As you know I am a big believer in ccTLD’s and the opportunities that exist in the Global Domaining markets. While my portfolio spans over twenty different TLD’s I have a nice concentration of .us and .in/.co.in domains. I haven’t been too involved with .DE until I learned more about it during the ccTLD panel at TRAFFIC Las Vegas. It was there that I fell in love with .DE and while I’m still a beginning in the market I think the prospects are great!

So what do I like so much about .DE? There are three qualities that really make .DE stand-out:

1. One-Month Registrations – that’s right, you can register a .DE domain for just a month – it really is like doing domain tasting!
2. Dashes are In – imagine a world where dashes and spaces are created equally – with .DE you can register those hyphenated domains all you want!
3. Second Largest Domain Market – .DE is the second largest domain market next to .com

We will have a much more detailed article about the .DE ccTLD on my new online magazine – ccTLDInvestors.com!

Twitter plays a vital role in many businesses – a company that was almost unknown several years ago has become an integral part of our global communication platform. The US Government has even requested that server maintenance updates be rescheduled due to their dependence on Twitter for information gathering!

Well today I’ve been thinking about what an important role Twitter plays in the Domaining world and thought I explain the many roles that Twitter plays for me.

It all starts with my Twitter buddies that I converse with throughout the week. Most of these are other Domainers I either know online or have met at conferences. It’s not uncommon to meet a few new people each week as well just from responses to my Tweets. Of course Patrick, Bruce and I enjoy teasing each other on Twitter – I wish one of them had a blog – it would be a great read!

Every blog post is Tweeted to my now over 5,000 subscribers – this is then reTweeted a number of times from people with far more subscribers than myself! I am very grateful to the people who RT my posts – this has been an essential part of my blog’s growth!

When I’m at a conference I user Twitter to share with everyone what I’m learning and where they can learn more about the topic. I’m an inspired person and when I hear about something exciting in the Domaining or Affiliate Marketing space I enjoy sharing it with the people who follow me on Twitter!

If there is a domain I think my followers might want to buy I will Tweet the domain and price – this is usually domains I’m selling at wholesale prices – I like to give an edge to the people who follow and support me!

I get new subscribers to my domain sales newsletter through Twitter by just letting everyone know what the focus is and how they can sign-up. It’s amazing how quickly Twitter can get the word-out!

Other people promote my eBook through Twitter. Although I do a few times a year there are people who promote my book daily on Twitter.

I learn about the latest trends on Twitter and find domains that correspond to non-TM trends that I see having good potential. I’m a trend Domaining fan and stick almost exclusively to .us and .com for any trend domains.

Of course there are even more ways I use Twitter in my daily Domaining life! Now it’s your turn – how do you use Twitter within the scope of the Domaining world?

Since SEO Sunday is a relatively new segment on my blog I thought I’d talk about one of the most fundamental and important concepts in SEO – the title tag. It is amazing how often this is overlooked and what a difference it makes!

When you do a search on Google or Yahoo the links you see are the title tag of the webpage. The keywords in the title are an essential element to search ranking – couple a good title with an exact-match domain and you’re a force to be reckoned with!

One of the best ways to create a good title tag is by using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Enter the keywords in your domain into the tool and then sort by search volume. You may want to add the CPC column as well to get an understanding of which keywords generate the most revenue. I try to stick with using the top 2-3 keywords in my niche within the page title.

Just look at the title of my blog – Adventures in Domaining | Domain Investing Blog. There are two keywords I am optimizing for here – “Domaining” and “Domain Investing”. Just search for Domain Investing on Google and you will find my blog on the first page. You will also see my company – Linton Investments on the first page of Google when searching for Domain Investing.

There are really four major metrics Google uses to rank sites – links (coming in and going out), title, tag, domain name, and on-site content. (There are of course many other elements to the ranking process but this is the big four). If you have a category-killer domain name with some good content and a strong title tag you can outrank sites with greater link popularity since your site might appear more relevant to Google! I’m not saying you can outrank anyone with a killer title tag – but I am saying that the difference between a good and bad title could give you a nice edge along with a good domain…this is the advantage Domainers have in the SEO game!

