Become a NameJet Verified Bidder

Yesterday I became a NameJet Verified Bidder.  I decided to do this since I’ve been involved in a number of NameJet auctions which surpassed $2,500.  I’ve been a NameJet account holder for several years now and felt it was time to spice things up a bit!  I take domain investing seriously and this just adds to that notion.

When I bid on auctions at NameJet I always set a limit for myself.  Some limits may be higher or lower than others depending on the domain that I am bidding on.  The main rule that I follow when bidding is not to go beyond the limit I have set for myself.  I don’t like competitive bidding and don’t mind bowing out when needed.  There is nothing wrong with surrendering an auction.  Raising a white flag should be part of everyone’s bidding strategy.

By not being a NameJet verified bidder I missed out on several auctions which I could of easily of won.  Some of these names would of been a great addition to my portfolio and others could of been flipped quickly for a healthy profit. I’ve already spotted the next domain that I plan on setting a higher than normal limit on. I bid on the name with the plan of building it out. I might try and flip it at first but my main plan is to develop it.

I am looking forward to being a more active NameJet account holder and can’t wait to win a few premium domain names. To become a verified bidder I had to fill out this form.  After filling the form out, I scanned it along with my driver’s license and opened a ticket with NameJet.  Within a few hours the verified bidding status was added to my account. I couldn’t of asked for this to occur any faster. Now I don’t have to worry about being capped at $2,500. I just have to make sure that I stick to my limits!

What Is A No Follow Link And Does It Help Or Hurt You?

A no follow link is a special type of link. To fully explain what a no follow link is, we must first explain a little about how search engines work. Search engines work by using a computer program called a crawler or spider. This spider searches all public internet pages. The information on them is then automatically indexed.

This means the spider summarizes the internet page in a number of key words. This allows a search engine to find the page when one of the key words is used. A no follow link is a link that has a value assigned to it so a spider won’t follow the link. The internet page will therefore not be indexed. A search engine such as Google uses the amount of times linked to the page as a value used for ranking search results. This is called Google PageRank.

Theoretically speaking, the more your site is linked on other websites the higher your site will appear in the list of search results. A no follow link does not count towards this value. The no follow link was originally introduced to reduce spamming. People would try to take advantage of the PageRank system by posting their website link hundreds of times on blogs or forums. Google would then think the website had a lot of external links and would rank this page highly. This is why most blogs only allow no follow links nowadays, since this takes away the advantage of just posting your website and not contributing to the subject of discussion.

So why is this important?

A website needs traffic, that means that people need to visit the site. A website without visitors is not very useful, since no-one will see the information on there. You will also not generate income from any advertisements you have on your website. To generate this all-important traffic, search results are very important.

The higher your website is on the list of search results, the more people will click on the link and the more people will visit your website. In this sense, no follow links are bad, since they do not contribute to your ranking in the search results. However, you need to remember that a no follow link is still a link. People that see the link can still follow it to your website, and therefore, a no follow link is still a way of generating traffic and should be looked at as being somewhat of a good thing.

Weekly Reflections

It’s hard to believe that it is already May 6, 2012! The weeks are flying by extremely fast for me, so fast that I really do have to reflect to conjure up what happened. Here is what happened last week:

1.  I’ve been on an end-user emailing spree.  I established a routine for myself, where I have made a business commitment to contact at least three different end-users per day.  Last week I honored this commitment and contacted as many end-users as I could.  This coming week I plan on changing it up a bit, by focusing on a new domain for the next five days.  When contact end-users about keyword domain names I have learned that it is important to let the statistics do the talking.  End-users are more knowledgeable than ever these days, so it is important to give them the proven data so they can determine whether or not they want to make an investment or not.

2.  I had a bit of an issue with one of my outsourced workers on oDesk.  Apparently he was billing me for time where he wasn’t necessarily working on my projects.  I plan on writing an entry on this at a later time.  It’s unfortunate, but I will be paying closer attention to the work diary on oDesk from now on.  I’m genuinely a nice guy and I always give people the benefit of the doubt until they give me a reason not to.  I’ve decided to continue working with this specific oDesk worker and have let them know to be as honest as possible from now on.  If they aren’t honest and this situation happens again, then I will have to let the person go.

3.  On a more positive note I picked the winner of the first contest I have ever had here on my blog!   The contest winner was Tifanny Currington, who is now known as Tiffany Marler.  Congratulations to both Bruce and Tiffany!  This has been one amazing week for the two of you.

