discredit.org

There is a buzz flying through the domaining world, which has to do with the .CM domain name being delayed by the “official” Cameroon Government Registry. Hold on to your typos my friend, we are definitely in for a treat on this one. Apparently the first come first served launch, originally to be available as early as tomorrow, March 1, 2009 has now been postponed until further notice. That’s right, until further notice! For those domainers (including myself) who were anticipating the final public open registration stage of the .CM grand finale, we will now have to simply twiddle our thumbs.

The landrush period for this domain extension is now over, but the final public open registration stage has yet to begin and from the looks of it we won’t know when it will be ready until the Cameroon Government Registry provides us with that information. Personally, I have a few domain orders currently in a queue at NameJet and am a bit disappointed in the delays. Especially since there is no option to delete the domains from the pre-order landrush queue. In addition to this the cost for being in the landrush is guided by these rules stated in the NameJet .CM preorder FAQ:

How much does it cost to Pre-Order a .CM?

When you submit your Pre-Order directly through NameJet there is no charge! If the domain that you pre-ordered goes to auction and you win that auction, you will pay the winning bid amount to NameJet. The Landrush 2-year registration fee will be charged by the sponsoring registrar plus any additional fees charged by your domain name provider.

What fees will I be charged if I am the winning bidder?

You will only pay NameJet for the final winning bid amount; no additional fees are associated with your bid(s). Your Landrush 2-yr registration fee will be charged by your domain name provider. Please contact your domain name provider for further details.

Delays combined with the hefty registration fees is enough to make you think twice about being part of the .CM landrush pre-registration or open registration period. Hopefully this gets worked out soon as anymore delays could be catastrophic for the new extension.

If you haven’t heard the news by now, then you most certainly will! Bruce Marler is currently making waves in the domaining industry with a geo based domain name utilizing the dot-me extension! Yes, you heard that right he has developed a geo based site which would make all domainers proud. Look out, here comes Missouri.me, followed by a blitz of media attention both online and local to Missouri. If there is a poster child for the dot-me extension I would have to say it is a tie between Bruce’s innovative geo site and the latest promotions for a movie entitled “Desipscable Me“! But enough about the movies, I am writing this entry to congratulate a fellow domainer who has actually been criticized a number of times on his own blog for believing in the dot-me extension.

For all of those that have downplayed the potential for a dot-me based domain name, this should be your reality check. As some would say a domain name is only as good as you make it. Bruce has certainly proved his skeptics wrong and has been mentioned on Ron Jackson’s Dnjournal.com, so lets see what the future has in store for this visionary. Bruce, the limelight has been placed on you now and your dream has definitely made many believe in the power of a dot-me again.

When I feel like conducting a few searches about the domaining world I tend to go to google news and search for the keyword domaining. Tonight I decided to change it up a bit and try the news function located on bing. The search itself provided disappointing results! It looks like the bing search engine, one that I have come to appreciate has not yet done much in the area of indexing websites that carry domaining news.

For now I will have to continue to depend on google news and the google alert system to keep me up to date on what’s hot in the domaining world. Bing I will give you another chance, but it won’t be for another month or so. Lets just hope your results improve! Here is a screen shot of the search results that bing provided me with. There is a great deal of improvement to be made with the bing search engine, with all the news hype about how they are catching up with google this proves that they are still far behind!

Bing News Domaining Results

Recently the domain name of Wisconsin’s Secretary of State went from being a political based site to help with his re-election to an all out porn site run by a Russian entrepreneur. To give this entrepreneur the benefit of the doubt he has offered to sell the domain name back to its previous owner for the sum of $361. LaFollette admitted to XBIZ that the material was very embarrassing. Although the domain now points to a hosting account without any content, it at one point displayed gay prison movies, incest cartoons, daughters spanking mother pics (Tongue tied on this one!) and a whole host of other adult based genres.

Andrey Serkov, the Russian entrepreneur who now owns this domain name sticks by the fact that he acquired the domain name legitimately. Andrey purchased the domain name via a domain auction for $361 and has stated that he is willing to sell the domain back to Dough LaFollete for that exact price.

