Consumer Media Network: Smart Category Killer .org Domain Strategy

While I am not ordinarily a huge fan of .org’s (the only .org that we have is a home loan calculator website) I did recently stumble across what I think is a very smart use of a number of category killer .org domains by the Consumer Media Network.

Ordinarily, .org domains can seem a little off in ordinarily very commercial niches if not done right but one of the reasons that I like Consumer Media Network’s strategy is that it appears like they are:

A) Choosing domains with high search volume in very competitive niches.

B) Positioning the sites from the “consumer” angle and not adding a lot of monetization to the sites so that they can justify the use of the .org from a common sense point of view and more importantly so that they can potentially attract some links that a more commercially oriented site would not be able to get (then they will more than likely monetize the sites up the wazoo if they are able to attract enough links to start ranking high).

C) Offering unique designs and high quality images with surprisingly high quality content as well (from the limited articles that I read).

Here is a listing of some of the websites in their portfolio from their home page:

MotorcycleInsurance.org

TravelInsurance.org

PersonalLoans.org

HomeownersInsurance.org

TermLifeInsurance.org

RentersInsurance.org

PaydayLoans.org

MedicalInsurance.org

HomeLoans.org

BoatInsurance.org

All in all, they seem to have a very good grasp of one strategy that could work well for .org domains. What do YOU think?

My Guest Post for a Personal Finance Blog on Domain Name Investing

Many domainers talk about the need to educate “end users” and further the domain name industry by telling people about the value of domain names. Now is your chance to chime in with some comments on a guest post that I just got published on the popular personal finance blog FinancialSamurai.com (one of his posts about the flat tax received over 100 comments – nice!). Here is the guest post that I wrote so go check it out: Domain Name Investing 101 – Online Real Estate as an Asset Class

Maybe getting guest articles and guest posts published in non domaining related blogs, websites, newspapers, and magazines is a great strategy to further the domain name industry – what do you think?

If you think that this is a good idea then why not reach out to some mainstream bloggers, writers, and editors and give it a try?

I would especially like to see some articles from:

Aron Meystedt (writer of “Big Boys – It’s Time – Taking the Industry to the Next Level – I’m Contacting You TODAY” and “Seeking the End User — We are Missing the Target — It’s NOT the Fortune 500“)

Bruce Marler (writer of “Quit Blaming the End Users It Is A Domain Industry Problem“)

Rick Schwartz (the “Domain King”? nuff said. Ok, and also the writer of “Domainers Fail to Even SPOT an End User“)

How about you?

What Was the Best Deal in the LuxuryNames 11/18-11/24 Domain Auction?

Now is the time where we can all be armchair quarterbacks and look back over the LuxuryNames.com domain name auction that just completed today and decide who came away with the best deal.

Of course, I actually bid and won a few names that I am very happy with so I can be a “real quarterback” instead of an “armchair quarterback” to some degree.

I just want to say great job to Alan Dunn and LuxuryNames.com for the great showcase of domains and I definitely hope to see more auctions from them in the near future. Here is the full listing of what sold (thanks to Chef Patrick for compiling the list below and also be sure and head on over to visit Chef Patrick on December 1st to watch him announce the winners of the LuxuryNames.com prize money and the 2 annual subscriptions for our premium membership with full access to our domain name tools).

Grand Total of Sold Domains: $20,747

Above $1,000

businesscarinsurance.com $3,777
cheaphouseinsurance.com $3,100
cowboyhats.net $1,800
cruisevacations.org $1,550
csections.com $1,550
fivestarrestaurants.com $1,550
homeloancalculator.org $1,550
realestateus.com $1,050

Under $1,000

WeeklyPlanner.com $925
seoprograms.com $575
drumsets.org $320
chapter7lawyers.com $275
orlandoautoinsurance.net $275
teethcleaning.net $259
carinjuryattorney.net $210
luxuryheadphones.com $210
debtsettlementprograms.com $200
easterbaskets.net $155
newyorkdefenseattorneys.com $142
pancreatitiscancer.com $135
anaheimcriminalattorneys.com $104
chemodoctor.com $104
internetdeals.org $104
jesusapp.com $104
multiplepenetration.com $104
nyccustodylawyers.com $104
talkpot.com $104
vanityplates.net $104
woodfloorrepair.com $104
cookingracks.com $104
bestcellularphones.com $99

OK, I won’t tell you which names I bid on and won but what do YOU think was the best deal in the auction? (or which of the unsold names do you wish you would have placed a bid on?)

