Thought Convergence, the parent company of TrafficZ, announced in May that they bought Name Intelligence, the company behind the DomainTools service and the Domain Roundtable conference. (Old timers may remember the original DomainTools site at Whois.sc).  According to a press release "the acquisition expands Thought Convergence’s already extensive suite of industry-leading domain tools, services and technologies, and paves the path for management’s vision of a unified Domain Ecosystem" (whatever that is).  The sale is rumored to have been for between 16 and 18 million dollars. 

 

This acquisition does bring diversity to Thought Convergence.   Their only mature product was TrafficZ - a domain parking platform which we recommend. They are also working on Idea.net - a platform designed to "develop premium domain assets into complete Internet business models with significant monetization potential."  The addition of DomainTools brings a balance that will keep them afloat whatever happens to domain parking in the future. Name Intelligence brings not only DomainTools, the premier source of domain name data, but also the Domain Roundtable conference, arguably the most content-filled of the domain conferences.   

 

 

DomainSponsor is once again a recommended parking service.  Revenue is holding up better there, perhaps due to their early decision to include a mix of CPA (cost-per-action) income along with PPC (pay-per-click) income.  Their default landing pages are still not especially pretty, but they perform well.  DomainSponsor was one of the first to use Taguchi testing - where the landing page elements that make the most money over time are the ones that will appear most often.  As new elements are tested If you haven't tried Domain Sponsor lately, you may want to give them a try.  Some of their features, such as a landing page editor, are not available unless you request them from your account manager.

 

 

How Not to Park a Domain

 
A Vietnamese domainer is behind bars for "domain name blackmailing."  A Vietnamese newspaper ThanhnienNews.com reported that Ho Chi Minh City police arrested a 24 year old man, Huynh Chi Hieu, "caught red-handed receiving VND30 million (US$1,860) from the Hoa Sen Group, also known as the Lotus Steel Sheet Company (LSSC).... In February Hieu used a fake name to call LSSC’s website manager to announce he had the company’s domain name www.tonhoasen.com for sale at $2,500.  He failed to secure a deal as the company already had an official website at another domain name.  Hieu then designed a false company website for LSSC and posted it on the domain name he had bought.  In early May Hieu sought VND50 million ($3,090) from LSSC to stop him from posting false information harmful to LSSC’s business on the website he had created.  LSSC agreed to pay VND30 million but also secretly contacted police." The paper goes on to state that Hieu graduated with a degree in information technology and that he had bought a number of domain names for $10 each, and that he "planned to trade on domain names".

 

 

 

NameDrive has a new Building Blocks program that allows domain owners and developers to work together.  According to the service "Owners and developers sign up for our service and domains which are selected go through a rigorous escrow and screening process which ensures both the owner and developer will be compensated for their assets and hard work. Submit your domains today for possible inclusion into the BuildingBlocks system or join our list of developers for access to the best domains on the market."

 

Fabulous is co-sponsoring the TrafficDownUnder conference in November.   Unlike the invitation-only T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences in the U.S., everyone is invited to attend the Australian conference.

 

 

 

   

Recommended Services - There were no changes in our recommendations this month.

• DomainSponsor blends PPC and CPA with high-tech Taguchi testing.
• Parked Pays twice a month - 7 days after you earn
• Sedo and Sedo Pro - Google-based. 1-click ads available for all domains
• Active Audience and GoldKey - provide very good Yahoo-based income
• TrafficZ great landing pages, new security features