The recent sale of the domain names like recycle.co.uk for 150,000 GBP is the highest published price ever paid for a .CO.UK domain name, according to data from DNJournal; the domain industry trade magazine. The transaction, completed in October, was followed closely by the sale of ink.co.uk for 130,425 GBP and mobile.co.uk for 120,000 GBP. In a sign that the surging demand for premium domain names seen internationally has now arrived in the UK.

Prior to these most recent transactions, the highest value reported .CO.UK domain sales were taste.co.uk, purchased by J Sainsbury plc in 1997 for 110,000 GBP, and three.co.uk which was bought by Hutchison

for 102,000 GBP in 2001.  According to Sedo, the total volume of sales for domain names with the .CO.UK extension has grown 30% in the past year, to over 1.5 million GBP. Sedo accounted for approximately 84% of .CO.UK domain transactions in 2006, according to DNJournal.

Gareth Robinson, marketing director at ASAP Ventures, said: "We are very excited about the recent purchase of recycle.co.uk. Recycling and protecting the environment concerns everyone, and the whole team here is focused on building the site to create a fantastic online experience that helps us all protect our environment.  We have some big plans for the domain, and are determined that in the current climate we put it to good use.  The fact that this is also one of the biggest purchases of a domain to take place in Europe reflects the importance we place on this issue and our commitment to the site′s on-going development."

The owner of thefirst.co.uk states, "Recycle.co.uk was one of many sites we developed before successfully selling to an end-user. Directdiscount.co.uk, locals.co.uk and timeandattendance.co.uk are a few of the other names that are currently under development by thefirst.co.uk and are for sale to buyers who wish to purchase a presence in the UK online space."

Nora Nanayakkara, UK operations director at Sedo, commented: "We are seeing a growing interest in the purchase of .CO.UK Internet domain names in the secondary market. Over six million .CO.UK internet domain names are already registered and there is a shortage of available quality names. This is driving the sale of high value generic names, such as recycle.co.uk and mobile.co.uk.

"However, organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits in owning a generic domain name which is easy for the customer to find and remember. As well as strengthening a company’s online brand and supporting marketing campaigns, a generic domain name generates a natural flow of traffic to a company’s website. Investing in a premium .CO.UK domain name is vital for a business. Sedo’s online marketplace enables organisations to do this easily."

Nominet, the UK national domain name registry, recently found in a survey of UK marketers that 60% of respondents preferred to use a .CO.UK domain name as their primary web address. With more than 6 million .CO.UK names already registered and thousands of business going online each month, demand for high quality .CO.UK addresses is expected to continue to increase, according to Nanayakkara.

A New York court held that a retailer who uses a trademark as part of a metatag and as a keyword for sponsored links to advertise online sales has not fulfilled the standard of use in commerce under the Federal Lanham Act and is therefore, not trademark infringement.  S&L Vitamins, Inc. v. Australian Gold, Inc, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 2691[ED NY, 2007].  The Plaintiff, Australian Gold, makes and sells suntan lotion under the trademark "Australian Gold".  The Defendant, S&L Vitamins was not an authorized reseller, it did sell the Plaintiff’s suntan lotion at a discount.  The Plaintiff brought several infringement claims against the Defendant, S&L Vitamins. The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant’s use of the mark "Australian Gold" in its metatags and on its website in connection with the sale of the suntan lotion was a use in commerce under the Lanham Act.  One of the several factors that a court will look at in finding trademark infringement is whether the Defendant used the Plaintiff’s mark "in commerce".  The Plaintiffs argued that the Defendant’s use of its trademark in metatags and as a keyword for generating advertisements was evidence of the Defendant’s use in commerce.  The court did not agree, stating that "where the use [of a trademark] is strictly internal and not communicated to the public, does not constitute a Lanham Act use" and is therefore, not trademark infringement.

In the case of Southwest Airlines Co. v. BoardFirst, LLC, a Texas court held that a user of a website was bound by the terms and conditions of that website where the user has actual knowledge of such terms and conditions. The Plaintiffs, Southwest airlines maintained a first come, first served, open seating policy, where passengers are arranged in groups.  The Defendant, Boardfirst.com was an internet company that provided a service to Southwest customers whereby for a fee, a passenger could check in early and BoardFirst would attempt to get the passenger into the first boarding group.  Southwest filed suit against Boardfirst alleging that BoardFirsts service was a violation of the Southwest Web site′s terms of service because the terms of service stated that the user agreed that he/she shall not use the Southwest site for any purpose other than personal, non-commercial reasons. This case turned on two major points.  First, the court examined whether the terms of service were a valid contract.  The court held that so long as the user has "actual or constructive knowledge" of the terms and conditions of the user agreement.  The court held that BoardFirst had actual knowledge of the terms and conditions because they were clearly displayed via a link on the Southwest homepage, hence creating a binding contract between Southwest and BoardFirst.  Secondly, the court determined that BoardFirst had violated the terms and conditions by using the site for commercial purposes even though they were acting as agents for Southwest’s customers.  Therefore, the court ordered a permanent injunction which would stop BoardFirst from ever using Southwest’s website.  The court further stated that although it knew that the court’s order would cause the dissolution of BoardFirst as a company, it was the only way to ensure that BoardFirst would stop its unauthorized use of Southwest’s website.

 To optimise a portfolio, many domain makers center their attention exclusively on the advertising keyword. While advertising keyword selection is paramount to maximizing a domain’s earning potential, there are several other optimization areas that deserve attention and can add an extra boost to a portfolio’s overall performance.

Selecting an appropriate layout for a parked domain is very important. Ideally, you want the layout to mesh well with the advertising content and have a format that suits the traffic that is reaching a particular domain. On one hand, the ‘Classic’ and ‘Lite’ layouts offer no distractions (i.e. no graphics and no stylized design) and are best matched for domains with information and search-oriented content. On the other hand, layouts like ‘Phoenix Pink’ and ‘Phoenix Blue’ convert very well for most products, business, travel, and adult content, and allow you to add related images. Lastly, the ‘Retro Green’ and ‘Retro Purple’ layouts give a parked domain a website-like feel and would be best fitted for niche market content. Above all, it is crucial to experiment with different layouts for each domain to see what works best.

Selecting the right image for your parked domain will not only make the page more attractive to visitors, but can improve the click-through rate and increase earnings. Taking the time to get familiar with the Sedo image collection will allow for a quick and easy way to spruce up an entire portfolio. Obviously, the image should match the advertising keyword as closely as possible. Adult parked domains benefit greatly from images as do product and travel domains. Again, experimentation is key to getting the right image match for a domain.

Over layout and image selection, choosing good related links can have the biggest impact on your earnings. Coming up with related links that are associated with the advertising content and draw the visitor’s attention is imperative. When optimizing the related links, it is useful to imagine what a user might be looking for when they arrive at the parked domain and then spicing it up a little. If your domain’s content is related to travel, try ‘last minute getaway’ or ‘five star luxury resorts’ as related links, instead of ‘flights’ or ‘beaches’. The goal is to evoke curiosity and entice the visitor to click the link. Take your time and be creative with the related links and it will definitely pay off in the long run.