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Blocking WordPress Spam with Akismet

Elliot Silver
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5

Comment spam is a nuisance just about every WordPress blog owner faces. I use the free Akismet WordPress plugin to block spam comments on my blog and my other WordPress-based websites. Akismet has blocked hundreds of thousands of spam comments from appearing on my blog and annoying readers.

One thing I’ve noticed quite a bit of lately are repetitive comments that are made by different people (or maybe even bots) that try to embed links or have keyword anchor text, and they aren’t being blocked by Akismet. Despite having “nofollow” tag attribute on all comments and in the comment section of my blog, people still think they may get some search engine benefits from posting links.

There are a couple of tell-tale signs that a comment may be spam. Of course it’s quite obvious when there are  keywords in lieu of a person’s name (some people always do this though). The other thing that people try is copying someone else’s comment word for word but they add a link below the comment. I guess they assume many people will just approve the comment and not notice the link.

It’s unlikely that these comments will be harmful to a blog, but they are certainly annoying to read. Akismet is a helpful plugin, but it doesn’t always do the trick.

Directories Can Be a PITA

Elliot Silver
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31

I’ve chosen the directory model for a few of my developed websites, and since one has several hundred paying customers, I think I can give some feedback about building and managing directory websites based on my experience.

Building a directory site can be a bit difficult if you start from scratch or customize a theme you like, but once you’ve got a design and platform that works, replicating it can generally cost just a few hundred dollars and should take several hours to complete. This doesn’t include the time and maybe money spent researching, marketing, and advertising the site, but rather just the cost of getting it started. All in all, it’s not too  onerous, which makes this a very good model for me.

If you haven’t managed a directory website before where people pay for listings, I can tell you from experience that they can be a pain in the ass, especially when you are working with small businesses.

People can be demanding when you ask them to spend their hard earned money on a listing. Some might not understand why an Internet directory listing is worth the price, despite the fact that they continually spend thousands of dollars on phone book advertising and newspaper ads. Many want to talk on the phone or in person before committing. It’s not the end of the world, but I would prefer to not have an hour-long conversation (or more) with just the chance of earning $49 for the listing.

Many small business owners will want or expect special  accommodations to be made for them (the standard listing page won’t be decorative or colorful enough). Others will ask you to make changes to their listing frequently. You’ll have people who want a listing but can’t complete it themselves and will require you to create it for them and then make changes. Some of your clients will expect instantaneous results, and they will complain to you when they haven’t received a single lead after 24 hours.

You will have a considerable amount of people who will create a listing but won’t be able to pay. Some just won’t be able to pay using the payment methods you offer. People will forget about their listing and file complaints with Paypal when their listing automatically renews…. the list goes on and on, and it can be difficult to manage an active directory.

Directories are great because they are fairly easy to set up, and customer-created listings help drive increased traffic to the website. They offer a strong recurring revenue stream, especially when your site gets significant amounts of traffic. However, there are plenty of frustrating aspects to managing a directory, so you should know what you’re getting into before you get started.

GoDaddy Coupon Code: 30% Off .CO Domain Name Renewal

Elliot Silver
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29

Last month on DomainQuestions.com, someone asked if there were any coupon codes at GoDaddy for .CO domain name renewals. It took some time, but it appears that GoDaddy has activated a coupon code for domain owners to save 30% off the list price for .CO renewals.

I don’t know if or when this expires, nor do I know if there’s a limit on how many names can be renewed. Others have confirmed that this code works: gdz637cd

There is a lot of speculation that the .CO Registry will see a huge amount of dropped domain names when the first renewals begin sometime around July 19th. With good deals on renewals and transfers, I would imagine that there will be fewer dropping .CO domain names.

Personally, I believe there will be a very large number of dropping names, but I would bet that others will see many of these names and re-register them when they are able to do so. Mike Berkens recently discussed the .CO backorder reservation system in case you are interested in learning how these names can be re-purchased.

Tell Us About Your New Domain Related Products or Services

Elliot Silver
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14

I get a few emails a month from people asking me to review their new product or service. I generally have a quick look, but unless it’s something I know will help or improve my business, I can’t spend the time going through it, let alone reviewing it for others. It takes time away from my work, and it wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone for me to post a half-assed review.

That being said, I do want others to know about new domain name related products and services that are out there and available for domain investors to use. Something that might not be necessary for my business may be very helpful to someone else.

