EuroDNS Blog

I can draw to raise funds…

Random draw, batching, digital archery; it’s been a challenge trying to find a method for prioritizing the new gTLD applications but ICANN have finally come up with, “an equitable and reliable method”, a random draw. 

Yes, you read correctly, ICANN have gone full circle and returned to their original plan, announcing the Draw on October 10. When a random draw was first suggested, ICANN rejected the idea as they were concerned it would violate California’s anti-lottery laws.  Following the negative reception batching and then digital archery received they have found a loophole in the law; they have applied for a fundraising drawing’s license, meaning non-profit organizations may conduct fundraising lotteries. Fundraising for what, we may never know.

With applicants eager to receive a prompt evaluation of their domains, there may still be reason for concern as ICANN await the result of their license application. The license, if granted, will arrive towards the end of November; should the license request be rejected ICANN have announced they will hold a contest. Details of this contest are unavailable but with previous complaints from applicants regarding the unfairness of digital archery, ICANN may struggle to find the perfect solution. Although there were helpful suggestions from the applicants during the comment period proposed games of skill/chance as a way to prioritize the applications such as rock, paper, scissors.

The Draw and how much it will raise

The Draw, if the license is granted, is a manual process (so no technical glitches, this time) and will assign a Draw number to each applicant; the number will determine the schedule for initial evaluation and the release of evaluation results. The lowest Draw numbers will be released first after the IDNs. ICANN plans to use a third-party to oversee the Draw which will occur between 4-15 December, the exact date is still to be confirmed. 

The license for the Draw will specify that each applicant shall purchase a paper ticket; the ticket must be purchased in person, in California. Because not all applicants will be able or willing to make the trip, a representative can be appointed either by the applicant or, ICANN will provide an independent representative. Due to the license rules, ICANN are not permitted to sell the tickets via the Internet. Draw numbers must not be exchanged between applications or applicants; unfortunately this means that applicants with a portfolio of domains will not be able to prioritize their applications. Please read Drawing for Prioritizing for more detailed information.

The price of the Draw tickets is likely to be $100 (1930 applications possibly adding a tidy sum to the ‘fundraising pot’); having already paid $185,000, a few more dollars is a drop in the ocean. 

Don’t want to play?

There is no obligation for applicants to participate in the ‘fundraising’ draw and should this be the case, their applications will be assigned randomly at the end. But, with all the delays to date, applicants’ costs are increasing; those in the same field of business will suffer if one is favoured over another, so opt-out is not something to be considered.

Priority already given to 116

ICANN has decided that IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) will receive priority with an early release. ICANN’s mission has always been to serve the public interest globally and the release of IDNs will ensure the Internet is more accessible to users in countries that do not use the Latin script and therefore have been limited in their use of the Internet.

There are 116 IDN applications awaiting evaluation.

Predicted predictions

ICANN have stated that the first of the evaluation results will be released in late March and finishing towards the end of June, beginning of July. Good news then, six months earlier than recent estimates; but wait, originally the delegation of gTLDs was planned for autumn, 2012.

It is planned for the Draw numbers to eventually be used to schedule appointments for pre-delegation testing and executing agreements; with approximately 20 pre-delegation testing appointments and 20 contracts executed per week. ICANN have stated, “No contracts will be fully executed or delegations made prior to the ICANN meeting in Beijing (April 7-11, 2013).”

If you don’t comment, you can’t complain

To proceed with the Draw, ICANN require approval from the state of California and the applicants; ICANN have opened a 30-day forum for public comments; scheduled from October 10 until November 9, it should make for an interesting read.  

EuroDNS in Toronto

The ICANN meeting, that took place in Toronto this week, was attended by delegates from the EuroDNS team; as one can imagine, the current situation with the new gTLDs will have been on everyone’s lips. Any interesting or important information will be published in the EuroDNS newsletter, so please subscribe to ensure you stay fully informed.

On October 1, 2012, Nominet, the not-for-profit organization managing the .UK domain space, launched a three month consultation period to obtain feedback on their latest proposal, direct.uk; it entails the introduction of shorter domain names registered with the extension .UK.

In January 2013, Wikipedia may have to update the following statement, “New registrations directly under .UK are generally not permitted. Instead, registrations are made under a selection of second level domains.” 

Reduced extension, increased security

The proposed .UK domain space would allow individuals and businesses, with a proven UK presence, to register a yourname.uk domain name. It is planned to run concurrently with .CO.UK; although it will incur a higher fee it is offered with enhanced security features. Designed to reduce the danger of cybercrime, it includes owner verification, anti-malware detection and digital signatures; the domain comes with a trustmark indicating a secure website and thus, engendering trust in both consumers and visitors.

Nominet’s consultation period for direct.uk is scheduled to run for three months concluding on January 7, 2013; a site has been created for anyone requiring more information. Nominet invites feedback to help them, “ensure that any resulting service or changes would meet the needs of businesses, boost trust in the .UK namespace, and contribute positively to Britain’s fast-growing Internet economy.” 

Where will it leave .CO.UK?

.CO.UK domain names are so entrenched in our minds as the ccTLD for the United Kingdom that having initially appeared strange, they are now the norm. Nominet obviously see a vast market for the .UK domain as a more succinct extension that individuals and businesses registered in the UK will jump at. 

But, what about current registrants of .CO.UK names; time and money has been invested into promoting their website address. For brand protection, registrants cannot ignore this new domain space; they will have to register their name(s) with the .UK extension. With the .UK domain actively promoting enhanced trust and security, we can only speculate as to the future of the .CO.UK domain. 

In an announcement on October 10, Nominet stated that currently 300 responses had been received. Comments include questions about the impact on the existing .UK portfolio and a FAQ page has been posted to offer clarification on certain issues. To calm the bubbling panic, various forums have been planned for open discussion, the dates and locations can be found in the announcement.

You have .CO.UK, what next?

Nominet recognize that there will be people already registered with a .CO.UK name wanting the same name with the new .UK extension. The registry is planning to protect owners of existing rights by releasing the domains in two Sunrise periods. The first will allow trademark holders to register and the second period will allow applications from existing domain name registrants and limited companies. Nominet plan to auction any domains receiving several applications; unfortunately there is no guarantee that current .CO.UK registrants will secure ownership of their domain name with a .UK extension.

EuroDNS will participate in the open discussion and one issue we plan to highlight is that the process could prove disadvantageous to existing registrants of .CO.UK domain names who have not registered their name as a trademark. For instance, a domain name registrant using myname.co.uk for several years but without having registered it as a trademark could lose out on registering myname.uk, the owner of the trademark of the string would have priority, despite the trademark being registered after the .CO.UK domain name. 

With the possible, mass migration from .CO.UK to .UK, could the future existence of the .CO.UK domain space be in jeopardy?

2013, domain extensions prevail

Potentially, 2013 could be an expensive time for businesses as ICANN prepares to release new gTLDs throughout the year. Businesses endeavouring to protect their brand(s) could find themselves having to register several new domain names; taking into account variants, misspellings, and the new gTLDs the outlay could be substantial.

With the introduction of so many new domains, it may be the time to consider registering multiple domain names with a single registrar. At EuroDNS we provide numerous services to aid with domain name registration and offer a team of experts ready to give advice and answer your questions. Transferring and consolidating your domain names with EuroDNS will save you time, money and stress. Please contact sales@eurodns.com and allow us to protect your valuable corporate assets.

