As of 6th January, 2010, CNNIC has temporarily put a stop to all .CN registrations by non-Chinese registrants. This move has been brought about to clean up the extreme abuse and mis-use of .CN domain extension in the domaining namespace.

Though this move is cited as temporary, overseas domain registrars, such as Godaddy, have to immediately cease offering .CN as a registration option on their websites. According to CNNIC, the comprehensive method of handling the policy changes have contributed to this development.

The policy also prevents the Chinese domestic users from registering a .CN name from an overseas registrar.

I currently own a handful of .CN domain names, registered by me during the Name.com special 99c per .CN domain offer in late 2008. The recent developments are not clear if overseas registrants need also give up any existing .CN domains.

Well, I never got down to using any of these domains. Why? Simple, because they were .CN domains. Being cheap to register, .CN was largely used for warez, spamming or phishing websites. Why I registered them remains a mystery? Probably it was kool to possess tonnes of domains back in 2008. Or maybe I had something in plan…  something sinister … something towards the dark side …

Belonging to the largest country on earth in terms of population, .CN has struggled to take off and make any impact since opening up to outside registration in 2004. Partially due to preferred use of domain in Cantonese and largely due to mis-use of this extension for non-ethical websites, .CN has always been viewed as an inferior domain.

]]> http://www.domainmarvelous.com/featured_articles/cn-domains/feed/ 4 http://www.domainmarvelous.com/featured_articles/cn-domains/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DomainMarvelous/~3/d9uOaR8OmTM/ http://www.domainmarvelous.com/featured_articles/google-loses-domain-name-dispute/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:16:28 +0000 Nick Rodriquez http://www.domainmarvelous.com/?p=435

ICANN recently dismissed an attempt by Google to stop Groovle.com from operating using its domain name. The dispute was filed by Google in November, 2009, on the grounds that Groovle sounded too “confusingly similar” to its trademark name, Google.

National Arbitration Forum (NAF), which mediated the dispute ruled in favor of Groovle.com, stating that the name was sufficiently different to cause any “confusion”. It further stated that the domain name stay with Groovle.

This is the only the 2nd time in the history of Google that it has lost a domain name dispute. The previous case was a dispute with froogles.com, which also ended with a similar ruling.

What does this ruling have in store for the future of trademark violations? Though Google had managed to stop numerous other entities from registering or using domains names that remotely resembled its trademark, this ruling can open up the domaining industry to trademark abuse.

I believe that this was a blind-fold resolution to this dispute and Google should have won. Groovle is neither a common word (dictionary word) or a word that can be associated with the business of Groovle – giving users the ability to design their own custom search engines.

Furthermore, Groovle’s business is too similar to what Google does – search engine! People, we can clearly see an attempt by a company to manipulate the internet users through confusion of the domain name, and chip away the success of Google for its own benefit.

The domaining world need not be surprised if we see a sudden, sharp rise in domain name trademark infringements. This ruling has given the perpetrators encouragement to commit breaches of domain trademark rights and to some degree, get away with it.

Protecting our domain names just got a little more difficult!

I have been in the domain name industry for quite a long time now (well before this blog came into existence) and have been dismayed every time a self styled SEO guru proclaimed that domain names had negligible or no effect on the success of your online business. Let no one dictate to you differently; domain names have been and will always be a major factor towards your success or failure, online. Getting on the front page of your favorite search engine has become very competitive and the tips in this post might just provide the tiny nudge to drive your websites to better SERP rankings.

Remember this! No internet marketer will ever tell you the full benefits of proper domain name selection and its impact on your online presence. Why? Because they are either too busy promoting their own products or simply do not understand the hidden gems of brainstorming domain name ideas. This post will not bore you with details of the correlation between SEO and domain names (that is left for a later date), but I will give you some creative secrets I have been practicing for killer domain name ideas.

