The article which goes on to chat about Frank Schilling, Mike Mann, Rich Schwartz, Kevin Ham, Richard Lau and Brian Wick starts with this:

“”Have you ever visited TheDomains.com? ”

“The owner of the domain blog runs MostWantedDomains.com and WWMI.com. ”

“Michael Berkens is a master of misleading the end-user with unreliable sale data to score major domain sales. ”

“You want proof? VisitBerlin.com article/check comment section. Michael assumes his former VisitBerlin.com domain is comparable to VisitFlorida.com. ”

“He owns many top domain names worthy of high domain sales, but he seems to oversell less than appealing domain names at much higher prices.”

“Michael’s blog readers are essentially his robots, acting as he is like Moses leading them through the Red Sea.”"

So welcome all ye sinners who dare to sell a premium domain at premium prices to end users who know exactly what domain they want and why they want it.

All kidding aside I’m confused by the article which starts out insulting me for asking for I guess what he considers to be “too much money” from the poor innocent end users, and ends with don’t be the guy who sells Klout.com for $5K.

I’m also confused of why VisitFlorida.com isn’t excellent comparison for the valuation of VisitBerlin.com or why that sale isn’t an excellent FMV for other like domains.

In my experience most “end users” who write you are all college students, unemployed down on their luck guys with offering the last $1,000 they have in the world for your domain, or those who are going to use the domain for charitable purposes.

Funny never got an email from anyone who says ” We are a Fortune 500 company with a huge budget, what do you want for this domain?” or “We are a company that just got $5M in VC money and have an idea to turn your domain into a $100 Million dollars company what do you want for it?”

So are we are now 40 days into the new year I can tell you we have sold including domain names pending in Escrow.com almost $400,000 in domain names.

Two are under NDA but the rest are opened to full disclosure once they all close.

I guess Lady Gaga has her “Little Monsters” and now I have My “Robots”

Welcome to the club.…

Shares of the company are up  7%+ today on the news

Here is the press release:

“The Directors of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM:TLDH.L), the only publicly traded company focused exclusively on acquiring and operating new generic top-level domains (“gTLDs”), are delighted to announce that the Company has today conditionally placed 109,468,353 new ordinary shares (the “Ordinary Shares”) at a placing price of 8.25p per Ordinary Share (the “Placing Price”) with institutional and other investors to raise £9,031,139 before expenses (equivalent to approximately US$14.2 million at current exchange rates) subject to admission (the “Placing”).”

“The Company intends to use the Placing proceeds to provide additional working capital and in particular, to fund the application slots and subsequent fees for new gTLDs on behalf of itself and clients of Minds + Machines. ”

“The Company expects to submit multiple batches for application slots during the application window having already submitted for its first twenty application slots. In January, TLDH announced that Minds+Machines will also be providing the back-end registry services for the proposed new .BAYERN domain.”

Antony Van Couvering, CEO of TLDH, commented:
“We are delighted that both existing and new investors have responded so positively to our plan.  With a new cash balance of approximately US$25 million, no debt, and a public stock, we believe that TLDH is ideally positioned to participate in the new gTLD opportunity.”

Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of TLDH, added:
”TLDH management believes that the increased capital will allow it to increase significantly the number of applications it is able to make, allowing it to develop a wider, more diversified portfolio of names in multiple languages and scripts.”

The new Ordinary Shares being issued pursuant to the Placing will, on issue, rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue and application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Trading in the new Ordinary Shares on AIM is expected to commence on or around 17 February 2012.”…

In addition to being a blogger I’m a domainer that has multiple accounts at Moniker.com and an account at SnapNames.com where I spend six figures a year,  but to date I haven’t received a email from either Moniker.com or SnapNames.com telling me as a customer that the sites have been sold.

Not an email. Not a call from my Rep. Nothing

A letter from Key Systems, the buyer would have been nice as well letting customers know they now own the services and introduce themselves.

I didn’t get one of those either.

Actually I would have expected in addition to, or at least in lieu of an email and announcement on the front page of both Moniker.com and SnapNames.com site.

Yet there is no such announcement.

I clicked on the Moniker.com link for News which says: “Learn more about the latest SnapNames and Moniker news”

Nothing about the sale.

Not even a link to the Press Release

(Actually there is no news listed since November 2010).

