Registrar Connections

Join us for North America Registrar Days!
100% of registrars who have attended past Registrar Days events have rated them as useful with 80% rating them very or extremely useful. They also said that they would attend again. Come experience North America Registrar Days and see what past attendees have called “a great opportunity” full of “valuable information and data”.

The Sessions
Each session will build on the event’s theme of “Expanding Your Market” with insightful information, data and best practices from senior VeriSign executives as well as special guest speakers. Some highlights of the agenda include:

Day 2 – The Climax
Don’t miss the climactic close to the event on July 11. Our panel of executives will discuss security threats “ripped from the headlines” and offer step-by-step solutions. Registrars and their customers are facing threats to their physical, network, application and browser security. After attending this session, the audience will have a stronger understanding of the nature of these threats, and they will be able to identity the common potential threats and reduce vulnerabilities.

Take a later flight on day two and spend some time in the nation’s capital. The event venue is located in Georgetown, Washington’s fashion quarter where you could get the opportunity to bump into the Who’s Who of U.S. politics or browse and enjoy the cafes, boutiques, antique shops and the Washington Harbor.

Register Today
Registration is now open so register now. For more information, visit the event page. Be sure to reserve your hotel room soon to take advantage of the exclusive VeriSign hotel rate which will only be available through June 27. For additional information or questions, please email namingmarketing@verisign.com or call Eve Tackaberry at 703-948-3496. See you soon!
Back to top

Domain Name Zone Alerts

VeriSign is pleased to announce the launch of VeriSign® Domain Name Zone Alerts which will enable you to keep pace with the millions of changes made to the .com and .net zone file every day in near real-time.
Domain Name Zone Alerts provide the aggregated report of the additions, deletions, and modifications of .com and .net domain names, name servers, and IP addresses. Highlights of the Domain Name Zone Alerts include:

Fees for the Domain Name Zone Alerts are payable on a monthly basis. The Standard Service is $1,000 per month and the Premium Service is $15,000 per month.
To learn more about the service or to request a service agreement, please contact VeriSign customer service at 703-925-6999 or info@verisign-grs.com.
Back to top

Engaged reps mean engaged customers: the winning differentiator for your business today

Customer Service Representatives (CSRs, whose primary responsibility is to provide customer support or generate sales, are a necessary piece of any registrar organization. Not only are they necessary but they can truly play a fundamental and much broader role in your business. What does it take? Acknowledge that CSRs are ultimately the ears, voice and hands facing your company’s customers, and that highly engaged customers will improve loyalty, revenue and profits.
According to a global survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit with over 300 executives in December 2006 and January 2007, enterprises can no longer simply rely on product quality and innovation, low cost and price. Rather, companies will have to prioritize customer engagement to excel competition and thrive (not just stay) in the game.
CSRs are the most economic and richest source of information for anything related to your customer base and prospects. Efficient relationship and account management tools combined with continuous training sessions, and effective analysis of collected data will take you to the next level in understanding and communicating with your customers.

As important as CSRs are in bringing in important feedback, CSRs are also the first line in communication messages and influencing customers through their recommendations. This is why engagement and motivation are important aspects that require attention everyday.
What can you do to engage and motivate your CSRs? Will it mean much investment? The answer is no. Engagement and motivation are directly related to good training, respect and recognition, above all. When CSRs receive good and frequent training, they feel they are prepared and are confident to perform their jobs. As a result, they are savvy about the business and the marketplace, which in turn leads to recognition from both end customers and the company about the critical importance of their role.
Here are a few ideas for engagement and motivation of your CSRs:

Organize a breakfast or luncheon with a senior manager from different business areas

Your customer service team represents a core strategic part of the business operation and can effectively help your company produce strong financial results. They are the closest to your customers you can get.
Back to top

VeriSign Naming Services Staff Spotlight: Jesus Castro

A true customer-relations professional, Jesus Castro has been in the problem-solving trade for many years. He started in the retail merchandise world interfacing with the customers, and then moved to the domain name industry as a customer service representative supporting registrants. Jesus has now been with VeriSign for almost a decade and was recently promoted to team leader for technical support for the Registry, Supply Chain, DBMS and Real Time Publishing business units. The work has become more exciting, according to Jesus, giving him more opportunities to learn and discover new challenges.

