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TinBu: Providing Relevent Content & Revenue

Elliot Silver
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7

Subscribe to Elliot's BlogOver the past couple of months, I’ve been working with a company called TinBu on my Burbank and Lowell websites, and I really like their product and customer service, and on top of it all, they are cool people. TinBu is a Florida-based company that provides interactive content modules for developed websites.

Some of TinBu’s modules include gas prices, horoscope, entertainment news, stock report, flight status sodoku, and a bunch of others. Unlike many content providers, TinBu’s modules keep visitors on my sites, as they are all self-contained within my site. In most cases, if a person clicks a link on a module, they will remain on the site – with the except of the gas module which has Map Quest links.

I use TinBu modules on my developed geo websites, which although they aren’t currently news providers, they do compete with the local newspapers and news outlets. Having TinBu modules on my site allows me to compete with the big newspapers – many of which also have similar modules. I’ve found that people are visiting the modules more frequently, and they tend to stay on the site longer.

While all of this is very important because it helps grow the site and stickiness, I didn’t even mention the revenue. I have a revenue share with TinBu for the advertisements that are displayed within the modules. I have never even checked to see their performance, because frankly, I am happy with the content.

Ease of installing the modules was important, and I found each module literally took 5 minutes to install. I added my own meta tags, inputted a couple of variables based on the city locations (per the instruction guide), wrote a bit of content to drive search engine traffic, and voila – the modules were live as soon as I uploaded them. Simplicity at its finest.

The service at TinBu is great too. Pete Hayward (VP of Marketing) helped me get started with TinBu, first by convincing me the company was going to help my sites, and then he helped me set up my account, get approved by their upstream ad partner, and then helped me with the installation of the modules. The whole process has been a breeze.

If you have a website where you think some of TinBu’s modules would be beneficial, I highly recommend you get in touch. It couldn’t be any easier.

Here are a couple examples of TinBu’s modules in action:

http://www.burbank.com/gas-prices.php

http://www.burbank.com/entertainment.php

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Webinar: Analytics for Your Small Business Website

Elliot Silver
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2

Subscribe to Elliot's BlogBuyDomains.com is running another small business webinar, “”Analytics for Your Small Business Website.” This will be helpful to people who run websites and want to learn more about Google Analytics, which allows website owners to analyze how visitors are finding your site and what they are doing once on your site. While the webinar is geared towards small businesses, domain owners/developers can gain insight into web analytics.

This 30 minute presentation covers the following topics:

– Why the Right Domain Name is Critical for Your Small Business Website
– How to Read Reports, Compare to Regular Stats and use the Data
– Overview of Organic and Paid Search
– Q&A Session

Details:
Date: January 29, 2009
Time: 2-3pm
Registration: Register online

Bloggers Soapbox on WebmasterRadio.FM

Elliot Silver
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8

Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI had the great opportunity to participate in the Bloggers Soapbox on the Domain Masters show on WebmasterRadio.FM. Victor Pitts from Moniker filled in for Monte Cahn as the host, and I was interviewed along with Mike Berkens and Michael Gimour.

A transcript of the show has been posted on WebmasterRadio.FM, and I appreciate the opportunity speak tonight.

Startup.com – An “Oldie” but a Goodie

Elliot Silver
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9

Subscribe to Elliot's BlogIt’s funny that a documentary created in 2001 about an Internet start-up company can be called “an oldie but a goodie,” but I think this is the case with Startup.com.   Startup.com is the story of how fledgling Internet company GovWorks.com went from an idea to start-up to bust during the .com bubble. Everything from choosing the company domain name to fighting for funding from VCs to dealing with their growth is shown in this behind the scenes film.

While it’s intriguing to watch the company’s progress, I also realize how lucky I am that I have found an industry and a niche where I am able to work somewhat alone (albeit with the assistance of freelancers), and I think I might have less stress as a result.   Sure, I am typically stressing about something (just ask my wife), but at least I don’t have to worry about paying someone back or building more value for someone else on top of everything.

Having your company be injected with venture capital can be great, owning/presiding over a company with 50+ employees can be prestigious, and founding a company with a $xx million dollar valuation can be exhilarating, but at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth the stress. I think there is plenty of opportunity in our industry to build businesses of our own.

One thing that is still pretty amazing to me is that despite the time the start-up was born and the amount of their funding, they still settled on the name GovWorks.com, which is now a parked page.

I couldn’t find the video in full, but someone cut several parts of it on YouTube.   The movie is a couple of hours, but I found it fascinating the first time I watched it several years ago, and I thought it was neat to watch again years later.

Criticism is Essential to find Succes

Elliot Silver
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5

Subscribe to Elliot's BlogMuch has been said about a domain investor’s recent attempt at innovation or revolution or whatever it was suppose to turn out as. Whether the idea was good, fair, or poor, and/or whether the execution was good, fair, or poor isn’t really worth discussing anymore.   The proverbial horse has been beaten to death, just as the project has died.

I do want to address the back and forth that I’ve seen from many different people. A lot of people were critical of those who voiced their opinions of the project.   Jealousy seems to be the biggest reason why some people felt others were critical. Apparently these people seem to believe if others offer their own criticism, it must stem from some sort of jealousy for not creating the idea on their own.   This is false.

When I post something – be it a link to a finished website or a website that is being developed, I am not looking for a pat on the back. If I wanted that, I would email my close friends and family who would probably send praise my way no matter what I sent them.   I like receiving compliments as much as the next guy, but I LEARN from receiving criticism.

Simply because people criticize an idea doesn’t necessarily mean they are offering a critique on the person – no matter how judgmental their comments are. Those who are on the receiving end of criticism should analyze it and do what they can to listen to the comment. Perhaps the commentary isn’t helpful, but don’t get defensive about it as that does nobody any good. If you have thin skin and can’t take a criticism, you will never be able to improve yourself or your projects.

Nothing we ever do is perfect. The minute we sit back to admire something we have done is the minute we fall behind our competitors who are quickly closing in on us.

Domain Company Denial

Elliot Silver
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5

Subscribe to Elliot's BlogI’ve come to notice that many domain companies are run by professional business people rather than domainers. This isn’t really a bad thing, as I sometimes wish I had a CEO to guide me, but it seems that many of these companies want to distance themselves as far from domainers as possible.   Some of these large domain companies don’t even consider themselves domain investors – be it that they are above the term or just think they are more than simply domainers. Whatever the case may be, many have made it clear that they aren’t domainers.

Be that as it may, 2009 is going to be difficult for many of these companies. People who identify themselves as domainers or domain investors tend to be entrepreneurial and are flexible when it comes to their business. They see all of the minor details going on with their domain investments and can make changes rapidly. Minor adjustments can make major revenue differences, and flexible companies can easily adapt. Companies with considerable upper management take forever to adapt, and they are expensive to run.

In the corporate world, I attended many meetings. Sometimes we joked about just how “expensive the meetings were” when there were layers of senior management in attendance. Large companies in the domain space should begin to look deep within themselves and see what everyone else sees on the outside. They should embrace the domainer culture, and become more efficient and better companies. Domainers will make it through this difficult economy by using their creativity and ingenuity.   Will they make it?

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