Domain Name Wire Podcast

Monte Cahn joins on us this week's podcast to discuss what he's seeing in the domain market and to preview next week's NamesCon live domain name auction.   Also: DomainTools appeals, interesting data showing registrar competitiveness, and addicting lawsuit and more.

This week Mika Epstein, a WordPress engineer at DreamHost, explains what to look for in WordPress plugins to make sure you aren't opening up a backdoor to your website. We also hear predictions from Natasa Djukanovic and Braden Pollock.   Plus: NameSilo acquisition, much ado about ado.com, .homes, domain hijacking, hosting merger, NameBio and more.

Yep, it's 2019! As we ring in the New Year, we'll hear from 18 people with their predictions for 2019 in the domain business:   Kellie Peterson (Automattic/WordPress.com) Doron Vermaat (Efty) Mike Gargiulo (VPN.com) Mariah Reilly (Donuts) Christa Taylor (dotTBA) Giuseppe Graziano (GGRG.com) Roland LaPlante (Afilias) Rick Schwartz (Domain King) Jason Eisler (.Club) Elisa Cooper (Brandsight) Marco H...

In this special episode of the DNW Podcast, we review some of the top stories in the domain name business from the past year. I review GDPR and what impact this has had on the domain business. We discuss major acquisitions in 2018. A huge new top level domain release...and record setting new TLD sales. What role should registrars have in policing the use of domain names? What's going on with Veris...

This is a story about an imposter. An imposter who pretended to be a well-known domain broker and tried to con another domain name broker into buying a domain name. Name Ninja Bill Sweetman tells the story...and calls out many red flags that you should take note of when you are buying a domain name.   Also: One.com, who bought Files.com, Topcoin and GoDaddy landers

Have you ever tried to convince a company about the value of a good domain name. Chris Zuiker, a domain broker and marketer for Media Options, does it every day. Today he explains the 7 ways a domain name impacts a brand, and these 7 things should be part of every pitch when you sell a domain name.   Also: Plants.com, Files.com sell for big bucks

In this special episode, we'll listen to the predictions people made a year ago for 2018 in the domain industry. Who was right? Who missed the mark?   Also: Expired domain shakeup, Amazon buys another valuable domain name, PIR gets a new CEO and Uniregistry shrinks its brand.

Companies applied for lots of types of new top level domains in the current round of expansion. Hundreds of them were for so-called ".brand" domain names that match those of companies and their trademarks. On today's show we talk with Tony Kirsch, who runs the .brand program for domain registry Neustar, to learn more about .brand domains and how they are playing out so far.   Also: A new TLD recor...

DNW listeners are familiar with the process of selecting and buying a domain name. But how do companies actually go about selecting a name for their business or product? Eli Altman is Creative Director for A Hundred Monkeys, a company that has helped businesses ranging from a brewery to IBM select names. Eli explains the naming process and discusses how domain names can play a role. It's an enligh...

Mark Levine isn't Rick Schwartz, Frank Schilling or Michael Berkens. And that's why you should pay attention to his story. He is what many domain investors aspire to be, clearing six figures in sales this year. On today's show Mark breaks down his domain sales this year including where he bought the domains, how much he paid and how he sold them. Oh, and he also discusses the time a domain name in...

Today we talk to the buyer of Brew.com, a domain name that Michael Cyger recently sold. Maddy Ramakrishnan is co-founder and CMO of Brew.com, an evolution of BuyMyACoffee.com. Find out the other domains they considered before settling on Brew.com and how the sale came together.   Also: .Com fight, Gab subpoena, Malibu.com, Chicago Blackhawks win and more.

Rolf Larsen was a pioneer in bringing the internet to Norway when he ran successful ISP and hosting companies. Now he runs the .Global top level domain and is rolling out Registry Office, a management system for domain registries. Learn how he raised money for .Global and his experience running the domain, plus much more on today's episode.   Also: Gab.com, stolen domains, Google Domains and Adsen...

