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GoDaddy to Retire SmartName This Month

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In 2013, GoDaddy acquired Afternic and SmartName. SmartName is a domain name monetization platform founded by Larry Fischer and Ari Goldberger. SmartName has continued to operate post-acquisition, and I use it to monetize some of my domain names that perform better there than elsewhere.

When I logged into my SmartName account yesterday afternoon, I noticed a message informing customers that SmartName is going to be retired later on this month. Accounts will be migrated to GoDaddy’s CashParking service, a similar type of domain name monetization platform.

Aruba.com Featured on Every License Plate in Aruba

My wife and I took our kids to Aruba after she finished running the Boston Marathon last week. Neither of us had been to Aruba, and we wanted to explore somewhere in the Caribbean neither of us had visited before.

Using ChatGPT to Modify a Landing Page

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I use Carrd for the landing pages for many of my higher value one and two word .com domain names. I don’t know the exact number of landing pages, but it’s probably more than 25. I’ve created and modified a few similar but different versions of the landing pages with the goal of driving traffic to the inquiry form on Embrace.com.

I have owned Receivables.com for a year or two. I have used a fairly simple landing page created with the help of Carrd, figuring prospective buyers would know why they want it and submit an offer via the inquiry form.

You can look at a screenshot of how Receivables.com has looked for quite some time:

Andrew Miller Turns Random Sunday Thoughts into LinkedIn Newsletter

Andrew Miller has been sharing a regular post on LinkedIn each week called Random Sunday Thoughts. In each Sunday morning edition, Andrew has shared a mix of insights and news. There is a heavy focus on the domain industry and his Hilco Digital Assets business in particular.

Typically, I would see Andrew share a link on X to his LinkedIn post, but I likely missed a few when I wasn’t online Sunday mornings. Recently, Andrew converted Random Sunday Thoughts into a (free) LinkedIn newsletter subscription, making it easier to access the series. It also appears that he shares even more insights within the subscription posts. Andrew shared his third subscription post this morning.

I don’t have many LinkedIn subscriptions, but I just subscribed to Andrew’s RSL series because I appreciate reading his domain industry insights. Now, it’s easier to read them when I can.

Icon.com Acquired for $12 Million

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Icon.com was recently acquired for $12 million, according to a LinkedIn post from the startup’s Founder, Kennan Davison. The domain name is being used by a new company branded as Icon, which bills itself as “the world’s first AI CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).

Icon.com was acquired in a deal overseen by Andrew Miller of ATM Holdings and Hilco Digital Assets, representing the seller, and by Lumis, representing the buyer.

Once DNJournal and NameBio add this sale to their year to date publicly reported domain name sales reports, it will easy move into the top spot for 2025, year to date. I have already added it to the list of recent one word .com domain name sales I maintain on Embrace.com. The sale ranks just below the 2024 $14 million sale of Rocket.com, which was also overseen by Hilco Digital Assets.

Here’s Kennan Davison’s full post about Icon and its brand matching Icon.com domain name:

DropCatch Auctions No Longer Close on Weekends

I wrote about the Mine.com auction on DropCatch.com earlier today. One of the things that stood out to me is the five day auction. As far as I have known, auctions on that platform are three days. They are only briefly extended when bids are placed in the final moments.

I reached out to Andrew Reberry, Co-Founder of the company that operates the platform, and he informed me of a change that was recently made. Auctions on DropCatch.com will no longer conclude on Saturdays or Sundays.

Here’s what Andrew told me:

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