Domains.org

[Jon]

Since I now own this domain, although not completely, just the large majority stake, my job in it is chief architect of the project. Meaning, taking it from what it is now, and turning it into what it should be.

I'm posting this in this section because you guys are fellow domainers. I also want to use this section as a place for beta testing and ideas. So when I become ICANN registered this summer, and we create lots of API's, members of THIS section only will be able to beta everything before anyone else.

Lord Brar will play a major role for us in being the liason between the domainers community and the overall project for Domains.org.

I will let you guys know, that we plan on developing the hell out of the site. Although the front portion will be catering to the small biz more newbie/naive domain purchaser, you know, the ones that just want a domain, some hosting, and other add-ons because the whole process is just plain scary to them. We're also going to have another division that specifically caters to domainers themselves. Although the domainer community is small and pales in comparison to the retail market, I want to create a really killer place for domainers to get access to things that have otherwise been out of reach for them.

So if any of you guys want to be apart of this project, and have ideas for things that you would really like to see, for domainers or for the retail market, post it here.

The total project should take about a full year until it's completely done. I hope to have at least the retail end of it complete by September 2008. The domainers division though will take lots more time I think, plus I always want to have one section on it open for testing new ideas and products.

From now on, when we have news about this project, I'll be dropping it here first, and if any of you have blogs, you can get the semi-exclusive about a few hours or a day before I make any official announcements.

 

[nmwando]

Congrats man, finally you start acquiring and developing premium names. Bout time . Coulda done better with spyware.com com though. Ehehehheh

 

[Swifty]

Ideas, ideas, ideas...

Well, first and foremost, what do you have in mind for domainers? I know you want ideas, but come on, we both know that you're far from lacking in the imaginative sense.

For domainers, you'll definitely need competitive pricing, and I think WickedFire, not just this domaining section, would be happy if you offered special pricing to its members (Kind of like the deal Moniker has going w/ various forums).

I know you value domain privacy, so don't go charging an arm and a leg (or more than an actual domain itself) for whois protection.

Make sure that the interface of your users' domain portfolio is very easy to understand and that the learning curve is minimal. Nothing sucks more than trying to teach a customer how to sign up and use a shitty portfolio interface.

Include a competitive backordering service. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

Include a marketplace. I don't mean the way that some of these domain registrars have it where it "just so happens" that they have a marketplace. I mean truly promote your marketplace as a major part of your network/service.

I have no doubt in my mind that we can psychologically influence some of the directions of the domain industry. We've got some evil geniuses/genii here, so that should be ok.

A few php scripts wouldn't hurt. Domain suggestion tool, short domain lists, domain organization, etc.. A bulk domain search that exceeds 500 would also be useful.

Before getting into anything unique though, what, out of the things that you can share, do you already have in mind?

 

[smaxor]

1. I love cheaps domain management interface,best in the biz for what I do.

2. API's for the whole domain registration process, we're buying a 1ook fresh domains and having to have the company we're dealing with build us a full api for checking availability and registering. As well as mangement for expirations and renewals.

3. I love TDNAM's fire sale section where you can get good domains for SEO purposes for next to nothing and before they drop.


4. Pricing is very important, right now we're getting .info's for close to 60 cents and com's for 6.50 or so, and when you buy in large bulk pricing is very very important.

5. Free whois blocking.

6. domain rating tools of some sort. For SEO purposes

7. This one I've yet to find but some sort of aggretgated prices for what resell domains are going for without having to read all the auctions. A live feed on resale pricing would be pretty hot.

8. api controls dns server creation not just setting the dns for the domain.

9. Some sort of cretive financing packaging for high dollar domains or portfolio's

10. Roll that funding in to bonds to sell on the open market like the did with mortgages so that when the retarded over priced domaining market crashes the stock market can too.

That is all.

 

[Jon]

Ideas, ideas, ideas...

Well, first and foremost, what do you have in mind for domainers? I know you want ideas, but come on, we both know that you're far from lacking in the imaginative sense.

For domainers, you'll definitely need competitive pricing, and I think WickedFire, not just this domaining section, would be happy if you offered special pricing to its members (Kind of like the deal Moniker has going w/ various forums).

I know you value domain privacy, so don't go charging an arm and a leg (or more than an actual domain itself) for whois protection.

Make sure that the interface of your users' domain portfolio is very easy to understand and that the learning curve is minimal. Nothing sucks more than trying to teach a customer how to sign up and use a shitty portfolio interface.

Include a competitive backordering service. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

Include a marketplace. I don't mean the way that some of these domain registrars have it where it "just so happens" that they have a marketplace. I mean truly promote your marketplace as a major part of your network/service.

I have no doubt in my mind that we can psychologically influence some of the directions of the domain industry. We've got some evil geniuses/genii here, so that should be ok.

A few php scripts wouldn't hurt. Domain suggestion tool, short domain lists, domain organization, etc.. A bulk domain search that exceeds 500 would also be useful.

Before getting into anything unique though, what, out of the things that you can share, do you already have in mind?

I like a lot of the points you've made and touched up on. Many of them have been big issues of mine with other registrars and domainer service providers.

I will share the following with you guys...

