New TLD backers will be headed to a lot of tradeshows.

One of the larger booths at this year’s HostingCon conference is the .host booth, pictured below:

I’ve written about a number of domain name companies exhibiting at HostingCon this year, but there’s a big difference between .host and the others.

.Host isn’t at the conference trying to get web hosts to sell its services. It’s there because the people it wants to register its domains are the web hosts themselves.

We’re going to see a lot more of this direct-to-registrant marketing in the next couple years as many niche domains come to market.

How are you going to get .fishing, .camera, or .tattoo anywhere near the top of a domain registrar’s search results? It’s going to be rare. It will happen when the search term includes something related to these niches or if the registrar has data on the registrant suggesting they’re interested in this type of domain.

To really get in front of potential registrants for niche domains, registries will have to attend industry conferences, advertise in industry pubs, and use direct marketing.

.Fishing applicants might want to reserve a space at next year’s International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades show…

Tags: new tlds

New plan gives rights to existing domain registrants and offers lower pricing.

Nominet, the registry behind the .uk namespace for the United Kingdom, has put forth a new plan to offer second level domains to the public. Currently, registrations are only available at the third level.

The group’s previous proposal to offer domains such as example.uk instead of example.co.uk was shelved in February after a number of stakeholders lodged complaints about the program.

The earlier proposal wouldn’t have given priority to existing third level .uk domain holders. It also had a planned wholesale cost of £20 per domain per year, which is about ten times the cost of a third level registration.

The new plan, now open to community feedback, would give priority to the owner of a third level domain. If you own example.co.uk, .org.uk, etc. you’d get first dibs on example.uk. In the event that more than one of the same third level domains are registered (example.co.uk and example.org.uk), the holder of the oldest registered domain of the string would have senior rights.

Also, the price will be about £5.

This still places a burden on existing domain registrants, especially those with large portfolios. But it may strengthen the overall value of the .uk namespace, which will help domain investors that own .uk domains.

I don’t own any .uk domains, so I’m curious to hear from those that will be affected if this proposal becomes reality.

Tags: .uk domains, nominet

Sedo lets some clients send sales leads to different channels than Sedo’s marketplace.

An alert reader came across a parked page using Sedo that caught his attention.

Rather than Sedo’s standard message “The domain example.com may be for sale by its owner!” with a link to the listing on Sedo, the message looked like this:

Essentially, the owner of the domain is using Sedo parking but collecting sales leads itself.

I reached out to Sedo, which confirmed that this is an option on a case-by-case basis. The company doesn’t recommend it because it results in a lot of unqualified sales leads. (And of course, it bypasses Sedo’s sales system, too.)

Another thing I noticed about Sedo’s parked pages lately is that the “for sale” signs are getting more prominent. Customers have been asking for bigger sales messages for a while.

Here’s an example with the “for sale” message at the top.

Video explains a little-known tool for finding relevant buyers for domain names.

Over the years a number of tools have been developed to help domain owners find buyers for their domain names. These tools typically search for similar domains as well as online advertisers bidding for the terms found in the domain.

But the best tool for finding highly targeted buyers for your domains is often overlooked. Perhaps it’s because the tool wasn’t designed for this purpose, nor is it marketed as a way to find domain buyers.

In this video you’ll learn how to use DomainTools’ Domain Search tools to find highly targeted sales leads. The tool is free and doesn’t require a DomainTools account to use…although having an account unlocks an additional useful feature.

Tags: domaintools

Hardware cooperative makes shaky claims in UDRP against webhosting company.

I think the best way to start this UDRP analysis is with a couple screenshots.

First, here’s a shot of hardware cooperative True Value’s web site:

Now, here’s a screenshot for TrueValueWeb.com, which offers webhosting and internet technology services:

True Value filed a UDRP against TrueValueWeb.com and made some head-scratching assertions.

First, it claims that TrueValueWeb.com might cause confusion because it offers services similar to those of the hardware cooperative.

Selling saws and air conditioners is similar to selling webhosting?

True Value made this claim based on services it offers to its cooperative members, who are the many store owners using the True Value name. That seems like quite a stretch.

Second, True Value claimed that “the website found at the name presents the same coloration (i.e., red, black and white) – in connection with the term “TRUE VALUE WEB” – as is utilized by Complainant with respect to its mark.”

After comparing the screenshots (including ones from before the complaint was filed), I simply can’t figure out what this claim is based on.

Moreover, it appears True Value may have made a cease & desist mistake all to common in the rapid fire C&D business: it sent the wrong C&D letter.

According to the respondent, he received a cease & desist letter from True Value but it referenced a completely different domain name than TrueValueWeb.com.

The panel found that True Value failed to prove proven that the respondent didn’t have rights or legitimate interests in the domain name. Although it said it was not issuing an opinion on laches, it did write:

…the seven-and-a-half-year lag between disputed domain name registration and filing of the Complaint simply bolstered Respondent’s contention that he operates the name in connection with a bona fide offering of services.

Indeed, if there ever is a case to apply the doctrine of laches, its where a legitimate business would be destroyed by the complainant’s tardy actions.

True Value was represented by Merchant & Gould P.C. The respondent was represented by Bret S. Moore.

Tags: true value, udrp