I will be doing it myself as I think it is the best out there for what he is teaching.

I am also an affiliate of his so I am letting others know about it in the
domaining community who may not know who he is or what he does.

Here is the promo below for a free webinar Brendon is holding in a few
days time.  (For the sake of transparency, the links below are my affiliate links
and I will make money if you make any purchases from him.)

Here is the info below -

***************************************************************

Brendon is teaching a webinar called the “5 Most Lucrative Paths
to Monetizing Your Advice & How-To Content Online.” It doesn’t
cost anything, and you can register here:

You’ll learn:

– Which marketing strategies work best online TODAY
– Why people would pay you thousands for YOUR advice
– What types of advice and content you should release (and when)
– Five example paths that all lead to $1,000,000

If, and I mean IF, it were possible to make that kind of revenue
online — I mean millions of dollars — leveraging your genius and
life experience, how would you begin?

It’s a tough question and a perplexing problem that Brendon
had to ask himself years ago when he was on the verge of
bankruptcy. Back then, he had nothing but a dream to inspire
and instruct people on how to improve their lives.

Then, as you’ve probably heard, Brendon made $4.6 million
in under 24 months by leveraging his advice through books, speeches,
seminars, coaching, and online training and information marketing.

He told me that money never meant much to him — because he
never had any — but he had to learn how to get revenue coming
in to sustain his message and mission.

So, he put together a plan.

On this one-time only webinar, he’ll share his five favorite paths
to making $1,000,000 online. Of course, not everyone will
be able to do it. But I’m glad Brendon is ambitious enough for you
to teach it anyway.

To register for the webinar, click here:

Personally, I think sharing your voice and advice with the world
is a worthwhile endeavour whether you make money or not, but
as Brendon says, “You might as well be compensated for what
you know, and earn an income for all the impact you can have.”

Take notes. It’s going to be a great webinar.

***************************************************************

Cheers

Ed

Marc Ostrofsky - Get Rich Click

Here is a piece about Marc from his website -

Check out his latest interview with Frank Schilling where Frank discusses his new domain parking and monetization service www.InternetTraffic.com Keep up the great work Michael.

I think we are in for an amazing year where domain names will reach a whole new audience of end users.

To help with that process, I hope that the interviews I have done in the past and my future podcasts will help to educate the general public and domain investors alike.

Some of my upcoming confirmed podcast guests will be -

Adrian Kinderis, CEO of AusRegistry

Adam Dicker, CEO of DNForum.com

Page Howe, CEO of  SiteHQ.com

Frank Schilling, (Second follow up interview from our first last year)

Also on my list but not spoken to or confirmed -

Michael Berkens, CEO of MostWantedDomains.com & Author of TheDomains.com

Rob Grant, CEO of RealEstateDirectory.com

Michael & David Castello of CCIN Castello Cities Internet Network
This will be a follow up interview with the Castello Brothers from my first podcast interview with them back in 2008

I have many more on my list that I will add at a later date. If you have anyone in particular you would like me to have on my podcast, please drop me a line through the comment section and I will see what I can do to get them on the show.

Have a great day!

I had some issues with my emails not getting through to Frank which delayed the process, but I finally got it sorted with some help from my mate Ron Jackson from DNJournal.com who passed on some messages to Frank on my behalf. Thanks a million Ron

Ron did a brilliant cover story article about Frank on his blog back in 2007 which you can read here – http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2007/december.htm

Frank is a legend in the Domain Name industry and very nice guy to boot.

For someone who achieved so much in a smaller amount of time than most other domain investors, he is a true champion of this business.

Frank’s blog, Seven Mile (named after the beach where he lives on the Grand Cayman Islands) is by far one of the best domain name blogs out there even though he only posts once a month or so but when he does it is true gold. If you have not read it make sure you put on your list of “must do” items.

Anyway, that is enough from me! Get stuck into the podcast.

Enjoy

Kajabi Marketing Software

Hi all,

It is not very often that I have been this excited about an online product or service, but Kajabi is a different beast completely.

If you have no idea what Kajabi is and what the heck I am talking about then you can check it out here www.Kajabi.com.au

If you have already watched the first video then the latest video with a look behind Kajabi and what powers it, to its pricing structure are all revealed on the latest video. Just click on the “Get Kajabi” tab at the top of the page.

I have decided that I will be going for the Ultimate package as it just seemed to be the best value for my business model, but there is an option for everyone.

There is a 14 Day Free trial with no strings attached but it is for a very limited time.

Disclaimer: Ed Keay-Smith & OzDomainer.com are affiliates of Kajabi and will make affiliate commissions on products or services purchased through these links.

www.kajabi.com.au

List Control
Product Launch Formula 3.0
Video Boss
Outsource Force

All had a little link at the bottom that said “Powered By
Kajabi” and until now, not too many people knew what that was about. Today, FINALLY, answers!

www.kajabi.com.au

It’s apparently already changed the way John Reese, Andy
Jenkins, Frank Kern, Trey Smith, and Jeff Walker marketed
their biggest products this year.

I think it’s going to change the way EVERYONE markets online
very soon. And after you watch this, it’ll probably make a
convert out of you too.

Kajabi Landing Pages

Ed Keay-Smith

P.S. The only lame part of this video is how long you’ll have
to wait to get your hands on Kajabi after watching. But I guess a few days isn’t so bad. You decide: too long to wait?

www.kajabi.com.au

P.P.S. Oh yeah, there is NO OPT-IN NEEDED to watch this. It’s totally in the open. (Which is kind of shocking, considering.)

Disclaimer: Ed Keay-Smith & OzDomainer.com are affiliates of Kajabi and will make affiliate commissions on products or services purchased through these links.