Avoid Domain Name with Hyphens

Search engines love hyphenated domains; so say the internet marketers. There is some level of truth to this since search engines tend to parse hyphens better than any other special character (including underscores). However, I strongly recommend you to go with a non- hyphenated domain as your initial choice. With hyphens, you tend to lose a lot of “type-in” traffic. If you progress to become an authority site (by that, I mean a household name), people would get to your site by typing in the domain name instead of searching it on the search engines. You can probably imagine the confusion the hyphens in the domain name will cause to your potential visitors. If your choice of domain name is not available as a .com version, choose alternative extensions. But please, avoid hyphens at all costs! (Important point to remember- this point may be slightly inapplicable in cases of domain names for purely PPC campaigns).

Go for Aged Domains

Expensive to get them? Not really! In this section, I will tell you a secret for getting aged domains, with high Page Ranks, for incredibly cheap prices. If you have ever heard of Domain Auctions, then you are good to go. I prefer Godaddy Domain Auctions for this purpose. All you need to do is search out for high PR, aged domain that has not attracted too many bids and has a reasonable highest bid in the range of $40-$70. Bookmark the auction page for this domain name, set an alarm or reminder on your calendar, clock, cell phone or an online reminder utility, for approximately 10 minutes before the auction deadline. Once the deadline day comes, login your auction page and see the bids made till to date. I have had many auctions whereby bids were made just to top up the last bid by a dollar, therefore the highest bid will still remain within the $40-$70 range .Wait for the timer to countdown to approximately 2 minutes 5 – 10 seconds before the actual bid closure time. Godaddy gives an additional two minute buffer if a bid is placed within the last 2 minutes of the deadline, so you would want to place your bid just before this last two minutes to avoid giving an additional two minutes for someone else to better your offer. I actually bid $2 more than the least allowed bid amount. Many people have the tendency to just bid the least allowed amount, and a few experienced marketers bid a dollar more. The secret, therefore, is to bid two dollars to kick out both the normal bidders and the experienced ones, and have your bid kill off any competition. If someone makes a new bid within the 2 minutes, just repeat this process, this time placing your bid 2 minutes, 5-10 seconds before the new deadline. However, do not get in a bidding war. If the highest bid reaches an unreasonable amount, simply bow out and live to fight another day.

Domain Name Suggestion Sites

Another killer, but vastly untapped source for domain name ideas is domain suggestion sites. Yes, some of them suggest rather crappy names, but you can get a lot more ideas from these suggested names rather than just sitting and brainstorming. I frequently use domain-name-ideas.com for this purpose; you can Google for “Domain Name Suggestions” and get a wide array of resources to aid in your domain name selection process.

Bottom Line…

Creativity plays a huge part in your domain name selection. In addition to the above tips, the most important concept, lateral thinking, remains. Do not try to be too obvious, coming up with generic two to three word domains. Adding something such as “plus”, “elite” and “pro” can give authority to a generic name. No wonder you can see super affiliates are always in the process of grabbing the domains with the product name they are prompting and these suffixes added. I hope these few, but very crucial tips, will propel forward your online endeavors. Comments are welcome, as always…

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has always been identified as an arm of the United States Government, even though it had always pointed out being completely independent. This association, though not very strong, was still an aggravating factor to non-US entities, especially when it came to domain name regulations. To rule out a possible US Government influenced operation, ICANN is set to receive a greater self-sufficiency.

ICANN was initially set up to handle and standardize all domain name related activities online, away from any involvement of the US Government. Despite this, ICANN maintained some degree of association with the government, which led to criticism and massive opposition to such affiliation. Bulk of this came from overseas entities, which saw the association as a “bit too much”.
The Joint Project Agreement was initially drawn up to dictate the relationship between the United States Government and ICANN. This agreement, however, is set to end and a new agreement put up in its place, which provides ICANN with more independence, while distributing the responsibility to other stakeholders in the domain name industry.

The new panel, appointed by this new agreement, will be based on a seat system that will involve more countries apart for US in governing ICANN operations. This new arrangement comes in an opportune time when ICANN is trying to open up more top level domains to the general audience. This will allow ICANN to make decisions which involve the input of more stakeholders. Let us wait and see how this new move affects the current status of the domaining industry. What are your thoughts on this new agreement?

