Domain Name Wire Podcast

Last week I held a Twitter Space with attorney John Berryhill to talk about domains. We had a great showing and some intriguing questions. I'm turning this conversation into a podcast and splitting it over two episodes. This week, John give soapbox about legal issues (including a warning about posting publicly about legal issues) and dives into cybersquatting on blockchain domains.  Also: GoDaddy...

Last week, Donuts announced that it rebranded to Identity Digital. On today's show, Identity Digital CMO Mina Neuberg and Sr. Director of Brand and Marketing Communications Kimberly Michener come on the show to discuss why it rebranded and a big marketing compaign it's launching this week to bring awareness to top level domains. Also: Domain transfer, bitcoin.xyz, Sedo payments, Mann's lawsuit Spo...

Last week on the podcast I opined about what's happening in the domain market and what might happen as the economy changes. In the interim, the markets continued to tank and the recession word keeps coming up more. So today I brought on two people who have a pulse on the market, Jeff Gabriel of Saw.com and Alan Dunn of Namecorp. We talk about what they're seeing first hand and if their clients are...

What a year it has been. Markets crashing. Fewer new domain registrations. Inflation. The sky is falling. Or is it? On today's show, I walk through what's happening in the domain name market, and what could happen in the future due to the economy. I also walk through top sales this year in .com and .xyz. Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

There's a lot of debate about the potential of blockchain-based domain names. And even if you believe in the potential of these domains, there's debate about which competing system is best. On today's show, I talk to two people who are believers, but disagree and how it will play out. Mike Carson is a fan of Handshake and Aaron Oxborrow is all-in on Ethereum Name Services. Let's here what they hav...

There are opportunities where markets are inefficient. On today's show, I chat with a domain investor who fights through the clutter on eBay to find good domain bargains, including a domain he bought a couple of years ago for $1,500 that he just sold for $16,500. Matt Ledingham explains how he searches on eBay, where else he acquires domains, and his unique platform for promoting domains for sale....

New top level domains seems to have some wind in their sails after a decade on the market. Radix, for example, saw revenue grow 35% last year compared to 2020. Today, I chat with Radix's Senior Director of Channel Partnerships, Neeha Naik. She talks about what's behind the growth and some of the company's recent marketing campaigns. Also: .web redo, .link, domain appraisals and more Sponsor: Sell...

Doron Vermaat comes on the show this week to talk about two of his recent big sales. Doron is a domain investor and co-founder of Efty. We talk about the two sales: how they came together, how he negotiated, and how he closed the deals. One of the transactions is on a payment plan, and Doron explains why he thinks offering payment plans is a good idea. Also: .eth fallout, .hiphop, .tattoo, ICANN g...

Thinking of buying or selling a web business? On today's show, MicroAcquire founder Andrew Gazdecki talks about the process and how he's trying to upend the market. In just over two years, MicroAcquire has tallied a half billion dollars in sales and has 150,000 registered buyers looking to acquire businesses. We also discuss how MicroAcquire is trying to make the sales process easier, including a...

In his first interview since selling DNAcademy to GoDaddy, Michael Cyger talks about how the deal came together and, more importantly, what it could mean for domain name investors. We also discuss how GoDaddy is working on tools to help domain investors, and a tip on pricing your domains to increase sell-through rates along with a test the company is currently running.  Also: Earnings reports, UDR...

Owning a great domain name can jumpstart a business, giving it instant credibility and name recognition. On today's show, we're going to look back at four entrepreneurs I've interviewed in the past who bought great domains. You'll hear one entrepreneur's story of refinancing his house to buy BBQgrills.com , how David Ciccarelli shifted his business Voices.com with a one word domain, how Rolf Larse...

Unless you're one of the biggest domain investors, you likely get get frustrated by the unpredictability of domain sales. When it rains it pours, and other times you're in a drought. It's also hard to test different approaches because of the small sample size. On today's show, I give examples of this from my own portfolio and discuss how we might be able to learn from the biggest domain investors....

No one listening to this podcast wants people to use domain names and websites for scams, spam, and spreading malware. But who should be responsible for policing this? How much effort should domain registrars and registries have to expend to root it out? And what about the collateral damage to legitimate websites? Today, I chat about these topics with Jothan Frakes. Jothan has been in the DNS spac...

