Domain Owl

This is the Christmas season. That means good tidings and wishes of good cheer and so on. But it is never to early to start next year’s marketing plan for your domains and developed websites. Here are five things you can do today, per domain name, to improve your domain name value, page rank concretely and provide better sales and traffic metrics through the next sell offer or buying negotiations. Santa could bring good things in his sleigh for jolly domainers next year.

1. Rent a browser and plant some homepages

Find five new users per domain name who will put your website as their home page. Every use of their browser daily updates and indexes as a searchability and web presence factor. Finding new users form Craigslist or sifting through email responses to target end users with more precise communications in mind should keep your site bookmarked. Make your bookmark digits the new year’s goal. Added features and ease of use can make some homepages permanent. Use a very positive and well thought out branding approach for this type of marketing.

2. Organize a Traffic Plan

The rainy-day project most domainers never get to is the upstream and downstream traffic click reports. These can be awkward to absorb and bulky to review. But they will clue the designer and webmaster in to where users are likely to be found. Market to those sites, and more clicks will come. Review an updated study of demographics for end users with holiday leisure Web traffic in mind. Got a gaming or entertainment site? School’s out and newly mobile teens and students will be looking for content to test their new devices on. Link up and seed new directory additions for domain exposure.

3. Create Button Sites

Button sites are dashboard pages organized so encouraged visitors can review your broad diversity of online content offerings and select the one closest to their heart for a closer look. But just links won’t do any good. Make some magic with a custom graphic for each link or site, (perhaps the logo), and provide connotative dimensionality like something “fun to drive”. A button is infinitely more fun to punch than a plain old link. End users can find news and RSS feeds from other sites at other sites. These are especially utilitarian for mobile users trying to navigate without knowing how to type in urls via text tools or work their sparkly new phone.

4. Utilize FaceBook Properly

FaceBook is a great medium for social marketing, unless there is value reward or functionality with your end user’s “Like” click. Do they get points, offers, free coupons, or something? Make sure the offer is blended into a slogan or some type of marketing text aimed at the recreational “Like” clicker. Make your ‘Like” message domain name related. FaceBook users want to be the first in their group to know about the cool new thing, class, event, hobby, charity, or website concerning anything. Their announcement or url promotion can bring end users in droves to see what’s up. A cute domain name packs a lot of punch here.

5. Devise a Campus Campaign

Schools and college campuses are the target institutions of choice these days. Find a way that your website and its functions creates value and pinpoint ways to market to those users. Some campus newspapers and institutional trade publications may accept your ad. Your domain name should be prominently displayed. Bored students and people looking for another way to spend their time scan even back pages of trade journals and newspapers looking for something interesting. Your site or its optional participation entertainment give people “something to do”.

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Domaining is one of the best things about the World Wide Web. Anyone can do it. There is no ethnic tabu or gender restriction, educational bias or language barrier. The web allows individual users their own path to domaining success. The domain name game is a custom career with no checklist or required curriculum to start or actively participate in online.

And it is a myth that every domainer webmaster or site designer has to know all the code types and applications administration tasks in the beginning. the learning curve of a domainer is both a challenge and a reward. Domainers make excellent peer advisors. Learning to navigate the basic starting points of owning a domain and promoting it for resale can be the start of many lasting online relationships.

Online web travelers from all over the world use the internet every day to traffic in domain names and related products. Being able to make websites, engineer hosting account setups, and administrate open source applications are some of the skills needed for domain name careers. Hosting account ownership and registrar commerce is a must for domainers. Studying the interactions and execution of domain purchase, registration, transfer and hosting of names and websites are pivotal domaining skills.

A robust Internet connection with some tolerances for crisp security and ISP access is suggested. Facebook access and experience using Twitter is a bona fide asset to any domainer working online today. Niche skills like language or industry core competencies can lift a newby domainer into the advanced level of his group of interested name promoters and owners.

Domaining can be as multifaceted as the individual operator decides their business day online needs to be. Working offline editing HTML code or participation in domainer chat are equally valuable domain name development inputs. Photo editing, graphic design skills, and overall adherence to web standards is a valued set of skills that can become domaining sidelines for other domainer clients.

