Monday, October 22, 2007
Verisign: What's To Like?
Verisign ICANN monopoly under attack
Posted: 22 Oct 2007 04:13 AM CDT at Domain Tools Blog
A new hope has just surfaced against the Verisign-ICANN monopoly. ICANN granted Verisign a contract that has no ability to end and has price increases that are baked into the contract forever. The new hope is an underdog watch group known as the "Coalition for ICANN Transparency, Inc." (CFIT) that has filed a motion to declare the Verisign-ICANN contract a monopoly according to the Sherman Act. This is the third time they have brought the suit against ICANN and Verisign. The head lawyer on the case is Bret Fausett a sharp ICANN observer. There is not much hope that CFIT will win against such a titan, the other side has been able to get the case dismissed two times before, however I think the case is very strong and very accurate. The reason CFIT will face an up hill battle is because ICANN and Verisign have a lot of money to fight the lawsuit. Verisign has an extra $20 Million a year thanks to the contract and ICANN and VeriSign baked in a new ICANN fee that would be assessed on VeriSign and passed on to the registrars and ultimately passed on to consumers. This fee would result in excess of approximately $150 million dollars to ICANN over the contracted period of time and would be an end run around the existing ICANN budget approval process. The Court has already recognized that to eliminate competitive bidding violates the Sherman Act. The CEO of Tucows went on public record that they could provide DotCom registry services for $2 a name, which prompted the CEO of GoDaddy, the world's largest registrar, to say that GoDaddy could do it for a dollar a name. Meanwhile the Chinese Registry CNNIC has figured out how to do provide global registry services for 13 cents a name per year. There is certainly a competitive market to run the DotCom registry.
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I found more here:
http://www.icann.org/general/litigation-cfit.htm
http://www.icann.org/legal/cfit-v-icann/cfit-v-icann-judgement-favor-verisign-14may07.pdf
http://www.circleid.com/posts/the_villain_in_the_icann_verisign_struggle/
http://www.cfit.biz redirects to http://www.coalitionforicanntransparency.com/ which redirects to www.cfit.info but even that doesn't seem to work at the moment...?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Site Sells Over 700 Pages in Just 5 Days!
One Buck Wiki Sells Over 700 Pages in Just 5 Days Since its Launch
Zedomax Network, a San Francisco-based Web2.0 company, has launched a new website called OneBuckWiki.com on October 12th. Users can buy a page for only one dollar to promote their blog, e-store, or any other website(s). There is a strong buzz among some of the eBay Store owners that the One Buck Wiki might be the next marketing tool.
(PRWEB) October 17, 2007 -- Zedomax Network, a San Francisco-based Web2.0 company, has launched a new website called OneBuckWiki.com on October 12th. Users can buy a page for only one dollar to promote their blog, e-store, or any other website(s). There is a strong buzz among some of the eBay Store owners that the One Buck Wiki might be the next marketing tool.
According to the One Buck Wiki's founders, they have sold hundreds of pages to E-bay store owners. "eBay store owners need a low-cost internet marketing tool to promote their products and the One Buck Wiki does just that at only one dollar," says Max, the company's founder.
Since their launch a week ago, the One Buck Wiki does seem to have excited the Internet crowd, selling over 700 pages, averaging over 100 pages per day. The One Buck Wiki team has worked 3 days without sleep just to keep up with the overflow of page orders.
Smart users of the One Buck Wiki have made their money back by pasting interesting content and Google AdSense ads onto their pages. Some users have even bought their own names in order to reserve their spot in history.
Why are these pages so valuable?
Users can buy a page for only 1 dollar (limited time only). As page owners, they can promote a blog, e-store or any other website(s). The page(s) users buy will solely have their content and no one else's. The value of all pages will go up to $10 per page once when they have sold 1000 pages.
"The One Buck Wiki forecasts to sell total of 2000 pages by the end of this month at the current rate. This could mean that a page bought today could be worth 10 times its value within the end of this month when One Buck Wiki has sold over 2000 pages," says Max, the One Buck Wiki's founder. There are still pages that can be bought on the One Dollar Wiki before the price of a page jumps to ten dollars.
The One Buck Wiki was created by the creators of the Five Dollar Wiki (FiveDollarWiki.com), which was also launched several days before the launch of One Buck Wiki. They are a team of underground "moonlighters" that work around the clock to create the next Internet marketing tool.
A number of similar paid Wikis exist out there today including the MDW (MillionDollarWiki.com) and the MEW (MillionEuroWiki.com). The MillionDollarWiki does seem to have excited the Internet crowd, with some customers buying up to 15 pages at a time. Pages have even been traded, with the "Business" page selling on eBay for $6100.
