Blogs

06 January 2011An important survey for Australian .au domain owners
The auDA Domain Names Policy Panel discussion paper and survey has been released and I encourage all domain name owners in Australia to take part and ensure you become part of the .au domain space policy-setting process.

You are asked your opinion on issues that concern you, such as the push by some (including myself) to have the 2-year minimum/maximum domain registration period extended to allow 1 year to 5 year registrations of .com.au domain names, like other countries allow.

Please click here and complete the survey BEFORE 21 January.
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06 January 2011Groupon has failed to make a stand in Australia

Groupon is one of the most profitable and definitely one of the fastest-growing internet businesses. But it is not operational in Australia under its globally recognisable brand because of a dispute.

groupon.com is a website where you visit, enter your locality, and receive an 'offer of the day'. This deal can also be emailed to you.

Providers of the deals range from corner stores to major retail and service chains. They know that Groupon has massive reach, therefore they offer a significant discount, expecting large 'group buying' to ensue. And it often does.

Groupon accept a share of all sales, and have pocketed a reported US$800million over the last year. The company also reportedly rejected a US$6billion offer from Google.

A representative recently revealed in a Groupon blog that the reason they are not operational in Australia, in their most typical form, is because of 'domain squatters' owning the domain name groupon.com.au. Moreover, the same individuals have a Groupon 'clone' website (scoopon.com.au) and have registered the Groupon Trademark in Australia days before the real Groupon people acted to do the same.

Groupon, in all their wisdom, offered US$286,000 to Messrs Gabby and Hezi Leibovitch (the brothers who own Scoopon, Groupon.com.au and the Groupon Trademark in Australia). In exchange, Groupon wanted the domain name and the Trademark. The Leibovitches agreed. Now they have changed their minds and apparently want to sell Scoopon as part of the deal.

Groupon have now started trading in Australia under another name and website: stardeals.com.au. They have also begun legal action against the Scoopon people.

Despite this, they say that the US$286,000 offer is still on the table.

I feel for Groupon.


Domain Squatters and people who deliberately go out of their way to ride on the back of growing enterprises like Groupon for a quick buck should not be condoned. It is not best practice, yet it is very prominent in the web industry.

I also criticise Groupon for offering this duo money in the first place.


If the Leibovitches broke the law, and Groupon want to criticise them for doing that, they cannot simultaneously offer them a reward for the alleged illegal act.

It is rewarding the perpetrator and it is sending mixed messages to potential supporters about what you really stand for.

Does Groupon stand for business legitimacy and doing no evil? Or does Groupon cave for the sake of a quicker resolution to a trademark dispute and .com.au domain name?


The fact that Groupon's representative stated that the US$286,000 is STILL on the table for the men they call 'domain squatters' is wrong.

Make a stand. Or don't. But don't do both!

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06 January 2011The year that was, according to Twitter
In 2010, Twitter rose further up the prominence ladder due to the influence he micro-blogging social network began to have on public discourse in various countries.

  • Hollywood Box Office successes (e.g. Inception, The Social Network) and failures (countless) were attributed to poor Twitter reviews;
  • As were certain election results in Australia (Federal) and the United States (mid-terms);
  • More celebrities (e.g. Steve Martin) and people of influence (Hugo Chavez, Bill Gates) joined Twitter;
  • Television programs broadcast Twitter feeds (e.g. Q & A);
  • And events (e.g. Chile Mine Disaster, Gulf Oil Spill, FIFA World Cup) were given true attention from citizen journalists around the world.
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23 December 2010What Australians searched for on Google in 2010

One of the many reasons I like this time of year is all the lists that come out summing up the year that was. Google Australia has posted some cool top 10s on its Blog.

Click here to see the top 10 Fastest-rising Google searches 2010, Most popular Google searches 2010, Fastest-rising news stories 2010, Fastest-rising people 2010, Most popular celebrity weddings 2010 and much more, including a whole category dedicated to teenage pop star Justin Bieber.

'Facebook' was the most popular search on Google in 2010. I believe this shows that people still think Google IS the internet, and the Google search bar is used to navigate through the web instead of the URL bar on browsers.

Worryingly, 'google' was the third-most popular searched word on Google in Australia.

And it is very interesting to see that the top question people asked to Google in 2010 was "What is love?"

Might we Australians be preparing to soon take over Paris as the romantic capital of the world? Surely not!

Click here and enjoy the full list!