I have wanted to interview Frank since I began this domain names podcast almost 3 years ago.

It should happen within the next week or so, hopefully in time for my birthday on the 14th October.

If you have anything you would like me to ask Frank on your behalf, then please leave a message in the comments section of this post.

Cheers and have a great day!

Ed

This weeks guest is Jeff Kupietzky from Oversee.net where Jeff talks about some interesting facts regarding Oversee that I have not heard discussed anywhere before.

After talking with Simon this afternoon he told me who will be on his next episode (but has sworn me to secrecy) and I am sure that it will be a great show, don’t miss it.

Well done Simon for getting this show of the ground.

The radio ad was for a new Australian business directory company called Bloo www.Bloo.com.au.

At the end of their ad spousing all of their great features and benefits they gave out the web address just as it sounds BLUE, they did not give the alternate spelling of BLOO to the listeners. Big mistake in my book! If they owned www.Blue.com.au and it redirected to www.bloo.com.au then that would be fine, but they don’t it just goes to a dead page.

So if you are going to run radio ads make sure you have the right combo of domains to cover yourself and if it is a different spelling make sure you let the listeners know how to spell it so they can at least find you.

Over the last 6 months the traffic to many of my Indian sites .IN & .CO.IN such as WaterPurifiers.in & SolarPanels.in has at least tripled and they are getting thousands more visitors per month than they have been getting in the past.

On average they are both in the Top 5 results on Google.co.in and are competing up there with the multi million / multi Billion dollar companies that are targeting the same premium keywords that I am.

This now opens up some possible opportunities for me to either sell the domains to these companies or enter into some type of JV partnership with them.

One such company is Tata BP Solar India Limited which is one of India’s largest companies comprising a partnership with Tata & BP which are both Billion dollar companies.

Although I am at this moment only monetizing these sites with Google AdSense, it will not be that way for much longer as I have always had bigger plans for these websites.

I also own many of Tata / BP’s core product domains such as -

SolarHotWater.in

SolarInverters.co.in

SolarLantern.co.in

SolarLantern.in

SolarLanterns.co.in

SolarLanterns.in

SolarPanel.in

SolarPanels.in

SolarPowerInverters.co.in

SolarPowerInverters.in

SolarStreetLight.co.in

SolarStreetLight.in

SolarStreetLights.co.in

SolarStreetLights.in

SolarWaterHeater.co.in

SolarWaterHeater.in

SolarWaterHeaters.co.in

SolarWaterHeaters.in

SolarWaterHeating.in

With the middle class population of India growing at a rapid rate and expected to be larger the the total population of the US within the next 10+ years, I think there are some very exciting times ahead for the Indian domain name market.

On average their prices are 20% – 50% cheaper than what we pay in Australia and they offer Free Book Delivery Worldwide which is a huge saving alone for us in Oz as the shipping prices we can pay from sites like Amazon are sometimes more than the cost of the books themselves.

I think they are also fairly competitive with Amazon on pricing for customers in the US so check them out.

I have ordered 7 books so far and have saved approx $45.00 and have told many of our friends who have also found it to be a much better deal.

In terms of a well developed website I think they have done a great job and have won some awards for the business in the UK as well.

The Book Depository

Only half of Australian small businesses have a website and of those businesses that have a website, less than a quarter of them feel they use their website and the Internet well enough to get a real tangible dollar benefit from it.

Achieve More Online is part of the Federal Government’s $14M Small Business Online program. The program will help small businesses, particularly those in tourism and professional services – get online and achieve more.

You may already have a website and want it to work harder for you. Or you may be looking to go online for the first time. Whatever stage you are at, the Achieve More Online program has 7 small business specialists who will show you, in simple steps, how to improve your online presence to ultimately put more $$ in your bottom line.

1 day hands-on workshop, 12 locations across WA and NT

In just 1 day, you’ll learn the 8 fundamental building blocks of a successful online marketing and website strategy and have a complete action plan to help you put that knowledge to use.

The 7 small business owners and specialists in their field will show you how to use the Internet to promote your business and create a website that works to deliver real dollars to your bottom line.

From business planning through to optimising your site for search engines and simple online marketing tools, everything you need to know about developing a better online business will be delivered to you in an interactive workshop and 1-to-1 mentoring sessions where we will help you solve your business’ specific problems.

At the end of the 1 day workshop, you’ll understand the 8 building blocks of a well balanced, effective online marketing plan:

• business plan, target market & purpose
• website design
• content building & copywriting
• graphic design & layout
• website imagery & photos
• website traffic generating tools such as pay per click advertising (PPC) & search engine optimisation (SEO)
• website promotion & relationship building tools such as Twitter, Facebook & other social media
• and the often underutilised and powerful email marketing tools you have at your disposal

All it costs is just 1 day and $49

In just 1 day you will have a complete action plan to create or upgrade your small business website and all for only $49.

You’ll know the right steps involved, and you’ll have a smart detailed action plan to get you started. You can contact us for follow-up support if you need further help or guidance throughout the program.

Want more information or to register?

Workshops commence in June across several locations throughout metropolitan and country WA and the Northern Territory.

Visit our website www.businessbalance.com.au/sbo for more details and to register online or alternatively fill out the attached form and fax it back to us to secure your place.

If you have any questions please phone us on 1300 856 274.

We look forward to helping you get the most out of being online.

This is an Australian Government funded initiative under the Small Business Online program

Ed,

I just returned from Maui Hawaii, 100+ customers from a dozen countries face to face and palm to palm for 3 days. It was immensely energizing to
shake everyone’s hand and hear war stories and spend time together.