Basic computer skills and word processing facility is very much utilized in domaining and basically any online editing of text and material. Indexing a numbered list, or formatting a bullet point in the code might be needed one day and then never again. Some spreadsheet analysis may occur using traffic statistics but graphic representation of these reports is commonly available.

People generally want to know what to expect when they break into the domain name game and how the industry works. The individual domainer will produce his own agenda and set his own standards about how their day or   week or month will progress in terms of domain acquisition and resales. Redesigning or editing sites for user ease of use is a common task.

Domainers usually hire subcontractors to get little things like code editing or site patches done, as it is not a good use of their time to learn a skill from the ground up when it can be done by an online domainer professional. The skills domainers learn ramping up in the job make them feasibly able to perform these tasks for others as well. Search engine optimization and link building are almost domain industries of their own.

The schedule of a domainer can be arduous or part time. The domainer can spend all their time scanning drop list auctions, reading technology tutorials, or building social network relationships with other domainers. All can be equally valuable. The underlying trait of a successful domainer is the willingness to learn and the ability to actively participate online in business areas relating to domain name commerce.

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When website technology makes the cover of TIME magazine, the webmasters who skip taking note and continue on their geeky ride to stardom suffer. Collaborative filtering is what Netflix and Blockbuster have been doing for years with our movie choices. TIME’s article assumes that consumers and listeners are such spineless jellyfish their taste in music is a non-static dynamic one Pandoresque taffy pull away from new consumerism online.

Webmasters have seen this kind of taste making before, usually linked to consumer side reviews or specification linked technology elements. How you buy a computer online or how you buy an Ebay object show massive marketing heave in complementary response to every click. Vacuum cleaners and diapers get the same treatment from sites like Target.com and Kmart. Online consumers have learned to accept this collaborative response as a constant.

The owners and programmers of Pandora.com have a gleeful exuberance and gosh-gee-whiz exuberance of a winning website at the top of its game. Opening Pandora.com’s box would seem to be fun, I haven’t had the time nor the inclination. But to change up the model of the appeal of a Pandora business plan is a challenge all webmasters can relate to.

The domain is the brand, the starting point of a functional online destination. Creating a “Pandora” for computers and suggesting netbook or Ipad choices could also be the next big collaborative software requiring a recommendation engine. It could also be a shopping list item for domainers cruising the dollar domain threads or the dropping and deleting auction site lists.

Forming domain names to eventuate as Pandora-like portals for other consumer items or objects thus becomes a valid domaining goal. The name Pandora itself does not pertain to music or technology but rather to classical mythology. That the broad arc between those dynamics has been bridged shows the stamp of an impressive marketing campaign. The user clickthrough and site visit frequency ramps up the SEO value of any such site.

But what about the rest of us who haven’t chosen wannabe music fans as our target market? Lots of web surfers don’t want to be informed about their taste and neither do they  want suggestions about what the webmasters think they are supposed to do or buy or click next.  Generally these type of pointing fingers take the form of affiliate ads. YouTube and Tivo aren’t as sales oriented in the recommendation engine tactics so the pain isn’t felt as much.

The key market for Pandora would seem to be people too dumb or impatient to discover music for themselves. I guess if it doesn’t slay you in the first ten bars, you won’ t be tempted to buy it or know it or learn it. Pandora has transformed music appreciation into a game of “Name That Tune”, where consumers can turn thumbs down on any ditty they don’t cotton to.

Pandora.com has an intrinsic value in that it slyly siphons content from the corpus of music created worldwide across history. That is a very large target base of Internet browsers to tap. And they didn’t pay for the development.  iTunes mined the same demographic, with its  lead samplings and suggested additional tracks and artists.

The core value of a recommendation engine is its database of users. Pandora taps the musical tastes of users who have ranged through its site answering questions, scanning titles, and selecting artists. This type of data works through the filtering model and products likely pathways of additional similar choices. But the associative (SEO) model still works too.

It is hard to argue about the success and popularity of Pandora, but it confounds the logical webmaster in me to do it. FaceBook was just such a site, and now an industry of privacy and security software companies are making bank doling out protective code to people who give crib notes on their lives to people (Friends) they haven’t spoken to in decades.

The domain market contains many expansive opportunities for those with ideas and commitment to their collaborative projects. The domain model like Pandora.com as a suggestive filter or recommendation engine has merit. The broad range of objects this might apply to could start another domain gold rush in recommendation engine domains. Toys, books, kites, model airplanes, surfboards, a portal for anything can be created with such a model to work from.