So I went to SnapNames.com and clicked under News there, once again not a word about the sale, not even a link to the Press Release.

Even worse on the bottom of SnapNames.com page I found this one:

“”SnapNames.com is a subsidiary of Oversee.net.”"

Hum

I even checked the  Moniker/SnapNames Facebook page, no announcement.

Many domainers who are actively involved in the industry have read about the sale on blogs but I’m sure there are hundreds if not thousands of customers of Moniker.com and/or SnapNames.com that have no idea the sites have been sold and are under new management.

While professional domainers know Key Systems, I assume a lot of people in the US do not.

As a customer of Moniker.com not only are they the registrar of record for hundreds of domain names I own but they have my credit card information on file.

Maybe its just me, but I think people are entitled to know when a change of ownership occurs especially when they have entrusted their credit card info.

Of course customers should have been the first to learn of the sale.

It appears they will be the last to know.

 …

Its a concept I have had discsussion with other domainers through the years.

What if you can teach John Q. Public about how they can make income from domain names.

Those inside the domain world will quickly point out that revenue from domain parking has decreased tremendously over the years, but its still a meaningful amount, especially to most people who could use a little extra money.

It plans on presenting at Pitchfest at Domainfest.com looking for investors to bring domaining to the masses.

I just chatted with The company’s founder, John Bonk who is on site at Domainfest about his company and service which already has a couple of hundred of clients.

“We created a process to analyze and monetize the Web’s most valuable asset — traffic.

“We have test thousands of domains and our research indicates that only 3 percent of the millions of domains that expire monthly have ongoing, built-in traffic, making their analysis tools valuable allow more people to make a profit online.”

“In other words our program finds those 3% of domains everyday that have traffic enough to at least sustain the domains carrying cost.”

“We scan every expiring domain every day and look at every back link and analysis each of the back links them to see if they will monetize over a long period of time.”

“The 3% of domains that have built in traffic, back link that will last, those are the domain names we send to our clients.”

The company is not trying to get domainers as clients but bring in the average guy who wants to make some extra money into the world of domaining, a world the client probably woudn’t be dabbling in.

“Our basic program which is a one time charge of $397 to a client gives them information about expiring domain names on Godaddy.com including video courses,  ebooks and access to two live webinars.”

More advanced and add on programs will give information and expiring domains available on other services.

“We are bringing the domain monetization concept to the rest of the world, the 99% of the people that don’t know about it.”

“We show people that they can get involved with buying expired domain names and monetize them.”

“We have a client who just joined the program a few weeks ago and now having learned about domain names is actually looking to buy keyword domain names in the $25,000 price range”.…

“Go Daddy wants to help small businesses grow larger, and finding the right domain name is the place to start,” said Paul Nicks, Go Daddy’s Director of Product Development for the Aftermarket. “Giving customers access to many premium domain names, including Sedo’s Buy Now domain names, Go Daddy can ensure our customers get the best domain name for their website or business.”

“Through this partnership, Go Daddy can now offer its customers the option to purchase domain names that are already “taken” as easily as they would register a domain for the first time. The domain market leader, Sedo currently has 15 million domains for sale in its marketplace. SedoMLS allows any domains listed at a “Buy Now” price to be displayed within Go Daddy’s search results, reaching the largest potential audience of domain buyers.

“As one of the most popular places worldwide for small business owners, entrepreneurs, or individuals looking for the right domain name, we are thrilled to be partnering with Go Daddy,” said Sedo’s CEO, Tim Schumacher. “Through our SedoMLS partnership, we can offer millions of domain buyers the widest choice of domain names, which will help them make the right decision for their business, and purchase the names they need to find success online.”

Afternic.com announced late last year that it was adding Godaddy to its similar DLS offering…

“”This exclusive agreement will allow registrants to sell their domains across the entire Afternic DLS reseller network—the largest domain reseller network in the world with the highest sales velocity in the industry.

“We strongly believe selling premium names increases customer loyalty by allowing buyers to find the perfect domain and begin using it immediately,” said Adam Eisner, Director, OpenSRS Product Management. “Our inclusion in Afternic’s Premium Promotion network allows us to connect more sellers and potential buyers through the industry’s largest network.”