In that conference room you heard every kind of story you can imagine. There were people there who literally made a million dollars last month. There was probably somebody who LOST a million dollars last month. I have no doubt.

I know of one guy who was literally down to his last twenty dollars. A trip to a pricey seminar was his last wing and prayer. There were many businesses that have grown 400-500% in the last 12 months.

Welcome to the knife fight, to the rough and tumble world of being an entrepreneur. A universe of extremes. Work hard. Play hard. High highs. Low lows. Humiliation. Exhilaration.

When I moved from Nebraska to Chicago 17 years ago, there was a part of me that somehow just needed to flee safety and comfort. In pursuit of action and adventure.

Nebraska is a safe, genteel, polite, nonthreatening, mannerly place. And… it’s kinda boring there. I don’t have very many customers from Nebraska.
It’s just not a “Planet Perry” kind of place.

Here in Chicago we have the Chicago Bulls and Bears. Michigan Avenue and the Gold Coast. The Hancock Building and Navy Pier and yachts and hi-rise condos. O’Hare airport and tollways and commuter systems and Broadway shows and vast urban sprawl.

And gangs and drugs and hour-long commutes and gapers delays and starving artists and the West Side and the South Side and Joliet Federal Prison and crime and poverty and housing projects.

In Chicago, you get it ALL. From the ridiculous to the sublime. That’s why I love it here. My friend, there are some of us who are just BORN to thrive in extremes. You crave the WHOLE enchilada. You want access to the whole box of chocolates. You want the CHOICE to grab that nugget of mystery out of the box and get whatever you get. And reach for another and another.

It’s hard, but it’s better than the SAFETY of having someone else skim off the gourmet stuff and feed you stale 8-month-old Hershey bars. 150 years ago if you preferred the Wild West to a 3 bedroom condo and 3 square meals everyday, you were surely a little bit INsane.

Today, if you prefer the Wild West to institutional mediocrity, it’s  probably the best possible assurance that you ARE sane… that the world hasn’t yet pounded every last ounce of adventure out of your soul.  That you don’t want to sit in a cube under buzzing fluorescent lights and follow the car ahead of you to oblivion every day. You don’t want to gulp down antidepressants and watch TV from 5pm till bedtime.

If you thirst for greater things, if you dream of accomplishing something really big and daring in your life (and I’m NOT just talking about money by the way) then I’m here to tell you, you’re in good company.

If you’ve failed and failed and failed again…. or if you’ve achieved modest success only to have a monsoon wipe out what was so promising…. if you’re constantly dodging the snakes and arrows…. you’re in splendid company. It’s never too late for a comeback.

It may be lonely in your particular corner of cyberspace on a particular Tuesday afternoon, but I’m here to assure you, you’re not the only one. One more thing:

There is no such thing as a great person in history who was a “perfectly reasonable guy.” We’re all a little bit unreasonable, a little shaky, a little insane. And driven by an inner fire that won’t go out. Passion is the fire that lights itself. If you have that Passion, give thanks for it, honor it, and press into it. Harder. Not everybody has it. But you do. And you know it. So write it in blood. Put it in an obvious place so you never let yourself forget it.

The entire history of your life culminates in the present moment, and all the possibilities that it holds. Right now.

Every hour, every day…. …seize the day.

Perry Marshall

P.S.: You’re awesomer than you think you are.

I have learned a great deal from him over the years regarding Google AdWords and my AdWords Consulting business would not be where it is today if it were not for his help and guidance.

Using Google AdWords is just another way of getting targeted traffic to your website and I know many domainers are using it as they get more into developing their domains.

If used correctly it can be a brilliant marketing tool that can bring you instant results but if you don’t know what you are doing it can max out your credit card very very quickly.

If you have not already read Perry’s brilliant book The Definitive Guide To Google AdWords then do yourself a favor and grab a copy as it will save you a great deal of pain and expense in learning the tricks of AdWords.

I hope you enjoy the podcast!

I am happy to announce that my business partners & myself have just picked up the domain www.AudioBooks.com.au from the www.drop.com.au (owned by Fabulous.com) auction yesterday. The name up until then had been registered since 1999 but had not been developed for whatever reason.

Audio Books are big business these days and getting bigger as time goes by. I have about 20 books that I have picked up from various places online to listen to on my MP3 player when I walk or exercise or just relaxing.

The plan is to develop the website into the leading authority in Australia for Audio Books and being a book worm both paper & audio this should be a fun project.

So if you know anyone that would like to do a deal and list their Audio Books for sale on our site when its completed please let me know.

Cheers

Ed

Happy New Year!

Over the past 2 + years since I started this domain names blog / podcast I have had many people email me who know I am a Google AdWords Consultant asking if I can do a podcast on Google AdWords relating to the synergies that it has with domain names. The two go hand in hand as far as I am concerned and a great domain name used in a great, well targeted & written AdWords campaign can be unstoppable if implemented properly.

Perry Marshall

Perry’s eBook  that he co-authored with Bryan Todd  The Definitive Guide To Google AdWords is the Bible for AdWords users and I have been reading the latest 2010 updated 277 page edition which is packed with brilliant examples of how to get the most from AdWords.

Perry is probably best known with his association with AdWords but is a brilliant marketer of which Google AdWords is just one of his weapons of choice online.
If you have never heard of Perry before then I guarantee you are in for a treat and will have access to some powerful marketing tools by following what Perry has to offer.

I will be recording the podcast with Perry early next week, so if you have any questions relating to Google AdWords then please email them to me ed@ozdomainer.com before the 10th of Jan.

