What Do You Want To Know?

Just a quick note to say that I’m “coming out of the bunker” and will be speaking at Ed Dale’s Challenge Conference on Saturday 26th. If there is anything specific that you want me to cover on the topic of domain investment, please feel free to post a comment or contact me privately.

This is one of only TWO conferences that I’ve agreed to speak at this year. Nothing is off limits, so hit me up with some questions and I’ll see you there.

Isn’t It Time Bloggers Declared Conflicts Of Interest?

In the mid 90′s the news media was having a heart attack (behind closed doors) about the Internet. Many journalism purists believed that people wouldn’t read websites, largely because they were not trusted and Internet wasn’t far reaching. In general, the news media believed that the people behind those early websites were not journalists, didn’t have an industry code of conduct, didn’t check their facts, reported recycled press releases and the list goes on. Around 1997/98, the term blogging popped up and has since become mainstream.

Today, many bloggers have earned the trust of the public and some earn a good living from blogging. Unfortunately in some spots, the same old dodgy tricks remain. Using the domain investment industry as an example; it’s extremely easy to sit back and watch the “dance” between the companies (advertisers, parking companies, registrars, auctions and conferences) and the bloggers.

The heart of the issue is around separating out commentary (opinion) from advertising, special interests and those who seek to influence discussion.

Here are a few areas to watch out for:

Scenario #1 – The (Fake) Expert

Many bloggers in the domain investment industry pretend they are experts. Every day we read about an “exciting journey” into the world of domaining (which is fine in itself), BUT where they step over the line is providing advice to newcomers. It’s simply “the blind leading the blind”. Most bloggers are wondering blind in the wilderness, lost, without a clue, yet they are taking it on themselves to advise newcomers. Its a recipe for disaster, because when newcomers accept their advice, the results can be financially devastating for them!

Late last year I had one person call me (in tears) describing how they lost their life savings because a domaining blogger (that they met at a conference) told them to buy a LOT of domains from a specific extension. They were told to buy up big, quickly “turn them around” and flip them. I’m not going to name the blogger or the extension, but I’d note that the extension the person told them to buy, was a HUGE advertiser on their website.

Scenario #2 – Advertising Conferences

This is a textbook “rinse and repeat” that many domain auctions and conferences use as as a part of their marketing strategy:

Step 1 – Blogger writes an article (or FB post) in advance, about an upcoming conference. Banners go up on their website.

Step 2 – Blogger attends conference, gets taken out after hours (by the conference organizer) and “entertained”. eg: dinner, nightclub, the Playboy mansion.

Step 3 – Blogger hangs out with speakers, interviewing them and asking lots of questions about “how they do it”. This content is often “reused” later for how to articles, videos or a $97 PDF.

Step 4 – Blogger takes a few photos of the speakers (and themselves) during the event to post up on Facebook.

Step 5 – Blogger arrives home and reports on how fantastic the event was.

All the newcomers to the industry believe him (because they dont know any better) and sign up for the next conference. What a great investment for the conference organiser!

When was the last time you heard a speech at a conference and said to yourself:

“Wow, this is going to really increase our profits – I can’t wait to get back to my hotel room and try this on our business right now!”

It might have happened once if you are lucky. What did you do with all that info you accumulated at the last conference you went to?

Scenario #3 – Fake News Sites

A “domain news site”, simply copies and pastes press releases sent to them from parking companies, conferences and auctions. They recommend products from vendors who advertise on their site (or simply pay them $$$ directly from their marketing budget). Next time you see a domain news site promoting something, check out if there are any ads (for their blog or related products/companies) on the site they are promoting. Sooner or later you will start to see how these companies start to permeate each other.

Scenario #4 – The Paid Review

There is a growing number of bloggers who have contacted us, asking if my organisation can PAY THEM to write a story about our products and services. The answer has always been “NO” – we don’t engage in such practices. The first time it happened I was in shock! Many years ago I genuinely (somewhat naively) believed that these people were educating the market! The funny thing is – when these guys do a blog post about something, we know exactly who has paid them off. Now we can clearly see who are the ethical companies (who we will engage with) and who are the ones to avoid.

