I just literally stumbled across  a new blog aggregation service called Gurus.com which is covering the domain industry along with blogs of some other industries.  The site is using the Slogan; “one site, all the gurus”

Of course most of you are familiar with Domaining.com and NameBee.com which have been serving the domain community quite well as blog aggregators.

Gurus.com is categorizing domain blogs as: “Web Development and Domains Gurus”

The only blogs currently covered by Gurus.com in that category are:  TheDomains.com, ElliotsBlog.com, DNJournal.com,  DomainNameNews.com,  TheFragerFactor.com and the Conceptualist.com.

I don’t know about any of the other guys, but no one from Gurus.com contacted me to ask if they could include our posts in their service and no one contacted me to tell me they were doing so.  However seeing who owns it I’m willing to forgive him (read below).

Gurus.com which says it is in Beta does not currently contain any advertising.

Other Industries currently being covered by Gurus.com are:

“Financial Gurus”

“Internet Marketing Gurus”

“Pro Blogging Gurus”

“Productivity Gurus”

Now back to whom owns the domain Gurus.com?

None other than Ammar Kubba of Thought Convergence and Trafficz fame.

However this is a personal project of Mr. Kubba.

Reached for comment Mr. Kubba said about the site:

“”I envision a site that eventually aggregates blogs / information sites from experts across all fields, i.e., financial gurus, domain gurus, plumbing gurus, etc., along with a social component that allows people to comment and contribute their experiences, knowledge and opinions”

Sounds like a great plan.

I know domaining.com tried a few weeks ago to add in some non-domain blogs into its feed but got some push back since many mainstream blogs publish can publish 10 posts a day or more.

Gurus.com is laid out in sections (changed by a drop down menu) so if you just want to see just the domain blogs or just the financial blogs you can, thereby allowing all of these to co-exist without overwhelming each other.

I wish Ammar the best of luck in this new project.

Now to the really important part.

I assume the honor of being named a “Guru”, like the Nobel Prize, comes with a large cash award and a nice trophy.

Ammar you have my address.

Last year, the conference was held in a private suite at The Palms, and I heard it was a great event. Like last year’s conference, there’s going to be a live domain auction held at the event. Bidders can bid on site or they can bid online using a platform that will be announced soon.

You are welcome to submit domain names for review, but they are looking for great domain names only. Visit the Domain Consultant website for more details on domain submissions.

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Talk about having some bad timing.

The domain ChileEarthQuake.com dropped just 2 days after the 8.8 earthquake rocked Chile.

Today the expired domain was auctioned off and sold on SnapNames.com

While we always discourage people from registering domains that take advantage of any disasters we couldn’t help but notice the irony that this domain was not renewed by its former owner and then lost the domain just 2 days after the disaster struck.

Hopefully the new owner will do the right thing and send the traffic to the Red Cross or some other reputable charity, however right now its just parked.

In our conversation, I mentioned that I am a domain investor. He stopped me me mid-sentence, and said something to the effect of, “I’ve had conversations with cybersquatters before who all claimed to be domain investors. With all due respect, how does what you do differ from cybersquatting?” In my opinion, it’s a very reasonable question, and I hope to be able to offer some clarity here, especially for people who found this site by way of a Google search for “what’s the difference between a domain investor and a cybersquatter?”

Domain Investing Definition:
Domain investors acquire many different types of domain names, and they either re-sell them (hoping) for a profit or monetize them with pay per click links, affiliate marketing, or web development. Domain investors actively buy, sell, or trade domain names that have these qualities: generic terms or phrases, made up terms or phrases, or trademarked terms or phrases.

Cybersquatter Definition:
Cybersquatting is the act of profiting from and/or monetizing domain names that either contain the trademarks or are typos of trademarks of known brands or famous people. Contrary to what some might believe, cybersquatting isn’t always clear and concise. In fact, more often than not, cybersquatting is a gray area that can really only be determined by a court, especially when a common term is trademarked by more than one company (Apple for example), or a domain name happens to contain a trademark but is unrelated to the trademark – like FurnitureBay.com for example.

Differences between Domain Investors and Cybersquatters:
Simply because cybersquatters would identify themselves as domain investors does NOT mean all domain investors are cybersquatters. Most domain investors I know choose to buy, sell, develop, or monetize generic domain names.

The business of investing in generic domain names is akin to buying real estate. Some people choose to buy land in an area they think will be developed in the future, rendering it much more valuable. They are content waiting for months or even years before selling. Others will buy property and build homes/apartments, and they will either sell or lease these dwellings, building a residual revenue stream.

One of the primary advantages of investing in domain names instead of real estate is that the carrying costs are much more minimal for domain names. In addition, there isn’t a MLS price guide, so domain investors with market knowledge have a distinct advantage when buying domain names privately.

The next time you think of a domain investor, don’t just assume that he or she is a cybersquatter. Domain investing is a legitimate business, and as with all industries, there are people who operate in gray areas.

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Go Daddy announced today that it has just surpassed 40 million, registered domain names.

Godaddy said it typically registers a million domain names per month.

Godaddy also says they have a 50% market share of all active new domains registered in the world and is more than three times the size of its closest competitor.

Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons is quoted as saying:

“”The Go Daddy portfolio surpassed 40 million domain names today.  The Internet is the heart of the new economy,” said . “The Internet is one of the few sectors showing monumental growth and Go Daddy is positioned in the sweet spot of the expansion. Think about it, to have your own Web site, you need a domain name and no one can deliver on a domain like Go Daddy. Our growth is essentially a window into what’s happening with the Internet.”

“For the last two consecutive years, Go Daddy has been registering, renewing or transferring a domain name at the rate of one every second of every day.”

Wow

“Over the next twenty-five years, I see the Internet growing exponentially,” said Parsons. “Think about it, whether you are communicating, learning or conducting business, being on the Internet is where it’s all happening. I’d say if you aren’t online with your business, you really aren’t in the game.”

Go Daddy’s growth is benefiting people looking for jobs right now too.   Currently there are more than 100 open positions available at www.GoDaddy.com/Jobs.