Basically, the difference between the MillionDollarWiki and the OneBuckWiki is that a person can buy a page for one dollar instead of one hundred dollars.
The One Dollar Wiki might be the best investment today for anyone who needs web presence or a web page at only one dollar.
One Buck Wiki Homepage
Five Dollar Wiki Homepage
Contact:
Max Lee of Zedomax Network
415-871-8295
Press Contact: Max Lee
Company Name: One Buck Wiki
Phone: 415-871-8295
Website: http://onebuckwiki.com
Other Pages At Once Buck Wiki Include:
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Phone_Cards
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Domains_For_Sale
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Mesothelioma
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Search_Engines
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Domains
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Lawyers
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Free_Classifieds
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Submit_Site
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Security
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Pharmacy
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Casinos
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Credit_Cards
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Bad_Debt
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Cats
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Dogs
http://www.fivedollarwiki.com/Mesothelioma_Cancer
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Olympics
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Blogs
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/God
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Christian
Domainers Magazine Now Available on Amazon.com Domainers Magazine takes another big step in bringing the Domain Industry into the Mainstream.
Matamoras, PA (PRWEB) October 15, 2007 -- Domainer's Magazine, the original magazine for the domaining industry, has announced that they have partnered with Amazon.com to offer their magazine to a wider audience! This service sells directly to the consumer market via the internet. Offering an option to search by titles and their selected article summary content will allow clientele with an interest in the industry to find and purchase the magazine. Curious browsers who may not be informed about the business of the domaining industry can find it by simply searching by interests or keywords such as the "internet," "domainer" or "web design" to name a few.
Additionally, reviewing the advertisers in the magazine will allow the "newbie's" to have a list of who to turn to in the industry to assist them in starting/growing their future business. This new avenue for Domainer's Magazine distribution has begun just shy of their one year anniversary. Owners Jerry J. Nolte, Jr. and Mike St. John believe this new outlet will give their message of the domaining industry a much longer reach.
About Domainer's Magazine:
Domainer's Magazine was designed to provide valuable insight and thought leadership into the domaining world. It is a first class publication and the original magazine that targets this industry which is becoming noted by some of the premier financiers of our time. Their goal is to continue to be a world class publication that is the eyes and ears of the "domainer." It is a sister company to iMonetize.
About iMonetize:
iMonetize.com was founded in 2005 and is one of the fastest growing full service domain management, Meta-PPC optimization companies. It provides a suite of services for domain holders, expired domain speculators, registrars and web hosts to maximize revenue while accurately analyzing performance and origin. iMonetize provides the most user-friendly and detailed domain name statistics in the industry in most cases all the way down to the individual domain level.
Contact:
Cynthia Nolte
Senior VP of Marketing
914-443-3202
http://www.domainersmagazine.com
Zedomax Network, a San Francisco-based Web2.0 company, has just launched a new website called OneBuckWiki.com. Users can buy a page for only 1 dollar (limited time only). As page owners, they can promote a blog, e-store or any other website(s). The page(s) users buy will solely have their content and no one else's. The One Buck Wiki is based on a highly powerful business model that allows users to benefit from overall sales of pages and viral marketing.
(PRWEB) October 13, 2007 -- Zedomax Network, a San Francisco-based Web2.0 company, has just launched a new website called OneBuckWiki.com
The One Buck Wiki is a new community of entrepreneurs, web marketers and normal people who want to promote their businesses online and benefit from the collective traffic that's generated by other page-owners and One Buck Wiki's viral marketing. Users can buy a page for only 1 dollar (limited time only). As page owners, they can promote a blog, e-store or any other website(s). The page(s) users buy will solely have their content and no one else's. A page on the One Buck Wiki can be edited just as a user would edit a page in Wikipedia. The main difference between the two is that the One Buck Wiki can be used to promote an e-store, a blog or any other products or services.
The One Buck Wiki is created by the creators of the Five Dollar Wiki at FiveDollarWiki.com, which was also launched only couple days ago. They are a team of underground "moonlighters" that work around the clock to create the next Internet marketing tool. The One Buck Wiki is based on a highly powerful business model that allows users to benefit from overall sales of pages and viral marketing. The One Buck Wiki has just launched its beta stage and they have millions of unclaimed pages where the user can choose their own words or phrases such as "iPod Store", "Business" or "Web Development".
There have been a number of "million dollar" ideas on the Internet in the past couple months including the Million Dollar Wiki (MDW), and the Million Euro Wiki (MEW). The MDW (MillionDollarWiki.com) and MEW (MillionEuroWiki.com) offered Internet users the chance to own a piece of history at $100 each. The MillionDollarWiki does seem to have excited the Internet crowd, with some customers buying up to 15 pages at a time. Pages have even been traded, with the "Business" page selling on eBay for $6100.
