The .co.uk domain name aftermarket is extremely active. In Q4 2010, .co.uk had a higher average sales price than both the .net and .org extensions, quadrupling in value from just $523 in Q1 of 2010 to $2,030 by the end of the year.

The extension is maintaining strength in 2011, currently holding three of the top ten ccTLD positions on the year to date domain sales charts on DNJournal.

If you are new to the UK domain name market here’s a little bit of background about the .co.uk extension and how you can get in on the action.

Nominet UK is the .uk domain name registry in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Dr Willie Black and five others in 1996. There are around 9 million registered .co.uk domain names to date. Nominet publishes a comprehensive annual domain industry report which was featured on DotSauce last year. You can view the 2010 Nominet Annual Report here. (PDF)

How To Invest In .co.uk

There are a number of ways you can get into the .co.uk market and successfully make money. Which way you do it depends on your preferences as an investor. Here are some routes your can explore and some resources to help you along the way.

Hand Registration

The simplest form of domain name investing is registering a domain name from a UK registrar such as DomainMonster.com or 123-Reg.co.uk. Here are some key indicators to help you choose a quality name, which you are likely to be able to resell for a decent amount or develop into something which earns you revenue.

Check Google’s Keyword Estimator on Local UK Exact setting to determine how many searches there are for that term each month. Anything over 4,400 and you are on to a winner. Another good indicator is CPC value. Make sure you will be earning more than £1 per click at a bear minimum; any thing less than that and you’ll be left with diddlysquat by the time Google takes their cut.

DomainPrices.co.uk is one of the longest running databases of .co.uk domain names sales and is good for market research. Pay no attention to the likes of Estibot or any other appraisal tools, they are highly inaccurate more often than not. There are still some great .coms which can be hand registered and with six times the amount of .coms in the world than .co.uk domains, there is plenty of opportunity to go at in the UK market.

Aftermarket

There are some UK specific auction sites where sales tend to be much faster for selling and achieving better prices than major marketplaces like Sedo.

AcornDomains.co.uk is the de facto UK domain name forum and a huge resource of information for new and experienced domain name investors.

DomainLore.co.uk is a simple but effective auction site to buy and sell domains quickly and easily. There are many opportunities on these sites too for finding undervalued domain names that portfolio owners are looking to get rid of to fund other purchases.

I would recommend registering on both websites. Bargains can be found and a savvy investor can make a good profit buying at the right price and flipping the domains. A recent example of this would be the sale of TVS.co.uk which the previous owner bought for $1,500 in 2007 and sold last year for $75,000.

Drop Catching

Drop catching is the art of querying the Nominet Whois database lots of times just as a domain name is about to expire in the hope that you are first to “catch” it as its suspended indicator turns back to available. Drop catching is quite a bit different in the UK compared to the US in the fact that pretty much anyone can register as a member of Nominet for a small annual fee and directly query their database to catch domains whereas ICANN accreditation is significantly more difficult.

Drop catching directly through Nominet requires the domainer to have a script written in pretty much whatever programming language you are comfortable with, which can not just query the Nominet database, but input selected domains to scan during a 24 period and then if one becomes available, send a request to register the domain name.

If you are not confident going through the whole process of becoming a member of Nominet, having a script written and monitoring it yourself, then you can simply back order .co.uk domain through many of the UK registrars for a small fee and save yourself the hassle. Just this weekend I caught Cartagena.co.uk, a Spanish and Columbian holiday resort which I intend to sell straight away.

Domain Development

Be a category killer i.e. WeddingPlanner.co.uk

The .co.uk is also a great market for domain development. Finding your own niche is crucial for this and a savvy investor will have a selection of category killer domain names that they are developing either for long term revenue or for a quick sale once traffic and rankings in the search engines have been achieved. When I say “category killer” I mean market-leading domain names, ones that are generic and can “own” a niche.

I have been collecting dog breed domain names over the last 6 months and own a good selection which I am currently developing to drive traffic to a larger dog insurance website once I have finished building it. One of the sites, Rottweilers.co.uk, now gets over 5,000 visitors per month and the way it is built can now easily be rolled out across the other dog breed domain names I have.

Once you have control of your niche in the UK the returns can by rewarding. A significant example of this was MoneySupermarket.com’s purchase of nine UK financial services domains for an initial £4.6m.

