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Cambridge, Massachusetts - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - January 24, 2008 - Domain name marketplace, Sedo, online marketplace for buying and selling domain names, has reported that it has grown substantially in 2007, with a new record-setting benchmark for the market.

According to an annual report conducted by Sedo, the continued increase in domain name value was spurred by the necessity for organizations and businesses to secure quality domain names that are no longer available through traditional registrars, as well as the greater ability to generate search engine optimization through targeted domain names. Sedo, whose leading secondary domain name marketplace has long served as an index for industry performance, topped the $70 million mark in domain sales brokered for the first time in its history. This number was almost two times that of its 2006 total.

Tim Schumacher, Chief Executive Officer for Sedo noted, ”2007 proved to be another banner year for Sedo as even more businesses and investors became aware of the pivotal role secondary domain names play on the Internet. We look forward to continued global expansion in both our domain brokerage and parking service offerings.”

Overall, average domain name sale price was up approximately 7.8 percent. This increase was in part due to an increase in value of both geographic and other alternative top-level domain extensions (TLDs) such as .co.uk, .es, .eu and .mobi, while traditional alternative domain extensions such as .info and .biz decreased in average value.

The Sedo report also found that advertising revenue generated from domain name parking, or matching pay-per-click advertisements with relevant domain names, also increased substantially on a per site basis as parked sites offered visitors more compelling content. In 2007, Sedo paid out more than $50 million to its community of domain owners using the company’s award winning parking program to monetize their unused domains. For complete results from Sedo’s Secondary Domain Market Study for 2007, please visit: www.sedo.com/press/domainmarketstudy2007.pdf.

Sedo also announced that is has surpassed the 10 million mark for domain names listed in its marketplace with users listing nearly 10.5 million domains for sale. The Sedo community added over 3.5 million names this year alone, proving the expanding global awareness of its marketplace. Additionally, the company was recently voted as the No. 1 E-Commerce Web Host by readers of Web Host Directory, an online leader for comparing and purchasing hosting products. The Web Host Directory awards panel noted that, ”with more than 500,000 members around the world trading domains in more than 21 languages, Sedo stands alone as the world’s only global domain marketplace.”

Sedo, (acronym for ”Search Engine for Domain Offers”), is an online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. Sedo began in 2001, as a student project among three friends: Tim Schumacher, Ulrich Priesner, and Marius Wrzner. The trio distributed computer games through the website offensiv.de. After the business was phased out, the students considered selling it, which laid the foundation for Sedo: ‘’search engine for domain offers.” Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Sedo has assembled what it believes is the world’s largest database of domain names for sale, with more than four million listings. Buyers and sellers are brought together through a searchable online marketplace, and conduct negotiations anonymously using an offer-counteroffer system. To facilitate successful transactions, Sedo has introduced a range of related services, including domain name escrow/transfer services, domain name appraisals, a domain brokerage service and paid domain name parking. Sedo’s model has attracted a global membership base of more than 355,000 domain professionals, and more than 7 million listings. Sedo offers regional versions of its site for the UK (Sedo.co.uk), France (Sedo.fr), Germany (Sedo.de), and Spain (eSedo.com).

To learn more about Sedo, please visit: www.sedo.com.