“Either you bring the water to L.A. or you bring L.A. to the water”…Noah Cross/Chinatown
Domain names are the real estate of the Internet and the people that have invested wisely in them have become very rich. When I mean rich, I’m not talking about the “Life’s Been Good To Me So Far” wealth of some of my search marketing friends. I’m talking “F*** You” rich. When I attended the 2007 Domain Roundtable, I was made keenly aware that I was in the same room with 2 Domainer Billionaires (Frank Schilling & Kevin Ham)…and I’m sure that others present were only 1-2 zeros shy of those two distinguished gentlemen.
How did these very smart individuals amass their wealth? Clearly, they bought premium domain names before the masses had figured out their value. However, they also had to know how to choose the “cream of the crop” based on nothing besides their keen intuition and while we’re not going to ever see the opportunity again that Frank & Kevin took advantage of, people can still make smart purchases using tried & true methods. I’m here to share some insights into what one should look for in a domain name.
Domain Name Extensions
Everyone knows about “.com”. It’s permeated the fabric of social consciousness. You can’t escape it. However, here’s a little known fact about what .com stands for…
.com = “Common”
At registration fees, pretty much all the .com’s have been mined out by the same herd followers who think they are smart enough to be the next Frank/Kevin (and to get a premium .com name is outside the budget of most folks). .net & .org have been heavily mined as well. So, what to do?
Get a unique extension where keyword rich domains are much more available.
Here’s a list of extensions and I’m sure almost the entire list is new to most folks. There is an incredible variety of names to choose from when all these extensions come into play.
To illustrate, .co.ck is the domain extension of the Cook Islands and with a little searching, I determined that https://10inch.co.ck (and many similar variants) are available for purchase. If these aren’t keyword-rich premium domains worthy of any domain portfolio, I don’t know what are.
Keywords In Domain
One of the strongest ranking signals used by Google is “keywords in the domain”. Therefore, you really should purchase domain names that contain the keywords that you wish to rank for. If you are a smart marketer, you know that to get lots of traffic to your site, you’ll need to rank well for lots and lots of keywords. Therefore, it’s smart to stuff your domains with as many keywords as your registrar allows you.
As an example, most Internet Marketers know that the insurance space can be extremely lucrative online. Many websites attempt to monetize many different types of insurance products (just as many insurance agents carry different lines). However, if these sites were smart, they would put all their main keywords in their domain which is not only good for SEO but branding since customers will know what types of products are offered simply by examining the domain name.
So, when I see a domain name like https://www.cheap-car-auto-life-home-health-pet-travelers-insurance.com, I know that I’ve found a destination site that not only can services all my insurance needs but a webmaster that knows the intrinsic value of this important SEO (and domaining) principle.
Website Content
Domain parking revenue has collapsed and for a myriad of reasons, very few domains will get enough type in traffic to make domain parking a valid revenue model. Therefore, a premium domain should be built out with rich keyword-focused content so that (combined with the other SEO factors) it has a chance of ranking well, bringing targeted traffic that can be monetized.
Getting good quality content affordably can be a challenge but in the misfortune of others lies tremendous opportunity for the bold…
Google’s recent “Farmer Update” has decimated the traffic of many highly visible content-rich websites. Lots of formerly visible content in Google has disappeared. Since the content won’t get search traffic any more on the original site, there isn’t any reason why it shouldn’t get traffic on your site…after all, it’s the website that got penalized, not the content.
So, go to one of the sites on the penalty list and search for a relevant article (like this one about mesothelioma). Now, Google already has this article cached in one of their servers, so copying this article verbatim won’t be the best play here.
Instead, copy the article into Word and do some smart & savvy “Copy / Replace” to make the text not only relevant to your website but uniquely yours.
So, text like:
For people working in the trades describes above, make sure that workplace regulations as defined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for mesothelioma prevention are in place. Some asbestos fibers may attach to hair, skin, and clothing, and you can put your family at risk if brought home. For mesothelioma prevention, federal laws now require workers to follow several precautions including:
- Showering before leaving the workplace
- Storing clothes separate from work clothes in the workplace
- Changing out of work clothes into street clothes before leaving the workplace
- Washing work clothes at workplace (source)
Can be repurposed for your Drunk Driving Lawyers website as follows:
For people working in the trades describes above, make sure that dwi attorney regulations as defined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for dui lawyers prevention are in place. Some drunk driving law firm fibers may attach to hair, skin, and clothing, and you can put your family at risk if brought home. For dui lawyers prevention, federal laws now require workers to follow several precautions including:
- Showering before leaving the dwi attorney
- Storing clothes separate from work clothes in the dwi attorney
- Changing out of work clothes into street clothes before leaving the dwi attorney
- Washing work clothes at dwi attorney
Rework a few articles thusly and you have enough good content where, combined with strong link popularity, could produce an online revenue powerhouse.
Conclusion
I’ve given you an overview of how you can strategically purchase and develop your domain investments. I encourage you to try out my process for yourselves…after all, people who won’t try to purchase and monetize domains because “it’s tough” or “all the good names are taken” are https://www.fullofsh.it
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.
