discredit.org

Can it be? The last time I ran into sedo.com, they were thoroughly enjoying a cup of green tea vodka! In actuality Sedo helped me sell GreenTeaVodka.com recently and has come knocking on my door to complete the transaction. I paid a Go Daddy reg fee for the wonderful domain, which I found using a domain deletion service called Just Dropped! Although the domain name only sold for $70, Sedo has taken a commission of $7, which leaves me with around $63. After I subtract the costs of the reg fee which was around $10 I made a total profit of $53 off of the domain name. I am bringing these numbers up because of the fact that I have not come close to a 400%+ return in the stock market as of late. Currently I am actually losing money in the stock market with such investments as Citigroup, Haliburton, Citadel Broadcasting and Home Depot. If the stocks were playing as well as this recent domain transaction a $1,000 investment would be at around $5,000. Unfortunately the stocks are nowhere near that level nor will they be in quite a long time. This has lead me to believe that investing in domain names is not only more profitable than investing in a stock, but it is also less risky if you do the proper research before registering a domain name.

Back to sedo! I received this email on June 27, 2009:

Hello,

We are pleased to inform you that the auction of greenteavodka.com has ended with a closing sale price of 70 USD.

You and the buyer have now agreed to a legally binding contract for the sale of greenteavodka.com.

Sedo’s transfer team will now assist you with this transfer, including helping you with your registrar to ensure the transfer is successfully completed.

Please click on the link below and log into your account in order to initiate the transfer:

http://www.sedo.com/member/transferdetails.php4?id=919011

The first step of the transfer process is the payment request. Once we have received the buyer’s payment it will be held in escrow. Then the technical part of the transfer can begin. The transfer agent will then ask you to unlock the domain and ask the buyer to send a transfer request through their registrar. The registrar will then transfer the ownership to the buyer. After the registrar has completed this step, the transfer agent will confirm ownership with the buyer and send you the payment from the escrow account. This process can take about 2-3 weeks.

Your transfer agent will be following up shortly with the next steps of the transfer, if you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please feel free to contact us at transfers@sedo.com.

Congratulations on Your Sale.

Best regards,

Your Sedo Team

Please note that the Seller assumes all responsibility for the listing of this domain name. These responsibilities include, but are not limited to, any obligations that arise from accepting an agreement to sell the domain name.

Then I received this email earlier today:

Dear Jason Thompson,

A status update with the subject of “Escrow payment received” has been posted regarding the transfer of greenteavodka.com.

Please login through the link below or select the domain from your Transfer Center.

https://sedo.com/member/transfer/overview.php?id=919011

To contact your Transfer Specialist, please do not reply to this message, but log into your Sedo account and submit a message.

Best regards,

Daniel Le Ray
–
Transfer Specialist
Sedo.com :: 161 First Street :: Cambridge, MA 02142
tel: +1-617-499-7200 :: fax: +1-617-499-7202
http://www.sedo.com

Confidentiality Statement: This e-mail, including attachments,
may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may
be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed.
If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her
authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender
by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

Then I received another email today:

Dear Jason Thompson,

A status update with the subject of “Please push domain to Sedo-Account” has been posted regarding the transfer of greenteavodka.com.

Please login through the link below or select the domain from your Transfer Center.

https://sedo.com/member/transfer/overview.php?id=919011

To contact your Transfer Specialist, please do not reply to this message, but log into your Sedo account and submit a message.

Best regards,

Daniel Le Ray
–
Transfer Specialist
Sedo.com :: 161 First Street :: Cambridge, MA 02142
tel: +1-617-499-7200 :: fax: +1-617-499-7202
http://www.sedo.com

Confidentiality Statement: This e-mail, including attachments,
may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may
be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed.
If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her
authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited.
If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender
by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.

My next step is to obviously push the domain to Sedo, so they can make sure the person who purchased the domain name through the auction receives what they paid for! I must say it is definitely an interesting process and I certainly hope this sheds a little light on what occurs after a Sedo auction with a winning bid concludes. Now I am off to make sure that Sedo gets that shot of Green Tea Vodka they have so patiently been waiting for!

