Got an iPhone? You Must Have This Free App!

by Simon Johnson on April 24, 2012

 I’m very pleased to announce that we have just released our new FREE iPhone app called Domain Sales. We created the iPhone app to help grow the industry in the area of valuations and exposure to international markets. Improving Domain Valuations I’d like to see some solid financial modelling and rigour around domain valuations. Comparables [...]

New TLD’s – Google Debunks The Misconception

by Simon Johnson on March 15, 2012

 Yesterday I read an article in Marketing Magazine discussing the new top-level domains.  It stated: “Will a new TLD web address automatically be favoured by Google over a .com equivalent? Quite simply, yes it will.” I found it difficult to believe what I was reading, as the article contained no statements from Google. Fast forward [...]

Overstock Tells Investors O.CO Was A “Bad Call”

March 4, 2012

 The earnings call for Overstock has disclosed some interesting results for .co, but what does that really mean? By way of background, in 2010 Overstock purchased o.co for US $350,000 and indicated it would rebrand its business O.co. Fast forward to 2012 and here are some extracts from their earnings call transcript: “O.co was my [...]

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Google Retires Adsense For Domains

February 23, 2012

 Google has announced that they will retire their hosted domain product within Adsense. Effective immediately, publishers cannot use the product and it will no longer be available for existing users by June 27. This might come as a shock to some, but not to others, as last year Google announced their “parked domain classifier“, which [...]

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New Regulator Guide Shakes Up Industry

February 21, 2012

 Australian regulator ASIC has just published a guide with far reaching implications for Internet Marketers, domain name investors and social media experts. Titled “Advertising financial products and advice services: Good practice guidance”, the document applies to any medium, and specifically singles out “webpages, banner advertisements, video streaming (e.g. YouTube), and social networking and microblogging (e.g. [...]

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Google Targets Parked Domains

December 4, 2011

 Google has announced a new “parked domain classifier”. “This is a new algorithm for automatically detecting parked domains. Parked domains are placeholder sites that are seldom useful and often filled with ads. They typically don’t have valuable content for our users, so in most cases we prefer not to show them.“ This statement somewhat contradicts [...]

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Media Coverage of auDA Election

September 30, 2011

 It’s great to see both the industry and the media getting involved in the auDA Election. The Domain Industry News Magazine, DNJournal has posted this great article. This is a small extract; I’d encourage you to visit DNJournal and read the article. Quote: “The only candidate from the domain investment community running for one of [...]

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auDA To Change Monetisation Policy

September 19, 2011

 The 2010/2011 Names Policy Panel made a number of recommendations regarding domain name monetisation to the auDA Board. This submission was made to the auDA Board in August. Since then, many domain name owners have been eagerly awaiting the auDA Board Minutes. After approximately a month of waiting, the minutes have been published on the [...]

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Candidate Statement – 2011 auDA Board Election

September 17, 2011

 New auDA members have asked me to publish a detailed candidate statement, informing them of where I stand on a variety of issues. If I had to summarise it, I’d say that I’ll work in the public interest and constructively with the Board, towards the following outcomes: Reduce regulation and grow the .au marketplace Decrease [...]

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Holding ICANN Accountable

August 29, 2011

 ICANN – good in theory, but it’s failed the public. The original intent of serving “the public interest”  has been lost. Esther Dyson recently summed it up perfectly. It was so good in fact, I decided to post it here: “Most of the people active in setting ICANN’s policies are involved somehow in the domain-name [...]

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