4.  The writer that I tasked to write thirty articles has completed them.  I had to ask the writer to revise a few of the articles since the topics were a bit redundant and they chose to overlap some of the content.  In the end they provided me with thirty solid articles which will be used on both my network of sites and article directories.  I can’t wait to have this content start working for me!

5.  I decided to spend just a little more money on my facebook ad campaign for a brand that I have been hard at work building.  Well it wasn’t necessarily my money, I am still burning through the fifty dollars worth of credit that facebook provided me with.  At this time I have 51 likes and 17 people talking about this.  This is a great feeling to know that the campaign is working and I have seen a direct benefit of this with the traffic I am now getting.  If you want to get started with a facebook ad campaign of your own, you should check out this post I made on how to get free advertising credit on facebook.  I’m not sure if this method still works, but if you are interested in advertising on facebook you should give it a shot!

6.  I am actively starting to use pinterest!  The plan is to have something do this for me in the future, but for right now I want to learn as much as I can about the site.  I am using pinterest to post all of the old blog entries that have been made on TrendyMafia.com.  You can check out the TrendyMafia pinterest here!

7. On a personal note I saw Avengers earlier today and the movie was just about as good as an action film can get.  The acting is amazing and the plot was just as good.  The film did however run on for a little more time then it should have, but that’s Hollywood for you.

That just about sums up everything.  I am looking forward to focusing on a new domain name this coming week and can’t wait to start contacting as many end-users as I can.  I am going to write up an entry about the approach I take with end-users.  These days I do my best to research who works for a particular company, instead of just sending a blind email!  Onwards!

My Favorite Blog Entries Of The Week!

There are a great deal of talented people doing some amazing things in this industry. I try to keep up with what they are writing daily. Some of the entries tend to stick out more to me than others, so I’ve decided to start publishing a new segment here on my blog which highlights my favorite blog entries of the week.  Enjoy and have a great weekend!

1.  10 More Reasons You Can Still Make Money In Domain Investing by Domain Shane

This was my absolute favorite blog entry of the week.  DomainShane explained 10 MORE reasons you can still make money in domain investing. Every reason he provided is valid. It’s a feel good message that I feel everyone should read. I’m going to start paying close attention to reason number nine:

China is just starting to invest in domains.  Its not just numerics.  Just looking at the names with the top number of bids and you’ll see that the Asian community is participating heavily in the auction game.

2.  Weekly Domain Name News Update – May 4th, 2012 by Morgan Linton

Morgan has a knack for journalism.  He has decided to start covering domain news and I was extremely happy to see that he decided to tackle that aspect head on by providing his readers with his first weekly domain name news update of what is going on in the domaining industry.  I will be tuning into this segment on a weekly basis.  Resources like this will help me get up to date fast on what has occurred in the week.

3.  Testing New Domain Landers by David Carter

David shares his experience on testing new domain landing pages.  Domain landing pages are always an interesting topic for me.  I might actually try out a few of the domain landers that David describes in his blog entry.

4.  My Top 10 Domain Purchases, The Prices I paid. The $$$ they earned. The New Ones I am Buying. by Rick Schwartz

This is a must read for anyone in the domaining industry.  Rick shares his experience on 10 solid domain purchases he made in the past and the money that these domains have earned him.  He even goes into what he is currently buying.  Make sure to read this one a few times!

5.  My History With Facebook.com by Domain Consultant

This is a very interesting story! I love reading about anything that has to do with Facebook, because I plan on investing in them when they IPO.  It was interesting to hear how close Domain Consultant was to making a deal for the same domain name that Facebook ended up acquiring.

Two Article Submission Sites That Pay You To Write

If you are a writer who just does not have an outlet for your talent, the internet is a great place to get your voice heard. There are plenty of ways to publish your writing for free, such as blogs, fan fiction, or fiction websites, and if that works for you, then by all means write for them as much as you want. However, there are also ways to get paid for the writing that you do, and in this article you will learn about two websites that pay authors for articles they write.

The first website to be mentioned is cracked.com. It is a fairly popular site, but what not everyone knows is that they accept writers from anywhere, at any time. Cracked.com is a humor website focusing on articles with twists. For example, an article may be titled “6 Medicines Whose Symptoms are Worse than the Disease they Treat” or “10 Medieval Weapons that Never Should Have Worked,” and within the article will be 6 or 10 separate sections outlining what the medicine or weapon is, and why it fits into the category described in the title, all written with humor in mind. If you think you can write in a humorous way, this is definitely something to take a look at. The way it works is simple: think up a topic, “pitch” it by posting on the writer’s forum with all your sources, and wait for it to be approved. Once it’s approved, you can write the whole thing up and not only will it be published on the site, but Cracked will pay you $50 per article for your first 6 articles, and then $150 per article after that. Make sure you read some of the material on cracked.com if you have not done so; not only is it entertaining, it will help you get a feel for what the editors are looking for.