If you haven’t heard about the Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as DMOZ, then consider this your wakeup call. If you have heard of it, but you’re not listed there, then you too can consider this your wakeup call.

Are you awake? Good. The ODP bills itself as “the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.”

The phrase “human-edited” is key here. Human edited means just that. There are no mysterious indexing algorithms at work; no inscrutable spiders running amuck through your pages; just good old-fashioned human editors who actually visit your web site and make a judgment about if it should be listed, where it should be listed and how it should be ranked. When you’re dealing with the ODP your main goal is to impress the editor with the site’s value, not stay one step ahead of ever-changing indexing schemes.

Now that’s both good and bad news. The good news is that you get a fair shake even if your SEO skills aren’t razor sharp. The bad news? Well, if your content stinks, your topics are irrelevant, or you can’t spell to save your life, you’ll be cast into the dungeons of the un-indexed.

Why is getting listed in the ODP so important?

The answer is simple. Even search engine software can be lazy and, as a result, many of them index the ODP to get additional listings into their own pages. Don’t think for a moment that only the little search engines which occupy the small nooks and crannies of cyberspace are the lazy ones. No sir. It’s common knowledge that even the likes of AOL, MSN, HotBot, and both the Yahoo and Google directories pull content from the ODP. What’s more, a link to your site from the grand daddy of all directories is also considered an important link for Link Popularity purposes. Finally, almost every new directory and search engine that is born every day
gets their start by grabbing links from the ODP. It’s just one of those places where you MUST be seen.

So, how do you get listed?

It’s easier than at most sites. There are very few rules but those that are there must not be ignored.

Rule #1: Check to see if your site is already listed. if it is then don’t list it again. See Rule #3 if you’re tempted to try anyway.

Rule #2: Submit your site to the correct category.

Categories are very important to the way that the ODP operates. If you choose the wrong one then it will end up in front of the wrong editor. That editor MIGHT flip it over to the right editor, if he or she is in a good mood, but it’s more likely that they’ll simply send it to /dev/null and consign you to the list of people who don’t know how to follow directions.

Rule #3: Don’t toy with the editor’s intelligence

Avoid posting mirror sites which exactly mimic other sites that are already indexed. You’ll get caught and banned.

Likewise, don’t try to create “doorway” pages that disguise already submitted URLs.

A variation of both of the above is: Don’t submit pages which simply redirect to other sites.

Don’t submit illegal content like child pornography. If you are submitting “legal” porn then make sure that you submit it to the correct Adult category!

Don’t submit “list of links” sites.

Don’t submit “Under Construction” or “Coming Soon” sites.

Got it? Good. Next step…

Once you’re sure that you’ve obeyed all of the rules, surf your way over to the category that you’ve chosen for your site and click on the “suggest URL” link. The form that comes up is pretty simple but be sure to fill it out correctly. Remember — the editors holds your link’s future in their hands!

The “Site Description” link is where you place a bonefide description of your site. It’s not the place to put sales material.

“The hottest e-book site on the web! Buy one get one FREE but only if you order by midnight tonight!!!” is not a valid site description. This is:

“We sell e-books, software and training materials for Internet users who want to start their own e-commerce business. We list over 100 titles and new ones are added regularly.”

Finally, don’t use automatic submission software to submit to the ODP. They have “ways” of knowing and, to quote the powers to be…

“Sites submitted automatically are flagged and deleted after the submission is accepted, without notification to you. Persistent automatic submission may force us to ban you from the DMOZ site, so we can provide resources to real human beings.”

They’re tough — those human editors but they’re fair as well. Don’t nag them after you submit your site. Be prepared to wait up to two weeks, or more, for an editor to review your site. Some categories are especially busy so it could take longer. Be aware that editors do not HAVE to list your site if they feel that it isn’t worthy of listing. If you’ve waited more than 30 days and you haven’t heard a thing then a polite inquiry might be in line.