Now that the public and online Internet user base has developed a taste for having their choices filtered back to them in the form of additional product or item suggestions, any domainer can identify their target object and build a ‘Pandora” of their own. There are no limits, from game playing software to Barbie clothing. The Web (and TIME Magazine) has spoken. If you build it, they will come.

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Domain names live in a state of optional value. They depend on the current state of a website pertaining to that url or a future site built by the domain owner, a webmaster, a site editor, or some programming guru. Domainers have learned by now to skip all the shortcuts, tricks and ladders to get visitor traffic and develop any domain name to its fullest content driven potential.

The best type of website to make right now is one that provides content, resources or ideas that other sites can use. Many webmasters put up sites without access to the content making talent or blog writing skills such sites require. Producing content today for online publication is the equivalent of encyclopedia publishing sixty years ago. But the turnover in its being refreshed is measured in milliseconds.

The gimmick of online site architecture is to give the people what they want. Making a web site people want would seem obvious. Make a portal or destination online that provides a fact sheet, source, how-to crib, problem solution or unique resource, and let people know how they can find it. Articles with a fresh perspective, satiric slant, sarcastic wit or in-depth analysis “sell” online.

RSS feeds prowl for distinctly sticky content with eyeball traction. Yet all too often webmasters and domainers with a new domain name acquisition come running, clutching plans for a wannabe site nobody needs. They stuff the landing page with ads, tapping their fingers until the Google and affiliate wealth rolls in. They blister the blogs with irrelevant and nonsensical comments destined to be dumped as spam. They expect something from nothing.

Some site editors use site plan models of sites that don’t apply to their content or subject . Some project managers for the website use a software that doesn’t suit the data type or discoverability of that content type. Some webmasters make outsize graphics and logos that dominate a site’s front page and bury the lead content under a scrolldown that will never happen.

Why work to make new sites with no original content at all? The energy coming from the Internet is that subject matter of all types in accessible language is available to anyone. Worried about medical symptoms and think it might be mesothelioma? Look it up. Trying to install that wall corner bracket mount of HDTV? Look up the YouTube before you screw it up.  Thinking about what kind of prom dress is in this year? Search online to get the last word.

People are now accustomed to using the Internet for information, advice, counseling, social contact, communication, and instruction. That is a lot of authority to hand to a second generation website architecture and cram it with ads and expect people to drop by and pay attention. But some of the most avidly visited sites provide help and shortcuts people want.

The websites for gaming cheats and keystroke cribs and video game information and “quest” data are a terrific example. The information, like in a computer manual, television circuit diagram, warranty brochure, or “Dummies” book, is  supplied in shorthand for brief reference. The main information, for example,  is at the game site. But all the users (game players) want to plow through the gobbledygook and get to the action.

Online site browsers are such “game players”. They want to visit the quickest site for their chosen item and close the circle of question and answer the fastest. But even a quick Google search can yield thousands of search  results that puzzle them. Why do so many sites get reported as results that have nothing to do with what they typed in? This is the SEO wrangle webmasters must conquer through critical application of content, keyword, tags, and search terms.

Writing for other website publications, broadly keyword tagged with subject and categorical application, can make thousands of webmasters a day flock to your site. RSS feeds and visiting browsers can make or break a site by their absence or presence. Participation and promotion of a site’s main message seeds from there. But the stamp of originality and competent authorship must be present.

The marketing needed to launch a website can take several traditional avenues that have been imitated online. Viral “friends and family” promotion of a website taps one network. Social network sites’ promotion of a site and its purpose taps another network. Providing content for RSS feeds for other webmasters infuses another network of potential site visitors. Professional site listings and links also contribute to exploratory traffic.

One javelin into this new user base is the involvement of site content with promotion via social network sites. These sites, like Twitter, Google, MySpace, Facebook, and others derive from assembled pieces of other sites published daily. When the content material is tagged by category and subject, new readers can investigate easily. Such sites demand fresh content all the time.

Webmasters building websites from a pure profit perspective need to evaluate their raison d’etre and provide more than just one more streaming Google ad-based url. They need to research the competition, provide a unique assembly of information or solution data, compose it attractively and program it to work easily and visually for effective visitation online. Then link it up.

