Throughout the past couple of months there has been alot of discussion about legal action being taken against domainers in 2008.  I have even posted a few articles here on the blog about it.  Here is more proof that the domain assets you own are not safe if big business does not agree with your game plans.  

A judge in San Franscisco has ordered the site Wikileaks.org, to shut down after posting sensitive bank documents from the Cayman Isalands Bank, Juliuos Baer Bank.  The site publishes documents from businesses that conduct unethical behavior.  The site has become very popular among internet surfers.

Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Federal District Court in San Francisco granted a permanent injunction ordering Dynadot of San Mateo, Calif., the site’s domain name registrar, to disable the Wikileaks.org domain name.  Additionally, he ordered them to lock the domain to keep it from being transfered.  So much for our First Amendment Rights.

Small cases like as surfacing all over the place.  The eye of the storm can not be far behind as more judgements are won by big business.  This only gives them traction in pursuing our domain assets thru legal channels cheaply for their use.

(via NYTimes.com)

This may be the beginning of a new era for Cuba to begin a democratic transition.  Fidel Castro has stepped down as the President of Cuba and does not wish to run for office in the upcoming elections.  Cuba has long been a member of the communist party due to the leadership of Fidel Castro.

Preseident Bush said “The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty,”.  What does this mean for America and the rest of the World?  If Cuba begins the democratic transition, the World will embrace Cuba as their new resort over the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Key West, ect.    Additionally, free trade will be implemented and those famous cuban cigars and authentic mojitos will be made available in America. 

It is expected that everything coming out of Cuba in free trade will have a very nice mark up as well.  If this does happen, Cuba.com will become a multimillion dollar business overnight.  Back in the 1950’s the World embraced Cuba as the party place for vacationing and casinos.  History always repeats itself in different manifestations, and tourists are ready to embrace a new destination to travel to and party after being offlimits for Americans for over 50 years.  

All I can say is wow.  I will visit Cuba if America lifts the ban! 

More bad news for newpapers.  The trend continues for tradional media newspapers as advertising revenue continues to decline.  The NYTimes plans on cutting  some 100 jobs this year.  It is amazing how the internet continues to drive revenue earnings down for newspapers.

3 years from now, the newspaper may become obsolete.  If technology keeps on advancing (Which it will), everything will be put online to meet the mobile consumers’ needs.  How many more jobs will be cut this year in tradional media as the internet dominates advertising dollars? 

Now is the time to start developing your geo domains as consumers are looking for local classifieds and content more than ever.  Time is of the essence and procrastination continues to be the thief of time.     

(via NYTimes.com) 

Updated:  Ok, so it has been explained what is going on.  As I stated I am no professional on auctions, so I asked the question.  This is a technique that is used to find out reserve pricing set for the domain.  It is very misleading however, but makes perfect sense if you are a bidder interested in securing a domain name for the lowest price possible.

Thanks to all who replied on the board as well as by email.

 _________________________________________

I went to the Sedo.com geo domain auction just now and did some investigating on the names with bidders.  Tommy raised some concerns in a comment and I decided to investigate.  It appears there might be some shill bidding going on with the top domains listed. This is very very bad for the industry if this is happening.  I hope I am wrong about this.

I am no expert with Sedo.com auctions, but why would the price of Urlaub.com go from 300,000 to 450,000 euro?  Sedo.com allows you to make 2,500 bid increments  Then bidder 7 bids again bids 5 minutes later and raises it to 700,000 euro?

Another domain like this is Iraq.com.  

Iraq.com bidder 5 makes 3 bids all minutes apart 250,000, 300,000, 350,000

What are your thoughts on this?  Does this look like classic shill bidding?

There has been a little drama in the background over my announcement of the partnership.  Apparently, this blog means alot to many people in our industry high up on the food chain who wanted it to stay independent.  I respect their opinion and understand their concerns as the blog continues to grow exponentially.  We will continue to prepare for the worst(ie Sharp Shooters out there, I can promise you this), while enjoying the best, interaction among professionals and Unity. 

However, as all know, smart growth can only occur in this industry through strategic alliances.  Strategic alliances can fast forward growth and the experience that comes with it can prevent or detour failure.  I only hope that many of these professionals who disagree with this partnership, put aside their differences and continue to support the blog to provide future exposure of our industry.  If not, then I ask these professionals to reassess their values and personal attributes and embrace something that is bigger than themselves.

This blog is bigger than me, you, and others.  It is a living, breathing entity that is slowly representing the unheard voices of the world in this industry, that have remained dormant for all these years.  No one really seems to take “the small guy” seriously for the most part, as I have experienced. 

There are many new Geopreneurs in this industry that visit the blog daily, but I think it is fair to say that there are also just as many seasoned ones as well, that fell under the general term, “domainer” throughout the years.  

Ironically, this blog was created by the small guy that has started to take shape as the Voice of the Industry.  How this happened, I have not a clue.  In order to make sure we remain on the right path of the community expectations, I have one question. Those of you who are lurking in the background and never post, this is a great opportunity to break the ice.

What does this blog mean to you?  

I/We value your opinion and thoughts. 

Thank you for your comments.

