| LED Digest 2339: Domain Name Real Estate |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. February 2, 2007 Issue no. 2339 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Profiting from Typed-in Domains ==-- ~ Glenn "Omodiende" Reitz "So as a digest are we pro-domain vultures or against?" <Moderator Comment> ~ Steven Birk "...makes one think about domain name variation protection..." --== European Sales ==-- ~ Asim Jalali "...we also make use of 192.com's free electoral roll search facility." ~ Philip Scriver "...I located this [site] which has details of almost every postal company in the world..." --== Domain Name Hoarding ==-- ~ Tracy Coyle "All together now...you know this...location, location, location." --== Presenting a Trustworthy Image ==-- ~ Eddie Teo "Just want to share my bad experience [with Thawte]..." --== A SEO Guide - is it Possible? ==-- ~ Beth Earle "...what's a 'domain page level adjustment'...?" ~ Chris Nielsen "For $2400 I would expect to be getting something between 24 and 48 hours of work..." ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Glenn "Omodiende" Reitz Subject: Typed-in URLs Dale L. admitted [issue 2338 http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1734/55/ ]: > After seeing [catmovers.com] was available, I quickly > registered it (as well as the .net) and threw up a blog > site with a few articles about cats with links... I have been on this Digest since the beginning, but mostly lurk, until I saw that later in the same Digest... > ... a very large number of potentially commercial and > even marginally useful names have simply been registered > and parked to make a piddling amount of search income. - David Yancey So as a digest are we pro-domain vultures or against? Glenn "Omodiende" Reitz http://astro.temple.edu/~greitz Ph.D Student, Dept. of African American Studies, Temple University <Moderator Comment> I think it will be hard to find consensus, Glenn, but it's an interesting issue that always sparks debate. There was a useful post on this very topic recently by Barry Mills (issue 2262): http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1136/55/ . Also, see Tracy Coyle's post (below) under the converging thread on "Domain Hoarding." -Adam -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Steve Birk Subject: Typed-in URLs Dale, I'm assuming the commercial was about cat-movers.com, which is an actual site tied to petrelocation.com. This was a huge mistake by someone who put together this commercial and I certainly wouldn't be paying for it if I was cat-movers.com, but I don't see this as being a common occurrence where you can turn a domain name mistake on a TV commercial into making a buck or two. So don't worry too much about shooting yourself in the foot by telling the list about it, but it was a good and interesting find on your part. But the good point you bring up is about the biggest mistake that occurred, in my opinion... is why the owners of cat-movers.com, who registered that domain on 03/07/2006, also wouldn't have registered the then available catmovers.com, which you registered on 01/11/2007 after seeing the domain name in the commercial. The same type of mistake could possibly go for a company like paypal who registered paypal.com in July of 1999, but someone else very critical of paypal registered pay-pal.com in February of 2000. I'm sure paypal did not think they would have to register all the variations of their domain name (pay-pal.com, paypalsucks.com, paypalstinks.com, etc...) back when they started, but if they did they would have a few less sites to contend with that are spreading a less than favorable word about them. Ford Motor Company almost got it right by registering ford.com and fordsucks.com back in 1998, but they forgot about ford-sucks.com that was registered in 2004 by someone very critical of the Ford Motor Company... I'm sure there are many, many other companies in the same boat and I am just using Paypal and Ford as examples in this case, and in no way do I endorse the content or opinions of any cybersquatted site I mentioned above. I guess it happens, and it happens a lot that people turn similar domain names into sites for profit or otherwise... but this is the first I heard about doing it through a botched TV commercial! I guess it makes one think about domain name variation protection... I found this page regarding the cybersquatting protection subject that may be of interest to some... http://www.betterwhois.com/cybersquatters.htm Regards, Steven Birk http://medcenternews.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Asim Jalali Subject: International orders When checking a U.K address, we also make use of 192.com's free electoral roll search facility. It will only return free results if it matches a name and postcode together. If you want details of all individuals living at the address then you need to buy some credits. This is very useful as everyone in the U.K should have an electoral roll listing. If they are not on it then this immediately indicates that the person is registered at another address. http://www.192.com/search/people.cfm Regards, Asim Jalali www.body4real.co.uk -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Philip Scriver Subject: International orders It is odd how the credit card companies and PayPal always seem to list a "foreign address" as unconfirmed. You would think for their size they could obtain one of any number of postal address checking programmes that are available. I have used the on-line services at NO cost for Royal Mail's (UK) address and post code checker for many years to verify an address before mailing and likewise with US Mail (USA) and CanadaPost (Canada). For those who might be interested I located this web address which has details of almost every postal company in the world with access to their database: http://www.escapeartist.com/global10/zip.htm Regards Philip Scriver Explore Britain http://www.xplorebritain.com/default.asp Walking Tours in England, scotland, Wales and Ireland. -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tracy Coyle Subject: Domain hoarders The discussion of domain hoarders hits home. I had a great domain back in 01. The business did not take off and I let it lapse in 03. Someone has bought and parked it and has asked much more than I am willing to part with to get it back. It is not hoarding... As David Yancey said in LED 2338: > In my experience, in fact, most people, including those in some > very large web industry organizations, still cannot get their mind > around the true