Domain Blog

Dot-TV Domain Names @ $15.99 Each!

2008-06-21T18:50:00.003-04:00

If you've been waiting for the right time to buy a Dot-TV domain name, you should stop by www.GoDaddy.com: right now you can get 'em for $15.99 each. That's a pretty good price considering that Godaddy's competitors charge at least twice that for Dot-TV names.

This Dot-TV sale isn't as good as the one GoDaddy had last August, when they were going for $9.99 each, but it's still pretty good. Hopefully we'll see these names below $10 again soon.

I have no idea when the current Dot-TV sale ends over at GoDaddy so if you plan on taking advantage of this sale, best not to procrastinate.

One of The Funniest Names for A Credit Card Site

2008-02-18T18:04:00.010-05:00

I know from experience that finding the right name for a credit card site isn't easy. The competition for names is so intense that I chose to use country code top level domains (TLD's) for my sites.

For those who are still in love with dot-COM domain names, all I can say is: good luck. All the good names are taken and have either been developed or are being horded by domain investors.

Today I came across a credit card-related, dot-COM name that made me LOL. The name is CREDITVAN_DOT_COM. I'm chuckling just writing about it. Maybe its just me but, IMHO, this name sends the wrong message. It's like, "Yes, step into my dark yellow, 70's-era van and get credit! We have toys and candy inside!" I can imagine posters of Farrah Fawcett and tricked out Corvettes adorning the interior, along with lots of shag carpeting and maybe even a miniature disco ball. Good stuff!

If You Want A Domain Name, Take It, Or Else!

2008-02-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

It doesn't pay to dither if you want a domain name. If you search for a name using any domain name registrar, and you end up leaving the name because you can't make up your mind about buying it, don't be surprised if the name gets registered by someone else shortly after your search. It's called domain sniffing, and it's a very controversial subject because many Internet regulars don't believe that it exists.

If you search for a domain name at Network Solutions, the company will lock the name for 4 days; try to register the name at another registrar and you'll find it unavailable for 96 hours or so. Netsol does this to protect legitimate domain consumers from sniffers and tasters, but some people think it's a unethical. Check out the discussion here.

My opinion: I'm 100% positive that domain sniffing exists, based on my own observations over the years. If you want a name, just go to www.GoDaddy.com or eNom.com and buy it. Names are cheap, so even if you end up dropping the name, it's no big deal (and you can take a tax deduction for the cost of your names, as they are a very legitimate business expense.) Imagine losing your perfect domain name to a domain sniffer, then, after about a year, receiving an email with an offer to sell the very same name to you for $X,XXX. It happens.

New Yahoo! Index Update

2007-12-11T16:53:00.001-05:00

The good folks at Yahoo! are currently rolling out a new update for their search index. There's no way to know exactly when the latest update will be completed, but it should be done by tomorrow or Thursday.

From my perspective, this latest update isn't looking too good (so far.) The last one was better, IMHO.

Google Wipes Out An Internet Cottage Industry

2007-11-02T06:25:00.000-04:00

Google has just wiped out an entire Internet cottage industry: selling text links. Sites that are known to sell links are being penalized like crazy with the latest Google Pagerank update, with some sites dropping from PR7 to PR0.

Is this a good thing? Maybe. But, from my perspective, it's a raw deal.

I have a site that ranks well in Google for competitive keyphrases, despite having pages with low or no Pagerank. However, another site of mine used to have PR on many pages, but now has PR0 on all pages. Never sold links on it, all original content and the site has plenty of quality incoming links. The site is still being indexed (according to Google's Webmaster Tools), so I know it's not officially banned by Google, but it doesn't rank for anything, so, in essence, it might as well be. This situation is frustrating, not because I'm some bitter Internet publisher with a new site that contains crappy content, but because the site has age, and my content is much better than most sites that rank above me. And I know my site's content is good, because I'm constantly finding new (and unsolicited) links from very respectable sites -- and that's the kind of proof that Google should acknowledge, n'est ce pas?

My site has been sodomized, without the benefit of K-Y or a reach-around. I am being forced to perform Adwords fellatio on Google, and I don't like the taste. Yep.

