A Dot Com Entrepreneur Speaks Out

I have run several eCommerce businesses in the past.  One of the biggest problems is dealing with an open source community, paying too much for a pay cart only to find out the pay cart is based on that open commerce one that you hate, and dealing with foreign languages.  In addition to that, they all template differently, and you have limited features and functionality.

Well, say GOODBYE to all of those problems!

Say hello to Magento Commerce.  Enjoy.

I will be writing a more comprehensive piece on this software as I use it and get more in-depth with it.

While there are many important dynamics to SEO, there is one thing that will eventually get you to where you want to be no matter how much link building, campaigning, and strategy you execute.

When you provide an excellend resource for the web, including that of pictures (which I do lack here), information, stats, lists, etc. The web will come to you.  It’s really that simple people!  Google will not let a great piece of infomation go unseen.  It’s their job to make sure that your great resourceful website gets indexed and shown to thousands of people.

While there are some modifications one can make to his or her work that might “speed up” the process, or make it easier to emphasis the micro-topics within a larger document, it all comes down to your work connecting with someone who needs it.  Every day that passes, Google becomes smarter and more detailed with it’s algorithms.  Eventually, Google will be spam free, and people with honest and resourceful sites will prevail.

I just thought I would give my input and remind many of you SEOs and SEMs out there that is does come down to quality of content and not budgets.  A budget might offer an alternative, but once Google or searchers find something better or more informative, you can kiss all that hard work goodbye.

Today was a very important day in the domain industry.  Network Solutions has done something very stupid and bad for the industry, overshadowing domainers with scrutiny and negativity.Jay Westerdal has confirmed that when you attempt to register a domain name at NetworkSolutions.com but choose not to purchase the name immediately, the name then automatically becomes registered by NETWORK SOLUTIONS in a blunt attempt to extort more money from the would-be registrant.

For up to four days after the initial attempt, you would be able to purchase your domain for the price of $34.99 back from Network Solutions.  After the four days has expired, the name is then shown to domain snipers and spys around the world for the chance to register and snap up.

This is absolutely ridiculous and very un-ethical.  I never recommend that anyone ever register a domain through Network Solutions, but now I will intentionally advise against using Network Solutions for ANY reason.  Network Solutions will now be known to me as a sphincter.

I want to talk about something that has helped me become successful and also set me apart from other SEOs over the past few years.

The Value of a Domain Never Went Down

You will read or hear a lot of SEO professionals talking about how the domain has lost its SEO value.  I strongly disagree with this theory because a domain is a major determining factor to the subject of a site.  Google knows that if you are going to buy Airplanes.com then obviously you are going to have a website all about “airplanes”.  This is common sense.  If you don’t, then you probably won’t rank for “Airplanes” when your site is all about mortgages and auto insurance.

The only exception to my rule is parked domains.  Obviously that domainer would be banking from any type-in traffic, but most normal surfers and people like me use search now.

When You Park a Domain It Gets Pulled From SERPS

It’s really simple - When you go to Sedo, DomainSponsor, GoDaddy, or any other domain parking service, you are basically asking to have this domain name taken out of the SERPs.  The best thing to do with any domain is to develop it into a topic that is on target with the domain’s subject.  If you own LCDTVs.com - Then develop it into a site or store with information about LCD TVs.  Apparently this particular example has made good use of their domain and done just that.

I personally believe that the theory behind why domains don’t hold as much SEO value as they used to is due to cyber squatting (or whatever you want it to be called).  SEOs try to justify their theory on this with examples like “Girls” and “TVs”.  The reason they appear to be right is due to squatter’s sitting on undeveloped goldmines rather than throwing up a search worthy page full of content.  I bet if TVs.com was developed into some sort of review site about LCD, Plasma, OLED, and DLP TVs, it would be ranked somewhere on the front page of Google for SEVERAL search results in a matter of months.

Buy Dot Coms - Even If That Means from a Reseller

I do believe that dot com has more weight in the SEO sense than any other extension.  I have tested this theory before and my results always come out the same.  A dot com with less (although relevant) content than a dot net with similar but more content will usually outrank at first.  My theory stands true until I start factoring incoming links and a long list of other SEO techniques into the equation.  But if you are looking for that head start - then dot com is the way to go.

Where to Find Quality Domain Resellers

There are a few forums and websites that I would recommend if you are trying to find quality domains to start your next website.  I have listed a few of them here:

Sedo Marketplace - They have TONS of domains in their catalog all being sold by squatters and domainers alike.  This is where you will find a large amount of those pesky parked domains for sale.

DNForum - A haven for domainers and domain name enthusiasts, they have several sections on their forum for buying domains at fixed prices or areas where you can make an offer on domains.  Also a great place to get the names at wholesale rather than a retail price.

BuyDomains - A bit more expensive than the last two, but BuyDomains has managed to accumulate a very impressive and keyword rich catalog of domain names.  Be aware that you CAN negotiate the price considerably when looking to make a purchase from them.  The mark-up on these names is absolutely through the roof!

Just remember, the domain name IS important.  The SEOs telling you otherwise probably never had a good name to do any testing with in the first place.

In my first juicy post, I am going to touch on a few of the basics.  Darren Rowse wrote an article about how bloggers make money a while back with the same title.  I am going to re-invent this post in my own words and hopefully give a lot of you newbies out there a better understanding of how bloggers make their money.

Advertising Programs

If you plan to make any money with your blog, you’re going to need to sign-up or enroll with an advertising program out there.  Well, here is a list of the most common advertising programs available to bloggers today.

Google Adsense
Google offers an advertising solution for publishers allowing you to place textual ads on your site.  Typically, this is the choice for most new bloggers.  Here is a little bit of info you might want to know before you enroll with Google Adsense:

Pros:

• Google’s text ads don’t destroy your website with unwanted banners and images.
• You get paid per click.
• Easy tracking allows you to see your money roll in.
• The ads serve relative ads to what content is surrounding them.

Cons:

• You are given a limited choice of ad block sizes.
• Google always has to brand everything, including their ads.  A small logo is shown.
• Limited to three ads per page.
• Per click payments vary, greatly.

I highly recommend using Google Adsense if you are a new blogger.  Until you get a large readership, you will not benefit from many of the other revenue streams very well.

With Adsense out of the way, I want to name a few of the other programs out there.  Some I have a bit of experience with and others I have never used but hear very good things about.

YPN - Yahoo Publisher Network
Still currently in beta stages, this network is not as easy to get approved when compared to Adsense but has been known to work well with websites on certain topics. (Ex. MySpace, Arcades, Celebs, etc.)

AdBrite
Another textual advertising option like Adsense and YPN but without all the branding.  Advertisers bid in a marketplace to place their ads on your website.  The ads from this program tend to lack relevancy to your content but can convert well if used strategically.

Kontera
This advertising program lets you insert a piece of code into your pages which then highlights and double-underlines several keywords which are then linked to advertisers pages automatically.  You are paid when someone click on these double-underlined words.

Other advertising options include Text Link Ads, WidgetBucks, Chitika’s eMiniMalls, Azoogle Ads, DoubleClick, Tribal Fusion, Clicksor, Pheedo, Bidvertiser, Valueclick, and TTZ Media.