In my honest opinion Doug should realize the influence and impact a domain name like this could potentially have. If I were Doug or his PR team there would be no doubt that we would take this opportunity to purchase the domain name for such a reasonable price. All of the media attention that this domain name will be receiving in the next few weeks or months will sky rocket the potential value of the domain and it will either end up in another entrepreneur’s hands or have a hefty price tag associated with it. It will be interesting to see what happens in this case!

The United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organisation ordered the owner of Facebook.ir to hand the domain over. The UN said they took these measures because the owner Majid Karimian Ghannad registered the domain name in “bad faith”. After being told to transfer the Iranian based domain over to Facebook, Mr. Ghannad tried to stall the process and said that he was using the domain name to sell a book. The UN completely rejected his statement.

The ironic thing about this entire situation is that the Iranian government has actually blocked access to the Facebook social networking website. Unless this changes in the near future, Facebook will not have the ability to be accessed directly by the Iranian people. To circumvent network filters, some Iranians are using proxy sites based outside of there local region.

In addition to this Facebook has deployed a Farsi version of its popular website. Some say that the new version of the site was rushed out to help the Iranians communicate better with others that speak there native tongue. Engineer, Eric Kwan who worked on the Persian version of Facebook confirmed “the site had been rushed out in the wake of the disputed Iranian elections.”

One of the legal powers that the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organisation has is the power to contest domain ownership. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers granted the organisation with this legal right.

Let me start this off by saying that I normally don’t write about a transaction when it hasn’t actually been completed. Today I am ignoring that rule because I am compelled to write about why I have selected a fellow domainer to help broker a domain for me. Recently, I have taken an interest in my local community. Since I am a domainer I figured I would look into registering domains which pertain to my surroundings. In my quest for registering such a domain I came across one which stood out from the rest.

The domain name LaderaCenter.com was registered because I felt that a popular strip mall located in my neighborhood needed an online presence. When I realized that there was no website for this strip mall and that it has become a staple in our community I decided that I will help expedite this process and register the domain name myself. My next step in this process was to either flip the domain or develop the domain myself. Considering the fact that I felt it would be better for the owner / management company to develop such a domain, I decided to contact Bruce to help me in brokering the domain to the company which owns the Ladera Center strip mall.

Bruce was more than happy to help and while I was enjoying a great lunch at BJ’s in Westwood next to UCLA he promptly updated me via text message on how he was able to get forwarded to the right person to leave a voicemail with. Keep in mind Bruce actually acted on my request within the same day. In fact he was waiting for me to get back to him earlier in the day to make sure he had the proper details to contact the company with. I honestly have never had the privilege of dealing with such a determined domain brokerage service let alone a domain broker such as Bruce Tedeschi. Most of the companies and so called domain brokers I have come across have been all hype.

In fact, he has been the only broker that has stuck by his word. Other brokers have simply stopped engaging perspective end users on domains I have allowed them to broker. I definitely would recommend Bruce to anyone who is looking for a serious domain broker and not just one who relays past transactions to you. Bruce is a domainer of action and I am confident he will do his best in sealing the deal with the prospective company. The ultimate reason why I chose Bruce to help me with such a transaction is because he has a proven track record with his own domain portfolio. Not to mention he is a very honest and straight forward person who has the best intentions when it comes to brokering your domains. I look forward to seeing how things turn out for LaderaCenter.com and will keep everyone informed on any updates.

I’ve had this dream for a while to connect with local domainers in my area. I thought why not spend a little time and money building up a local domaining group. Lucky me, websites like meetup.com exist! The website itself allows you to create a group on pretty much any subject matter or topic and people who are also interested in that specific topic can become members. Then in turn you can plan different meetups to actually meet one another at a specific location in your city. The meetup.com website is truly a genuine platform and it’s one that I have decided to utilize while creating the base of the Los Angeles Domaining Group. Currently the group has a total of 18 members who are all interested in domaining. The assistant organizer of the group is a well known domainer from Los Angeles, named Morgan Linton. Some of you may know him from his popular blog Domainvestors.tv, where he provides great video tutorials and tips on domaining. He will definitely be a great asset to the group. I look forward to building this group with Morgan and to developing a strong network, consisting of individuals who share the same passion for the domaining industry as we do.