Top 100 Domaining Blogs: Fully Sortable by Alexa, Compete, Twitter Followers, etc.

One of the sweetest things about our new list of the Top 100 Domaining Blogs is that the list is fully sortable by all of the column headers. This means that although the default list is sorted by Alexa rank you can also click on different columns to see which domain name blog has the most backlinks, the highest PageRank, the most Twitter followers, etc. Check it out now and see where you stack up!

Top 100 Domaining Blogs

Also, if your domain name blog made it on to the list then don’t forget to grab the free widget to put on your site that will update in real time and let you show off your rankings for the world to see!

NEW!!! Top 100 Domaining Blogs: Where Do You Stack Up?

Are you one of the top 100 domaining bloggers? Do you want to see where you stack up against your fellow domain name bloggers in terms of Alexa rank, Compete rank, # of Twitter followers, PR, # of backlinks, and more? Maybe you just want an easy place to scour the rankings and find interesting new domaining blogs to read – click here to visit our fully sortable list of the Top 100 Domaining Blogs!

If you are a domaining blogger and want to set some goals for yourself and get the competitive juices flowing then be sure to check back often to see if you can move up in the rankings because the list is updated at least once a day (except for the most recent post column which is updated much more often).

If you made it on to the list of the Top 100 Domain Name Bloggers then be sure to check out our widget award that allows you to show off your award and real time ranking on your site – all you have to do is copy and paste and the widget shows off your ranking in real time every time your blog page loads. Click here to check out the widget award.

Is Domaining.com Worth $3,000,000?

Domaining.com is one of my favorite sites and I visit the site on a daily basis. If you have visited the site recently you most likely saw that Francois has the Domaining.com domain name listed for sale at a buy now price of $3,000,000 (the price does not include the website but Francois has mentioned that he may be willing to selling the website with the domain name if the price is right).

Some Positives:

- By far the most authoritative sounding domain name for anyone in the domaining niche
- Good (but not great) existing traffic level

Some Negatives:

- No real content (not a concern if one just wants to buy the domain but definitely a concern for someone wanting to buy the website)
- Limited revenue to date

Two questions for you:

A) How much do you think Domaining.com is worth? (please specify whether your are referring to just the domain name or the domain name + website)

B) How much do you think that Domaining.com will end up selling for? (if you guess within $10k of the sale price if any then you will win a 3 month free Domain Superstar premium membership with full access to all the premium features for our domain name tools)

Insure.com Sale: Some Domainer’s Just Don’t Get It

There has been some discussion lately in the domaining world whether the sale of Insure.com was a “pure” domain name sale. Contrary to published information, it seems that many domainers are insisting that the $16 million paid was strictly for the Insure.com domain name.

Now, whether this mistaken belief is because some domainers simply want to believe that their domain names are worth more than they really are or it is simply due to lack of basic business acumen/inability to read a press release/too quick to speak/any combination of the preceding – one thing is clear and that is that the record should be set straight.

Here it is –> wait for it –> this gets really complicated –>

The Insure.com domain name AND WEBSITE was sold for $16 million.

There. Pretty easy to understand, right?

They did not sell off their business. They did not sell off just the domain name. They sold the domain name + the website for $16 million.

Oh, by the way, Insure.com just happens to have a Google Page Rank of 6, 4,770 pages indexed in Google, 95,703 backlinks according to Yahoo, high rankings in all search engines for ultra profitable and ultra competitive insurance keywords, and the website alone easily makes millions plus every year.

So, are you sure you want to still just keep parking your domain names?

What We Can Learn About Intuit’s Purchase of Mint.com for $170 Million

I just finished reading the article on the acquisition of Mint.com by Intuit (the makers of Quicken, QuickBooks, MyCorporation.com, etc) at the WSJ Online as well as the synopsis by Chef Patrick and Michael Berkens and I was struck by something that I think is very applicable to all domainers, developers, and web startups and that is the power of non-standard monetization.