“Customer service is just like soccer or tennis,” Jesus adds, “and I love those two sports.” He relates balancing the customer’s issues, the solutions available and maintaining a cool and calm demeanor with the requisites of a good tennis game or soccer match. “No customer is the same just as each tennis or soccer game is different. But you get better with every challenge and you become a master of the game if you remain focused, give it 100% of your energy and never let your emotions get in the way.” And this is apparent in his work. In fact, many customers and his own co-workers describe Jesus as a very patient individual and a good listener.
Born in Lima, Peru, Jesus came to the U.S. at age ten but remembers vividly that he was introduced to tennis by being the ball boy at the club where his father played. And in time, his father taught him and his brother how to properly play a good game of tennis and even enrolled him in tennis classes. As for soccer, he is Peruvian and in Peru, soccer is the national passion that brings together all factions, regions and races!
Jesus proudly added that he got engaged recently to his girlfriend of five years but no wedding date has been set yet. “Most probably early next year,” he quipped.
How does he describe working at VeriSign? “I am happy working at VeriSign. I enjoy my job and learning new things. There is a strong sense of accomplishment in knowing that at the end of a customer call, the problem has been fully resolved and the customer is happy. And I get to work with such a diverse group of people in my team: from the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Nicaragua. Plus I have such an easy, direct access to management and they’re always flexible and sensitive to the technical support team’s needs.”
Back to top

Customer Service: Frequently Asked Questions

This section includes some recent questions handled by the Customer Service group. The topics for this issue include: how to verify payments, how to read your credit information in NameStore and how to verify subnet ranges and common name in the registry system.

Question: Why do I no longer receive a confirmation from your Finance Department once my payment is posted?
Answer: Finance no longer sends out payment confirmation emails. However, you can view this information online within your Name Store Manager account. Log into the NameStore Manager and select Finance ===> View Balance Information to view a list of all payments that have been applied to your account.

Question: How should I read the credit information page in NameStore? And why do I see a negative amount in "Outstanding Balance"?
Answer: Your Available Credit is the amount of money that is available for billable transactions. The Available Credit decreases as billable transactions are added to the balance due to VeriSign. Your Balance is the outstanding amount that is owed to VeriSign. This is the amount that will appear on your monthly invoice. The current balance is based on account debits and credits. A debit will increase the balance, while a credit will decrease the balance. It functions similar to a credit card balance. The Balance due to VeriSign increases as billable transactions are deducted from the Available Credit. The Available Credit, Credit Limit, and Balance are only applicable to customers that have a Payment Security with VeriSign. When the Balance or Credit Limit amount is updated, the Available Credit is automatically updated based on the Credit Limit minus the Balance.

Question: How can I verify the subnet ranges and common name you have in the registry system?
Answer: You can validate this information in the NameStore manager. Login and click on Accounts ==> View Account Information. Your Common Names and Subnet Ranges are provided on the Account Information screen.
Back to top

Special Report on Technology from eMarketer: Social Network Marketing: Where to Next?

Social networking continues to command attention across the Web. Entities as diverse as Reuters, Procter & Gamble and presidential candidate Barack Obama are coming up with their own variations on the theme. eMarketer estimates that companies will spend $900 million in the US and $335 million outside the US advertising on social networks this year. The lead players, MySpace and Facebook, continue to perform strongly. They are set to account for 72% of all US online ad revenues in the category this year. The intense activity in the space will continue into 2008 and beyond, with hundreds of new social networking ventures competing for ad dollars. With this increased activity will also come increased scrutiny of the return on investment (ROI) of social network marketing—2007 will be the year when marketers will demand results.
Within the social networking environment, video has become a major staple and a key driver of traffic. Mobile social network applications are ramping up both in the US and elsewhere. Outside the US, the stage is being set for a battle between MySpace and smaller sites such as Japan’s Mixi and France’s Skyblog. Virtual worlds such as Second Life and Kaneva offer a 3D twist on social networking, opening up new avenues for marketers to interact with customers.
To read the full report, please contact Jennifer Moore at 212.763.6046 or send an email to jmoore@emarketer.com.
Back to top

