This has to be one of the poorest naming/branding moves I’ve seen in a while. Cuil.com just launched, and apparently the term “cuil” is suppose to be pronounced “cool.” This big news is currently being covered on the homepage of CNN. My buddy Thunayan (who never sells his company’s domain names) already has a search engine on Cool.com. Seriously, what were they thinking? This doesn’t pass the radio/tv test.
I just picked up two pretty strong legal domain names. Chances are good that I will develop one of them using a legal affiliate relationship and possibly a directory, and I will probably sell the other one. Both domain names are common legal terms, and they both have fairly strong search numbers according to Aaron Wall’s Search Tool. Which do you think is the better domain name?
PrenuptialAgreement.com
1,200,000 Google results for “prenuptial agreement”
Many top and side advertisers several pages deep
Aaron Wall’s Keyword Tool – 173 daily count
LastWillAndTestament.com
1,120,000 Google results for “last will and testament”
Many top and side advertisers several pages deep
Aaron Wall’s Keyword Tool – 340 daily count
LegalZoom has a great affiliate program for these legal agreements
Which would you keep and which would you sell?
If you are exploring ways to get to New York City for TRAFFIC in September and you live in the northeast, I would recommend taking Bolt Bus, which is owned and operated by Greyhound. I just returned from a trip to Lowell, Massachusetts via Boston and took Bolt Bus to get their. Not only is the price just about the same as a trip on a Chinatown bus line, but they offer free WiFi to stay connected while on the road. Yes, I have a Blackberry to check email, but I was able to do other things wirelessly while on my way up north.
Bolt Bus has stops in Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC and New York City. Although they don’t operate out of New York’s Port Authority yet, it is still easy to find the bus. Once in New York, you can quickly grab a cab or jump on the train to get to the hotel in Brooklyn. If you want/need to stay connected while traveling to/from New York, I highly recommend taking Bolt Bus.
The goal of most websites (and businesses) is to generate “stickiness,” which is basically attracting visitors and keeping them coming back to the website or business for more of what is being offered. There are various ways a company or website can create stickiness, such as providing updated news and information (which can be time consuming and expensive) or having the visitors create their own content to bring them back.
Yesterday, I launched a forum on TropicalBirds.com in an effort to create stickiness. I have been very happy with the growth of the site so far, but I want to give visitors a reason to return. I continue to add new content and videos to the site (no need for .TV – joking – take it easy), and traffic is rising as it gains traction in Google. Although the site hasn’t gained much traction in Yahoo yet, I am optimistic that it will come in time.
I added links to the forum on the sidebar of every page in TropicalBirds.com, and I also added calls to action throughout the site. Since tropical bird watching is a fairly popular hobby, I believe people will be interested in discussing everything related to tropical birds in the forum. Hopefully this will create stickiness, which should help the site grow.
The challenge will be turning the eyeballs into dollars. Based on my minimal experience so far, I believe there are plenty of advertisers in this space who will be interested in capturing the attention of tropical bird enthusiasts who visit the site, and I will be able to accommodate their advertising needs when the time comes. As I mentioned before, when I reached out to bird breeders about free listings on the site, I had one breeder who requested a featured listing on the site, and now she is the featured breeder in six categories.
While generating advertising revenue isn’t as easy as that was, I believe advertisers will want to put their products in front of interested eyeballs. I am spending the time and money to build a place for likeminded people to discuss tropical birds, and I wanted to share this strategy with those of you who are in the midst of development. As always, if you have any questions, I am happy to help if I can.
I think that every domain investor (and people in other businesses) should have an “end game,” or at least be working on establishing an end game as their business develops. What are your ultimate goals for your domain business? I think it’s very important for people to set goals – both business goals and personal goals. Everything that you do should be related to achieve your end game in some way. Whether it is an acquistion, developed website, or a sale, everything should be done to bring you closer to achieving your end game.
Part of my personal end game was outlined in a post I made a few months ago. Essentially, I want to have 2 fully developed geographic domain names that are generating advertising revenues. I also want to have 2 product/service related websites that are generating revenue from advertising or inventory sales. Whenever I acquire a domain name, I analyze whether it can become a part of my “perfect portfolio” or whether it will help me to get to the perfect portfolio by selling it for a profit. I am building new mini-sites that can be grown into full websites and continue to acquire new domain names (PrenuptialAgreement.com and LastWillAndTestament.com last week).
While I think I am on my way to achieving my 5 year goal, I also need to think about the end game, which I certainly hope isn’t in five years. What is my end game right now? I really don’t have a clear vision right now, but it is something that has been evolving. I think it’s something to think about as you continue to grow your business.
I’ve seen quite a few logo-less mini sites (including one of my own), and as a person with a marketing background, I believe a logo is essential for a website. While search engines should bring a well designed website a large percentage of its traffic, it’s important to remember that a logo will help visitors remember your website’s name, making it easier for them to find it again in the future. Just about all of my websites have nice logos (at least in my opinion), and there are a variety of options out there for finding a good logo.
If you look around at brands from around the world – both large and small – almost every one of them has a logo to stand out from their competition. Some might be plain logos, while others are more elaborate, but the purpose is for customer recollection, brand positioning, and general marketing of the company. The same should go for your websites, as a logo makes the site – even a mini-site, look like its an official company rather than just a traffic-driving website built to generate revenues from PPC advertising. I received several compliments from people in the birding industry when I introduced TropicalBirds.com, and this allowed me to establish link trades of relevant websites. Without a logo, I doubt this site would have been taken seriously.
I have a web designer that created my geodomain logos, incorporating a variety of elements from each city. My other logos were designed by a company called LogoJeez, which has pretty quick turn-arounds. I always get the least expensive package knowing that they will re-do a logo if I am not satisfied with the initial 4 concepts. I’ve also used 99designs.com for a logo design contest, which I used for my blog’s header and my company’s corporate look/feel. There are plenty of options out there for logos that range in price from $100+.
As my track coach used to tell me, if you are going to do something, don’t do it half-assed. If you are going to build a website on a nice domain name with good content and SEO, you might as well pay a bit more and make it look even more professional.