Cheers

Ed

Paul Sloan

My guests today on Domain Names Podcast are Paul Sloan & David Carter from www.PlayingTheAngles.com

David Carter

Paul Sloan is a longtime journalist, who has worked for Fortune Magazine, National Public Radio, CNN and a bunch of other places, on staff and as a freelancer. Paul has interviewed people such as Kevin Ham in that great article that was published in the Business 2.0 Magazine back in May 2007 before the magazine closed down.

Paul has teamed up with David Carter, an Internet Marketing specialist and domain name investor from the UK and together, they plan on building an interactive site, based on interviews and business experiments with some of the world’s finest entrepreneurs.

One of their first guests in Frank Schilling who does not do that many interviews and has some great gems of wisdom in the interview with Paul.

These are two very switched on guys who I am sure will have great success with their new project at Playing The Angles

Thanks to them both for being on my podcast, I hope you enjoy what they have to say.

Chef Patrick

On this episode of Domain Names Podcast my guest is Patrick Ruddell from www.ChefPatrick.com.

Patrick started his Domain Names Blog only 12 months ago and has built it into a fantastic resource for the domain industry. With its unique blend of Video, Comic Strips & Reviews it stands out from the crowd of often same old same old domain blogs.

Patrick has put a great deal of effort into his WordPress based website and I think he has done a great job for a “Non Techie” as he calls himself.

I hope you enjoy the podcast.

If you have any questions you would like me to ask Johns in the interview then please email me ed(@)ozdomainer.com or make a comment on this post. Cheers Ed

Morgan has had various websites relating to the Domain Name industry running over the past few years and has a wealth of knowledge on the buying and selling of domains, development on domains, SEO & domain brokerage.

Morgan kindly offered a discount on his services to Oz Domainer Podcast listeners and by simply quoting “OZ 111″ in an email or over the phone to Morgan he will give a 20% discount on his regular fees. This was not a planned thing and just happened during the podcast and I get NO commissions or kickbacks from Morgan for this referral.

I think Morgan is a very smart young guy who has a great business mind and work ethic and will be one of the domainers to watch out for as he is very focused and doing some great work.

I hope you enjoy this podcast.

On this episode of Domain Names Podcast I talk with my mate Ben Wilks, Domainer & SEO Guru! Now I do not use the word GURU very lightly as it gets used a great deal where it shouldn’t be, but in Ben’s case it would be an understatement if anything.

Ben has been working in SEO & Web Publishing since his mid teens (he turns 30 this year) so for 15 years or half his life. Now I know for a fact that Ben would more than likely be cringing when I use the word “Guru” as it is something he would never say about himself.

So in this podcast we mainly talk about SEO and its relationship to domain names and cover some of the important facts relating to SEO. Ben has only one client and is not actively looking for more, he uses his talents these days to work on his own domain development projects rather than having to deal with clients.
But as he you will hear in the podcast, if you are very very very!!!! serious about an SEO project he is happy to talk turkey with you.

During the podcast we mentioned a very good SEO Tutorial website Called Hobo Web, here is the link.

Enjoy!

Zappy shares his years of experience online and talks about what lead him to where he is today, what he thinks the future of the internet has to offer  & we discuss his latest project www.InternetWarrior.com

A special thanks goes out to Andrew Hazen from InternetIdeas.net for helping me contact Zappy when my emails to him were not getting through for whatever reason. Thanks mate!

I would also like to thank everyone who has made comments and posted links on their blogs/websites about how much they enjoy this podcast. I have had a few requests from listeners about who they would like me to interview on future podcasts such as Frank Schilling, Mike Berkens & Rob Grant to name but a few. So if you do have someone that you want to hear from please let me know and I will endeavor to get them on the show.

So starting with Frank Schilling! if you are reading this or if someone knows how to contact Frank I would love to hear from him. Same goes for Mike Berkins & Rob Grant.

Regards

Ed

I was fortunate enough to meet Edwin on the first day of the Traffic ccTLDs  conference in Amsterdam and spent many hours talking about domains with him. He is a very switched on guy and has been around the domain industry since the mid to late 90′s and started one of the first ever if not the first website all about buying, selling and investing in domain names called www.igoldrush.com.

Many of you may have seen it of late as it is still around but was sold by Edwin several years ago to its current owners.

One of Edwin’s current projects (of which there are many) is his domain sales website www.memorabledomains.co.uk which lists many of his domains for sale targeted mainly at the .CO.UK domain market.

This is the longest podcast I have done at 1Hr & 16Mins in length. (yes I know I could cut it in half and have 2 separate podcasts, but time is just not permitting on that front) as Edwin has some great insights into many other domain related subjects such as domain development, mini-sites, marketing of domains and much much more.

Make sure you take notes as there are some gems in this podcast for those of you who have your ears and your mind open!

So grab yourself a cup of something, sit down and enjoy the podcast.

Rick is a “tell it like it is” type of guy which is one of the reasons I like to read his blog religiously over at http://www.ricksblog.com

The conversation started in the toilet and progressed from there. (you will have to listen to it it to find out more).

We talked about everything from his start in domains, some of his recent sales and what he thinks lies ahead for the industry.

I greatly enjoyed my talk with Rick and I hope you learn something from this very sharp business man.

Enjoy!

Ben picked up the name www.Pay-Per-Click.com.au so we are developing that into a full Pay Per Click services website.

I have been a Google AdWords consultant for 5 years now and it works in well with my domaining business (I like to call it the same dog, just a differnet leg) as they both work at achieving the same goal, more targetted traffic and conversion of that traffic into leads and sales.

Wake up Corporate World Exec’s because if you don’t you will be left in the dust scratching your heads wondering what the hell just happened.

Enjoy!

