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Google Local for Small Business & Domainers

Elliot Silver
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6

When new acquaintances learn that I am a domain investor, one of the first questions I am frequently asked by those who own businesses is, “can you look at my website?”   People might not understand exactly what I do, but many they assume it’s website related, and I have found that many small business owners aren’t completely content with their web businesses and think I may be able to help.

Since I am not an SEO expert nor am I one to judge the creativity of someone else, I frequently feel a bit helpless when I check out their site. I’ve given small tips that are SEO basics, but it’s difficult to tell a small business owner that I think he should spend $xx,xxx on his category defining domain name, because it’s unaffordable for many, and for others, they have no interest in expanding their business outside of the local market.

That said, I always felt guilty not being able to offer some good advice until recently when I realized I did know something important that many business owners don’t already know. Google Local is a fantastic way to reach potential customers looking for a type of business in a particular area. Google Local results are the listings you see next to the map at the top of the results page when searching for some geo keyword listings.

I’ve found that many people don’t know how to get listed there, and they really appreciate this tidbit of knowledge. It’s easy to sign up for a listing on the Google Local page, and a business can get listed in several categories. This free listing is especially beneficial for small companies because they can compete with the largest businesses in the area.

For domainers that are developing, I also discovered something of interest. I’ve learned that Google tends to consider subdomains as separate websites.This means that a website can have multiple listings on Google Local, which would be beneficial in smaller markets where there is less competition. Imagine a market with 3 hotels, and 10 listings, with the other 7 being for hotel booking sites.

I discovered that there is at least one company who   signed up with Google Local under a variety of subdomains for a city and it has several listings, with all subdomains forwarding to one primary website. For example, they have set up subdomains like BostonSpaHotels.xyzdomainname.com, BostonResortHotels.xyzdomainname.com…etc. I think this is a brilliant idea for the hotel pages since these leads can be converted using a hotel booking widget from affiliates such as WCT or IAN, but it could also be used for other directory sites – and the only real cost is the set up time.

I think Google Local is a great tool and should be used by all small businesses and websites to increase their reach.

SusanBoyle.com Now For Sale

Elliot Silver
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15

Ordinarily I wouldn’t write about the sale of a “famous” person’s domain name, but this is a different story. Andrew wrote about Susan Boyle, the Texas artist who initially registered SusanBoyle.com several years ago as a place to exhibit her artwork. Recently, another Susan Boyle became famous after her inspiring appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, and it looks like both Boyles are going to make money from it.

According to an article in UK’s Guardian,   the American artist Susan Boyle “consulted a company called Sedo that sells domain names and, following their advice, has now put her web address up for sale for a cool $25,000. She hasn’t sold it. Yet.”

It will be interesting to see if someone buys the name, and assuming that happens, if the buyer will be able to create a non-infringing website on the domain name, as the name “Susan Boyle” has become famous. In my opinion, the production company would be wise to buy this valuable domain name, although they don’t own BritainsGotTalent.com although they do own BritainsGotTalent.co.uk. If you’re wondering, SusanBoyle.co.uk is a fan site monetized with Adsense, and currently ranked 513,478 in Alexa.

This will be interesting to watch.

Annual Review of My Perfect Portfolio

Elliot Silver
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15

A little over a year ago, I wrote a blog post about what I envision my perfect domain portfolio to look like in 5 years. I think about this post on occasion, and I think a year later is a good time to review it again and see how I am doing and if anything has changed over the last year.

The first goal was that “I will have 2 fully developed city .com geographic domain names that are benefiting each community and the advertisers.” I am on target with this, owning Burbank.com, Lowell.com, and Newburyport.com, a smaller city in Massachusetts. It seems that traffic increases each month, communication with organizations and businesses increase, and the interest in the sites is growing. I still haven’t spent a lot of time working with advertisers, but the sites are making money and the groundwork is being laid.

The second goal was that “I will have 2 developed product/service based websites.”   I was   referring more towards a model like Warren has with Bobbleheads.com and I don’t have one yet – although I see that being an aspect of Torah.com. There are several names that are available to buy that are just outside of my price range right now, but things can change over time. Since I am so busy on other projects, it’s probably better to keep my cash liquid rather than locked up in a domain name I want to develop – as the necessity to sell would impact the business model.

Goal number three was to “have 15-20 domain names of friends and family.” I am well on my way with this one, as I own the domain names of friends and family who I know are going to get more successful as time passes and will neeed their domain name down the road. One of my friends will probably follow his dad into politics, and I will be very happy to give him his domain name any time he wants it. It feels good to be able to secure a friends’ domain name when I know they will need them, but they don’t realize it yet.

The final goal was to “own 10-20 speculative .com domain names.” At this point, I am still way above this number, and I don’t see it shrinking any time soon.

So… how have changes during the last year changed my perfect portfolio plans?

1) I have a number of smallish but growing mini-sites. These require little upkeep but continue to make money. They might not make a lot of money, but they are all on target to make a good amount over registration fee, so they pay for themselves and more. I would have added that I’d like to have a number of great mini-sites contributing to the bottom line.

