You’re Not Making Money, You Just Read About It (WTF)
If there is one thing that I love to listen to it is music. I listen to all genres, but tend to listen to rap especially when I want to motivate myself. Although rap can be cliche, one thing you will hear is how someone is making money or how they have made money. At the moment I am listening to a Wiz Khalifa track called WTF on his Cabin Fever mixtape.
In the song there is a segment where he says:
“You ain’t even getting money, you just be around it.”
For some reason when I heard this line it made me think about the amount of time people spend reading about success. This is especially true of the domaining industry. It seems people care to read and write about the same successful ventures, transactions and domain gurus instead of creating the equivalent for themselves.
Do we envy a select few in this industry?
Big ticket transactions tend to draw people into this industry and that is a fact. Unfortunately the majority of us will never experience this level of success for ourselves. I’m just stating the truth here. So if this is the case, are we settling for the next best thing by living vicariously through those that we read and write about? I’m no better than the next person regardless of how much the individual has achieved. I have experienced success but it is probably equivalent to a small blip on the map compared to the select few who have raked in millions.
These days you can get caught up in associating yourself with those who have reached the pinnacle of domaining success. The closer you get to them, the more you feel as if you are part of there social network. In my book this is normally considered to be a myth. Being associated with a successful person does not make you successful. Working hard, focusing and developing a game plan for yourself does.
Instead of combing through those industry news sites, blogs and newsletters, why not venture out of the normal routine and get back to what really matters? You! That’s right, you matter and you have a story to be told. Even if you’re not making the type of money you wish you could make domaining, you could dedicate this time to focusing on your own projects instead of vicariously living through another person’s success. 
Amazon Mechnical Turkers Provide A Definition For Domaining
Recently, I had the urge to post a question about our industry to the mechanical turk community. I enticed users with $0.02 per answer! Within a few hours I received a couple of entries and after a couple of days I received a few intriguing answers.
The question: What is domaining?
To take it even further I wanted mturkers to answer the question on a thread I created here:
https://convore.com/domaining/what-is-domaining/
Convore is a quick way to instant message with groups of friends in real-time. You can join in on conversations about topics that interest you, or start your own conversations.
Now for the answers to the question, taken directly from the convore thread!
Domaining is the buying and selling of domain names. To make a profit of course. -SageAndAmanda
A domain or domain name is the name that identifies a website. Each domain must be unique on the internet. For example, “www.google.comis the domain name Masadelante’s website. A single Web server can serve multiple web pages from multiple domains, but a domain can only point to a server. -lafg13
Domaining is a kind of business of making money with internet domain names.It means selling the domain names for the clients for their webhosting. -johnieurs
Profit based transactions (buying, selling) of web domains is called domaining. Bidding with domains are more profitable. For this one has to be a little cleaver. He has to select and register some nice domain names anticipating its demand, and can sell to someone who need that domain name. -aniprakash
The business of buying, selling, and developing domain names. It is also used to describe the practice of monetizing domain name registrations. -riya20025
Domain name speculation is the practice of identifying and registering or acquiring Internet domain names with the intent of selling them later for a profit. – vemulasow
The business of buying and selling of web domain with the intent of selling it later for profit is called domaining. -smokey0513
Domain name speculation is the practice of identifying and registering or acquiring Internet domain names with the intent of selling them later for a profit. The business of buying, selling, and developing domain names. It is also used to describe the practice of monetizing domain name registrations (eg through pay per click (PPC) or parking pages). -naren
Well done to everyone who participated in this task. My favorite answer would have to be the following:
Profit based transactions (buying, selling) of web domains is called domaining. Bidding with domains are more profitable. For this one has to be a little cleaver. He has to select and register some nice domain names anticipating its demand, and can sell to someone who need that domain name. -aniprakash
Maybe it’s just me but I like to think that we are all a little clever for partaking in this industry. For those of us that flip domains, we are anticipating demand. We gauge the importance of a domain name by determining the popularity of such a name before it is registered.
All of these answers were great and I am still amazed at what you can actually get for $0.02 these days on the Internet. Who knows, I might even of sparked a few of these users to become domainers. I am definitely going to use mturk again, a few cents can go a long ways on that site. The next step is to utilize crowd sourcing to help me develop a few of the names in my portfolio.
