PART 1 - Choosing the Right Domain Names For Your Online Business
April 18, 2008 | 2 Comments
Okay, this post is about domain names. A topic that I really love. Why? Because I have sold quite a few and made some pretty good money doing so. I’ll let you know how to buy and sell domain names later in this post with an amazing program that I personally could not live without. For now, let’s talk about domain names and how they affect your online business.
If you are reading this, your probably somewhat new to online marketing and making money online. If so, you will quickly realize that having the right domain name(s) is vital to your online business. Why? Because depending on what you are trying to do, the right name can can increase or decrease your profits.
Below are a few online money making topics. I’ll try to take you through what names you should be buying and what to do with ones you are not using.
Niche Website
Okay, let’s say you are starting a niche website. This would be a content type of website (20 - 40+ pages) with Google Adsense ads, ClickBank ads or Amazon ads on it to generate revenue.
Now, most people don’t like paying the $10 for a .com domain. So, people try to cut corners and buy a .info, .biz or .us domain for $2.99. They figure they’ll invest as little as possible because this site could be a failed venture. This thinking could be a big mistake. What you should be trying to do is project your site as being a trusted source for whatever information you have on it. This way, people will click on your link in the search engine listings and visit your site. Once they visit, they may click on an adsense link or buy a product from you.
Now … think for a second … When was the last time you ever visited a .info or .us site? I bet you can’t even think of one your have ever visited. If so, it’s a rarity.
So …
1. A .com name extension will be more trusted because it is the most popular extension. This will get more people to visit your site.
Now, what you have to also do is think not only in the present but in the future as well. Let’s say you start this new niche website and it’s making a little money. You get a bunch of links over the next few months/years. Then, the unexpected happens, you need money in a big way. Because of this, you have to sell off some of your websites. What do you think is going to bring more money if you try to sell your site, a .com or a .info? If you’re really making some good money with a .info site you may get a good price if you try to sell it but the problem is getting people to even look at it to see if they want to buy it. As soon as someone that’s looking to buy a website sees a .info extension they may not even bother to look at it. How can you sell something for top dollar if you can’t get the most people looking and bidding on it?
So …
2. A website with a .com extension will probably sell for more in the future.
And …
3. A .com extension will attract more potential buyers if you have to sell your site. More buyers drives the price up.
So, if you are building a niche website and you want to take your online business seriously forget the .info, .us domain names. If you really cannot afford the $10 a GoDaddy or whatever then go here for your domains:
1&1 is a great domain service with cheaper names. You can save a few bucks over GoDaddy if you buy them from here. Personally, I have at least 120 domain names and the vast majority are with:
When you have a lot of domains, it is a real pain to transfer them to a different registrar. So for now they will stay with GoDaddy even though it’s a little more expensive. To date, I have never had a problem with them and there customer service has been excellent. Also, these companies don’t want to lose your business. So, if you have a bunch of names to renew just call them and they will give you a deal. So really, they aren’t that much more expensive after all.
Probably, the best domain registrar is:
They are more expensive (more than $10 per domain) but if you are serious about buying and selling domains these guys will really look after you. They actually have a domain tasting program that allows you to try your domains for a few days before you actually have to buy them. This is great for a program I will talk about later.
So hopefully, you quit buying those .info and .us names for your niche content sites. They next section tells you how you can use cheap domain names.
Part 2 - Choosing the Right Domain Names For Your Online Business
April 18, 2008 | 3 Comments
This is Part 2 of this article - Go here for Part 1 and here for Part 3
Okay … here we go:
Promoting Affiliate Programs - You Can Use Cheap Domain Names for This
Okay, let’s say you are going to do some article marketing. This means you are going to write a 400-600 word article about a topic or product etc. and in your Author Bio box at the end of the article, you’re going to mention where to buy the product or give them a FREE report etc. In this instance, it would be the perfect time to use a cheap domain name. Why? Because no one is ever going to see it plus most good article directories won’t let you include an affiliate URL in your Author Bio box.