Although there is a TON of cash in the domainer end of the industry, it pales in comparison to the volume of the retail market. With the domainer industry, you also have to remember that it opens a huge issue of scammers, and not just from a reputation point of view, but things like stealing domains, trying to sell stolen domains, taking the cash but not transferring the domain, overvaluing domains, sending fake traffic to inflate the value of a domain in an auction, lying about revenue and traffic in general, using stolen credit cards, and even worse -- issuing chargebacks on pretty large and substantial domain purchases. There's also a BIG issue with security for auctions going smoothly and differentiating between bullshit and legitimate bidders.

So with that said, we will most likely NOT offer any type of aftermarket or auction of our own. The risks are just too high. Instead, I was thinking of merging live data from auction market partners in a sweet looking ajax UI.

In other words, for the domainers division of Domains.org, we'll most likely be focusing on providing access and information to things that you can't usually find at your typical domain registrar. A lot of what we can offer also depends on whether or not we become ICANN accredited this summer, or if we wait until 2009, but playing with other companies' access to API's, etc.

So far I've spoken to 1&1/SEDO, Godaddy, Moniker/Oversee, Yahoo, and have calls scheduled for next week with Tucows, Enom, and some private domain registrars from ~10 man operations who are also accredited. Instead of abiding by their terms and their rules, I'm trying to leverage the market and availability so to offer the best of what they all have for services. I also have to start talking to hosting companies, but I'm going to leave that for the last thing, because I don't know anywhere near what I should.

Some of the services I do know we can offer without being accredited with ICANN, and do ourselves is quick, accurate and cheap Domain Appraisals (we have an algo mapped out that will be powered by WickedFire), all sorts of list digging and sourcing, a lot of search data across tons of different sources, seo-friendly domain parking (going to leverage large number of existing solutions). I spoke to my buddy Sahar Sarid, who operates DNZoom/Bido, along with TrafficZ, SEDO (but they are pretty strict), Godaddy, etc, and many of them are really interested in striking a multi-service leveraged platform. I just don't want to be the one that has to pay domainers, but rather be the middleman and get around some of the crazy volume minimums or restrictions that a lot of these guys have.

This project is huge. There's no denying it. I'm just trying to layout an in-depth project blueprint for the retail and domainer divisions. The retail one will be the primary objective, followed by the domainer one. I really hope to have the domainer one offering at least one good unique service before the TRAFFIC show in NYC in Sept 2008.

 

[Jon]

1. I love cheaps domain management interface,best in the biz for what I do.

I'll take a look and see what we can learn from it. Any specific parts that stick out to ya that you especially like?

2. API's for the whole domain registration process, we're buying a 1ook fresh domains and having to have the company we're dealing with build us a full api for checking availability and registering. As well as mangement for expirations and renewals.

If we're ICANN accredited as a registrar, then we should probably discus this more in depth if you're up for it. For the moment, we can probably build something almost as good. I definitely feel you on the whole management deal, it's so shitty so far, especially when you have tons of domains all over the place.

3. I love TDNAM's fire sale section where you can get good domains for SEO purposes for next to nothing and before they drop.

Already working on plans for SEO related tools for domaining. Been a big goal of mine for a long time, so now there are no excuses for me not to get it done.

4. Pricing is very important, right now we're getting .info's for close to 60 cents and com's for 6.50 or so, and when you buy in large bulk pricing is very very important.

Again, depends on the ICANN stuff. If we can get cheap as shit prices, I'd offer it at cost. Regardless of the TLD.

5. Free whois blocking.

Agreed. I get free whois from Godaddy now because I threatened to move my entire portfolio to Moniker. It's no skin of their backs, and it bugs me that anyone with over 100 domains should have to pay more than $1 for it, per year, or ever. But alas, depends on the registrar/ICANN issue.

6. domain rating tools of some sort. For SEO purposes.

Already mentioned. Any specific types of points you want to find out?

7. This one I've yet to find but some sort of aggretgated prices for what resell domains are going for without having to read all the auctions. A live feed on resale pricing would be pretty hot.

Already beat you to it. I have a beta of something that was made for me for one of my kw tools as an add-on. If it works the way I hope it does, then this is exactly what it will show. So before you invest in a domain, large or small, you'll know if it's worth it, and also if it's a longterm or short term flip investment, on top of where would be a good place to sell and when.

8. api controls dns server creation not just setting the dns for the domain.

If you have more details explaining this, I don't see why it can't be done on a large scale. Then again, I'm not a programmer, so I think lots of things are "simple" when they turn out to be anything but.

9. Some sort of cretive financing packaging for high dollar domains or portfolio's

Already have scheduled calls with some of the larger domain investment firms, private and public market ones (domain market, not stock market). But a lot of it has to do with a person or company's credit and net worth, or equity that they can finance/borrow against. So it's a tricky game, but definitely something I've started to research.

10. Roll that funding in to bonds to sell on the open market like the did with mortgages so that when the retarded over priced domaining market crashes the stock market can too.

That is all.

Haha. Two words for ya.. Pipe Dream. One miracle at a time I think.

Awesome suggestions and points nonetheless. But definitely needs some clarification on some of them.