Gone are the days when domain tasters used to take benefit of the five day domain registration grace period to register domain names for spam, scams, and cyber-squatting. ICANN used to charge a measly 20c for new domain registrations, which was not refundable in the event of domain cancellation. This did not deter the domain tasters to register domain names in bulk, gain advantage of it for the duration of the grace period and then discard them before they could be billed.

However, with ICANN upping the penalty to $6.75 for unusual domain cancellations during the grace period, this trend has spiraled downwards, and for the better.

What is “domain tasting”?

Once a domain name is undergoing a registration process, there is an option to “add grace period”, which is offered by some domain registrars. This 5 day grace period allowed registrants to drop “mis-registered” domains. “Domain tasters” took advantage of these 5 free days to grab domain names in bulks, gain monetary value from it and then withdraw the registration before the bill was due.

Domain tasters used to make money from this practice with practically zero upfront investment. Bulk mistyped domain names were registered, and in many case, cybersquatted. All of these mistyped domain names used to drive people to the same website which used to contain advertising and even phished links to confuse the visitors in differentiating the current website from a legitimate one. Moreover, some domain tasters tracked the domain name availability search done by people, registered these domain names themselves and offered it to the public at a higher price.

ICANN’s response…

ICANN eventually responded by imposing rules that would make certain that domain tasters ended up with a sizable bill. ICANN began to identify people making bulk registrations and premature registration withdrawals, and only allowed them to cancel 10% of their registrations. Anything above that and the registrant has to pay $6.75 fee for each domain name cancelled.

The domino effect of this new regulation has been spectacular. With the new penalties taking effect, there has been a marked decrease in domain tasting. People have even gone to claim that the “end of domain tasting” has come.
I believe this move by ICANN was excellent and well timed, especially when we are so near to the opening of registration of generic TLD’s to the public. What do you think?

Have you lately considered purchasing a domain name for your website? There are countless people at this very moment contemplating to invest in a domain name for their next project online. The internet had evolved into such a powerful tool that anyone without a presence online is forfeiting a tremendous source of income and profit. The potential of having a domain name is endless and it makes sense to invest in the right domain name if one wants to leverage the power of the internet to his or her advantage.

So what is a domain name?

Online, a domain name is equivalent of a residential or business address of an entity. The entity in this context is an online business or personal website. To visit a website, people need this address as a direction of where to go. The shorter, more creative this address is, the more memorable it becomes. In short, a shorter, meaningful domain name is much more valuable than its longer counterpart. I am now going to outline some very important tips from which you can make the most out of your domain name investment.

Think for the Future

Let me ask you a question. Have you wondered why some domains, out of the many short, premium names registered a decade ago, are still popular? Why have the rest of the premium names failed to find a footing on the level of these popular names? Let me tell you. Some of these names continue to be popular for a major reason…its relevancy to the current and future trends. Let us take emarketing.com as an example. In today’s world, and in years to come, eMarketing (aka internet marketing) is and will continue to make up major component of online activities. Some people call it the “in-thing”. I hate this overused cliché, but the reality speaks for itself.

Now let me ask you another question. Does you domain name reflect its value in time to come? Will it make sense in the next 10 years to still continue with this website? Which domain name will serve you better through the next decade? Iphone3GS.com or AppleSmartPhones.com? Definitely the latter. Apple will continue to produce smart phones in years to come, so AppleSmartPhones.com will still be a good choice to blog about, review and discuss on new Apple technologies as they come around.  In the next 2 – 3 years, iPhone 3GS will become obsolete; the trend will die off. Therefore, if the former is your domain name choice, expect your website to be just another archaic page on the World Wide Web in future.

The above will also be a deciding factor if you consider flipping your website. Selling any website for profit is largely based upon its domain name; no doubt about that! People usually go for “hot” niche related domain names when starting a website for flipping. This is ok for immediate flips. However, for long term flip projects, with a huge profit margin in expectation, it is always wiser to go for domain names that take the future trend, as a major factor, into consideration.

Choose a TLD that Works!