Steve

Yesterday, I read an article on the WSJ, labeled “The Coupon King” and it got me to thinking about advertising strategies.  Although the article has nothing to do with domains or the internet, it resurfaced the idea of coupons for consumers on the internet.

Just when you thought coupons were a dead industry because of the internet, an article is published proving otherwise. The article stated that Americans redeemed about three billion coupons in 2006, representing about $2.6 billion in discounts.  This proves that Americans still love to clip coupons, and I can assure you, it is not limited to just America.  Consumers in foreign countries across the world also love coupons, because they save you money on a product or service.  Who does not like to save money? 

There are many sites that have tried this coupon strategy on the internet, failed at it, and abandoned it forever.  They moved on to discount codes like SaveMoney, Fab101, etc.  Why did they fail at this coupon strategy?  Perhaps the coupons were not enticing enough, perhaps services offered were not targeted enough or perhaps they were not local enough. 

In my opinion, I believe they were not local enough and website owners/advertisers did not know how to take full advantage of offering them to consumers.  Geo domains remain the number one vehicle to deliver local targeted content.  Coupons deliver hidden value to advertisers and site owners when they are made available to consumers and used properly.

I am sure there are some out there that will say, we have tried it and it didn’t work.  I ask for you to please post why it did not work so we can analyze it openly and develop a strategy that does work.  There is a solution to every problem, however, first you must present the problem.    

Part 1:  Targeted coupons offered in a local area prove performance of advertising dollars spent.  Lets say a consumer does not buy something from the advertiser directly thru your site and only visits the website or doesn’t visit their website.  The consumer instead prints out the coupon, and takes it to the merchant to redeem it.  This reassures the merchant that his advertising dollars are being spent wisely on your site, as the coupon delivered a customer.  You get to double tap consumers, 1. Offering them a direct link to the advertisers website, 2. Giving them the option of a coupon to redeem in person.  Consumers love options, and the more you offer, the better results you will have in advertising results and in turn resulting in steady and rising advertising revenue.

Part 2.  By encouraging your advertiser to create effective coupons that consumers embrace on your site, you end up winning in the long run.  Guess what site that consumer will come to next time they are looking for a coupon from that advertiser.  Your site, and this is the start of consumer loyalty by meeting their needs.  Additionally you meet the advertisers needs and everyone wins.  This is also an additional revenue earner if you have to develop the coupon for the advertiser!  

Coupons are psychological to consumers, they say “You Will Save Money” and reenforce your business brand.  Internet coupons must deliver the following to consumers in order to be effective:

1.  Must be Local
2.  Must be a useful service
3.  Discount must be appealing to consumer (Free is always good)
4.  Design of the coupon must be enticing
5.  Must make the consumer feel they are taking advantage of the business    

Coupons bring a customer into a business or makes them buy a product at a discount.  If they come into a business, chances are they are going to spend more money on other products, as well as the product listed on the coupon.  They bring consumers and wallets into business doors.  Once this happens, it is the advertisers job to do the rest.

As an example, last night I went to a comedy club with the wife.  We got 4 free tickets valued at $7 each, for total of $28 dollars.  We invited our friends and had a great time. We ended up spending a total of about $70 dollars there, all because they gave us free tickets.  If they would not have given us the free tickets, they would not have made $70 dollars that night from us.  ROI of free tickets worth $28 equals out to over 100%;  $42 pure profit.  A no brainer strategy that is pretty smart in my book.

Please let me know you thoughts.  

(via WSJ.com)

There are alot of strategies, legalities, and corruption being formed against the domain industry by Corporate Amercia and Foreign companies.  It is very disturbing to think that everything we have worked hard for in this industry is in jeopardy.  Why are your domain assets in jeopardy?  The simple answer is riches and power.

Never in the history of mankind has there been an investment vehicle that can bring the small guy into a position of riches and power in a short amount of time.  What has taken these Gurus years and sometimes their families hundreds of years to establish, is now being reached in a small amount of time by smart kids, men, women, with hard work and a $7 domain.  The Gurus fear it, and you can bet they are not going to have their businesses put in jeopardy over it. 

This is a direct threat to their existence and products they offer consumers.  These companies are becoming innovative in order to disrupt the ongoing way of us doing business in the domain industry.  Why do they care about a simple domain name?  If the $7 domain Candy.com has the possibility of shutting down many traditional candy businesses, then it becomes a subject of interest and of high priority.

There are leaders out there, working on all of our behalves to improve and protect the domain industry.  Often, many of these leaders fail to communicate with the small guys and document these domain owners concerns.  Most focus on the big players and their concerns, all while the small guy never being heard.  While most of the small guys concerns will be the same as the major players, it is still important for the small guy to have a voice in representation. 

This is your opportunity to Voice It! Your concerns and opinions matter.  Please post your comments with your concerns.  Many leaders who talk on your behalf for the industry frequent this blog.  Here is your chance to be heard! Please think long and hard about these questions before responding.  Do some research if you have to on previous governing extentions and their limitations based on foreign regualtion.

The Questions:  If you had the opportunity to talk to the Department of Commerce about the regulation of ICANN staying in the United States, what would you say? Why is it important to domain owners? How will it affect the future of the domain industry if regulation is taken outside of the United States?