Allow me to introduce myself; I am the kind and considerate registrar sending you an email reminder to renew your domain name before it expires. I am the concerned registrar warning you that your trademark domain name is about to be registered by another company. I am only trying to help… or am I?

Can you ignore these email alerts, should you ignore them? First the kindly email, then the demand for ransom; fraud, scam, or aggressive marketing?

As with any good scam there is an element of truth, your domain name may be about to expire and missing the renewal date is both time consuming and expensive; someone may already be monitoring your domain name with purchase in mind. 

The Whois database is a veritable mine of information revealing contact information of domain name registrants, it also lists all the domain names nearing their expiration date; it is a valuable tool which can so easily be abused (obtaining contact information for questionable purposes is a violation (section 3.3.6.4.) of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). 

Scam #1 Domain slamming

Domain slamming, a.k.a. unauthorized transfers or registration scams, is the unlawful transfer of domain names from your existing registrar to a new one. The scam begins with an unethical registrar or reseller sending a ‘domain name expiration/renewal notice’ email warning you, the owner, that the registration of your domain name is about to expire and urging you to renew. By responding to the email you have successfully renewed your domain name but, unwittingly, terminated the existing contract with your current registrar and registered with a new service provider. As a EuroDNS customer, if you think you are being targeted by domain slamming, contact us immediately, sales@eurodns.com.

Always read the small print

The renewal notice will have been cleverly written implying that you are already registered with the registrar sending the email. If you respond to the email without reading the small print you may find, along with a new service provider, your fees have increased, and you have agreed to a long term registration contract. Worst case scenario, you could lose access to your website and email account, or your domain name may now direct visitors to another website. Do you really want to lose your domain name to these ‘criminals’, your revenue, your good reputation, your business? 

Defend your property

The most effective defence against domain slamming is to treat the ‘renewal notice’ email as junk mail, mark as spam to avoid further correspondence and put it in the rubbish bin.

But, I would like to share advice that will prove invaluable should you ever face this type of scam. Never reveal any of your account details or personal information with an individual/organization claiming to be in the process of renewing your domain name registration. EuroDNS would already have all relevant information regarding your account and would not need you to provide it again.

If you receive a ‘renewal notice’ email and you are unsure of its validity, contact EuroDNS to discuss your concerns. But, never reply through the dubious email; doing this may expose you to the rather savage sales methods of unethical registrars with the sole purpose of persuading you to transfer your domain name(s).

It would be wise to keep up-to-date records for your domain name(s) including renewal dates, this ensures that if you receive a ‘renewal notice’ email you will be immediately aware of whether it’s genuine or not. If you have several domain names registered with different registrars this may also be the time to consider transferring your whole portfolio to EuroDNS and consolidating them; you can then schedule the registration renewals to the same date. It also means you do not have to remember the names of various registrars; more information can be found in the EuroDNS article on consolidation.

If the worst happens and you believe you may have been duped by this scam, contact your current registrar immediately so they can reject/cancel the transfer request; and stop any possible payments. EuroDNS offer a highly qualified team of domain name experts to answer any questions, concerns or requests for help, please contact them at sales@eurodns.com and they will be happy to assist.  

Addressing the situation

The Fake Renewal Notices Drafting Team (FRN-DT) was created by the GNSO Council (Generic Names Supporting Organization) and is part of ICANN’s fight against domain slamming. The team was tasked with preparing an RFI (request for information) on fake renewal notices from the Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG). The Registration Abuse Policies Working Group recommended creation of an Issue Report and the results of the RFI were intended to aid the GNSO in their decision as to whether to create such a document.

The RrSG is endeavouring to find a solution to this problem; a problem that is damaging to both registrants and honest registrars. There was an initial suggestion to amend the Registry and Registrar Agreement (RAA) to allow ICANN to act in the instance of a fake ‘renewal notice’, but this idea was swiftly rejected as it would be a near impossible contractual obligation to enforce. Whilst the ICANN Compliance Department have no power over registrars’ ‘marketing techniques’ they will investigate if evidence is produced of fake ‘renewal notice’ abuse by one of their accredited registrars, and action will be taken if proven appropriate. 

Scam #2 Fake trademark protection

Although less common than domain slamming, fake trademark protection scams are equally damaging to registrants; and my advice again would be ignore, ignore, ignore.The scam involves deceitful or fake registrars sending domain name registrants an email with the warning that another company is attempting to register several domain names containing the registrants trademark, names that are very similar, or the exact same name but with an alternative TLD. The spurious registrar announces that they have temporarily stopped the attempts at registration to protect the intellectual property of the registrant and request an immediate response to further protect the domain names.  

The ‘fake trademark protection’ emails are variations on a theme and all follow the style of the genuine example below; capitalized words replace the original text (my apologies for the appalling grammar, it is a genuine scam email):

“Subject: Brand And Domain Names Registration YOUR DOMAIN NAME(If you are not in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO/President, because this is very urgent. Thanks.) 

Dear CEO/President,

We are the department of FAKE REGISTRARS. Here I have something to confirm with you. We formally received an application on June 1st, 2012 that a company claimed "FICTITIOUS COMPANY" were applying to register "YOUR DOMAIN NAME" as their Net Brand and some YOUR DOMAIN NAME Asian countries top-level domain names.

Now we are handling this registration, and after our initial checking, we found the name were similar to your company's, so we need to check with you whether your company has authorized that company to register these names. If you authorized this, we would finish the registration at once. If you did not authorize, please let us know within 7 workdays, so that we could handle this issue better. After the deadline we will unconditionally finish the registration for "FICTITIOUS COMPANY ". Looking forward to your prompt reply.”

Tempted to respond? Don’t; the scammer will use scare tactics to persuade you to register the similar domain names as protection against trademark infringement. 

Domainers are constantly searching for ways to make a profit; unfortunately there are some who are prepared to use unscrupulous methods. They will email the owner of a registered domain name and offer to sell them the unregistered TLD versions of the same name; when the owner agrees, the domainer will buy the names at the market value, mark-up the price and sell to his target/victim, making a nice profit in the process. Although this may not be a crime, it is something to be aware of; it would be wise to do your own research if you are approached by a, possibly, ‘unsavoury’ domainer.

Conclusion

Fraud, scam or aggressive marketing; these methods are unpleasant and dangerous. If you get caught by any of these exploitative actions, or if you are approached and unsure of what to do you would be well advised to contact EuroDNS.

EuroDNS is an ICANN accredited registrar and provides each customer with a dedicated account manager for all registration requirements. Please do not hesitate to contact the EuroDNS team at sales@eurodns.com for information and advice.

DO it in the Dominican Republic with the EuroDNS promotion; a special, limited time offer on .DO domain names. This promotion enables EuroDNS customers to register new or transfer existing domain names at a promotional rate. Valid until October 23, 2012, register a .DO domain name for only €49.99. Enter the promo code PRDO12A and benefit from this special deal, available for two weeks only.

By registering a .DO domain name with the EuroDNS promotion businesses demonstrate their loyalty and commitment to the country which, in turn, inspires confidence with the local online consumers. Generally, people prefer to deal with a company located in their country, it is more practical and feels more secure. Talk directly to your Dominican audience; register a .DO domain name and promote your business in this rapidly growing economy. DO it now, before it’s too late!

DO business in the Dominican Republic

With a history of migration and occupation, the Dominican Republic boasts a multiracial society which is reflected in its food, architecture, and music. Visit caves, enjoy the Victorian houses, and listen to stories of pirates. Geographically the country is also diverse; offering splendid mountain scenery and vast deserts. The people are friendly and welcoming of strangers, a business will flourish in this prospering country.

