Domain Name Wire Podcast

On this week’s show, I run through some of the big news stories from the past week. This includes an explanation of why Verisign’s stock popped on Friday, how a domain seller is in in hot water after backing out of a deal, which law firm filed its FIFTH reverse domain name hijacking case, and an interesting lawsuit involving a premium domain under a new top level domain.

Then, I discuss a new domain valu...

Above.com has played an integral role in domain name monetization since the early days of parking. It has navigated many changes in monetization, and sees both challenges and opportunities in Google’s recent changes to its parking business.

On today’s show, Above.com and Trillion founder David Warmuz talks about how direct advertising will play a bigger role in monetization. He also recounts the long roa...

Domain investor Josh Reason joins me this week to share insights from managing his 5,500-domain portfolio. He discusses what types of domains he’s investing in, where and how he sells domains, and how his strategy is evolving. Josh also shares details on some recent sales and discusses his platform, DNX.com, which helps investors discover quality domains to buy.

Also: Tariffs, domains in the courts, and ...

It’s time for our recurring podcast with domain investors Mark Levine and Logan Flatt! Mark and Logan come on the show frequently to share their domain investing results, talk about what’s working, and what’s not working for them. On today’s show, they detail their 2024 domain investing results. You’ll hear which top level domains they’re selling, how and where they are acquiring them, and how they are optimizing their...

Afternic launched a basic self-brokering option last week. On today’s show, GoDaddy Sr. Director of Domain Investor Product Alan Shiflett joins us to talk about self-brokering. He discusses the company’s iterative approach to launching this feature (and others). We also discuss how the company is experimenting with AI in the aftermarket and how it has reduced shill bidding.

Also: Amazon’s new domains, Gl...

The domain name industry gathered in Seattle last week for ICANN’s annual community forum. During the show, I caught up on what’s happening with two important topics: Adsense for Domains and new top level domains. 

On today’s show I recap what I learned. You will then here from some other people who were at the show last week.

Also: .SU, Snoop Dogg, and Meta lawsuit appealed 

At least one company is going big in the next round of new top level domain expansion.

On today’s show, Yoni Belousov explains why his company Nova Registry plans to apply for around 200 new top level domains in the next round.

Nova didn’t participate in the last round, and only entered the business with the acquisition of .link in 2022.

Why is Nova Registry going so big? Wh...

What kind of results can you get from a portfolio of just over 10,000 domains? My guest this week shares details of his sales last year. 

AbdulBasit Makrani was last on the show in November 2023, when he had just boosted his sales by lowering his prices. I ask him about that strategy, and we discuss how even owning over 10,000 domains doesn’t result in truly consistent sales.

Listen as Abd...

On today’s show, I talk to a domain investor who has been very successful with .io and .ai domain names. He discusses how he’s tweaking his approach to investing in these domains in today’s domain investing landscape. He also shares his 2024 domain sales results and how they compared to the prior year. Listen to learn how a small change he made to how he uses Afternic boosted his sales. 

Also: Verisign’s...

Public policy has a major impact on the domain name business. On today’s show, I catch up with one of the groups that helps represent domain registrars, hosts, and other internet infrastructure providers when it comes to policy.

Christian Dawson is the co-founder and Executive Director of i2Coalition. He brings us up to speed on The Domain Name Association, which merged with i2Coalition, and also introdu...

I’ve interviewed the founders of Unstoppable Domains on two separate occasions, but the most recent was in 2020. A lot has happened in the past five years. On today’s show, Unstoppable Domains founder and CEO Matthew Gould sits down to talk about what the company is doing to marry blockchain with domain names.

It’s a refreshing conversation; Matthew explains that some of the company’s past efforts haven’...

Last week, Internet Commerce Association held its annual meeting in Las Vegas. On today’s show, you’ll hear from a dozen people who were at the show. You’ll hear from domain investors about what’s selling well for them, ICA employees and board members, get an update on new features coming at domain service providers, and hear from partners at a naming firm that attended their first ICA event.

Also: Whois...

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 v. GoDad...

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 through DomainTools. We w...

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 storie...

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. 

Read more