Web.com buying Register.com for $135 million

Jun 17, 2010 (The Florida Times-Union – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX).

Web.com Group Inc. announced today an agreement to buy Register.com for $135 million, a deal that will increase Jacksonville-based Web.com’s business by 80 percent.

New York-based Register.com is a privately-held company that provides Internet domain name registration and website design and management services. Web.com also provides website development services for businesses.

“The acquisition of Register.com is highly synergistic from a products and go-to-market perspective, and we believe the financial characteristics present a significant opportunity for Web.com to drive shareholder value,” Web.com CEO David Brown said in a conference call with analysts.

“Register.com provides essential tools that small businesses need to build and manage their online presence, which is a perfect complement to Web.com’s focus on providing high-value added online marketing solutions Register.com CEO Larry Kutscher said in a news release. Brown said Register.com has about $80 million in annual revenue, while Web.com has about $100 million. In addition to adding 80 percent more revenue to Web.com, he also said the deal would more than double the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization after realizing “cost synergies.” But he didn’t identify any planned expense reductions.

He said the combined company will have more than 1,100 employees in the U.S. and Canada.

Brown said Web.com has completed 10 acquisitions over the last nine years. That includes a 2007 merger — when the company was known as Website Pros — with Atlanta-based Web.com that doubled the size of the company. After the merger, Website Pros changed its name to Web.com and kept the headquarters in Jacksonville.

Web.com said it will finance the $135 million purchase price through a combination of cash and long-term debt.

Brown said one reason the company is able to make the deal is because “the challenging economic environment brought valuation levels down to attractive levels.”

“Our team has been working hard to identify opportunities for Web.com to turn the short-term challenges of the economic environment into significant upside opportunity for our shareholders by creating a much stronger company for the long-term. Today’s announcement is consistent with this strategy,” he said.

Police, security officials meet on cybercrime strategies

When the “ILOVEYOU” worm crippled computer systems worldwide 10 years ago this spring, authorities in the Philippines didn’t even have a law to properly charge its author.

Since that time, many countries have developed computer crime laws in part due to the 2001 Convention on Cybercrime, an international treaty that lays out legal guidelines for high-tech crime legislation.

This week, more than 300 experts met at the Council of Europe’s conference on cybercrime to discuss the treaty and better cooperation in a fast-changing landscape where criminals clearly still have the upper hand.

From advance fee frauds to spam to malicious software, the Internet has become a wild west-style frontier where law enforcement officials have had notable successes in recent years but where most cybercriminals operate with near impunity.

“Criminal actors know that law enforcement investigations take time,” said Kauto Huopio, senior information security adviser at the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority. “They are looking for areas where they are less likely to get caught and where there are challenges in international cooperation.”

Much of the effort at the Council’s conference is focused on uniting various Internet stakeholders that have only a recent history of tenuous cooperation, such as Internet governance groups, network providers,domain-name registries, law enforcement and commercial enterprises.

Close ties between law enforcement and private companies is sometimes viewed as a sign of corruption, said Bernard Otupol, assistant director for the financial and high-tech crime sub-directorate at Interpol. In some developing countries cybercriminals have co-opted network infrastructures where police don’t have many resources.

“A lot of countries have a lot of problems,” Otupol said.

The London Action Plan is one organization that works to foster ties between industry and government on antispam and spyware enforcement and improve information sharing, said Shaundra Watson, counsel for International Consumer Protection at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

But that cooperation is “not a given in many places in the world,” she said.

Law enforcement officials are seeking ways to make it easier to get information from other countries during breaking cybercrime cases. They need quick information from other police agencies as well as contacts at ISPs (Internet service providers), which can help preserve electronic evidence that might quickly disappear, hampering cases.

“It’s safe to say law enforcement successes have been in spite of the landscape rather than because of it,” said Paul Hoare, senior manager and head of e-crime operations for the U.K.’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

SOCA and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation have proposed stronger verification checks for people registering domain names and a revamp of privacy services that make it hard for investigators to find out who is running a domain.

“We actually can’t expect a lot to change on the Internet to catch criminals if we as law enforcement really can’t do our job,” said Robert Flaim, supervisory special agent with the operational technical branch of the FBI. “Right now we are fighting a ground battle, but what I propose is that we start an air war.”

Part of that effort involves looking for choke points where potential criminal activity could be blunted. Law enforcement have had increasing contacts with the five regional Internet registries (RIRs), which are entities that assign IP (Internet protocol) addresses to network providers, Flaim said.

Cybercriminals have been able to build their own networks, pretending to be legitimate businesses. The Russian Business Network (RBN), a well-known group linked to malicious software, received an IP (Internet protocol) address allocation so it could essentially act as its own ISP.