Hopefully your tail is wagging over getting listed in the ODP. Click here http://dmoz.org/ and get started!

Every day I get at least one email where someone is telling me a lie about Internet marketing and how to get traffic to my web site.

I know that it’s a lie because as soon as I open it I always see some proclamation that reads something like this:

“Email marketing is DEAD”, or “Banner Ads are Dead”, or “FFA Sites are Dead” and even “Safelists are Dead”

I call these “Internet Obituaries” and, once you understand what’s behind them, you can pull out the nugget of truth and use it to drive more traffic to your web site. Let me explain what I mean.

First of all, let’s jump right to the obvious question: If e-mail is “dead” then why in the heck are you sending me an email that’s promoting your solution to this obvious crisis? Yep, email isn’t dead. Now you can see the lie and the truth. You’re all set to take the next step.

I’ve got news for you. NOTHING is dead. Everything that used to work still works DEPENDING upon how you use it.

All of the marketing gurus, who incidentally are usually the same ones who are sending the “Internet Obituaries”, love to throw around the phrase “targeted traffic”. It’s their holy mantra. Well, truthfully, targeted traffic is a very good idea. It means that you are going to get your offer in front of the people who are most likely to need whatever it is you’re selling.

I just had a thought. When I’m done writing this article I’m going to go out to the lake behind my house and catch a sailfish! I’ve never caught one before and I’d love to have one mounted on the wall in my den. Sure, it’s an old-fashioned and anti-PETA thing to do, but I’ve always wanted one on my wall. Anyway, I digress…

Acquiring targeted traffic is the best way to pull in prospects that are most likely to buy, right? That means that you have to use the best advertising medium for THAT PARTICULAR GROUP and waive your offer in front of them. But, in order to do that, you have to know where people who need it hang out every day.

Ok. I get the feeling that you’re not concentrating on what I’m trying to tell you because you’re still wondering why I’m dumb enough to think that I’m going to catch a saltwater sailfish in the lake behind my house. I can’t. I know that.

If I want to catch a saltwater sailfish then the very first thing I have to do is get my hook into a large body of saltwater. But, even before I do that, I have to know where in that large body of saltwater sailfish hang out and what they eat. If I don’t dangle something that looks like food in front of an actual sailfish then the chances of me catching one, even in the ocean, are about as good as catching one in the lake behind my house.

And THAT’S what “targeted traffic is all about”. It’s simply dangling something that looks tasty in front of the prospect and doing it somewhere that has a lot of the type of prospect that you’re looking for. can be found.

Now, all you have to do is this:

1. Make sure that you know the demographics of your market.

2. Find out where people who are in that demographic market hang out on the Internet. What do they read? What sites do they visit?

3. Prepare the bait, I mean the “offer”.

4. Use the right medium to set that offer in front of the prospects and get ready to reel them in!

Attend a dead web site seance and you could explode your traffic overnight! OK, not a REAL seance but there is a way to get traffic, lots of it, from dead web sites using a very special type of ouija board.

Every day thousands of Internet domain names expire. Maybe the person died, or they forgot to renew it, or they just decided to abandon the Internet marketing game. No matter what the reason, many of these sites are well ranked in the major search engines and are getting traffic! All you have to do is find the domains that meet your product or service’s requirements and register them in your name. Then, just point the URLs to your current web site and you’re all set to go.

So, how does it work? Here’s the scoop.

When a domain name owner fails to renew then the registrar (the company that handled registering the domain name for the owner) deactivates the name for approximately 30-45 days. During that “grace period” the current owner can simply pay the renewal fees and service charges to get the use of their domain back.

After that period of time the domain name is “supposed” to be released back to the domain name pool and become available for anyone to register. the emphasis is on “supposed to” because there are one or two registrars who do not play by the rules and hold on to expired domain names indefinitely.