EuroDNS promotion

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “At EuroDNS we want to deliver the best possible service to our customers at all times; we are offering this superb promotion on .DO domain names to benefit local and international businesses wanting to market their services and products to the Dominicans. We strongly believe that registering a domain name with the .DO extension will increase traffic, thus bringing more revenue. For the next two weeks all .DO domain names are available for registration and transfer, for only €49.99.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS does more than just register domain names; we also offer a constantly evolving range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all their domain requirements. The list includes local presence service, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or speak to one of our domain name experts at sales@eurodns.com.”

To register or transfer an existing .DO domain name at the unbeatable price of €49.99, visit our website, and enter promo code PRDO12A, valid till October 23, 2012.

Please check out the offers page on our website to find more promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS. 

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news and advice from a leading domain name registrar, please subscribe to our newsletter. EuroDNS recently published an article with valuable information and advice with regard the transfer and consolidation of domain names; EuroDNS can save you time, money and stress, please contact the sales team for more detailed information.

EuroDNS can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter; there are also additional posts on Google+ and LinkedIn.

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

ICM Registry, the operators behind the .XXX domain, released Search.xxx on September 27, 2012. Search.xxx is a new search engine for owners of registered .XXX domain names, granting them the opportunity to benefit from highly targeted traffic to their websites. It will also aid viewers of online adult entertainment; no one wants to waste time looking at the wrong .XXX website.

The .XXX domain was launched by the ICM Registry on September 7, 2011; it was designed to be a trusted outlet for the adult entertainment industry. Recognized globally, it is the domain for people wanting to provide pornographic material on the Internet. It was originally created with the intention of providing a more secure environment, one that could easily block access by children or in the workplace.

Adult entertainment domain creates excitement

Following its launch the .XXX domain proved to be exceptionally popular, registering 55,367 domain names within the first 24 hours of General Availability; add to this the Sunrise and Landrush Periods, and the grand total was 160,000; with collected revenue of $3.3 million. 

Search.xxx gives a quality user experience

The Search.xxx engine only lists .XXX developed websites, non-members of the Sponsored Community will be excluded. Registrants of .XXX domain names must be an official member of the Sponsored Community for their website to go live; the members consist of individuals, companies and organizations that agree to comply with all IFFOR Policies (International Foundation for Online Responsibility) and Best Practices Guidelines. 

The Search.xxx engine will also be a bonus to the adult entertainment audience who will be able to read search results in one of 20 languages; they will also be able to set preferences to their particular desires.

The ICM Registry sent an email to members of the Sponsored Community and in it stated, “We are focusing much of our efforts on delivering a quality user experience with highly relevant search results. It is our chance, as promised, to give something back to you and the consumer.”

Best practices in .XXX

The ICM Registry has informed .XXX registrants of SEO best practices to ensure their website is indexed and well ranked in the Search.xxx engine, these include: 

• The Search.xxx engine will only crawl fully developed .XXX websites; links to non .XXX TLDs will not be crawled.

• If your .XXX website is forwarded to an adult site with a .COM, .NET, etc. extension, your DNS must use an ‘A’ record to point your .XXX to your web servers IP address, not a CNAME record. The search engine will only function on other TLDs if the URL is masked. 

• Robots.txt files must be configured correctly, thus limiting the search engine crawl to visible pages only.

• As with any website each page must have good SEO, keywords should be used in titles, URLs, domain name and content. 

Registrants of .XXX domain names may prefer not to be listed on the Search.xxx engine; opt out can be requested via ICM support. 

About EuroDNS

EuroDNS was one of the first registrars officially accredited by the ICM Registry to offer the .XXX domain name extension. Should you wish to register a .XXX domain name you must successfully pass the membership application process. 

For more detailed information, please visit the EuroDNS website or speak directly with one of our domain experts at sales@eurodns.com. The team is multilingual and offers a personalized service tailored to your requirements.

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

Create a HUllabaloo in Hungary; this latest EuroDNS promotion is a HUmdinger, it is a special, limited time offer on .HU domain names. This promotion enables EuroDNS customers to register new or transfer existing domain names at a promotional rate. Valid until October 9, 2012, register .HU domain names for only €7.99. Enter the promo code PRHU12A and benefit from this special deal, it’s HUge.

Registering a .HU domain name with the EuroDNS promotion allows businesses to demonstrate commitment to a Hungarian audience, inspiring confidence and showing loyalty to the country. Online consumers are more inclined to deal with a local business, they trust them and have more confidence in the services and products they offer; talk to the locals by registering a .HU domain name today.

The .HU domain was created in 1990 and is administered by the Council of Hungarian Internet Providers. Citizens of the European Union or with a residency permit for Hungary may register a .HU domain name; also entities connected to the country are free to register. In March 2005, registration of .HU domain names was opened to European Union member states; to date there are 621,050 .HU domain names registered. HUrry, don’t miss out.

There’s nothing HUmdrum about Hungary

Budapest, the ‘Pearl of the Danube’, is the beautiful capital of this Central European country. It is the home of Central Europe’s largest fresh water lake, Balaton; offering hundreds of therapeutic mineral springs.  Hungary is the birthplace of classical composers Liszt, Bartok and Kodaly; and also boasts traditional folk music. Well enough tourism text, let’s get down to serious business; Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó. Yes, that’s right, Bela Lugosi, a Hungarian actor and probably the best Dracula ever was born in Hungary in 1882. So enamoured with the role, it is rumoured that when he died he was buried wearing one of the Dracula cloaks. 

The EuroDNS promotion on .HU domain names

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “At EuroDNS we aspire to deliver the best possible service to our customers, so we are offering this excellent promotion on .HU domain name registration. We strongly believe that registering this domain name extension for your business will increase traffic, thus bringing more revenue. For the next two weeks .HU domain names are available for only €7.99.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS does more than just register domain names; we also offer a constantly evolving range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all their domain requirements. The list includes local presence service, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or speak to one of our domain name experts at sales@eurodns.com.”

To register or transfer an existing .HU domain name at the unbeatable price of €7.99, visit our website, and enter promo code PRHU12A, valid until October 9, 2012.

Please check out the offers page on our website to find many more promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS, new offers are added regularly. 

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news and advice from a leading domain name registrar, please subscribe to our newsletter. We recently published an article with information regarding the transfer and consolidation of domain names, EuroDNS can save you time, money and stress, please contact the sales team for more detailed information.

EuroDNS can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter; there are also additional posts on Google+ and LinkedIn.

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

In August 2012 Google announced an update to their search algorithms; as of now, the ranking of sites possessing a large number of copyright infringements may be lowered in search results. It is Google’s intention to improve the users’ experience by providing only legitimate and high quality content.

The update takes into account how many DMCA takedown notices they receive regarding a particular website. A DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request can be filed by anyone, it is simply a request to investigate, not evidence of infringement. Google will take all allegations seriously and following an inspection, act accordingly. Should the infringement prove to be a reality Google will act swiftly; thankfully with this latest update Google will only remove the offending page rather than the whole site. But, should a site have several requests against different pages, the whole site will suffer and its ranking will be lowered.

Google will take note of how many takedown requests a site receives, they will not be in a position to determine the legality of content. If a site is wrongly targeted or the victim of unscrupulous behaviour; it would be an effective way of damaging the ranking of a legitimate site simply by filing numerous takedown requests from different sources. 

