I confess, I've got a habit of collecting domain names. Its started innocently enough in 1998 when I was in college. Then in grad school I bought more...Sometimes 10 a day, sometimes 25. I liked the idea of thinking about what I would build on those domains if I had the resources. The potential was intoxicating. Plus, it was nice to have something that no one else had. We all covet things that are rare and exclusive right?
On my budget in college, about the only thing I had next to my motorcycle (a Yahama YSR-50) that was exclusive were my small and growing collection of domains. In those days I bought them from Network Solutions and they cost more, but how many people can say they have something that no one else does and they bought it for under $20!? That fact alone made it fun.
Now everyone agrees its a big business and the business community's attitude about it is changing. Kevin Ham on the cover of Web 2.0 and his revenues from domaining can do that apparently.
I'm far from a Kevin Ham, in fact, the most I've been offered is $25k for BrandsOverstock.com, which I am not selling. Here are a few that I am willing to part with for considerably less, so please contact me if you are interested.
1. 1-800-workers.com
2. adrevenu.com
3. carnutz.net
4. clickcharges.com
5. cpcbook.com
6. demodiscounts.com
7. dotbust.com
8. h1bvisainfo.com
9. h1info.com
10. iloveher.org
11. ilovehim.org
12. shoplocal.cc
13. shopsochi.com
14. sochilodging.com
15. sochirentalcars.com
16. sochitravelinfo.com
17. SochiOlympicHotels.com
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Forums on SEO & President Bush
One piece of advice that I can offer for those learning search marketing:
Be skeptical of what you read in forums. Why?
I would think about it this way, its like trying to put on your skis in an ass backword way, imagine getting on the slope, laying your skis down, and trying to jump into them while they are sliding down.
You'll most likely fall several times and by the time you are able to finally manage the practice of jumping into your skis, you probably won't be that interested in skiing by then.
My point here is that you can acquire a lot of misinformation (which is why you should be skeptical of everything I say and take it with a grain of salt) via unstructured learning and it isn't an effective or efficient way to acquire accurate information. You have people at all different skill levels jumping in and talking about subjects. Which is fine that's kind of the point of forums. The rub is when you've got people with agendas talking out of their @#* because they want to look like an authority. There is no substitute for knowledge and faking it will ultimately get you where you deserve...No where.
And here's what that makes you
I'd stick to reputable places like Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Journal and within those forums look at the authors and their affiliations. A lot of people who have a self serving interest will slant their stories so just think critically.
Be skeptical of what you read in forums. Why?
I would think about it this way, its like trying to put on your skis in an ass backword way, imagine getting on the slope, laying your skis down, and trying to jump into them while they are sliding down.
You'll most likely fall several times and by the time you are able to finally manage the practice of jumping into your skis, you probably won't be that interested in skiing by then.
My point here is that you can acquire a lot of misinformation (which is why you should be skeptical of everything I say and take it with a grain of salt) via unstructured learning and it isn't an effective or efficient way to acquire accurate information. You have people at all different skill levels jumping in and talking about subjects. Which is fine that's kind of the point of forums. The rub is when you've got people with agendas talking out of their @#* because they want to look like an authority. There is no substitute for knowledge and faking it will ultimately get you where you deserve...No where.
And here's what that makes you
I'd stick to reputable places like Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Journal and within those forums look at the authors and their affiliations. A lot of people who have a self serving interest will slant their stories so just think critically.
Adwords Basics, Google Exam Study Tips and CPC
I'm on page 2 of the Google Adwords study guide. I find if I rewrite this stuff in a less text book kind of a way combining what I know and what they say, it'll sink in better so here we go.
Lets talk about basic definitions. I've heard a ton of terms and acronyms being thrown around by agencies pitching me for business, CPC, CPM, CPA, CPL, CTR and not to mention, "min bid" and "quality score." It gets a little frustrating keeping it all straight. So take the hot air out of this, shall we?
Cost per click: Commonly referred to as CPC. When you sign up for adwords and start a campaign, you aren't charged for how many times your ad is seen, you are only charged when someone clicks on your ad. Now, that cost is not static.
It is determined by: what keywords you choose and how relevant Google thinks they are to your website. Not only that but note that the cost of those keywords can change on a daily basis depending on the millions of other people bidding for that term.
So for example, if you are selling pocket protectors and all of a sudden they become the hottest must have accessory on the planet because a reformed Paris Hilton, fresh out of jail decides to go for the 60's engineering professor look, your cost for buying that keyword has just gone up.