I cannot stress enough that having a strategy for your domain name purchases is important. If your business strategy to develop .co.uk domain names, rather than trade them on the aftermarket, then a great tip is to check out places where you can buy existing websites on a good domain name. There are many UK businesses which are going out of business due to the financial climate and a good domain investor can take advantage of this and snap up an aged domain with good authority and existing content for a relatively small investment.

There is no denying that .co.uk is a great domain extension to invest in. Whichever method you choose to become involved with there is certainly still a large amount of opportunity within the UK domain name market.

[Header image by Flickr user Trey Ratcliff.]

What do you think about .co.uk domain names? Please leave a comment below and consider sharing this introduction to investing in .co.uk.

An Introduction To Investing In .co.uk Domains DotSauce Magazine

The online usability study pitted GrpTrp.com against GroupTrip.co and the results speak for themselves. Two tests show the .CO domain to be the better option and it was ultimately chosen as the new business name. Bryan’s pre-conceived notion that people would somehow not trust .CO domain names was proven false.

I would have liked to see more domains be part of this study. A three-word domain or another .COM alternative could still have potentially outperformed the .CO domain in text-link advertisements. However, Bryan is looking for a brand name for his startup and is wise to keep it short and as memorable and relevant as possible.

Test 1: Sponsored Text Ads – Will users trust a .CO domain enough to click on it? The same ad copy was shown using both domains and the .CO version performed slightly better in two different trials. You can review the full results here.

Test 2: Memorability Poll – Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and PickFu, Bryan was able to quickly poll 200 users on their domain preference. Users were to select between the two options shown below.

79% of 200 responses said they would be more likely to use and remember the .CO domain. That is 155 out of 200. You can see a list of complete responses here with commentary from users.

It’s interesting to note that the survey displays the domain spoken verbally as “dot C O” instead of “dot Co.” I can’t say that I’ve actually decided for myself which option is preferable, though I’m leaning towards “dot Co.” Both methods of saying the domain are viable and speaking the two letters seems to have worked at least for this test. It would be another interesting thing to split-test.

I’d like to thank Bryan for this interesting study. It’s good news to hear that users are recognizing and accepting of .CO domains as I suspected. In our latest poll question, results for .CO’s outlook in 2011 have been a very close race since the beginning. Lots of people are on board, and equally as many have not been convinced, yet.

What are your thoughts on clear .CO vs not-so-good .COM domains? What choice would you make for your business? Please leave a comment with your opinion.

[Top Image: Michael Johnson, Apples & Oranges - They Don't Compare, May 14, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution]

79% of Respondents Choose Quality .CO Domain Over .COM Alternative DotSauce Magazine

The latest announcement from CoInternet is that GoDaddy.com will feature a 30 second commercial segment during the Super Bowl game that is dedicated exclusively to introducing .Co domains.

GoDaddy has sponsored the Super Bowl since 2005 and has grown from a 15% market share to the industry leader, capturing over 50% of the market. CoInternet hopes to gain the same momentum by being featured in the big game. The opportunity looks very promising.

Aside from GoDaddy, many other leading registrars have partnered with CoInternet and are promoting .Co more enthusiastically than .Com domains.

Sponsorship deals have been arranged for virtually all leading domain industry publications (including DotSauce Magazine) as well as other major web and print publications such as Website Magazine. Twitter is also on board, using T.co URL shortener as the default.

Make Your Prediction

I have been watching coverage and commentary on .Co domains since the beginning. Feelings seem to be evenly devided between accepting .Co as a success and disregarding it as fools gold.

This poll aims to put the debate to the test. I’m interested to know if you think the general public will use and recognize the .Co domain extension in 2011.

Please take a moment to cast your vote…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Thank you for voting. You may also be interested in viewing the results of our latest poll. Readers have selected .XXX and .Shop to be among the most valuable proposed gTLDs.

Please share this poll with your friends and associates to see what they think about .Co. Then come back soon to see the results.

Poll: Will .Co Domains Become Mainstream in 2011? DotSauce Magazine

The .CO landrush has come to an end and it has been a spectacular event. In just a few hours, the .CO registry will open to the public for general availability registrations.

There have been over 40,000 pre-registrations during the landrush period and a lot of media coverage both within and outside the domain industry.

General Availability

Update: The registry is now public! Remaining .CO domains will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. GoDaddy has .CO for $29.99 per year.

CoInternet is now reporting over 215,000 registrations so far.

