The Lord

Google to kill Domain Tasting

Some sensational speculation in the domain community Google to stop monetizing domains that are less than 5 days old? Very interesting!

If Google are to act on this I will be impressed. There are still lots of ways to get around this that Google cannot probably detect. So really all Google are doing is riding the PR wave that is Google. Apparantly acting on tasting should get them some nice PR anyway.

http://www.johnon.com/489/google-domain-tasting.html

**Note: I don’t know if John is taking the piss with that first paragraph, but there really is no such thing as a ’sandbox’ in SEO. It’s really quite a different phenomena.

http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/10/the-free-intern.html

A great post by Frank Schilling with a good poke at the seo. I would add that a good seo is already going around search engines and building defensible web properties. In the last year the amount of diversity in seo has opened up enormously, there are just so many new traffic sources. Google and seo’s are yin and yang. Both are required to make search work. I find in years to come that domaining will be added into the mix more and more. Some of the comments from domainers did make me cringe a little at the lack of seo savvy some domainers possess. Seo can be just as passive, if not more passive revenue wise as domaining. The two hand, in hand is even better

The sooner the great minds of SEO and Domains put their heads together and develop a new paradigm the better for *everyone* online. Sounds a little silly, but ask most domainers who the top seo’s are, or vica versa and you just get blank looks. Kind of like when I asked Chris Stewart (great blog, post more Chris!) if he knew who Danny Sullivan was at a Fabulous lunch recently - just got a blank stare - he didn’t.

Interesting I thought. Chris is a Canadian domainer since 98 who had some good stories about how Frank Schilling got started too! Really interesting stories too, wish I had more time to chat to him. (Chris if you are ever back in Bris, would love to talk about dev with you!)

“It’s not about branding a generic. It’s about owning the words that are associated with your brand.” - Jonathan Boswell

Everyday I find domain names and SERPs (search engine results pages) that are generic and unoccupied. It’s a massive opportunity for both you, me and the owners of the Brands associated with these keywords.

While most of the larger more generic domain names are taken, for instance ‘lawn mowing’, smaller more niche localised domains are often still available. In this example ‘Brisbane Lawn Mowing’ would be very appropriate.

At this time all are available:
brisbanelawnmowing.com Available
brisbanelawnmowing.com.au Available
lawnmowingbrisbane.com Available
lawnmowingbrisbane.com.au Available

Got a web design client? or a friend with a local business? help them out! I have several of these smaller projects running with friends, and often it is the difference between a small business surviving and thriving.

So how do you do this? Really simple: use an Overture keyword tool, or mine out your client referer logs and find the main generic keywords associated with your client, or mates Brand. In the ‘lawn mowing example’ we would register:

brisbanelawnmowing.com
brisbanelawnmowing.com.au
lawnmowingbrisbane.com
lawnmowingbrisbane.com.au

Why four names? So you lock out your competition and so you own any visits that might come in via the wrong url. By setting up each domain and using 301 re-directs to the primary site (I would use brisbanelawnmowing.com.au) you will create a potential sales funnel to your end destination.

OK! So that only covers people that happen to type in Brisbanelawnmowing.com.au, how do we increase the exposure and gain more traffic?

I’d suggest building a small feeder, or even destination website. Adding the website to all local Brisbane directories, some Australian directories and what ever local websites, forums or blogs you can find on the subject matter will get you ranking. Only build on-topic links as Google measure your link quality as a sign of how quality your websites users are. The better your users the better your site will rank! Simple really.

I would also suggest adding your listing to Google local and add the physical location (address) to your homepage. Also by building links in local directories that include your physical address you are prooving to Google that people can visit you in the real world easily and this will certainly help you rank on Google Maps and in the one box results at the top of the Google SERPS for local search terms.

A Quick overview

- Own every keyword that would logically be used to find your website (within reason) - ensure as many listings contain your physical address too
- Optimise your website to #1 for it’s primary keyword(s) using targetted links locally
- Submit to all relevant local listings on Yahoo and Google
- Optimise your website to include physical address

If you were to follow the above recipie you could easily start a lead generation network, or even start doing affiliate sales in niches such as Flowers et al.

Local leads are far more valuable than general ones in several niches. In popular areas where affiliate marketing has taken hold there exists many opportunities to earn some very easy passive income.

The money side of things

I recommend only doing business with people you trust and only set up long term relationships (sometimes earning slightly less, is a good thing if it is stable). Personally I like to retain ownership of the domain names and ride the appreciation value, while monitising the names at the same time (not only domain parking). This way you are in control and I also recommend doing small deals (barter or otherwise) for each converted lead

The other thing to note is that this year you will be able to buy and sell .com.au domains for the first time. So getting in now on a few sweet names (sweet to others not just you :D). You should be able to create some coin for a rainy day as well as good passive income if you choose the right name. Often buying a premium name will be far easier and the ROI far better over time.

It’s easy to forget that Google are the World’s 2nd largest marketplace, only 2nd to the Browser address bar!!

I hope that gives someone some ideas! If someone has any good ideas to add lmk via comments.