2) I am not generating enough advertising revenue from my developed websites, so I can’t decrease the amount of domain sales I do. Consequently, I still own a lot of names that I am selling to make money. With an uptick in blog advertising revenue I am a little bit less dependent on domain sales.

3) I didn’t even mention anything about my blog in my initial post. A year ago, I never looked at my blog as a business. When I changed the design and offered more/better advertising space, I was overwhelmed with the response. As much as I enjoy blogging, last year, there were a few times where I felt the need to stop blogging because it was taking up way too much time and not earning very much money. As a result of the re-design, I am now making enough money to justify the time I put into the blog.

4) The economy has changed pretty dramatically since April of 2008, and I am spending more money on building a business than on domain investments.

Register Domain Names for Friends & Family

Elliot Silver
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11

For the past year or so, I have been registering the first / last name .com domain names for some of my friends and family, with their permission (and appreciation). As surprising as it is with all the Godaddy Super Bowl commercials and other technological advancements, some smart people don’t really know where to register a domain name. A simple Google search would yield the results, but many people don’t really think about buying their .com domain name anyway.

As almost anyone who is reading this blog knows, owning your personal domain name is important for many, and even critical for some. Politicians, for example, build a brand around themselves, and they should have their .com domain name if possible to help market the brand – and of course keep it out of the hands of competitors. Other people who aren’t politicians should try to have their .com domain name for business or personal blogs, and many lawyers, doctors, and other professionals market themselves much like politicians.

Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the importance until it is too late, and the domain name is owned by someone else and the asking price is either too high, or the site is already fully developed. I don’t own my domain name in the .com, although I would like to own it, and my wife does, courtesy of a gift from Rick Latona & Co. I know that it sucks to not have my .com domain name, and I don’t really even need it, so I can imagine what friends of mine would feel if they actually needed their .com domain name for business reasons.

That said, I have been buying their .com domain names when available to keep until they are needed. To be clear, my friends know I am buying the names, are very good friends of mine, and they can have the names at any time with no expectations of anything. It might get expensive at $8/year if there are numerous domain names, but they’re my closest friends and I am happy to help them out.

If you have good friends that don’t own their .com domain names, maybe you should ask them about buying them on their behalf, or strongly recommending that they go out and buy them. They might not need the names now, but they will certainly be happy to have them down the road.

Free Credit Report* .com

Elliot Silver
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9

I read Jamie’s post about the folks behind the “Free Credit Report .com” commercials and agree that it will be interesting to see what happens with their direct marketing campaign, which includes television and interactive media. If you didn’t read Jamie’s post – or are too lazy to click over, basically the Free Credit Report people can’t say that their product is free, as a result of the new credit card legislation. They also must link to AnnualCreditReport.com, which does provide the free annual credit reports.

One thing I did notice is that the company behind AnnualCreditReport.com seems to understand domain names and consumer behavior, as they have also registered typos, including AnnualCreditReports.com, AnualCreditReport.com, and AnnualCreditReort.com. I can’t definitively confirm this because the registrations are private, but all were registered around the same date, and all are hosted on the same name servers.

However, as smart as this company is, they are also pretty dumb. They bought the typo domain names, presumably for defensive purposes, but none of them resolve! Instead of forwarding the traffic from the typos, they go to an error page. This is a stupid mistake!

If you are going to buy defensive domain names, especially if they are typos and the visitor intended to visit the site, you should make sure they resolve to the right place! I suppose it might not be necessary if your defensive registration is something like AnnualCreditReportSucks.com or something like that where you just don’t want someone else owning it, but at least lead the way for the fat fingered potential customers/visitors who mistype your correct domain name!

Names I Like vs Names I Like to Sell

Elliot Silver
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3

For my business model to work right now, I need to buy and sell a few premium domain names each month. On occasion, I will keep and develop a domain name that fits within my development plan – for example, when I buy a geographic domain name I want to build out. I don’t really have the time or inclination to operate additional websites at this point, because I look at my websites as incubating businesses that take considerable time to manage.

I frequently run into a problem when buying a great domain name. Because I tend to focus on verticals and industries in which I am familiar, I often buy names I’d love to own rather than sell. If I kept all the names I bought, I would have been broke a long time ago, so keeping everything isn’t an option. I face this predicament monthly, and I bet there are others who have the same issue.

My advice to others is to keep what you can afford, but sell what you need to sell to stay liquid. In my opinion, there isn’t much of a point to being “wealthy on paper” while being cash poor at the same time. You can frequently come back to the person you sold it to and make an offer down the road if necessary. With the funds you used from the sale of that name, you probably made better acquisitions and bigger sales, so you can afford to pay a premium for that domain name if necessary.

If you don’t want to take a chance at not having the opportunity to keep the domain name, you should think about financing options. Domain Capital and DigiLoan both offer different domain financing, and both companies are operated by domain savvy business people. With domain financing, you can stay liquid while keeping your prized domain names.

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