Thousands more domains will be claimed during the general availability today and in the coming days, weeks and months.

Combining todays’ expected registrations and premium domains awarded for landrush applications should easily total several million dollars in estimated value.

Notable .CO Domains

O.co – Sold for $350,000 to Overstock

E.co – Sold for $81,000 at charity auction

T.co – New short URL for Twitter (likely to be implemented today)

Disrupt.co – TechCrunch startup event

Duck.co – DuckDuckGo Search Community

.Co Founders Program – Many businesses and individuals awarded free .co domains under contract to actively develop for at least 2 years. You will begin seeing many launch announcements on .co domains soon.

3 Things I Like About .CO

• It rides on the coat tails of .COM in representing commerce and companies.
• Registry operator CoInternet is doing a phenomenal job marketing the launch and will likely continue to do so.
• Early adoption by big players such as Twitter

3 Things I’m Concerned About

• Will people have a problem recognizing a .CO domain when spoken verbally? We are so used to hearing .COM
• Over speculation within the industry may cause public outcry against domaining and tarnish .CO similarly to .US
• Owners will fool themselves into believing their keyword .CO domain is worth just as much as it’s .COM counterpart.

What do you think of .CO? Please leave your comments below or send me a message on Twitter @DotSauce.

Want to know more about the domain industry or how to get started buying and selling? Ask a question on the all new DotSauce Q&A forum.

Millions in Virtual Real Estate to be Created Overnight During .CO Launch DotSauce Magazine

The majority of these keyword names have at least 2000 monthly searches on Google in the US alone, often much more.

Act fast to secure the best names before Tuesday, July 20th general availability.

Please pre-register at GoDaddy using this link to support DotSauce.

Use the link above and .CO coupon: MIN1 for 10% OFF when checking out!

Computers / Tech / Internet

• USBCable.co
• WirelessAdapter.co
• USBModem.co
• WirelessMouse.co
• ACAdapter.co
• USBHub.co
• CableModem.co
• Cat5.co
• PowerAdapter.co
• WirelessModem.co
• InkjetPrinter.co
• HomePhone.co
• DigitalCamcorder.co
• CheapTV.co
• CheapTVs.co
• GreenGifts.co

• MediaPlayer.co
• MediaCenter.co
• Publisher.co
• Sketchup.co
• PhotoEditing.co

• InternetSecurity.co
• Malware.co
• MalwareRemoval.co
• OnlineBackup.co
• BackupSoftware.co
• Virtualization.co
• SpywareRemoval.co
• VirusRemoval.co
• AccountingSoftware.co
• DiscountSoftware.co

• VirtualServer.co
• DedicatedServer.co
• DedicatedHosting.co
• VPSHosting.co
• FTPServer.co
• VirtualPrivateServer.co

• BusinessWebDesign.co
• CheapWebDesign.co
• WebDesignTemplates.co
• WebDesignJobs.co
• WebPageTemplates.co
• WebPageHosting.co
• BestWebHost.co
• WebDevelopers.co
• ContentManagement.co
• ServerMonitoring.co

• AffiliateNetworks.co
• MarketingSoftware.co
• SEOSoftware.co

Books

• ReadBooks.co
• BestSellingBooks.co
• VampireBooks.co
• DiscountBooks.co
• ElectronicBooks.co
• CollegeBooks.co
• ClassicBooks.co
• KidsBooks.co
• MustReadBooks.co
• PersonalizedBooks.co
• GreatBooks.co
• BooksOnCD.co
• FictionBooks.co
• ColoringBooks.co
• OldBooks.co
• BargainBooks.co
• TwilightSeries.co
• MysteryBooks.co
• ScienceFictionBooks.co

Gaming

• GamingNews.co
• GamerNews.co
• FishingGames.co
• GameDesign.co
• KidsGame.co
• RacingGame.co
• GameDownload.co
• VideoDownload.co
• ShootingGame.co
• PuzzleGame.co
• ArcadeGame.co

Music

• MusicVideos.co
• SheetMusic.co
• MusicDownloads.co
• MusicLyrics.co
• CountryMusic.co
• MusicPlayer.co
• ChristmasMusic.co
• HipHopMusic.co
• ChristianMusic.co
• HouseMusic.co
• TechnoMusic.co
• DanceMusic.co
• PianoMusic.co
• IndieMusic.co
• ReggaeMusic.co
• GoodMusic.co
• MusicPosters.co
• MusicBlog.co
• MusicSoftware.co

