Archive for the 'Domaining' Category

For some people, the thought of creating a custom blog is dizzying. This post is meant to help those people create a customized blog from scratch. It’s really not that difficult, even if you have zero technical skills.

For a blog platform, my personal choice is Wordpress. And, the price is right. Free.

Step #1: Buy a domain name. Personally, I use GoDaddy for this. Go to GoDaddy, search for an available domain. And buy it. I don’t think you should take a lot of time deciding on this. Because the power of the website is going to be the content & links. Therefore, the domain name could be just about anything, as long as you dedicate enough time (and money) to invest in it to make it powerful. But, if you want to use a keyword, then go to Wordtracker, to see keywords relevant to your business, and then back to GoDaddy to see if the .com is available. You could always just use your company name (if it’s available).

Step #2: Buy an account with a webhost. There are tons of choices in web hosting. I use Bluehost.

Step #3: Login to GoDaddy, and change the DNS (Domain Name Servers) to point at your web host.

Step #4: Design. You’ll want a custom design. Examine some competitive websites or blogs, and pick out the things you like and dislike. If you don’t know a graphic designer. Or, if it’s too overwhelming to find one. Then, just go to 99designs, and start a contest for a graphic designer to create the image(s) of your site. Here is a contest I ran. Check out all the entries. And, the designers are willing to make more than a few iterations, because they want to win the contest.

Step #5: Then, go to W3-markup (or any similar service) to cut-up the PSD’s into HTML.

Step #6: Upload (FTP) everything onto your web server.

Step #7: Hire a Wordpress programmer to put it all together. Create a username/password for your programmer to have full access to your web server.

Voila. Within a few weeks, you will have the blog of your dreams.

Where’s the best place to find an established website for sale? Some of the registrars and web hosting companies have their own auctions. If you spend enough time scouring these auctions, then it’s very likely you’ll come across a good deal. But, what’s a good deal look like? Would you know it if it was staring you in the face? And, what criteria is important to know about the site before making an offer?

Instead of buying a new domain and going thru the painfully long task of searching for a domain name & building/promoting a site from scratch, I prefer to go thru an auction to buy an established domain.

Here’s a checklist of several factors to investigate before making your offer.

Guide to Buying Established Websites:
1) Find a subject matter you like. Sounds obvious. But, people looking to make money can be drawn to website with a subject matter they have no interest in. If the subject matter of the site is something you like, then the odds are you’ll be much more interested in working on it.

2) Make sure it has a Google PageRank 3 or more. This is also good if you’re business model is selling blog reviews, textlinks, display ads, etc. It also adds a bit of credibility/respectibility.

3) Clarify if their are any liabilities associated with the site. You don’t want to buy a site, and then find yourself wrapped up in legal issues which prevent you from working on the site. And, possibly court-ordered to tear the site down.

4) Are their Forum moderators that will remain (if a discussion forum). If not, this could present a problem of maintaining the forum. Certainly extra work to recruit forum moderators, and possibly an additional cost to compensate moderators.

5) Does the website need a Windows server or Unix box? Do you need an additional web host?

6) Does it have a CMS (Content Management System)? Will you need to build a CMS? Do you need HTML skills? Do you need database skills? Will you need to hire a programmer?

7) Check the site using the link: command in Yahoo to check inbound links.

8 ) Check in Google the related: command for sites associated with it. Make sure it’s not in a “bad neighborhood”.

9) Understand that the site will need attention (possibly hours of work, improvement, marketing, etc).

10) It’s possible to negotiate with the seller a lower BIN (Buy it Now) price before the auction ends.

11) Check the Whois information.

12) Look for less competitive niche sites. Good for keyword rankings, and monetization of traffic.

13) Check the Web Analytics. Especially, if an ecommerce site, or if they are monetizing thru adsense (ads).

14) If it’s an ecommerce site, then what contracts are in place for inventory & fulfillment of products?