Your job is to find a way to stay on top of the names that become available and decide if they have any value. “Value”, in this instance, means that one or more of the following situations are true:

1. The web site is well listed in any major search engine.

2. It has a high Google page rank or a good Alexa Traffic Rank.

3. The domain name can be tied into your product or service. If it can’t be then you might consider using the domain name to sell whatever the previous owner was selling.

Once you decide that you’ve found a domain name that’s got potential, all you have to do is go to your favorite domain name registrar and grab it.

Of course, there is one small little problem. How do you know which domain names have expired and which ones have the traffic or ranking to make buying them worth your while?

You need an Expired Domain Name finding tool. There are a lot of them out there but, to tell you the truth, most of them charge far too much money for their membership. Here is one that is actually reasonable and works just fine Domain Research Tool.

Once you get the domain research tool then you can run your searches regularly. It doesn’t take too many “scores” to start seeing your traffic shoot up and raise your counter from the dead!

Hello everyone and welcome! I want to take this time to present my new web venture dnpimping.com, this site will feature my take on the domaining world and online marketing. Some of you may already know me from discredit.org, soon I will be merging the old blog into this site so no content will be lost. Think of this site as a new and approved discredit.org, also while you are thinking that thought please excuse any bugs that the site might have as we are currently working on the blog to officially launch it. A great deal of work has been done so far. I have to thank my amazing designer and web developer for bringing this concept to fruition. Stay tuned as this site will definitely be one that you can count on for tips, domaining news and insight on personal projects I am currently working on. Here at dnpimping.com we make domaining look good!

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

I remember when I first started domaining most of the emphasis was placed on how much traffic a domain name received.  These days, the savvy domainer understands that traffic can be classified in a number of different ways.  I tend to classify traffic in two categories:

1.  Targeted

Targeted traffic tends to directly correlate with the domain name.  If you owned a used car domain name and there were a number of people visiting the site, looking for used cars you would have a win, win situation.

2.  Untargeted

This tends to be the most common type of traffic.  Traffic like this normally comes from foreign countries.  For example, I run a proxy site which receives thousands of unique visitors a month.  Since proxy sites tend to appeal to users who reside in countries with strict Internet rules, the site tends to receive the majority of its traffic from China.  I find it difficult to capitalize on the traffic because the campaigns I tend to run with google adsense are gear towards Americans.

Now getting back to the point.  Domainers do not pay as much attention to traffic as they once did.  Most of my domaining associates are more concerned with branding.  I completely agree with this notion and feel that branding outweighs the majority of the statistical figures out there.  When shopping a domain name it is very hard to convey the stats to the end-user.  Most end-users will hear a domain name and if they like the way it sounds or the meaning behind the name, they will make an offer to purchase it.  If you start rambling off statistical data you are more likely to lose the end-user.

Early on during my domain registration days I made many mistakes.  The majority of those mistakes revolved around purely concentrating on the statistical data of a domain.  I went as far as registering several typos similar to wwwexample.com, just because I knew the main site received a massive amount of visitors.  This definitely backfired on me, most of those domains did not monetize well and were nearly impossible to flip to another domainer.  The next step was to let the domain names drop and that is exactly what happened.  Over the years, I learned to focus more on branding instead of statistics.

Jason Thompson

PS: Heading over to the bido auction!

It’s been a few days since I accidentally ordered DedicatedServerForum.com via Pool.  I say accidentally because I don’t remember actually telling it to put the domain in my queue.  This is actually and error that I appreciate, as it definitely could of been a domain name that I did not want.  In this case I wanted the domain name and now I am faced with the dilemma of either flipping it or developing it.  Over at webhostingtalk.com the domain name has sparked the interest of a user:

nexbyte  nexbyte is offline
View Beta Profile
Premium Member
Image: Premium Member Badge

__________________
█*█ myProHost Internet Services █*█
Premium Web Hosting | VPS Servers | 99.9% Uptime
Website/Data Migration | Managed VPS | 24×7 Support
Denver, CO | Chicago, IL | Scranton, PA