Slowly Changing The Monetization Model On Curlers.org
It’s been a while since I have mentioned one of my favorite minisite projects curlers.org! This site has utterly shocked me in a good way and since it has been standing out for my attention it will now receive it. According to Google Analytics the site received 221 unique visits from March 5th 2011 to April 4th 2011. Almost all of the visitors are organic and coming from both Google and Bing.
Currently there is a bounce rate of 68.33% and the average time spent on the site is 28 seconds. This tells me that the current site although it ranks well on the first page of Google for the keyword curlers needs to be upgraded a bit. The site also ranks well for several other keywords which pushes me to believe that I need to give the visitors what they are looking for.
In short, I know exactly what the visitor is looking for. I have had several purchases through my Amazon Affiliate widget included on the site, the only problem with this widget is it looks entirely too small and out of place. My goal with curlers.org is to provide more of an e-commerce feel to it. I want to present products for people to purchase on each page of the site similar to how you would view products on a standard shopping site. At first I thought I would use Associate-O-Matic to do this but I am concerned that I will loose my first page ranking if I go this route.
Since that is the case I will just use my Amazon Affiliate account and place individual product links which pertain to the exact section of the site. For instance I have one section called “Steam Curlers” and another called “Electric Curlers.” I want to give the visitor exactly what they are looking for on the appropriate pages. In addition to this I am thinking of adding an additional link to feature eyelash curlers. This will only help increase my traffic and increase the chances of a visitor purchasing a product through my affiliate program link.
To reiterate my point I am slowly changing the monetization model on the site. I plan on getting rid of the majority of Adsense ads even though the clicks have added up over the previous months. In my honest opinion I feel I will make more off of the Amazon Affiliate program than I am currently making off of Adsence. Unfortunately this is sad but true. The PPC model is dieing and it has become quite apparent these last few weeks. Now is the perfect time to undergo these changes and after a few weeks I will happily share the results. Who knows, in the future I might just change this site into a full fledged e-commerce sites selling curler based products directly to visitors, but for now I don’t want to get ahead of myself.
Here is a screen shot of the site’s Google Analytics page:
A War Has Been Declared On Minisites!
There has been a war declared on minisites and domainers all across the world are questioning the legitimacy of such sites. I understand that it can literally be frustrating, painful and outright insane to try to monetize a domain name. These days you hear stories of people registering a name for several thousand dollars….. Fragmented sentence? Yes, but that’s exactly what happens to the domain name, there is no plan to develop it whether it be into a minisite or a full scale solution.
I am here to defend ministes and I will disclose one major practical use that I have discovered very valuable. Minisites are not going to earn you millions of dollars, but some of these sites have actually earned affiliate marketers several thousand dollars. Don’t believe me, shame on you! Here is a perfect example of a minisite that is raking in thousands yes I said thousands per a month for the owner. To add to the fire the owner of the site has not updated it since its inception. Let’s add another bomb to this example, the domain name is not a .com! Ouch I know that hurts some of your egos but hey now its really time to wake up and smell the coffee. The domain name is groomweddingspeech.org and boy is that one amazing niche.
Lets face it guys a great deal of us are dumb. Ok, ok maybe not dumb but nervous or simply don’t care as much as the ladies do when it comes to marriage. Picture this you are at your wedding and have no idea what to say during the ceremony. You look towards your best man but he is completely wasted and then you look over to the brides maid and she can’t believe that her friend is marrying you! Long story short the website pushes a product which can help save the day. This website has a proven track record and has earned the owner several thousand dollars.
This website hasn’t been updated since 2009. Why update a website which ranks #1 in google for the term “groom wedding speech”? Anyways, on to my point. People are monetizing minisites the wrong way! Yes the WRONG way! Google adsense used to be a great program, but it will rarely yield gold these days. You have to look past this spectrum and advance to the next level in the game. You’ve heard other domainers say this time and time again! Affiliate marketers may not be domain pimps but they certainly understand how to take an average name and make more money off of that name then some of us make with category killers! Domain names should only be looked upon as an address to a house. The products you are selling should be looked at as being the key. If you are not pushing good products your domain name is pretty much worthless. Who in the world wants to visit a site which is full of adsense ads?
If you want to unlock the door to success then draw people in with something that is worth there time. Clickbank if full of these awesome digital products which you can start pushing today. I don’t know about you but my minisite development model has changed and I can’t wait to tell my own success story within the next few months. The War On Minisites will continue but hopefully I helped provide a little more insight into such a twisted battle!