Once again, the folks at Google have found a way to alienate this webmaster. But don't worry, G, we're still friends (yes, I like to pretend that you care.) I love Gmail and Analytics and Google Maps, and I'm still impressed with how sophisticated yet user-friendly the Adwords platform is. I just hope big G shows my neglected sites some love in the near future.

For the record: I don't have an issue with Google trying to maintain the quality of its index. I do have a problem, however, with the hypocrisy of certain methods the company is employing. It appears that Google is penalizing sites that sell links to pass on Pagerank, but do you think that they are penalizing sites like Business.com or Yahoo!? These sites sell links that pass on Pagerank, and they charge a lot more than most sites that Google is currently penalizing.

Another Yahoo Index Update

2007-11-01T20:31:00.000-04:00

If you haven't used Yahoo Search lately, give it a try. The folks at Y! have just rolled out another index update, and the SERP's are looking very good; good as in relevant! Y! is now a serious competitor for search, which I'm very happy about, because I'm tired of smoking that Google stuff. Of course, I'm still going to use Google, but when you're doing research, it's always best to have access to multiple sources of information, because research just isn't research if you rely on one information source. Yep.

Looks like Y! is updating their index every month now, and that's a good thing. Regular updates will help keep the spammers from taking over the Y! SERP's. Wading through spam is such a waste of time, and there are few things I hate more than wasting my time!.

Have you tried Live Search lately? I don't know what those guys are smoking, but I wouldn't mind gettin' some for New Year's Eve. A real shame, considering how deep Micro$oft's pockets are. M$ should just throw in the towel and buy Y!

New Yahoo! Update: Check Your Rankings!

2007-09-26T17:14:00.000-04:00

The folks at Yahoo! have just rolled out a new update for their search index. I'm seeing some nice improvements in many areas this time around. So far, this update looks much better than the last one. FYI: it may take a day or two for the update to completely settle so you may want to check your rankings over the next couple of days.

You can let Yahoo! know how you feel about their latest update by posting a comment at the Yahoo! Search Blog.

The Cheapest Dot-TV Price I've Ever Seen!

2007-08-22T03:58:00.000-04:00

I'm a big fan of Dot-TV names. I've invested in many, and developed a few. The only prohibitive thing about the Dot-TV namespace -- IMHO -- is the cost of registration. Dot-TV names usually go for $30-$35 or more per year; the price can sometimes drop into the $20 neighborhood at GoDaddy or Enom once in a while, but not often.

So imagine my surprise to find (thanks to a recent Namepros.com thread) that www.GoDaddy.com is selling Dot-TV domain names for just $9.99! That's a truly exciting price. Unfortunately for me I don't have any .TV names I want to register right now, so I'm going to miss the party this time.

I didn't receive an email notice about the sale yet, but it's on, so if you're going to take advantage of it, then don't hesitate, as I have no idea when the sale will end. Enjoy!

$1.99 Dot-INFO Domain Names!

2007-07-26T00:54:00.000-04:00

The last dot-INFO domain name sale @ www.GoDaddy.com was a good one: $0.99 each. Right now, GoDaddy's holding another dot-INFO sale where you can get new, dot-INFO domain name registrations @ $1.99 each, and no coupon code is required. Just add the dot-INFO domain name you want to your shopping cart and the discount will be applied automatically when you checkout.

This dot-INFO sale is set to expire on August 10, 2007. Enjoy!

Another Yahoo! Index Update?

2007-07-20T13:31:00.000-04:00

I noticed some significant changes to the Yahoo! search engine results pages (SERP's) this morning. It looked like Y! released a new update for their index, but that didn't seem likely since the last major shuffle was on June 12. I just visited the Yahoo! Search Blog and found that it is in fact a new update. So maybe Yahoo! will be shuffling their SERP's more frequently from now on, which would be a good thing, IMO.

My sites did OK this time around, though I am disappointed about certain keywords and keyphrases. Of course, the update has just been announced, so the SERP's may jump around quite a bit before settling. Here's a quote from the Y! Search Blog:

"We expect the update will be completed by the weekend."

