Domain Name Wire Podcast

A lot has happened at Atom.com over the past year, including its name. On today's show, Atom founder and CEO Darpan Munjal discusses results from the company's rebrand, including the impact on SEO and the ROI on ad spend. We also discuss last year's product launches, and what's in store for domain sellers in 2024.   Also: Bye bye Hexonet, .AI, and Tik Tok ban   Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

This week, we're opening up the vault and going back to one of the most interesting interviews from this show over the past couple of years. In October 2023, I interviewed Chess.com CEO Erik Allebest. He explained how the chess.com domain name was critical to both the early growth and continued growth of the business. Erik wasn't a newbie to domains when he acquired the domain, either.   Also: FTC...

Many listeners know DomainTools for its database of historical Whois records, domain monitoring, and other domain data. But the company and its customer base have evolved over the years. On today's show, DomainTools CEO Tim Chen talks about that evolution. We also discuss the shift from Whois to Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) and what that means for customers who access Whois records thr...

Happy New Year! As we look forward to 2025, let's take a step back and consider what impacted the domain industry in 2024.   On today's episode: Postscript to my 2024 domain sales episode adding in my December sales (it was a great month!) Most popular podcasts and news stories from 2024 Three big themes/stories from the year   Also: Unstoppable's patent, crypto domain lawsuit, GoDaddy payments Sp...

It's the annual predictions episode! On today's show, you'll hear from 22 domain investors, marketplace operators, registry representative, and other people in the domain business. They will talk about what surprised them most in 2024 and what they think will happen in our fun business in 2025. Happy new year! Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

My guest this week is Rob Shutz, founder of domain buyer service Snagged. Rob came to domain names as an entrepreneur, first as an early marketing employee at BarkBox and then as a co-founder of Ro.   Rob has a pragmatic side when it comes to what domains entrepreneurs should buy, and I think it's worth listening to.   Also: Atom's new landers, Verisign's patent, and more.  Sponsor: Sell your doma...

Attorney John Berryhill joins us on today's show. John explains how Stuart Lawley, who passed away recently, helped John take the step to starting his own practice. Then we talk about country code domain names and what you need to know about them in light of recent talk about .io. We wrap by talking about the auction clawback lawsuit filed against GoDaddy.  Also: Notable UDRP decisions, Dominion c...

As 2024 winds down, it's time to reflect on the year's domain sales. On this week's podcast, I'm pulling back the curtain on my 2024 results. I'll cover everything you want to know, including how many domains I sold, my median sales price, the platforms I used to sell, my acquisition strategies, purchase prices, top-level domains, insights on payment plans, and much more. Tune in for an in-depth l...

Securing the right domain name is crucial for startup success, yet many founders struggle to navigate this essential step. In this episode, Name Ninja Bill Sweetman shares 20 things every startup founder should know about domain names. From budgeting and timing to strategy and negotiation, we dive deep into the dos and don'ts of acquiring the perfect domain.  Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

This week is Thanksgiving in the United States. As the year crawls to a close, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at predictions people made a year ago about the domain business to see how many were right.   On today's show, we'll listen to 25 people and the predictions they made in our 2024 predictions episode. Stay tuned in about a month to hear what people are predicting for...

It's been a long journey for .music: the domain just came out in general availability in October.    On today's show, Constantine Roussos explains why it took seven years to lock down the top level domain and another five to launch it. He has ambitious plans, and he's not running .music like most other top level domains.    It's an interesting story full of twists and turns. It's also a path not l...

Will DomainFi change domain name investing?   On today's show, D3 cofounder Fred Hsu lays out his vision for DomainFi and what it could mean for domain name investors. We discuss D3's plans, how long it could take for it to come to fruition, and a recent partnership with Identity Digital to tokenize domain names. Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

I'm excited about this week's guest, Marty Ringlein. Marty is a founder of Agree, an eSignature business that uses agree.com. Marty explains why it was important for his company to acquire agree.com, and it might not be what you're expecting.   Marty also talks about rebranding himself based on the availability of an email address and then acquiring marty.com.   It's a fun show!   Also: ICANN fees...

I'm joined by domain investor Deepak Daftari on this week's show.   Deepak discusses how he got into domain name investing, bulk portfolio purchases, and how his sales are going this year. We also talk about the market for domains in India where he lives. We discuss the .in country code as well as a trend Deepak has noticed in recent years with Indian companies willing to spend money on better dom...

  There's another new domain sales platform available now, and domain investors will like the price: 0% commissions for the next year.    On today's show DomainEasy founder Sam Dennis explains why he built the platform, how it's different from the competition, and what his plans are for the future.   Also: .AI, Lamborgini and more  Sponsor:   Sav.com backorders

My guest this week is domain investor Nikul Sanghvi. Nikul made a big entranace to domain investing with a successful bet on .co domains, but has since diversified his portfolio. However, .com remains just a small sliver of it, proving that there are ways to make money in domains that aren't .com. On today's show, Nikul talks about his diversification, his sales strategy, Afternic Boost and much m...

It's time to check in with two of our most popular guests on the Domain Name Wire Podcast to see how their sales are going this year.   Mark Levine and Logan Flatt share how many domains they've sold this year, what extensions, and for how much. They compare this to last year (and boy, are there some differences for both of them). We also talk about what changes they're making to technique, market...

Do you remember Friendster? It was one of the earliest social networks, launched before the likes of MySpace and Facebook.   Well, Friendster is back thanks to someone you might know from the domain business.   Mike Carson, who founded and later sold Park.io, was able to acquire this domain and is building a new social network on it.   On today's show, Mike talks about why he bought the domain and...

Epik is under new ownership. Is that enough to make former customers willing to give it another shot?   On today's show, Chris Ambler, director of domains for the registrar, provides an update on what has happened and what the future holds for Epik customers. He discusses who owns the business now, what the "new" Epik acquired from the old one, the company's stance on content, and more.   Also: Ne...

If you've ever set up a new email marketing account, web site builder account, etc., you know it can be a pain to change your DNS settings. Adding SPF records, MX records, TXT records and more can be involved.   That's where Entri comes in. The company works as glue between SaaS companies and DNS providers (usually domain registrars) to make it easy to make these updates.   In theory, it's a win f...

ConvertKit founder Nathan Barry was on the Domain Name Wire Podcast in 2018, talking about his company's plans to rebrand. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a domain, he shelved the plans.   Now, six years later, CovertKit is finally rebranding. The company will become Kit and use kit.com.    On today's show, Nathan explains what went wrong last time he tried to rebrand, how his c...

Last week Mark Levine and I gave our initial feedback on Afternic Boost , a new program from Afternic that promises extra exposure for a fee.   Today, I'm joined by Alan Shiflett. Alan manages all of GoDaddy's products for domain investors. He talks about how Afternic Boost came about and gives his take on it. I'm still not sold on the product, but I think it's worth understanding what's going on...

Last week Afternic announced Afternic Boost , a new program that the company says will increase sales up to 10%. While everyone likes to sell more domains, the announcement landed like a lead ballon with most people I've talked to. The key reason is that you have to give up the majority of your gains in teh form of a higher commission.   There are other things not to like about the program, and to...

These days it seems like a day never goes by without someone trying to phish me, either via an email saying a bank account is about to be suspended, or a text message trying to scare me into logging into a site.   Phishing involves websites, and websites involve domain names. So which top level domains are phisher's favorites?   On today's show, I chat with Dave Piscitello, a partner and researche...