Domainers That Run
Three of my best domaining buddies all have one thing in common, they all take pride in working out but place a major emphasis on cardiovascular regiments such as running. Yes, I thought about this while I was running around my neighborhood today. I had an incredible night and needed to run it off.
So who exactly are these guys that I am referring to?
I am referring to none other than Shane Cultra, Morgan Linton and Bruce Marler. Now lets take a closer look at how much these guys actually run.
Shane Cultra
Shane and I tend to call each other a couple times a month to discuss domaining, but when we are not talking about the industry he loves to drop in the fact that he runs more miles in one day then I do in one week. Shane is about ten years older than me and has been known to run seven minute miles without blinking his eyes.
I am beginning to think that Shane is not human. What Shane doesn’t know is when he was in Los Angeles for this past DomainFest I had a few scientists studying his every move to determine whether or not he is an alien. In all seriousness, I could probably keep up with Shane for the first mile then get back to reality and run at my normal second place pace.
Morgan Linton
I’ve known Morgan for a few years now. He doesn’t really discuss running much, but he has shed light on training for the infamous triathlon. At one point he even posted video of him running in his first triathlon. I am having trouble viewing the video but here is a link for reference sake of the blog entry he typed back in August of 2009:
Domainvestors.tv Weekly Video: My First Triathlon
Shane would probably still beat Morgan in a race but that would only be because Morgan is most likely video taping, pod casting and blogging about the event on his blog in real time. So if Shane is an alien then Morgan must be the bionic man.
Bruce Marler
Bruce is known as a cyclist, but he dabbles in the art of running from time to time. Bruce is also famous for eating an entire Monte Cristo sandwich within 5 minutes, while Morgan and I sat there in awe. I am surprised Morgan didn’t get a video of the event! That’s an entirely new type of competition.
I haven’t seen Bruce blog or tweet much about his exercising activities these days but I know for a fact that this guy has lost about as many pounds as I have gained within the last six months. You can thank my wonderful office job for that wardrobe malfunction. I think Bruce would probably come in third or fourth place if he were to run against all of us and that’s only because he would be running with a bike helmet on. Hey you can’t knock him for wanting to be safe at all times!
Now onto the fun! I would like to challenge, Shane, Morgan and Bruce to a run in the near future. Whenever all of us are in Los Angeles at the same time lets make it happen! To make this run an even more special event I would also like to take the time to potentially plan the first Domain Indsutry Marathon / Walkathon here in Los Angeles. This event would be a mini marathon where people in and out of the industry could participate and help raise money for various charities.
Yes, I just registered DomainMarathon.com, look out for more details. Keep in mind this is an unofficial announcement. The event doesn’t exist yet.
Hey What Do You Do? I Am A Domainer
Have you ever received that interesting question? You know the one which starts with what do you do? Well, recently I received that question while I was in the sauna at the gym and I have to admit that I did debate on what reply to go with. Normally when someone asks me what I do at the gym I simply reply with I am in the IT industry.
I do this because just like the majority of our industry we have day jobs, but does our day job truly define us? In my opinion it does not. Just because I have a corporate job during the day doesn’t mean I don’t identify myself as a doamainer. After thinking about it for that split second I decided to reply with I am a domainer. This sparked more interest than I have ever gotten with the simple IT industry reply.
People want to know what we do and in this case they want to understand how they can be part of this industry. The person proceeded to ask me a handful of questions, like what is that? Once he heard me say that I buy, sell and monetize domain names he was hooked. He immediately said that we should exchange business cards and discuss what we could potentially work on together.
I learned something that day. I prefer to identify myself as a domainer even though I do not have the luxury to participate in this industry full time. People are fascinated with what we do and every one of us has a story of success to tell. The next time someone asks about what you do, tell them you are a domainer and watch what happens.
The Domaining@Facebook.com Contest Ends Today
Some lucky domainer will win $50 today for a single domain name. Over the last few weeks I have purchased more domain names than I have ever done. Since I am on a buying spree I’ve decided to run a Domaining@Facebook.com contest which will make one of you $50 happier.
If you haven’t already make sure to submit a domain name to me. All you have to do is email me at my wonderful new Facebook email address. Send the domain name submission to Domaining@Facebook.com and wait to hear whether your domain name was selected tomorrow. The winner for this contest will be announced tomorrow and regardless of what that domain name is I will be happy to do my best to monetize it. That will be a fun project in itself.