So, check your Yahoo! SERP's boys and girls, and good luck!

15% Off Many TLD's at GoDaddy

2007-06-19T12:28:00.000-04:00

The latest discount code from the good folks at www.GoDaddy.com is gdm0613a, and it gets you 15% off any of the following domain name extensions:

.COM
.NET
.US
.TV
.ORG
.BIZ
.NAME
.MOBI
.WS

More good news: gdm0613a should work with domain name renewals as well as new domain name registrations.

gdm0613a is set to expire on July 9, 2007. Enjoy!

Free Tool: Create A Customized Privacy Policy for Your Website

2007-06-14T16:23:00.000-04:00

OK, it's time for some honesty: how many of you have copied the privacy policy from another source -- with or without permission -- because the prospect of writing your own privacy statement tends to leave a really bad taste in your mouth?

Yup, writing your own privacy statement for your site(s) is the right thing to do, but it's time consuming and I'm willing to bet that it's one of the most dreaded writing tasks on your website development todo list.

So, I'm happy to share with you a very useful resource I came across today. It's a privacy policy generator. It's good, and it's free. Check it out here.

You can use the above resource to generate a custom privacy policy for your site, then later on you can customize it even more to make it as unique as possible. Good stuff! Enjoy.

Another Yahoo! Index Update

2007-06-12T18:21:00.000-04:00

It's time to check your Yahoo! rankings again. The folks at Y! rolled out a new update to their search index on June 6. I'm still seeing some fluctuations but the update has settled for the most part. Check out the comments here.

I'm not liking this update one bit. My highest-quality, finance-related content site has suffered as a result of this update. Not happy.

Unlimited Space @ Yahoo! Mail

2007-03-29T19:47:00.000-04:00

I've had a Yahoo! email account for a long time. It was actually a Rocketmail account that was migrated to Yahoo! Mail when Y! bought Rocketmail. Y! Mail is good, but ever since Gmail debuted, I've been a Gmail user.

Gmail has great features like a top notch spam filter and chat integration. But the one feature that lured me to Gmail was the massive space allotment. Right now, I have 2.834 gigabytes of space available to me -- space which I'll probably never use -- but it's certainly nice to know it's there in case e.g. my cousin wants to email me a massive video file of her twins doing something crazy.

Looks like the folks at Y! Mail are about to take the more-space-than-you'll-ever-need idea to the next level. According to the Yahoo! Anecdotal blog, Y! Mail will feature unlimited storage for it's users beginning in May, 2007. That's right: unlimited!

How will Y! handle to inevitable abuse? I was able to find this in the blog enry:

"...we have anti-abuse limits in place to protect our users..."

That's good, because they're going to need it.

I'm thinking about using the improved Y! Mail system to backup certain files on my network. Would that be considered abuse? Comments welcome.

$0.99 .INFO Domain Names!

2007-03-13T04:13:00.000-04:00

The last time I posted a coupon code here, it was a code that can get you .INFO domain names @ $1.99 each. Today's code is even hotter, believe it or not. www.GoDaddy.com coupon code gdm0309b gets you dot-INFO domain names @ an ultra-cheap $0.99 each for the first year! I don't think gdm0309b works with renewals, which is a shame (I just tried to renew a few dot-INFO's in my portfolio and it didn't work.)

gdm0309b is set to expire on March 31, 2007. Enjoy!

.INFO Domain Names @ $1.99 A Piece!

2007-01-23T03:24:00.000-05:00

If you're in the market for one or more .INFO domain names, then right now is a good time to buy. I've just picked up a new www.GoDaddy.com coupon code, and it's hot! The code is gdm0124b, and it can get you .INFO domain names @ $1.99 each. I haven't seen .INFO's this cheap for a long time. On the down side, I don't think gdm0124b works with renewals: I tried to renew a dot-INFO domain name in my account and it didn't work. If you can use it: enjoy!

gdm0124b is set to expire on January 31, 2007.