Today, we check in with Peter Askew for an update on his latest business ventures. He's right in the middle of onion season, but also launched SEOjobs.com to connect SEO experts with companies looking to hire them. Peter also gives an update on his ranch jobs site and his birthday party directory. Also: Domain data, EU's DNS abuse report, big cybersquatting judgment Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfe...

Today we check in with Zak Muscovitch, general counsel for Internet Commerce Association. We discuss DNS abuse and other topics, but spend most of our time talking about UDRP and UDRP reform. Zak said that, in an ideal world, 100% of UDRP complaints would win. Don't take that out of context, though. He explains what he means on today's show. Also: BAYC apes in on domains, DNAcademy acquisition, a...

My guest on this week's podcast just secured a great domain for his business: gravity.com. Carl Hancock is co-founder and CEO of Gravity Forms, a very popular WordPress plugin with millions of users. He's had his eye on gravity.com for years but it always seemed unattainable. That was until he fortuitously typed in the domain earlier this year and saw an inquiry form. On today's show, Carl explain...

What makes a domain sell for lots of money? How can you break out of low-range sales and sell a domain for $25k, $100k or more? On today's show, Bob Hawkes breaks down the data. Understand the characteristics of domains that sell for $25,000 or more including the length of domains, category, and more. Also: A big settlement, Russian fallout, notable UDRPs, Gravity.com and more Sponsor: Sav.com no-...

Attorney John Berryhill joins us today to talk about recent court cases involving domains, such as pocketbook.com and circus.com. We also discuss some of the legal shenanigans going on with NFTs and some things to know about fractional domain ownership. And if you want to sponsor John's upcoming Pan-Mass Challenge ride, you can do that here .  Also: Russia backlash, premium domains, pricing psycho...

There's no debating that many domain investors have shifted some of their attention to trading NFTs. On today's show, domain buyer broker Bill Sweetman (who has also caught the bug) explains why he thinks domain investors have unique skillsets that translate well to buying and selling NFTs. We discuss the similarities (and differences) between trading NFTs and trading domain names. We finish with...

Richard Lau is a long time domain investor who has left a mark on the industry. He founded (and later sold) NamesCon and has helped connect a charity, The Water School, to the generous domain investment community. On today's show, Richard explains why he prices all of his domains and why he's thinking about repricing most of them soon. He also discusses how the psyche of the typical domain buyer h...

Leanne McMahon is fairly new to domain investing but she is contributing a lot to the community, including her new domain sales analytics site crunch.id. On today's show, I ask Leanne how she got interest in domain investing, what resources helped her get up to speed quickly, and how she's using her skills to give back to the community. Also: .Com prike hike (again), Canvas' rebrand, earnings bona...

On today's show, I'm going to evaluate ten domain sites domain investors use — marketplaces and other tools — and highlight one thing I like about each of them, one way they can improve, and one tip about using the service that you might not know about. We'll discuss Sedo, Afternic, Dan, Squadhelp, Escrow.com, ExpiredDomains.net, DotDB, Estibot, NameBio and LeanDomainSearch. Also: Bird.com buyer r...

On today's show, DNJournal publisher Ron Jackson walks us through the amazing year in domain sales we just experienced. We discuss the floor prices of the top 100 charts, compare the numbers to previous years, and run through last year's 7 figure sales. We also caution that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. Also: launch.day, Canvas saga, Whois data and more. Spo...

Want to make 2022 your best domain investing year yet? On today's show, I'll show you what I've learned from some of the best domain investors. We'll discuss how to analyze your results, get organized, perform a domain audit, set a strategy, replenish your portfolio and renew the right domains. Also: Enom outage, edibles fight, CentralNic's big year, Canvas.com and more. Sponsor: Sav.com domain au...

Mark Levine returns to the show today to give a breakdown on his domain sales last year. You'll heard how many domains he sold, their median price, a breakdown of TLDs (hint: only 55% were .com), and more about his strategy for buying and selling domains. Grab a pen and paper to take notes about how this can help you with your domain investing. Also: Fractional domain ownership, UDRPs galore and a...