I will keep this short and simple. Go for “.com’s” when registering a domain for your online business or personal website. Some of you may disagree with me here…If Search Engines do not discriminate amongst domain extensions, who am I to propose any different? Let me clear things for you here. I am no “SEO Expert”. I see websites and domain names from the perspective of a normal internet user. Which is the most sought after domain name? What domain name has the largest probability to bring type-in traffic? Which domain name extension sells for more where the domain name is same? The answer for all these questions is .com. So…it does not take much to figure out which domain extension you need to go after.

The Actual Domain Name

This is probably the most important point about domain name investment that I am going to discuss here…! This is where most of your emphasis needs to be placed. Short and memorable domain names are the best; but it is extremely rare nowadays that you will get your hands on one such name. Keyword rich names are also an excellent choice; especially when it comes to search engines. Google may not place much emphasis on the domain name itself when ranking websites; nevertheless, it is always better to own a keyword rich name rather than something no one will remember.

In Summary…

Domain name investment is an integral part of any projects involving an online presence. A domain name can make or break a website. Period! Just take a look at Google, Yahoo and Bing for a moment. All these entities are household names just because of the domain name. Google may still have been popular if their domain name was, say, searchengine.com. But let us be honest here! How many of you would have preferred to say “Let’s search engine it” rather than “Let’s Google it”?

This is a quick post to inform everyone that Domain Marvelous will be managed by my kid brother, Nick, from this point forward.

This blog has not been sold; but changed hands within the family due to personal commitments. I am off to further my studies, therefore, it is only fair that I hand over this blog to someone who can devote the time to take it to the next level.

Nick is an exceptionally talented kid; young and new to the world of domaining, but at the same time, a very fast learner. You can learn more about Nick by heading over to the About page.

Domain Marvelous started way back in November, 2008 with an aim to dominate the domaining arena. During this 10 months, this blog has grown tremendously. For this, I would like to thank you. Without your inputs, feedback and comments, we would have gone nowhere. Please continue helping Nick to achieve what I set out to do.

Why hasn’t anybody thought of this… a domain names search tool that shows domain names available for the most popular searched Google queries. Well finally there is such a tool and it is available at www.SeeTop10.com. Webmasters are going to love this domain search tool.

A user can type in a word or phrase like “cell phone” and it will show the top 10 overall search results (for example…

cell phone reviews
cell phone directory
cell phone lookup
cell phone plans
cell phone accessories
cell phone numbers
cell phone do not call list
cell phone tracker
cell phone numbers go public
cell phone covers

It will also show the top 10 search queries for every letter from A through Z.

example for letter A…

cell phone accessories
cell phone antenna
cell phone antenna booster
cell phone applications
cell phone area codes
cell phone amplifier
cell phone accessories wholesale
cell phone addiction
cell phone animations
cell phone arena

If you find a domain you wish to purchase you can click on the box next to the search result or go directly to your Domain Name Registrar by clicking on their banner.

If you are looking for a great domain name, this domain names search tool has simplified the task immensely.

The online search is a little slow as this Ajax software app has to cross reference Google top search queries with the domain names database. However the results are well worth the wait.

Give it a try yourself at www.SeeTop10.com

(This is not a paid or promotional post, but something cool I stumbled upon while surfing the net)

I searched around the net to bring you the top domain name promo codes for August. This will certainly help you in your domain name budget.

Godaddy.com Promo Codes

WEASEL7
10% off your GoDaddy purchase

WEASEL8
20% off if you buy more than $57 / £35

WEASEL25
25% off if you buy more than $106.41 / £65

WEASEL9
30% off .COM domains

fbDomain10
Get 10% OFF on regular prices on .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, and .US domains, expires 13th Aug 2009.

