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Domaining For Fun And Profit?

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Last month, I talked about buying websites for profit and SEO ranking. Of course, you could overdo it and end up with too many blogs. Well, what about investing in domains. I’m talking about domains with no websites attached.

Aviva Directory is a general purpose site with some interesting content. One article, how to get started as a domainer, gives some suggestions on how you can get into domaining, what tools to use, how to pay for it all, and how to make money at it.

The primary difference between blogging and domaining is that the latter does not require as much investment in time, and can be automated to a degree. Domaining can earn you a lot of money, if you do the necessary domain name research, and there are a number of strategies for doing so. Some strategies are getting a bit dated, replaced with newer methods. A few methods:

  1. Free parking, which brings in contextual ad revenue, split with the parking host. Under this strategy you might only make a few cents per day, but if you have hundreds of domains, you could earn a few hundred dollars or more per month.
  2. Automated bulk buying, which amounts to buying hundreds of “interesting” domain names and then selling the lot for a small profit per domain.
  3. Flipping, which is usually done with domains that have been around for a while. You buy it on speculation, thinking that in the near future, it’ll command more than you paid for it.
  4. Traffic gathering. If you have a weblog or site that covers a general topic, you would have a number of domains whose names would have keywords relating to your site’s topic. Each domain would redirect to the main site. This way, you probably have to rely on type-in traffic.

I’ve only very recently started into domaining and it’s yet to make me a cent – but only because I really haven’t put in the time. If you’re interested, the potential profit can be more than the average blogger might make. Check out the Aviva Directory article for a list of tools, tips and resources. If you’ve been domaining, do you have any tips you can add?

New Scribefire for Firefox Version

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What’s Nick Doing?

Nick Wilson, former CEO of Performancing and ever the resourceful web jedi, has pretty much relaunched Scribefire (formerly PFF – Performancing for Firefox) from his Twitter blog. Of course, he explains why he joined Twitter (and unsubscribed from over 100 blogs) over at his Clickinfluence blog. Twitter, if you don’t already know, is a new social phenomenon where you report on your goings on, up to the minute if you like. (You should see his list of influential friends over there.) Of course, Nick also has his Communicontent blog, whose future he’s not sure about.

What’s Scribefire?

Scribefire is of course the new name for PFF, the amazing Performancing for Firefox blog editor that lets you compose from your browser, then post to your blogs. Jed Brown had a big hand in how great PFF is, though apparently he’s gone awol. Chris Fincke, a former Netscape developer, has been signed on to work on Scribefire. And there’s already a new version of Scribefire that Nick says was quietly snuck out. There will be a Scribefire blog, though there’s not much there yet.

Why Scribefire?

I can’t tell you why the name change, though it has to do with the sale of Performancing. What I can tell you is that I personally feel it is one of the most productive blogging tools available, primarily because it has a split-pane option that lets you view a web page while you’re writing – all in the same browser window. I don’t know if the new Scribefire version will conflict with an existing installation of PFF, but I’ll look into it and report back.

Relationship Linking Part 1 — The Hows and Whys

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Great bloggers are always on the lookout for opportunities to link to other blogs. Linking for traffic and incoming links is a good thing. Sometimes an idea offers more than one opportunity. In like manner, often a blogger has a choice of ideas to write about.

The very word linking implies a relationship, but I’m talking about more than a one-link stand. Long-term relationships with other bloggers offer support and visibilty that short-term, high-traffic links will probably never deliver.

Many bloggers begin their blogging day by reading feeds. They link to the article that sparks the idea they will be blogging about that day. If this is your style of blogging, take a moment to review your feeds. Add in blogs at your level that have the same values and quality standards as those you hold for your own blog. Remove all that don’t meet your standards. Have a 70% ratio of blogs at your level or one level higher — don’t read only A List blogs.

Sometimes we blog in the opposite direction. We write the article. Then we look for a links and quotes to support what we have said. Use the same standards to choose the links you’ll share with readers. Find the strongest example from a blog that you hope to have a relationship with as your blog grows.

Here’s how to put this relationship linking strategy in action.

  • Sort your feeds to include only blogs that have the same values and quality standards as those you hold for your own blog.
  • When you choose to use an idea from one of these, leave a comment to show that you were mindful and attending.
  • When you write your post, be mindful of the anchor text and words around the link you set for the trackback. Choose words that pique the interest if you can. Between the previous comment and the well-chosen anchor test, your trackback will be almost magnetic . . . the blogger who wrote the original will want to see what someone who is so interested in his article wrote. Now you have moved from being another blogger to being a person with a blog that bloger knows.