I consider Ron to be the top guy when it comes to reporting on whats happening in the Domain world with his great interviews that he does with the who’s who of domainers, his coverage of all the major domain name conferences and his relentless tracking of the sales that are happening in the domain industry.

I hope you enjoy the Podcast.

I then started my consulting business AdWords Marketing in 2004 and have been involved in the PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising industry ever since.

One area of setting up a PPC ad campaign that often gets overlooked is the display URL used at the bottom of the ads.

Google allows a maximum of 35 characters including spaces to be used for the display URL so having the most relevant keyword rich domain name
as a huge benefit when it comes to getting a higher click through rate and quality score for your ads.

I have run tens of thousands of ads on AdWords over the past 5 years and without a doubt a campaign that has the most relevant domain name used as its display URL will kick the ass of the same ad doing an A/B Split test where the only thing that is different in the 2 ads running at a 50/50 split is the display URL.

Let me give you an example where the search term is “Factoring Finance”-

Considering Factoring?
New Free Service Finds the
Right Factoring Finance for You!
FactoringFinance.com.au

vs

Considering Factoring?
New Free Service Finds the
Right Factoring Finance for You!
JohnBrownFinance.com.au

Although the only difference is the display URL, it can make a HUGE difference in the click through rate of the ad just because the URL matches the search.
It has been effective for me 9 times out of 10 over the years. Google has made it much harder in recent times to test different URL’s within the same Ad Group
but I can assure you it is very very effective.

This is another reason to have high quality keyword rich domain name that does not get talked about a great deal by domainers, food for thought!!

Here is what Google has to say in its Google AdWords Guidelines -

Display URL must be accurate.

• Your Display URL must accurately reflect the URL of the website that you’re advertising. It should match the domain of your landing page so that users know which site they will be taken to when they click your ad.
• Where you have keyword URLs, these are considered to be your Destination URLs and the Display URL must accurately reflect them.
• The Display URLs within each ad group must have the same domain.
• The Display URL field cannot be used as another line of ad text.
• Your Display URL must include the domain extension, for example: .co.uk, .net or .org.
• If your actual Destination URL link is too long to use as your Display URL, use a shortened version (such as your homepage) that meets the character limit for this field.
  Example:
  Destination URL: http://www.TravellingDog.net/toys.html
  Display URL: www.TravellingDog.net

Now we all know that owning a domain name like www.palmsprings.com (owned by brothers David & Michael Castello) is the best position to be in buy far, but many people I talk to on a daily basis think that if the don’t have the premium name that its not worth the time or effort to go after a good Google ranking.

Well there are many cases to say otherwise, the Palm Springs example is the one I will focus on for this exercise.

Now if  you do a search on Google for “palm springs” you will see that the number one site listed for that phrase  www.palm-springs.org a hyphenated .org name!

Now it only has about 30% of the back links of www.palmsprings.com but is number 1 as apposed to number 2 for www.palmsprings.com so it goes to show that if you want a great Google ranking not having the best category killer name should not stop you from trying.

I still believe that having keyword rich domain with or without hyphens will make the job easier and get clicked on more by the searcher once they do see you on Google, but at the end of the day the premium generic name will get what the hyphenated .org’s or .net’s will never get, TYPE IN TRAFFIC!

So my point is don’t discount other names if you are just looking for good search rankings and traffic because a name you could hand register or pick up cheap in the drops or aftermarket can do a pretty good job if you play your cards right with SEO etc.

If you have any other examples you would like to share please feel free to post them.

Have a great day.

Well it is!

Ron Jackson has just posted this today – The State of the Industry January 2009: 15 Leading Experts Break Down What Went Wrong in 2008 and Predict What Will Happen in 2009 and it would have been worth reading if it had only been the last post by Leading Expert #15 (you will have to read the article to find out who it is)

DO NOT WASTE A SECOND MORE ON MY BLOG! GET YOUR BUTTS OVER TO THE ARTICLE NOW

It can be a mine field of information to follow and process and if you have tens of thousands of dollars invested then you had better start paying attention.

You could be in for a rude awakening one day when the law or a company that thinks it has the rights to ownership of one of your names comes a knockin!

My mate Erhan Karabardak from Cooper Mills Lawyers based in Melbourne Australia is a global authority in the areas of Domain, ISP & Telco law.

Erhan was a guest speaker at the recent Traffic Down Under Seminar held in Queensland Australia (check out Erhan’s talk on video here)

Now seeing as I am a Pro Reseller of GoDaddy through my website www.DomainNamesJunction.com that makes me a happy camper as I can register them for only $12.99 which over the next year will be a big cost saving exercise when I will transfer my 320+ .IN & .CO.IN domains across to GoDaddy.

Are you ready to grab your share of over 60 million internet users in India?*  *Figure comes from internetworldstats.com

I like to keep an eye on my domains as often as possible to check their traffic stats which may be as often as every 3-4 days or so for my different accounts and domain TLD’s & ccTLD’s.

It always grabs my attention when there is a large traffic spike in particular when its not just over a day or so which could be news or current event related to cause an increase in searches. But when the increase stays there and does not drop back down again it usually points to one thing, Google!

I have had quite a few domains that this has happened to recently and I don’t think that it is a coincident that all of these domains are parked with the same parking company www.parked.com as I think they have one of the better custom domain setups that seems to be very “SEO friendly”.

One of my domains on the subject of Electrical Switches www.electricalswitches.net is ranked about number twelve on Google’s global search using a broad keyword search which is not to bad at all considering that it is only parked. The exact match phrase “electrical switches” lists about 433,000 websites that have that phrase on their site according to the Google results and www.electricalswitches.net is listed at number 9 on Google.

