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Test driving the GoDaddy GoCentral website builder

by — Services 1 Comment

GoDaddy’s GoCentral is the simplest website builder I’ve reviewed so far. Whether that’s good or bad depends on the type of user you are.

I’ve previously reviewed my experience building a website on Wix, Squarespace and Weebly. Today, we’ll look at GoDaddy’s GoCentral.

GoDaddy launched the GoCentral Website Builder in early 2017 with much fanfare including a SuperBowl ad.

GoCentral is different from the other website builders I’ve reviewed so far. It’s meant to be simpler and easier to get started. Users should be able to create a website in under an hour. It’s also mobile-first, meaning it was designed from the ground up to build websites on a mobile device.

Building

The first step you take to build a site with GoCentral is to pick a category. I tried to stump GoDaddy by picking a category I thought was esoteric: an auto body shop site for AtlantaBodyShop.com.

To my surprise, there were many variants to choose from including auto repair, auto road services, auto restoration and yes, auto body shops. Click here to continue reading…

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Domain names ending in .Charity available starting today

by — Services 0 Comments

Donuts released .charity domain names today.

Domain names ending in the .Charity top level domain name are now available in general availability.

A quick survey of domain name registrars shows that prices are generally in the $25-$35/year range.

Top level domain name company Donuts faced a multi-year battle for rights to operate the domain name.  The Independent Objector filed a community objection against Donuts’ and Famous Four Media’s applications for the TLD. A panelist agreed with the Independent Objector when it came to Donuts’ application, but allowed Famous Four Media’s application to go forward because of a Public Interest Commitment it submitted.

Needless to say, Donuts was rather upset. It challenged the decision with an Independent Review Panel and won. That kicked it back to a panel to rehear the original objection and it took another year for the panel to find in Donuts’ favor. All told it was a 4-5 year delay.

Donuts paid off Famous Four Media earlier this year to win the contention set.

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Uniregistry tips hand with “Registry in a Box” trademark application

by — Services 5 Comments

Company wants to use “Registry in a Box” for registry services product.

Frank Schilling’s Uniregistry runs its own technical registry for its top level domain names such as .tattoo and .diet. It also provides these services to other top level domains such as Cayman Island’s .ky domain name.

Apparently, Uniregistry wants to up its game in this department. It just applied to register a trademark for “Registry in a Box”.

The intent-to-use application is for “Domain name registry services, namely, coordinating the registration of domain names on the Internet; providing an online computer database in the field of domain name registration information”. It was filed on September 10.

I wonder how this company feels about Uniregistry’s choice of name.

The registry business is extremely cutthroat these days with prices racing to the bottom. Frank has been looking ahead to the next round of top level domains, but that is many years away.

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ICANN #63 in Barcelona is next month

by — Services 2 Comments

Meeting will attract policymakers, registries, registrars and domain investors.

ICANN #63 takes place in Barcelona, Spain next month from October 20-25. I was on the fence about going but booked my travel over the weekend.

I find ICANN meetings to be a good place to catch up with registries, registrars, service providers and domainers in one place. I’ve heard lots of chatter from domain investors about going to this event, so it should be a good one to attend.

There will also be lots of continuing discussion about GDPR as it relates to domain names. Policy stuff might not be fun, but it has a huge impact on everyone in the business.

Details are here if you’re interested in attending. Nearby hotels are available starting at €185 per night and there is no cost to attend.

If you are going and want to meet up, please drop me a line.

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How much would .Com domains cost if .com went out to bid?

by — Services 11 Comments

Consumers pay over a half billion dollars more than necessary each year to register .com domains.

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) is currently in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Commerce with regards to the Cooperative Agreement to run the .com domain name. The agreement expires November 30 of this year. The Department of Commerce has the sole discretion to extend the term of the agreement.

It’s the Department of Commerce, through the Cooperative Agreement, that effectively sets price controls on registrations and renewals .com. Verisign has a contract with ICANN for running the domain but the Cooperative Agreement can mandate price controls in the ICANN agreement. In the past, ICANN granted Verisign the ability to raise prices in .com. The DOC stepped in and froze the amount Verisign charges registrars at $7.85 per domain per year.

Verisign also has a presumptive right of renewal with ICANN for the .com contract. It got this right after negotiations with ICANN following a lawsuit. Unless Verisign really messes up, or if there’s an antitrust ruling, Verisign gets to run .com in perpetuity.

So in some ways, considering what the cost of .com would be if the contract was put out to bid is a pointless exercise. However, it’s relevant to the Department of Commerce and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) as they consider what to do with the Cooperative Agreement. Click here to continue reading…

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