October 11, 2009 Posts

The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference is returning to New York October 26-29. At last year's NYC show, the economy had just entered a severe recession that continues today. We interviewed conference co-founders Rick Schwartz & Howard Neu to see how they have tailored the upcoming show to help domainers deal with the current landscape.

With millions upon millions of domain names registered, I always ask myself how good each of these domain names could be. I figure that less than 5% or 10% of domain names registered could make a decent website. That brings me to the question - what are these people who register 90% to 95% percent

This one comes from a longtime URL-sufferer but first time URL-spotter, Gene Daly. This billboard was part of a Google recruiting campaign for engineers. My head hurt just typing this into the post subject line, much less, trying to figure out the URL. Maybe I would've had a chance back in high-school, when my math skills were in there prime.

Bob Kahns, another longtime URL-aholic but first time "official" URL-spotter, sent this one in. He says, "Of course the w's and no leading caps hurt this one, but otherwise, a good use of unused real estate perhaps?" Agreed, Bob. Had they just used Leading Caps and dropped the dubs, this URL would've been a shoe-in.

This one comes courtesy of Kurt Basham. As he observed, "Not only is it incredibly lengthy, it is in all lower case. And in a funky Gothic-y font." This URL is definitely old-school. I'm surprised he's not driving an Oldsmobile.

Here's one submitted by Olivia McKinsey thru the GUBU Facebook Page. Sometimes I feel really bad for small businesses trying to make it on the world wide web. I can just picture how this one went down... "Sunnovagun, if one more person walks in asks me if we have a website!"

I?ve spent the last 9 days in Quebec meeting with clients in Montreal and the surrounding area. I got to bring my family along as well which is always nice. My daughter gets a week off during October. I never got a week off during October. Quebec is really a gem of a province.

We often, cite and generally ridicule large company's that just don't get the domain space. So we have to give props when we find companies that "Get It",? as we say in the domain world. Take the case of 1800contacts.com. Of course they own the other possible typos of 1-800Contacts.com, 800Contacts.com, 1800Contact.com and 1-800Contacts.com,? but w...

From the mailbag...."Between you and me I think domains as an investment vehicle are worthless. The reason is that if they were, the fat cats on Wall Street would never let us own them. And should they have missed the bet, they can always yield their power to take them. Chance are if that hasn't happened in the last ten years it won't.but...If you ...

I want to let you know about a new non profit enterprise named Pinups for Purpose. Currently they are working on a 2010 calendar project. This elegant and playful calendar features local breast cancer survivors in fun retro-style pinup photographs. Yep, a dear friend of mine one of them! And I'm asking for your support. Their goal is to raise $30,0...