So needless to say that the ppc income has gone up accordingly from what it was a few months ago of about $2 per month to approx $15 per month now.
Now this is not going to buy my New Nissan GT-R any time soon (the best sports car ever to come out of Japan IMHO and a “super car killer“)

The downside to parked.com is that as yet they don’t have a domain sales after market to handle any enquiries about the domain if you have it listed for sale, just a basic contact form which is ok. I would prefer the best of both worlds but with all of the parking companies I am yet to find it.

Still I am impressed with the rankings of my indexed parked pages and while the domains are waiting to get developed they are paying for themselves then well and good.

My daughter Sasha who is 10 years old has just published her first website called Horse Obsession (www.horseobsession.com)

We registered the domain name back in November 2004 for reasons mentioned here http://www.horseobsession.com/about-this-site/

Sasha wrote all of the content herself other than the “About HO”  page which we helped with and with a bit of help from Daddy (Me) setup the WordPress blog to run it on.

We are hoping that over time the site will help to pay for or at least to lease a horse for her to ride on a regular basis other than her fortnightly riding lessons.

All of the 410 horse related pictures that are and will be on the website are from the trip that we are currently on (see Laptop Nomads)

The banner was created using Banner Maker Pro 7 in about 10 minutes by Sasha and me using her photos.

I think that it is great that we can teach Sasha about websites, affiliate & internet marketing, domain names etc based on her working on a subject that she is “obsessed” with and that it can give her some options of how to generate an income when she gets older rather than having to go and trade hours for dollars (not that there is anything wrong with that!)

Any links back to Sasha’s site would be greatly appreciated, also any comments left on www.horseobsession.com to Sasha would be great as well.

Cheers from Ed in Japan

Perry is one of the best all round marketers that I have ever met and what he has to say in this video is well worth the 15 mins or so it takes to watch it.

Do yourself a favour and check out the video at http://www.perrymarshall.com/bite-the-hand-that-feeds/

I have spoken about my mini-site www.waterpurifiers.in which is being slowly developed over time and is starting to get some great results on Google.

It now ranked number 10 on Google India for the search term “water purifiers“  and is number 1 for many more longer tail phrases such as “home water purifiers“.

The AdSense revenue is picking up and in the near future I should be putting some advertising on the site as well.

So after only 3 months or so being live it is coming along nicely and should only get stronger over time as more content gets added to the site.

I have also launched about 2 weeks ago my site www.solarpanels.in with which I am following the same principals as www.waterpurifiers.in
There is only a few pages of content on Solar Panels as I am drip feeding the content over time.

My goal with these sites is to have JV partners and advertisers as the main revenue source rather than PPC and more than likely get rid of PPC all together, but for now if they make a few dollars a day it helps to cover the cost of development.

I am in Europe at the moment on my Laptop Nomads Trip and have just spent 10 days in Switzerland.

Sasha & Ed at top of Schilthorn Mountain in Swiss Alps

I have been there before but was reminded of how spectacular the place is!

Also how well run it is. Everything was on time and worked well. The trains were fantastic, without doubt the best of our four months so far. If a train is running 15 seconds past its due time then it is running late in Switzerland. You can set your Swiss watch by them.

Anyway domain names are NOT in the toilet far from it (the best long term investment there is at the moment IMHO) But they are on the toilets.

Toi Toi at Top of Alps

It has been very interesting over the past 4 months travelling through the UK & Europe taking note of the domain names on advertising etc. Without a doubt I have seen far far more companies using their ccTLD’s (Country Code Top Level Domains) eg www.toitoi.ch over the .com. This is good news for people getting into the domain name space as there are many many opportunities available for people to focus on their ccTLD’s if the .com is gone. Its a no brainer that if the .com is availble and affordable then you should try and get it but you can still do well without it outside of the US.

Although the US has a very large population of approx 301,139,947 people that still leaves over 6 Billion people who do not necessarily see the .com as their domain of choice.

Travelling is a very very eye opening experience in many ways, in regards to domain names it just confirms my strong belief in ccTLD’s and their future.

Take a look around where you live and see what people and companies are using for domains and don’t miss out on opportunities by having the .com blinkers on.

As most of you know my family and I are on the road for 7 months taking some time out and having a great time I can tell you

We have a blog about what we are up to at www.laptopnomads.com so I will not repeat myself with that stuff here.

I relation to domaining and domainers I have managed to catch up with some guys I know from the web but have not met in person up to now and am very happy that I have done so.

I first caught up with David Carter and his family at his home in Birmingham UK for afternoon tea and met his children and wife Jan.
Read more on that with some pics here http://www.laptopnomads.com/10/laptop-nomads-are-go/

Then we spent some time with Tommy Butler and his wife Tricia who own www.glasgow.com (very nice domain name guys) Tommy is a very switched on guy and has many many Glasgow related domain names and his a great business based around them.

He took us around Glasgow for a day and we all had a ball. As Lois & I were both born in Glasgow it was a real treat to be taken around buy the man who owns it!!! Virtually at least LOL. More about that on our blog at http://www.laptopnomads.com/38/edinburgh-to-glasgow/

So many thanks to those guys for their time and hospitality, it was great to finally put a face to the names.

Before I left I said I had a new podcast to upload that I hade done with Brian Johnson from www.domainparkingmoney.net, well I am still editing that one as I have had some audio editing challenges since being away but should have it ready soon.

As for other podcasts I have been talking with Ron Jackson from www.dnjournal.com about doing one but the timing for both of us has not been great so as soon as I have more info I will let you all know.

If you have any suggestions or requests on who you would like me to interview on the subject of domain names or internet marketing please let me know and I will see what I can do.

