November 19, 2008

Seasonal Traffic

There are certain domain names and websites that get traffic during special seasons. This is one such domain name that we own JobsinSummer.com. I checked the Google Trends on this domain and found this interesting chart:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=jobs+in+summer

There are obviously many such examples, another I want to point out that is region specific, is the keyword World Cup.  Most folks in the world refer to World Cup for Soccer or Football that occurs every 4 years, 2006 was in Germany, 2010 will be in South Africa and so on. You can see the peak in 2006 and would expect it to peak again in early 2010

http://www.google.com/trends?q=world+cup&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

But when you check the trend for India World Cup, the chart looks different, the larger peak occurs in 2007

http://www.google.com/trends?q=india+world+cup&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

It occured to me that cricket is huge in India and the cricket world cup occured in 2007 and also occurs every 4 years.

Just a thought to chew on when you purchase domain names.

November 14, 2008

What’s in a domain name ? - Monte Cahn

Check out this article in imedia connection by Monte Cahn, founder of Moniker and President of SnapNames

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21120.asp

November 12, 2008

DNJournal.com sales report

Trio of sales lead this week’s http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm sales report, with LowFare.com, Banners.com and Pisos.net

November 11, 2008

Differentiate or Die

 A very appropriate book for online industry where there is obviously several folks trying to do the same thing. The barrier for entry into an online business is relatively small, get a domain name for under $10 per year, create a simple website for under $100 and the shop is open for business.

0471357642Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin

http://www.forbes.com/2005/12/02/ibm-nordstrom-cocacola-cx_jt_1205trout.html

To be a successful and lasting business, there is more to it than just being open for business. There needs to be a strategy of what makes your product or service different and this what this author points out. If we come out with a business that is identical to one that already exists, we lost the first to market argument, unless we have better operational efficiencies.

In many ways, the web is still very young and there is a lot of room for differentiation in terms of services provided, technology differences, quality versus quantity, focussed versus general etc. Having a domain name strategy that differentiates your business is something to think about. 

Domain names could be used as a barrier for entry by preventing additional competition, without generic domain names your competitors will have to spend more on advertising and thereby preventing additional competition.

November 10, 2008

Online Statistics is instantaneous..

When I used to work in Radio as a show host, would often wonder how many people are actually listening. Ocassionaly I would get a call at the station from a listener to comment on the show, but still there were a lot of passive listeners in their homes or cars tuning in. There was no feedback as to who, where, why folks were listening or not listening.

With an online website, the fact that you can measure your traffic and determine the source is such an awesome feeling. I can pull up the stats and see exactly how the visitors are coming in and who is sending them to my site and where they are located geographically. And all this information is instantaneous. If I had not worked in radio, I would not have appreciated this huge difference in the two media.

The same goes for TV and Newspapers, similar to radio, the feedback is delayed and also not trackable to minute details like online website statistics. Ultimately this ability to track for advertisers is whats driving online ad growth.

November 9, 2008

Pick a Niche, Buy Domain Names, Develop your website

Its easier said than done, but that is what most people are looking to do or should be looking to do. Picking a niche that you want to fill online is a tough one, but once you find that you move on to find domain names that meet your niche.

Pick a Niche:

Find something completely new, improve on an existing idea, combine several ideas into one, take something offered in one geography to another location in the world, predict the future (mobile web)

Find Relevant Domain Names:

Research all the relevant keywords associated with the niche business. For example: jobs, job, career, careers, employment, work, resume, resumes, recruiting, recruitment, recruiter, biodata, curriculum vitae, headhunter, trabajo, carriere, karriere, offre, help wanted….

Find the most popular keywords among them and start there. Use tools such a Google Trends, Google Adwords etc

Develop your website:

This is a long journey usually and ultimately you are trying to get targetted visitors to your website. But what we know until now, developing your website is the only permanent solution to long term success on the web. Trying gimmicks such as made for PPC or made up sites are not the solution. Getting type in traffic is great but for most people who don’t have established brands the most important source of traffic are the search engines - Google, Yahoo, Live etc. To get into that Top 10 listing on Google for your chosen keywords is the battle that we need to focus on, but keeping in mind that gimmicks are the not the way. BUILD AND THEY SHALL COME used to be a slogan, which is still true but in the crowded internet world, just building is not enough, use all the tools available including one of the most permanent tools - domain names.

November 6, 2008

The Domain Game - David Kesmodel

The Domain Game is a book published recently on the Domain Name business. It chronicles some of the early domainers and their personal situations. Should be an interesting read for domain enthusiasts.

bookpicture
About the Author

Check out the website http://thedomaingame.org/

David Kesmodel is a Wall Street Journal reporter and Internet junkie. He has degrees from Indiana University and the University of Missouri, and has written for newspapers ranging from the Herald-Times in his hometown of Bloomington, Ind., to the Rocky Mountain News of Denver. Since May 2007, he’s been a staff reporter in the Journal’s Chicago bureau, where he covers the beer and grocery industries. David is a frequent guest on radio and TV shows, including recent appearances on CNBC’s “American Originals,” WBBM CBS 2 Chicago, KMOX radio in St. Louis, and American Public Media’s “The Splendid Table.”

November 5, 2008

Barack Obama elected the 44th President of the United States

At 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, Barack Obama was pronounced the 44th President of the United States.

 

Congratulations to Mr. Obama. The first President of African American Origin. Here is Barack Obama’s first speech as President Elect.

United States sends a strong message to the world, particularly the younger generation in this country needs to be congratulated for looking beyond race and sending a message to the older generation. The internet generation got it done !!!

November 5, 2008

BirthdayPresents.com tops DNJournal.com weekly sales chart

Check out the weekly sales chart from DNJournal.com at

http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

November 3, 2008

Domain Names and SEO

Check out this short video from Seobook.com