Top 7 Tips For Protecting Your Domain Searches

It seems that every five minutes, someone comes up with a new domaining website or software product that claims to help domainers and Internet marketers. In reality, what actually happens is that:

a) People pay a small amount of $$ for the software – it doesn’t work and they lose their money;

b) Their keyword /domain research is misused;

c) Their identity is stolen and then sold to organized crime.

Over the past few months the industry has seen a number of these examples and the problem is getting worse! As such, I thought I’d provide some tips to help people protect their domains, keywords and future business ideas!

7 Steps To Protecting Your Identity & Your Business

1. Don’t use “bid sniping tools” or websites that provide automated bidding at auction.

Note to auction newbies -> WAKE UP! There is no advantage, it’s a gimmick!

2. Don’t hand over the passwords to your registrar or auction accounts.

That’s right – dont disclose your Namejet, Snapnames, Godaddy passwords to ANYONE – including a website or software tool! The risks should be obvious:

* The people that run the website / tool (whoever they are) can spend your $$$, under your name, with a 3rd party! Who do you think is going to be liable when it all goes horribly wrong?

* They have access to your bidding history (see your portfolio, sell the info, target your interests).

* They have access to you credit card details (self explanatory)

* They have access to your personal information (identity theft)

* You may have breached the auction companies Terms and Conditions, therefore your account could be shut down!

If you have disclosed your account passwords to a website or software tool, login RIGHT NOW (to the registrar or auction company) and change your password. Use different passwords for different accounts. That way if one is discovered, you can minimise the damage.

3. Don’t use SEO / Keyword Research Software to find or check for domain availability.

Although you might be familiar with (or might have met) people that recommend or have developed your SEO software, the question you need to ask is

* Does the software use a 3rd party to check the domain availability?
* Is this a 3rd party in another country?
* Does the 3rd party monitor, store or record your searches?
* What is the state of their Information Security?
* What does their Privacy Policy say about how they use AND protect your information?

When it comes to checking for domain availability, use your domain registrar. For example: Namecheap or Godaddy.

4. Don’t Use Keyword-Based Email Alerts

Some of these domain finding sites/software products include “email alerts” to notify their users when domains become available that match a keyword they are looking for. Again, a great source of information for Internet marketers. They can register similar domains, sell you their mates products (and get a commission), not to mention blatently copy your ideas. Don’t do it!

5. Read The Privacy Policy

If you are searching for existing domains to buy, look at the website Privacy Policy first! Seriously – go and do it! You will see first hand how they claim to handle your information. Does it provide specific details?

6. Do Your Research – Who Are These People (Really) ?

Anyone can call themselves a “domainer” but very few people do this full-time as their single source of income.

There is also a big difference between people that earn their $$$ by speaking at conferences, and those that actually “DO IT for a living”.

If you are using a website or downloadable software, who is running it? How long have they been in business? Are they just a couple of crazy kids running it out of their bedroom? If its a “plugin” for existing software, don’t assume the parent company has done their due diligence. Find out the (real) story behind the integration. You will be glad you did!

7. Whois Privacy

As soon as you register a domain name, enable whois privacy. Yes, I’ve said this for years and I sound like a broken record – but it works. In addition, don’t undermine your whois privacy by discussing your domain name acquisitions on Facebook and Twitter – keep it confidential!

Thats it! Feel free to post your thoughts, hints and tips! I hope this helped some of you – particularly newcomers to the industry.

Best Kept Domaining Secret – Revealed In 48 Hours [Video]

On Thursday October 14 at 5pm PDT, I’m going to make one of the biggest announcements this year. Stay tuned.

Here is the link I mentioned in the video: > http://www.facebook.com/domainer/

Simon Johnson Launches Personal Blog – But Its Not .com

After more than 20 years online, I’ve decided to launch my personal blog and “get back on the bike”.

What Does This Mean For DomainerIncome ?

Our domain investment blog on DomainerIncome, will continue to cover some of the really innovative (and very cool stuff) we are doing in this sector. We have a very active development cycle and are working on some category killer services and applications right now – so stay tuned.

Our TV show at DomainerIncome.TV will focus more on the domaining industry, with high quality, indepth coverage that you just can’t get anywhere else.

SimonJohnson.CO

A couple of people have already asked the question, “Why .CO” ? The answer is simply because .com was unavailable. While I do own a number of domains with my name in them, there is an Aussie gourmet food company (with the same name) that owns the .com; in fact many people incorrectly assume that I own the company! Unfortunately, not – I can’t sell you organic italian pasta sauce, sundried tomatoes or olive oil (even though my name is on all of them).