future value of a commercially attractive name. If I told you that for $15 a year, I could get retail space on Times Square every bit as big as any current tenent, you would probably do anything to "invest" with me. A domain name (especially one previously held) has the most important characteristic to the future of virtually (pardon the pun) every business. That characteristic? All together now... you know this... location, location, location. Tracy Coyle -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Eddie Teo Subject: Trust > I am experiencing huge problems at the > moment dealing with GEO trust - the > company we use for SSL... - John Smart, LED Digest 2338 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1734/55/ I experienced similar problem as John. But my problem was with Thawte. It was one of those days when the server running the SSL crashed, we have to put up another server, by the time we are done with setup and all, it was late Friday (US time). I issued a re-issue request at Thawte, and tried to use their online chat to get help to have it re-issued quickly. No luck, there was no customer service support online, so being desperate (we too run several e-commerce sites and need the cert very much), I sent email to the customer service support. No responses, nothing. I resorted to search for alternatives, hoping to see those who issues temporary test certs (yah, I was THAT DESPERATE), alternative trust that issues certs immediately etc. Guess what I realized? Out of those trust certs issuers, 95% DO NOT OPERATE round the clock! Goosh, imagine my frustrations! I thought being a trust issuer, they should be there to tell the world whether sites can be trusted, or receive complaints and providing customer services etc., but NO. I was that desperate that I replied to an email from one of Thawte's employee (that email was dated 2002), hoping that he is still with the company and would respond to me (my current co-ordinator does not work weekend, and best part is he is away till mid or end-Feb! - I got an auto-replied email when I sent him an email). After all the hassles, I only got my cert on Monday evening, we lost the entire weekend's sales. I just pray none of our servers go down close to weekend anymore, touch wood. Just want to share my bad experience, I wouldn't wish this happen to my enemies even, pure frustration and desperation. eddie teo http://www.online-technology.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Beth Ann Earle Subject: SEO guide > Do your keyword research. > Apply your keywords properly. > Avoid "tricks" to rank better. > Design for visitors. > Track your results. > Thank You - Reg Charie, LED Digest 2338 Thank YOU, Reg! Good advice and well-spoken. We tell our clients the same thing. Most end up paying us to do the work, because they don't feel they have the time or resources to do it themselves. But at least they've been given information on what needs to be done and why, so they can make an educated decision. > I publish a tips sheet for my universe of lodgings. I am > wondering if I should warn them about SEO abuse. Or > is the above standard? How much do you charge for > domain page level adjustment? - Shaun Johnston, LED Digest 2338 OK. Am I ever out of it -- what's a "domain page level adjustment"? Honestly, the plan seems a bit dubious. For that sort of money (at least in the industries we work for), it seems like this outfit should include writing text and constructing pages, not just "consulting". -- Or does a "domain page level adjustment" include writing and construction? And why do you need 12 submissions to the major search engines? ... although, depending on the links campaign, $800 may be reasonable for managing links. Lastly, sending a note (via email, snailmail, owl-post, whatever) to your clients advising them how to identify dangerous or gimmicky SEO tactics is a good idea. We try to "touch" our clients every other month or so with similar advice; overall, they seem to appreciate that we're watching out for them and not always directly selling services. With the best regards to LED'ers everywhere, Beth Earle www.pilotfishseo.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Chris Nielsen Subject: SEO guide If you find out what "Domain Page Level Adjustment" means, please let us know. There were a couple of red or at least yellow flags that were raised in my mind when reading that service description (Disclaimer: We provide SEO services). The other one that caught my eye was "Correcting of Robot Tags". I think it's going to take a number of hours to do the work described, but the actual number depends on the company providing the service. One thing you can do is ask the company how long the work takes to complete. Express interest in their process and find out how much time is needed for each stage for keyword research, optimization, submissions, link building, etc. For $2400 I would expect to be getting something between 24 and 48 hours of work, but it could be more or less depending on the size and experience of the company. I notice in Google that the first site that links to this company is actually a B&B. It appears that they have optimized their site and while some of the things they are doing are questionable, like stuffing the alt tags with keywords, the site appears to be doing ok with a Google PageRank of 4. However their alexa.com stats are not encouraging so on the surface I'm getting mixed signals without seeing any traffic reports. I don't use questionable methods, but I don't condem companies that do if they provide good results for their clients. The thing to do would be to contact their customers (provided or not by the company) and see how they have been doing. You should do this with any company that can't remove your doubts on their own. Heck, maybe we need a SEO buying guide before we need a SEO guide? I would contact www.seopros.org and request a free RFP. You'll get a number of bids on your project and can get information to help you make an informed choice. There are good companies out there, you just have to find them. Most don't advertise much unless they are really big, because they get so much business they don't have to. Chris Nielsen www.pcb-directory.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/120/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/77/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/86/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Fools trade their souls for gold in an attempt to take hold of things they can't control" - (thanks to Glenn Reitz) |