On the same token though, if Google determines you've got the most relevant ad on the planet, because your business is PocketProtectors.com and all you have is 101 styles of pocket protectors, than you might not be paying as much for the keyword "pocket protector" as someone else like Victoria's Secret who in this hypothetical bizarro world case may start selling them in attempt to jump on the bandwagon appeal of the chic pocket protector craze.
The reason is Quality Score - Google has determined that okay this guy (or gal) isn't gaming the system, he is most likely running an honest site selling pocket protectors. Lets take it one step further...Lets say that every 16-22 year old fashionista has followed Hilton's lead and heard that she bought her pocket protector from you! Well guess what cup cake!? They start buying from you too! You know what else? Your Quality Score goes up (because your ad is obviously relevant) and the amount that Google charges you per click is relatively less!
All this to say, choosing relevant keywords is important if you are a small business. Big shot corporations buy hundreds of thousands of keywords and pay through the nose for purposes of branding and making sure they have 24x7 coverage. For the small fry trying to get big. Run things more efficiently. Get the right laser focused keywords and save yourself some cash.
So, to illustrate this, if the name of your site is say, BrandsOverstock.com, and you create an ad that says:
Brand Name Leather Jackets (note, 35 character max for first line)
Compare Our Low Prices (same here, 35 character max for second line)
www.BrandsOverstock.com (again, 35 character max)
In addition lets say you went to the Google Keyword Tool
and typed in "leather jackets" as the keyword because, well, you're selling leather jackets, it would spit out these terms:
These are general terms that a lot of people are selling leather jackets are bidding on. However, lets say you are selling a specific leather jacket, say, a "polo hudson leather jacket" it may make more sense for you to bid on a term like that or "ralph lauren polo leather jacket"
Next lesson will discuss Quality Score
Lets talk about basic definitions. I've heard a ton of terms and acronyms being thrown around by agencies pitching me for business, CPC, CPM, CPA, CPL, CTR and not to mention, "min bid" and "quality score." It gets a little frustrating keeping it all straight. So take the hot air out of this, shall we?
Cost per click: Commonly referred to as CPC. When you sign up for adwords and start a campaign, you aren't charged for how many times your ad is seen, you are only charged when someone clicks on your ad. Now, that cost is not static.
It is determined by: what keywords you choose and how relevant Google thinks they are to your website. Not only that but note that the cost of those keywords can change on a daily basis depending on the millions of other people bidding for that term.
So for example, if you are selling pocket protectors and all of a sudden they become the hottest must have accessory on the planet because a reformed Paris Hilton, fresh out of jail decides to go for the 60's engineering professor look, your cost for buying that keyword has just gone up.
On the same token though, if Google determines you've got the most relevant ad on the planet, because your business is PocketProtectors.com and all you have is 101 styles of pocket protectors, than you might not be paying as much for the keyword "pocket protector" as someone else like Victoria's Secret who in this hypothetical bizarro world case may start selling them in attempt to jump on the bandwagon appeal of the chic pocket protector craze.
The reason is Quality Score - Google has determined that okay this guy (or gal) isn't gaming the system, he is most likely running an honest site selling pocket protectors. Lets take it one step further...Lets say that every 16-22 year old fashionista has followed Hilton's lead and heard that she bought her pocket protector from you! Well guess what cup cake!? They start buying from you too! You know what else? Your Quality Score goes up (because your ad is obviously relevant) and the amount that Google charges you per click is relatively less!
All this to say, choosing relevant keywords is important if you are a small business. Big shot corporations buy hundreds of thousands of keywords and pay through the nose for purposes of branding and making sure they have 24x7 coverage. For the small fry trying to get big. Run things more efficiently. Get the right laser focused keywords and save yourself some cash.
So, to illustrate this, if the name of your site is say, BrandsOverstock.com, and you create an ad that says:
Brand Name Leather Jackets (note, 35 character max for first line)
Compare Our Low Prices (same here, 35 character max for second line)
www.BrandsOverstock.com (again, 35 character max)
In addition lets say you went to the Google Keyword Tool
and typed in "leather jackets" as the keyword because, well, you're selling leather jackets, it would spit out these terms:
These are general terms that a lot of people are selling leather jackets are bidding on. However, lets say you are selling a specific leather jacket, say, a "polo hudson leather jacket" it may make more sense for you to bid on a term like that or "ralph lauren polo leather jacket"
Next lesson will discuss Quality Score
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