Hillary.club : the Name Game of Politics

With the 2016 Presidential election already looming large, two key web addresses are up for sale to the highest bidder as Hillary.club and HillaryClinton2016.club are currently accepting bids at a SnapNames.com domain name auction that will begin at midnight Eastern on September 1, 2015. It’s anybody’s guess who will walk away with the politically charged online real estate, but bids start at just $69.00 for each, and are expected to go higher once the three-day auction commences.

It’s an accepted practice that political campaigns establish a strong online presence and dynamic social networking to convey their messages and that campaigns can potentially be won or lost online. Now with the plethora of new web extensions, such as .club, .vote, .gop, .democrat, and more, politicians, supporters and even the opposition can now get a great web address for branding any politically focused or campaign-related website.

“Given the sense of community the word ‘club’ represents, we know that .CLUB web addresses can play a key role in the campaigns of the future. In the 2014 Indonesian Presidential election we saw supporters rally behind the winning candidate Joko Widodo at www.Jokowi.club, and we’re confident the passion behind any political campaign can be easily expressed with a .CLUB domain,” stated Colin Campbell, CEO of .CLUB Domains. “Many of the great .com names are taken - even Hillary.com isn’t available – but Hillary.club and HillaryClinton2016.club are both great names for official or unofficial supporter websites.”

While 2016 is being hailed as a `high-tech’ election, many candidates and political supporters may miss the boat by not securing their relevant web addresses, the prices of which can vary widely. A generic word that also has other meanings, Trump.club, for example, is currently listed for sale at Sedo.com for an asking price of $20,000. Campbell, a Florida resident, has registered the web address Jeb.club, not to sell it, but rather to take it off the market and donate it to the former Florida Governor’s campaign organization.

In order to participate in the auctions for Hillary.club and HillaryClinton2016.club bids must be placed online at SnapNames.com before 9pm PT on August 31st / 12am ET September 1st.

Recognized as the most popular new domain extension, .CLUB has set records for the highest amount paid to date for a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) when wine.club sold for $140,000 at auction, and both Vegas.club and Coffee.club sold for $100,000 each.

About .Club Domains, LLC
Led by Internet entrepreneur Colin Campbell, whose prior successes include Tucows Interactive and Hostopia.com, .Club Domains, LLC was formed for the purpose of becoming the .CLUB gTLD registry. The company recently launched Startup.club to support entrepreneurs building businesses around a .CLUB domain name. With more than 280,000 domain names sold to date .CLUB leads the pack of new domain extensions in sales and usage. More information and links to register .CLUB domains are available now at http://www.get.club.

For more information, please contact:
Bridgette King
.Club Domains Public Relations
954-937-9616
Bridgette[at]get.club

Débat autour des Noms De Domaine

Doit-on donner des noms de domaine?

Les registres, qui autorisent la création technique des noms de domaines, sont à l'origine d'un nouveau débat. Donner des noms de domaine rend-il populaire une nouvelle extension Internet ? Un débat qui s’annonce houleux entre partisans et non partisans.
En François: http://www.journaldunet.com/ebusiness/expert/61936/debat-autour-des-noms-de-domaine.shtml.

Selected new gTLD info of the day

The 3 hot news of the week:

1. The Trademark Clearinghouse to launch 2 Newsfeeds
   Two newsfeeds were just launched by the Trademark Clearinghouse to follow its NEWS and Sunrise announcements.
   Source: http://www.trademark-clearinghouse.com/content/tmch-rss-feeds
2. Can you say you are the #1 Registry when you give away domain names?The .CLUB wants to debate if .XYZ domain names are "real". Will CEO of the .XYZ Registry join the THEDomainConference.com to answer?
3. A Newsletter about new gTLDs "only"Don't miss the selected new gTLD info of the day!
   Source: http://www.newsgtlds.com/p/newsletter.html.

Register your .CLUB domain name with your accredited Registrar.

A warm welcome to the .GDN new gTLD

The .GDN new gTLD is launched but there is a"but".

More on gTLD.club: We all read the story of Google buying the abc.xyz domain name: an announcement which shaked the new gTLD industry (for those who forgot already: “new gTLD” stands for “new generic Top-Level Domains”). Just in case you didn’t notice: the “.GDN” new gTLD has arrived and its website says that “.gdn” stands for “Global Domain Name”.

Source: http://www.gtld.club/2015/08/no-xyz-domains-wont-replace-com-gdn-will.html.

Register your .CLUB domain name with your accredited Registrar or participate in the Sunrise Period to register a .GDN new domain name with your Corporate accredited Registrar.

No, “.xyz” domains won’t replace “.com”: “.GDN” will

We all read the story of Google buying the abc.xyz domain name: an announcement which shaked the new gTLD industry (for those who forgot already: “new gTLD” stands for “new generic Top-Level Domains”). Just in case you didn’t notice: the “.GDN” new gTLD has arrived and its website says that “.gdn” stands for “Global Domain Name”.

