Domain Name Wire Podcast

I'm really excited about today's guest, domain investor AbdulBasit Makrani. I've been following him for years and learning a lot from his blog at AbdulBasit.com. There, he shares his experience selling domains and lots of practical tips. His tip about using SnapNames has saved me a lot of money. Today, we talk about his journey in domain investing, where he acquires and sells domains, his pricing...

We're concluding 2021 with our annual predictions episode. I asked people in the domain name industry to reflect on 2021 and make predictions for next year. You'll hear from 22 people representing investors, domain brokers, registries, and other organizations. Enjoy! Sponsor: Sav.com for sale pages

This week we talk with Kellie Peterson, head of domains at Automattic, which is the company behind WordPress and offers domains through WordPress.com. Kellie was last on the podcast in January 2018, and a lot has happened since then at WordPress.com. On today's show, Kellie explains how Wordpress.com approaches domains, what top level domains do well, and how the company experiments with domain se...

Last week Thought Convergence liquidated much of its domain portfolio through a three-day auction. On today's show, I talk with Thought Convergence CEO Ammar Kubba and domain investor Adam Strong to get their thoughts on how it went. We'll talk about the technical issues and play pundit on the winning bids.   Also:  Sponsor: Dan.com API Partnership Program

A lot of domain investors talk about developing their domains, but what actually goes into it? On today's show, I talk to two people who partnered to develop LosAngelesDUIAttorney.com. Braden Pollock teamed up with SEO expert Jason Hennessey to build the site, and then Braden sold his half of the partnership to attorney Michael Simmrin in a deal that valued the site at $800k. Michael joins as my t...

This is the second podcast in a series about expired domains. Last week, Bill Sweetman of Name Ninja explained how to monitor domains and place backorders. This week, we dig into auction bidding strategy and mechanics, and what to do after you win a domain. There are some great tips here for domain investors. Enjoy the show! Sponsor: Dan.com API Partnership Program

Many domain investors acquire much of their inventory from expired domain services. This week kicks off a two-week series about expired domains with Bill Sweetman of Name Ninja. On today's show, Bill explains what to look out for when monitoring expired domains and when and where to place backorders. It's a great discussion for both end users and domain investors. Sponsor: Backorder domains at Sav...

On today's show, I chat with former ICANN board member Ron Da Silva, who finished his term at the conclusion of the last ICANN meeting. We talk about board independence, how much of its deliberations should be public, the .org decision, if ICANN is "captured" by its legal department, and more. It's a good conversation to learn more about how the ICANN board works. Also: Expired domain shakeup, Met...

My guest today is serial entrepreneur Ben Katz, currently CEO of Happy Head . Previously, he was with Card.com when it acquired its great domain, and Ben discusses the negotiations and payment plan they used to acquire it, the challenge of convincing the board to spend the money, as well as the value it brought to the company. Ben has a lot of great domain stories to tell from his many ventures, a...

Last month, I spoke with Tucows CEO Elliot Noss about DNS abuse in episode 359. Today, Namecheap COO Hillan Klein comes on the show to talk about his company's approach to the challenge. Klein shocked me by saying that Namecheap employs over 100 people to tackle abuse. He explains the company's philosophy about privacy as it relates to alleged abuse, and what Namecheap has done to clean up problem...

GoDaddy plays an important role in the domain name aftermarket. On today's show, GoDaddy VP of Aftermarket Paul Nicks provides updates on what's going on at GoDaddy for domain investors: the Uniregistry transition, Buy Now page results, Closeout pricing change results, and more. He also talks about what the coming is doing to improve platform performance. Also: .Au domains, Portugal.com, and a Poc...

A lot of good comes from the internet. So does a lot of bad: phishing, spam, explicit child material, etc. On today's show, Tucows CEO Elliot Noss shares an initiative his company is undertaking to raise awareness and formulate how Tucows responds to abuse connected to domains registered through Tucows and its resellers. Domain registrars are just one part of the internet, but they play an importa...