“Afternic is the world’s only true global domain sales network offering premium domains for sale to millions of buyers worldwide via a network of more than 50 partners including most of the world’s largest registrars. The Afternic platform features Instant Transfer technology, which automates the premium domain purchasing process, eliminating the lengthy administrative process required by legacy marketplaces.”

“Adding Tucows to the DLS Premium Promotion level is very exciting for us. Now, with the majority of the world’s top registrars enrolled in our Premium Promotion level, we are realizing our vision of a unified domain aftermarket,” said Jason Miner, senior vice president of sales and General Manager of Afternic. “DLS has become the center of aftermarket domain transactions, connecting the most buyers and sellers of premium domains.”

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company. OpenSRS manages over eleven million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 12,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover is the easiest way for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. YummyNames owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. Butterscotch.com is an online video network building on the foundation of Tucows Downloads. More information can be found at http://tucowsinc.com.

About Afternic

Afternic DLS is the world’s largest domain marketplace, partnering with the world’s leading domain registrars and sellers. Through DLS, domains are promoted for sale to millions of active domain buyers worldwide. Afternic is part of NameMedia, a leader in the acquisition, development and trading of digital real estate through a network of highly targeted websites and a marketplace for premium domain names. The company’s website development focuses on creating compelling online communities in niche categories.…

They have been running several commercials in heavy rotation no doubt spending into the tens of millions of dollars on TV ads all based on the term Leap List.

The official site for the campaign is leaplist.honda.com

Now comes word that the Honda has bought time on the Superbowl at a reported $4 Million a pop to run more ads centered around its Leap List campaign.

Simply put, Honda.com should have bought the domain name LeapList.com before launching this campaign.

The domain name LeapList.com has been registered since September 2010 and is under privacy at Godaddy.com.

LeapList.com is parked with InternetTraffic.com and most of the results on the page are related to cars.

Its not the domain holders fault.

Its Honda’s fault.

Fail!

 …

According to Compete.com traffic on XXX.com has doubled since the launch of the .XXX extension in December.

According to Compete XXX.com had around 100K visitors a month, each month for 2011 up until November the month that Sunrise and LandRush applications were due.

In December when .XXX officially launched traffic on XXX.com doubled to over 200,000 Visitors according to Compete.com

I know a lot of domainers believe that there will be a substantial amount of traffic leakage to the a matching .com to a new gTLD extension.

In case your wondering, it appears XXX.net got no such boost according to Compete.com

XXX.co also saw a doubling in traffic in  but it still gets under 1K visitors a month according to Compete.com

We will have to keep an eye on this,  but for holders of great generics or geo’s .com’s which may become its own extension in the next few years, it looks like they may have a lot of extra traffic to look forward to.

…

The study commissioned by AusRegistry and the .au Domain Administration (auDA),  is the first of its kind to assesses the true extent of the .au domain’s influence on the Australian economy.

“The key finding from the report was that the .au domain name space contributed $475 million to the Australian economy in 2011.”

“More than 4300 full-time jobs were connected to it.”

“$269 million of that, or 57 per cent, was connected to registration and hosting of .au domains, with services such as web design and infrastructure provision also contributing.”

“The Internet has clearly become the starting point for consumer research and purchasing decisions,” Deloitte Access economics director, Ric Simes, said.

“The contribution to the Australian economy of the industry administering .au is significant, particularly in terms of employment, and this will continue to grow with the ongoing shift to e-commerce.”

Despite the attraction of the cheaper and more accessible .com domain, the .au domain has experienced exponential growth in the number of registrations over the last decade, reaching a total of 2.3 million in 2011 for a 600 per cent increase from 2002.

“.The report found that the .au name space is a labour-intensive industry, with 58 per cent of the $475 million contributed to the economy being attributed to employees.”

You can read the whole story here.

 …

Here are the highlights from the report:

There were 26,213 website and domain sales on Flippa.com this year, totaling just over $31 million.

659 sales were over $5,000 and 205 sales over $20,000.

There were just under 290,000 bids placed on Flippa auctions in 2011.

High-end sales included MakeCashTakingSurveys.biz which sold for $395,000, PristinePlanet, a comparison shopping site for ecological products, sold for $165,000 & PitchingMachinesNow sold for $149,000

Flippa.com had 2,147,000 unique visitors over the year.

There were 72,937 new Flippa.com users this year.

 …