RegisterMatrix Went Above and Beyond

I just wanted to note a good example of customer service from a domain registrar that they didn’t have to do.  I had an issue during one of my payments to RegisterMatrix.  I emailed RM and got an immediate response.  After a few emails, the problem was resolved, but only because RM put in the leg work which they didn’t have to.  This type of personal customer service is rare and my thank you goes out to RM.

Popular Non-Dot com Sites

Looking at this quick SEO Domain Extension research, you can see that 79% of websites on the first page of popular Google searches yield .com websites.  As a fun project I wanted to make a list of some of the more well-known sites at other domain extensions.  This vary in weight and scope, but each one is at least prevalent within their niche.  If you know of any others, send me a comment.  Here is what I came up with:

ProBlogger.net - Probably the most well known .net of all-time.

Paint.net - Free paint software.

FreePress.net - Site advocating net neutrality and a media reformation.

BlackFriday.info - The official headquarters for the day after Thanksgiving sales.

GoldisMoney.info - Gold and silver forum.

Dmoz.org - Open directory edited by volunteers.

Gimp.org - Free image software.

OpenOffice.org - Free office software.

Fielding Offers

I have a basketful of domains for sale over at the NamePros make an offer section.  Most are from Godaddy but there are a few .ws names from name.com.  I’m not looking to turn a big profit, just testing the market - seeing what I can get monetarily or in trade value from interested parties.  If you’re selling I’m always looking to buy good pr domains or nice names in general.

Every Domainer Should Read This

There is a thread on NamePros with a great look into the insider’s frame of mine for the domain name market. If you’re thinking about becoming a domainer, read this domain name advice. I’ll go ahead and jot down my own answers to the informal survey.

1. What were your best mistakes? By that I mean the mistakes that gave you the most insight into the workings of the industry.

I just threw my money out there without researching. Did I have some good early domain registers? Sure, but I also had a lot of trash.

2. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently?

I’d stick to .com and register more short keyword domains. I’d also set aside a definite budget. I’d also grab some 4 letter .coms with acronym potential.

3. How do you believe the industry will change in the future? What direction do you think it’s heading in?

More sites will go up on domains (less parked pages). Generic .coms and .orgs will rise in value. I also predict .biz will do better. .Mobi will bottom out. Geos will catch on fire. One day almost everyone will have their own domain name.

4. What advice would you give to an aspiring domainer/entrepreneur/developer etc? Do you encourage the taking of risks?

Yes, I encourage risks because that’s the only way you’re going to make real money. But with domains the risk doesn’t have to be huge to profit. For aspiring domainers, limit yourself to a certain number of registers a month - no matter what. I’d recommend 5. Also, remember, the day will come when you have to pay those costs again. If you don’t plan for it, the result won’t be pretty. Stick to short .com domains and stay away from brandables. Ask yourself, would I buy this domain for the purposes in which it serves?

5. If you were in your late-teens/early twenties*, facing the industry as it is now, would you still get involved? What would your first move be?

I’m in my mid 20s. I would get involved. I’d buy generic geo domains of large cities and generic two word blog domains.

82,246 .coms Domains Registered

Do you know in what span of time that came in?

Yesterday!

Unreal.  I didn’t know the count had gotten that high.  You can find mind boggling numbers like this at RegisteredLookup.com.  It’s a very cool site but too overwhelming to be casually useful.  However, if you want to see what domains were specifically registered on a given day it is quite the free domain name tool.  Scrolling through those domains makes me want to become a registrar.  90% of them are pure garbage.

Blog Domains Are All The Rage

No, I’m not talking about the Wordpress and Blogspot subdomains. I’m referring to the keyword + blog domains. The mass media has finally caught up and now blogs are being mentioned all over the place.  As a result, the last but most important horse - the general public - is finally about to cross the finish line and becoming blog conscious. Also, the 2008 IZEA fest will help create huge publicity as it has invited all bloggers to its annual social media conference. According to Technorati, over 175,000 new blogs are surfacing daily and bloggers are posting 1.6 million posts a day.