I have long been a fan of Mint.com and have loved it for its ease of use, clever packaging, and beautiful user interface but as a full time finance guy (I am a Certified Financial Planner™) and full time domainer/publisher/developer (nerd) with hundreds of finance related websites that I own and manage I was most impressed with the way that Mint.com makes its money.

If you are not familiar with Mint.com then the beauty of their monetization strategy is that once a user creates an account and inputs their financial info (and info for logging into their online accounts so that Mint.com can suck the data from them securely and almost instantly) then Mint.com not only gives the user a lot of cool graphical representations of ways that they can track their money but more importantly Mint.com gives the user personalized recommendations for financial products that the Mint.com algorithm has determined will save them money.

For example, if Mint.com is tracking a credit card of mine that has for illustrations sake an 11.99% APR and I carry a balance on the card from time to time (again, for illustrations sake) then the Mint.com algorithm may say something like “Mint.com recommends signing up for a Capital One credit card with an 8.99% APR and 1% cash back – based on your current spending habits then we predict that you will save $867 over the next 12 months if you switch from your current credit card to this new credit card”. Then of course the link to the credit card is an affiliate link so that Mint.com makes an affiliate commission from the credit card company every time someone either submits a credit card application or gets approved for a credit card (depending upon the credit card issuer as that is the way most credit card affiliate programs work).

What is absolutely beautiful about this monetization strategy is that Mint.com did not just decide to slap credit card banner ads all around their money management software so that as soon as you log in to your account you are instantly slapped in the face with all kinds of blinking banner ads telling you to sign up for a credit monitoring service or submit an application for this credit card or open an account at this bank etc etc.

Come on – be honest – we all tend to get lazy in this area and we would all be very tempted to just take the easy way out and slap up some banner ads or AdSense and be done with it rather than taking the time to really think hard about how we could make the user experience better and also monetize our site to its absolute best potential.

It’s easy to grab some pre-made banner ads from the merchant. It’s easy to copy and paste some Google AdSense on your site. It’s much harder to be creative and think of a way that you can monetize your site so that both A) Visitors to the site are best served and B) You receive the greatest ROI possible.

We could all learn a lesson from Mint.com (many lessons in fact but this one in particular) that jumping in and being creative with your monetization strategy, working hard to maximize the website’s monetization potential, and most importantly putting users first will almost always bring great results for the website owner in the end.

Domain Name Statistics

I certainly do not agree with everything that this article says in regards to choosing domain names but I did find some great domain name statistics mentioned. You can check out the full article by clicking here but here are some of my favorite pieces of domain name information that Preeti Pradhan of Smashing Magazine put together:

1. All 3 letter possibilities are gone on .com
2. All 4 letter words are depleted on .com
3. The most popular registered domain name length is 11 characters
4. There are 255,000+ domain names that are 32 characters or longer
5. All of the top 10,000 family names are registered as a domain name
6. The most common letter to start a domain with is S
7. More than 270,000 domains contain the sequence SEX

Top ccTLD Registries by Domain Name Base, 1st Quarter 2009

1. .cn (China)
2. .de (Germany)
3. .uk (United Kingdom)
4. .nl (Netherlands)
5. .eu (European Union)
6. .ru (Russian Federation)
7. .ar (Argentina)
8. .it (Italy)
9. .br (Brazil)
10. .us (United States)

I have not verified all of these domain name stats but I thought they were definitely interesting. How do you think that these statistics will change over time?

Barack Obama/US Government: Best Domaining Portfolio?

I read these 2 posts a while back and I really enjoyed them but for some reason I just never got around to mentioning them. Aaron Wall from SEO Book makes some veeerrry interesting observations about Barack Obama’s use of domain names and the effect that it is having on certain niches in the SEO space. Highly recommended that you check them out:

Barack Obama Earns 2009 Domainer of the Year Award

The US Government is Getting into Domain Names (Cars.gov = Domaining on Steroids)

What kind of implications does this have for your domaining or domain development strategy?

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