As a reply to his post, I answered with the following statement:

talkwebhosts  talkwebhosts is online now
View Beta Profile
Web Hosting Master

__________________
The Los Angeles Web Hosting Group
October 2008 Meeting: Cloud Computing & Guest Speaker Damon Young Sales Director of ProjectLocker

As I moved forward with the private message, I definitely wanted to make sure that the potential buyer knows that we are looking for a serious buyer.  I feel that this domain name is easily worth high $XXX - low $XXXX undeveloped.  Developed, the sky is the limit with this domain name because top hosting companies which specialize in the dedicated server market are willing to pay top dollar for advertising.  You could easily bring in a $1,000 - $5,000 a month with a forum of this nature.  To be honest with you, building a forum dedicated to a subject like this would not be hard.  So, I private messaged the potntial buyer with the following:

Private Message: DedicatedServerForum.com
Recipients: nexbyte
Report Private Message
Yesterday, 11:23 PM
talkwebhosts talkwebhosts is online now
View Beta Profile
Web Hosting Master

__________________
The Los Angeles Web Hosting Group
October 2008 Meeting: Cloud Computing & Guest Speaker Damon Young Sales Director of ProjectLocker

I have not heard a response from the potential buyer as of yet.  I might actually call the buyer on the number provided in his signature, to talk with him about DedicatedServerForum.com, this will allow me to show the buyer that I am a serious domain seller and allow me to connect with the buyer on a more professional scale.  It should be interesting to see how this plays out, because the potential buyer obviously sees value within the name, now the question is how much are they willing to acquire the domain for.

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

PS:  Look out for dnpimping.com very soon, the programmer is putting the final touches on the site.  It is looking great so far!

I didn’t realize there was a facebook land rush tonight until 20 to 30 minutes before it actually occurred.  Once I read a few blogs about the land rush I decided to come up with a plan. The plan consisted of writing down a few terms that I was interested in registering.  Although I thought about registering generic keywords I decided to go after the industry that I love and came up with the following:

1. domain

2. domaining

3. domainer

4. domainname

Luckily instead of wasting my time typing in domain, I jumped right to the word domaining and it was available for me to register!  Now everyone can go directly to www.facebook.com/domaining to add me as a friend.  This will be an extremely valuable tool for me to network with other domainers in the industry as well as getting the end-user interested in domaining or purchasing domains.  I am going to outline exactly what steps I want to take with the name, it will be an exciting trip!

Best Regards,

Jason Thompson

Would you drop a gold bar on the sidewalk while walking down the street?  Well if you are anything like me that answer would be an automatic NO! Then why are so many people letting domains drop?  I don’t think anyone can answer this question, nor will I even try to myself.  The best thing I can do as a domainer is to try and make use of the wonderful gold you have gently placed into my pocket.  I currently have a couple of scouts out there who are looking for you as you knowingly or unknowingly drop gold bars and coins right from your wallets and purses.  The scouts take the form of justdropped.com, who have presented me with an amazing view of all the domain gold that can be collected with the simple stroke of a keyboard and click of a mouse.

Domain Gold

Domaining has definitely changed and I am announcing today that this is the beginning of a new era.  An era where the majority of domainers have turned into philanthropist and are simply giving there pots of gold away.  I commend each of you on your generosity and will make sure that your gold is put to great use!

This blog entry was sparked by my registration of FreeCreeditReportScore.net last night.  I could not believe how this domain just simply dropped from the registrar, especially since it is taken in .com, .org, .info and .mobi forms.  To make this situation even more shocking I brought in google to shed a little light on the stats.  According to google:

Local Search Volume (May) - 74,000

Global Monthly Search Volume - 27,100

This is an example of what I call dropping gold.  The previous owner of this domain definitely missed out on an opportunity to capitalize on it.  It might actually be my best domain registration of the year!  To all of those who are saying that its getting harder to find good domains, simply look in the right direction and you might actually find a little domain gold yourself.

