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Welcome to Webnames.ca's Corporate Domain Management News

Welcome to the Spring-Summer issue of our Corporate Domain Management newsletter. Visit our recently updated Corporate Domain Services pages to learn more about the range of services available to Webnames.ca Corporate clients.

In this Issue

Longer domain terms benefit SEO

Summer is on the horizon, but that doesn't mean it's too late for spring cleaning your domain portfolio. This year, renew all the domain names you are actively using on the Internet for five or more years. Why? A longer domain term can help improve your rank on Google.

According to a patent awarded to Google in 2005 , credible websites have certain things in common. For example, their domain names tend to be registered for longer terms - 5, 10, or more years - indicating a commitment to their online identity and business. In contrast, websites of fly-by-night businesses and spammers tend to be short lived. While it won't revolutionize your SEO rankings, a longer domain term might provide your business the edge it needs to outrank your competitors online.

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Domain Privacy
Keep your WHOIS information confidential on the Web

Each time you register a domain name, your company or personal information including name, address, phone number and email are listed in a public WHOIS database. An "Unlisted" or "private" WHOIS record can help protect you from identity theft, prevent spam and telemarketing, reduce unsolicited mail, and allow you to keep concept-stage projects anonymous.

Available this June, Webnames Domain Privacy allows businesses to update the Administrative, Billing and Technical sections of their WHOIS records with generic, non-identifying Webnames Services information.

Privacy services offered by most registrars simply replace your email address with an alias email that spammers can continue to mail to. In contrast, Webnames.ca Privacy blocks all email except for official notices from Webnames.ca and Registries.

With Webnames Privacy you remain the Registrant and retain complete control of your domain.

Privacy is $10.00 CAD/year per domain name. For bulk pricing information, speak your Corporate account manager or call toll free 1-866-470-6820.

* Available for all domain extensions, except .US.

Read more about Webnames Privacy Service for Domains

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.Asia Update

General registration and domain auctions are in full swing for .Asia.

The .Asia TLD launched in February and covers 73 countries across the greater Asia-Pacific region. Home to 60% of the world's population, these countries also encompass the world's fastest growing economies and 1/3 of the world's Internet users – as well as an enormous audience of businesses and organizations.

Any person or entity can register .Asia domain names provided the registrant meets the mandatory Charter Eligibility Requirement. Webnames.ca can assist prospective registrants in fulfilling this requirement.

In accordance with best practices, Webnames.ca recommends that businesses register their primary domains and brands in the .Asia extension to protect their intellectual property. To search for .Asia domains or learn more about .Asia registration requirements, simply visit our .Asia Info page.

Auctions of .Asia domains that received multiple registration applications during Landrush are set to continue through July 2008. Visit www.dotasia.org to view upcoming auction schedules, or read more about the auction process on our .Asia auction page.

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Corporate Care News
Webnames.ca Account Lock
Advanced security for your domain portfolio

Webnames.ca's Account Lock provides enhanced security against domain theft and tampering and protects your business domains from personnel turnover or password leak.

Account Lock allows the Account Owner to restrict access to the account by IP address or IP Address range. If a login attempt is made from an IP address that is not approved, the login will be rejected and an error message returned.

To request a free trial, speak your Corporate account manager or call toll free 1-866-470-6820.

Account Lock is $20.00 CAD/month. Identity authentication is required for purchase.

Read more about Webnames.ca Account Lock.

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Recent Domain Disputes and Resolutions

  • Research In Motion wins a dispute over 9 blackberry-related .ca domains including blackberrystore.ca
  • The University of Toronto wins a dispute over utemp.ca
  • Johnson & Johnson wins a dispute over zantac.ca
  • Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company wins multiple disputes, including enterpriseautorental.ca, enterprisecarrentals.ca, enterpriserentalcars.ca, enterpriserentatruck.ca, enterpriserental.ca, enterpriserentals.ca, enterprisecanada.ca and more
  • The Bank of Nova Scotia wins a dispute over scotiabanktheatre.ca and scotiabanktheatres.ca
  • HRB Royalty, Inc., one of the H & R Block family of companies, wins a dispute over rapidrefund.ca
  • Clearly Lasik has lost a dispute over clearlylasik.ca and clearly-lasik.ca. Clearly Lasik did not provide evidence to satisfy the Canadian Presence eligibility requirements of the CIRA Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
  • Alberta premier Ed Stelmach pursues edstelmach.ca
  • The Regional Municipality of Niagara wins a dispute over niagararegion.ca

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Domain Industry News
Highlights

  • A new open source DNS software called Unbound has been released.
  • David Kesmodel publishes The Domain Game, a book chronicling the domain market
  • DotAsia responds to allegations concerning .asia sunrise and landrush auctions
  • An article on Vancouver domain entrepreneur Kevin Ham is published by DNJournal
  • DotMobi, the registry operator for the .mobi domain purchased a content adaptation engine. The software will be used to help owners of existing sites create .mobi-compliant sites.
  • Poland's .pl domain surpasses one million registrations
  • Germany's .de domain surpasses 12 million registrations.
  • The .ca domain for Canada surpasses one million registrations.
  • A CBC News article covering the one million .ca milestone: "One in a million: that's upei.ca"
  • A Parti Quebecois member of the National Assembly of Quebec has launched an online petition supporting the assignment of .qc as a new ccTLD for Quebec.
  • A campaign is under way to create a .eng domain for England
  • Esquire magazine publishes an article on Internet creator Vint Cerf.
  • Landrush for the new .me ccTLD, assigned to Montenegro, has begun. General Registration will open July 17th, 2008.
  • According to VeriSign's quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief, worldwide domain registrations amounted to more than 153 million in 2007.
  • The Washington Post publishes an article on the class action lawsuit filed against Network Solutions for domain front running
  • The owner of cruise.co.uk purchases cruises.co.uk for 560,000 pounds, a record price. The buyer said it was necessary to retain dominance in the ocean cruise market.
  • Pizza.com sells at auction for $2.6 million.
  • The Domain Name System turns 25 years old.

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Event(s) of the Quarter

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo
Toronto, ON - Metro Toronto Convention Centre
June 16-18, 2008

Learn key strategies for maximizing the search visibility of your website.
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/toronto

CIRA Annual General Meeting & Board of Directors Election
Vancouver, BC - Venue TBA
September 10, 2008

CIRA's AGM offers members an opportunity to directly participate in the governance of Canada's Internet domain, voice their opinions to CIRA's management, and network with other dot-ca domain name holders.
https://member.cira.ca/en/events.html

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