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I’m at the TRAFFIC cctlds first seminar live blogging – please excuse typos!

Michael Ward – director of marketing for Parked.com is moderating.

Since we’re in Amsterdam, start with .nl.

Marketing manager for Dutch domains.  His slides aren’t working 🙁

.nl – 3.4 million domains.  16 million people in Netherlands.  4.5 million domains registered if you count gtlds registered as well.

Netherlands frontrunners in innovation in internet technology and broadband penetration.  Broadband penetration is one of main determinants of a country’s domain registrations.

Almost 100 registrars in Netherlands.  Growth of .nl still strong.  Dutch market for domains is very resilient compared to other countries.  Very attractive market for domain name industry.

Will be introducing a new EPP based system later this year.  Will be removing many administrative obstacles to registering .nl domains.  Abolishing small transfer fees for domains soon.  Will be abolishing requirement that registrant of .nl must have address in country.  Will be abolished in June 2009, making it possible for people around the world to register domain.

These blogs are essential reading for anyone interested in money, business, economics, investing, and finance in India. Here are the top 15 blogs talking about money and business in India, arranged in no particular order:

1. Abhishek Rungta’s Blog

Abhishek Rungta’s Blog by Abhishek Rungta in Kolkata.

This blog is a useful, informative, and entertaining read about business strategies and work productivity. It mainly focuses on Internet marketing as well as several online ventures of the successful blogger. There are many humorous posts included too. Recent posts include Internet strategy, recession strategies for businesses, and web design outsourcing.

2. Ajay Shah’s Blog

Ajay Shah’s Blog by Ajay Shah in New Delhi.

This blogger provides his views and analysis on a wide range of economic topics that are regularly in the news, such as banking issues, capital controls, finance, and economic growth. This blogger also regularly write for the Financial Express and posts links to these articles on his blog. Recent posts include dealing with troubled banks, the real policy rate, and fixing financial regulation.

3. WATBlog

WATBlog.

WAT stands for Web, Advertising, and Technology and as the name suggests, most of the articles in the blog focuses on those three topics and their impact on India’s business sector. The blog also features tie-ups, startups, and acquisitions that happen in India’s digital media industry. Recent posts include Indian Railways use of the Internet, telecom tariffs, and the mobile phone market.

4. India PR Blog

India PR Blog.

This blog provides public relations resources, tips, tools, and analyses of the public relations industry. It also takes on PR trends and views, as well as media developments. The blog is a team effort of many of the leading names in the Indian PR industry. Recent posts include the effect of journalists hurling shoes on the PR industry, specialist versus general PR firms in India, and selling digital PR.

5. Value Investor India

Value Investor India by Rohit Chauhan.

This blog is an online diary of the author’s investment philosophies based from the teachings of several well-known investors. The thoughts and analysis of the companies as well as the stock market are all very well thought-out and informative, especially to those who want a no-jargon view of the whole industry. Recent posts include an analysis of Gujarat Gas Limited, details of the blogger’s invetment portfolio, and Warren Buffett versus Rakesh Jhunjhunwala investment styles.

6. Buyer Behaviour

Buyer Behaviour by Professor Ray Titus in Bangalore.

Buyer Behaviour is a blog focusing on how consumers behave and how businesses should take this into account. Topics discussed include consumer loyalty, customer service, and building a brand for your company. Recent posts include why success can be fatal, political errors that mirror business errors, and communicating with consumers.

7. Investment Guru

Investment Guru by Rajesh Soni in Faridabad.

This blog provides news and analysis of the India stock market, business conditions, and economy. The blogger, with a background of a Chartered Accountant and financial planner, also provides in depth financial reviews of various stocks. Recent posts include a review of Gitanjali gems, analysis of recent market movements, and deflationary prospects in India.

8. India Business Blog

India Business Blog by Arun Prabhudesai in Pune.

