This page is for the convenience of students in Prof. Tim Richardson's e-commerce classes.
It contains a collection of info and links regarding some of the marketing issues relevant to domain names.

This page last updated 2010 Feb 19
 

	Video Intro to Domain Names		Video - Domain Name Registration and  Hosting Issues
	Video - How to register a Domain Name TLDs .com, .biz, .mobi		Video - Choosing a Domain Name
			Video - Domain Names Security and  Hacking Issues

 

this unit is in the text "Current Issues in Marketing in the Information Age, 2nd. Edition" on page 247 - 252

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Domain Names
	marketing issues	witiger.com/ecommerce/domainnamesmktg.htm
	registration isses	witiger.com/ecommerce/domainnamesregister.htm
	scams and problems	witiger.com/ecommerce/domainnamesscams.htm
	scams, phishing	witiger.com/ecommerce/domainnamephishing.htm
	domain name hacking	witiger.com/ecommerce/hackingexample.htm
	domain disputes	witiger.com/ecommerce/domainnamedisputes.htm
	Verisgn problems	witiger.com/ecommerce/domainnamephishing-verisign.htm

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.	This page used in the following courses taught by Prof. Richardson . MGT C50 MGT D06 CCT 322 IEC 702 IEC 818 TCS 301 FCA 240 MGS 523 MRK 610, MRK 619 MRK 410 BCS 555 GNED 136

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Guest Speaker in  CCT 322 in 2008

When it comes to the subject of "naming" companies, brands and subsidiaries, along with the selection of words to use for Domain Names - one of the most "famous" experts in the field is Canada's own Naseem Javed.  www.abcnamebank.com/Bio2.htm  Raised in India, Naseem has made his home in Canada for several decades and runs a well known business  www.abcnamebank.com out of offices in Toronto and New York.  One of the recent articles Naseem has written about naming issues and domain names is available here on the ecommercetimes.com site  ecommercetimes.com/story/59754.html you would be well advised to read it in the context of this unit.

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Naseem Javeed

"The Golden Keys of E-commerce"  ecommercetimes.com/story/59754.html "Today, in order to have a commanding e-commerce presence with universal access, domain names must be treated like very special golden keys. Without an effective domain name, the entire exercise of Internet-centric commerce becomes almost useless." Javeed "Domain management strategies have in fact become ultra-sophisticated, and they are among the most valuable components of any ambitious corporation's strategy for building digital branding Email Marketing Software - Free Demo assets and intellectual property. Domain names are no longer small issues to be handled by the logo-centric, slogan-happy agencies or Web-tech teams. They now demand powerful strategic, boardroom-level discussions and a commanding knowledge of global domain registration laws and search engine visibility rules." Oct 2007 - Prof. Richardson spoke w Naseem by phone about guest lecturing in D06 but unfortunately he'll be travelling for the next 6 weeks.

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Naseem Javeed

The Google Test "The hyper-visibility of a universal cyber-name is the main issue. A quick search on Google is an instant test of any name's visibility. To appear on the top or on the first page is the most sought-after position, but only an extremely small percentage can achieve this as most names are poorly structured and remain buried by massive duplication."  ecommercetimes.com/story/59754.html The Google Test In the context of picking a name, the Google test can also be conducted to ascertain if the word is used in a different way in any other languages, or situations, which may  cause some confusion with the purpose of the new domain you are selecting.

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Unique Domain Name Chpt 8, page 224 The Internet Marketing Plan by Kim Bayne "One of the biggest areas of corporate identity confusion on the Internet is in the area of domain names ... domain name confusion can be the source of lost revenue or a damaged reputation for many organizations"   KEY POINTS This quote by Bayne, author of "The Internet Marketing Plan" is a good way to start of this unit.  Many companies have problems matching the domain name to the corporate name, if the corporate name is older, and in the case of new companies, the challenge is to select a domain name that is unique, and not easy to be confused with a similar word that may be inappropriate. WTGR

.Domain Names: the importance of  good name
(a new definition of "place") www.GreatDomains.com
"Ultimately, the value of a domain name is driven by its ability to deliver traffic and revenue to a business. This determines how much a company would pay for a domain name"

If the name you want is already taken as a domain, think of a solution name that people can remember, such as www.earache.com if you're into noise.

