Owning a great domain name can jumpstart a business, giving it instant credibility and name recognition. On today's show, we're going to look back at four entrepreneurs I've interviewed in the past who bought great domains. You'll hear one entrepreneur's story of refinancing his house to buy BBQgrills.com, how David Ciccarelli shifted his business Voices.com with a one word domain, how Rolf Larsen structured a deal for Desktop.com that worked for both him and the seller, and how another entrepreneur convinced his business partners to quickly acquire Gravity.com when the opportunity presented itself.

Also: CryptoKitties, Studio rebrand, Freenom domains, and end user sales

Sponsor: Sell your domains with Sav.com domain landers

Unless you’re one of the biggest domain investors, you likely get get frustrated by the unpredictability of domain sales. When it rains it pours, and other times you’re in a drought. It’s also hard to test different approaches because of the small sample size. On today’s show, I give examples of this from my own portfolio and discuss how we might be able to learn from the biggest domain investors.

Also: GoDaddy’s TLDs, end user sales, ICANN & more

Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

No one listening to this podcast wants people to use domain names and websites for scams, spam, and spreading malware. But who should be responsible for policing this? How much effort should domain registrars and registries have to expend to root it out? And what about the collateral damage to legitimate websites? Today, I chat about these topics with Jothan Frakes. Jothan has been in the DNS space for three decades and has seen this debate play out over time. He understands both sides of the equation and discusses why ICANN and its contracted parties are often the ones targeted to clean up the mess.

Also: My takedown story, legal mistakes, Radix’s big year

Sponsor: Sav.com no-fee backorders

Today, we check in with Peter Askew for an update on his latest business ventures. He’s right in the middle of onion season, but also launched SEOjobs.com to connect SEO experts with companies looking to hire them. Peter also gives an update on his ranch jobs site and his birthday party directory.

Also: Domain data, EU’s DNS abuse report, big cybersquatting judgment

Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

Today we check in with Zak Muscovitch, general counsel for Internet Commerce Association. We discuss DNS abuse and other topics, but spend most of our time talking about UDRP and UDRP reform. Zak said that, in an ideal world, 100% of UDRP complaints would win. Don’t take that out of context, though. He explains what he means on today’s show.

Also: BAYC apes in on domains, DNAcademy acquisition, a record Handshake sale, and more.

Sponsor: Sell your domains with Sav.com domain landers

My guest on this week’s podcast just secured a great domain for his business: gravity.com. Carl Hancock is co-founder and CEO of Gravity Forms, a very popular WordPress plugin with millions of users. He’s had his eye on gravity.com for years but it always seemed unattainable. That was until he fortuitously typed in the domain earlier this year and saw an inquiry form. On today’s show, Carl explains how quickly the deal came together and what the domain will mean for his company.

Also: Mojo.com, identity theft, Red Hat, and NFT.com.

Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

What makes a domain sell for lots of money? How can you break out of low-range sales and sell a domain for $25k, $100k or more? On today’s show, Bob Hawkes breaks down the data. Understand the characteristics of domains that sell for $25,000 or more including the length of domains, category, and more.

Also: A big settlement, Russian fallout, notable UDRPs, Gravity.com and more

Sponsor: Sav.com no-fee backorders

Attorney John Berryhill joins us today to talk about recent court cases involving domains, such as pocketbook.com and circus.com. We also discuss some of the legal shenanigans going on with NFTs and some things to know about fractional domain ownership. And if you want to sponsor John’s upcoming Pan-Mass Challenge ride, you can do that here. 

Also: Russia backlash, premium domains, pricing psychology and more.

Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

There’s no debating that many domain investors have shifted some of their attention to trading NFTs. On today’s show, domain buyer broker Bill Sweetman (who has also caught the bug) explains why he thinks domain investors have unique skillsets that translate well to buying and selling NFTs. We discuss the similarities (and differences) between trading NFTs and trading domain names. We finish with a discussion about how NFT investors behave publicly, and how I worry about the domain industry looking this way sometimes.

Sponsor:  Sell your domains with Sav.com domain landers

Richard Lau is a long time domain investor who has left a mark on the industry. He founded (and later sold) NamesCon and has helped connect a charity, The Water School, to the generous domain investment community. On today’s show, Richard explains why he prices all of his domains and why he’s thinking about repricing most of them soon. He also discusses how the psyche of the typical domain buyer has changed over the years. We also talk about Logo.com, and how Richard is following a similar modus operandi for this business as he did for resume.com.

Sponsor:  Sav.com domain auctions