November 26th, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
Earlier this month I travelled to Cairo to attend ICANN’s 33rd international public meeting, which brought together Internet policy makers, registries and registrars to talk about key issues. More than 1,700 people from 144 countries attended the conference, which was significantly more than I was expecting, given the travel time for many attendees based in North America and Europe.
The talk of the conference was definitely new gTLDs. Many meetings, workshops and discussions were held on the topic, buoyed by the release of a draft applicant guidebook right before the meeting. The guidebook describes the proposed process for applying for and securing a new gTLD. The process is still up for review and input but expect developments on this front to come fast and furious in 2009.
Other issues discussed at length included “fast-tracking” a set of Internationalized Domain Names for ccTLDs, and DNS security. As usual, a day-long Registrar Constituency session touched on a variety of topics, ranging from recent policy developments involving the Constituency to a meeting with several ICANN staffers. I also spent a great deal of time meeting with registries, existing and potential vendors, and spending time with customers who made the trip as well.
To read more about ICANN’s Cairo meeting and for some on-site video, visit: http://cai.icann.org/en/video
ICANN’s 34th international public meeting will take place March 1-6 in Mexico City.
(image courtesy of icannphotos)
October 31st, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
Next week in Cairo, ICANN will hold its 33rd international public meeting, which affords ICANN, registrars, registries and other related organizations an opportunity to get together and talk about important topics related to the Internet.
Some of the hot-button topics sure to be discussed at the conference, which runs from November 2-7:
- New TLDs: At June’s Paris meeting, ICANN approved new guidelines that effectively pave the way for the creation of up to thousands of new domain name extensions. Since then, ICANN has released some preliminary details on the application process, including proposed fees ($185,000), and procedures (no lobbying is allowed, for example). This is sure to be a topic talked about at length both in the hallways and during sessions.
- Consulting firm CRA International recently published a report of findings entitled “Revisiting Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars”. This report is sure to gain the attention of registrars and registries, since it discusses the relationship between the two at length. As the roles of registrars and registries are considered in the upcoming round of new gTLDs, this is emerging as an important topic.
- DNSSEC: Short for Domain Name System Security Extensions, the adoption of DNSSEC will be a much-discussed topic, as DNS threats are becoming increasingly prevalent.
As usual, we’re headed there to meet with registries, suppliers, and customers, and to participate in meetings with supporting organizations like the Registrar Constituency, which is comprised of registrars from around the world. ICANN meetings are one of the key events where we are able to make our resellers’ voices heard around the world. If you plan to attend, please make sure to get in touch and say hello!
October 15th, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
When I sat down to put together another post for our blog, I quickly realized there was far too much going on both at OpenSRS and the industry to focus on one topic. As a result, here’s a recap of what’s taking place both at home and abroad.
Here at OpenSRS, it’s been a busy few weeks:
- Our UK service is now running on EPP. What is EPP, you ask? It’s the protocol we use to communicate with most major registries, as it simplifies domain name provisioning and management. Until recently, UK did not offer an EPP solution; by moving to EPP, we expect our UK service to become faster and even more reliable.
- .ME domain names can now be registered for one year.
- We have several new promotions and price reductions: The registry fee for .ASIA domains has been cut in half, new .AT registrations are available for only $10, .TV names are only $25 and our .INFO promotion has been extended until the end of the year. You can view all of our domain name discounts here.
- .INFO and .ORG registry fees are set to increase on November 1 and November 9, respectively. The .INFO registry fee will increase by $0.60 to $6.75; .ORG increases by $0.60 to $6.75. Note these fee increases are coming from the Registries themselves, and not OpenSRS.
A fair bit has also been happening outside of OpenSRS:
- The .NAME registry has been acquired by VeriSign, the operator of many major registries including .COM, .NET and .TV. This is an interesting move because it affirms VeriSign’s belief in the personal web, something we’ve believed in for years. We expect little to change on a day-to-day basis, but it is worth noting that .NAME domain names have become increasingly popular among our resellers over the past 18 months.
- The .TEL registry is preparing for launch. This is the newest gTLD to be introduced, another interesting take on how businesses and individuals might use domain names to manage their contact information and disparate websites. Look for more information on our plans to support the .TEL launch shortly.
2009 is fast approaching, but there’s still plenty of news and developments to come. ICANN’s 33rd International Public meeting takes place in a couple of weeks in Cairo, Egypt, and I expect we’ll see some more discount announcements before the year is over. As always, we’ll keep you informed as news develops.
Thanks to Flickr user CTD 2005 for the fall foliage photo and for releasing it under Creative Commons.
September 3rd, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
Fall is in the air, and while the leaves will soon be dropping from the trees around these parts, the fees charged by the various top-level domain Registries are set to rise in October and November.
Here’s how it shakes out:
- .COM will rise to $6.86 on October 1st, 2008 – an increase of 44 cents.
- .NET will rise to $4.98 on October 1st, 2008 – an increase of 38 cents.
- .INFO will rise to $6.75 on November 1st, 2008 – an increase of 60 cents.
- .ORG will rise to $6.75 on November 9th, 2008 – an increase of 60 cents.