Tom Siebel writing in his book Cyber Rules makes a particular point of explaining the importance of developing awareness of the URL/Domain name. Siebel says "the name of the game right now is not revenue, but exposure ... many internet experts say that the battles for name recognition will be won and lost over the next three years [1999-2002] because the greatest growth in the user base will occur during this time as more and more customers turn to online buying" Therefore it is critical to "lock in" customer awareness of key words and phrases in order to build loyalty and catch the tip of the wave of the early momentum

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Domain  Names when  people  pick a  name to  draw  away  your  customers

In Chapter 4 of Siebel's book, there is an interesting section titled "Who owns your company's name" Siebel recounts the story of www.ringlingbrothers.com which Siebel says was in fact not originally owned by the circus but by an animal-rights activist organization PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who used it to condemn the mistreatment of circus elephants. Siebel notes that in 1998 acourt decision gave the name to Ringling Brothers, whereupon PETA moved to www.circuses.com. PETA itself was the victim of name appropriation says Siebel when somebody registered www.peta.org in 1996 to publicize their satire of "People Eating Tasty Animals".  (updated 2004 peta.org no links direct to peta.com) Network Solutions eventually ruled that neither he nor PETA could use it so the squatter formed the Domain Name Rights Coalition..

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Domain  Names . the strategy of holding certain names

Not everybody is trying to obtain all the names relevant to their business and hoard this for future use. A Reuters story in the summer of 2000 noted that giant consumer products company, Procter and Gamble had decided to sell off some names they were no longer going to use and P?G was going to sell these names through an auction process to the highest bidder. Some examples of the names they were selling were   romantic.com sensual.com beautiful.com sensitive.com flu.com scent.com cleans.com nails.com etc. read the press release from P?G's website about their domain name selloff   KEY POINTS The sell off by P?G represents perhaps, a maturity in thinking about domain names - that being the understanding that people are not stupid when they search for information on the net; they don't type in flu.com and expect all the answers to be there. However, in the beginning of the gold rush to secure rights to domains, it was considered critical to "collect" all the ones relevant to your business. .  Interestingly, a Dr. Proctor, who spells his name slightly differently, owns the domain www.proctorandgamble.com and on his sight makes comment about how procterandgamble.com poached a large number of domain names many years ago - but they forgot about misspellings !! For a very interesting perspective on P&G's collection of names, you could have read the critique at www.proctorandgamble.com/pgurls.htmby Dr.Peter H. Proctor but the URL is no longer active   UPDATE 2008 student Sarah L in MGTD06 at UTSC in  Oct 2008 emailed to say Just wanted to let you under http://www.witiger.com/ecommerce/domainnamesmktg.htm,  the part referring to Procter and Gamble and the mispelling of it, the website formerly owned br Dr. Proctor, http://www.proctorandgamble.com/pgurls.htm , has actually been bought by Procter and Gamble. v

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Domain Name FAQs www.rshweb.biz/faq/

Chpt 8

"Web Site Naming Issues" page 309 in the Schneider/Perry book "Obtaining identifiable names to use for branded products on the web can be just as important as ensuring legal trademark protection for an existing brand investment".

Naseem Javeed

"Domains are for the international audience and global customer base, and companies should avoid serious language issues, such as translations or foreign connotations that may be embarrassing to the company or confusing to customers. Cyber branding is an extremely global phenomenon."  ecommercetimes.com/story/59754.html

Really bad choices for URLs

Student Luong D. in BCS 555 in November 2006 found this very funny site about some VERY bad choices for domain names. . the original list was at http://www.nextwebgen.com/2006/08/02/top-10-worst-company-urls/ "1. A site called ‘Who Represents’ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is www.whorepresents.com 2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com (still works in 2008) 3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net 4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at  www.therapistfinder.com (still works in 2008) 5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company… www.powergenitalia.comv

Expired dot-ca names               Expired dot-ca names                 Expired dot-ca names

KEY POINTS In the beginning, it was very difficult to obtain a .ca domain name because you had to verify lost of information with official status of an incorporate company, etc. - a lot of Canadian companies simply went and got a .com name and let the .ca expire, or never got it in the first place. Now, in 2002, there are many .ca names available, that were previously reserved, or used and expired. . "Expired dot-ca names come up for grabs" By Neil Sutton January  2002 Sutton explains "On Dec. 27, 2001, Ottawa-based Internic.ca began publishing a daily tally  of expired domains. The 145 that expired range from the  professional (itspecialists.ca), to the juvenile (ihateschool.ca) to the  downright weird (deadbodies.ca). The back order fee is $75 and   Internic.ca president and CEO Rob Hall says he's already received more than a thousand orders.   You don't even have to wait until the name has expired to put a back order on it, says Hall. "If the (current owner) does indeed not renew it,  we can apply for it the second it becomes available on your behalf."  Before now, expired dot-ca names just floated off into the ether. On Jan.17, [2002]  dot-ca governing body CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration   Authority) will make the first batch of these (approximately 25,000)   available for registration" "There has always been stiff competition for dot-coms, but dot-ca domains have the benefit of being the purview of Canadians. CIRA estimates there are approximately 30 million registered dot-com names in existence, compared to about 260,000 dot-cas. "If you want to start a company or whatever, and you want (to register that name under dot-ca), it may well be available,". "But just because you put your name down for an expired dot-ca with Internic.ca, that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get it. There are 90 other CIRA certified dot-ca registrars and any of them can register any dot-ca name once it becomes available." Permission to quote from Computing Canada given by Joe Tersigni, Publisher, IT Business Group in a May 13th 2005 email. Copies of emails are kept on file in the permissions binder.