What is “Global Domain Name”?
The description is available on the Registry’s website and it says:

“.GDN “Global Domain Name” for all individuals and businesses domain name registrants, extension is generic, short, composed of 3 letters and easy to remember just like .com, .net .org etc. Registration is not limited to its generic category but also offer FREE innovative email marketing tools for all .GDN domain name registrants. Market your products and services with exact URL name and target your niche audience”.

Are you sure?

No, not at all. I checked the new gTLD application and here is what it says about the definition of “GDN”:

“...JSC “NIS” would like to take the opportunity of ICANN’s New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) expansion program and intent to establish a new generic top level domain .gdn to represent “Geo Domain Network”. The .GDN new gTLD was first created to “commence a new generic top level domain name avenue for global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) industry and users, that enables and improve for commercial entities to illustrate, manage, market their products, services, education and experience, which enhance visibility and makes it easy for users to recognize GNSS activity on internet”.

Not much to do with what the Registry website says.

So what’s the story behing the .GDN new gTLD?
I wrote an email to the Registry for more information and hope to receive an answer so note that what comes next is a personal opinion.

I believe the .GDN project was a great idea since it focussed on a niche market: the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) industry and users. If the frontpage changed the meaning of this 3 letters Top-Level Domain to a more “generic” definition, it is quite possible that the applicant realized that:

1. There were too many new gTLD applications launching at the same time in 2012 and there would be not enough visibility for his TLD or;
2. There was a close unexpected competition: .EARTH - .SPACE - .TECH… or;
3. The original market for which was created the TLD was not big enough to sell these domain names.

I like it anyway
Whatever the reason is for this change of definition, I like the idea of making things easier to end-user and if you will read about the mention of a “platform” in the new gTLD application, I believe it will be adapted to the product mentionned on the Registry’s frontpage. Buying a domain name will come with: “a free enterprise email account with a free enterprise email account with: unlimited email blasting, targeted audience listing tools, verify email listing, campaign statistic reports, 100’s of built-in professional templates, 1GB Secure online folder, and many more features and tools”.

The registration process for domain names is long and complex. It requires to provide a lot of information and do an important number of clicks to finalize the procedure. If a new gTLD applicant is able to minimize the number of clicks to set up an email and a website at the end of the domain name registration process, then this is an improvement.

The .TEL Registry tried to offer a simple website at the end of the domain name registration process and the .UNO Registry also has a similar approach. Is the .GDN going to surprise us?

Where can I register a .GDN domain name?

The Trademark Clearinghouse just opened the .GDN Sunrise Period and it will close on Monday, 9 November, 2015 at 16:00. It is possible to register a .GDN new domain name with one of these accredited Registrars (one at the moment).

Sources:

• The “.GDN” new gTLD application (to be downloaded):
  https://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/251
• The Registry: nic.gdn

*JSC “Navigation Information Systems” (JSC “NIS”) is a systems integrator for major GLONASS satellite technology adoption projects in Russia. The Company was established in 2007. JSC “NIS” business is installing GLONASS satellite technology-based equipment in vehicles and supporting commercialization of modern satellite systems in Russian and international markets (source: http://www.nis-glonass.ru/en/about_eng/).

Sunrise Periods start for .STUDIO & .LIVE new gTLDs

Which:

1. .LIVE
2. .STUDIO

When:

• SUNRISE PERIOD START: Tuesday, 18 August, 2015 - 16:00;
• SUNRISE PERIOD END: Saturday, 17 October, 2015 - 16:00.

The calendar: http://www.trademark-clearinghouse.com/gtld-calendar.

Register your new ".studio" and ".live" domain names with a Corporate accredited Registrar.

Guess who registered ABC.club?

Google to acquire "abc" domain names

Google recently acquired domain names starting with "abc" before the domain name extension. Its new company named "Alphabet" will be using the domain name abc.xyz

Google also acquired abc.global recently and seem to be registering more of these generic domain names.

Its latest acquisition "abc.club" was registered a few days ago.

Source: http://whois.nic.club/whoismtld/whois/ (hit "abc.club").

Reminder: register your .CLUB domain name at your accredited Registrar.

Which country is to allow the use of its name as a domain name?

.BRAND new gTLDs and country names

Extract: "The Governmental Advisory Committee just published the country requirements for notification of requests for release of country/territory names as second-level domains in new gTLDs. Understand that if it is not yet possible for a .BRAND new gTLD to register a www.country name.BRAND, it could soon be possible: the table provides the respective country’s requirements for notification of requests for country names according to each country".

Question: why would the GAC publish this document if it was not to allow the registration of country names as second level domains?

Source: http://www.gtld.club/2015/08/country-names-for-brand-new-gtlds-here.html.