One of the best article directories, Ezine articles doesn’t allow you to even link to an internal page on your website (you have to link to the actual URL of your site) so, if you want to submit your articles to Ezine articles (highly recommended) you need a real domain name in your Bio box. This is where a cheap domain name will do the trick.
So … here’s what you do:
1. You buy the cheap domain name from: 1&1 , GoDaddy or any other registrar you use.
2. You create your Author’s Bio box at the end of the article.
3. Within your Bio box you create a text link and have it take them where ever you want to take them.
Here’s what your link would look like if you inserted it into the Author Bio box: example link. As you can see, you cannot tell what domain extension is being used with this link. So whether you buy a .com or a .info, .biz etc. it really doesn’t matter if this is all you are using the domain name for.
—————————
If you don’t know how to create a text link here’s the code:
<a href=”http://samplelink.com/”>Your Text Here</a> Just copy and paste this code into your Bio box and change the web address and the text.
————————–
Now that you understand what a text link is, and have the code for a text link, you have to choose what you are going to do once someone clicks on that link.
You have 3 options:
1. You can have the person go to your own website or landing page with an offer or giveaway etc. on it.
2. You have them go to your website but then it immediately re-direct them to an affiliate page with an offer on it.
3. You set up a re-direct where you first bought the domain name. This way you don’t even have to own a website.
So, let’s talk about each of the 3 options above and the advantages and disadvantages or each. The first option is just you having your own website. This means you took your domain name and set it up with on your server. Then you added your offer, giveaway etc. to your website or blog. When the person clicked the text link, they went to your own site.
Advantages
Now, the advantage of this is that you can test, track and change your offer or the information on the page based on your click through rate CTR. You are in total control because it’s your own website. You can also track what people are clicking on, how long they are on your site etc. Also, if this site makes some money it may be worth something if you go to sell it one day. Plus you may add some other pages to this site at some point in the future. Who knows.
Disadvantages
If you’re taking the person who clicked on the link to your own website to see the offer, then they click the “buy” button, you will be sending them to an affiliates site (unless you are selling them your own product). If so, the person is going to see another salesletter that the affiliate created. Is this going to frustrate or confuse people? It’s hard to say but would you really wan to read 2 salesletters? It really depends on what was on the page that you created. If you are doing it this way I would really keep it brief and use some nice images and some bullet points to get them interested enough to read the full details at the affiliates site. Why write a huge salesletter when you are going to be sending them to one anyway?
The second option is a little more tricky. What you do here is take your domain name and set it up on your host. Then, you create a blank web page. To make it re-direct the visitor you add this code between the <head></head> tags:
———————————————-
<head>
<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;URL=http://www.wheveryouwanttosedthem.com “/>
<title>You Page Title Goes Here</title>
</head>
———————————————–
Advantages
The advantages of doing it this way is that the person who clicks on this link will not see that it’s a .info, .biz etc. extension so you can go ahead and load up on those cheap domain names. Also, the person will be re-directed to the actual salesletter that has probably been tested so it converts well instead of going to a site that you create. Doing it this way means you can also put tracking code etc. on the page that you created.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages here are that you can’t change the salesletter page because you are sending the person to the affiliates site. It may not be a disadvantage but you will definitely need a web host and some knowledge of how to create a web page with the code above.
The third thing you can do is set the link up to re-direct straight from where you registered the domain name. This is easily done and most registrars allow you to do this. Personally, I like GoDaddy’s re-direct feature. You simply go into the control panel navigate to where you can change the DNS server info. You then paste whatever link you want in the box they give you click okay and within a few minutes the link will re-direct.
Advantages
This is a great way to re-direct people if you want no headaches of hosting a site, creating a web page etc. Re-directing this way doesn’t require you to even have a website. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an ad that says “Make money online … no website needed!” if so, this is what they are having you do. You buy a domain name then set up a re-direct to their site. All you have to do is advertise and get people to click on your link. Once they do, they go to the affiliates salesletter page.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages here are pretty much the same as the last topic. You don’t have a website. This means you have to rely on the affiliates salesletter to sell the product. Also, you can’t put any tracking code on the site because there is no website.