15) Is the content unique? Or, is it a scraper site?

16) Make sure they save all the files & databases on a CD and send it to you.

17) Perhaps use an escrow agent like Escrow.com. Paypal is also good, but you can’t dispute a sale unless physical goods were transferred, so have the seller FedEx you the files on a CD.

18) Does an email list come with the site? Is a newsletter format included?

19) Is it optimized for Search Engines? Do you know what to look for? If not, consider asking an SEO Consultant how much of their time, effort and cost will go into making it Search Engine Friendly.

20) Consider paying 50% upfront, and the remaining 50% upon receipt of the files.

Domain Auctions:
Afternic
Sedo
GoDaddy Auctions
SnapNames Live Auctions

Auctions for Buying Established Websites:
Digital Point Forums.
Sitepoint Marketplace.
ebay.

Website Brokers:
BizBuySell.
Website Broker.

Photo Credit: Josh Sommers

There is a relatively new product in the Domaining industry called, Leasing Domains. You can kick the tires around on a domain name before you buy it. Kinda a lease-to-own option.

If you already have an established brand. You might want to leverage traffic from a leased domain, and send the traffic to your established brand site.

But, even with a 1-word domain, there is no guarantee that you’ll get great ranking, due to the competitiveness of the keyword. The leased domain still needs to be optimized. You can see an example of this by doing a Google search for “credit card”.

If you were thinking on using a redirect, well…neither a 301, 302, or meta redirect is needed, if the domain isn’t getting high rankings on it’s own. Because nobody will find the search listing anyway, unless it’s optimized.

Bottomline, if you are going to lease a domain, I think the best use of the domain is to setup another website that contains many content-rich pages. Basically, build another website. And, optimize it for your keyword term. Obviously, the links on the leased site should be links to yourdomain.com.

Although, I think this domaining strategy isn’t necessary, especially for an already strong ranking, & brand presence on a particular search query that is the keyword in your domain name. Unless of course, the strategy is to build out another site, and/or change the brand name.

However, if you can find a domain that has thousands of visitors from type-in traffic, then you could take advantage of using a meta refresh redirect. Just make sure the cost makes sense from an ROI standpoint.

How to Meta-Refresh Redirect:
To redirect to a new page using the meta-refresh, you can use the syntax below:

The number 1 is the time, in seconds, until the page should be redirected. Then, separated by a semi-colon (;) is the URL that should be loaded.

I went to the Mobile Marketing Forum in NYC a couple of weeks ago, and ever since, I’ve been desirous of, and wondering how to monetize a mobile website. Obviously, it needs to be WAP enabled, and written in a language like xhtml.

One of the mobile ad networks thought very highly of the Walled garden strategy within a category. Mobile users typically don’t like typing websites into the browser. So, this strategy keeps them within their topic of interest, and due to limited time of a business traveller (typical demographic), will either convert or leave the mobile web session.

So, I decided to choose Chocolate as my mobile topic. Perhaps, I can enter into an arrangement with a local chocolate store similar to an affiliate agreement.

So, now to choose my mobile domains. I decided to use the .mobi extension. But, needed to buy a few domains.

To assist me in choosing which mobile domain names to buy, I used the Wordtracker keyword generation tool. Then I pasted the Wordtracker results on a Spreadsheet. Added a column for the domain. Then, concatenate the two columns. I created this simple spreadsheet to use as a Domaining Tool.

Next, I pasted the cocatenated results on a Notepad, and removed the spaces using the “replace” feature. If you follow these steps, now you’re ready to see if those domains are available. Go to a bulk domain buying tool. I used the Go Daddy Bulk Domain Registration tool.

You can further strategize your decision on what to purchase by the number of searches on the keyword provided by Wordtracker.