Basically, the difference between the MillionDollarWiki and the OneBuckWiki is that a person can buy a page for one dollar instead of one hundred dollars. In addition, the page(s) people buy now will ultimately gain at least 10-fold its original value at every 1,000 pages that the One Buck Wiki sells. "A page bought on the One Buck Wiki today could be worth $1000 when 100,000 pages are sold." With the One Buck Wiki, people can buy pages that will multiply in value automatically with growth of the website itself.
Even with all the directories and social bookmarking sites available today, Internet users are demanding more and they want to interact with the latest online marketing strategies available. While social bookmarking sites like Stumbleupon, Reddit and Digg are soaring in popularity, the One Buck Wiki team is pouncing on the opportunity to generate both massive online traffic and income with their new project.
For more information visit One Buck Wiki FAQ at http://OneBuckWiki.com.
Press Contact: Max Lee
Company Name: Zedomax Network
Phone: 415-871-8295
Website: http://OneBuckWiki.com
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Phone_Cards
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Domains_For_Sale
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Mesothelioma
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Search_Engines
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Domains
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Lawyers
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Make_Money
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Easy_Money
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Classified_Ads
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Free_Classifieds
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Fast_Money
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Security
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Cats
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Dogs
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Bad_Debt
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Pharmacy
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Casinos
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Credit_Cards
http://www.onebuckwiki.com/Submit_Site
http://www.fivedollarwiki.com/Mesothelioma_Cancer
Local.com Charges $749 a year for "Local Verified" Listings
I finally got around to submitting a listing at Local.com last month. I didn't think much about it until I got an email today offering me a great deal on their "Local Verified" program. They say the "'Local Verified' program will promote your business in Hennepin (pop 1,116,200.) County at the top of the 'natural search'."
I consider this unethical.
There is a faint indication that they listings are paid, but as an Internet consultant I missed it at first, so I'm sure that most users will as well.
I don't know. Maybe I want to not like them because of their excessive $749 a year fee and their slick sales pitch that says how great a deal and how effective it is, without any FACTS to back it up? Small business owners are going to shell out this money and may or may not see much of a return.
To me, the greed is shocking. They must already be making really good money from all the paid listings, yet they also feel they have to charge a lot of money for their "verified" "organic" listings as well. I would not mind so much since they can charge whatever they want, but I found the user experience poor to annoying.
Heck, I'm looking at the page now, and the top one third of the screen is white space. Then below that all I see are paid ads, and not even the verified listings they are offering. Of course they have no incentive to put the flat rate ads on top, so the PPC listings are first. When I scroll down, here is what I see and the order what I see them:
-The white space (I checked in Firefox and IE and it's there in both browsers... why? To bury unpaid listings?)
-The Local.com logo and search box
-3 "SPONSOR LINKS with blue background - PPC ads
-A row of 3 "Featured Sponsors" - PPC ads
Then we get to the real search results, right? Wrong!!!
-Another "SPONSOR LINKS" that has box around it and is labeled, but very faintly. - PPC ads
-"Local Verified" listings which are just more sponsor advertising listings where they make sure of something. Perhaps "payment verified"? These stand out with Orange listing titles and have phone, address, and description. Very nice. - Flat rate ads
-Then I see 3 more "SPONSOR LINKS" that has box around it and is labeled, but very faintly. - PPC ads
And now I see the "organic" listings, and I am 50% of the way through the entire page. These listings also have phone, address. and description.
I also had a number of problems with the search function. I was searching for "seo" and at some point the system modified my search to be "se" which started giving me all kinds of crap results. True it did this because it could not find any listings for "seo" but did for "se", but then it went ahead and started using that without my confirmation that it was what I wanted.
Another problem that I have with these "Verified Payment" listings is that they allow you to expand out of you "local" area (city or zip code) to cover the entire county. Nice huh? Yeah, for the advertiser, but for the user, well here's an example:
I did a search for "internet" in zip code 55438 with a one-mile radius looking for my company. The "Verified" listing that came up was located in Ostego, MN in zip code 55301. Unlike the organic listings, there is no milage listed to this company, and I don't even know where that city is. Ok, from their site I can see they are in Albertville. But they ain't what I would call "local"!!!
Expensive and not very user or business friendly, from my perspective. Note to Local.com: If I am going to pay you $750 per year for listings, I don't need them confused with organic listings, but I do need them to be on TOP of the paid search results listings.
But with partnerships with Yahoo and Google, they are moving a lot of traffic back and forth and all are making a lot of money I'm sure. They just won't be making much from me, since I won't advertise there and I won't use the site and click on any ads.
(hris