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24 November 2010What a place ... New York

Before leaving for my week of business representing KAYWEB in New York, I wrote that I can't wait to go and "be a part of it" - words made famous by Frank Sinatra.

I am pleased to say KAYWEB is now a part of it.

Over four months of strategy and work by my wife Taline Kayserian and myself paid off when I officially opened KAYWEB's fourth office in New York City.

KAYWEB, LLC is our United States trading name and we also have our first two clients in the bag after a productive week of meetings centering around New York Entrepreneur Week, which brought together some of the Big Apple's most innovative minds.

After four visits now, I am convinced the energy of New York cannot be exaggerated.

Whether it is walking down Times Square after midnight, 6am breakfast meetings at five-star hotels, drinks at a West Village bar, lunchtime cigars at the local lounge and walks down Central Park, New York seems to be the only place in the world where work is literally 24/7.

As well as being 24/7, it is instant - e.g. on a Saturday, I was trying to enjoy a walk in Central Park, when a guy called me with an extension to his web business idea and he needed to meet. I met him at Central Park.

Another example of New York's ‘instant' business culture was when I emailed the CEO of a major web company and received a reply from his iPhone minutes later.

I'm hardly complaining. It is both enjoyable and exhausting at the same time. You are so intoxicated by the City that you go with the flow and survive on very little sleep. Some of my new friends said they even dream about their ideas and action items at night.

It is important to note that business in New York is not for the faint of heart. With hard work and persistence, it has paid off for many. Hopefully it will pay off for us at KAYWEB also.

17 November 2010New York Entrepreneur Week - a community of doers

I had the pleasure of attending New York Entrepreneur Week in SoHo's Scholastic Theatre last week.

Organised by founder Gary Whitehill with an aim to bring entrepreneurs together, each of the five days of the conference resembled a room bursting with aspiration.

These aspirants had the pleasure of audiences with those who have "been there and done that" in various industries, including the web industry.

Among the speakers were leading venture capitalists, national business television stars, significant web business successes, green tech innovators, and more.

Gary Whitehill and his friends have managed to use the famous New York City energy to create a community of people who have achieved and want to achieve so much in the business world. Gary calls these people "rockstars".

Evenings also included events that brought this community closer in a more casual environment, with the "Do It In Person" event, organised by founder Aron Schoenberg, a particular highlight in a Chelsea bar.

Connections made during this week are connections to keep for anyone who wants to get anywhere in business in New York. If you impress, you are closer to making a splash in arguably the world's biggest ideas market.

During this trip, KAYWEB launched our New York City office, thus we were the attention of many entrepreneurs with ideas to make it big in the web industry.

I met with numerous aspirants, listened to their ideas and highlighted a handful we would investigate further. From these, two are KAYWEB's first two New York City clients.

New York City's culture encourages entrepreneurs to be all that they can be.

Businesswoman and reality TV star Kim Kardashian was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno during my week in New York, and she summed it up best when saying: "There's no energy like New York. I'm such a workaholic that I feel I get so much down there!"

But there are entrepreneurs everywhere, not just New York.

At KAYWEB, one of my major goals is to have our clients in Australia and Asia start taking steps to pave their own way in life.

There are a myriad of opportunities available online and on mobile, and we are ready to help turn your ideas into reality.

08 November 2010The "thank you despite knock-back" email wins business

A few weeks ago, a long back-and-forth negotiation process with a potential client ended in rejection for my team at KAYWEB. We were emailed and told that we had just been edged by a competitor.

It is internal policy at KAYWEB that rejection is handled the same way as victory; with a gracious thank you email, along the lines of:

Dear Xxxxx,

Thank you for your email and thank you for considering us at KAYWEB for this project.

We wish you luck in your future endeavours, and are available should your needs ever desire.

Kind regards,

Xxxxxx

This email takes less than 2 minutes to author, but could mean the difference between $0 and thousands of dollars.

On this occasion, as has happened on a number of occasions in the past, the potential client came back after a "change of mind".

Their representative said we were the "humans" she wanted to work with. I believe the "thank you despite knock-back' email is one of the reasons we were considered more human than our competitors.

05 November 2010I want to be a part of it... NEW YORK

I'll be jumping on a Qantas jet (hopefully not an Airbus!) bound for New York City on Sunday 7 November, to represent the KAYWEB family at New York Entrepreneur Week and surrounding events.

