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Domain Tools I Use Daily

Elliot Silver
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9

There are a number of tools that I frequently use to evaluate domain sales and acquisitions. Some of them are domain-specific, but others are used to evaluate traffic and revenue potential. Here are some of the websites with tools I use just about every day.

  • FreshDrop.net – I use Fresh Drop just about every day to evaluate dropping/expiring domain names on Snapnames and Namejet. There are a whole lot of analytics you can track, including incoming links, domain age, pagerank, number of other extensions registered, and a variety of other options. Members can save filters, allowing them to use the site with more consistency and more quickly.
  • DomainTools – DomainTools is probably the “grandfather” of all domain-related tools. I use DomainTools for my Whois lookups, Whois history search, and frequently the Reverse IP search when attempting to buy domain names. I think everyone who is involved in the domain space should have a DomainTools account.
  • Google Adwords Keyword Tool – Frequently referred to simply as “GAKT,” this tool is helpful in analyzing keyword search volume as well as the cost advertisers are paying per click. There are many search options here, but I prefer to use the local exact match search.
  • Domaining.com – I don’t know if I would really call Domaining.com a tool per se, but it’s a resource I use every day to stay on top of the news in our business.

Using Your Domain Name in Another Company’s Google Local Listing

Elliot Silver
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9

I found something very interesting today while looking for a hotel in Paris and think it’s a pretty great way to drive traffic to a domain name, although I am not exactly sure if it’s legit if Google were to know about. I am not going to name the url but want to share this story anyway.

I found a hotel that looked interesting to me via Orbitz, and I wanted to see where it was located in the city. I did a Google search for it, and the top result was the Google Local business listing, which contained the address, map, phone number, and url for the hotel (3 hyphen .com name).

When I clicked the url and opened it in a new window, it was a hotel booking engine that looked very familiar to me. It was a one page website, and although it was in French, I saw that there was very little to the website aside from the booking engine. A Whois search confirmed what I suspected, and the domain name was privately owned and unrelated to the hotel.

I don’t know if this is legit and/or against Google’s TOS, but it’s pretty ingenious for a company or person to have their domain name inserted into the Google Local result, especially when that comes up #1. Ironically, the hotel’s official website is ranked #3 for a search of the hotel, with TripAdvisor.com coming in at #2.

Some Sunday Thoughts

Elliot Silver
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17

It’s another lazy(ish) Sunday, and here are some things I am thinking about today. Hope you have a great afternoon!

  • Does anyone know of a tool/script that I can use to analyze names at Snapnames and Namejet? Specifically, I would like to load a list of names (10,000 or more) into the tool, and it will spit out the GAKT exact matches, # of results in Google, # of advertisers in Google for that keyword, Average PPC for the term, and Ovt for the domain name as of the last update? I’d imagine it would require someone knowledgeable about programming and Google.
  • For those who don’t know (some people asked in a previous post) GAKT stands for Google Adwords: Keyword Tool, and it can be found in your Adwords account. I only use the exact match searches to get an idea about how many people are looking for those keywords. It’s not an indicator of type in traffic to me, but it does show how many people are looking for information about that topic every month.
  • I am very thankful that the earthquake in Chile and subsequent tsunami action seems to have relatively limited casualties. I have a friend who has been traveling to Chile and I heard from him today (he wasn’t there). Glad that he wasn’t impacted.
  • I hope this doesn’t come off as “jerky” but I want to give a quick tip when registering domain names. Any name could be developed into just about anything. When buying names, think about whether you will spend the time to develop it or whether someone else will realistically pay you for the rights to do it. I would much rather own one good name that I bought for $2,500 than 300 newly registered names. If you don’t end up selling them, you’re just going to double your carrying costs the next year.

Google Launches Nexus One Sans Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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0


As you probably know by now, Google launched their version of a mobile phone today called the “Nexus One.”   Unfortunately for Google, they don’t own NexusOne.com, since it was originally registered in 1998. At the moment, NexusOne.com is owned by Peter Villanueva, and the domain name forwards to several different websites depending on when you visit.

I would imagine the owner is probably sending traffic to other (non-phone related websites)   because of the significant traffic its servers are receiving. Should he try to monetize the traffic, Google could potentially have a claim that the owner is infringing on its rights. Of course I am no lawyer, but I do know the domain name is worth a significant amount of money now, and it wouldn’t be worth the risk of losing it to make short term revenue.

Back when it was revealed that Apple was coming out with their iPhone, they had intense negotiations with Mike Kovatch, which resulted in the sale of iPhone.com just prior to the launch. It would behoove Google to find Peter and make him an offer he can’t refuse. Of course, since they own the search engine where many people will go to search for this “iPhone killer,” it’s very likely there will still be significant type-in traffic that shouldn’t be lost.

Google PageRank Update for the New Year

Elliot Silver
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0

A friend of mine emailed me early this afternoon to let me know that Google updated the Page Rank of my website to PR5.   Apparently, Google updated the PR for many websites some time in the last 24 hours or so. The meaning and impact of a website’s PageRank is debated, but a PR5 is better than a PR4 🙂

Here are how 20 of the Domain Superstar Top 100 Domain Blogs rank in PR:

  1. DomainTools Blog – PR6
  2. ICANN Blog – PR7
  3. Namedrive Blog – PR4
  4. Afternic DLS Blog – PR6
  5. DNJournal – PR5
  6. Domain Name Wire – PR5
  7. TheDomains.com – PR5
  8. WhyPark Blog – PR3
  9. ElliotsBlog.com – PR5
  10. Dot Sauce – PR5
  11. MobiForge.com – PR5
  12. Domain Name News – PR6
  13. ChefPatrick.com – PR4
  14. Fusible – PR1
  15. DomainGang.com – PR3
  16. InForum Blog – PR4
  17. BruceMarler.com – PR4
  18. RickLatona.com – PR4
  19. DotWeekly.com – PR4
  20. DomainNews.com – PR5

Online Adwords Campaign vs. Offline Marketing

Elliot Silver
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16

I am still a novice when it comes to Google Adwords advertising, but I have been learning for various projects. One such project is DogWalker.com, and I have been actively spending money on keyword buys. I got some solid traffic as a result, although the cost was relatively high – somewhere between $.31 – $1.00 per visitor.Overall, the cost per click I am paying is $0.39.

This morning, I tried a more traditional approach, using offline marketing. I posted an advertisement on Craigslist asking for someone to hand out magnets in Central Park for an hour, from 8am – 9am, as dog owners can have their dogs off leash until 9am.   I know people keep this type of magnet, as I have very few things on my refrigerator, but there’s a 24/7 veterinarian magnet on it. She wished the dog owners a good morning and said something to the affect of “if you ever need a dog walker, please visit DogWalker.com.”

During this hour, the person I hired handed out around 100 magnets or so. The total cost was $15, which was probably generous, since I had about 30 responses. I think I got what I paid for though because her personality was more than I expected. Anyhow, the total cost per interaction was $0.15 – over 50% less than the cost per click on Adwords.

The big differences are:

  • Adwords targets people when they need a dog walker
  • My Adwords campaign has not simply targeted cities where there are listings, although they should.
  • Magnets have more of a lifetime when they’re put on a fridge, and the interaction lets the person know about the site.

What this means to me is that I am going to be doing more magnet hand outs in parks across the city, and I may lower my rate to $10/hour. I am also going to change my targeting on Adwords and focus on dog owners in cities where I have listings. I will also target people looking to find dog walking jobs/work in a separate campaign.

As much as we spend a lot of time online, we can’t forget traditional marketing tactics.

On a separate note, Bruce Marler had a good post about drinking and driving today… be safe this holiday season.

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