Google speaks

Amit Singhal, senior vice president of engineering at Google states: “Only copyright holders know if something is authorized, and only courts can decide if a copyright has been infringed; Google cannot determine whether a particular webpage does or does not violate copyright law. So while this new signal will influence the ranking of some search results, we won’t be removing any pages from search results unless we receive a valid copyright removal notice from the rights owner. And we’ll continue to provide "counter-notice" tools so that those who believe their content has been wrongly removed can get it reinstated. We’ll also continue to be transparent about copyright removals.”

A site believing their content has been wrongly removed may issue a counter-notice, but will their original ranking be reinstated?

Google owns YouTube and it will be interesting to see how it fairs as, judging by content, it should receive a great many takedown requests. But, YouTube has a different procedure for DMCA takedown requests, so we shall see…

ICANN continues with the evaluation of the new gTLDs and are posting regular updates, the latest posted on September 6. Please see below to keep up with all the latest information. 

First we start with a reminder – the Application Comment Period is coming to a close, it officially ends on September 26. Comments should be posted as soon as possible to ensure they will be considered by the correct evaluation panel.

Application Comment Period

The Application Comment Period is to allow the public to comment on any of the new gTLD applications. This is not the same as a filed objection, which have to be submitted directly to the appropriate Dispute Resolution Service Provider (DRSP), not with ICANN. Anyone with a valid concern, such as trademark infringement, may file a formal objection. There are four objection grounds: string confusion, legal rights, limited public interest and community. The Objection Period opened on June 13 and remains open for approximately seven months.

To date, ICANN has received 6687 comments and no objections.

Application withdrawals

There have been seven applications withdrawn, four of which have been named and approved by ICANN. Three of the applications are from Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google) and the fact that they are geographical designations would hint at the reason for the block; .AND, .ARE, .EST. The fourth was a brand name, .KSB, submitted by the KSB Group. 

Change requests

In the original program there was no process for alterations to applications, due to demand ICANN has since implemented a program and subsequently, received 57 requests. ICANN has not published details of the change requests but they do list the seven criteria for determining a valid request: a reasonable explanation, an error correction, third parties affected materially, changes similar to others that have already received approval that could affect third parties, fairness to applicants, whether the change could affect the evaluation score or require re-evaluation, and if the timing interferes with the evaluation process. Please see here for more detailed information regarding the decision criteria and change request process. ICANN plan to make the application changes public for 30 days prior to approval.

Evaluation panels

The five Evaluation panels were created so applications would be distributed to the relevant panel and managed more efficiently. Applications are grouped if they have similar details, such as coming from one applicant or having the same back-end provider. The panels cover financial, technical, geographic names, string similarity and DNS stability; the most complex evaluations belonging to financial and technical and the panels are aiming to process 300 applications per month, with a target completion date of June 2013. 

Batching/metering

ICANN received 101 comments on how the evaluation process should proceed with regard batching. The suggestions, submitted by both individuals and organizations, offer various solutions for the prioritizing of applications. Ideas such as priority for IDNs (internationalized domain names), geographic names or applications for community names were some of the suggestions. Uncontested new gTLDs, applications from developing countries, brands and genuine generic names were also recommended for prioritization. With 101 comments, ICANN has yet to reach a decision and don’t appear to be in a hurry, presumably they would like to avoid the fiasco that was digital archery so are taking time to find the perfect solution. ICANN’s roadmap suggests December 2012/January 2013 for implementation of the final solution; applicants who expected ICANN to have completed Initial Evaluation by Q1, 2012, will be severely concerned. 

ICANN plan to post regular updates concerning the new gTLDs and have created a website for anyone interested in following the program. We will also keep you informed of all that occurs.

Telnic, founded in 2000, is the UK based Registry Operator for the .TEL domain. The domain was originally launched in 2009; by January 2011 it boasted over 300,000 domain names registered. 

The .TEL domain’s main feature is to provide a single means of contact for all your communication, including phone numbers, VoIP, email addresses, website links and IM details. It gives your customers the ability to contact you with a single click, from any device connected to the Internet.

Whether it’s home, office or mobile number, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc., the domain will even map your location. It is an international domain for communicating with everyone. Creating a cost effective base online is simple and provides you with an immediate web presence; with yourname.tel you will be recognized immediately, contact will be made and negotiations opened.

With a Gallic slant 

Telnic’s latest announcement introduces French IDN to .TEL domain names; news that will be welcomed by companies and brands with accents in their titles. This new feature will be available from October 3, 2012, très bon!

Of slight concern is the lack of Sunrise Period for trademark owners to protect their brand names; registration will start on Wednesday, October 3 and they will be offered on a first come, first served basis. It would be advisable to register as soon as possible to protect brands and to avoid exposure to cybersquatting. 

Accentuate your name

The .TEL domain is a user friendly and affordable option for everyone; it provides an immediate online presence without ridiculous advertising costs. Anyone anywhere can access your details and contact you from any device with an Internet connection. Connect to the whole world and .TEL your story.

EuroDNS are posting this article with the intention of offering advice to you, our customers. We are not preaching or berating, this is not meant to scare; but we do want to warn you of impending danger. Do you have your domain names registered with numerous registrars? Domain names directing customers towards your company website; highlighting your products and services, introducing your management team. Highly valuable names that you searched for, waited for, paid for and you have them scattered around various registrars? Good luck!

You may be an individual with several registered domain names for your own personal use or for reselling, you may be a large corporation with all your products’ domain names registered, you may be an international company with numerous registered ccTLDs. You are in danger of losing time, money and your corporate assets if you don’t act fast. 

Scenario

Over the years you have gone from one registered domain name to a couple, to numerous, to hundreds and you are still registering new ones. For various reasons the registrations are with different registrars; maybe someone else in your company registered names, or you were unhappy with the customer service of one registrar so started using another. The long term result of this scenario will cost you, not just financially, there could be devastating damage done to your business.

Your domain names, all registered with various registrars possess different invoice, renewal and expiration dates; their restrictions change constantly and require vigilant monitoring.  There is no central administrative contact for the names, and emails must be checked on a regular basis. Does this sound familiar, are you running between spinning plates trying to stop them crashing
to the ground? 

Solution

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Henry Ford

The solution is to transfer all your domain names to one registrar, easy. So why haven’t you
done it before?

EuroDNS can help; we will protect your property whilst saving you time and money. 

Rationale

Your plates are spinning; you are running backwards and forwards trying to keep them all going, CRASH! It’s just a cheap plate, not that serious, but, supposing it was one of your domain names. It took time and money locating and registering names relevant to your business, products, and interests, your marketing plan was created using your domain names; so why do you treat them with such little respect?

You have a large portfolio of names registered with several registrars; there is no centralization so coordinating all your names is time consuming and frustrating. How many domain names have you lost due to missing the expiration date? How many relevant domain names did you fail to register? How many domain names did you lose to cybersquatters? 

Transfer all your domain names to a single registrar and profit from full visibility of your whole portfolio, all under one roof; maintenance costs will be reduced and overall control will be greatly improved. Synchronize your domain names so they renew simultaneously; create a single user id and password to view your whole portfolio.

Transferring all your domain names to EuroDNS ensures you have one dedicated account manager who is familiar with your whole portfolio; they will be aware of your company’s online objectives and will be able to advise accordingly.

Your domain names are valuable to you and your business so you must ensure that all your information is correct at ICANN; with all your names under the EuroDNS roof it will be considerably easier to apply global changes to your details. Use one email address for your domain names’ administration contact on the Whois database, ensuring there is always someone monitoring and available to respond immediately.