    • If you’ve chosen well, soon you and a new blogger friend will be exchanging post links when appropriate and sharing thoughts and ideas through the comment box, email, and even voice.

    As each of your blogs grows, you’ll both be stronger for the links. You’ll introduce that blogger to your readers, and the same will happen for you. This one long-term relatiosnship will add lasting value to your blog long after a one-shot link to a blog that has interesting content.

    Liz Strauss

    Reboot my blog please

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    Do you have a blog sitting around that you want help with? Want to take it to the next level but don’t know how? Well youre in luck. We are a panel of experts that’s right all of us in someway whether design is your flaw, content creation, or no inbound links or marketing. We have all the tricks up our sleeves.

    And we are sitting here waiting to help.

    ~ Ok that sounded way to much like a late night psychic hotline commercial. But seriously. I’m itching to help someone even if it’s my own blog become successful or profitable. So toss me a blog below in the comments if you want some free advice and a simple makeover tour.

    We will take one a week and spend one week giving you tips and sharing that with the community. It’s a once in a lifetime chance to really launch your site into the next level of authority.

    The Simple Mathematics Of Link Sponsor Revenue

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    Anyone who’s been blogging at least a few months knows that in most cases, contextual ad revenue from networks such as Google AdSense comes in trickles. A better option, provided you have a Google PR (PageRank) of at least 4 and a blog in an appropriate niche, is link ads such as  Text Link Ads or Text Link Brokers. (Know of another one? Drop a comment.) You also need backlinks (outside links to your blog), some feed subscriptions, and at least a steady bit of traffic – though not necessary a lot.

    Steady Revenue

    It’s not passive revenue. At least not at first while you’re building PR and backlinks, etc. But it can tend towards that. A word of caution: not all blogs are suitable. Of the eight blogs I have registered at Text Link Ads, only four have sponsors. Some have never had link sponsors since they were registered maybe eight months ago. One sold out its inventory in less than 2 months. Another sold out today, and another was just accepted but already has four sponsors. I have another 7 that need a bit of TLC before they’re ready, but when they are, they should do okay.

    I can’t live off the TLA alone, but it is steady income. And once the newer sites are registered and sell out their inventory, the total TLA earnings will be enough for rent in Toronto, where I’m moving later this year. In other words, it’s comforting, generally steady income with very little fluctuation. And I haven’t even utilized TLA’s Feedvertiser yet (mostly because I’m too busy to upgrade my WordPress installations to 2.0+).

    Example

    Let’s look at an example of how you might benefit from link sponsors. This is based on my own experience, so your mileage may vary:

    • Assume: ten weblogs of PR4 – 5 and different niches but related topics. Say sub-niches. Or maybe you have two distinct groups of sub-niches. It doesn’t matter, but blogs in one group link to each other in both navigation and content.
    • Reasonably steady traffic of at least 40 pageviews per day or more per site.
    • Offer ten sponsor slots at at least $10 per slot per month per site. (The selling price would be $20 per, since TLA takes 50% commission. I’m not sure about TextLinkBrokers.)
    • That’s 10 sites x 10 spots/ site x $10/ slot/ month = $1,000/ month. That’s your take.

    General Plan

    Pretty simple, right? And that’s a very conservative figure. If the conditions are right, you could be making that much per site, or $10,000/m. (I have no proof that anyone is doing this; just speculating.)

    Sure, the numbers are simple, but here are a few things to consider before you go sign up:

    1. You need to build up your Google PageRank (PR) to at least 4. If you are patient and think you’ll go to PR5 fairly quickly, register your sites at PR5 not PR4. You’ll very likely earn more.
    2. You need to increase your feed subscriptions. Though, TLA for example only counts Bloglines. Not all subscriptions are necessarily equal.
    3. You need to increase the backlinks to each of your blogs, from relevant sites. Not just PR6+, but also PR3-5. That comes either by buying or by building valuable content that other sites link to.
    4. You need to increase your daily traffic to where it’s steady, even if just from SEs (search engines). This is part and parcel of posting “valuable” content.
    5. You need to maintain all this after you start getting sponsors. They want the traffic, too.
    6. There’s no guarantee you’ll sell out your inventory, even at $12. Some blog niches lend themselves better to text link ads than.

    It’s all speculation, but as weblogs become even hotter property, the opportunities for monetizing them will continue to grow. Link sponsors is one way that has been working for me.

    Tony Hung Profiled on CrunchNotes

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    I’ve had a couple of dealings with Tony Hung, and found him ot be a thoroughly decent chap — with a damn good blog. Mike Arrington just nice profile of Tony that talks about his “day job” as a student doctor.

    Interesting stuff, and good to see Tony getting a bit of added exposure for his work (both night and day heh..).