So pick a good title tag. Look at what the people who rank well for your keywords have for their own title tag – it’s probably working for them! It’s amazing how one small string of text can make such a big different – this is probably why the title tag gets overlooked so frequently!

Want to learn more? I highly recommend this article from HighRankings.com – All About Title Tags

As you know I’ve always been focused on turning my domains into revenue generating machines vs. selling them. I have trouble parting with my domains as I hate selling anything that is making me a consistent income each month. Currently I have just about 130 of the domains in my portfolio built-out into revenue-generating sites.

I learn new things about how to tune my sites almost every day as I now have a good swath of analytics and click-through data. When I develop a content site I try to make sure I am always thinking of what information the visitor is looking for. With product domains I have a laser-targeted view of what the visitor is looking for – more precise based on how specific the keywords are.

In the case of USBMemoryStick.com which I purchased at TRAFFIC in Las Vegas I know exactly what my target visitor is looking for – USB Memory Sticks. This is one of the things I really loved about this domain – it describes exactly what the visitor wants so I know what products to sell! I was able to quickly develop this into a product site – the whole project took a Sunday afternoon and there will definitely be more revisions and of course more products added in the future.

There are two main goals I have when designing a site like this:

1. Make the site optimized for search – having an exact-match domain like this is a BIG win but on-page optimizations are essential to rank well in a category as large as this.
2. Provide a simple way to monetize the traffic – in this case since I know exactly what my visitors are looking for – I give them exactly that – USB Memory Sticks that they can buy right-away. I am selling these through Amazon but have also included some Google Adsense to pick-up a bit of PPC business that might be there.

It’s still too early to see how much type-in traffic this domain has but with 135,000 exact match searches in Google for “USB Memory Stick” there is a big market here and I own the category with this domain! You will see the format of this site change over time as I tune my sites to ensure I am monetizing the traffic as efficiently as possible.

The next site I recently finished is PayOffDebt.me – a site in one of the hottest markets online right now – debt! At Affiliate summit and Affiliate Convention I paid careful attention to where the best opportunities were for affiliates. Credit, Debt, Taxes, Insurance are areas that are on fire at the moment with lots of opportunities for affiliates and lead gen partners.

You will notice I am using Wordpress for this site. I only use Wordpress on sites I plan to update on a regular basis – in this case I will be updating PayOffDebt.me weekly. I have three forms of monetization right now and am adding a fourth this weekend. I can monetize my traffic through:

1. Affiliate Ads – I am using ads from Commission Junction on the far right-hand side
2. Google Adsense – Debt/Credit is a high-paying category – these are very lucrative clicks
3. Lead Generation – I am doing lead generation through my contact form as well as ads on the site
4. (Coming Soon!) ClickBank Products – There are some great ClickBank products related to debt/credit – I am currently going through them now as I only want products I stand behind on my sites!

So you might be saying…well that all sounds fine and dandy but you’re building on a .ME – are you crazy? I am no crazier than my good buddy Bruce Marler who has shown quite clearly that .ME can be used quite effectively to promote sites in the US. Once again – that exact match domain is KEY!

I will continue to update my readers as always on my latest development projects. Of course I invite comments, questions, criticisms, etc. Also please feel free to share some of your latest projects with the group!

Happy Saturday and stay-tuned tomorrow for SEO Sunday!

As Domainers I have to say we are all very lucky to have such incredible conferences in our industry! Yesterday Oversee.net announced DOMAINfest Europe and today Patrick from ChefPatrick.com is announcing DNCruise! Patrick is a good friend of mine and I think he’s an excellent person to be running this conference – let’s face it – we’re all going to have a blast!

Outside of general cruise ship partying debauchery there will be some excellent speakers at the conference talking about a number of topics from domain investing to social media! There are some incredible networking opportunities to be had and it’s timed perfectly so you can get to TRAFFIC after the cruise!