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Domains are websites waiting to happen. Great tools are available online, but too often domainers do nothing or everything to a site with no point in between. Finding the balance between a participation-possible site and an overblown extravaganza that leaves visitors shaking their heads takes time, attention and site analysis.

Premade sites can furnish lots of ready options for newb domainers. But the problem with templates is that unless you want your site to look just like everybody’s else’s, the final result is only going to be as good as…everybody else’s site. Premade site templates can offer a lot of value for the domainer with no editing skills or HTML comfort zone.

1. Use Video

A video attraction is a desirable addition to any site. Visitors tend to pay attention to any video application launching or threatening to launch. Audio options and features can transition an impromptu type-in browse-by into an in-depth exploration of the site content. Video is one of the most viewed features on any type of website,  because it’s the easiest to use.

2. Affiliate Specialization

Look for unique affiliate or sponsor ads. Just seeing the ads everyone else already has on a similar site doesn’t prompt your web visitor to click on them. Check out page rank level links wanted and product endorsement banners and boxes straight form the vendor. Since the ad will be unique and not tapped from the barnyard of affiliates, similar sites won’t have that offer. Thus traffic will grow and browsers will bite.

3. Evaluate Your Density

Use tools on the individual text files at sites like Textalyser.net and others to assign values to core keyword density. Grow your density by applying more virtuosity and expanding secondary keywords to connect to important central terms and ideas. Use content writers with talent to convey creative appeal in the articles and text to draw visitors into the site.

4.  Get Beta Feedback

Identify about a half dozen key people who can take the time to really review your site. Evaluate their feedback against your contributions to the site. Some of the critics should be from the internet and domainer community, but not all. While a non-domainer individual may not understand all the mechanics that go into making your website, they will substitute for casual browsers to your site.

5. Kill the Drag

Find out if your website takes too long to load for Flash, graphics, images that are too large or an application with errors in the source code or landing page script. If too much animation and on-load business is going on, restrain the display options so browsers don’t get greeted by a  stalled site and a prolonged wait time loading. They will click away just to feel in control of their browser.

6. Build a Squeeze Page

Squeeze pages maximize the opportunity presented by every site visit. There may be a key feature your website hides behind the landing pages, or a “best of show” content article that doesn’t suit the clean format of the website top layer. Direct browsers to one best piece of content with a tricky headline or opening salvo. Or use a window to catch email addresses for a newsletter or site update notification.

7. Proofread Your Site Map

Use your site map as a guidepost to mimic how bots and search engines see your site. Edit any remaining default text and improve spelling, grammar and detail whenever possible. Eliminate unneeded modules and sections. Crosslink parts of the site back and forth and expand on terms and unusual words using this feature with a Glossary.

8. Edit the Web Directory

No website should launch without a web link directory. categorical and referral links should be organized by topic, subject, and site type. Even entering three topics and three links in each section, complete with description and relatives comments can make a web link area. Overlooking this part of the site architecture is a serious error.

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One of the first and most often asked question about domain name enterprises is ‘How can I make money?” By putting work into it.  The basic site dynamics for profit making remain the same. But the effort required to market a website is not an open and shut case. individual decisions have to be made and individual risks must be taken.

While sellers of domain names want to promote the classic domaining myth that if you buy the name the public will come, such is not always the case. Effort and luck play a part in successful domain name promotion and value creation. Affiliate ads, review posts, ad banners and clickable links can generate pay per click revenue to the site owner and/or webmaster.

The page rank, once established, can be a stepping stone to renting out the front page or leasing the domain name itself for traffic improvement to another site. Many content “pushers” look for avenues to promote their products or sites to vend their wares or get the word out. Making a site available suitable for this content is one way to go for a money making domain venture.

Content on many websites flirts with the boundaries of traditional advertising. Content such as web promotion, product reviews and offers make customers pay attention when the content or subject matter isn’t compelling enough for them. This content must be strategic enough to springboard ads. Not just in theory but in practice.

The reason ads don’t work for some sites is that they are too repetitive. The same batch of ads on every other site won’t bring unique clicks to your destination. Visitors to the site must make decisions about visiting ads or going elsewhere. Duplication of top keyword ads readers see elsewhere simply makes your site look like everyone else’s.

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