The five RIRs either already have or are close to establishing law enforcement working groups. “We are on our way to establishing good relationships with the RIRs but we have to follow through,” Flaim said.

The RIPE Network Coordination Centre, a RIR that covers Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia, has had increased contact with law enforcement over the last few years, said Roland Perry, RIPE NCC’s public affairs officer.

“We’ve had more requests for information about how we operate,” Perry said. “We’ve had more requests for information about ‘This member of yours seems to be misbehaving can you tell me a bit more about him please’.”

Meanwhile, efforts have been underway to educate judges and prosecutors cybercrime, which can be highly technical.

Esther George, senior policy advisor for the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service, designed a training program for prosecutors, which is now used for the Global Prosecutors E-Crime Network (GPEN) initiative. In the U.K., some 120 prosecutors and 45 case workers now have e-crime training, she said.

But prosecuting e-crime also requires that juries understand the evidence as well. Plans are underway for videos that could be used in court that can explain, for example, how a Trojan horse works in a way that doesn’t overwhelm jurors with complicated technical concepts.

“The problem is developing this type of material is very, very expensive,” George said.

Copyright (c) 2010, IDG News Service. All rights reserved. IDG News Service is a trademark of International Data Group, Inc.

Breaking Domain News

We have just learned, from Sedo, that an Involuntary Chapter 11 petition has been filed against Escom, owner of the Sex.com domain name.

This could mean the scheduled foreclosure auction of the domain, Sex.com, will not take place tomorrow as previously planned.

Sedo will keep you informed of any further updates regarding this breaking news.

For more information please reference the official press release below:

Involuntary Chapter 11 Petition Filed Against Escom, LLC – Owner of the Sex.com Domain Name

Woodland Hills, California – Creditors of Escom, LLC (“Escom”) today filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition against Escom in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California (San Fernando Valley Division).

Petitioners took this action to protect their interests and to maximize value for all other creditors and equity holders.  The filing will stay the public auction foreclosure proceedings previously scheduled for March 18, 2010, which petitioners believe would have diminished the value of Escom’s assets.

For more information, please contact:

Lawrence Morrison, Esq.
Meister Seelig & Fein LLP
(212) 655-3582
lfm@msf-law.com

Dressing down over ad that goes too far in boardroom

DANIELLE TEUTSCH

Rubbed the wrong way … the offending advertisement with Pamela Anderson.

A COMMERCIAL featuring Pamela Anderson in a gold bikini rubbing against another scantily clad woman while being sprayed with a white liquid has “crossed the line” in bad taste and been banned from Australian television.

But the company responsible for the ad, Crazy Domains, a business that registers internet domain names, is fighting the decision. A spokesman for the Perth company said the ad was no worse than some music video clips.

The Advertising Standards Bureau upheld a complaint about the ad, after receiving more than 40 submissions, stating it went too far in objectifying women. “It’s meant to be a cheeky, over-the-top depiction but in the bureau’s view it did cross the line,” bureau chief executive Fiona Jolly said.

The 30-second ad, aired on free-to-air and pay television, prompted scathing remarks from viewers.

They included: “It is all about sex, got nothing to with domains, unless it’s to start a porn site”, and “This is overtly sexist and exploitative. It belittles women in the workforce and portrays them as sexual property”.

Crazy Domains managing director Gavin Collins said the ad was “tongue in cheek” and blamed feminist bloggers for stirring up complaints. He asked for a review of the decision. “This decision makes no sense and is completely un-Australian – we’re certainly not going to take this lying down,” Mr Collins said. “Have you seen Video Hits on a Saturday morning? There are much more graphic and sexually explicit images on that show every week … during a morning timeslot.”

Last year, the bureau banned an ad for Coca-Cola Zero featuring pole dancers. It also axed an ad by Nando’s for a burger, featuring a large-breasted woman who could not see the chips on her plate.

But Mr Collins said the ASB had been inconsistent. He said complaints about a Lynx deodorant commercial where air hostesses had attended to the needs of male passengers – including a direct reference to the mile-high club – had been dismissed.

He said his company’s ad had been screened with restrictions: it could only be shown in the M-rated time period during selected programs.

Ms Jolly said the ASB was conducting research about the issue of sexualised imagery of women: “That’s an area where there seems to be more complaints coming.”

Google probes for enemies within

Google is investigating whether one or more employees may have helped facilitate a cyber-attack that the US search giant said it was a victim of in mid-December, two sources have told Reuters.