Once your portfolio is established, list your domain names by expiration date thus ensuring
easy management of multiple names; you should also consider setting up yearly, automatic renewal procedures and if the names are valuable financially, register them for the maximum
time available.

Reduce the costs by working with a single registrar, streamline administration by keeping your portfolio in one place, transfer your domain names to EuroDNS now and we will keep your
plates spinning.

Prerequisite

EuroDNS is an ICANN accredited registrar holding an Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy; this ensures that registered name holders can transfer domain name registrations between registrars. If you wish to transfer your domain names from your existing registrar(s) to EuroDNS please be advised that there is a 60 day waiting period after initial registration or previous transfer of any domain name(s).

Before initiating any transfer it is essential that the administrative contact for all your
domain names has a valid email address in the Whois database; during the transfer you will receive correspondence from the old and new registrar and it is highly important that you
respond immediately.

Method

You have made the decision to transfer all your domain names and create a portfolio with EuroDNS; after speaking with your dedicated account manager you will receive confirmation of the transfer and the ‘Initial Authorization for Registrar Transfer’ form. You should return the completed form as soon as possible, a lack of response will lead to the cancellation of your transfer request. Your existing registrar(s) may follow a verification procedure and send you a confirmation of ‘Registrar Transfer Request’ form.

There are important points to remember during the transfer of domain names, please read the following and should you require further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the EuroDNS team at sales@eurodns.com. 

• Unlock your domain name(s) at your current registrar(s).

• If you are transferring gTLDs you will need the authorization code (also known as EPP code or transfer key) for each domain name, without the code the transfer cannot continue. Registrars may show the code in your account details; others will send on request to the administrative contact email address attached to your domain name(s). 

The transfer of your domain name(s) may be denied for several reasons. 

• Evidence of fraud or an on-going UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) court order. 

• If the identity of the person authorizing the transfer is questionable. 

• Outstanding payments exist.

• The domain name(s) is locked; your current registrar(s) should provide means for you to
remove the lock.

• Domain name(s) is within 60 days of initial registration.

• Domain name (s) is within 60 days of an earlier transfer.

• If you have privacy protection on your domain name registration it will have to be disabled before any transfer can take place, this can be done through your current registrar(s).

If your current registrar(s) refuses your transfer request they have to provide a valid reason; EuroDNS will be happy to assist with negotiations should this be the case.

EuroDNS will accept a domain name transfer request if they receive the request via the EuroDNS website no less than seven working days prior to the expiration date. This period shall be subject to extension amounting to the period of notice defined by the Registry. 

EuroDNS

EuroDNS is a leading domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions; our clients are varied and range from SMEs to some of the world’s largest domain investors. Our domain consolidation service is free and our team of experts is on hand to help with the transference of all your domain names. There are several free services to help with all domain name registration requirements. 

If you have registered variations of your company’s domain, such as product names and services, the EuroDNS free domain forwarding service will direct them all to your primary site; and for each registered domain name, customers have free access to a 1GB webmail account. 

For more detailed information, please visit the EuroDNS website or speak directly with one of our domain experts at sales@eurodns.com. The team offers dedicated naming solutions for trademark holders and advice on protecting existing and registering new domain names. Our team is multilingual and offers a personalized service tailored to you.

Conclusion

Managing a large portfolio is a challenge; managing a large portfolio involving several registrars, is a disaster waiting to happen.  Domain name registration restrictions change regularly, new names become available daily, administration can be a constant headache with unsynchronized expiration and invoice dates. 

Consolidate your domain names with EuroDNS to manage, grow and expand your portfolio
(and to protect your plates).

Belize has two national holidays this month, National Day and Independence Day. Do you realize what this means? With the celebrations commencing in early September, they will party for a month! EuroDNS invites you to join the festivities with a promotion on .BZ domain name registrations. Enter promo code NDBZ12A and feel the buzz for only €15.99, valid until September 19, 2012.

The .BZ domain was introduced in 1991 as the country code top level domain (ccTLD) for Belize. It is currently administered by the registry, Belize Network Information Centre (BelizeNIC). A highly desirable domain extension for Belize residents, it also boasts popularity throughout the world. Be in the right place at the right time; register a .BZ domain name during September and wherever you are, you can celebrate too. 

Land of the free

In the month of September Belize celebrate their history, culture and people with two national holidays. September 10 commemorates The Battle of St George’s Caye and is commonly known as Belize’s National Day. A battle was fought in 1798 between Spain and Britain, following the defeat of the Spanish this day became a regular festival of celebration for the Belize. 

On September 21, 1981, Belize became an independent nation; after lowering the Union flag the Belize flag was raised with great fanfare. Belize celebrates over thirty years of independence every September; truly, this is a month for partying, from dusk till dawn, from beginning to end.

Ciao Italia

The .BZ extension has been adopted by numerous websites in Italy, primarily in the province of South Tyrol whose capital city is Bolzano. BZ is the official abbreviation of South Tyrol and is also used for vehicle registration plates.

Let’s get down to business

.BZ has been promoted as standing for ‘business’ and is still used in this way worldwide, despite the existence of the .BIZ generic TLD. Registrations of .BIZ domain names may be challenged if the registrant is not running a genuine commercial entity; without restrictions to registration, .BZ is always open for business. 

Bzzzzz words

Ok, why not have some fun with this extension? It will work in various ways if you use your imagination. Do you keep bees and sell honey online? Register honeycom.bz, and add a sting to your tail. Do you own a bar? Register bar.bz and hook your customers.  

EuroDNS puts the buzz in business

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “EuroDNS offers this popular extension to our customers with all the benefits offered by a .BZ extension. Registering this domain extension will increase your website traffic and therefore, bring greater revenue.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS registers international domain names for individuals and businesses alike; we listen to our customers and offer a constantly evolving range of solutions and services to support all their domain requirements. The list of services currently includes local presence services, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or contact our sales office at sales@eurodns.com, where our domain experts are on hand to help.”

To register or transfer an existing .BZ domain name, please visit the EuroDNS website. Check out the offers page on our website to find out about great promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS.

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news from the domain industry, please subscribe to the EuroDNS newsletter.

EuroDNS can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter; there are also additional posts on Google+ and LinkedIn.

About EuroDNS

EuroDNS is a Domain name Registrar specialized in International Domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-commerce and wider Internet adoption.

Make your mark, in Denmark; the latest EuroDNS promotion allows just this; a special, limited time offer on .DK domain names. This promotion enables EuroDNS customers to register new or transfer existing domain names at a promotional rate. Valid until September 25, 2012, register .DK domain names for only €5.99. Enter the promo code PRDK12A and benefit from this special deal, available for two weeks only.

Registering a .DK domain name with the EuroDNS promotion allows businesses to demonstrate commitment to a Danish audience, inspiring confidence and showing loyalty to the country. Online consumers feel safer and are more inclined to deal with a local business; become a local by registering a .DK domain name today.

The .DK domain was created in 1987 at the Stanford Research Institute; it is now administered by DK Hostmaster whose website states they “create a domain name once every hour – 24 hours a day.” In 1997 registration restrictions for the .DK domain were lifted; 6500 registered names grew to 41,000 in a year as everyone raced to register .DK domain names. Don’t miss this opportunity to target Denmark; it’s a country going places fast.

Designs on Denmark

Famous for its simple and elegant design style, evident in everything from furniture to architecture, fashion to Lego, its exquisite craftsmanship is recognized all over the world. It boasts the highest per capita GDP in the European Union, low unemployment, enviable social welfare programmes and free education; the Danes have every reason to be happy. There is nothing ugly about Denmark, even the ducklings grow into swans. 