Our first meetup will be held on August 6th, 2009 at 6:00PM pacific standard time. The meetup will be held at a place I like to call the Domainer Hideout. In reality it is a small office / studio space that I and two others currently utilize located on Wilshire Blvd. The address of the location is the following:

2007 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 719
Los Angeles, CA 90057

The first meetup is a meet and greet, where members have a chance to introduce themselves to one another. I am expecting a small turn out for this meetup, but even if two to three people show up for this event I can deem it a success. It is going to take a substantial amount of time to build a strong membership for this group, but I firmly believe that Morgan and I will make it happen! So for all of you Los Angelenos who are currently interested in joining a local group dedicated to domaining, feel free to visit www.meetup.com/domaining and sign up.

Yes, in addition to www.facebook/domaining I am now the proud owner of the /domaining vanity name on meetup.com as well!

Are you able to answer this question? If you are not, then you should stop reading this blog entry right now and take some time to really think about your purpose as a domainer. The domaining industry is here to stay. The only thing that will truly change in this industry are those that partake in it. Do you get it? If you haven’t noticed our industry has a very high turnover rate, some domainers who jumped into the limelight simply to make big bucks have vanished quicker then a shadow down a dark alley. Then there are the so called “hobbyists” these are the individuals who simply just like being part of the domaining industry. Hobbyists need love to. Needing love in this statement refers to the fact that the hobbyist makes up for a great deal of our industry and if it weren’t for the part time domainer this industry wouldn’t exist! But lets get back to the topic here, what in the world is your purpose as a domainer?

In addition to domaining I am a fan of self help books. I love these books and feel very passionate about the concept of building yourself as a person first and treating your body as an investment. The book I am currently reading “The Power of Focus” by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Less Hewitt has a section dedicated to the idea of living on purpose. It describes how you can accomplish your goals and reach new levels by formulating a purpose. So as a domainer who believes in self improvement, I do feel that it is important for everyone in this industry whether it be the professional domainer or the part-time hobbyist to have a purpose. Here are a few examples of what I would consider a purpose:

1. My purpose as a domainer is to build a large portfolio of real estate domains, which I can then monetize by developing the domains into local portals with a geo based advertising structure.

2. My purpose as a domainer is to flip at least 10 domain names a month, for the pure enjoyment of it. As long as I make a few dollars here and there I am content.

3. As a domainer my purpose is to broker five domain names a week for clients which consist of end-users and domaining associates.

These are three sample purpose statements that I have come up with. All three are strong statements because they describe a goal that each domainer has listed for themselves. Point one talks about how a domainer wants to develop a realestate portfolio and then monetize it. This domainer’s purpose is to treat domaining as an investment and I am sure they will keep track of there real estate domain names as if each represented shares of ownership in a company. Point two describes how this domainer’s main purpose is to flip domain names. They obviously are not interested in developing the domains whatsoever and would rather simply flip it for a quick return. The phrase “pure enjoyment” listed in this domainer’s purpose takes any professional edge off. They are not putting themselves under a strict guideline by using this phrase and are probably a hobbyist in the field. Either way they have described that there purpose is to flip ten domains a month and with that goal in mind they can accomplish such a task. Point three has broker written all over it. This domainer’s purpose is to broker domains regardless of who the domain names come from. They have declared a clear purpose and are willing to work with others to achieve a common goal. This purpose is what I consider a win win scenario. The client wins when the domain name is successfully brokered and the broker wins with the percentage of profits from the transaction. Great purpose indeed!

I’ll end this blog entry by saying that my purpose as a domainer is to acquire product based domain names and develop them into profitable pieces of online property which can in turn be monetized or sold to potential buyers. What is your purpose?

As a domainer, I used to find myself wasting the majority of the day trying to buy and sell domain names. I had no concept of time and spent 6 - 8 hours on the computer checking email as often as possible, browsing forums, bidding on auctions and just plain wasting a great deal of the day. I can remember days where I would actually work all day and the majority of the night! There were times where I would even forget to eat important meals, because I felt the urgency of having to get projects completed. Well, this did more to hamper my progress on projects then it did to help complete them! Only until recently did I realize what I was doing. Working these long hours effected my mood and the quality of life I was living. I neglected the importance of “Time Management” and didn’t realize that even a domainer needs to have some sort of plan to follow through out the day.