Google, the world’s most popular search engine, said last week it may pull out of the world’s biggest Internet market by users after reporting it had been hit by a “sophisticated” cyber-attack on its network that resulted in theft of its intellectual property.

The sources, who are familiar with the situation, said that the attack, which targeted people who have access to specific parts of Google networks, may have been facilitated by people working in Google China’s office.

“We’re not commenting on rumour and speculation. This is an ongoing investigation, and we simply cannot comment on the details,” a Google spokeswoman said.

Security analysts said the malicious software (malware) used in the Google attack was a modification of a Trojan called Hydraq. A Trojan is malware that, once inside a computer, allows someone unauthorised access. The sophistication in the attack was in knowing whom to attack, not the malware itself, the analysts said.

Local media, citing unnamed sources, reported that some Google China employees were denied access to internal networks after January 13, while some staff were put on leave and others transferred to different offices in Google’s Asia Pacific operations. Google said it would not comment on its business operations.

Google, which has denied rumours that it has already decided to shut down its China offices, said on Monday it contacted the Chinese government last week after the announcement.

“We are going to have talks with them in the coming few days,” Google said.

Google is also still in the process of scanning its internal networks since the cyber-attack in mid-December.

China has tried to play down Google’s threat to leave, saying there are many ways to resolve the issue, but insisting all foreign companies, Google included, must abide by Chinese laws.

Washington said it was issuing a diplomatic note to China formally requesting an explanation for the attacks.

The Google issue risks becoming another irritant in China’s relationship with the United States. Ties are already strained by arguments over the yuan currency’s exchange rate, which US critics say is unfairly low, trade protectionism and US arms sales to Taiwan.

Washington has long been worried about Beijing’s cyber-spying program. A congressional advisory panel said in November the Chinese government appeared increasingly to be penetrating US computers to gather useful data for its military.

Reuters

Aussie Googlers gather for Street View stunt

ASHER MOSES

Passers-by could be forgiven for thinking the entire Google Australia team was on strike today after staff gathered outside the company’s headquarters for a Street View stunt.

The search giant’s army of camera-equipped Holden Astra cars are preparing to traverse the country again from this week to take new, higher quality pictures of Australia’s capital cities for the Google Maps feature.

Street View allows web users to browse street-level images of much of the country from their PCs or mobile phones.

In what has become company tradition, Google staff gather outside their offices around the world to pose for shots that will eventually end up on Street View.

The US team prepared an elaborate stunt for the last round of Street View images and anyone browsing the Silicon Valley headquarters on Google Maps can see the results. There was a marriage proposal placard (“Proposal 2.0: Marry Me Leslie!!”), fake fighting, human pyramids, costumes and even a homage to the Village People.

In a similar vein, at midday today Google Australia staff lined the perimeter of Metcalfe Park, which sits just behind Google’s Australian headquarters in Pyrmont.

Head engineer Alan Noble was directing the action as the Street View car made several rounds, trailed by hordes of Googlers gunning for their 15 minutes of fame on Google Maps.

The props weren’t as elaborate as the US drive-by and were evidently limited to whatever the staff, most of whom were clad in Google merchandise, could grab on their way out of the building.

They included blow-up pool toys, exercise balls, propeller hats, toy guns and Google signs.

There was even a minor taste of celebrity as 2006 Miss Australia Erin McNaught took part in the stunt as part of a segment for Channel Nine’s CyberShack show.

The images should appear on Google Maps about the middle of next year.

“It’s become a Google tradition to do drive-bys of Google offices around the world, so, following that tradition, we all came out today to be immortalised by Street View,” company spokeswoman Annie Baxter said.

Who am I? Ask Google Dashboard

Top 5 SEO Strategy: Getting Your Website to the Top of Google

by David Bayer

Most search engines provide two different unpaid areas where your business can appear: local business listings and web page results. Having a search engine optimization strategy that gets your business exposure in both of these areas will help you maximize your internet marketing efforts.  Here are the top five no-nonsense ways to get you there:

1. Domain Name

Your domain name is your little piece of web real estate. Choosing a local domain name, such as www.chicagomortgage.com will provide tremendous value in your ability to rank in search engines for highly searched key phrases.

If you already have a domain name that is not a highly searched term, you can still give your site a boost by purchasing local domain names launching microsites that represent your business, product or service.  You will find that with just a few pages of content and few high quality inbound links, these local microsites will rank at the top of search engines and create even more inbound leads for your business.

Example: If your current web address is MichaelScottMortgage.com and you are located just outside of Orlando, you can increase your visibility by purchasing AltamonteSpringsMortgage.com or MortgageWinterPark.com, launching a blog, and writing a few blog posts each month. 