The EuroDNS promotion on .DK domain names

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “At EuroDNS we want to deliver the best possible service to our customers, we are offering this superb promotion on .DK domain names. We strongly believe that registering this domain name extension for your business will increase traffic, thus bringing more revenue. For the next two weeks all .DK domain names are available for registration and transfer, for only €5.99.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS does more than just register domain names; we also offer a constantly evolving range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all their domain requirements. The list includes local presence service, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or speak to one of our domain name experts at sales@eurodns.com.”

To register or transfer an existing .DK domain at the unbeatable price of €5.99, visit our website, and enter promo code PRDK12A, valid till September 25, 2012.

Please check out the offers page on our website to find more promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS. 

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news from the domain industry, please subscribe to our newsletter.

EuroDNS can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter; there are also additional posts on Google+ and LinkedIn.

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

Mix it up in Mexico with the latest EuroDNS promotion; a special, limited time offer on .MX domain names. This EuroDNS promotion enables customers to register new or transfer existing domain names at a promotional rate. Valid until September 11, 2012, register .MX domain names for only €39.99. Enter the promo code PRMX12A and benefit from this very special deal, available for two weeks only.

The EuroDNS promotion is ideal for companies wishing to demonstrate commitment and loyalty to a Mexican audience, registering a ccTLD inspires an element of trust within the country a business is targeting. Registration of a .MX domain name is now available to all companies and individuals; with previous restrictions lifted, the .MX domain is proving to be highly popular. 

According to Euromonitor International, “Mexico benefits from a large and growing population, with its proximity to the USA being a major economic asset.” They go on to predict that Mexico will become the world’s 10th largest economy (in terms of GDP at purchasing power parity) by 2020. With economic expansion comes increased consumer spending, register a .MX domain name now and benefit from this rapidly expanding country.

Gracias Mexico

The world can be grateful to the Mexicans, without them there would be no chocolate, think of it, a world without chocolate, horrific. Tequila! Many a night would not be complete without the prerequisite slammers. With its indigenous culture and fusion cuisine, Mexico has given so much to the world, let’s give something back. 

EuroDNS promotion fantástico

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “At EuroDNS we want to give to our customers the best service at all times, therefore we offer this excellent promotion on .MX domain names. We believe registering this domain name extension for any business will bring an increase in traffic, and greater revenue. For the next two weeks all .MX domain names are available for registration and transfer for only €39.99.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS does more than just register domain names; we also offer a constantly growing range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all their domain requirements. The list includes local presence service, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit the EuroDNS web-site  or alternatively, speak to one of our domain name experts at sales@eurodns.com.”

To register or transfer an existing .MX domain at the unbeatable price of €39.99, visit our website, and enter promo code PRMX12A, valid till September 11, 2012.

Please check out the offers page on our website to find more promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS. 

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news from the domain industry, please subscribe to our newsletter.

EuroDNS can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter, there are also additional posts on Google+ and LinkedIn.

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

Registrars often advise you to register multiple domain names; let’s not be coy, they are running a business. But, before you dismiss out of hand, consider that they are not going to want to ruin a good reputation by persuading customers to spend money without proven good reason. 

EuroDNS is a market leading domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. We support our customers with a growing range of services and advice to assist with registering domain names; when EuroDNS recommend buying multiple versions of domain names, it’s with good reason.

Publicity is good, invisibility is bad

“Without promotion something terrible happens... Nothing!” P.T. Barnum

For any online business to succeed visibility is key so it is vital to achieve as much publicity as possible; your website should be submitted to all possible search engines and directories. Search engines, generally, rank each business according to the percentage of times keywords appear, so if your website contains said keywords, it will rank higher when searches are made. 

But, please do not be tempted to submit your website more than once; it will not increase your appearance in the results; generally search engines store a website’s page content within one domain name. Search engines will judge this to be black hat SEO (see below) and penalize accordingly.

Open more doors and you’ll get more visitors

You run a gardening business with a .COM site called thebestgardeners.com, to increase the number of times your site features in the search engine’s results, consider registering other related domain names, such as thebestroses.com, killallweeds.com, perfecttulips.com. Your one website is now listed with four domain names, increasing the number of doors through which visitors may enter. 

If your business sells trademarked products along with services, register the products’ domain names and redirect to your main website; this is a must to protect your brand names and deter competitors from stealing your customers. 

Register your domain name with multiple extensions

If your website has a .COM extension it would be advisable, if applicable, to register .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO, this will prevent competitors taking advantage of your brand name and redirecting your traffic to their site. 

This is also the time to register the .XXX variant of your domain name to prevent misuse by another registrant. Obviously, if your business is porn, you probably have it registered already, but for others, having their brand name attached to a .XXX extension could cause irreparable damage to their reputation resulting in a loss of business; it brings a whole new meaning to thebestgardeners.xxx.

Making your senior managers work

If your CEO is well known within your specific industry, his reputation respected and his opinion listened too, use him as a marketing tool. Create a simple website for each manager; register their name as the domain name, i.e. johnsmith.com, then link to your main site. The site can be submitted to search engines on its own merit and will be ranked accordingly; again, increasing traffic to your business website.

Face it, not everyone can spell

It should be remembered that nobody’s perfect, we all make mistakes; to err is human, etc., etc. With this in mind it makes sense that when registering your domain name you also register common misspellings or typos of your name, then redirect to your main site. Do you really want to lose customers just because they can’t spell, or are not proficient typists; thebestgardners.com is an easy mistake to make. Don’t let your business pay the price.

Whilst taking this into account it is also worth considering singular or plural versions of your company/brand names.

Targeting a specific country

If your business is going to expand and promote in other countries it is always better to have the relevant ccTLD; users feel more comfortable engaging with a website local to their country. Registering a ccTLD demonstrates loyalty to the specific country, and the more local links you have, the better. 

It is important when targeting a particular country, your content is specific and the language is appropriate. Accurate translation is essential, as is ensuring all titles, meta tags and descriptions, and keywords are country specific. This will also mean there is no danger of posting duplicated content and incurring the wrath of the search engines. For more information on the benefits of ccTLDs, please visit the EuroDNS news section.

Good guys wear white hats

White hat SEO follows the rules, producing good results that are sustainable, without deception. While more effort is required, the wearer of the white hat always wins, take a look at the Lone Ranger if you don’t believe me. 

Black hat SEO improves search engine ranking by nefarious means. Whilst an initial improvement may be apparent, the search engine will quickly recognize the crime and temporarily or permanently ban the site from the index.  

As we recommended, it is advisable to purchase variants of your domain name as protection for your brand; but we don’t advise you, however, to register multiple domains and have them displaying the same content. Search engines are not that stupid; they will detect, detest, and destroy. It may be an innocent action but search engines will not recognize your good intentions, they will see your black hat and duplicated content, then shoot to kill.

Google’s Webmaster Guidelines state, “Don’t employ cloaking or sneaky redirects. Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.”

URL redirection or forwarding, will allow your main website to be visible under the various URL addresses. Employing a permanent 301 redirect means that visitors and search engine spiders will not see any content under the alternative domain names registered, only the main site URL. Effectively you will be catching visitors from various domain names but, without the danger of being penalized by Google.  

EuroDNS, protect and serve

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890

Registering multiple domain names will drive traffic to your website by giving your customers more ways to find you; it will also protect your brand and online identity in the highly competitive world of the Internet.