By no means is the blog media new, but it is starting to take over the information age and big corporations are taking notice. Industry giants such as ESPN and Forbes even boast of their own blogging networks. With massive exposure and a growth mutating at an unbelievable rate you can be sure blog domain names are on the rise. Now is the time to buy. You can’t go wrong with a good generic + keyword.

Google Rejected by Vacuum Cleaner

Hilco Knol, owner of Knol.com which represents his shop that sells vacuum cleaners and the like sent a reported xx,xxx offer from Google apacking. I don’t blame the guy. This is your family name that you have secured since 2002. Moreover, it represents your livlihood and now Google wants it because they created some knowledgeum on knol.Google.com. The knol is a “unit of knowledge.” Yeah whatever Google, you should have thought this one through. In the end, Google will be able to acquire the name if they throw their cash around. If I’m Hilco, I wait this one out. Google has deeeeeep pockets and has been willing to pay people off for what they want. It’s also a little late for them to try to get the toothpaste back in the tube since they already launched the knol concept. In the end, it probably gets sold because from all accounts he’s a businessman first and indicated he would think about a higher offer in the xxx,xxx range. Still, wouldn’t it be awesome if a vacuum owner was too strong for Google and the mega corp couldn’t get its way?

Go Stumble Upon Knol.com, the most famous vacuum site in the world.

By the way, hypothetical street value of Knol would be around $5,000.

Here is the official info about the knol project.

Domain Names: The Industry You Don’t Get Away With It

I was searching through the sea of domain sites on Google and I noticed a few sites holding themselves out to be top in their field of domain name content/tools/services with bad domain names.  Of course a bad domain is a topic that is highly subjective, but although subjective, there comes a point where if enough people agree a name is bad, then you have a bad name.  If you’re starting a domain name site, grab a commendable name - even if you have to pay a few coins for it.  The name creates your atmosphere and represents who you are.  It is most likely your first impression, and you want something easy, clean, and catchy.  Back to back words with the same beginning help.  For example, namenotebook plays off the two n’s.  There are hand regs out there, but you’ll have to scavenge.  In the industry where you don’t get away with having a bad name, you’re hard pressed to find a good one.

Domain Name Hyphens Are Now the Anti-SEO

Domain Name Blog I read an account from a poster on a marketing forum explaining that hyphens were now being scored against by Google. This, as he stated, applied to recent regs and not established domains. He was jeered by a handful of onlookers, but since when does being popular have anything to do with being right? Knowing Google as you do, wouldn’t this only make perfect sense. Picture it, thousands are registering keyword phrases chunked out with hyphens between every key word - not to develop into a website but as a closet to their true portal or even worse, an advertising ditch. Google says, whoa we need to drastically alter the hyphenated portion of the algorithm and get rid of these one horse sites. All of a sudden, hyphens don’t register.

Really how far fetched is that? Not far fetched at all to me. I had to completely abandon my old domain blog because Google refused to index it. I know SEO. I read up on all the latest thoughts and reports as well as conducting my own SEO research. I could not figure out why not one single blog entry ever got indexed. I now have my answer.

Keep these things in mind. I’m not talking about subdomains. I’m not referencing about established domains. I think the older hyphens stayed true, but the recent regs got hammered.

Domain Name Blog

4L.com Domain Name Sells for $18 at NamePros

Domain Name Blog - Economics has hit hard as prices on domain names continue to drop.  A NamePros auction for the domain name vugz.com ended at $18.  This is 50% off the low price tag of three months ago when LLLL.coms could do no wrong.  Of course, 4Ls were over inflated within their own niche market ever before the economy really started to sink, but this is still more than a flooded market.  Watch the Sedo Auctions for Color.com and Villas.com, two uber premium domain names.  Their final price will help craft the gauge at how the current market is set.  With over 2 days left on each, Villas is sitting at $15,000 EUR and Color.com has reached $50,000 US.