The quicker the better right?  Blast 1,000 people with emails and you are bound to find a potential domain buyer.  WRONG!  Times have changed and simply emailing potential leads does not work anymore.  The amazing pitch email you took half a day to write finds itself flagged as spam.  In the end you are left with a list of cold leads.  This is where snail mail intervention comes into play.  As I have come to learn sometimes technology is not always a good thing.  In the world of domaining we struggle with selling an intangible product to a market which is used to purchasing tangible goods.

How do we change this concept?

First you have to step back a few years, before email was actually mainstream.  What are you left with?  You are left with snail mail and a phone line.  In this blog entry I will focus on snail mail and why you should be using it for lead generation.  The following points are why you should be using snail mail for lead generation:

1. Snail mail allows you to make an intangible product tangible.  Since the potential lead will receive a physical letter in the mail, they are able to touch your domain name.  I am a strong believer in the concept of creating a tangible domain name.

2. Letters are less likely to be thrown away without being read.  Emails can find there way automatically into a junk mail box due to filters, while a letter will actually be opened before it is disposed of.  A basic envelope printed with your address will most likely stimulate a little curiosity for the potential domain buyer.

3. Mailing a letter allows you to include marketing material.  Everything from pens to your business card can be included in the letter.

4. The cost of mailing a letter is cheap.  Here in the United States, you can mail a letter for 42 cents.  This provides you with a 1 ounce threshold.  (Sending a letter from Los Angeles to Canada is only 75 cents!)

5. A letter provides for a professional introduction.  Potential domain buyers will take a letter more serious than an email.  The fact that you actually took the time to write a letter and mail it shows that you mean business!

Now that I have proven a couple of points on why you should snail mail your prospective domain buyer, lets talk a little about what should be included in your envelope.  I can’t reveal everything, since I am working on an ebook which will contain this topic but I will provide you with a few secrets.  Here are two tips:

1. The letter in your envelope should include a domain pitch.  It is important that this letter is written very well!  It should include your pitch, the domain being sold, supporting domain evidence which is easy to understand and at least three ways to contact you.  Make sure to provide your telephone number, email, fax and address.  If you don’t, you might actually miss the opportunity to sell your domain name.

2. Always include a business card.  I can not stress this enough.  If you don’t include your business card, they might actually think that this letter is a joke or that the person behind the letter is not running a professional business.  The business card takes the edge off of your pitch letter.  If you have a decent business card it might actually find its way into a contact manager or rolodex.  That’s what we are shooting for!

Alright, without giving all of my secrets away these concepts should definitely help you on your path to achieving domain gold!  I did not reference how to generate potential domain buyer leads, because that will be included in my ebook.  I have a feeling that it will actually cover an entire chapter.  Leads are everything and in the domaining world, the right leads can turn your domain names into wealth.

Recently I took the time to send a domain pitch letter to five potential leads.  Since the letters are actually being picked up by the post office today, I will give my potential leads around two to three weeks to respond.  If they don’t respond within that period of time I will consider them as cold leads and continue to generate new prospects.  On occasion a domain buyer lead can still remain hot, even without them contacting you.  When this occurs a follow up letter should be sent after two to three weeks.  These letters are pretty much restating what your original letter said and are used to reiterate the urgency of why the domain name might be sold soon.  I will include more information on follow up letters in my ebook.

Domain Sales Pitch Letters

Notice that I am sending out five letters at a time.  My return address looks very professional and does not give away too much information about my company or myself.  I deliberately included the website in the return address, in case the letter touches a few hands before reaching the decision maker.  For those that are skeptical about the letter, hopefully they decide to check the EMDIG.COM website and realize that this is a letter from a professional company.  The return address is displayed with the following information:

EMDIG.COM
2007 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 719
Los Angeles, CA  90057

You might notice the letter which has two stamps.  That letter is destined for Canada.  I found a prospect who is headquartered in Canada, but also has a presence here in Los Angeles.  I decided to mail the letter directly to Canada because I want it to reach the management team as opposed to a satellite office.