There are a handful of competing blockchain-based, alt-root domain name systems popping up. One of these made a big announcement recently: it now works with any second level domain on the "real" DNS. Brantly Millegan, director of operators for Ethereum Name Service (ENS), comes on the show today to talk about how you can use example.com, example.guru and other second level domains with ENS in addi...

This week's guest knows the value of a good domain name. John Rampton is the co-founder of Calendar.com and Due.com. Both of these companies started with different domain names, and John explains how upgrading the domain names impacted the businesses. He also discusses the domain lease/option deals he's made with startups. He structures them in a way to make sure the business thrives and he can sh...

Last week at NamesCon Online I interviewed domain investors Logan Flatt and Mark Levine. They shared their actual revenue, expenses and profits for last year and gave an update on how their sales are going this year. On today's show, I'm replaying that session in audio format. In addition to hearing these numbers, you'll learn what Logan and Mark do to increase sales and their pricing philosophies...

Can SquadHelp crack the code to help you sell more geo domains? On today's show SquadHelp CEO Darpan Munjal discusses the company's plans to help you sell more domains like LosAngelesSiding.com and AustinAllergists.com. We also get an update on lots of new features that should help your domains. Also: An Epik hack, "keeping" domains, record-breaking sale and more Sponsor: Dan.com API Partner Progr...

NamesCon.online kicks off next week, so I asked Soeren von Varchmin to visit with us this week for a preview. He explains the three (yes, three) auctions taking place and previews some of the sessions. Plus, we give away three free passes to the event. Also: DropZone controversy, big .xyz sales, domain registrations #s and more Sponsor: Sav Auctions

Before you roll your eyes, this is not just a podcast episode about NFTs. We're going to dive into what so many domain investors turning their attention to Bored Apes and other NFTs means for the domain business. And although we don't have hard data, it's safe to say that it's having an impact. Shane Cultra joins me to break it all down. Also: Lots of premium sales, new escrow option, blockchain f...

Is .gg the next .io? Our two guests this week have had early success investing in this domain extension and hope that it takes off like .io did thanks to end user usage. Mark Levine and Logan Flatt discuss what types of .gg domains they invest in, how they price them, and their success so far.   Also: MyPillow Guy, reverse domain name hijacking, NamesCon, and GoDaddy's hires   Sponsor: Sav

Many top level domain names became popular over time thanks to use. Someone saw that another company was using the TLD, so it used it. Relatively recent examples include .io and .ai. But that's not always the case; .co became popular thanks to marketing that primed the pump, and then community usage took off. Any company that launched a "new" TLD in 2014 or later has had to market their domain to...

We all have favorite domain names in our portfolios. On today's show, I run through my favorite domains from my portfolio. They aren't necessarily the most valuable, but I have my reasons for each of them...from "sweet" domains to ones I've used for businesses, I run through my favs and why on this week's show. Sponsor: Sav.com

Rolf Larsen understands the value of a great domain name. His latest startup, Desktop.com, spent a lot of money to buy its domain name. But he says the domain has been a key part of the company getting early investors, a government grant, and gaining trust of users. Listen to his story on today's show. Also: Facebook's new domains, Harley-Davidson's domain purchase, and a very fast flip Sponsor: D...

On today's show we talk to Michael Bereslavsky of DomainMagnate. His company buys and sells online businesses, and takes the process to another level. On today's show, we talk about the market for content sites, his company's private equity funds for acquiring sites, and where there are opportunities in the market for buying sites and selling them for a profit. Also: OnlineNIC's days numbered, Ver...

This week I catch up with Ron Jackson of DNJournal. Ron launched a new site dedicated to spreading the word about .us domain names. We talk about the market for .us and then review the top 10 domain sales so far this year. Also: New Sedo and GoDaddy features, no Seattle, Germany, and more. Sponsor: Dan.com

Ryan Maltbie loves barbecuing. When the BBQ-related company he worked with shut down, he took some time off. But then, when he had less than $1,000 left in the bank account, he decided to go all-in drive on a business selling grills and accessories online. Fortunately, he had deep industry relationships to get started. Oh, and he had a killer domain: BBQGrills.com. It's been less than 18 months si...