domains

You know when you’re at the store standing in line and they give you all those enticing items like Big Red and Energizer batteries? We all know what they are, but sometimes we can’t help ourselves. So I wanted to throw this out there real quick so everyone knows about it. And since everyone ON THE PLANET reads this blog, then mission accomplished.

I’ve been beta testing a Domain Lookup Firefox extension from Richard Kershaw at Quality Nonsense. I renamed it the “Impulse Domain Lookup Tool”. Say you’re reading a story in the CNN technology section on wireless earphones and decide you want to check real quick to see if wirelessearbuds.com is available. All it takes is a right click or keyboard shortcut to open a new window and query the registrar of your choice.

Piece of cake people. By the way impulsedomain.com is still available so act now!

Patience grasshopper. I could end this post now but then you wouldn’t really know why you need patience to do well in this area. So put on your silly looking outfit and listen to Kung Fu Master speak.

As regular readers know (and if you’re new, sign up for my RSS feed right now then come back and read), I attended DOMAINfest 2008 the other day. It was my first domain specific conference and was quite an eye opening experience. Around a year ago I started jumping in on the domain bandwagon. I didn’t really know what I was doing so I figured I would just learn by doing (and screwing up repeatedly). That’s not particularly a good way to go about making money in my opinion but a year ago there wasn’t really much solid information around. There were forums of course but if you believe half of what you read in forums I’ve got a bridge in Indochina for sale.

So off I go on my domain buying spree. Out of the ~500 domains I bought in that time span probably 10% of them are worth the registration fee. Most of the ones I registered were still in the wild (unregistered) and a few I caught on the aftermarket. Out of the ones I bought on the aftermarket (not a lot), I would say 75% of those were a good investment as I’ve increased the revenue a little from the previous owner or developed and am making significant cash flow from them. That being said, the crap ton of domains I have that are worth about as much as a pixel on this screen are the problem. Lesson learned! Do more research before you go learn by doing!

Now developing domains is still where the big money goes, but there are only so many resources available to a small business like myself. Working on three or four things at a time pretty much maxes out my working week. That being said, the true art of domaining will allow you to let your hard earned money work for you while you do other things. You just have to be smart about what you’re buying. Do you want to learn how to be smart about buying and selling domains? Well I have a special treat, all wrapped up in fruity pebbles and chocolate for you.

First a little sidebar on how I ended up with this. Around six months ago I scored a beta account at DNZoom and threw in all my crappy domains (mainly cause I like beta testing stuff and being an early adopter — I’m cool). I played around with it and if you’re an unorganized sloth like me then it’s a lifesaver in terms of organization. I haven’t really had time to get everything in my account yet but I’ll be working on it soon. So anyway, I’m at DOMAINfest and I met Sean Stafford who is the Director of Product Development at DNZoom and we chatted for a bit. He also was a speaker in a couple of the sessions and was very knowledgeable in laying down the basics to a n00b like me.

Sean recently published an e-book on domaining which is a must read for anyone getting started. If I would have had this in my hands a year ago, I’d be doing much better, but as they say, better late than never. Check out the website at DomainGraduate.com. << Not an affiliate link...I whole heartedly recommend this book. And yea, I don't like long sales pages either, just skip all that and buy it. And if you know me, I don't recommend books and shit very often.>>

The book covers the basic stuff we already know as SEO’s like the types of traffic and how parking works. More important to me were the sections on buying and selling, different strategies to maximize your traffic revenue, and valuing domains.

I hear people say all the time that the gold rush is over but that’s just not the case. There is big money to be made in the aftermarket if you invest with brains. You and I as SEO’s have a significant jump on anyone else entering the market because of our level of general internet marketing experience. We know which domains we are better off building out, and now you will know which domains you should pass on if you don’t plan on building them out.

More revenue streams never hurt anyone people, get on it. I’ll be posting more about domaining as my experience level increases a bit.

What the hell is this you say? A post without calling anyone out, slamming some douchebag, or ranting? Well suck it. Here is something for you anyway. Just think what fun it would be if this prayer came true

I know, everyone wants the part 2 of the SEO shit post. We’ll I promise it will be out Monday morning for your never ending demands. It’s a very time consuming post and I just haven’t had time. In the meantime, I’m headed to Hollywood, CA Monday morning for my first DOMAINfest Global conference. Being an experienced SEO but new to the domaining industry I’m pretty excited. I’ve been dabbling in the area for about 8 months now and I’m ready to jump in full steam ahead. I’ve got some ideas and new business models I want to dig into and this will be an excellent opportunity to do so.

If any of you SEO types will be out that way next week, shoot me an email or direct msg me on twitter. I’d love to have someone that’s on my level to learn, discuss, and network drink beers with. Actually in all honesty I’ll probably be in every single session and keynote since it’s all new to me. That will be a little change.

They have a great agenda that’s geared for all levels including the dumb shits like me. I will be like that schmuck at SES that asks what to put in his meta tags. So until next week my friends, be kind to your neighbors…or just the ones you like and tell the rest of them where to stick their overinflated ego.

And since I didn’t have time to do the Tea Time, here’s some Intraweb Gold: I don’t know what this guy does for a living, but he’s got way to much time on his hands. Or maybe I do since I found it.