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Buying Domain Names for Expected Growth

Parking MeterIn the New York Post this morning, I read about a cool new iPhone application that is awaiting approval from Apple called NYC Broken Meters. Users will be able to find broken parking meters in New York City, syncing information provided by the city with GPS mapping. Since NYC allows people to park at broken meters for one hour for free, it’s a handy tool.

The company plans to operate its website on the domain name NYCBrokenMeters.com, which is perfectly fine. However, I do think it would have been smarter of them to buy up other city BrokenMeters.com domain names for future growth. I think this is a neat app, which isn’t limited to one city. If the city of Chicago would release this information the same way as the city of New York, they could easily create Chicago Broken Meters…etc.

People often ask for my opinion on buying extended names like this, and I think this would be a good example of when it’s a good idea. If your company has the ability to easily expand to other areas, even if it’s not quite in the cards yet, I think it’s wise to spend the extra $10/name to buy those other domain names. Whether we’re talking cities, towns, products…etc.

Not only do you risk a competitor taking domain names that could match, but there are others who could register them and make you pay out the nose when you’re ready to move forward. It’s usually just a matter of time before someone else will grab them.

Latonas.com Launches & Hosts WhyPark Charity Auction

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logoRick Latona announced the launch of Latonas.com today, unveiling a sleek new website which will be the home to his company’s brokerage services and auction platform. The concept behind Latonas.com is to give life to the standard stodgy domain auction platform.

The first domain auction that will be hosted on Latonas.com is the WhyPark Charity auction, which I wrote about in November. In this auction, the person who makes the single highest bid gets to choose the non-profit recipient of the proceeds. Rick Latona has donated all of his services, so every penny collected is going to that charity.

This is a win/win for all parties. Rick gets an opportunity to test drive his platform, WhyPark has a wide-reaching platform on which it can run its charity auction, and one charity (or more) will benefit from the proceeds of the auction.

When you have a chance, take a look at the domains in auction and register for an account on Latonas.com.

Guest Post: Craig Rowe on Setting Up a Network of Domain Names on WhyPark

Elliot contacted me looking to quickly setup 54 long-tail domains on WhyPark relating to real estate agents and home loans in different cities. The objective was to include content relevant to the subject and/or city being targeted, develop new traffic and revenue that doesn’t currently exist on these domains, and generate domain sales leads.

The following is a quick overview of how the domains were setup on the WhyPark platform, followed by some thoughts on how to help these domains attract visitors from related sites and search engines.

Step 1: After logging into Elliot’s WhyPark account, I created the following groups to easily manage the domains:

  • Real Estate Agent
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Mortgages
  • Home Loans

step1

Step 2: I copied each group of names from the list sent and used our “Bulk Add Sites” to quickly add the domains to each group with the same settings. Since one goal is to attract end-user sales, I’ve selected that the domain is for sale. That will automatically add the “for sale” link on each domain and also the inquiry form for buyers to easily contact Elliot.

step2

Step 3: I let the bulk import do its magic for a few minutes while it does the following:

  • Splits the domain names into keyword rich site titles (coralspringsrealestateagents.com to “Coral Springs Real Estate Agents”)
  • Creates keyword lists to be used in article matching
  • Creates relevant Related Search terms that will lead to pay per click revenue through the top-tier advertising feed.
  • Writes a quick meta description by integrating the most popular terms for the domain
  • Categorizes the domain and assigns a template/image.   For example CoralSpringsRealEstateAgents.com has been automatically assigned a “Florida” image.   Others like ShreveportRealEstateAgents.com were assigned an image specific to Shreveport.   WhyPark currently has over 4,000 images, adding several hundred new images for our templates weekly.

Step 4: Our bulk import tool is usually very accurate on matching keywords with domains having multiple keywords and phrases.   However, we might not always have stock content for highly focused phrases or small geographic areas.   So, I’ve reviewed the domains and when needed, tweaked the keyword list to ensure that we have focused content about the domain name’s theme along with content that a user would expect when they land on the domain.

For instance, we might not have much content specifically about a phrase like “Murfreesboro Real Estate Agents”.   However, we do have content relating to the city of Murfreesboro along with related real estate areas like Tennessee.   By updating the keywords, we’ve been able to provide a good mix of real estate related content about Murfreesboro and surrounding areas.

step4

Step 5: Choosing a Template:   By default, we assign a template to each domain as it’s imported, mixing in a few different templates for variety.   In this case, we’re going to choose one template we created that has a wider column on the right to accommodate widgets from Zillow.com.   I’ve clicked on the group of names called “Real Estate Agents”, selected all domains in that group and chose to update the layouts in bulk.   I then chose the template from Elliot’s saved, custom template gallery which applies the layout to each of the domains in that group.   I’ve repeated the process on the domains in the “Home Loans”, “Mortgages” and “Real Estate Agent” groups.