Business

• BusinessManagement.co
• BusinessConsulting.co
• BusinessCardDesign.co
• SampleBusinessPlan.co
• BusinessArticles.co
• BusinessNames.co
• BusinessJournal.co
• BusinessTechnology.co
• SmallBusinessAdvice.co
• SmallBusinessHelp.co
• BusinessEmail.co
• BetterBusiness.co
• BusinessBanking.co
• StartingABusiness.co

Mortgage

• MortgageCalculator.co
• MortgagePaymentCalculator.co
• MortgageLoanCalculator.co
• AmortizationCalculator.co
• Amortization.co
• LoanPaymentCalculator.co
• HomeLoanCalculator.co
• RefinanceCalculator.co
• MortgageCalc.co
• TaxCut.co

Other

• iPhoto.co
• SalesJobs.co
• Update.co
• Updates.co
• Roommate.co
• PrintShop.co
• InternetFax.co
• Professional.co
• Ultimate.co

Pre-Register Now With 10% Off Coupon Code

Please pre-register at GoDaddy using this link to support DotSauce.

Use the link above and .co coupon: MIN1 for 10% off when checking out!

Want more lists before the public launch? Let me know in the comments below. Good luck securing your new domains!

Premium .CO Domains Available to Pre-Register + .CO Coupon Code DotSauce Magazine

MY.CO is opening up a world of opportunity for domain name registrars during the highly anticipated .CO launch. Their service offers registrars direct access to the .CO registry.

25 years after the creation of .COM domains, the .CO domain extension is being opened up to the world as a fresh opportunity in a crowded space. The anticipation is building like no other TLD launch before.

This new service from MY.CO allows ICANN accredited registrars such as EuroDNS to offer landrush registrations for .CO domains until July 16th and public registrations during the launch. It all happens behind the scenes, through a robust EPP gateway.

Additional features include:

• WHOIS resource showing a registrar as the entity of record
• Customer data kept private within a registrar
• High performance EPP protocols, Tier 4 datacenter
• Supported and authorized by official .CO registry (CoInternet)

Dedicated resources will be allocated during the landrush for each registrar partner, ensuring a smooth experience during peek volume. I imagine MY.CO partners’ and their customers’ pre-registrations will be successful during the landrush period with this advantage.

The .CO domain extension is proving to be very popular even before it’s launch and there is expected to be an explosion of registrations in the coming years.

Interested registrars can sign up here or learn more at MY.CO.

Registrars Add .CO Domains to Their Offering in Preparation for Big Launch DotSauce Magazine

In this article, I will be sharing my thoughts and opinions on the many domain name extension options available today and some that are coming soon.

Here is a brief explanation of the different types of top level domains.

Generic TLDs or gTLDs

These extensions include .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .JOBS, .PRO, etc. ICANN is currently in the final rounds of policy making to open up applications for new gTLDs.

One of the first new gTLD extensions we will see is .XXX. Many others will follow such as .ECO.

Country Code TLDs or ccTLDs

These extensions include every country’s short-code. A handful of countries have been blessed with a pleasing acronym such as Tuvalu (.TV), Montenegro (.ME), and Colombia (.CO).

Other countries generally have to make due with local usage.

Which gTLDs are premium?

The clear winner is .COM. Most would agree that this is the best option for recognition, search rankings and inherent value.

Looking at .NET and .ORG sales, they are typically just a fraction of a comparable .COM sale. I will say that .ORG may be the best available option for organizations. I do not consider .NET at all, except for brand protection because it is a dated idea.

Aside from .COM, I don’t believe any other currently available gTLDs are premium quality.

I do admire and respect the promotion, innovations and community outreach by Telnic, managers of .TEL. However, I do not consider the gTLD itself to be premium. A premium alternative for what they are doing has not been created yet, it would be something like .SOCIAL.

.XXX, .MOBI, .BIZ, .PRO, .JOBS – These extensions all had the right intentions, but ultimately they are created for too small a niche to be premium quality in my book.

Which ccTLDs are premium?

I believe .ME is doing well after it’s launch just 2 years ago. Many successful websites are using the extension for blogging, social and personal apps. It has a broad, yet unique concept that is also memorable.