The First Yahoo! Search Index Update of 2007

2007-01-20T19:20:00.000-05:00

About midday on January 18, 2007, one of my best websites was torpedoed by Google. My site wasn't removed from the Google index, but almost all the traffic I was getting from Google came to a very sudden and shocking halt. Even highly unique keyphrases -- phrases for which I was certain I would dominate (or at least do well) in the Google SERP's for a long time -- disappeared from my server logs.

When I first discovered the SERP's assassination, I panicked for a few minutes (a great way to shed some extra pounds!) I then made my way through some of the forums I frequent and found that lots of people experienced the same drop in Google, at around the same time. A few experience publishers communicated that we shouldn't worry about the recent SERP's shuffle, and that most of our demoted rankings will most likely rise again in short order.

I hope they're right. If my phoenix doesn't rise out of the ashes, I may have to find a part-time job (GULP!) I've been out of corporate America for so long, I don't think I even have a suit that fits anymore. Yikes!

In other SERP's news, the folks at Yahoo! just rolled out a new update for their search index. I recently paid for not one but two Yahoo! Directory listings @ $299 each, so I'm hoping to do well this time around. Check out the Yahoo! Search blog post and comments here. I'm guessing that the shuffling SERP's @ Yahoo! will settle by Monday morning. Good luck to all!

Microsoft Is Now A Domain Name Registrar

2006-11-13T20:19:00.000-05:00

Microsoft is now an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar for the following top level domains (TLD's):

.COM
.NET
.ORG
.BIZ
.INFO
.NAME
.PRO

Microsoft can now get names within the above-listed TLD's at wholesale (e.g. the current wholesale price for a .COM domain name is $6.)

Should discount domain name sellers like www.GoDaddy.com be nervous about the new competition? No, not really. The M$ people are not likely to start hawking domain names any time soon. But they do offer free domain name registrations for users of their Office Live product, which is currently in beta. So, basically, cutting costs is a primary motivation behind the move.

Or is it? Maybe the primary motivation is to get access to domain name records, and use that info to improve the search engine results pages (SERP's) produced by their Live.com search engine, à la Google. Only M$ knows for sure.

So now both Google and Microsoft are ICANN-accredited domain name registrars. But what about Yahoo!? Why is Yahoo! still reselling through Australia-based Melbourne IT? They certainly have what it takes to be an official registrar, so why continue as a reseller? Doesn't make sense to me. Feel free to post a comment if you can offer any insight. Thanks!

AfterNIC No Longer Lists Adult or Gambling-Related Domain Names

2006-11-12T19:49:00.000-05:00

Domain name broker AfterNIC recently announced that they will no longer list adult and gambling-related domain names. Here's a clip from a recent email:

"...After extensive consideration, we have decided to no longer accept domain names that promote hate, sex, obscenity or self-destructive behavior, such as substance abuse, violence and gambling. The sole rationale behind our decision is to make AfterNIC a more comfortable site for mainstream domain name shoppers, especially small business owners..."

To be perfectly honest, I have no problem with the new AfterNIC policy. They are not being forced to implement their new policy; they are doing it simply because they feel it's the right thing to do, and I respect that.

They are, however, overdoing it.

Today, I received an email from AfterNIC that contains a list of domain names from my portfolio that AfterNIC has deemed unsuitable for listing under their new rules. Here are some of the names:

PowerTeen.net
MyRut.com
WellDressedWoman.com
WomanOfTheYear.us

Hmmmm...

As you might have guessed, they are using an algorithm to weed out names, which is quite understandable since assigning a human to sift through their entire database wouldn't be practical. But, it's clear that their algo' needs some serious tweaking. Yep.

In all fairness to AfterNIC, they also included the following at the end of their email message:

"...You may request an appeal for any of the domain names listed for removal..."

Check Your Yahoo! Rankings

2006-10-11T08:21:00.000-04:00

Website owners: you should visit Yahoo! today and check on the status of your targeted keywords and keyphrases in the Yahoo! search engine results pages (SERP's). I woke this morning to find some nice changes to the rankings of many of the keywords/keyphrases I'm stalking. I then visited the Yahoo! Search Blog to find that the good folks at Y! just rolled out a new index update.

I'm seeing some significant improvements to relevancy in the Y! SERP's. Nice.

