Clint Boulton runs with Domain Name Wire speculation and digs for the facts.

Citing Domain Name Wire’s speculation of a possible Google acquisition of GoDaddy, eWEEK writer Clint Boulton chased down Bob Parsons and a few analysts to vet the theory.

In Boulton’s article, Google-GoDaddy Marriage on Tap?, Parsons alludes to an expanding relationship with Google:

When asked whether Google and GoDaddy are working on expanding their existing relationship or discussing a union, GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons told eWEEK August 27: “I have no comment on that, but I’d like to.”

Parsons noted that GoDaddy remains the “back end for the Google Apps for Your Domains” offering. Moreover, Parsons said GoDaddy provides Google AdWords opportunities to millions of customers, as well as “tools they can use to optimize their Web sites for Google.”

Asked if Google and GoDaddy are making a lot of money from this practice, Parsons said, “I know Google likes it.”

Although Parsons talked, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) wouldn’t take the bait, instead only responding with a generic statement about the value of partnerships.

GoDaddy is the world’s largest registrar, with about 20 million domain names under management. It has filed for dozens of patents covering everything from helping an entrepreneur launch a business to VoIP to email management. It also filed for a patent that is right up Google’s alley: presenting search results based in part on the reputation of the domain name and its owner.

Latest Domain Name Industry Brief from VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) shows continue growth in domain names.

VeriSign has released its quarterly report on domain names and says there are now 138M registered domains across all top level domains (TLDs) — that’s 31% more than this time last year. The number of registrations in Q2 2007 hit an all time high with 14.5M new domain name registrations.

Much of the growth is attributed to .cn, the country code domain (ccTLD) for China. There are roughly 6M .cn domain names registered, out of 50M country code domains registered (including .de, .uk, etc.) total.

VeriSign estimates that 10% of new domain names registered are purchased with the sole intent of being monetizied through domain parking. 23% of domain names are currently parked, although VeriSign defines “parked” as having only one page. Many advanced parked sites have multiple pages and may not be included in that total.

The report did not mention the pending wholesale price increase for .com domains. VeriSign is jacking up prices 7% this October. VeriSign’s take on new .com domains will be $6.42. Registrars also pay a $.20 ICANN fee, bringing the cost up to $6.62 per year per domain. If you own a large portfolio of domain names, you should consider renewing your domains before October.

A domain name overview for newbies.

Last night I led a discussion for the web subgroup of Bootstrap Austin, an organization for people starting or running a bootstrapped business. I discussed finding the right domain name for their businesses without breaking the bank. Here’s the outline I provided.

Rules to live by when selecting a domain

• Never use a hyphen
• Always a .com
• If domain includes a digit, include the spelled out version as well (and vice-versa), e.g. 8ball.com and EightBall.com
• Avoid Web 2.0 spellings (FlickEr.com gets 150,000 visitors a month!)

Radio test: If someone heard your domain, would they know how to spell it and can they remember it?

Reading test: What’s wrong with these domain names?

ExpertsExchange.com
TherapistFinder.com

These rules aren’t just for marketing purposes. There are security concerns as well, like customers accidentally emailing confidential information to the non-hyphen or .com version of your domain. So…even if you don’t count on the web for business leads, you should follow these guidelines.

The domain I want is taken, what can I do?

Find out if the domain is offered for sale. Go to DomainTools.com and search for the domain. At the top of the search result it may say:

Buy now: This domain is listed for sale at $750.00 on Sedo & Afternic

That means you can go to Sedo.com or Afternic.com and make an offer to buy the domain. The $750 price is just a minimum; the seller might want much more.

If the domain isn’t listed for sale, e-mail or call the owner using information from the Whois database (available at any registrar) to see if they are interested in selling. Keep this in mind:

1. Don’t threaten the current owner, saying you have ‘rights’ to the name
2. Avoid acting too eager, e.g. ‘I’ve already spent $10,000 developing a site that will use this name’
3. Don’t send the email from your corporate email address if you are with a big company (the owner will ask for more money)

What if the owner doesn’t respond?