For the past few years, the internet and our televisions have been coming closer and closer together.  Finally this fall, Google TV will be made public, bringing the internet and a mass media of citizens to your TV box set. I think this will really seal the deal for .TV as a premium ccTLD. The extension has already had alot of success as businesses are founded and existing media outlets have adopted it with open arms.

On July 20th 2010, the unprecedented public landrush will take place for .CO domains. Unprecedented because of the phenomenal work by CoInternet in marketing the launch. There has been early adoption through innovative promotions like the CoFounders program in which Twitter was accepted and claimed T.CO.

So what makes .CO premium? The main fact is that it rides on the coat-tails of .COM. The extension could not have launched at a better time. Society has embraced bite sized information in the form of status updates, many of which contain odd two-letter ccTLD link shorteners.

This .CO extension will best other ccTLD options and will be adopted by a wide audience for both personal and business use. It also passes the requirement for both memorability and meaning, though in this case, .CO has a multitude of meanings.

More Premium gTLDs Coming Soon

The future is very bright for the domain industry. As I mentioned earlier, ICANN is finalizing policy to open up new gTLDs. This change will bring about many not-so-good domain extensions that you should avoid, but it will also introduce high quality extensions with real meaning and value!

For now, I’ve got my eye on a couple of generic .CO domains I’d like to develop or hold on to. GoDaddy’s .CO registration is $29.99/year and the public landrush will take place on July 20th 2010.

What domain extensions do you think are premium quality? Which ones are bad? Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments area.

Premium TLDs: Not All Domain Extensions Are Created Equal DotSauce Magazine

CoInternet is proving to have the most interactive, intriguing and lucrative domain extension launch to date.

TheDomains broke the news, Twitter has been accepted into the CoInternet .CO Founders program. An initiative to get developers involved in launching websites and businesses on quality .CO domains.

Twitter’s Official Link Shortener Coming Soon

Twitter’s new domain, T.CO will be used as the official link shortener to protect users from malicious sites. T.CO links will appear within all tweets and direct messages.

T.CO links will be monitored for malware. If malware is reported or detected then a T.CO link is flagged and a warning is shown to a user before visiting.

Users can still use existing link shortening services such as bit.ly, but those shortened links will be “wrapped” within an official T.CO link.

Twitter has other big plans for T.CO. The official announcement on Twitter’s blog mentions they will be putting click-through data to work for their Promoted Tweets program and within future commercial applications.

…routing links through this service will eventually contribute to the metrics behind our Promoted Tweets platform and provide an important quality signal for our Resonance algorithm—the way we determine if a Tweet is relevant and interesting to users. We are also looking to provide services that make use of this data, an example would be analytics within our eventual commercial accounts service.

E.CO Charity Auction Underway

Another lively .CO event is underway today. Bidding for the E.CO domain auction has reached over $30,000 on Sedo. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the charity of the winners’ choosing.

The auction is now live and will conclude on Jun 10th at 4PM EST.

Bidders must be certified for this special auction. Follow the links on e.co or Sedo for details.

Claim Your Own .CO

The public launch for .CO domains is nearing.  July 20th is the official date for general availability.

Right now, you can pre-register .CO domains at GoDaddy for $29.99/yr.

If multiple people pre-register the same .CO domain it will go to auction, but your initial fee will be refunded if you don’t get the domain you want.

The adoption of .CO by Twitter and the brilliant management and promotion of the extension by CoInternet is definitely a strong sign that quality .CO domains will prove valuable. What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment below.

CoInternet Lends Twitter T.CO Domain As Official Link Shortener DotSauce Magazine

Risky Business

There are evident risks for trademark infringement when using .CM domains.

I encourage any decent sized company to take the initiative and pre-order their respective .CM domain to prevent any later headache.  I also strongly discourage anyone from attempting to profit from typo traffic on established .COM websites.

The typo traffic is likely not as much as you think on your average .CM name. There are more profitable ways to quickly develop online business on legitimate domain names.

I’m also not convinced that .CM is a viable brand option for anything but a company in Cameroon.

Traffic Machines?

On the other side of the table, there are countless .CM domains are generic in nature and can not be said to violate any trademarks. Could these be valuable resources for driving some targeted traffic to existing business?

Rick Latona is managing an auction currently of premium .CM domains that are generic in nature.  Domains such as Cars.cm, Loan.cm, Games.cm, etc. are available with reserves from $1000 to $20,000.

NameJet has gained exclusive rights to manage the sunrise registration / pre-orders for .CM domains.