step5


step5b

Step 6: Elliot asked to include widgets from Zillow.com on his real estate and mortgage sites.   To do so, I went to the widget section on Zillow’s site.   For each city, I generated a city-specific widget and copied the code.   I then pasted that code into the HTML of the layout on WhyPark.   This customization does require some basic understanding of HTML to determine where to paste the code in the layout.

step6

Step 7: I asked Elliot to update his DNS to point to our servers and all 54 domains went live.

step7

Moving Forward

The WhyPark platform focuses on matching the most relevant content that we’ve licensed from many sources. While we try to make it as easy as possible to turn your domains into active, relevant sites, it shouldn’t be misunderstood that this will be a free ticket to the top of every search engine. WhyPark provides a number of tools, so you can import RSS feeds, customize your design, add an unlimited number of custom pages, update your home page, and much more.

It’s also always recommended to start working on getting links from quality sites that are related to the domain you’re optimizing. Search engines place a large amount of value on the quality and types of incoming links your site has. The beauty of having developed sites is that you can immediately start working on getting new links to build trust and create new sources of traffic and revenue.

Sunday Afternoon Thoughts

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Here are a few quick hits for another lazy Sunday afternoon.

  • The Snapnames Geo & Local Search Showcase has just over two days remaining, and just seven auctions have bids: SanFrancisco.net, NewBoston.com, VacationExpert.com, CommittedRelationships.com, GuitarRentals.com, Scarborough.org, and SeattlePictures.com. As you can see, there are more than just geodomain names on sale, many of which have no reserve.
  • When are people going to realize how much of a waste of money it is to register stupid names about current events – especially those involving athletes, celebrities, and other famous people. Sure, your Tiger Woods domain names may be humorous (doubtful), but nobody is going to pay you squat for them. At best, you will draw the attention (ahem, criticism) of the mainstream media.   Do you really want to answer a reporter’s question in front of your family, friends, neighbors, and countless others about why you think your lame Tiger Woods domain names are worth anything?
  • I don’t really mind the Sedo redesign…. I actually don’t use Sedo all that much anyway. I do feel badly for someone who had a five figure auction running that ended the day of the redesign. I guess there isn’t much that can be done to avoid this, but it’s a bummer.
  • Tax time is coming! The Domainer Tax Guide is a good resource for people who need some tax advice related to domain investments. Yes, that’s my affiliate code, and yes I also bought a guide and sent it to my accountant since he hadn’t worked with a company like mine before.
  • Larry Fisher is one of the more successful domain investors I know, and he’s been writing a series about a 7 figure domain auction in which he is involved. Larry plans to blog much more often on DirectNavigation.com this year, so it’s a good idea to add him to your list of daily reads.

“I Have a Great Business Idea”

“I have a great business idea! I was eating marshmallows and pretzels at the same time yesterday, and it dawned on me. Marshmallow covered pretzels – tadah! I bought the domain name MarshmallowCoveredPretzels.com, and I think there’s a great business idea. I need your help to make it happen…”

I am excited for people when they call or email me telling me they have a great business idea and the matching domain name. It’s great when people take initiative to start their own business online. There are many advantages to it, but if you’re reading my blog, I am sure you are already aware of them.

However, I am probably the wrong person to speak with about building your business idea into an actual business – especially if you aren’t planning to make it your complete focus. I am a domain investor first and foremost. I acquire domain names because I believe the value is greater than I am paying. On 90% of the domain names I acquire, my primary objective is to sell it for more than I paid, and most of the time that involves a quick sale.

A domain name can be a great start for an online business, but it’s just that – a start. You need to have a solid business plan to go along with your domain name, and that doesn’t include the financial backing that some projects need or the person behind it who is determined to make it happen. There are a lot of people with good ideas and nice domain names. It takes a lot more than that to build a business.

Great Christmas Season Parking Page

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Picture 3

I was doing some domain research yesterday when I came across ChristmasTreeLots.com, and I have to say that the landing page is great. In fact, it almost doesn’t look like a parked page at all.   I did a bit of quick research (and emailed the owner), but I am not completely sure which company is behind the parked page, although I believe it might be Skenzo.

The navigation remains very simple, encouraging click throughs, and the top search bar is customized. People are encouraged to “search for the perfect gift,” and you better believe that no matter what they type in, there will be links to that product on the next page. If the owner emails me back, I will ask him how the results compare to other parked domain names that he owns.

Now is a good time to check out some of your holiday-related domain names to make sure they’re well optimized. Parking companies add new templates and images often, so perhaps there’s a better landing page now than there was when you set it up.

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