Remember, if you haven’t submitted that domain name that you’ve been looking to get rid of for the last couple of years then do it. I don’t care how bad the name is, in fact the uglier the better. I’ve received a couple of entries so far so don’t let someone else win your $50 and submit your domain names today!
The Domaining@Facebook.com Contest Ends In Five Days
Just a reminder that if you haven’t submitted a domain name entry for this contest then make sure to do it soon. Remember I am choosing a winning domain name on April 1, 2011. If you are unfamiliar with the rules here is a copy of the original post for you to view. For those of you who have already entered, you are that much closer to winning $50 if your domain name is chosen.
The First Domaining@Facebook.com Contest!
Do you have a domain name you have been interested in selling for a while? It’s a decent name, but you just can’t seem to flip it? Well it’s your lucky month! I will pay $50 for one domain name submitted to me using domaining@facebook.com! You have until March 31, 2011 to submit your domain for sale.
In an effort to make this contest fair, only one domain name should be submitted per person. Guess what? Even if I don’t like any of the domain names which have been submitted, I still have to choose one and the person who submitted it will receive $50! Make sure to hurry as I am expecting to receive a good amount of domain name entries within the next few weeks.
If you have any questions or comments in regards to the rules feel free to email those requests to Domaining@Facebook.com! I am looking forward to seeing what will be submitted and please remember to approve for this contest you must email your domain name to Domaining@Facebook.com by March 31, 2011.
Five Great WordPress Plugins For Minisites
Over the next few months I have taken on the task of building out several minisites. I am doing this because I feel there is no sense in having a domain name with no content. Just like some say dot-com is king, I believe that content is key! Some of these sites will be built using an html template and others will utilize WordPress.
I am using the following WordPress plugins on some of my minisites:
Advertising Manager
This plugin allows me to easily integrate Google Adsense directly into my blog. After this plugin is installed all you need to do is drag and drop your widget into the appropriate area of your site.
All in One SEO Pack
What more can you say about this plugin? It is an out-of-the-box SEO plugin and it works!
Dragon Design Sitemap Generator
Don’t have a sitemap? Tired of wasting your time trying to generate one which is compliant to search engines? Then use the Dragon Design Sitemap Generator, this plugin automatically generates a sitemap for you.
Easy Privacy Policy
These days its better to have a privacy policy regardless if you feel if it is needed or not. Let this plugin take the work out of creating one. It allows you to generate a privacy policy which easily integrates into your site. You can customize all aspects of this plugin to suite your site’s needs.
Google Analyticator
Integrate Google Analytics into your site without worrying about editing any code. This plugin makes it easy as pie. I’ve been using this for years and it does one hell of a job.
Unlock the potential of your minisites by utilizing plugins such as the one’s I have listed above. These days minisites should appear as close to a real site as possible. These tools will help you take that step towards making this happen.
Who Cares About .XXX PornFilm.net Is On Auction At NameJet
So who in the world cares about (.xxx) well apparently a lot of people do and just like any other TLD there will be money to be made. Will I be registering a (.xxx) in the near future? The answer to that is absolutely not. I am going to stick to the domain extensions I am used to.
A couple days a week I tend to search through the pre-release and pending delete domain names at NameJet and this time around I came across a domain name which caught my attention. It directly applies to this topic and in my opinion completely trumps most of the (.xxx) domain registrations we will hear about in the near future.
As we all know (.com) is an awesome investment and both (.net) / (.org) come in as as great alternatives. I can not shun the nature of any domain name regardless of what industry it might pertain to. The adult industry is real and there are a large amount of domainers who actually started off within the adult entertainment industry. Some became quite wealthy and reinvested there profits into less controversial business endeavors.
There are currently 26 bidders bidding on PornFilm.net and the auction ends within twenty-two hours. I can’t help to think how many bidders would actually partake in such an auction if the name were PornFilm.xxx! Who knows, but I have a hunch that there wouldn’t be as much competition. If (.com) is king then (.net) is the queen and we must realize that there is plenty of value within domain extensions that have forged themselves within our digital lives.
To those of you investing in (.xxx) I wish you the best of luck, hopefully you don’t find yourself left holding the bag as I did with one of my (.cm) domain names.