Regards

Ed

Marketing trend is changing into online marketing. There are a lot of website hosting companies which offers online marketing solutions. These companies have increased their services circle into web site design and website development field.

According to Michael it was the first time that both himself & David had been recorded together for an interview.

Michael & David Castello (Michael on the left & David on the right of photo (Picture courtesy of www.dnjournal.com) are great guys with a huge depth of knowledge on domain names especially when it comes to Geo Domains.

They own through their company CCIN (Castello Cities Internet Network) some great names such as www.PalmSprings.com, www.Nashville.com, www.Acapulco.com and many more which are also listed on the Associated Cities website that they joined back in 2004.

They also own some catagory killer generic domains such as www.Whisky.com, www.GolfClub.com, www.Daycare.com & www.Bullion.com

Both have a great story to tell and a wealth of knowledge to share for those who are wise enough to listen. So if you have even the slightest interest in Geo Domains make sure you listen to this podcast.

Michael & David also won the 2008 Domainers Choice Award for both the Rising Star and Domain Ambassador categories at DomainFest 2008

Also check out this great video of the Castello Brothers in their Rock Band Michael Seven, you will see a side to them that you may not have seen before (Michael Lead Singer/Guitar & David on Drums). Great stuff!! www.michaelseven.com

Hope you enjoy it.

AUSTRALIAN internet entrepreneurs are raking in millions of dollars a year by spotting the true value of what’s in a name.

The practice of buying up unused names, known as “domain parking”, is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion worldwide — and Australia is seen as a growing market for those with an eye for a dollar.

The Australian Domain Name Administrator (AUDA), the governing body for “dot au” domains, is set to loosen regulations restricting the practice within months, sparking a likely buying boom as a result.

Domainers, as they call themselves, spot generic or popular names that have not been turned into websites and register them for as little as $US7 ($A7.50). They cram them with advertisements and watch as they earn a few cents per hit — big bucks when you have a portfolio of tens of thousands of domains.

Unlike cyber-squatting, where people infringe trademarks and fraudulently obtain internet traffic, domainers say they are supplying people with information.

With two partners, he has built a business around names such as geekwatch.com and bingonight.co.uk — names that receive hundreds of hits through the sheer weight of the billion or so people who use the internet daily.

He now works full-time as a domainer and is auctioning one of his most prized sites, profgolfer.com, which he hopes will fetch him $75,000.

“Enormous money can be made out of parking still in Australia with dot au space, where a lot less penetration has been made than in America,” he said. “It’s as easy as seeing how many times a particular word is indexed on Google then seeing if it is taken or not.”

Click here for the whole article..

I have had the pleasure of knowing James for the past 3 years now and he is truely one of the pioneers in the affiliate marketing industry and a great guy to boot!

James and I talk about his successful Affiliate Marketing business and his Affiliate Marketers Bootcamp training system helping people learn the skill to develop their affiliate websites.

James lists some of the Affiliate Management companies that he uses like www.cj.com (Commission Junction) also the Open Source Content Management System Drupal

One of James’s websites is based around his passion for Shelby Cobra’s and his website www.kitcarconnection.com

Thanks very much for your time James and I look forward to that ride in the Cobra!!

Elliot was awarded this year with Domainers Choice Award of Best Domainers Blog for 2008 which I think was well deserved.

We talk about his life as a domain investor, the development of his domains www.lowell.com & www.salinas.com and the very serious topic of the Snowe Antiphishing Bill that was introduced to the US senate last week that has the potential to drastically effect the way domain investors operate if left unchanged.

Check out ComputerWorld for the entire article on the Snowe Bill and also the link to the ICA Internet Commerce Association where you can join as a member and help support the people that support domainers and are one of the main voices helping domainers to challenge the Snowe Bill.

Elliot also spoke about Sean Stafford’s Book Domain Graduate which is well worth a read for new to intermediate levels of experience in the domain industry.
Click the link below for more info.

I think that Elliot is one of the domain industries movers and shakers and has a very bright future.

He is in Australia at the moment working on some projects with another domainer and friend of ours Ben Wilks and will be heading back to the UK in a few weeks time. Rob is the owner of www.music.co.uk and others such as www.lol.co.uk, www.webftp.co.uk

In this interview Rob shares his incite into the domain name industry particularly the .co.uk name space. For the links to the websites and tools we spoke about in the podcast please go to this link Domain Web Tools

I hope you enjoy this podcast and if you have anyone that you would like me to interview or a specific topic that you would like covered then please let me know.

In Episode 3 of the Oz Domainer Podcast I will be talking with Australian Domainer Michael Gilmour from Whizzbangsblog.com where we will be talking about his recent trip to T.R.A.F.F.I.C West in Las Vegas and the subject of Transparency that he spoke about at the conference.

I will be interviewing a wide variety of people in the domain name industry and I hope the knowledge that is shared will give value to the listeners.

If you have anyone in particular that you would like me to interview please let me know in the comments section of this or any other of the podcast posts.

Thanks

Ed

It seems that the web address is used as the main way of getting people to remember how to find them rather than a phone number.

I mean lets face it, most people can remember a web address like www.MiningJobsAustralia.com much easier than a regular phone number especially when its flashed up on the screen for a few seconds at best. Maybe businesses are starting to catch on after all.

The same pattern is also happening on TV. How many times do ads finish with “Visit www.MiningJobsAustralia.com for more information” or some type of ethical bribe to get the viewer on the website to hand over their contact details for a competition etc. This is much easier to do than using a phone number even 1300 or 1800 style numbers.

Thats my opinion on the subject, feel free to give your viewpoint on what you have noticed about your local businesses and how they are using their web address in their marketing.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

This is my first post for 2008 and have a favor to ask of you.