So What’s Your Move?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Please respond to the poll and leave your comments below.

POLL: Will you pre-order or buy .CM domains? DotSauce Magazine

These .ME domains are owned by Randy Charach, founder of Synergy Domain Club and all around great online businessman and fellow domainer.

There are hundreds of quality, actionable, and generic one word .ME domains that can be purchased for as little as $69 starting today through the month.

I just browsed through the list and over 150 of these .ME domain names already have backorders placed!  Some great brand names can be found and even real world first names.  Here are some examples…

You can follow this link to view all Premium .ME Domains on NameJet.

A handful of these backorder opportunities may end soon, so check it out while you can and keep watching as Randy has just informed me more will be added in the coming weeks.

Premium .ME Domains For Sale at NameJet DotSauce Magazine

There have been some great developments this week, interesting article guides, editorials and even big announcements from Microsoft and Google!

Let’s face it, nobody can really keep up with all of the news and articles surrounding the domain and internet industry and I’m sure all you guys who were at TRAFFIC missed some things. I monitor and share this stuff actively and I still manage to miss some of the news myself.

So, for your convenience, I have compiled below what I feel are the most valuable and important articles on domaining from the previous work week.

Domain Buzz – Monday June 1st through Friday June 5th

Whizzbang’s Blog – The PPC Industry: “For the first time ever Google posted a down-turn in earnings which is remarkable for a number of reasons…“

The Domains – Congress Calls ICANN Out On Finances: “Florida Republican Cliff Stearns called ICANN out on its finances , noting that the last balance sheet the nonprofit group showed a $7 million surplus.“

DNW – Congress Beats Up ICANN, 3 Part Series: “members of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet took turns ripping into Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its President/CEO Paul Twomey.“

The Domains – Verizon Testifies To Congress Against New gTLD’s: “in front of the House Energy and Commerce Internet Subcommittee panel, which is holding hearings on ICANN, that new gTLD’s shouldn’t be allowed unless there is a proven market demand“

DN Journal – Final Day Photos and Highlights from the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. : “We have already seen one blockbuster sale, DiamondRings.com at €162,000 ($230,179 at today’s exchange rate). In a solid ccTLD sale, Houses.co.uk just went for €51,000 ($72,429).“

TechCrunch – The Dot Coms Are Booming Again (Domain Registrations, That Is): “VeriSign has just put out its quarterly report on the web domain industry stating that there are now just about 183 million domain names in existence. This represents a 3% increase from last quarter and a 12% increase from last year.” Full VeriSign PDF report here.

DNN – Targeted TRAFFIC ccTLDs 2009 Live Auction Results

INC. Magazine – Is Your Domain Name Killing Your Business?: “Choosing the right domain name is crucial to helping potential customers find you — with shorter, simpler, intuitive descriptive names ending in dot-com considered better.“

DNN – Dan Warner Sails From Dark Blue Sea: “Dan Warner, one of the most public faces of Dark Blue Sea has left his position as COO of DBS (parent company of Fabulous.com).“

DomainNews – President of CCIA will be keynote speaker at Domain Roundtable Conference: “Domain Roundtable Conference in Washington ,D.C. will start this month and will have as a keynote speaker Edward Black, President & CEO of Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA).”

Google – Page Speed Firefox Addon: “Page Speed is an open-source Firefox/Firebug Add-on. Webmasters and web developers can use Page Speed to evaluate the performance of their web pages and to get suggestions on how to improve them.”

DotSauce – SEO Advice of the Year! Google’s Matt Cutts on Successful Blogging: “Matt recently gave a presentation on the subject of SEO and blogging at WordCamp San Francisco and has been kind enough to share his presentation with everyone.“

DNJournal – Wednesday Photos & Highlights from T.R.A.F.F.I.C Amsterdam Including Kevin Ham’s Keynote: “With one day still to go I can tell you this has been an exceptionally informative and entertaining conference.“

DotSauce – POLL: Do You Buy Expired Domains?: “The nature of a domain registration will continue to provide virtually infinite opportunity for domainers, simply because of the fact that names expire.“

DotSauce – Hot New Domainer Resources Coming This Summer to DotSauce: “new Domaining Directory will feature comprehensive industry resources, tools and contacts. It is currently in early stages of development but is already an industry first.“