.Com is king in much of the world, but not in Europe. In many European countries, the country code domain name (ccTLD) is used more often than .com. On today's show I talk to two people who live and breath ccTLDs. First, I talk with Peter Von Roste, who is the General Manager of CENTR, a group that helps European ccTLD managers. We then chat with Jakob Truelsen, the CEO of DK Hostmaster, which man...

Ray King returns to the DNW Podcast for his once-every-100-episodes guest appearance. King (the first guest ever on this podcast) has a long history in the domain business including expired domains, new top level domains and now running a registrar. We talk about why he decided to launch PorkBun.com in such as crowded market, how he is growing the registrar and what lessons he has learned.   Also:...

Sedo CEO Tobias Flaitz is our guest this week. We discuss what's happening in domain parking and the aftermarket, and he explains where the company gets most of its sales. We also discuss the international market for domains.   Also: Atallah likes Donuts, Uniregistry's UnPerks, domains under USMCA, CrowdSignal, Web.com goes private and more.

Do people trust the domain name business? Does the business market to people other than themselves? Not enough.   That's what Marie Lanyon, VP of Marketing at Hexonet, discovered when she entered the domain name industry last year. Since then, she's been working on ways to improve trust and knowledge of the industry. Find out what she's doing and what's working on today's episode.   Also: Bob Pars...

Few people have the view of the domain name market that Jeff Gabriel has as VP of Sales at Uniregistry. On today's show, Jeff explains what he's seeing in the aftermarket right now and why he expects Uniregistry to sell $60 million in domains this year, up 50% from last year. He also discusses domain payment plans and the best way to use them in a negotiation. You'll learn a lot. Also, if you're g...

My guest is Cyril Fremont, an entrepreneur who recently acquired the .Best top level domain name. His story is very different from most people running a new top level domain. Fremont originally looked at acquiring a TLD as a way to save money because his internet marketing company was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on domain registrations each year. Now he has an innovative idea for .be...

Public Interest Registry (PIR), the group that operates .org, recently announced changes to how it's approaching marketing through the domain name registrar channel. On today's show, PIR interim President and CEO Jay Daley discusses why the organization is making these changes. Jay discusses the current state of registry marketing and sales through registrars, how we got here, and what might chang...

Gerald Levine literally wrote the book on UDRP. His book Domain Name Arbitration is the bible for domain name lawyers. On today's show, Levine discusses some of the trends he's seeing in UDRP cybersquatting disputes. Also: Abry gobbles up Donuts, Namecheap hits 10 million, CentralNic's purchase, and Google says URLs suck.

It's the 200th episode of the DNW Podcast! To celebrate, I'm bringing on one of my most popular repeat guests, Bill Sweetman of NameNinja. This week Bill will explain the process of buying and selling social media handles, how much they usually sell for and if there's an opportunity to invest in them. Also: Paging Larry. Page, Afilias comes to America, a cryptocurrency auction and a new Whois bill...

I have a fascinating discussion this week with Darpan Munjal, founder and CEO of SquadHelp.com. This company helps businesses select new company and product names with the help of a crowd of name suggesters. It's been quite successful; it was #247 on this year's Inc 5000 list and generated 2.5 million in revenue, mostly from naming contest fees. Late last year the company added a domain name eleme...

New top level domain name company .Club landed on the Inc 5000 last week. The Inc 5000 list shows that it had revenue of $7.2 million but I had lots of questions. Is this "real" revenue? Is the company profitable? This week we go straight to the source with .Club founder and CEO Colin Campbell. He explains the numbers, historical revenue and what he predicts for the future. It's an an eye-opening...

For this week's special edition of the Domain Name Wire Podcast, I review the top 10 public domain name sales of the year as reported by DN Journal. We'll be back next week with the regular podcast format.

Mike Cyger did over 400 interviews for DomainSherpa before he sold the site. On today's show, Mike recounts how he got into the domain name business, how he learned the business, and five things he learned while running DomainSherpa. If you aren't familiar with his story, he went from knowing basically nothing about domain names to building a portfolio many domain investors would be jealous of. Al...