Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News & Website Stuff

Domain Name Industry News and Website Stuff

Featured Domains

CIRA wants patent for registry “tag” system

by — Services 0 Comments

Canada’s ccTLD administrator files patent application related to aspects of its Fury registry platform.

CIRA has applied for a patent related to its Fury registry management platform.

Canadian Internet Registration Authority, the group that manages Canada’s .CA domain name and has started offering registry services to other TLDs, has filed a patent application covering aspects of its Fury registry platform.

The organization filed a patent application (pdf) with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “Registry Domain Name Management”.

The idea is to create a centralized way for registries to add “tags” to domain names. These tags may affect how domain transactions (e.g., registrations) can be handled.

For example, a domain name might have a premium price tag. When a registrar uses EPP to try to register the domain, the tag info will be pulled from a database to notify the registrar of the price. Click here to continue reading…

Share
Share
+1
Email

Used Canned Responses to make common emails faster in Gmail

by — Services 1 Comment

More useful that Smart Reply, Canned Responses let you insert text you frequently use in emails.

Gmail recently introduced Smart Reply, a way to make it easy to respond to emails with short answers generated by Google. While these are very helpful, Gmail users should also look at Canned Responses to speed up their email tasks.

Canned Responses is a Labs feature that allows you to create email templates so you don’t have to type the same thing over and over. And the name is somewhat misleading because you can use these templates in emails that aren’t replies.

Here’s how to use canned responses and how you might use it to save time.

Enable Canned Responses in Labs

Go to your Gmail settings and enable the lab.

Click here to continue reading…

Share
Share
+1
Email

Google is rolling out mobile-first indexing

by — Services 0 Comments

Mobile version of websites will increasingly be indexed instead of desktop versions.

Google is rolling out mobile-first indexing more broadly for its search index. This means that Google will crawl a site’s mobile website content for indexing rather than the desktop version.

The move will apply to sites that use a responsive web design or are dynamically served. Sites that don’t have a mobile-friendly version will continue to have their desktop sites indexed.

Mobile-first indexing does not affect search rankings (assuming you’re serving the same content). It only impacts which content is indexed. However, mobile-friendly sites get an edge in rankings when people search on mobile devices.

Share
Share
+1
Email

Dominion Domains opens up .boats, reengages with traditional registrar channel

by — Services 2 Comments

Now anyone can register .boats domains, and the same will be true for Dominion Domains’ other four TLDs.

Dominion Domains–the company behind the .boats, .autos, .homes, .yachts and .motorcycles domains–is removing eligibility restrictions on its top level domains and is reengaging with the traditional domain name registrar channel.

Eligibility restrictions have already been eliminated on .boats and the company plans to remove the restrictions on its other domains during the first half of the year.

The company initially limited second level domain registrations to groups with a bona fide connection to the TLD’s industry. The restrictions and verification process meant that only four domain name registrars were on board at launch. It also meant that registration volume has been stuck in the hundreds per top level domain, if not less.

Dominion had its reasons for initially restricting the domain names (listen to podcast) but has now reversed course in light of experience.

“Right now all of the new TLDs need more awareness and recognition, and we realized that the more .boats names there are out in the market, the better it is for our clients in the boating industry,” said Jim Schrand, General Manager of Dominion Domains.

Registrars shunned the domains thanks to a post-registration verification process that could take weeks to complete. During this time domains were in a server hold status.

Dominion Domain’s Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA) also turned off registrars because of onboarding fees and high insurance requirements. It seemed that Dominion’s initial approach was to sell domains directly to the existing customers of its publishing arm rather than through a vast network of registrars. That is changing.

“Up until this point, our domains haven’t been available most places where people buy names. In order to build awareness and sales, we need to leverage the registrar channel and their access to buyers, which meant that we need to remove restrictions,” said Schrand. “It also expands our serviceable market significantly and opens it up to domain investors who previously expressed interest in purchasing names.”

To court domain name registrars, Dominion Domains is starting to promote registrars that carry its TLDs and is offering significant wholesale discounts. 25 registrars have now signed the .boats RRA, including Key-Systems and Dynadot.

Opening the domains to more people should provide a nice boost. The company reports that it has already seen more adoption of .boats in light of the change.

According to NameStat.org, Dynadot currently has the lowest first-year price for .boats domains at $59.99.

 

Share
Share
+1
Email

.App domains are coming: Q&A with Google

by — Services 0 Comments

You’ll soon be able to register whatever.app. Here’s what you need to know.

Google paid $25 million three years ago for rights to run the .App top level domain name and it’s finally ready to offer it to consumers.

While the original application said the domain would only be available to verified app developers, Google has decided to make it open to everyone. I reached out to Google to understand more about the launch.

Right now the domain is in a qualified launch period but, as you’ll see in the questions below, this is an invite-only opportunity. The domain will move to Sunrise on March 29, Early Access on May 1 and general availability on May 8.

DNW: What’s required to get a domain during the qualified launch period?
Google: The qualified launch period is for pioneer registrants who will host .app sites to showcase interesting uses of the .app TLD. Google is reaching out to candidates through various channels, and at the moment we aren’t soliciting direct applications.

DNW: The .app application said it would be limited to app developers. This restriction has been removed, correct?
Google: That is correct. We have decided to no longer have an explicit restriction, but expect that app developers will be amongst the potential registrants that find most value in this new namespace.

DNW: What is the full launch timeline?
Google: See https://registry.google for dates. All phase transitions occur at 16:00 Z.

DNW: How will the early access period work? Will it be a Dutch auction-style or just the same added fee throughout the EAP?
Google: It will be a seven-day Dutch auction style EAP, as many other gTLD registries have adopted. We hope it will allow registrants that are particularly excited about specific names to not miss out on them.

DNW: What price do you expect registrars will offer the domain for? Or, what is your wholesale pricing?
Google: We priced .app with the intention of providing an affordable option to individuals or companies that are interested in the name. While we still don’t have definitive information from registrars, we expect the price to be lower than for our other TLDs, like .how or .soy.

DNW: Will there be premium domains?
Google: Yes, we will offer premium domains with the price applying to both creation and renewal. More details will be available in the weeks leading to launch.

Here’s my take: .app is the most interesting top level domain name to launch in a long time. I think there will be an opportunity for domain investors to play here assuming the premium domain list isn’t exhaustive. Based on pricing for .how and .soy, I expect the wholesale price for .app domains will be around $10-$12, so you can expect to pay around $20 retail for registrations.

Share11
Share
+1
Email
Shares 34