From an IM point of view, its going to be interesting to see how the .co ranks against the other “simon johnson’s”…. and you thought one was enough!

My personal blog at http://www.simonjohnson.co already contains a number of somewhat embarrassing snapshots from sites and posts I made in the early 1990′s. Head on over and check them out!

Domainer Income TV Episode 2 – This Is BIG !

This episode is HUGE – both in content and length! It’s one of the longest episodes we have recorded (29 mins), and its so big we had to split it up into two parts – just to fit on YouTube.

For the second half of the video click here. If you use an iPhone or iPad, subscribe to our domaining channel on iTunes and you can download the entire episode.

Episode 2 is jam packed full of wisdom from two experienced domain investors that are known the world over. I’m talking about Michael and David Castello.

I know you will want to watch this episode straight away, but I’d strongly encourage you to get a pen and paper, because you will be taking down a LOT of notes. I also have no doubt, that many people who are new to domaining and buying / selling web sites will have a new perspective on the industry after watching this episode.

Please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you learned from it.

New TV Show For Domain Investment – Episode 1 [HD Video]

It give us great pleasure to announce the very first episode of Domainer Income TV.

The show is unlike anything you have seen before. Its run by professional domain investors who are raising standards and are bringing a new level of education and transparency to the marketplace.

Given the scale of tv series, the show will be run on its own dedicated site at http://www.DomainerIncome.TV (yes, we are putting a .TV domain to good use).

Domainer Income TV could not have happened without our team who worked tirelessly to put this together, especially Tristan on Pre Production, Aaron on Post Production, the musical genius of Sebastian our Composer and Eric with our great Set Design.

Most of all we would like to thank all the people who will appear in the series and those behind the scenes that made the interviews possible. All of these people have given up their valuable time to help educate and grow, the domain investment industry.

Episode 1

Our first guest is Oversee CEO and President Jeff Kupietzky. Oversee owns over 950,000 domain names making it one of the largest owners of Internet Real Estate in the world.

Mobile Support

For those on mobile devices, we have FULL browser support for:

* iPhone/iPod Touch / iPad
* Andriod
* Touch-Based Blackberry
* Nokia S60 series and above

If you have any of these devices, you are going to love the new site – it has been designed and optimized especially for mobile browsing! So head on over to Domainer Income TV and check it out!

Getting Ready To Change Domaining Forever!

Very soon, we will be launching a new and exciting Domain Investment service. It will set the standard for the industry.

Our email subscribers will be given both advanced notice and priority. If you haven’t signed up for “7 Tips For Profitable Domaining” (see the box on the right) – do it now. Consider this advanced notice, so you don’t miss out!

For The Technical People

After 497 days of uptime, we are decommissioning the main Domainer Income webserver that has served you over the past 2.5+ years. For the techos  amongst us, here is a little “top” statistic for you:

The Domainer Income website will be migrating to the new server in the next few days. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.

See you on the other side!

Domainer Nominates For auDA Board – Needs Your Help

auDA is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space. Its Annual General Meeting is to be held on 19 October 2009. The AGM will elect four directors to the board and I (Simon Johnson) have been nominated to stand for election by the Demand class members.

In order to vote, you must qualify under clause 16.1 of auDA’s constitution and your membership fee has to be paid.

You can read my candidate statement online; in summary, I stand for reform within auDA to increase transparency and the free-market commercialization of Australian namespace.

I know that some people think that having a Domainer on Board of auDA is unthinkable (and maybe an impossible task, in terms of getting elected). That’s why I’m asking for your help.

Please have a look through the auDA Members list and see if you know anyone in the Demand section. If you do, please contact them now and ask for them to vote for Simon Johnson. You can download my (already filled in) Proxy form here.

With your support, I’m hopeful that we can change the .au landscape for the better.

Slept In, Missed The Auction, But Found Some More Names….

Over the past week or so I’ve observed a number of premium names in the drop process. While not unusual I was surprised at how low they went for.

I’ve always maintained that now is a great time to buy domains. Those that are focused on the short term (or need cash to pay off their mortgages) are selling or simply not renewing. Those with cash (who are buying), have less competitors in auctions because some people don’t want to spend.

Here is an example of a name that went for more than $2,300 this morning over at NameJet. It was InternetMarketing.org. To be honest, I was in the auction but decided to sleep in on Sunday. The drop times are not that attractive to those outside the USA.