EuroDNS offer numerous services to aid with domain name registration, including:

Free domain forwarding – point all your domain names to one location, without ‘cloak and dagger’
.
Multiple profile management – one company with worldwide branches; managing different domains easily by setting up an unlimited amount of profiles.

Expert knowledge – the team can suggest additional domain names and extensions it would be advisable to register, in order to protect your business/brand.

Multilingual email/phone support – receive a personalized service and a tailored solution.

For more detailed information, please visit the EuroDNS website or speak directly with one of our domain experts at sales@eurodns.com. 

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

The Economist, May 19, 2012 states, “Last year the number of Russians online went up by 14%, to 53m. That made Russia’s online population Europe’s biggest, just ahead of Germany’s, with lots of room left to grow.” 

On August 7 the Coordination Center for TLD’s records show that registrations for .RU domain names are about to reach four million; the Coordination Center is the administrator of the .RU domain extension. This places .RU 5th in the global ranking of ccTLDs, if its current growth rate continues it will surely improve its top ten position in the not too distant future.

If you are trying to target Russia, with its audience of approximately 80 million Internet users, your website must have relevant content and would profit if displayed in the local language. By registering a .RU domain name you will increase Russian traffic to your website as it will also be ranked by the local search engines. For more detailed information on registering ccTLDs and the benefits they bring, please read this detailed article in the EuroDNS newsletter.

Reach your potential in Russia

EuroDNS currently has a promotion on registering .RU domain names in its European Summer Bundle. Register before September 30 using the promo code PBRU12A, and add Russian character to your website, for only €10.99.

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “We strive to keep our customers informed about the domain industry, along with delivering the best possible deals. Russia’s Internet audience is a fast expanding market, so we offer this promotion as a first step to joining this growing online population.” 

For more detailed information, please visit the EuroDNS website or speak directly to one of our domain experts at sales@eurodns.com. 


To receive updates of all new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news and comments from the domain industry, please subscribe to the EuroDNS newsletter. 

EuroDNS can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter, there are also additional posts on Google+ and LinkedIn.

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

Get in with the .IN crowd using the latest EuroDNS promotion; a special, limited time offer on .IN domain names. This promotion enables EuroDNS customers to register new or transfer existing domain names at a promotional rate. Valid until August 28, 2012, register .IN domain names for only €9.99. Enter the promo code PRIN12A and benefit from this special deal, available for two weeks only!

Registering a .IN domain name with the EuroDNS promotion allows businesses to demonstrate commitment to an Indian audience, inspiring confidence and showing loyalty to the country. Online consumers feel safer and are more inclined to deal with a local business; become a local by registering a .IN domain name today.

Variety is the spice of life

Introduced in 1989, the .IN domain is operated by the INRegistry under the authority of NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India). Registration of .IN domain names is open to individuals, organizations and companies in India and abroad. 

India successfully bridges the gap between honoring history and tradition and embracing the culture of the Internet age. It welcomes the challenge and ably proves its passion for such a disparate way of life. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, declared India to be, “a bundle of contradictions held together by strong but invisible threads.” Although this statement was made decades ago, it still holds true today.

India is a diverse country featuring snowcapped mountains and sun drenched beaches, temples are in abundance as are busy markets. It is an exciting, thriving country, it is noisy and frantic, displaying stunning architecture, exotic foods, and beautiful scenery; it possesses an eclectic mix of religions and philosophies, each with its own festival and celebrations. It is a country presented in technicolour.

"So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked." Mark Twain

Become a part of this extraordinary country today, register a .IN domain name and see your business thrive.

The EuroDNS promotion

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “At EuroDNS we always try to deliver the best possible service to our customers, therefore we are offering this excellent promotion on .IN domain names. We believe registering this domain name extension for any business will bring more traffic, thus increasing revenue. For the next two weeks all .IN domain names are available for registration and transfer for only €9.99.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS does more than just register domain names; we also offer a constantly evolving range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all their domain requirements. The list includes local presence service, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or speak to one of our domain name experts at sales@eurodns.com.”

To register or transfer an existing .IN domain at the unbeatable price of €9.99, visit our website, and enter promo code PRIN12A, valid till August 28, 2012.

Please check out the offers page on our website to find more promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS. 

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news from the domain industry, please subscribe to our newsletter.

Please join EuroDNS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter; we can also be found on Google+ and LinkedIn where we regularly post. 

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

A domain that crosses the language barrier, a business tool that builds trust; the .PRO domain demonstrates your PROfessionalism to the world. EuroDNS are offering you the opportunity to register with this exclusive domain at a reduced price; valid until December 31, 2012, register a .PRO domain name today for €9.99; enter the promo code PBPRO12B and PROmote your business around the world.

The .PRO domain was originally introduced in 2004, at this time registrations were restricted to lawyers, accountants, physicians and engineers, in America, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. It was launched as the first gTLD for business professionals, instantly indicating credibility and trust due to the rigorous registration requirements. Restrictions have now been relaxed and registration of a .PRO domain name is open to any professional individual or organization, anywhere in the world. 

Earn you stripes

It is no small task, trying to establish trust in your business; by registering a .PRO domain name your business gains instant recognition as an entity to be trusted. EuroDNS is an authorized .PRO registrar; register a .PRO domain name today; it is a seal of approval, a badge of honour, a certificate of your professionalism. 

Whilst the restrictions have been loosened it is still a domain requiring official credentials to prove good standing, meaning the value of a .PRO domain name has not diminished. The .PRO domain is now open to all individual professionals and licensed businesses in any country. Applicants must produce documentation proving they are a licensed business professional or business entity. Other occupations that will now be accepted include therapists, plumbers, police and fire officers, educators, etc., that is, any profession where a recognized government certification body or jurisdictional licensing entity, regularly verifies the data accuracy of  licenses granted.

Licensed businesses must provide the service stated on registration documentation, i.e. if their license is to sell cars then they will be permitted to use their .PRO domain to sell cars.

The paperwork

Official documentation required for a business or individual to offer its services relates to their professional eligibility and includes personal identification, contact information, jurisdictional country, license number, licensing authority including HTML link. The registry will monitor information provided to ensure continued compliance with all registration requirements.

PROof positive

A seven day auction for the .PRO domain was held in January 2012, opening bids starting at $50 and growing to $5000 as the event progressed. Fever pitch struck towards the end of the auction with go.pro selling for $40,000, this is the highest price paid for a .PRO domain name to date. Other notable sales included xxx.pro at $18,903, and job.pro at $5,456. 

Due to the restrictions enforced initially, there are many .PRO domain names available; even if you already have the .COM version of your name it would be wise to register the .PRO, enter the promo code PBPRO12B now, before someone else realizes its benefits. Its popularity is growing, in January 2011 records indicate 100,000 .PRO domains registered, by July the following year, the figure had reached 160,000.

EuroDNS can help you with all your domain requirements, employing a team of experts always happy to answer any questions, contact them at sales@eurodns.com. 

About EuroDNS 

EuroDNS is a domain name registrar specialized in international domain extensions. Based in Luxembourg with branch offices in Europe, the USA and Asia with AsiaDNS, EuroDNS serves a large variety of clients ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s largest Domain Investors and offers dedicated naming solutions to Trademark holders. By strongly participating in leading industry forums including ICANN and the International Trademark Association, EuroDNS seeks to promote e-Commerce and wider Internet adoption. 

To remain at the forefront of the domain industry it is essential to be ‘in the know’, keeping up to date with all the latest news, trends and announcements. At EuroDNS we believe this information should be shared with our customers and would like to highlight the latest headlines.