Another website to submit articles to is a website called Constant Content, at constant-content.com. Their system is request-based. People with websites or magazines that need content will post a request, such as “Article about gardening needed, 600-1000 words” or “Need funny prom story, 500 words.” All you have to do is pick one that you believe you can write, write it up, and submit it to the editors, who will subsequently approve or reject it. Once it’s approved, it will be sent to the person who posted the request, who will decide if they wish to purchase it. A unique facet of Constant Content is that you set your own price. They have guidelines based on word count, but the price choice is entirely up to you, and is generally set between $20-100 per article. Make sure to try these sites out, and you may find that you can be making good money by doing something you love!

Help Me Choose A Logo Contest Winner Announced!

Let the fun and games begin. Today I announce the winner to the Help Me Choose A Logo Contest that I posted on April 25, 2012. I figured I would change things up a bit and also make this the first video I have ever posted on this blog. Enjoy and congrats to the winner!

Helpful Tips For Writing A Press Release

Press releases can be a very useful tool for conveying your message to a large audience. The key is to first identify whom you will be targeting with your press release and how best to make your offering fresh, innovative and attractive to your audience. There must be factual information included and clearly presented within your press release. The title of the press release, the subject and brand / company or event that is being discussed should immediately be clear.

If the press release is discussing something that will occur at a certain point in time, such as an event, then the date and location must also be obvious to your reader. It may also be an effective strategy to pass the press release to the relevant publications prior to the time you wish your statement to be made public with instructions as to when exactly it should be published. By coordinating the publication of your press release across several different outlets, you can raise anticipation and excitement. The tone of a press release is crucial to its success. It should be succinct yet informative, without falling into the trap of rambling on and losing your target audience’s attention. Target your readers directly, consider their interests and immediately address them.

Give the most relevant information first so that individuals with short attention spans who do not read to the end will still get all of the salient points from your press release. It would be a good idea, after presenting the important facts, to continue with an informative discussion of the event / item / company that you are writing about as an incentive to those who are interested in reading on. Finally, avoid using the first person, unless quoting from an interview. Avoid being presumptuous and try to keep it factual.

It may be a good idea when publicizing an event, to throw out an enigma, a question that can only be answered by attending the event itself. This is another good technique for increasing excitement prior to the release of your product or the start of your event. Maintain a professional tone and believe in what you are advertising / selling / promoting, your enthusiasm will come through in the press release itself. Include some short quotes from an interview if possible, adding the human element will directly engage your audience and increase the effectiveness of your press release.

Two Domains I Hand Registered Today And The GoDaddy Codes I Used To Do It

Today I registered two domain names for the whopping total of $16.34. I spent a few extra minutes looking for a good GoDaddy code because the old one that I mentioned in my previous blog entry is no longer active. I registered the following domain names:

KnifeSharpeningKit.com – I own quite a few kit domain names. Some I have developed into affiliate sites and some I plan to turn into real e-commerce sites. I might actually leave this domain name undeveloped since it is a good candidate to be flipped.  Although I only own about two knives, I was instantly drawn to the potential of this name.  All knives need to be sharpened at one point or another, so why not sharpen it right by picking up a knife sharpening kit.

BookBindingKit.com – I was surprised to see that someone let this domain name go. Book binding kits are big business, especially for the educational industry.  I was happy to snag this domain name for $8.17.  I might leave this domain name undeveloped as well and seek a few end-users for it.

The GoDaddy code that I used was BACON3.  Without the code the domain names would of cost $12.17 a piece.  Happy Regging!

What Is A Domain Name And Why Are They Important?

As domainers we already know the answer to this question.  Recently, I hired a copywriter to write an article about this very topic. The article itself will be used on marketing material that I will be sending to end-users.  My goal with this article is to educate end-users during the sales process.  I want to provide them with as much information as possible, so that they can make an informed decision for their business.  Feel free to tell me what you think!