Once I realized that the problem was not having a schedule or any concept of managing my time, I decided to analyze exactly what I was doing on the Internet. While researching some tools which could keep track of my activity, I ran into a program which keeps track of your Internet activity. The tool I found for this task is called RescueTime and the basic edition is free! RescueTime is a program which you install on your computer that runs in the background. It keeps track of the websites you visit and the amount of time you spend on the websites. After it has logged enough data it then plots this data onto a graph similar to that of the one used in Google Analytics. You can view all of your activity with great accuracy and precision. So where do you view all this information? Whelp they have created an account area for the users of RescueTime. All of your data is displayed in this area and can be viewed using a number of different arrangements. I won’t get into too much detail in regards to the tool, but it truly will help you determine whether you are being productive or not. Here is a screenshot of what my activity looks like in the tool:

All of the graphs are very informative, right when I log into my online account I can see that I have been spending a great deal of time on DNPimping.com and Gmail. Although I don’t mind the time that I am spending on my blog, I do mind the fact that I am averaging just over three hours a day on checking my email. This data lets me know that I am not using my time efficiently. I’ve noticed a trend with myself, which involves checking email even when I have already checked it within a 20 minute range. I’ll check my email, so frequently that there is nothing to check! Meaning there are no new emails that require my attention. If someone needs me or is interested in purchasing a domain name of mine, I am sure they can find a way to reach me by phone. People that are in the market to purchase a specific domain name for there brand will do more than just email you about it. This is another reason why I no longer use the email feature on my BlackBerry, constantly checking my email is a bad habit for me and it is one that I am working extremely hard to kick. The other activity that I tend to spend a fair amount of time on is browsing facebook. I actually look at this as being a positive, because I am normally promoting my blog or conducting business with my domaining associates.

In an effort to curve my addicition to checking email, I have decided to plot out two times a day to check my email. I have granted myself with time to check my email in the morning and in the afternoon. There is no reason for me to check my email at night as that would be purely a waste of time! After using this tool, I have come up with the following sample schedule.

5:30 - 6:00 - Wakeup

6:00 - 7:00 - Excercise, by running or walking around the neighborhood.

7:00 - 8:00 - Get ready for the day. Shower and eat breakfast.

8:00 - 8:30 - Check email and write responses.

8:30 - 9:00 - Make or return phone calls.

9:00 - 10:00 - Write blog entries and respond to comments. Post entry to different sites.

10:00 - 12:00 - Check dropped lists, auction sites, post domains for sale, register domains.

12:00 - 1:00 - Take lunch away from the house or office.

1:00 - 3:00 - Focus on Eight Motives business, which includes computer repair, web design and print.

3:00-3:30 - Check email and write responses.

3:30 - 4:00 - Check financial accounts.

4:00 - 6:00 - Run any errands needed personal or business wise. If there are no errands take this time to go to the gym or golf course.

6:00 - End any business activity for the day, settle down and eat dinner. After you have relaxed read and then fall asleep.

I am still in the process of fine-tuning this schedule. There will be a number of changes to what I have set for myself. The important thing is that I have taken control of my time and am now able to effectively manage it! We’ll see how this works out for me for the next few days. I am now looking forward to completing all of the tasks I have scheduled for myself on dailybasis. If you are a domainer with time management issues, I suggest you look into using RescueTime for yourself and create a schedule that you can stick to.

Have you taken a guess yet? If not, make sure to do it. Ok, times up! The answer is the United States of America, according to recent reports from security firm, Sophos. The United states was responsible for around 16 percent of all of the spam received between the months of April and June of this year. This is calculated as being one in every six junk emails. In second, Brazil came in with a close 11 percent and below Brazil was Turkey with a meager 5 percent. Russia, who used to be a top offender is now in 9th place this year.

It’s amazing to think that the United States of America is the top offender for these online crimes as I definitely would of figured that we would have the proper security measures in place to prevent this type of problem.

I wonder how many domains are registered or hijacked yearly for SPAM?