Over 233 million domain names worldwide

During Q1, 2012, there were over seven million domain names registered; there are over 200 million names registered in the world, with .COM and .NET boasting a combined total of approximately 116m. EuroDNS currently has a promotion on .COM domain names, €8.99 until September 30, register now to take advantage of this offer.

Country code TLDs numbered 94.9m by end of Q1, 2012; a 16.2% increase over the same period in 2011. There are more than 290 ccTLDs, with the top ten making up 60% of all registrations. Currently, the top 10 are .DE, .TK, .UK, .NL, .RU, .EU, .BR, .CN, .AR, .AU.  This information has been brought to you from Verisign’s Domain Name Industry Brief, July 2012, please follow the link for more details.

Ten million .ORG domain names registered

The PIR (Public Interest Registry) states that the ten millionth .ORG domain name was registered at the end of June 2012. Could this last minute stampede be a result of the registration price increase that PIR initiated on July 1? One of the original TLDs, .ORG has no restrictions to registration and is recognised as the domain for non-profit organisations, non-governmental or public interest campaigns; it is a domain recognised throughout the world, engendering trust and credibility.

.EU reaches new heights

.EU domain names increased by 6.1% to 3.59m compared with Q1 of 2011. It is the best annual growth rate the EURid (appointed by the European Commission to operate the .EU domain) has experienced since Q3 of 2010. 9% more new names were registered in 2012 than at the same time in 2011. The full EURid’s Q1 2012 progress report is available online for more in depth information.

.EU was launched in 2005, and is available to all organizations in and residents of EU member states. Registering a .EU domain name invites 500m people, from 27 countries, into your domain; check out the EuroDNS promotion, running until October 31, register your domain name for just €11.99.

NEW gTLDs, the latest story

We said goodbye to ICANN’s Digital Archery batching scheme at the ICANN 44 conference in Prague; the aim now is to accelerate the evaluations and process them in a single batch, officially announced by ICANN on July 29. With this in mind, the target is for initial evaluations to be completed in 11-12 months, with publication of results in June/July 2013. This new evaluation process means delegations will take place six months later than originally planned.

ICANN invited everyone, should they desire, to comment on the new gTLDs. All comments will be displayed but ICANN reserves the right to remove ones that do not follow their Expected Standards of Behavior and ICANN’s Open Comment Forum Process and Standards. One contributor is to be commended having submitted 467 comments on individual applications; the comment is the same throughout and is directed at those applications that don’t have added rights mechanisms. As of August 1, there were 1,806 public comments posted.

Say your piece, the comment period is open between June 13 and August 12 2012, when it will be reviewed by the ICANN evaluation panel.  

EuroDNS, keeping you informed

EuroDNS publish regular articles and a monthly newsletter with all the latest news from the domain industry and invaluable advice from our team of experts. Please subscribe to our newsletter and remain 'in the know'.

Please join EuroDNS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter; we can also be found on Google+ and LinkedIn where we regularly post.

With a population of over five million and described by the World Bank as, “the easiest place to do business”; EuroDNS would like to introduce its customers to Singapore, the Lion City. The EuroDNS promotion on .SG domain names allows customers to register new or transfer existing domain names at a promotional rate. Valid until August 14, 2012, register a .SG domain name for only €24.99. Use the promo code PRSG12A and enter the lion’s den.

The EuroDNS promotion on the .SG domain will protect online businesses, giving a unique web address which is easily remembered. Strengthen brand identity and increase confidence in products and services by speaking directly to a Singaporean audience; an audience which has English as its common language, followed by Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

The .SG domain is administered by the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), it was introduced in 1988 and, as of June 2012 there were just over 50,000 domain names registered. 

Rules of the jungle

Registration of .SG domain names is available to anyone possessing a valid Singapore postal address. Foreign applicants may apply if a local agent, with a valid Singapore postal address, is appointed as the administrative contact.

Inside beats the heart of a lion

The Malay word for Singapore is Singapura; this in turn, means Lion City.

Singapore is a country made up of 63 islands; it boasts several thousand international corporations and can claim to be one of the Four Asian Tigers. Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan make up the four, and are duly named because of their highly developed economies. Allegedly, one out of every six households has one million US dollars in disposable wealth, without taking into consideration businesses and property; this ensures Singapore has the world’s highest percentage of millionaires. Why not talk to them face to face and encourage them to spend some money. 

Do a roaring trade with the EuroDNS promotion

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS said, “At EuroDNS we always try to give our customers the best possible opportunities to promote their businesses online. We are offering this promotion because registering a .SG domain name introduces you to Singapore, one of the world’s wealthiest countries. Until August 14, all .SG domain names are available for registration and transfer for only €24.99.”

Daniel continued, “EuroDNS does more than just registering domain names; we offer a growing range of solutions and services to assist our customers with all their domain requirements. The list currently includes local presence service, Whois Privacy, and ProDNS which delivers safe and secure DNS services with no risk of data loss. For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or speak to one of our domain experts at sales@eurodns.com.”

To register or transfer an existing .SG domain at the unbeatable price of €24.99, visit our website, and enter promo code: PRSG12A, valid until August 14, 2012.

Please check out the offers page on our website to find more promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS. 

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news from the domain industry, please subscribe to our newsletter.

In order to stay up-to-date about what is happening in the DNS industry, find EuroDNS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Fantastico, the Italian registry, Registro.it, has announced a new naming policy for the .IT domain; it is now possible to register IDNs (internationalized domain names). .IT domain names can be registered by residents of countries in the European Union; this permission is now also granted to Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Republic of San Marino, Switzerland and the Vatican City.

Just because…

The new naming policy is proving extremely popular, within seconds of opening the first name was registered perché.it, moments later, perchè.it, joined the list. Registrants, apparently racing to protect their brands by registering multiples of domain name variants. Early registrations also included, normally, unaccented words such as pizzá.it, and country names in the original language such as österreich.it.  

Safety in numbers

Without a ‘priority registration period’, trademark owners are offered no protection; therefore it is imperative to register all the possible variations of names as soon as possible, to ensure trademarks are fully protected. The owner of perché.it realising this, swiftly registered the same name with a different accent.

EuroDNS are currently offering a promotion on registering .IT domain names, as part of a European Summer Bundle; the offer lasts until September 30, 2012, register a .IT domain name for only €16.99, entering the promo code PBIT12A.

.IT reaches great heights

In 2010, .IT domain name registrations reached 2,000,000, doubling in just five years. In July 2012, there are almost 2,500,000 registered .IT domain names, proving its huge popularity. 

The benef.it of hacking

Express yourself, whether you are a hobb.it or a herm.it, explo.it the opportunity to create a domain hack, they are fun and memorable; they are also good for link sharing as being shorter, they are easier to remember. 

Daniel Eisenhut, Chief Sales Officer, EuroDNS had this to say, “EuroDNS are offering the .IT domain extension, at a discounted rate, for the whole of the summer period.” Daniel continued, “For more information, customers can visit our website www.eurodns.com or contact our sales office at sales@eurodns.com, where our domain experts are ready to help with advice on bulk domain name registration to protect trademarks.”

To register or transfer an existing domain name, please visit the EuroDNS website. Check out the offers page on our website to find out about great promotions on domain extensions offered by EuroDNS.

To receive updates of new promo codes, exciting deals on domain extensions and the latest news from the domain industry, please subscribe to the EuroDNS newsletter.

In order to stay up-to-date about what is happening in the DNS industry, find EuroDNS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.