In the comment section of this post, I welcome you to post information about your new domain name related product or service. To make this as beneficial as possible, please let us know the following about it:

  • Name of your product/service and where it can be found
  • Summary of what you are offering
  • Reason why it’s different than what’s already out there
  • Price of the service and special discount or offer to ElliotsBlog.com readers (ie first month free, 10% off…etc)
  • Who manages/operates the product or service

As I mentioned a week ago, I am on vacation until the end of July and comments may take a bit of time to be published.

Domain Market / Domain Asset Holdings Changes Landing Pages: No More PPC Links

Elliot Silver
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2

I happened to come across a domain name owned by Mike Mann’s Domain Asset Holdings, and I noticed the company recently changed its landing pages. A cross check with some other DAH landing pages confirmed this. The changes between the new landers and old landers are pretty distinct, and because Mann is often on the leading edge when it comes to domain acquisitions and sales, I think it’s something others should note.

As you can see in the embedded image above (and by visiting an example like PublicEmployees.com), gone are the PPC links that were usually shown. In its place are links to Mann’s businesses like SEO.com, Phone.com,  DomainMarket.com, and many others. In addition, links to Mann’s charitable causes are also prominent.

According to Mann, this was a business decision because it is more profitable to upsell and cross-sell his products and services than to earn revenue from the PPC links that were previously on the landing pages. “If we merely sell a few accounts at our other companies with all that traffic its much more valuable,” said Mann.

It’s no surprise that there are brightly colored for sale links and contact information for people looking to purchase one of the domain names. I’ve heard from a couple of people that offers on domain names parked at Frank Schilling’s Internet Traffic are considerably greater than before, likely because of the bright orange strip at the top announcing a name is for sale, and I would imagine the bright green call to action on Mann’s domain names will ensure offers continue to come in to his sales team.

It will be interesting to see how long this change lasts, and it will also be interesting to see if other tests are in the works. It seems like a bold move from Mann though.

As I mentioned a week ago, I am on vacation until the end of July and comments may take a bit of time to be published.

Guest Post from Ashley Forker: Name.com, Now With Mint Flavor

Elliot Silver
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8

Name.com LogoThis is a guest post from Ashley Forker, Marketing Coordinator at Name.com. I asked Ashley to give some insight into the re-design of the Name.com website and tell you what’s new and what’s changed.

A big thank you to Elliot for the opportunity to introduce everyone to the new Name.com brand!

Our rejuvenated brand marks a new era for Name.com, we hope you’re ready for all the exciting changes and new products to come. A dedication to innovation is the driving force behind our new brand. That means you can expect a plethora of new tools, products, and features to help you find great domain names and start capitalizing on them. Our new brand is a refreshing step forward for us as it allows much more of our personality to shine through.

If you’ve done business with us in the past you’ve more than likely picked up on our casual, friendly vibe (our intelligent customer support team does not read from a script for example). Our customers also witness our inventiveness first hand by using our unique tools such as the newly launched DNS Traffic Score tool. Our new brand’s aim is to take our technical sophistication and communicate it in a less mechanical way. Our updated design feels more free-spirited and less structured, yet still technologically progressive, which is a much better reflection of who we are. In other words, we’re a little less robotic and a little more Pollck.

Our main goal all along has been to make the web more fun, more useful, and more accessible. We feel our new brand reflects this goal as well as some of the new products we’ll be launching in the coming months including an extremely user friendly website builder, a SEO tool, an iPhone app, and much more. Along with these new products we’re always experimenting and playing around in the Name.com sandbox that is Name.com Labs.

The new homepage and header/footer are just the start of the changes we’ll be making to our site between now and the end of the year. We are completely revamping our search, checkout, and account management tools to make searching, registering, and managing your domains and products even easier. Don’t worry, we know our customers love us for our simple, easy to use, and non-cluttered interface and we intend to only enhance these features during the upcoming redesigns. We understand what’s important to our customers and we’ll stay true to those core values as we move forward.

Along with these exciting product launches, we will continue with our large security initiative over the next three months. Though we already feel we’re a leader in the industry, we’ll be launching a handful of new security features and products to insure your domains and products are as safe as they can possibly be.

As you can see, we have a lot up our sleeve. The momentum around the office has been building for a while now, we felt it was the right time to update our brand to better reflect who we are and set the stage for what’s to come. Stay tuned, this is really just the beginning!

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