In the News

This section contains a selection of articles pertaining to the Domain Name Industry compiled by Information, Inc.
“New Domain Names Could Come in Mid-2008”
Associated Press (05/11/07) Jesdanun, Anick
New domain name suffixes could be introduced between June and August of 2008, according to a May 10 announcement from ICANN. The new domain names, which would most likely be in English, would represent the first general-use expansion of domain names since the creation of .info, .biz, and five other domains in 2000. Since then, ICANN has approved industry-restricted domains such as .travel and .asia. At present, there are about 250 domain name suffixes in existence, most of which are ccTLDs. The new 2008 domains represent choice, said ICANN CEO Paul Twomey, and ICANN is asking for public comment on procedures to choose the new domains. "We want the diversity of the world's people, geography, and business to be able to be represented in the domain name system," Twomey said. The procedures for creating new domains will be improved to allow "a much wider variety of them to be added in a timely, predictable, and efficient manner." In related news, ICANN may complete its technical work on non-Latin scripts by the end of 2007, though policy issues pertaining to the scripts will need to be resolved.
http://redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=8554

“Don't Buy the Keyword - Buy the Domain”
E-Commerce Times (05/08/07) Bentley, Matt
Internet marketers are developing programs to attract Internet users who use direct navigation, which means typing Web addresses directly into the Internet browser. While most Internet users use search engines such as Google first, this strong second pool of users is too large to ignore, writes Sedo chief strategy officer Matt Bentley. Direct navigation used this way is a form of searching, for basically an Internet user is guessing about domain name addresses that they hope will lead them to their goal. For direct navigation, .com remains the most popular domain among Internet users. Some marketers are using unused domain names as a second marketing front to complement their search engine strategy. In fact, parked domain names offering topic-focused ads represent about 10 percent of all online ad click-thru revenue. Direct navigation also leads to sales 4.23 percent of the time, reports WebSiteStory. Some direct navigation marketing includes purchasing a generic domain name and pointing it at a product-specific Web site, rebranding a Web site according to a generic domain name, or placing ads on parked domain names.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/N2j7PQwf95DYH3/Dont-Buy-the-Keyword---Buy-the-Domain.xhtml

"Domain Name Sales Hit Sizzling Pace"
San Antonio Business Journal (05/14/07) Young, Ty
GoDaddy.com on Monday announced that it registered 1 million new domain names in April, which analysts say is a first. GoDaddy says it registered a new domain every 1.3 seconds in April, which is five times faster than five years ago, according to GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons. The company says it now has more than 20 million domain registrations. "I've heard people say all the good dot-com names are taken--that's just not the case," Parsons says. "The Web is just getting going. We've only scratched the surface." The company says users are increasing registering domains with .org, .net, and .info extensions.
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2007/05/14/daily5.html

"Studies Show Good Domain Names Make Good Business Sense"
AddPR.com (05/17/07)
Allied Internet Solutions President Scott Alliy recommends businesses invest in generic domain names to attract browser type-in traffic to their Web sites. Alliy says his company has used generic domain names to make their own training Web site FindaSeminar.com one of the most popular of its kind in the world. The key is finding good, market-specific domain names. Alliy asserts many are available. He recommends using a Web site such as DomainsAvailableNow.com to look up available names. He adds that a generic domain-name strategy also can save a company money by reducing the need for advertising.
http://www.addpr.com/articles/marketing_and_internet/17405.html

June 2007

In this issue:

Update on North America Registrar Day Event