Now the question is: When are the folks at MSN Search (a.k.a www.Live.com) going to step up to the plate and do something about all that spam in their SERP's?

My prediction: Yahoo! will be the king of search soon. Google is emphasizing domain/website age too much these days, and it's hurting their SERP's. And MSN...well, you know. Yahoo! seems to be on the right path to SERP's perfection. Yup.

It's Back! Dot-NET Domain Names for $5.99 Each @ GoDaddy -- Renewals Included!

2006-10-06T04:02:00.000-04:00

If you missed the last GoDaddy.com dot-NET domain name sale, then you're in luck: the good folks at www.GoDaddy.com have just brought it back! Right now, you can use coupon code gdh1006b to get dot-NET domain name registrations @ $5.99 each per year! And, yes: gdh1006b works with domain name renewals, domain name transfers and new domain name registrations. Good stuff!

Coupon code gdh1006b expires on October 20, 2006. Enjoy!

Free Privacy for Your Domain Names

More money-saving news: if you are into private registrations (as most of us are these days), you can get free privacy for your domain names on new domain name registrations or domain name transfers to www.GoDaddy.com -- no coupon required! Order or transfer 3 or more names to qualify for this offer; you'll notice a charge of $0 for privacy when you review your GoDaddy shopping cart.

Dot-BIZ Domain Names for $5.99 Each at GoDaddy

2006-09-05T23:59:00.000-04:00

If you've been holding off renewing your dot-BIZ domain names at GoDaddy, or if you're interested in registering new .BIZ domain names, then now is the time to do it. The latest coupon code from the good folks at www.GoDaddy.com is gdh0906a, and it will get you dot-BIZ domain name registrations @ $5.99 each per year -- works for renewals too. I'm happy to report that I just renewed a few .BIZ names and the code worked perfectly.

Discount code gdh0906a is set to expire on September 15, 2006. Enjoy!

Long live cheap domain names!

$5.99 Dot-US Domain Names @ GoDaddy: No Coupon Required!

2006-08-24T13:24:00.000-04:00

Right now, you can get new dot-US domain name registrations @ $5.99 each per year @ www.GoDaddy.com, and you don't even need to enter a coupon code to get the discount. Just add the dot-US names you want to your shopping cart then checkout and the discount will be applied automatically. Furthermore, if you have some .US names that need renewing, you can renew at the $5.99 price as well. Good stuff!

The $5.99 price is hot. Compare it to Network Solutions, currently charging $34.99 for .US domain names, and eNom, currently asking $29.95 for the all-American TLD.

I have no idea when this .US sale will end, so take advantage while it lasts. Enjoy!

Dot-NET Domain Names for $5.99 Each @ GoDaddy -- Renewals Included!

2006-08-22T18:54:00.000-04:00

The last dot-NET domain name sale at www.GoDaddy.com was hot. But, the latest .NET coupon code is even hotter, believe it or not. Coupon code gdh0902a gets you dot-NET domain name registrations @ $5.99 each per year! And, thankfully, gdh0902a works with domain name renewals, domain name transfers and new domain name registrations.

Discount code gdh0902a is the real deal: I just used it to tack another year onto the registration of DomainBlog.net; I also renewed a few other dot-NET names in my portfolio, names that I'll be developing some time next year.

Coupon code gdh0902a expires on September 15, 2006. Enjoy!

Hopefully, we'll be seeing a lot more GoDaddy supercodes in the near future.

FYI: www.GoDaddy.com coupon code HASH3 is still working and can get you new dot-COM domain name registrations at $6.95 each per year. Enjoy!

GoDaddy.com Coupon Code: 15% Off Orders of $50 or More -- 3 Days Only!

2006-08-18T18:20:00.000-04:00

www.GoDaddy.com has released a 3 day coupon code: gdh0817; it can get you 15% off your order of $50 or more. Works with renewals? No. Furthermore, the code will expire by the end of this weekend! Not a great code, but if you have a number of new names to register, it can save you some cash.

Enjoy!

FYI: coupon code hash3 still works! Gets you dot-COM names @ $6.95 each. So when the above code expires, hash3 is still around to save the day.