Rick Schwartz – It’s a DEAL! Candy.com (Sells for $3M). And the Buyer is…: “G&J Holdings, LLC today announced the purchase and acquisition of the web domain Candy.Com and the development of a new internet based confections retailer“

LLLL.com – Marketing — Are Domain Companies doing all they can do?: “9Domain Marketplaces should) have a link on your homepage which showed the last hundred or even the last thousand sales on your site? Would that not give potential buyers more confidence in making a purchase?“

DNJournal – Photos & Highlights From the First Full Day of Business at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. : “Internet Commerce Association President Jeremiah Johnson spoke about new threats facing domain owners, including efforts being undertaken by trademark interests to have the UDRP process replaced with a new system“

WannaDevelop – Exact Match Keyword Domains – Most Important Investment for Online Business: “Lots of opportunities for people who do get it to capitalize on this. Big time! Lots of opportunities for “domainers” and the collectors of quality exact match domains that are two to three keywords long…“

Domainvestors.tv – Do You Know Your Visitors? Why Analytics is Key to Monetization: “Analytics is an often overlooked part of the website development process but potentially the most important step in the long-term monetization of a site.”

eBusinessDomains – Bing Is Now Live – Microsoft Launches New Search Engine: “Microsoft has unexpectedly launched their new search engine ahead of schedule. Bing.com is the new face of search and will replace Live.com“

DNJournal – DN Journal’s First Report from Amsterdam: “The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs conference gets underway tonight in Amsterdam, Holland.“

Hope you enjoyed the Domain Buzz round up for the week! Have a great weekend.

If I missed anything feel free to leave a comment below.

Domain Buzz – This Week in Domaining DotSauce Magazine

Mr. Ed Keay-Smith, Oz Domainer, will be representing DotSauce readers. He won a free conference pass here a couple weeks ago.  Tell us how it goes Ed!

The complete auction list has been posted on the RickLatona.com and your early bird bids are being accepted via our online auction platform at proxibid.com/ricklatona

To register now for the auction visit www.proxibid.com/ricklatona and create your account.  For any technical questions please contact our Proxibid support lines at 877-505-7770 in the U.S. and +1-402-505-7770 for outside the U.S.

Official T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs Domain Auction Catalog

You can type the Euro amount in this Google Finance EUR to USD Conversion tool.

The live auction begins at 4:00 PM GMT +1.  This is 10:00 AM Eastern Time, 7:00 AM Pacific Time.  Auctioneer Matt Lowery will beginning promptly, if you are unable to attend the online it is recommended that you place your bids early online at proxibid.com/ricklatona

Directly following the live auction, any unsold domains – as well as the online only inventory of over 1000+ additional domains will begin.  The online only auction begins on June 5^th and bidding will take place at proxibid.com/ricklatona

TRAFFIC Amsterdam Domain Auction Inventory – 2000 Quality Country Code Domains For Sale DotSauce Magazine

Check out the loaded conference schedule which features some great sessions and a keynote by Dr. Kevin Ham!

I won a free all inclusive conference pass from Rick Latona for referring the most members to his new ccTLDs.com forum. (So, if you need to get the word out about domain related business you know who to go to!)

HOWEVER, I am a bit of slacker and was not able to get my passport in order to be able to attend the conference.

Take My Place, Vote & Comment Below!

I know this is going to be an excellent gathering of top domainers from around the world and I don’t want that experience to go to waste.  Rick has stated that I can transfer my free conference pass to someone else.

Only vote “YES!” if you can make travel arrangements (and have your passport in order) to attend the TRAFFIC conference on June 1st, then leave a comment stating your interest! This is so I can email you if chosen.

Just a simple “I would go!” comment will suffice.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

I will then pick a winner from those who posted a comment at the end of the week on Friday May 15th, that should give the winner a little over two weeks notice to prepare.

Note, this conference pass is a $1,495 value!

Please share this post if you know someone who would be interested!

Poll: Would you go to T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Amsterdam if the Conference Was FREE? DotSauce Magazine

On May 2nd, 2009 the second annual Domaining Festival Meetup will be held in Valencia, Spain at the beautiful Sorrola Palace Hotel.  This is an informal event in Spanish for investors and domain name developers to network.

This year the guest speaker is Rick Latona, founder of newly launched ccTLDs.com forum.  Rick will sponsor a Valencia sightseeing tour on the second day of the event.

The upcoming Domaining Festival has been organized to discuss the future of ccTLDs and the prospects of Dominios.tv.