Of note, the .BIZ registry is bucking the trend and will hold steady at $6.42.
Our registry fees will increase accordingly on those dates. Remember that you’ll have to add both the ICANN fee of $0.20, and your OpenSRS Management Fee to those registry fees.
While we’re on the subject, early indications are that the ICANN fee will likely stay at $0.20 through 2009, pending approval of the 2009 ICANN budget.
As a result of these upcoming registry fee increases, I wanted to point out that you can now see some of your retail competitors bumping up prices (in some cases, significantly more than the registry increase):
While some are taking advantage of these registry increases to tack on price increases of their own, we’re committed to holding the line and are only increasing our wholesale price directly in line with the increase in the fee we pay to the registries.
As in the past, these increases do provide you with an opportunity. Actively encourage your customers to renew early (and for multi-year terms) to beat the coming increases.
Our current pricing chart is available here and as a reminder, you can view a listing of our ongoing pricing promotions here.
August 11th, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
I received an email last week from Nominet, the registry operator for the .UK ccTLD, announcing the launch of a media blitz to encourage domain name renewals. You can see the website here. The focus of the campaign, according to the registry, is to “raise renewal rates by encouraging registrants to think about the value of their domain name and to use their registrar for all aspects of domain maintenance and renewal.”
While we’re always appreciative of registry’s efforts to promote registrations and renewals, it got me thinking about renewals in general at OpenSRS, and how some customers have a tendency to overlook their importance. Renewals are a great barometer of how your domain name business is doing, and is a component of your business that you should be monitoring at all times. Here are a few easy steps to improving this part of your business quickly and easily.
1. Monitor your renewal rates like a hawk.
Your domain name renewal rate is a metric that should be closely monitored at all times. I always tell our resellers that their overall renewal rates should consistently hover around 65 to 70 percent or higher, and should be slightly higher for ccTLDs (Tucows Insight displays renewal rates by each extension, as well as providing an overall view). As an OpenSRS customer, you can view your current and historical renewal rates via Tucows Insight, which can be accessed in the Reseller Web Interface (RWI).
2. Track upcoming renewals closely.
Domains can be a very seasonal business, with busy times often tied to when a new domain extension first launched. Tucows Insight also displays renewals coming due, which allows you to identify months in which a large number of names are due for renewal, as well as the names themselves. This allows you to tailor your marketing efforts to busy periods.
3. Start your renewal messaging early.
OpenSRS allows you to start sending renewal reminders up to three months prior to a domain’s expiration, and even after the name has expired. The messages are also fully customizable, allowing you to send personalized emails to encourage renewals.
4. Renew in bulk.
Since re-launching our bulk tools system, renewing domain names en masse has become much easier. If you know you have a large number of names that are going to be renewed, consider using this tool, and consider doing it soon – most gTLD fees are set to rise once again this fall.
We put together a quick little screencast to help you find some of this stuff inside the RWI. Take a look:
August 1st, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
October 15, 2007 was a day that our CEO Elliot Noss has called “a dark day in Internet history”. That was the day the price of a .COM domain name increased for the first time, and marked the beginning of what will be a near-annual event for the next several years: increases in fees by the major Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) registries.
This fall, history will repeat itself as most gTLDs will once again introduce a price increase. The following domain name registries have informed us they intend to raise their prices:
- .COM will increase by $0.44 to $6.86 beginning on Oct. 1, 2008.
- .NET will increase by $0.38 to $4.98 beginning on Oct. 1, 2008.
- .ORG will increase by $0.60 to $6.75 beginning on Nov. 9, 2008.
- .INFO will increase by $0.60 to: $6.75 beginning on Nov. 1, 2008.
.BIZ was the only major gTLD that decided to not increase their prices this year.
The net result is that you should strongly consider renewing your names prior to these fee increases, and encourage your customers to do the same. Multi-year renewals and new registrations that take place before the increases will be billed at the current per domain, per year rate regardless of the renewal or registration term.
June 23rd, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of our unique “cost plus” billing model is that we get registry discounts that we can extend right through to you. Because our gTLD pricing model is totally transparent, we extend as many of those registry pricing promotions as possible, directly to our resellers.
For example, we are currently offering various discounts on .MOBI, .CN, .US and .INFO domain names as a result of promotions offered by those registries. You can view a list of our current domain promotions here.
Domain name pricing promotions are a fantastic opportunity to drum up new business and solidify existing customer relationships. Among the things we’ve seen from our customers when they extend our pricing promotions to their customers:
- Sales go up: We thought that might get your attention. In some cases — for those reseller who have popular websites — simply mentioning the promotion drives great sales volumes. And every additional name sold is another opportunity to sell ancillary services like web hosting and email. By the way, giving names away for free won’t drive revenues unless they’re bundled with paid services like hosting. Those free names are much less likely to be renewed.
- Looks can be deceiving: Sometimes, resellers don’t realize they have customers in China, or customers who might be interested in the mobile Internet, until they introduce a discount for .CN or .MOBI names. The bottom line: offer as many products and discounts as possible!
If more sales sound good to you, here are some hints to get you started, based on our experience:
- Market the discount on the front page of your website: It should be noticeable to both existing and potential customers.