Oh – I forgot to mention one of the best things – the price! The conference is only $429/person – this includes all of your food, your conference pass, and most of your drinks! So come hit the high seas with me and tons of other Domainers as we set sail on the first ever DNCruise! Here is the official press release below with all the details:

PRESS RELEASE

Las Vegas, Nevada – March 4, 2010:  Chef Patrick of Chef Patrick.com is going to be hosting a domaining conference so awesome it will literally make you float.  This event will be the first domaining conference he’s held and the industry’s first ever conference on a boat.  The event will be accommodated aboard the Carnival ship Imagination.

The cruise is leaving out of the port of Miami, Florida on October 11, 2010 and returns to Miami on October 15.  DNCruise is perfectly timed for those attending the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. event in South Beach, Miami, which kicks off on October 17, 2010.

With a starting price of only $429 per person (interior cabin), no other conference can offer such a great value.  Fare includes your cabin, all you can eat food, cruise taxes, port fees, gratuities, most of your cocktails and your conference pass.

Chef Patrick promises a laid back atmosphere of fun and mingling mixed in with some speakers and sponsored parties.  There will be plenty of free time as well to enjoy the beautiful beach in Cozumel, Mexico.

Although the conference is in the early stages of planning, DNCruise has had a tremendous amount of interest so far and anticipate selling out within the next few months. In addition, Chef Patrick has a lot of great sponsors already lined up and even more coming. These sponsors have allowed him to keep the pricing down and still cover the expenses for some awesome activities and parties.

Chef Patrick has lined-up some great speakers ranging from web development, domain investing, SEO, affiliate marketing and social media. He will encourage room participation through moderated group discussions. In addition he will hold several networking sessions in ways never before done!!!

If for some reason a guest cannot afford the pass, Chef Patrick will work out fair payment arrangements. No one should miss an opportunity like this to network with fellow domain investors.

If you’d like more information about the cruise or would like to book your room please visit www.DNCruise.com or you can contact Chef Patrick directly by email at Patrick(at)ChefPatrick.com or by phone at 702-373-1127

Today I had the chance to speak with Aaron Kvitek, the Head of Marketing for Oversee.net at their offices in Downtown Los Angeles. In this video he provides some great information about their newly announced DOMAINfest Europe taking place this October in Prague!

We had our third Southern California Domainer Meet Up this past Saturday in Laguna Beach, California. With a record turn-out of 34 people spanning across many different parts of Southern California this was our best Meet Up yet!

Breakfast in Laguna Beach

The Meet Up started at 7:00PM with an excellent presentation by Don Lyon from Moniker. If you weren’t able to make it to the meeting you can download the hand-out that Don provided to members. Of course I took plenty of video which I am editing now and should have on the blog later this week.

After Don spoke, Michael Castello from CCIN spoke to the group and shared some of his experiences and some excellent advice. Don’t worry – I have video of this as well!

Domainers were treated to an exceptional dinner thanks to the generous sponsorship of Moniker. I am absolutely blow-away by how supportive Moniker has been of our group. Craig Snyder, the GM of Moniker and Snapnames actually flew-out from Seattle just to attend the event! It’s great to see a company step-up like this and support local Domainers and I wanted to personally thank Don and Craig again for making the event such a success!

It didn’t take long for Domainers to erupt into conversation as we all shared ideas and “talked shop” as I like to say…except that our shop is the vast expanse that is the Internet! The event was held at K’ya Restaurant in Laguna Beach – the food was exceptional and the service went above and beyond – I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Laguna Beach!

There was an excellent range of experience-levels at the Meet Up from brand-new Domainers looking to learn more about the industry to experts that make their living from Domains. I’ve always been impressed at these Meet Up’s with how well people seem to get along – right away! Let’s face it – Domaining is a tiny niche – there aren’t even millions of us around the world – so when you meet another Domainer it always feels like there is an infinite amount of things to talk about!

For those of you that live in Southern California who did not attend this Meet Up we hope to see you at our next event! You can sign-up for the Meet Up at www.MeetUp.com/Domaining as well as our social network for all California Domainers.

