Dotted along the highway were numerous billboards owned by Porlier Outdoor Advertising. Billboard advertising has become a mainstay in the advertising world as they offer a unique opportunity for companies to reach drivers while they cruise the open road.

Of interest to me was Porlier’s use of the .BIZ domain name for their official website at www.Porlier.biz. The .biz extension was originally released and successfully branded as the official business web address of the internet. Porlier’s use of .biz is certainly a perfect fit for the .biz domain’s intended use.

The company’s billboards are focused on roads between St. Louis and Kansas City, and they have over 440 available billboards for local and national advertisers to use. Several of these are of the electronic type with colorful messages that rotate every 10 seconds.

Porlier can utilize a customer’s own creative designs or develop something unique in-house to suit a customer’s taste.

Here’s a unique one. Several days ago I viewed on a major highway close to Greensboro, NC a large billboard for ForkIt.biz. Yes, “Fork It”.  ForkIt.biz is a promotional campaign for hospitality careers in North Carolina sponsored by the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association. The Association is based out of Raleigh, North Carolina’s capital city, and operates its website on NCRLA.biz. A very good .biz fit.

For the uninitiated, North Carolina is a tourist & vacation state with it’s mountains, beaches, and incredible college sports dynasties. These attractions feed the hotel, hospitality, restaurant, and general tourism industry across the state.

Another local billboard for Northstate Communications uses TurnThePages.biz to invite local businesses to switch away from their current telecom provider to North State’s communication technology.

The .biz address currently has over 2.1 million worldwide registrations.

Neustar appear to be growing their services and raising their own profile. Their domain name registry services have been a leading product for years although Neustar are now offering web performance and risk management services too.

Forbes’ survey of the fastest growing tech firms in America placed Neustar in the Top 25 in 2009. To make the list, companies had to meet certain revenue and sales gains milestones. Neustar trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol: NSR.

My favorite .US premium domain names are United States cities. Geo domains are such good fits for the extension and provide lots of website development angles. Two cities I worked on last year were Charlotte .US and Detroit.US, both leading cities in their respective states and also with good national recognition ranking in America’s top 20 cities for population.

Belgard

Belgard is owned by Oldcastle who are a leading international materials company with 1900 locations and 40,000 employees worldwide.

Belgard have an extensive presence in both the United States and Canada with their products having been successfully used in thousands of residential and commercial projects.

The company are utilizing the .BIZ (Business) web address at Belgard.biz, and have designed an attractive website containing plenty of colorful photos of their many projects. Belgard have independent contractors in every state who are well versed on the various Belgard products. The company hosts ongoing training sessions across the country and provide several certifications as well as business development & expansion courses.

Poker.org

Also of special interest is a post at DomainNameWire regarding Afilias. The entry reports that Afilias has requested approval from ICANN to release 1 and 2 character .info domain names from their reserved list. The Neustar Registry did something similar several months ago with the .BIZ web address resulting in a number of 5-figure sales for 1 character .biz domain names.

Lastly, consider this a public service announcement -> Avoid automated domain name appraisals. Like the ones you find advertised & sold on domain name registration websites. Sadly, I have noticed a new wave of people selling (pushing) automated domain appraisals, quoting them in domain forums, and referencing them in email inquiries.

Quality domain names in particular cannot be properly appraised using the simple metrics that automated appraisals employ. Those who sell automated domain appraisals are looking to cash in on the gullibility of new domain investors and buyers. An experienced domain professional will never make reference to automated domain appraisals as they are uniformly understood to be nothing more than a gimmick or toy.

There may come a day when automated appraisal algorithms are sophisticated enough to tap into real value and produce a defensible price range for premium domain names. At the current time, nothing comes close to doing this. All automated appraisals have enormous margins of error such that they consistently fail tests for validity and reliability.

A number of large corporations are operating parallel websites on both the .com and the .biz web address while some companies are solely establishing their primary website on the .biz domain. This makes sense in that dotBIZ is recognized globally for “Business”. Dotcom has the largest footprint, but is not necessarily representative of “business” on a world wide basis.

Below are examples of both international corporations operating with a .biz presence, and also a few privately held companies doing the same.