You know nice basic stuff all of which half the knowledgeable, working SEO base have opposing yet rational feelings on and which execution wise, the same verticals benefiting from investment today will soon lament for heavily focusing or not, on this that or the other. It was links, now +2 years content, and rising social to be followed by mobile. Diversification is best SEO practice as owners of channels your broadcasting within via the above change the rules with dollar stream.
The billionaire domainers got in early. No correlation to any of the working ideas you’ve mentioned.
Gotta love the 10 inch domain. There are some great tips in here. I’m not a huge fan of the crappy content that clutters the web, but with the end goal in mind of selling the domain, it makes sense. Obviously, a ranking domain is worth more than one that is not.
Meant to say exceptionally well written and funny. Forgot that little bit 🙂
best advice ever. I’ve already made millions since yesterday with 10-inch-co-ck-insurance-attorney-mesothelioma.???????
Awesome tips. Don’t forget .mobi ! Everything is going mobile now, so .mobi is destined to be almost as great as .local or maybe even . info!
“However, if these sites were smart, they would put all their main keywords in their domain which is not only good for SEO but branding since customers will know what types of products are offered simply by examining the domain name.
So, when I see a domain name like https://www.cheap-car-auto-life-home-health-pet-travelers-insurance.com, I know that I’ve found a destination site that not only can services all my insurance needs but a webmaster that knows the intrinsic value of this important SEO (and domaining) principle.”
DUDE? Really I don’t even know where to begin with this bad advice.
This has to be the best April 1 post of the day. Absolutely hilariously good stuff Todd. I’m off to by a million dollars of .lame domains!
Scott Krager
https://www.serps.com
Aww, I was tempted to edit your comment Scott Kraeger – and was thinking of engaging Costa Rica SEO on the merits… Good job Todd 😉 – As for me, here’s my April 1 resolution…
Nice one, Toddster. Now you make sense in your article to me, very clearly. However, there are moments of tongue-in-cheek truth – and that April Fools Day publication get’s me a little suspicious. lol
And for the naysaying SEO players answering negatively about your article, I’m sure that solarcompactor.com would have been a much better SEO brand for that product instead of “Big Belly”.
@Scott – Spend time playing pattycake with Google to get some financial benefits, or spend time searching the vast prodservs in keywords for new $8 (OOTB) domains and flipping them for $300 quickly? Which sounds like it has a ceiling, and which doesn’t?
Ironically, you’re using the email address of “Serps.com” – I can’t say if you own it cuz its privacy whois… but if you did, you just contradicted yourself more than if you didn’t own it, but either way, you contradicted your message’s intent of belittling domain investing.
April Fools? Domain names are extremely important and it’s a good idea to get a keyword or two in there- but the suggestion in this article is way overboard. A domain like https://www.cheap-car-auto-life-home-health-pet-travelers-insurance.com is pretty spammy.
@Nick
I’m sure Todd chose this domain as an ‘example’ and not to be taken at face value. He was just covering all the typical keywords in the domain.
Most domainers don’t go beyond two keyword phrasings in a domain. From what I’ve been told, for SEO purposes, it doesn’t matter about the extension used, but that if the company wants to “own the brand”, the .com is the only way to go, and investing thousands of $$$ to get it is a one-time investment that doesn’t lose it’s value, only increases, unlike all other ad/marketing strategies.
I would have rather spent 2.5 million on Baby.com than purchasing 90 days of magazine and TV spots for a month. Johnson & Johnson made that smart decision, and caused an uproar in the ad agency sector in 2005.
Wow for the comment stream…. there’s nothing else to say. AWESOME bait for the SEO and domain crowds, to get them to discuss this serious and often perplexing issue. Obviously there are real experts out there with inside knowledge on these issues, some of which is being shared above.
Nice one, Todd! – catching up on my RSS feeds 10 days late and way past my bedtime (thereby not seeing the post publication date and also half sleep-reading) I did have to do a double-take after several paragraphs but then started doubling over with laughter, always good before bedtime (or anytime) – but didn’t expect some of the comments to get “seriously” funny either.
David
@David,
I don’t get the focus on the “”funny” parts about a billion dollar industry, domain investing.
Is it because you don’t believe in domains, or just that the Toddster is a funny writer, or that the subject matter was tongue-in-cheek?
Why don’t you SEO guys just “spell it out” and put your real comments out there to be responded to? SEO is all about “optimization”, right? How about “optimizing” your real opinions in distinct factual details?
The post is dated April 1 @Stephen – Did it really not seem a little too “over the top” to you? 😉
@Stephen – I don’t know why Todd chose to talk about domaining, you’d have to ask him. If you want my opinion about domaining, I’m not sure I’ve got much to say that’s insightful or useful. In any event, the post is an April 1 post, so…
He spoke about domaining because I put a bug in his ear. The April Fools Day publication date is suspicious, but I’m not an SEO guy so if there are hidden esoteric humor within the article, it went over my head.
@Scott — as you and I both know, nothing in the domain industry is “over the top”. 😉
It’s a circus, with one or two well-known ringmasters.