Scenario #5 – Ads That Look Like News Articles

Blogger writes a long winded over-the-top story about how someone within company X is such a great guy (insert academy awards speech and mix with lots of back patting). What they are doing is promoting the interests of their sponsors & advertisers. What is more likely is that the sponsor has paid them to write that story. Alternatively, they will receive something in return. Perhaps an increasing in parking revenue, discount domain pricing or VIP treatment at the next conference?

FTC Guidelines

To some of you, this might be history repeating itself. In 2009/10, we wrote several articles about the FTC Guidelines, including one specifically about Affiliate Marketing. The message for the domain investment industry is – Do you really want the gaze of the FTC upon you? Do you really want to tempt fate and bring about industry regulation?

Time To Get Real

Isn’t it about time that these people started telling the truth?

* Most are not experts, they don’t even come close.
* They have 9-5 jobs – the point being that they give the impression that they do this full-time.
* They work for a vendor because they simply failed when it came to actually “doing it”.
* They make “money on the side” by ads on their blog and promoting affiliate products to their mailing list.

Newcomers to the industry need to know who is “the real deal”, and who the fake, phony, pretenders are. Some people might say “too bad“, “buyer beware”, “its their problem if they lose their $$$“, but here’s the deal; our industry is still in its infancy. It needs some strong, honest people who are going to stand up to this systemic corruption and call it out. The industry needs to grow and move away from the stigma / popular perception of “domaining”. It can’t afford to continue to “burn and churn” people.

Think about this:

1. You wouldn’t get legal advice from someone who wasn’t a lawyer.
2. You wouldn’t undergo surgery from someone who didn’t have experience as a surgeon.
3. You wouldn’t get someone to build your house who “calls themselves a builder”, but has never built a house before.

Then why are you listening to these people? Make 2011 the year that YOU will change. Stop reading their blog, delete their RSS feed and unsubscribe from their newsletter.

Save your $$$ (donate some of it to charity), save your time (talk to your family instead) and go and enjoy life (get some exercise). You will be glad you did.

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.

Who Are You Supporting?

If you surround yourself with people, then THEIR values and beliefs will have an effect on you.

Think about that for a moment – if you were in a room with successful like minded entrepreneurs, then you WILL feel some very positive energy, wont you?

What you may not know, is that OTHER people will judge YOU on the people you:

1. Promote (to your email list, at events, or via Facebook / Twitter)
2. Support (via ads on your blog or people you provide services to)
3. Associate with (conferences and interviews)

Why should YOU care? It’s simple….

When other people see who you promote, they may think twice about getting involved with YOU.

If you are seen to promote unethical people and products, then YOU are tarred with the same brush. Guilty by association. In addition, next time YOU have something to say or a product to promote, people will question it. They will also question YOUR decision making capability.

Scenario – How It Affects You

You get an email from someone you saw at conference a few times, asking you to promote his new product. You think it might make you some extra $$ per month, so you promote it to your list. But afterwards you find out that the person is dodgy and their product was a straight copy/paste from somewhere else. People complain, YOU are associated with it, and the industry is now talking about YOU.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. What is EVEN WORSE is if YOU continue to promote it !! Why? Because people form an opinion that YOU don’t know what you are talking about. They know this person or product is dodgy, but from THEIR perspective, YOU lack the insight to see it.

In 2010, if you have promoted a person or a product (which has turned out to be dodgy), then LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES. Don’t promote them again! Stop yourself – seriously, learn how to SAY NO. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but people will respect you a LOT more if you can admit (even if it’s to yourself) that you made a mistake. All you need to do to fix this, is change your approach.

We are coming up on a new year. In 2011 I’d like to see the industry clean itself up. That starts at the grass roots level, with people like YOU.

Next time someone asks you to promote their product, STOP and think about it. Don’t just look at “all the other people on the bandwagon”. Ask yourself:

1. What will be the impact to MY reputation if this doesn’t work out?

2. How will people view my organisation if I’m seen to promote this?

3. Will I miss out on other (more valuable) opportunities if I promote this?

4. Who are the competitors to this product or person? Will they support me and my business if I’m seen to promote, FB Like or endorse this product/person?