After I got up and had a coffee, I decided to have a look over at Snapnames and found some great domains with low starting prices. Check them out:

• tuition.com – $60 min bid
• corporateevents.com – $79 min bid
• rentalpackages.com – $79 min bid
  
• punishable.com – $79 min bid
  
• socialiser.com – $59 min bid
• letteropener.com – $79 min bid
• ferriswheel.com – $79 min bid

My favorite is of course tuition.com, followed by ferriswheel.com. Tuition is highly searched on, just think of all the college students! People are addicted to going on FerrisWheels, so having FerrisWheel.com might be a good novelty / niche site.

Why You Should NOT Get Into Bed With Google …. Yet

With the news that Adsense for Domains is now available to all publishers, it may be tempting to think “Screw my parking company – I’m leaving and going direct”.

Before temptation takes over and you jump into bed with Google, think about what you are doing:

Weakening An Industry – Ending Collective Bargaining

Parking companies negotiate rates with Google. Think of it as collective bargaining in the context of a union. What Google has essentially done, is to commence a breakup of an industry, which in the long run will weaken it. If you look at past behavior, I’d suggest they will:

• Establish their own rules
• Decrease payouts over time once they get a handle on where the traffic is

Landing Pages Not Optimized

• The Google landing pages are not going to convert very well (see the image below). I’d assume they will update them over time but right now you might be better off financially, by not moving.
• Parking companies spend $$$$ on optimising landing pages, getting the right graphics, colours etc.. so the page can convert. Its in the parking companies interest for your portfolio to work. If they make $$, you make $$$.

Customer Support

• If something goes wrong, or if I have a question, I know I can call my Account Manager and get a response within 24 hours. Good luck in getting this from Google.

Long Term Strategy and Intent

So how does Google monopolise Internet traffic increase profits? Google analytics knows about your traffic flows. Adsense and Adwords tracks advertising and what you click on. Google search knows what you search on, GMail knows the contents of your emails. All this information is stored and used by Google. The big unknown for Google is obviously anything outside its network. In this case its direct navigation (type it in traffic).

What happens long term when Google knows where your traffic is coming from and decides to alter search results, payouts and change traffic flows? If your domains depend on links from other sites, why wouldn’t Google cut YOU out, because you are the middleman!

Domains You Can’t Park With Google

In case you didn’t know, Google has restrictions on the keywords found in a domain. “Terms in the URL may not contain or be related to any of the following:

• Pornography, adult, or mature terms. This includes, but is not limited to, any terms that refer to or suggest nudity, partial nudity, sexual imagery/acts, lewd/graphic or profane language.
• Violent or racially intolerant language or any other form of hate speech directed against an individual, group, or organization
• Excessive profanity
• Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia
• Gambling or casino-related content
• Weapons, such as firearms, ammunition, balisongs, butterfly knives, and brass knuckles
• Beer or hard alcohol
• Tobacco or tobacco-related products
• Prescription drugs
• Promotion of an illegal activity or an activity that infringes on the legal rights of others.
• References to tragedies or other sensitive current events
• Any other terms that are illegal, promote illegal activity, or infringe on the legal rights of others.

Summary

I believe that competition is good. Some of the greedy parking companies will probably reduce their % as people will start to compare going direct with Google vs the parking company. That’s good for the industry.

Right now I wouldn’t do anything. It’s a “wait and see” approach for me. The big question is will Yahoo and MSN follow?

The Fake Domain Downturn

OMG the world is going to end – your domains will be worthless! That’s what a number of attention seeking ill informed, oxygen thieving, wannabe amateur domainers will have you believe. Am I being a little bit harsh?

While the kids have been crying about their parking revenue, I’ve been buying BIG time and making a profit. Some of you who know me will know that I’ve only ever sold a handful of few domain names. Why? Because

a) I don’t buy rubbish

b) In the past people have made me offers that I just couldn’t refuse

c) I have made mistakes! Who would believe it eh?

Here is an example of one such mistake. A couple of months ago I purchased a domain with traffic in a gambling related niche. I thought it would make money and couldn’t get it working with traditional parking. It would have been a good name to develop, but I just don’t have the time and I wasn’t 100% convinced that my efforts would be rewarded. As such, I left the domain parked and wasn’t going to do anything with it. A couple of weeks after I purchased the domain I received an offer of just on 400% more than what I paid for it. I thought about it for 24 hours (you have to sleep on these things) and sold it.

There is a well known saying “When everyone zigs, you should zag” and that’s just what I’ve been doing. But you shouldn’t, because then there wouldn’t be any opportunities for me. Go and join the herd. Baaaaa.