	WaveSecurities.biz – Merrill Lynch’s online financial management & investment platform.
	RBSGroup.biz – The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Huge international bank with over 40 million customers worldwide.
	Cisco.biz – Cisco Systems Inc. is a well known international computer networking giant.
	EarthLink.biz – Well known internet access company offering business solutions.
	F-16.biz – Yes, the F16 fighter jet, other F-series aircraft and a range of other hi-tech defense products.
	CorporateSuites.biz – East coast based private company who specialize in corporate office suites.
	CitizensManagementInc.biz – One of the largest service companies in the midwest. Part of the Hanover Insurance Group.
	Pepsico.biz – The Pepsi Bottling Group, the manufacturer of Pepsi-Cola beverages worldwide.
	uk-ipo.biz – The official government body responsible for intellectual property rights in the (UK) United Kingdom.
	Start.biz – The National Business Register which keep data on 10 million businesses, trademarks, and brands in the (UK) United Kingdom.
	Billboard.biz – The Music industry web portal for world famous Billboard magazine.
	BaylorCollegeofMedicine.biz – One of the leading medical schools in the United States.
	DSI.biz – A leading provider of management & consulting services offering business valuation & acquisition, forensic accounting, and corporate restructuring.
	TheNCAA.biz – The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association).
	DollarCar.biz – Dollar Rent A Car Inc. was founded in 1965, has over 640 worldwide locations, is in 53 countries, and has maintained a fleet of over 185,000 vehicles in the USA & Canada.

The 4th quarter of 2009 was marked by a 5% sales increase. Increases were attributed to a surge in geographical and descriptive domains. These types of domains have long been considered the gold bullion of the domain name industry.

Of particular interest was Sedo’s specific mention of the internet’s official .BIZ (Business) web address in the study. They indicated …

In terms of the best-performing extensions for average sales price, Sedo’s study saw the sharpest rise in .biz domains. This growth can be attributed in part to the growth in sales of one character .biz domains, which first became available through the .biz registrar in September 2009.

Jeremiah Johnston, COO of Sedo, said that he expects to see ongoing demand for premium domains as marketers & businesses leverage domain names to meet their goals.

Among some of the hottest categories of domain sales from 2009 were city domain names and employment domain names. Getting more into the game are marketing and advertising firms who are beginning to realize the power that generic, quality domain names have in attracting consumers.

Sedo’s Johnston is quoted as saying that domain names which match the search terms of a particular business are in demand. An example of this would be a domain like DenverRealEstate.biz which was just sold by my company a day ago. The buyer being a real estate company located in Denver. Get the picture?

To shop for premium domains, visit: PremiumDomains.US or PremiumDomains.biz 
or our Sedo Portfolio.

This trend is being replicated across the country with an increasing number of realtors and real estate companies moving to the .biz (Business) web address.

Some realty companies are still maintaining their initial .com site while also launching their newer .BIZ web address. Often with a slightly shorter or more intuitive .BIZ version of the company name.

Collett & Associates were founded in 1987 and currently manage commercial properties in 12 U.S. States. Not only do they manage, broker, and lease commercial properties, but they are also involved in client commercial property investments and a number of ongoing development projects.

My online research produced an impressive number of real estate companies setting up shop with the .biz web address. Since the extension is business-focused, it is an ideal choice for a wide range of companies both internet-based and of the brick-and-mortar variety.

A sampling of others: PeakProperties.biz, ClarkCommercial.biz, NewResorts.biz, MLS.biz, BellMarcRealty.biz, Avalar.biz.

Since I very much like the .biz web address, I checked out the company. They are rather large having offices and distribution centers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Argentina. In the U.S. alone,  Dart have 13 facilities spread across 11 states.

The company used to operate on DartContainer.com, but have since switched to the better domain name, Dart.biz. Dart was established in 1937 with their early roots planted in the town of Mason, Michigan. Dart specialize in food service packaging and have since become the world’s largest manufacturer of foam cups.

The Dart.biz domain name was originally registered in March of 2002. This short, memorable domain name coupled with the internet’s official business extension makes for a great company web destination.

.BIZ – The Internet’s Official Business Web Address!

The Q13 Fox business site (.biz) lists a number of “Biz Categories”. Each category provides a list of local companies and their contact information in the traditional online biz directory format. Local vendors can also display an ad for their products and services in the classifieds section.

Also on the Q13fox.biz website along the top is a “Biz Search” box which yields fast results if you prefer to search specifically for a company as opposed to browsing business listings. A few other links include local business coupons for discounts on services. Movies, Events, News, and Weather are additional links to round out a viewer’s choices.

.BIZ is an excellent business-oriented extension, and in this instance nicely compliments the Q13 primary news website. Based on steady growth with the .biz web address, I suspect we will see an increasing number of companies and professionals utilizing the internet’s official business domain, .BIZ.

FOX Seattle are following close on the heels of the recent launch of Overstock’s .biz website at O.BIZ.

Visit the My.biz website for official details. No. 1 registrar GoDaddy are participating in this promotion and further details can be found at GoDaddy.biz.