1. E-mail them again (or call)
2. State an offer amount in the e-mail. This will often get a response because they’ll know you’re serious (or laugh at your offer).
3. If your initial email bounced and the phone number is incorrect, complain to the registrar about invalid Whois data. They will try to contact the registrant and have them update it.

Keep in mind that a domain owner doesn’t have to sell. They also don’t have to respond. Some won’t even consider selling unless you offer $100k+.

How much should I offer for a domain?

“It depends”. Many good domain names are available for under $5,000. It all depends on the seller and the quality of the name. If you have a few options, you can likely get one of your choices for a few thousand dollars. Generally, I wouldn’t pay for a ‘domain name appraisal’

How should I pay for a domain?

If it’s a significant amount of money, consider using an escrow service. I recommend Afternic (3% fee) or Escrow.com.

Where should I register domains?

GoDaddy is the most popular, but also gets a lot of complaints (including taking away a domain from an Austin bootstrap member due to invalid whois data). I recommend Moniker. If you own lots of domains, I’ll connect you with my account manager and you can get $6.95 pricing.

Resources for finding and buying domains

• DomainTools.com
• DomainNameWire.com
• NameBoy.com
• Sedo.com
• Afternic.com
• SnapNames.com (expired domains)

Domain Name Wire articles worth reading

Domain scams to avoid

Why you should keep your Whois data up-to-date

Schilling will lead session at January’s DOMAINfest conference in Hollywood, California.

DOMAINfest announced that legendary domainer Frank Schilling will lead the first ever “Domainer Town Hall Meeting” at the DOMAINfest conference in Hollywood, California January 21-23, 2008. The DOMAINfest conference is presented by domain name parking company DomainSponsor.

The conference will also include an auction in “an innovative new format”, according to conference organizers. Jay Westerdal’s Name Intelligence pushed the envelope with technology at its recent Domain Roundtable conference; it will be interesting to see what innovation DOMAINfest brings to the auction process.

The conference will include a number of sessions to help domainers hone their business skills including negotiation, tax, and finance.

The early bird registration rate for the conference is $595 and ends this Friday. Rates will increase to $795 on September 1. However, DomainSponsor customers who earn $2,500 with the program between December 1, 2007 and March 1, 2008, will receive a rebate for the entire conference fee.

It’s nice to see the conference organizers planning well in advance. It seems like many of these conferences are thrown together at the last minute with agendas not being published until the week before.

More information and registration information is available at www.DOMAINfest.com.

Here’s a review of the most popular stories this month on Domain Name Wire (ranked by page views).

#1: CreditCards.com files for IPO – you heard it on Domain Name Wire first. CreditCards.com, the company, is going public at a valuation hundreds that of the domain’s price just a couple years ago.

#2: Tucows Revenue Falls Short, Stock Tumbles – Tucows was one of several domain name related stocks to take a hit this month.

#3: DomainSponsor Dumps Paychex – Domain name parking company DomainSponsor announced that it was nixing its outsourced payments provider, Paychex, and bringing payments back in house.

#4: Communicate.com Stock Plummets, Joins Tucows, Marchex – remember that story about Tucows? Yeah, Communicate.com took a hit too.

#5 – $200,000 Sofa.com Domain May Have Been Stolen By Employee – here’s a warning to anyone buying a big ticket domain name.

Honorable mention goes to these articles, which received less traffic but many comments:

GoDaddy Files Patent for “Domain Name Expiration Protection” – discusses GoDaddy’s patent strategy. Will Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) buy GoDaddy?

Domain Name Panel Addresses Revenue Multiples, Potential Market Bubble – report on market views from Domain Roundtable in Seattle.

Why Is There No Transparency for Domain Parking Ads? – Google hides data about domain parking. This is bad for the industry.