MTECH10
get a .com domain for 30% discount, works for renew as well

10NCS699
.com renewals $7.17, .net, .org, .info renewals $9.17

goaorg01a
$7.49 for .Org Registration and Renewal

cjctld749
$7.49 .Net .Org .Biz

goaz2001ai
$6.99 .Com domains (Register,Renew,Transfer)

gdr0802y
.COM JUST $7.49* PER YEAR! register for multiple years. Plus get FREE Private Registration!

gdr0802v
30% off on .COM domains

cjcdeal73
Save 20% on Shared Hosting Plans

cjc20host
Save 20% on Shared Hosting Plans

cjcwwd25
Save 25$ off Any reseller plans

cjcsave10
10% off on ANY order

goaorg01a
$7.49 for .Org Registration and Renewal

gdr0729n
SAVE 20% when you purchase 2 or more select domains!

Namecheap.com Promo Codes

SOLARSEA
Use the above coupon code to get .com, .net etc domain names at $8.81 i.e., $0.88 reduction in the cost of buying a domain name.

FIREWORKS
$0.88 discount on new domain purchase.

SWITCH2NC
Domain transfers for $6.99.

Name.com Promo Codes

SOUTHBEACH
.com renewal  save $1

MARAGOGI
.com .net new registration save $1

Networksolutions.com Promo Codes

GCXXX02978
$25 off any $150 purchase

GCXXX02902
$50 off any $250 purchase

OFFER02886
20% off new Web hosting

PCXXX02980
20% off new domains (.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .name, and .us)

BCXXX03016
Buy One Domain Get One Free (1 year term for .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .name, and .us)

In my country, Fiji Islands, 80% of the population never had access to the internet. Out of the other 20% having the “luxury” of internet access, only a few (you can count this number using your fingers) know anything about domain names. Local domain registrars have capitalized on this lack of awareness and priced domain name registration to as much as $US100 per year.  In fact, one locally based registrar charges $US50 for .info’s…a clear exploitation of business ethics. Nevertheless, the worst part is not the price… but the fact that, despite the incredibly cheap alternatives available, business and individuals still pay these exorbitant prices. Plus, to top that off, the registrars lock these domains, so that it cannot be transferred.

I was lucky to have been exposed to the domaining industry before setting up my online projects. As a result, I had to spend a fraction of what locals are spending in my country to own a domain name. The purpose of this post, therefore, is to outline two important tips (probably the two most important!) for new domainers, which will help them avoid the headaches of domain handling at a later stage.

Secure your valuable domains

If you possess a high quality, very much sought after domain name, take steps to register it for several years. It is better to own a single, premium domain name registered for multiple years rather than own a truckload of unprofitable domains, each registered for only a year. In one of my earlier posts, I explained how people go after valuable expiring domains. These people include domain registrars, in fact; it may be your own registrar. There have been cases where some domain registrars locked domain names as soon as they expire and demanded premium prices for renewal. To avoid getting sued, I am not mentioning any names here; however, you may google for this information and check out the story behind these unethical practices.

Consolidate your Domain purchase with a single company

Keeping all your domains with one company, even if it means spending a few extra dollars, is a good first practice for any domainer. Of course, you may want this company to be reliable, trustworthy and have a strong customer relations reputation. Many internet marketing newbies confuse themselves with the terms; reliability and brand names. Just because a registrar is recognized as the number one in the industry does not mean it is reliable. Godaddy and Network Solutions, the big two in the domain industry, have their fair share of anti-movements. On the same note, you may be lucky to search out an anti Name.com or an anti Namecheap.com website. And even if you find one, chances are high that a trace back will lead to one of the employees of Godaddy or even Bob Parson. Hehe!

In summary

Ok, why did I emphasize on having a single domain registrar? Simple! Maintaining active domains on several registrars can become a daunting task for a sole online entrepreneur. It may not seem too bad if you have a couple of domain names to your name, but as your domain portfolio increases, expect the work to extrapolate. Imagine owning a hundred domains spread over several registrars. Indeed it will prove quite difficult to keep a tab on all these domain names.

In addition, different domain registrars have different operation policies, which can lead to further hassle in organizing your domain collection. Confusing TOS and AUP between registrars can lead to enormous problems; even to the extent of surrendering your domain names!

It may seem enticing to click the checkout button on a registrar’s site that may shave 50% off when compared to another registrar.  However, think for a while. Is it worth saving those five bucks, only to regret later on?