The price per participant is expected to be around 50 Euros.

Soon, further updates regarding the agenda for this non-profit event will be posted in English on Domaining.es.

In 2008, a successful meetup on domain monetization was held in the Maritime area of Valencia with over 30 people in attendance.

Domaining Festival Meetup in Valencia with Guest Speaker Rick Latona DotSauce Magazine

Industry leaders like Rick Latona and Sahar Sarid have recognized the potential for success in ccTLDs.  Rick Latona’s new ccTLD forum has just launched and has over 400 members in just a couple days.

Who is $3000 A Day Domainer?

The website is run by a very experienced ccTLD domain investor, obviously so because he shows us proof of making $3000 a day through Sedo parking!

He is launching this campaign to promote the ccTLD industry because it will increase the value of his own domains, as many of us should be preaching the good word of .COM domains.

What Do I Get Out of the Newsletter?

After receiving a few newsletters, I was very impressed with the quality real-world information and practical advice $3000 A Day Domainer provides to his subscribers.

Not only do you get invaluable information and ccTLD news, but often great video tutorials.  Here is a list of the content you get instant access to once you confirm your email newsletter:

• Quick Video Follow up
• Still skeptical about ccTLDs?
• (New Video) – All Your ccTLD Questions Answered
• (New Video) – Possible Hidden Profit Opportunity
• How To Assure Your Success In ccTLDs
• ccTLD Investing Starting Point
• Basic ccTLD Research
• We Want To Buy Your ccTLD Portfolio
• ccTLD Resource List & Reading Material
• Why haven’t you invested in ccTLD domains?
• Its A Must To Take Advantage of Price Specials

I suggest you subscribe to the newsletter now to start learning about ccTLDs and watch these cool videos!

Exclusive Video Sample

Here is an exclusive video from $3000 A Day Domainer featuring yet another great opportunity to invest in ccTLDs, specifically the upcoming landrush of Columbia’s upcoming .CO domain name.

This has profit potential for various reasons explained in the video with an insider tip for getting ahead of the game.

Lots more where that came from at $3000 A Day Domainer, go subscribe!

Profit from ccTLD Domain Names with $3000 A Day Domainer DotSauce Magazine

This may present a good opportunity for domainers seeking to test the waters in ccTLD investing, myself included.  Continue reading below for other interesting ccTLD happenings.

Like other major ccTLD public launches (such as Montenegro’s .ME domains) there is what’s known as a sunrise period and a landrush period.  The general public will be able to register .MX domains September 1st.

However, It seems that if you own a .COM.MX domain you may register your exact corresponding .MX domain on March 1st.

.MX Domain Registration Schedule

• March 01 to July 31, 2009: owners of domain names in the five sub-extensions (.COM.MX, .NET.MX, .ORG.MX, .EDU.MX, .GOB.MX) can register their sites with the .MX extension. The new domain names will be registered under exactly the same name as the previous domain names. If there are more than one domain name applicant with the same domain name, the one with proof of having the name for longer will be granted the .MX domain name of the same name.
• August 1 to August 31, 2009: during the transition period, the register will analyze the requests received for domain name registration.
• September 1 to October 31, 2009: the .MX domain names will be open to everyone (general registration period) on a “first come, first served” basis.

In Other ccTLD News…

TheDomains is discussing issues concerning ICANN’s latest confusing policy on gTLD (Geographic domain names such as .NYC, .Paris, .Berlin) and the serious implications this might have on the domain industry.

The January 2009 issue of Modern Domainer Magazine featured a cover story on ccTLD.

Can ccTLDs Earn You $3000 a Day?

Rick Latona is talking about it and Sahar Sarid gave his commentary. It seems like everybody is talking about the revenue potential of ccTLDs (Country Code) domain names.

Thanks to some cool videos from the people behind the scenes at $3000 A Day Domainer, the public is seeing first hand and possibly for the first time ever, a domainers’ success story built on ccTLDs.

If you’re interested in ccTLDs sign up for their newsletter. You will get updates featuring general ccTLD information as well as tips and suggestions for getting started off on the right foot when investing in ccTLDs for the first time.

What is your take on ccTLDs?  Please leave a comment below with your experiences with ccTLD investment or any questions you might have.

2009 ccTLD Buzz! Plus: The .MX Domain Extension Making a Comeback After 20 Years DotSauce Magazine