This blog is focused on discussing new business trends in India, as well as an overall view about entrepreneurship and startups, from the perspective of an IT professional. As the author puts it, the blog was started purely to keep in touch with the latest in Indian business and startup buzz. Recent posts include an analysis of whether celebrities help a brand, credit cards, and penetrating rural markets.

9. Bharat Entrepreneurs

Bharat Entrepreneurs by Kartik Kottapalli in Visakhapatnam.

This blog serves as an information gateway for news and happenings in the Indian business market, focusing mainly on the entrepreneurs and movers and shakers. It covers a wide range of topics including globalization, the economy, CEOs, and more. Recent posts include inflation in India, a profile of Krishna ‘Kittu’ Kolluri, and cost leadership as a business advantage in India.

10. The Big Picture

The Big Picture by Professor TT Ram Mohan in Ahmedabad.

This blog is a thoughtful take of the current state of affairs in India’s economy as well as banking industry, written by a professor in finance and accounting. There are many posts on corporate governance, investment banking, and the world economy. Recent posts include the global economic recovery will be slow, issues at Axis Bank, and academics in government.

11. The Indian Investor’s Blog

The Indian Investor’s Blog by Deepak Sheenoy in Mumbai.

This blog provides regular news and a significant amount of information about investing in the Indian stock market in easily understood language – normally a higlight of the important news of the day followed by the blogger’s analysis. Recent posts include the National Pension Scheme, the Geither Plan, and retaliation to US protectionism.

12. Analysing the (Great) Indian Stock Markets

Analysing the (Great) Indian Stock Markets.

As the name says, this blog attempts to analyze and understand the current movement of the Indian Stock Market, via the use of technical analysis. It also discusses the effects and interactions of the Indian market to the global arena and vice versa. It typically includes a weekly technical analysis and the blogger’s opinion of this. Read the most recent market weekly analysis.

13. adformula

adformula by Sabu Mangalasserril in Mumbai.

This blog focuses on advertising in business. It gives tips and information, as well as educational articles, about what advertising is and how to make the most out of it as a formidable business tool. A lot of humorous anecdotes are used, making this blog an enjoyable read. Recent posts include recent trends in using celebrities in advertising, product placement on TV and in movies, and how ad agencies should service clients.

14. The Indian Market Monitor

The Indian Market Monitor by SS Timamo.

The Indian Market Monitor blog gives a regular blow-by-blow analysis of the Indian Stock Market, interspersed with the graphs and charts for a clearer view of its movement. The blogger also gives his ideas and views on the market movements. Recent posts include 10 day A/D ratio, recent Sensex and Nifty movements, and an analysis of CNX IT stocks.

15. People at Work and Play

People at Work and Play by Prem Rao in Bangalore.

Unlike other business blogs, this blog focuses on the dynamics of people relations for a successful business. It gives great and practical advice and tips, particularly in balancing work and personal life as well as effective dealings with people. Recent posts include supporting your CEO, productivity of owls and larks, and Generation F.

After obtaining the right domain name for your business, the next step to getting online is to get quality web hosting.

When choosing a web hosting service for your website, you need to make sure that the server is fast, reliable, and comes with all of the features you need. Stability is important, because when the host goes down, all your visitors will see on their screens is a blank page. Though there are a lot of options out there, knowing what to look for can be difficult, especially if you’re not familiar with the various web hosting India companies. If you want to make this process as easy as possible, follow these basic tips to ensure you aren’t getting ripped off.

It seems a lot of people think that setting up your website is an expensive process. They are prepared to spend hundreds of dollars on setup fees, and Rs. 2500 to Rs. 5000 every month for service. While there are definitely companies out there that prey on people like this, you most definitely don’t have to pay that much. There are hundreds of web hosting India services out there that charge less than Rs. 250 per month. Though most make you purchase at least 12 months in advance, that is still a really good rate. Add in the fact that many don’t charge an activation fee, and you’ve got a super deal.

Be careful with reviews. Many review sites are actually owned by the web hosting India company itself, or by an affiliate looking to make big commissions off of potential buyers. Only trust reviews from reputable sources, or from friends who have used their services in the past.