I haven’t decided how to use these domains yet. Chocolate, Software, Ringtones, Wallpaper, Games, and Music are all options. The thought crossed my mind that they could be used similarly as MFA (made-for-adsense) sites. Or, to actually sell chocolate gifts. Here are the domains I purchased:

CHOCOLATEBUNNIES.MOBI
CHOCOLATEBUNNY.MOBI
CHOCOLATECAKERECIPES.MOBI
CHOCOLATECOOKIES.MOBI
CHOCOLATEDREAMS.MOBI
CHOCOLATEFOUNTAINS.MOBI
CHOCOLATEHEAVEN.MOBI
CHOCOLATEJESUS.MOBI
CHOCOLATEMILK.MOBI
CHOCOLATEPIE.MOBI

I know…they don’t seem like really great domains. Of course, the good ones were already taken. So, I chose these based on monthly keyword searches, and the premise that the mobile site should be easy to find, and remember. This is similar strategy as non-mobile sites. Use short memorable URL’s. Pehaps use a .mobi domain rather than something like: wap.mysite.com, or .com/wap. Of course these mobile sites should be treated like any other site, and optimized. A Mobile website Optimization is essential.

According to Telephia, the size of the Mobile Internet Population is 34.6 Million. Most downloads on Mobile are from ringtones, wallpaper, and music….not chocolate. But, I’m targeting a niche market. The busy business traveller, or busy mom, student or anyone with a busy lifestyle on the go.

If you already have a great website, you can mobilize it. However, mobilizing a site does not mean compressing current content to fit a smaller screen, or detecting the useragent and serving a version of the site based on it. Most long pages of content are a nuisance on the Mobile Web. Instead, mobile design requires matching user needs with the content that is directly relevant to their mobile goals. A few short sentences with links. That’s all that’s needed. Think of the mobile user as having a 30 second attention span.

When it comes to deciding on which language to code your site, you can choose among four different language technologies. You can code a mobile Web site in XHTML, or develop a comparable application using Flash Lite, Java ME, or the .NET Compact Framework for Windows-based devices. Java applications that reside locally on a user’s mobile device speed interactions because they only rely on the network for data. Adobe Flash Lite, can give users access to client-side data that can be accessed even when network connections get dropped. I personally like xhtml for it’s simplicity and search engine friendliness. And, make sure the code is 100% valid.

Once your sites are up…Drive traffic to your site. You can use ad networks for text & banner buys on a CPC, or CPM basis. Also, use search engines like Google to create a mobile adwords campaign. Enpocket states that mobile CTRs are higher than those in most online campaigns.

Use a call-to-action through banner ads, and search… to your WAP enabled site that could feature downloads, screen savers, viral ’send to a friend’ and other options.

Mobile functions that prompt user actions include click-to-call, click for a coupon, click to subscribe, click to locate, click to win, click to download, and click to buy.

The thing I love the best is that some mobile purchases (eg: ringtones) don’t require a credit card. Making it extremely easy to purchase. The cost is reflected on the customer’s next phone bill.

Domaining is becoming more popular these days. There’s a mindset that thinks buying a second domain and linking to your main domain will help your rankings in the Search Engine’s. And, it certainly is possible if done correctly. However, if this is just being done as a pure SEO play, I wouldn’t recommended it.

You should have a serious purpose for the second domain for this strategy to even have any effect. And, it’d be best to use an aged domain, with different registration information.

Some uses for the second domain might be to use it to create a microsite, and/or another ecommerce site, then slap some links on there to your main domain. If you’re reusing an old website, perhaps you could redirect or reuse the existing URL’s.

Try not to have to change the domain owner registration. And, register it for a long time…like 10 years plus. Host it on a different IP address than your main domain. And, fill it with great content. Perhaps use it as a company blog of some sort. It might be fun to use it as an experiment in Predictive SEO.

But, if you’re just using it to just boost your main domain in the rankings, then once again…I wouldn’t recommend it. You’d be better off using your resources and budget to develop and executing a custom SEO Strategy. If you don’t have in-house resources, or expertise, you might want to consider using an SEO Consultant.