2. Keyword Optimization: Learn to Think Like the Searcher

One of the most important factors to consider when adding content to your website or blog is the keywords you will be using throughout the body of your articles. Search engines that crawl your website look for specific keyword phrases and eventually rank your site according to the type of content you provide.

Google Keyword Tool External  and Google Search-based Keyword Tool will provide you with keyword ideas based on actual searches. If you’re just not going to use SEO tools, there’s still a common-sense approach to keep in mind when creating your online content. ‘Think like the searcher ‘ and you’ll be able to satisfy both types of clients; local and national. What does ‘think like the searcher’ mean? Basically, if you were looking for mortgage information, what keyword phrase would you type into the Google search box? By answering that question, you’ll have your list of keywords that should be used on your website.

The local searcher: Typically, the local searcher is going to want to visit your location in person. Their keyword terms will include phrases such as: Orlando mortgage, Winter Park mortgage broker, mortgage broker Orlando area, etc. You’ll want to write these down and include them naturally in the body of your articles and blog posts.

The information searcher: On a national level, there will be searchers who are looking for information or an answer to a specific question or problem they are having. You can lead these searchers to your site by including key terms they might use: refinancing 2009, first time home buyer IRS credit, current mortgage rates, etc.

By thinking like the searcher, you can easily compile a list of hot keywords to use throughout your site. These will be picked up by the search engines and your site will eventually join the ranks of Google’s top sites.

3. Linking Strategies

Learn to link up popularly searched words in your content to the pages on your site that represent that topic.  This is much more important than you may think, and it just makes good sense because it will lead your visitors deeper into your site.

While you are creating an article or blog post, look for opportunities to link to other articles within your site. If you are writing a post about ‘reverse mortgages’ and mention the keyword phrase,  ‘mortgage rates,’  link that phrase to your ‘mortgage rates’ page.  Using the keyword phrase ‘mortgage rates’ as your anchor text and linking it to you ‘mortgage rates’ article will give you an extra boost with the search engines.

4. Submitting to Local Guides

In order to gain traffic at the local level, you’ll need to submit your business name, physical address, and services information to the local guides across the Web. Google maps currently displays the top seven most popular businesses along with location points. In order to end up on this ‘lucky seven’ list, be sure your business appears on the following:

• Citysearch
• DexKnows
• Google Local Business Center
• Yahoo Local
• Best of the Web Local
• Yelp
• InfoUSA

The sites listed above are some of the major players in the local search world. Once your business is listed with them, you’ll have a better chance of appearing on Google’s top seven list as well.

5. Become a Trusted Expert

Getting your name out there as a trusted expert in your field is an excellent way to gain credibility and become more visible on the web. Build a profile on sites like MortgageNewsDaily.com or ActiveRain.com  and submit valuable content with links that lead back to your own site. These links will not only drive traffic to your site, but help your Google rankings as well.

Another way to get your content out there is to network with complimentary, but non-competing sites and offer to guest blog on their site with links back to your own. Popular real estate agencies with established blogs, home builders, and investment blogs are good sites to target.

On a final note, remember to add content to your own site often. Continue to look at your own home page, optimizing it for hot, relevant keywords and making sure you don’t have broken links or outdated information. Keep your site valuable, fresh, and search engine friendly and the traffic will naturally follow.

Picking a domain name 'is an important task'

You should think carefully before they make a final decision because their selection is an important choice, it has been claimed. “In the Ultimate Guide to Search Engine Marketing published at EntrepreneurPress.com, Jon Rognerud advised against opting for a URL stuffed with keywords unless they make sense for the site.

He said it is also advisable to avoid abbreviations and to try and select a domain name that is short and easy to remember.

In addition, he recommended opting for a .com address as virtual real estate with this suffix is often easier to remember.

Mr Rognerud said it is often advisable to pick a domain name before creating a website.

This comes after Elliot’s Blog claimed that small companies should try to select generic domain names over branded ones.

The writer explained that large corporations can choose branded locations because they have huge marketing budgets, but that most firms will get more traffic with a relevant generic web address.

Businesses advised to use social media

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently published the results of a study which found that 60 per cent of respondents are already using social media or are planning to do so in the near future.

It revealed that 55 per cent of firms have not reduced their digital marketing budgets during the recession, while 39 per cent intend to spend more on this form of advertising.

Sorcha Proctor, senior insights manager for the IAB, commented: “Over the next 12 months we’d urge B2B organisations to look to social media and display advertising to further build their brands in competitive markets.”

The expert added that this would help companies to build up a greater online presence outside of their own corporate website.

This comes after data from comScore found that 6.8 million 15 to 24-year-olds used social media sites in June 2009, a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent.

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