These questions should help you determine the consequences of your actions. In the corporate world this is called reputational risk. It’s something that is closely guarded and protected above all else.

What I’m asking, is that you THINK about this – starting today. I wish you the best for 2011.

7 Things We Did For Domainer Income Members

We have had a tremendous amount of positive feedback since making our domain investment platform available to the public. Many people have taken the time to write to us saying thanks and some people have made some great suggestions as to how we can make it even better!

“great you are actually looking for feedback, most people don’t care.” – Samuel.

Well – we listened AND we took action after receiving your feedback. Here is just some of what we have done:

1. More Help !

Quite a number of people were overwhelmed with all the different analysis and metrics we provide. While we have descriptions of each column, people wanted more information. We heard you and have added an additional 21 detailed explanations into our existing help section.

2. Clarifying Expired Domains

Many of our Free Members were used to seeing the term “expired domains” misrepresented. They saw expired domains in the context of an auction! For example: a domain had expired and then they could bid on it. They were certainly not used to having a REAL list of genuine expired domains, that they could hand register straight away!

To clarify, it is updated DAILY with new domains. Each day we remove the old data and add new information about domains that have expired. Our aim is to give you the most accurate, up to date information, anywhere. You certainly won’t find any information on domains that expired last week!

3. Enhanced Checking & Data Integrity

We radically improved our existing “fake pagerank” checker algorithm. It used to do multiple checks to detect fake PR, but now its just about bullet proof! I love it! The other great thing you can do is exclude domains that have fake PR from your search results.

4. Enhanced Reporting

Aside from the typical accounting reports like YTD, 30 days, 90 days etc.. we have added some customized reports. You can how report on specific date ranges, as well as “all time”.

5. Keeping Track Of Your Costs – Including Development !!!

We have added the ability for you to keep track of development costs AND hosting costs. Both cost structures can be applied to individuals domains. Now you can see how much you REALLY spent on development!

6. Keeping Track Of Additional Revenue – eg: Product Sales & Affiliate Commissions

Some of our more advanced investors wanted to “separate out” affiliate sales, product or service sales, parking revenue etc… So that is exactly what we did. You can now enter all this information in and allocate it to a specific domain. Of course you can also report on it too and see your real ROI !!

7. Enhanced Portfolio Filtering

Its no secret that domainers can have very large portfolios. As such, some people wanted to have the ability to “cut and dice” their portfolio in different ways. For example, lets say you wanted to view a list of .com domains only, along with their expiry dates. Yes – you can do that. Maybe you just wanted to see a list of domains with a specific keyword or letter in them? You can do that too. We listened, and within 5 days rolled out an upgrade to the “My Domain Portfolio” section.

Summary

There are a lot more changes than I can post here and many more being worked on right now. The satisfying thing for me is that our users are REALLY benefiting from Domainer Income.

If there is anything that you would like to see, please feel free to get in touch. Of course, we can’t do absolutely everything, but we do have a very active development team and plan on continuing to grow and expand our services.

When Are You Going To Do This? [Video]

If you are not making enough money from domaining, then I have a few questions for YOU:

1. When are you going to stop collecting domain names?

2. When are you going to monetize that group of domains you bought months ago?

3. When are you going to stop trawling through auctions late at night, buying domains that just end up sitting there doing nothing?

4. How are you going to get the knowledge you need to monetize your domains and start earning REAL $$$ from them?

At what point do you admit to yourself that you need help? Well… that’s exactly what I’m offering a limited number of mentoring students.

Apply now at http://www.MentoringBySimon.com – be quick, applications are closing!

The Biggest Announcement I’ve Made In 2010

I can’t guarantee I will ever do this again, so this may be your ‘now or never’ chance to get in. Applications close Friday Oct 29 at 5pm PDT.

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

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!

Competitive Intelligence For Domainers

If you’re a domainer who prefers to build out your domains, you’ll find this list of free web analytics tools extremely useful.

Basically, it’s a list of 16 free tools you can use to evaluate your competitors’ websites, including their traffic, keyword strategy, backlinks and more.

In fact I recommend you bookmark the article: http://www.kikabink.com/news/top-16-free-web-analytics-tools-for-researching-competitors-traffic-backlinks-keywords-and-more/