There are a number of companies whose official website is located on a .BIZ address including large real estate and construction firms. Some of them are listed on the My.biz website as an example of the type of creative .BIZ submissions they aim to receive for the $25,000 contest. .BIZ examples are …

• ArteWorks.biz (SEO & Marketing Specialists)
• CMIC.biz (Medical Malpractice Insurance Co.)
• DakotaPro.biz (Internet, Telephone, Data Specialty Co.)
• EquitableLife.biz (Equitable Life & Insurance Company)
• eServ.biz (Engineering & CAD, over 500 employees, $43 million revenue)
• UBMGroup.biz (United Business Media, 6500 employees worldwide)
• GreenAlliance.biz (Energy Conservation, Alternative Energy)
• Kokosing.biz (Large Commercial Construction Firm)
• NanoMech.biz (Nanomanufacturing Products and Engineering)
• OpusGroup.biz (High ranking Real Estate Development Co.)
• RSDFolders.biz (Data and Information Management)
• GotIdeas.biz (Informatics – eCommerce, Design, and Development)

More GoDaddy.biz contest information here: https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/pdf/mybizcontestrules.pdf 

.BIZ is the official business web address of the internet!

1. Several of the .biz auctions which occurred at Sedo some weeks ago have finalized. Of note are these sales …

• 6.biz for $8,100
• S.biz at $8,211
• G.biz brought $9,400
• A.biz went for $10,099
• R.biz for $8,855

2. Michael Berkens of TheDomains.com wrote a brief piece about attorney Howard Neu having acquired and developed the premium domain name, MalpracticeAttorneys.com.

3. GoDaddy.com are now offering online incorporation for your business including the popular LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). The service also includes acquiring your Federal Tax ID number.

4. TChat.info was sold via Sedo for $18,000. Not familiar with this company or concept. Under construction webpage appears to be in French. Quite a sum for a non-generic domain name.

*Related domain names from today’s posts -> MalpracticeLawyers.biz

The press release explains …

“The release of two-character .BIZ domains represents an unprecedented opportunity for businesses and online media to acquire a short memorable domain …”

A number of one character .biz domains were auctioned off via Sedo in recent weeks with e.biz topping in at $66,001. Neustar believe that many companies would be better served with a “2 character” dot biz domain than their current lengthy company name. This position appears to be well supported as evidenced by .BIZ having surpassed 2 million global registrations in the middle of last year.

Since that record breaking announcement in 2008, the Neustar Registry have become more active in promoting the .biz (Business) web address. The 2-character auction, in association with Pool.com, will very likely raise public and corporation interest in the internet’s official business web address.

See LosAngelesJobs.biz to sample a .biz domain developed with DevHub.

Overstock

Initial offerings through the new site will be in the categories of: Office supplies, Restaurant supplies, Hotel supplies, and Medical supplies. There is also a deep section devoted to Office Furniture with many products offered across the most popular categories (computer workstations, office desks & chairs, file cabinets & book cases).

The O.biz domain name is incredibly quick & easy to type in. The “O” aligns perfectly with Overstock’s brand name, and should provide website users with a convenient, easy-to-remember destination when shopping online for business-oriented supplies.

Stats & Info: Patrick Byrne is the CEO of Overstock.com which was begun in 1999 with first year revenue only $1,835,000. In just nine years, Overstock’s sales have grown to $834,366,743 (2008 revenue).

The company is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and employees 997 people. Overstock currently offer more than 2 million products online. The National Retail Foundation has ranked Overstock #2 in customer service nationwide providing the company a notable distinction among its peers.

The .BIZ web address was launched in 2002 and currently has over two million domain name registrations worldwide. Created specifically as the internet’s ”business” web address, the extension is now being adopted by professionals, small companies, and large corporations. The .BIZ address is managed by the Neustar Registry.

KC.biz will be offered through Moniker’s silent auction which will commence during the New York T.R.A.F.F.I.C. domain conference. KC.biz is obviously a short and fitting domain name address for a Kansas City based real estate firm, or any business for that matter.

A similar domain, e.biz, was sold via Sedo’s online auction for $66,001 just a few weeks ago. Also currently listed for Moniker’s auction block is the premium domain, NY.biz, which is ideal for any number of New York businesses. That domain will be in Moniker’s LIVE auction which commences Wednesday 10/28/09 at 4:00 p.m. EST in New York City.

Feels like we’re entering the NFL or NBA playoffs with so much domain name action on the horizon.

Side note: Disaster.com was just announced as available to the highest bidder in a planned one month long private auction to begin October 22 and last through November 20. The domain name is being brokered by D & D Consulting, and there is a minimum bid of $850,000. For more information, visit the Disaster.com site for details. This upcoming domain auction is also mentioned in the Albany Business Journal.

.BIZ Sighting -> Just noticed that BusinessBroker.biz sold for $2350 at Sedo.