Archive for December, 2006

Google Selling Domains, and the/my Hype

Posted on December 25, 2006

Well, if you are a Web Hosting company, an ISP or anyone who resells domains as a loss leader or for a profit, you may have heard or even already looked at Google Apps for Domains and seen that they are now reselling domains through the two prominent registrars GoDaddy and Enom. This is really no surprise. Two of the largest registrars in North America working to build Market share.

While I am sure GoDaddy is hoping to build multiple registrations out of this deal to increase profit, I am sure Enom is also hoping to capitalize on the dropped names for their domain monetization business… Keep in mind this is only my opinion. And we know what opinion’s are like. Personally any registrar would be silly not to be knocking on Google’s door to sell domains if they can fit into the $10.00 domain and private registration(Whois masking) model. It is just good business if the registrar can get in there and make a profit. Google is giving the registrar another retail channel to capitalize on. The argument of course is does the domain business need another retail channel to purchase domains from in an already over-crowded marketplace? Google seems to think so. And, after trying to configure one of my own domains to Google Apps which includes Gmail for domains a couple months ago, even I had some issues configuring the domain for Google Page Creator, one of their free applications. If I were a layperson trying to do this, I would have been very frustrated. Registrations through accredited registrars will help with the auto configuration of the domain services for Google Apps.
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