Be sure to read all of the fine print on your hosting plan. You’ll never know what they might limit, or what fees they might charge you. For example, some web hosting India companies that offer unlimited data transfer state in their terms of service that they have the right to discontinue your account if they feel you are using too much bandwidth. So in reality, there is a limit, they just won’t tell you what it is.

Another factor to keep in mind is customer service. If your server goes down or has another problem, if it takes hours or even days until your service is restored by your web hosting India company, this could mean a lot of lost income.

Finally, think about what features you will require. If you just need a basic business website, just about any host should meet your needs. On the other hand, if you want to run advanced PHP, ASP or CGI scripts, you need to make sure the host supports those languages. Most web hosting India services will list this information on the plan details. Colocation hosting is an excellent option for websites needing fast transfer speeds.

If you have any questions about web hosting please feel free to join our forum. We have a Webmaster Forum that allows you to tap the expertise of many experienced domain developers from India and across the world.

In a little less than an hour, at 1 p.m. Eastern (10.30 p.m. IST), I’ll be in the Bido chatroom discussing Indian domains.  As well, Bido is auctioning off the Indian domain Success.co.in.  You can find all the details here.  I hope to speak with you soon.

I recently blogged that Bido has started accepting .in and other cctld domains.

Well, the big day is finally arriving – on Friday at 1.00 p.m. EST (10.30 p.m. IST) Bido will auction its first Indian domain – Success.co.in.

INForum is the sponsor for the day, and as you can see, Bido has skinned their site with the INForum logo and colours – it looks great!

During the auction, I’ll be interviewed in the chatroom and everyone is welcome to drop by and chat about Indian domains and anything else that crosses your mind.

So far, Bido has had great success with auctions of cctld domains.  The first .us auction was Today.us, which sold for $2,409.  The first .it auction was Recycle.it, which sold for $6,712.  These are really great results, so I’m optimistic about the auction of Success.co.in.

Success.co.in is owned by a member of INForum.  It is a powerful and positive one word term that is excellent for branding in almost any industry.  The domain was originally registered in February 2005, which is when the IN Registry liberalized the registration rules.

I believe that this auction will show what a powerful platform Bido is.  As well, it should show the amazing ROI available in the Indian domain market for those who missed out on the early days of .com.

Good luck bidding and hope to speak with you in the chat room!

Google has changed its Adwords Keyword Tool so that it now provides less data when looking at search volumes in particular countries.

In the past, the Tool would provide the most recent month’s search volume and the average month’s search volume for that country.

Now Google has replaced the average month’s search volume with “Global Monthly Search Volume.”  You could already get this information simply by selecting “all countries and territories.”

That’s a real issue because search volumes fluctuate from month to month, in some cases dramatically – for instance, for anything seasonal.

This is particularly hurtful for cctlds, such as .in and .co.in, where what domain investors care about are the searches in one particular country rather than searches done on a global basis.

You could lose a lot of money if you bought a domain based in part on the most recent month’s search data and it turns out that there was a large spike in search volume that month that is unlikely to be repeated.

When the Adwords Keyword Tool first came out I was surprised to see Google giving away so much information.  Now, Google seems to be going back to their old ways and hiding that information.

Unfortunately, the Google Adwords Keyword Tool has just gotten a lot less useful for anyone buying and selling cctlds.

The Kolkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League has shown that when it comes to an internet presence, they get it!

We reported the sale of KKR.in that occurred in September 2008 for $1,958.  At the time we did not know but the purchaser was none other than the popular Kolkata Knight Riders IPL.  Based on it’s Alexa traffic, it looks like the website went live on about March 29, just in time for the new IPL season that started yesterday.

Prior to this, the team used the domain KolkataKnightRiders.com (which is now forwarded to KKR.in).  While it’s no doubt important that they own this domain, it sure is a mouthful at 19 characters in length.  Plus with a name that long, the chance of typos is huge.

