X.co officially launches.

A couple months ago I wrote about how GoDaddy had snagged x.co with plans to use it as a URL shortener. Late last week I noticed that @Godaddy was using x.co in its tweets; and now the service is officially open to all.

x.co has a lot of the features you’ll find in most URL shorteners, such as robust analytics. You can easily create an x.co link by pasting a longer URL in at x.co.

GoDaddy has been pushing .co domains and x.co will help give it visibility. At the bottom of the x.co page is a search box to get your own .co domain.

Speaking of which, rather than use x.co for link shortening you should think about creating your own. .Co is a great domain to register for a link shortener because there are still plenty of short ones available. Right now I use dnw.com as a link shortener, but I also own dnw.co, which is even shorter.

© DomainNameWire.com 2010.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

Related posts:

1. GoDaddy to Launch x.co URL Shortener
2. Get Your Own URL Shortener with YOURLS
3. GoDaddy Launches Domain Buying Service

Another domain name parking service added to stats sharing system.

This past year has been a big one for domain name parking service SmartName. It has combined all of its parking brands into one as well as rolled out (or enhanced) both SmartName Shops and a content parking solution.

Apparently a lot of people are using SmartName these days, as I’ve received lots of requests to add the service to DNW Certified Stats. The day has arrived — now you can use DNW Certified Stats with SmartName. DNW Certified Stats is my solution that makes it easy to share domain name parking stats. SmartName is the sixth parking service added to the system and more are on the way.

Also, I’ve removed the requirement that you must be logged in to view someone’s domain parking stats. So now if you want to share your parking stats with someone you can just send them a link to your DNW Certified Stats certificate and they won’t be required to create an account. It’s also easier than ever to insert a link to your certified parking stats in forum postings. Here’s an example certificate.

Please give DNW Certified Stats a try and send me an email if you have any feedback.

© DomainNameWire.com 2010.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

Related posts:

1. Sharing Domain Parking Stats is Easy with DNW Certified Stats
2. DNW Certified Stats Now Works with Parked.com
3. SmartName Shops Provide Parking Alternative

Epik pushes the envelop at next week’s Domain Swap.

Domain lifecycle platform Epik likes to try new and innovative things. Next week’s Domain Swap event at Epik DevCon in Seattle is another example.

The Domain Swap brings in much needed liquidity and a common currency to domain trading, something that has been absent from similar ideas in the past. Here’s how it works:

1. Send a list of domains you wish to sell to Epik

2. Epik will buy some of the domains with its own currency, EpikBucks (the company has spent $50,000 in EpikBucks over the past 24 hours)

3. Use your EpikBucks during the swap event to buy other domains

It’s actually quite a clever concept. And you don’t have to limit your EpikBucks to just buying other domain names. You can pay for your admission to the conference with domain names, something I’ve never seen for a conference before. So if you were thinking about going to next week’s conference but are short on cash, you can now trade in some of your domain names instead.

© DomainNameWire.com 2010.

Get Certified Parking Stats at DNW Certified Stats.

Related posts:

1. Epik Domain Developer Conference Taking Shape for September
2. Epik Provides Excuse to Visit Seattle in September
3. Epik Buys JustDropped