The Woodenelves.jpg

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The local radio station 96FM is running the contest and there are 8 bands up for the spot of supporting Bon Jovi.

This is an incredible opportunity for the band so I am hoping you can please take 1 minute to vote for them!

Simply click on this link to 96FM Radio Station – from there, just fill in your details and put: The Woodenelves in the Your VOTE box.. and feel free to get your friends and family to vote too!

The voting will be counted within the next week so if you could place your vote as soon as possible that would be greatly appreciated.

If you would like to listen to some of their fantastic music, just head to The Woodenelves MySpace page, its great stuff!!

Thanks very much for your help and good luck to Travis and the Band!

Well for those of you who don’t follow English Football (or Soccer as we call it in Australia) Sydney FC (Sydney Football Club) has defeated LA Galaxy 5-3 in their friendly match at Telstra stadium in Sydney tonight in front of 83,000 fans.

Image courtesy of Sky News.

It was a great match and David Beckham was in fine form with one of his trademark penalty goals.

So what does David Beckham have in common with domain names?

Well you would only have missed the Sydney.com domain name painted on the grass next to the goals if you were blind. Not to mention all the flashing and scrolling billboards along the edge of the pitch. I am not sure the numbers of the global audience, but it would had to have been in the tens of millions.

Now while all the other advertisers were displaying all sorts of hard to recall images, Sydney.com stood out the most and was the one that can had the easiest time remembering after the match. Easy just type in sydney.com in the address bar on my browser and hey presto, I’m there. The others I would have to do a fair bit of searching before I would find what I was looking for.

So as far as I am concerned it was a win for Sydney FC & a win for www.sydney.com

Go domain names!!

PS. Do you think that I gave enough links back to www.sydney.com LOL

Ron Jackson from http://www.dnjournal.com interviews Leland Hardy.

Here is a snippet from the article.

The Domain World’s Renaissance Man: A Ringside Seat With NewYork.com

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He’s been a brilliant scholar, a pro boxer, a big time sports agent and a Wall Street wizard – and Leland Hardy is just getting started.

Born into an over-achieving family that excelled in academics, Leland Hardy simultaneously fit the family mold by learning multiple languages and earning a Wharton MBA and broke it as a professional boxer who became a close friend to Muhammad Ali. Boxing and becoming a Wall Street wizard are two disciplines that rarely go hand in hand. But that’s not all. Hardy was also a sports agent, representing several NFL and NBA stars, the business advisor to tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams and a business partner with rap superstar Master P. To add further spice to the mix, in 1994 he hand registered what would become one of the world’s most valuable domain names, NewYork.com, a name he continues to hold today (along with over a thousand others).

Go here for the whole story, you won’t regret it!

Microsoft MCTS 70-640 and MB2-633: Microsoft Dynamics CRM certification exams are designed for those who are serious about their career in IT. The highest value certification exam IBM 000-331 Power Systems Sales for AIX and Linux and 000-223 IBM System p Administrator will help you enhance your career options. The top level revenue generating certification exam is a Cisco 650-575 LCSAS Lifecycle Services Advanced Security exam.

I can remember when Google started as it was only a few weeks or so after my daughter Sasha was born.

It seemed like a very basic interface at the time and one that has not changed much since then with the very clean lines and one search bar. The thing that I always liked about Google from the beginning was that I always seemed to find what I was looking for within the first three pages where the other search engines it was not uncommon to end up 10 pages deep before I had the desired results.

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Google has listed on the US Stock Exchange and has mad Multi-Billionaires from its two founders and many Multi-Millionaires from other stock holders and employees of Google.

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So happy birthday to Google, I am sure there will be a large party at the Googleplex!

50 Great e-Businesses and the Minds Behind Them by Emily Ross & Angus Holland who are both from Melbourne , Australia

50 Great e-Businesses Book Cover.jpg

It reviews the history behind some of very well known e-businesses like eBay, Google, PayPal and some of the not so huge or well known ones but still very successful.

The stories of these start-ups is so wide and varied it should give people some idea of what is possible for businesses on the internet.

This book is hot off the press and I am not sure that it is available outside of Australia at the time of this post being written. For more info please go to the the publishers site Random House Australia. It is well worth your time and effort IMHO!

See below for more details from the publisher.

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Another book of business case studies – short, sharp and motivational – from the authors of the bestselling 100 GREAT BUSINESSES AND THE MINDS BEHIND THEM.

Description of book

Creating profitable businesses on the internet is no mean feat and, as anyone who has watched the rise of eBay or Amazon knows, the web has forever changed the way we do business. Now the bestselling authors of 100 GREAT BUSINESSES AND THE MINDS BEHIND THEM take a look at some of the smartest, most profitable internet businesses operating today, and reveal that whether big, small, local or on the other side of the planet, when it’s web business, it’s a small, fascinating world, with potentially limitless opportunities.

This collection of 50 case studies from around the world offers valuable inspiration, ideas and lessons on the principles of successful internet businesses – from travel (kayak.com) to sex (Danni Ashe), in cyberspace there is a new way to sell everything. The founders of sites like lastminute.com, netaporter.com and collegehumor.com provide lasting lessons on the art of building an e-business success rather than a dot.com bomb. It’s all about web innovation, timing and tapping into those billions of customers.

50 GREAT E-BUSINESSES AND THE MINDS BEHIND THEM delves into thriving sites in the areas of travel, gambling, sex, retail, blogging, medical testing, financial services, celebrities, astrology and other entertainment. And with fresh updates on Google, Dell, and CraigsList covering all of their innovations, where better to look for e-business advice than from the world’s best?