KKR.in is short, snappy and passes the “radio test.”  What’s more, it uses .in – affirming the team’s Indian identity.

To date, KKR is the only Indian Premier League team that uses either a shortened domain name or a .in domain. The Mumbai Indians use MumbaiIndians.com (they previously used TheMumbaiIndians.com);  the Royal Challengers Bangalore use RoyalChallengers.com;  the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers use DeccanChargers.com;  the Chennai Super Kings us ChennaiSuperKings.com;  the Delhi Daredevils use DelhiDaredevils.com;  the Kings XI Punjab use KingsXIPunjab.com;  the Rajasthan Royals use RajasthanRoyals.com.

The Kolkata Knight Riders also own KolkataKnightRiders.in;  however, unfortunately, the have not redirected this domain to KKR.in.

KKR.in is a website well worth visiting.  They’ve got pretty much everything a fan could want.  Kudos to them for doing such a good job with their internet presence and I hope the remaining IPL teams follow suit.

I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Bido.  They have taken domain auctions to another level with a series of innovations that most (all?) other domain auction houses would be unwilling to try.  Plus they actively listen to feedback from the community, and take action on it.

One drawback of Bido, however, has been that they only accept .com domains.  While that may be suitable for an American audience, it leaves most of the rest of the world out in the cold.

Fortunately Bido has again listened to the community and changed this policy.  Bido is now accepting .in and other cctld domains for auction.  I think that this is a very positive step as it offers Bido the opportunity to transform itself from an American centric company to an international one.

The focus and exposure that an auction at Bido has is far wider than anywhere else one could sell a .in domain.

Bido has further improved their offerings lately by allowing sellers to set a reserve.  Bido has also priced their commission to provide a strong incentive for sellers to set a reserve that will ensure the domain sells at its market price.

I think that Bido introducing .in auctions is also a great opportunity for the Indian domaining community — in two ways.  First, if you’ve got a quality .in domain to sell, please submit it for consideration at Bido.  With the exposure your auction will get, you’re likely to receive the best possible price for it.

Second, it gives a chance for us to promote .in to the rest of the world.  Bido has a loyal and active community following, many of whom likely know little about the .in market.

I’m very glad that there is now a new venue to sell .in domains and I can’t wait until the first .in domain is on auction!

What does it mean to be like Rick? Rick Latona is one of the world’s most successful domainers.  In less than 5 years, he has managed to become the largest domain broker in the world, to become the largest domain pawnbroker in the world, to run successful live domain auctions and also to run a domain minisite development company.  He has created a large buzz in the domaining community (and even among some endusers) and won the 2008 domainer of the year award.  If there is one guy who knows about buying and selling domains, it’s Rick Latona.

So what is Rick buying now? Rick has recently joined INForum, the home of the Indian Domain Industry, and is buying any and all premium .in domains.  Rick says that he is looking for “premium category killer names with reasonable prices.”  He is only looking for “truly great names that can have businesses put around them.”  He is looking for names that are in English.  He emphasizes that he doesn’t want nonsense, and doesn’t want people sending him names that aren’t fantastic.

If you have category killer .in domains, and are looking for some liquidity, you can send them to Rick for his consideration here.  PLEASE don’t send him junk.

And, you can be like Rick – and invest in Indian domains.  There are many good reasons why Indian domains are worth investing in and should do well.  I’ve been saying this for a long time, and it’s great that some of the most successful domainers are now entering the .in market.

You can learn more about investing in Indian domains by joining our forums, and at the upcoming TRAFFIC in Amsterdam.

DNXpert is a blog about the business of domaining – covering everything from buying to selling domains, parking to developing domains, and more.  It also covers news and developments of significance to domainers.

John over at DNXpert is running a Domaining Essentials Contest.  This is the second domaining contest he is running, with the first one having been a big success. 

INForum is proud to be the first announced sponsor of this contest.  The contest launches on November 1, 2008.  Until then, John is announcing all the prizes available.  There will be a whopping total of over $4,000 of prizes given away during the contest.