available Online

The DOMAINfest website has been updated with content from their January 2009 conference.

Visitors can now view a collage of photos taken at the event.   Also posted are full- length videos of each session so that attendees and non-attendees can benefit from the vision and advice of our expert panelists.   In addition, there are a number of written and video testimonials available. They give a flavor for the business-building and networking opportunities that DOMAINfest Global offered.

The links are:
http://www.domainfest.com/videos
http://www.domainfest.com/photos
http://www.domainfest.com/videotestimonials
http://www.domainfest.com/writtentestimonials

The updated website also mentions the feedback from the DFG post-event attendee survey.     Sample findings include:

–       97% of survey respondents rated DOMAINfest Global as valuable or extremely valuable.
–       87% rated the sessions and content as valuable or extremely valuable.
–       84% of respondents said that they were able to meet with industry leading vendors and service providers.
–       81% met new, influential business contacts.

The video of the fireside chat with Steve Wozniak, the keynoter and co-founder of Apple Computer, is also on the site. As many of you know, Steve has been in the news lately with his appearance on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Cool Feature on the New York Times

Perhaps it isn’t a new feature and I just haven’t noticed it before today, but when you highlight a word or phrase in a New York Times article (in Safari or Firefox), a small question mark graphic pop-ups. If you click on the graphic, it opens a new window with an Answers.com powered reference search.

The search results page includes dictionary definitions and other tidbits of information.   Instead of a visitor having to leave the site to find out what a particular word means, the NYT provides the answer – and monetizes it. At the top of the search box is PPC advertising powered by Google.

This is a neat feature that should generate additional revenue revenue, increase page views, and keep people on their site for a longer period of time. Smart thinking from the New York Times!

Losing a Domain is a Big Problem

Jumpkicks, Inc. is a development-stage company whose stock is traded on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board Market. The company is an online martial arts retailer that sells products, such as uniforms, shirts, equipment, mats, and other products related to martial arts. They also provide information of interest to martial artists and instructors. The company operates exclusively online.

Until May of 2008, the company operated online on Jumpkicks.com, however, something happened in May that caused the company to lose their primary domain name. A Whois search from April 15 revealed that the domain name wasn’t set to expire until March of 2009, so a forgotten renewal seems to be out of the question.

To remediate the situation, the company purchased other domain names and uploaded their website on to these new domain names: Jumpkicks.net, Jumpkicks.org, Jumpkicks.us, and Jumpkicks.info. The company is also pursuing other options to get their primary .com domain name back.

Unfortunately for Jumpkicks, they are now realizing just how important the .com domain name is to their company’s operations. Because of the situation, the publicly traded company was forced to note this in their a 10K/A filed today.

“Unfortunately, the domain name www.jumpkicks.com lent significant value to our company. The long history of the Site drew regular repeat traffic. We are now attempting to draw traffic to the new domain names, but we have thus far been unable to do so successfully. If we are not able to generate significant traffic, we will not be able to generate significant revenue to support our operations.”

This goes to show how important an established domain name is to a company and why many small companies with high value domain names are reluctant to sell their domain name and move it to a lesser known domain name.

FBS.com in Auction

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I saw a nice domain name up for auction at Snapnames today: FBS.com. At the moment, there are 5 hours remaining to bid. I can’t really suggest a use for the name, which is why I am not bidding, but there’s something about the name I like.

Bargain Domain Names

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I just created a new page on my blog called “Name Deals.” All names listed on that page are priced at under $50, and the list will be rotated and changed daily. I love researching and buying domain names, but I don’t have the time to develop everything I buy.

As with all of my domain sales, the first person to email me letting me know they want a particular name will get it. Payment should be made within 24 hours.

Quick Hits for the Weekend

Some quick (and informal) hits from the last week.

On Thursday, I was thisclose to buying a ticket to fly to Las Vegas for the Domain Madness finale. If it wasn’t for a trip to New Hampshire in a week, a cross country trip in 3 weeks, followed by a trip to Michigan right after, I would be at The Palms with the Domain Consultant crew.

SES is a great show with a lot of information for developers. If you can make one of the many shows, it’s worth attending. If you can’t afford to pay for the actual show (or if you don’t want to pay), get a free exhibition floor pass and meet with some of the companies that exhibit.

There have been more times in the past 2 weeks than I can ever remember where I started to respond to an ignorant/misinformed/stupid post on a domain forum and ended up deleting my post before hitting submit.

If you own a geodomain – especially if it’s a city, state, or country domain name, you NEED to be in San Diego for the GeoDomain Expo at the end of April. If you want to develop it, there are no better mentors and advisors than those who will be at the Expo (ie Dan, David/Mike, Skip, Jess, Fred, Mark, Sara, Josh, Shaun, Nat). If you are looking to partner (or maybe even sell), these people are your primary targets. I mean, who else are you going to turn to – newspapers? LOL. The agenda should be posted in the next few days, but no matter what the panels are, it’s the informal events that are best.

I am not investing in any .tel domain names. I simply don’t get the concept behind why I would want or need to have a .tel domain name, and if people don’t want/need them, investing in them will probably be a fruitless activity. If I want people to have all of my contact information, I make sure they have it. If someone can’t find my phone number or other contact information quickly, chances are very good that I don’t want that person to have it.

Speaking of .tel, have you noticed that most of the people who talk about alternative TLDs like these (ie mobi, asia, tv…etc) have significant investments in them? I don’t want to be an ambassador for an extension. It shouldn’t be the job of registrants to pump a particular extension.

I was very surprised to hear about Monster Venture Partners closing its doors. This is big news that will impact domainers in more of a trickle down affect, as the company invested in domain names and partnered with companies that own great domain names.

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