Go here for Part 3 of this Article
Part 3 - Choosing the Right Domain Names For Your Online Business
April 18, 2008 | 1 Comment
This is Part 3 to this Article - Go here for Part 2 and here for Part 1
Now we are moving on to part 3 of this article on domains. Hopefully you’ve leaned a little so far and hopefully you’ll learn a little more.
SalesLetter Page for a Product - Which Domain is Best?
So let’s say you are creating a salesletter for a product you are going to sell. What domain name should you use? In this situation, I would definitely go with a dot com name but not just any name. You should:
1. Make it a memorable name.
Let’s say that you come up with a pretty good product to sell. Don’t you want to be able to brand it so people remember it and talk about it? If you have this long name with all sorts of hypens no one will ever remember it and no one will want to type in all those hyphens. Instead, you first want to check if your products name is available to register. You do this before you even start producing the product. You don’t want to get ready to release your product then go to register a domain name for it. If the name is taken you may be in big trouble. So … name first … create the product second.
If you get the name you’re after then great. What do you do if your name is taken? Well, here are 2 very popular online marketing products:
Butterfly Marketing - by Mike Filsaime
AutoPilot Profits - by Ewen Chia
In both of these cases, they added a word at the end of the name that describes what they are. Although they are multiple word names they’re also very memorable. So, don’t get upset if your name is taken. By adding a descriptive word to the end of it, you can still create a memorable product and you may get a little help in the search engine rankings because you have relative keywords in your domain name.
2. Keep it short
The shorter the better (within reason). Again, the 2 examples about are not super short names but they are short enough that you will remember them and it doesn’t take a huge amount of effort to type them in because these are words you already know how to spell. What I am getting at is this. If your domain name is taken you don’t call your product the “superduperonlinemarketingreportforprofits.com” This would be far to long. Try adding one word to the end of the name you want. Or add a word to the beginning if it works better example: profitsuperstars.com. Your name is vital.
I would really suggest thinking long and hard about the right name before you get too far long in the product creation process. The right name can get you excited to get the product finished, it can keep you focused and as I said above it can became a name that people will remember you for.
3. Be descriptive
In the example above AutoPilotProfits.com tells the whole story. It says you are going to make money without having to do much work. Great domain name! The less people have to think the better. This name also gets people excited because it’s got the word “profits” at the end of it. Nothing gets people more excited then the chance to make money. Well, maybe one other thing does, but you get what I mean.
Here are some words you can use:
money, profits, wealth, cash, dollars, easy, simple, quick, fast
4. Be Mysterious
The example above “Butterfly Marketing” really creates this mystery about it. Think of it this way, if you’re an online marketer and you see something called “Butterfly Marketing” wouldn’t you be wondering what that is? Because you are a marketer and you haven’t heard of it before it would make you want to click on it to find out more about. Maybe it’s something you’ve been missing all these years this kind of domain name makes you want to find out more.
5. Web 2.0 or not?
The online world is switching to Web 2.0 and so are the domain names. Because a lot of names are taken and the younger people are all texting each other domain names have gotten abbreviated. Names that delete letters or switch letters around are in style now. Think about “flickr”. There’s no letter “e” but you still know what it says. Now although these names are cool they can be hard to remember. Now, think about your target market. You are trying to advertise to people who have money. People who are retired. People who are sick of their job. These people are not that familiar with switching or deleting letters. So, your best bet would be to come up with a domain name that is the correct spelling.
Anyway, I hope this post has taught you a little about domain names and how to choose the right one if you are creating a salesletter or product page. I’m going to continue on with this topic when I find time because there are a few other thing to talk about like the Google Sandbox, How to Buy and Sell Domain Names etc. so please check back in the future.
All the best …
Go here for Part 2 and here for Part 1