- Advertise the promotion in any newsletters or blogs you might have.: The more people that know about a promotion, the more people might take advantage of it.
- Keep the promotion active for a limited amount of time: In order to remain transparent, we extend discounts for their full length. So, for example, .CN has been discounted for several months now, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Limiting a discount to a month-long period should generate some urgency among your customers. Just be sure to remember to send a “hurry – time is running out!” message before the end of the promotion.
As we head into the summer, we’ve got some new discounts to be rolled out starting July 1st. Among the new discounts: a super $0 registry fee for certain .INFO domain names and lowered registry fees for .COM and .NET Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs).
Happy selling!
June 18th, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
Next week, several of us will be in Paris for the 32nd Annual International Public ICANN meeting. As I’ve mentioned before, ICANN meetings afford us a unique opportunity to meet registries, vendors, customers and other registrars, all in one central location. A great deal of policy discussion also takes place, as does a meeting of the ICANN Registrar Constituency, of which Tucows is a member and is heavily involved.
Among the “hot-button” topics that are sure to be discussed in detail at the meeting:
- IPv6: As the number of available IP addresses under IPv4 continues to shrink, the importance of IPv6 adoption worldwide will continue to grow.
- New TLDs: Although details are still fuzzy, it is widely expected that a number of new TLDs will be introduced in the coming years. What types of TLDs are introduced and the process by which they are chosen will be discussed in detail at this meeting.
- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs): IDNs allow international users to use web addresses in their native script, but adoption and standards thus far have been spotty and inconsistent. The need for greater adoption and standards will be discussed.
- The future of ICANN: ICANN’s role in the management of the domain name system is sure to be a major topic of discussion as its current agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce nears its conclusion in 2009.
All signs point to the meeting being very well-attended, which will allow me to connect with even more partners, customers and vendors (particularly those based in Europe) than most conferences. In fact, my schedule from Monday through Friday is already booked solid with meetings, sessions and workshops—a telltale sign that I’m in for an extremely busy week!
You can visit the ICANN Paris Public Participation website for more information on the upcoming meeting. If you plan to be in Paris and would like to say hello, please be sure to let us know.
May 5th, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
As we pointed out last week, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) which operates the .ca registry, is about to introduce some big changes to its existing WHOIS policies. The changes are largely associated with what information WHOIS databases, registrars and resellers are able to disclose about registrants.
These upcoming changes will have a pretty significant impact on some of our .CA policies. Specifically:
Our public WHOIS database, like CIRA’s, will protect registrant information by default. All personal information about individual registrants will be kept private, including the name of the Registrant and the name and any contact information.
- Registrants have the ability to disable WHOIS privacy from the CIRA registrant interface if they choose to do so. It is enabled by default.
- Corporations and organizations will have the option to request similar WHOIS protection in special circumstances. It is disabled by default.
- Interested third parties will still be able to contact the registrant by using a contact form available on CIRA’s website (similar to other WHOIS privacy services).
- Resellers will be required to keep registrant information confidential, revealing personal information via telephone or otherwise under very specific circumstances only.
These changes will come into effect on June 10. CIRA will begin messaging registrants about the upcoming changes this week.
February 19th, 2008 by Adam Eisner (Comments Off)
As a company that powers the services of many large web hosting and ISPs, we are acutely aware of how competitive these areas can be. In fact, one of the most frequently asked questions I receive from our customers is, “how do I make my company stand out?” Historically, the answer has largely been price, service and marketing. While these factors will always be important, I’m extremely excited to introduce a new service that will give Tucows resellers another competitive edge.
It’s our Personal Names Service and it’s all about giving people the chance to own their own name.
In 2006, we purchased a Colorado-based company named NetIdentity, which has an extremely successful service offering email and web addresses based on some of the most popular surnames in the world. These names include Smith, Johnson, Brown, Chavez and nearly 40,000 other names. All told, about 66 percent of the population of the United States will find a match for their name in the portfolio.
Today, I’m extremely excited to introduce a wholesale version based on this model, which we’re calling our Personal Names Service. This service lets our resellers offer email and web addresses based on our extensive portfolio of surnames. Each name purchased includes:
- An email account, powered by the Tucows Email Service, which includes our easy-to-use AJAX webmail, forwarding and anti-spam/anti-virus.
- A-Record and CNAME control, allowing users to host these domains wherever they like.
- Management for both email and DNS within OpenSRS, our domain name management platform.
Our Resellers are free to offer this service as an extension of their existing offerings, or even introduce a completely new “identity”-based service. I’d strongly encourage our resellers to look seriously at offering this service for a number of reasons:
- It gels well with the existing offerings.
- It’s available to Tucows Resellers only, giving them an advantage over many of their competitors.
- With close to 40,000 popular surnames in our database, the majority of their customer’s names will be available.
- It taps into the very real desire for high-quality domain names as consumers seek to secure a personal digital identity.
- It’s extremely affordable.
This is a great opportunity to get on board with a trend that will gain huge popularity in 2008. If you’re a Tucows reseller, be sure to check out the service. And if you’re not a Tucows reseller, sign up today!