I have had the pleasure of holidaying in New York on three occasions with my lovely wife - first as a university couple in 2004, then to propose to her on New Year's Eve 2006/07, and finally as husband and wife on our first wedding anniversary early 2010.

On each occasion, we have found the city intoxicating.

Intoxicating in its culture and architecture. Intoxicating in its history and people. And intoxicating in its unique ability to bring together so many people with grand plans to simply "achieve". People with an intoxicating sense of ambition.

On our visits, I have often turned to my wife and said (like Frank Sinatra with a significantly inferior voice and hardly any swing): "I want to be a part of it."

Over the last six years, KAYWEB has built a solid reputation as a full service web and mobile solutions company in Australia, with our offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Manila servicing clients in all Australian states and a scattering overseas.

This visit is as much about New York Entrepreneur Week as about investigating business expansion opportunities for KAYWEB in the United States, as well as opportunities in the United States for our over-100 clients; many of whom are entrepreneurs.

At New York Entrepreneur Week, I will very personally share an audience with web entrepreneurs who have built multi-billion dollar empires. I have personal meetings with some, will be sharing a stage with others, and dinner and drinks with many more.

In my marathon 17 meetings in 7 days, I will discuss with "been there, done that" experts the projects past and present within the KAYWEB family. I will invite them to provide their input, so I can share with the concerned parties. I will invite them to be part of some very exciting current projects we are building for our entrepreneur clients in Australia.

Australia is a wonderful country of businesses and businesspeople. But the restrictions placed on our entrepreneurs by our relatively small population means representation of some grand ideas on a global scale - especially in the United States - will add several zeroes to their bank balance when all is said and done.

This visit is to complete my vision for KAYWEB; to turn the business that started in my parents' Belrose (NSW Australia) living room into a full service web and mobile solutions provider, which has a presence in not only Australia (Sydney and Melbourne) and Asia (Manila), but also in the United States through an ever-burgeoning network.

This will ensure KAYWEB is the number one choice for Australian web entrepreneurs wanting to make it big on a global scale. This will ensure KAYWEB can foster the growth of the next Australian-inspired Google; the next Australian-inspired Facebook; the next Australian-inspired Amazon.

Stay tuned for some major announcements upon my return mid-November.

05 November 2010Flexibility required for .au domain registration, renewal periods

At the moment, you can only register an Australian domain name (.com.au, .net.au, .org.au, etc.) for a period of 2 years. With other domain extensions, like the .com, you are able to register the domain for 1-10 years, and any 1 year increment in between.

So far, this flexibility has not been afforded to .au domain names for reasons other than what is in the interests of the typical domain owner.

The typical .au domain name owner is the owner of a business or a brand, as to register the most popular .au domain name - the .com.au, one must verify their commercial validity via an ABN (Australian Business Number) or an ACN (Australian Company Number).

This issue of allowing more flexibility is being discussed in the .au Domain Administrator (.auDA) Names Policy Panel, of which I am a member.

In researching for meetings, I have discussed increasing flexibility in .au domain name registration and renewal periods with friends in and out of the internet industry, and every single one states they would appreciate the flexibility of registering .au domain names longer term, and even shorter term.

Shorter term registrations - of 1 year instead of the currently-stipulated 2 years - is particularly relevant to domains registered for events and/or promotions, which only have a short-term lifespan.

Longer term registrations - of 3, 4, 5 and more years instead of 2 - will result in businesses small and large not worrying about renewing domain names so often. It will deliver these businesses, who invest heavily in their brand and identity, more security about their web presence.

The reasons the 2 year period has stood until today are few, with the most valid one being that when renewing every two years, domain owners tend to update their personal information.

While I am all for a fresher and more valid database, I do not believe this is reason enough for Australian (.au) domain name owners to be given inferior flexibility to domain owners in the .com and other domain spaces offered worldwide.

I'd be interested to read the thoughts of others...

30 October 2010Google invites businesses to advertise on Google Places

Google has created another way your web surfers can find your business, and it requires a few worthwhile minutes from you.

Google Places is another way interested individuals can pull up all important information about your business; including address, website, services provided, coupons, etc.

All you need to do is click here and enter your business data to get started.

Watch the video below to see the full potential.

About Haig

Haig Kayserian is an internet business consultant with clients across Australia, the United States of America and Asia.

The company he founded - KAYWEB - has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, New York and Manila, providing premium websites and apps solutions to businesses, organisations, government and individuals.

read more

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