Don’t be surprised if you get a phone call from a Domainz sales representative some time soon offering special deals on domain names or even suggesting you buy variations on a name you already own.
After hearing about such calls, Computerworld contacted Domainz’ sales and marketing manager, Iona Siolo, to ask if the registrant has a new sales strategy in place.
“It’s not a new strategy but we are doing a lot more marketing and looking at other areas where we can raise awareness,” says Siolo.
Siolo would like to change the perception that Domainz only sells names, he says. “We are trying to promote the other services we have, for example web design, web hosting, global domain names and search engine optimisation,” he says.
On its website, Domainz is touting its ten-year anniversary this month, celebrating the date by having a month of giveaways and specials.
The sales team has grown as a result of the marketing initiative and Siolo expects further growth.
Domainz was bought by Australian registrar Melbourne IT in 2003 after former owner InternetNZ exited the commercial registrar market. The deal was worth around $2 million.
Domainz had been the monopoly provider of domain name registrations until InternetNZ introduced a shared registry model.
Once that system was up and running InternetNZ sold Domainz to Melbourne IT, which was the former domain name monopoly in Australia.