Domainer's Gazette-Home

a great domain name..one we’re gonna look back a few years from now and say, “sheesh, that *only* sold for $31K !?!..crazy”

largiolargio was the winning bidder.. they beat out bidder ‘aaaaaaaaaaaa’ and ‘bonkerstwo’..

let’s sit tight and see if they clear payment..

thought it might be helpful to toss out a quick guide along with some tools I’ve found helpful as I’ve stumbled through the domainer/SEOmainer world. I’ve broken it down into what I see as a natural split, that being the Buy Side, Development, Monetization, and Tracking..

Buying Domains

Domain Auction Houses

• Snapnames - auctions expired domain names from Register.com (and a few other smaller registrars.
• TDNAM - acronym stands for Domain Name Aftermarket. Auctions expired domains from GoDaddy.
• Pool - auctions off domains from a bunch of smaller domain registrars
• [UPDATED] NameJet - auctions off expired domains from Network Solutions

Domain Sales Companies
ie. where you can buy domain names which are ‘for sale by owner’

• Sedo
• Afternic
• BuyDomains
• GreatDomains

Domain 411 / aka ‘Whois’
ie. if you want to buy a domain directly from someone, you need to figure who actually owns it. Whois services will tell you that.

• Domain Tools - there are a ton of Whois services out there, we like DomainTools the best

Domain Development
Since I develop the majority of domains I acquire, here are some suggested resources I’ve used in the past

• Tubetorial - provides some extremely helpful internet marketing videos free of charge.
• OSWD.org - I use this site so much, I almost feel guilty. They provide free web design templates to “help make the internet a prettier place”
• Wordpress - I’ve tested implementing blogs onto acquired domains, with some success. The blog software I use is Wordpress.
• SEO Book - Aaron Wall’s comprehensive book on the world of search engine optimization.
• Jim Boykin’s Blog - Once you read Aaron’s book, follow it up by reading darn near every post on Jim’s blog.
• HTML Editor - to develop sites, I have to use an HTML editor. Use Dreamweaver if you want to pay for bells & whistles, or Coffee Cup’s HTML Editor / HMTL Kit if you want a free tool - less bells & whistles.
• Logo Creator - I actually created my first 20 website logos using Cool Text’s Free Logo generator, with pretty darn good results. I upgraded about 6 months in, dropping all of $30, to buy Laughingbird Software’s Logo Creator software - which has been *great*.

Domain Monetization

Contextual Ad Platforms
ie. you’re paid for each click or impression

• AdSense - the 900 lb gorilla. Highly recommended. Extremely targeted ads, and fair payouts.
• Yahoo Publisher Network - the newbie. Can compete/win against AdSense in certain niches, but not many. Targeted ads are a problem, mainly cause their advertising base isn’t as large as Google.
• MSN Content Ads beta - has been announced but hasn’t truly rolled out yet
• Kontera - In-Text Contextual advertising provider. I’m not a fan of the ad format, but these guys seem to target the ads better than their competition…which is below
• Vibrant Media - another In-Text Contextual advertising provider

Affiliate Companies
ie. you’re paid for each lead your domain/site generates
These companies will represent a slew of advertiers who’ll pay per lead you send them..

• Commission Junction
• Azoogle Ads
• Share A Sale

Domain Parking
ie. when a user visits your domain, they’ll be presented with a list of paid links, example here.
(I don’t park many domains, but when I do, I use Sedo)

• Sedo
• Parked.com
• NameDrive
• Revenue Direct

Selling Domain Names
when you simply want to sell domain names you own.

• Sedo
• Afternic
• BuyDomains
• GreatDomains

Domain Tracking
Once you begin collecting domains, you’ll slowly turn into a morphed mathematician, analyzing traffic to determine ways to best monetize your stream of visitors.

Site Side Tracking
ie. tracking you place on your domain/site to analyze visitors

• Google Analytics - Free, but do you want to allow Google access to your site statistics?
• eXTReMe Tracker - Extremely popular tracking system - Basic version is Free
• Site Meter - Basic version is Free, Premium version starts at $6.95 for 25,000 page views
• Mint - $30 per site

3rd Party Assumption Based Traffic Guestimators
ie. tools online you can use to guess what another domains/websites traffic levels are. These are all free to use.

• Alexa
• Compete
• Quantcast

whew.. talk about a brain dump..

no, I’m not trying to kiss up, and this ain’t a paid review..

as a domainer/SEOmainer, I try to stay on top of breaking news in the online world. But doing that can be a chore, churning through RSS feeds and reading darn near every online,small biz, internet, domaining magazine on the market…

then, I was blessed with discovering Cranky Geeks with John C. Dvorak.

Cranky Geeks is basically an online round table which possesses a fantastically simple “late night talk show host” feel. Online superstars interact with Dvorak as he churns through the latest news online, drilling down into the nitty gritty minutia that typical writers don’t dare touch cause - honestly - they don’t understand the space. Put simply, Dvorak does, and possesses an aplomb that makes each show glide by (they even covered us domainers in one show). While Leno and Letterman cycle through the typical celebrities, Dvorak pulls in tech heavyweights like Jay Adelson (CEO, Digg), Matt Mullenweg (Founder, WordPress), Peter Rojas (Editor-in-Chief, Engadget.com), Tom Merritt (Executive Editor, CNet), and Kevin Rose (Founder and Co-Host, Diggnation)…

You don’t get many opportunities to see these folks up close and personal, and it’s refreshing to hear their take on the current world of technology and the internet..

check it out.. It’s available through Tivo, and streams from their site as well..

(episode suggestion: #72 with Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht of Diggnation - as they chug beer during the show)