Make sure to check-out a great post by Jason with Member Feedback On Our Third Southern California Domaining Meetup

Thanks again to Don and Craig from Moniker for making this our best Meet Up yet!

This year there are four ccTLD’s I’m focusing my attention on – .in, .de, .mx, and .co.za. I can share my reasons for each these choices in a future post but I’d like to focus on .MX for this post.

While Mexico does have a low broadband penetration rate of only 22% – it still has 34 million Internet users – that’s more Internet users than there are people in Canada! If you would buy a .ca domain there should be no reason that you shouldn’t consider .MX.

Let’s face it – things change over time. We know that over the next five years Internet penetration across the world will go-up and with this countries like Mexico, India, and many more.

The .MX market is just starting-out so it is still a bit early to know how the market will grow – but I think this is going to be BIG! With any new ccTLD market I like to focus on owning strong category-killer domains rather than longtails – if the TLD really takes-off I’d like to own some of the best domains.

I am still experimenting with the type-in traffic my domains are getting and will be reporting more on ccTLDInvestors.com in the future. If I see any results like I have in India I expect to see a good level of type-in traffic on many of my .MX domains.

You can see a list of .MX Domain sales at Sales.mx – it is interesting to note that four out of the top five sales are English terms.

Now I’d like to hear from you? Do you like .MX? Feel free to share your top 3-4 ccTLD’s.

As a ccTLD investor I am always trying to determine what people in another country are searching for or typing-into their browsers. One of the first ccTLDs I ever registered was CricketGames.co.in – this was also my first ccTLD to get a steady flow of type-in traffic.

My portfolio currently spans over twenty TLD’s with .com’s making-up less than 10% of my portfolio. I’m always happy to tell people – “I’m a BIG believer in ccTLD’s!”

As an SEO geek I thought I would share a quick tip that can help any ccTLD investor ensure they are buying domains that has good search traffic in their respective country. Remember – just because a certain term or phrase is popular in the U.S. doesn’t mean it is necessarily popular in Canada, Mexico, or Germany!

Did you know that when you use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool you can actually view search volume from specific countries in a specific language? That means if you found a .in that you think is going to be a hit in India – you can check the search volume first to see if it really is as popular as you think it is.

When you login to the Google Adword Keyword tool you will see the following text above the search box:

This means the the Local Search Results you are shown will be for people using Google in the United States and searching in English.

What if you want to search for a word or phrase in English but see the search volume in Australia? Or a Spanish word on Google in Mexico?

It’s easy to do but most people miss this little option that is a BIG deal when it comes to ccTLDs (or non-English .com’s!)

Just click the “Edit” link next to United States and you will then see a menu allowing you to pick a language and a country:

That’s it! It’s easy to do and if you’re buying ccTLDs this will be essential data to help drive your purchase decisions.

There are many more ways that I research my ccTLD investments but I wanted to cover this topic today as it is an important part of the process. Enjoy and happy ccTLDing!

Thanks to everyone who helped me pick the name for my new blog/magazine – ccTLDInvestors.com that will be launching next week! I strongly believe that the ccTLD market is at the same point that .com, .net, and .org were in the late 90’s.

I’ve been working hard to assemble a team of experts that will be writing for the magazine and look forward to bringing you the experts from each ccTLD.

I just sent-out the second issue of my ccTLD Brokerage Newsletter which is an email newsletter exclusively focused on ccTLD’s. Even though it’s only the second issue I’ve been amazed at some of the incredible ccTLD’s that people have to sell. It is clear to me that this is a market that is getting ready to explode!

Now that we are getting ready to launch ccTLDInvestors.com I thought I would reach-out and see if there were any experts in a few TLD’s I don’t have covered yet. Please take a look at the list below and if you are experienced with any of the TLD-markets listed below let me know – we’d love to have you write for us!

• .ES
• .NL
• .MX
• South American Countries ccTLD’s
• .co.za

I hope everyone is having a great Friday night – I’m sure most of you are out partying while I’m sitting inside working on ten million different things!! I’m very excited about heading to Laguna Beach tomorrow for our third Southern California Domainer Meet Up!