Expired dot-com names

Rory N., student in BCS 555 in Sept 2003, found a story dealing with the problems companies are having in obtaining expired dot.com names. . "Competition for deleted domain names" By DAVID CANTON -- London Free Press as carried in http://cnews.canoe.ca Sept 2003 Canton writes  "A Wait Listing Service  (WLS) approved by  the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and  Numbers (ICANN) has instigated controversy, lawsuits  -- including one in Ontario -- and action  by the United States federal government.  The WLS was created to allow a registered domain name in the .com or .net domain  to automatically pass to the person holding a Wait List Subscription, if and when the name is dropped by its current user.  For example, www.canton.com is currently registered as a domain name. Under the WLS, I could pay to register on the wait list, and if the  current owner did not renew, I would obtain that domain name.  It was proposed by VeriSign Inc., which will operate it. ICANN is a non-profit corporation that oversees the Internet domain name system.  Canton explains "Normally when a domain expires or gets deleted, it goes back into the pool of available domains unless the existing registrant renews the registration. Once the domain becomes available, anyone is free to snatch it up. And often there is fierce competition for some of these newly available domains.  Several registrars monitor deleted domains daily and, using a variety of models, obtain the desired domain for their customer. Currently, the  first registrar to apply for the domain name after it is deleted succeeds in acquiring the name for its customer.   The WLS will prevent the domain from going back into the available pool. Under the WLS, only one person can hold a Wait List Subscription on a domain name. Once the domain is dropped, the  domain will pass automatically to the person holding the subscription. The WLS business plan anticipates prime names will never drop to the registrar level and that the WLS will account for all names worth  competing for.   The WLS will have the immediate effect of ending all competition among registrars for dropped or deleted domain names." David Canton is a lawyer with the high-tech/ e-business practice group at Harrison Pensa, a London-Ontario -based legal services partnership.  Permission to quote Canton comes from a Sept 24th 2003 email. Copies of emails are kept in the permissions binder.

Domain "tasting"

. student Betty Wantzu C. at UTM in MGD415 in March 2008 found a very interesting story in ecommercetimes.com about how people buy domain names for very short periods of time just for the purpose of seeing how they rank in Google. - it is called Domain "Tasting" . was at http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/61399.html the article by Anick Jesdanun explains "Over the next few weeks [March 2008], Google will start looking for names that are repeatedly registered and dropped within a five-day grace period for full refunds. Google's AdSense program would exclude those names so no one can generate advertising revenue from claiming them temporarily, a practice known as "domain name tasting" -- the online equivalent of buying expensive clothes on a charge card only to return them for a full refund after wearing them to a party. " Betty explains this is a "tasting" period to see which  names generate the most revenue. Originally this practice was to test  market of the name and allow registrants to correct misspellings or typos  of domain names they are about to buy in five days.  Betty also queries Another thing brought to my attention is that why doesn't Google ban  the users who repeatedly use "domain tasting" - instead choosing to only exclude the  domain names in the meanwhile? I thought that it might be an issue of  identifying the registrants, as they do not need to provide personal  information when registering.

Domain "trading"

student Simeon K at UTM in MGD415 in March 2008 found a very interesting story in ecommercetimes.com about how people are continuing to buy and sell valuable domain names He also made a little audio clip summarizing the main points of the story click on Simeon's face to hear his comments. .http://people.senecac.on.ca/tim.richardson/audio/Getting_ahead_in_domain_name_trading.wav Getting Ahead in Domain Name Trading was at http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Getting-Ahead-in-Domain-Name-Trading-61967.html the March 7th 2008 article by Theodore F. di Stefano explains "Entrepreneurs are constantly on the lookout for domain names that will create value based upon a catchy word or phrase in the Web site name. There is intense interest in the type of domain names that will push upwards the potential number of viewers, thus the location in a search engine."

Future Weak?

.  Is the Web shrinking?  By Julie Clow  Feb 2002 . A newspaper article suggesting that the Internet is declining because domain names are declining ! is this a valid conclusion? - by Feb 2010, the number of deleted domain names is greater than 310 million

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