Here is the article I had written:

A domain name is a recognizable string that is assigned to numerically addressed internet sources like computers, networks and applications. A domain name can represent a server hosting a webpage or a personal computer used to access the internet. They are used for naming and addressing and can be registered online through domain name registrars. They are formed according to the rules and policies of the Domain Name System. The Domain Name System was first introduced on the ARPANET in the year 1983 and was managed by the Internet Engineering Task Force. It is an internet protocol that translates names into numeric addresses. Now it is the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names) that manages the architecture and development of domains. ICANN authorizes registrars through which names can be reassigned and registered. A domain name is divided by labels and concatenated by dots. The right-most label is the top level domain. The top level domain is the highest level in the Domain Name System. .net, .com, .edu, .mil, .int, .gov and .org are top level domains. Below the top level domains are the second level domains. They are the ones that are directly to the left of .com, .net and .org. Each top level domain is maintained by an organization operating the registry. The registrar charges a small annual fee for giving the domain name and a set of name servers. As of today there are more than 100 million domains registered worldwide.

Domain names are often referred to as real estate on the web. They provide a strong online foundation for a business. The premium domains carry significant monetary value due to their use in search engine optimization, advertising and brand building. It adds credibility to a business and makes it look professional. It also creates an awareness of the brand making it easier for consumers to return and remember. A good domain name can generate traffic to your web page which can result in better sales. Domain names also help in securing your brand and keep it out of the reach of competitors. Domain names can be brought for as low as $3 but a premium domain name can fetch millions of dollars. The value of a domain name can vary depending on traffic, revenues and perceived value. Most of the deals go unreported and are carried out privately. Insure.com sold for $16 million and Fb.com fetched about $8 million. Gambling.com sold for a staggering $20 million and became the most expensive domain in the world. If you own a small business then you must have a domain name. Domain names are safe investments. They appreciate in value over a period of time as the business grows.

Weekly Reflections

This past week was incredible!  There’s not much else that I can say about it.  Here are a few things that happened:

1. This past week I worked on improving the way I manage the minisite development process for my domain portfolio. I was having a little of trouble conceptualizing a few things in regards to my network of minisites. I decided to start logging everything in a Google spreadsheet. I have columns such as the number of articles which have been written for a particular site, the name of the webdesigner who initially setup the site and basic things such as hosting account information and WordPress admin information. This small addition to my development process has allowed me to be more efficient with developing and maintaining my minisites.

2. On Wednesday I decided to post my first contest on this blog. The contest was entitled “Help Me Choose A Logo! One Lucky Person Will Win A GoDaddy Gift Card.”  The goal of the contest was to get a better idea of what logo I should move forward with for DomainMarathon.com.  I received a great deal of comments, which have sparked me to take action!  LogoNerds is now working on the revisions of the logo, based on the advice that I received from the logo contest thread.  Some of you even shed a little light on what you thought worked over facebook. I am thankful for all of you who participated in the contest and for those of you who just wanted to provide  a little insight.  It has pushed me in the right direction and I can’t wait to showcase the final logo once it has been completed.  If you are interested in participating in this contest feel free to post a comment on the thread.  A winner will be chosen on May 3rd, 2012!

3.  I installed Evernote on my new laptop.  This is no small feat!  I have tons of documents stored in Evernote so it took a long time for those documents to be downloaded to the new computer. One of my main goals for this year is to be completely paperless.  It’s not an easy goal to set, but it is one that I am really pushing towards.  I like Evernote and have already benefited from organizing my documents using the software.  To read a little more on what I have been doing with Evernote, feel free to check out the following blog entries:

My Efforts Towards An Entirely Paperless Household

Scan Everything And Organize Later

4. I’ve decided to change up the way I send emails in regards to prospecting end-users.  Instead of getting directly to the point about having a domain name for sale, I am working on a one page flier which will inform the end-user about domain names and why they are important.  My goal is to look as professional as possible when I connect with end-users.  The last thing I want to do is come off as someone who is trying to make a quick buck.  In the end, I want to gain the trust of the person I am trying to sell too and what better way to do that then by educating them.

5.  Yesterday I had a chance to visit Caine’s Arcade.  The arcade itself is made out of cardboard and was created by a nine year old boy named Caine. When Jennie and I got there I couldn’t believe how many people were standing in line. There were even people in the area that were trying to capitalize off of the public parking.  Caine’s arcade has a special feeling about it, one that just welcomes you.  I really wish I could of seen it when it first started.  As with anything it has gotten a little commercial, but who cares!  I liked the fact that we were a part of this little boy’s dream and I had a ton of fun playing with the cardboard arcade games.  This arcade is something everyone should visit!  If you are in the LA area, go check it out.  Here’s a little more information about Caine’s Arcade.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again!  I can’t wait for this week to get started!  Lets all make it a great one!