It was brought to my attention today that a domain name currently at auction on Sedo.com has capitalized letters for keywords that easily allows readers to read the domain name better. This is interesting because Sedo is one of the few domain name marketplaces that does not allow domain names submitted as they were by a user.
Afternic.com for an example, displays a domain name based upon how a user inputs the domain name during submission.
DomainName.com is much easier to read capitalizing the first letter for each keyword and is the best way to list a domain name IMO.
domainname.com makes the two words run together and can make the domain name hard to read as the keywords do not stand out as easily by the person reading it.
When submitting a domain name to be listed on sedo’s marketplace on the web site, no matter how you enter the domain name it converts to lowercase. This is why it was interesting to me to see GeoContext.com at auction displayed just as I typed it there.
The domain is clearly much easier to read than the other domain auctions it is listed with and is the only domain name displayed that way at auction.
I contacted the owners of GeoContext.com to find out the trick they used so I could share how to get your domain names listed similar if you would like. The problem, they are not 100% sure how it was listed that way either but they did offer some insight as to maybe how it was done.
ShopNames.com is the owner of GeoContext.com and Kate stated to me that they list there domain names via Sedo’s API. (I wasn’t aware Sedo had an API, but they do) Kate stated all there domain names they list on Sedo are submitted via API and all there domain names are listed with the first letter of each keyword capitalized.
Based on some research I did and looking at other domain names ShopNames.com has listed, most of the listings do not appear to be showing capitalized letters and only displayed in all lowercase / all uppercase as with all other listings on Sedo, but some do show capitalized letter.
The only thing I can think of, is there was or now is a filter in place to convert to all lowercase upon submission or vise-versa and some leaked through as entered with capital letters.
Since this isn’t a normal process…. Sedo appears to have problems matching search terms with the capitalized letters of the domain listing. Normally when you search for an exact match domain name that is listed or at auction, Sedo will return that domain name and the info provided will let you know the domain name is At Auction or More Information if the domain name is simply listed. This allows a user to easily submit an offer or use a buy it now feature if offered. This appears not to be the case with GeoContext.com, because Acquire It is the data provided when you search for the exact domain. This normally happens when a domain name is Not Listed at Sedo and by displaying the Acquire It button sends users to a Sedo broker page that does not allow a user to place an offer or use the buy it now for that specific listing.
This is clearly a problem if you wish to have somebody find your domain name listing based on a keyword search and is not good for the seller because it is not ease for the interested party to make an offer on that specific domain name. Lower on the search page, Sedo does return GeoContext.com as being listed, but this is still a problem as the dominate (red button) at the top of the page is saying something different!
Even though the domain is displayed below on the search page, the important display should be at the TOP where the red Acquire It button is displayed. Since the domain name is listed, that red button should display More Information as the text and clicking it should bring you to the domain’s auction page or listing page. Sedo’s search system appears to have some problems displaying the proper data and it could be because of the capitalized letters.
So as of now, it appears that you may be able to get a domain name listed with capitalized letters for your keywords by submitting the domain name via API at Sedo, but it may also come with a big downfall in which the search function on the Sedo site may not work properly because of the capital letters to return your domain listing to people searching for it with the proper functions the listing should have. The domain will be listed with capital letters in some places and not in others is another downfall.
It would be nice if Sedo changed this and allowed domain names to display as the submitting domain owner types the domain, but we may have a clue as to why they do not do this as a default currently. The search function in place currently appears to have mixed results with capital letter submitted domains and appears to display the incorrect button of Acquire It instead of More Info.
If you have domain names that display with Capital Letters, you may want to resubmit them in lowercase or your domain name listings may not provide the proper data to an interested party.
Thank you to Steve from ConferMedia.com and Kate from ShopNames.com for the assistance in this article.
In order to avoid buyer confusion with different meanings implied by capitalization, Sedo does not support domains in capital letters. There have been a few domains with capital letters inserted into our marketplace, but they are not compatible with our Sedo search engine. We continue to discourage all sellers from using capitalization when submitting their domains for sale in Sedo’s marketplace. If you have any further questions please visit http://www.support.sedo.com.
Thank you for your continued support!
Your Sedo Team
April 6th, 2010