Top domain news: Ice.com, website builder reviews

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The challenges of selecting a company name (and domain name)

People in the domain name industry know all too well the challenges that companies face selecting a company or product name and acquiring the matching .com domain name.

I was reminded of this last month when I interviewed ConvertKit founder Nathan Barry. His company settled on a new company name, Seva, after a years-long search. He then had to negotiate to buy the domain name Seva.com, and it wasn't easy. Ultimately, he paid $310,000 for the domain name.

But then, just weeks after unveiling its new company name, the company figured out there was a problem with it. It scratched the rebrand after working so hard to come up with it and paying so much for the domain.

Nevertheless, I think my podcast interview with Nathan (which was recorded before it the Seva rebrand was nixed) has lots of lessons for entrepreneurs. Check it out.

Now, let's take a look at the top stories on DNW last month, as ranked by pageviews:

1. Testing out the website builders: Wix, Weebly and Squarespace - In July, I started publishing reviews of website builders including Squarespace and Wix. Weebly is forthcoming, as are some others.

2. Competition in the domain industry - Domain name investors have seen the effects of little competition first hand.

3. Frank Schilling successfully defends OceanBreeze.com domain in UDRP - An air conditioning company filed a UDRP after failing to buy the domain name OceanBreeze.com.

4. Ice.com, a domain with a rich history, sells again. This time for $3.5 million - Ice.com was once a .com darling. It has traded hands since then.

5. New Zealand's .NZ administrator sues DomainTools - The lawsuit is about DomainTools' collection of Whois data for .nz domain names.

Podcasts

Catch up on last month's podcasts, including the podcast with Nathan Barry of ConvertKit as well as "Domain King" Rick Schwartz. Download them to your phone and listen on your commute. If you have suggestions for people you'd like to hear on the podcast, please reply to this email!

196: 5 things Mike Cyger learned...
195: Checking in with Escrow.com
194: Why ConvertKit rebranded as Seva (and a postscript)
193: Domain King Rick Schwartz
192: The domain name reseller business

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Thanks for reading,
Andrew