Domain development dilemma
Building Your Website, Business, Domains March 28th, 2009
So, I have this dilemma. A dilemma that I’m sure most domain owners (or domainers) face at some point in their domaining career. What the heck should I do with all my domains!? There are a lot of great things you can do depending on the time, patience and budget you are willing to work with. Things such as:
Domain Parking
Mini-Sites
Ecommerce Store
Wordpress Sites
Domain parking is great if you have a lot of good domains with natural type-in traffic because you will likely generate decent revenue for all the PPC’s that you receive. The only caveat is that there is a lot of talk about how the PPC earnings have gone down likely due to the economy and other factors. I personally think people have gotten more technically savvy and realize what a PPC site is and avoid clicking on the links.
If you’re new to domaining, some of the places you can park your domains are Sedo.com, Skenzo.com, Parked.com, TrafficZ.com, WhyPark.com, ParkingRevolution.com, or ActiveAudience.com,. Some of these sites have strict requirements regarding their acceptance of your domain portolio such as you must currently be earning a certain amount of revenue through your current parking provider or you must have at least 1000 domains, etc. I believe Sedo is the only one on my list above that does not have any requirements while the others do. (Sadly, I tried to get a couple hundred domains parked at Parked.com and I was rejected probably because my domains were not of the caliber they were looking for so for now I stick with the one that still loves me, Sedo. :) )
However, I’m considering WhyPark.com. Why? While it’s one of the few places where you PAY to park your domain, you have the greatest customization through them. You can add images (theirs or yours), relevant unique content, SEO, custom pages, etc. You can even ad your own ads! You can park up to 100 domains for $100 so that essentially costs you $1 per domain if you have 100 domains to park! (Sorry Sedo! I still love ya though!) :)
So, with that said about parking domains and stagnating revenues, there has been a lot of hype of a new way to develop domains called mini-sites. This is a neat concept but a fairly new one so I’m going to wait on this until the results are in. The concept being that you purchase a mini-site for your domain from a company such as MiniSites.com or AEIOU.com. The site or sites that you have created are usually a 1-page up to a 5-page site with a few articles written for that sites keywords and, of course, advertising so you can earn revenue. Costs vary but can range from $80-$250 per site from the two sites I mentioned. I’ve read mixed reviews on these especially regarding the actual results of their SEO generating a true increase in traffic. If that’s the case, then there’s always room for improvement and with a little time, who knows…maybe they can achieve true SEO perfection.
E-commerce is one of the more time consuming ways to develop a website; that is if you’re going to go the traditional route (eg. create website, get inventory, market your site and then sell/ship products). If you’re planning on creating multiple e-commerce sites at this level, then I’d have to say you’re nuts! 
It could be possible even if you hire a full-time shipping staff and leased a warehouse for your inventory, but even then, having just one e-commerce store would be enough of a management workout! One of the other ways that you could have your own e-commerce store with minimal management and no inventory is to have an Amazon Associate Store. I wrote a couple of posts about doing this if you’re interested: A great way to setup and online store and Instructions for setting on an Amazon Associate store. I’ve got a couple of AOM stores setup and plan on creating a couple more but need to work on the SEO for them (gosh, it seems that darn SEO is a full-time job in itself!)
Lastly, you can setup simple Wordpress sites. Those are probably the easiest to mass produce on your own. This is what I’m considering doing but WhyPark is still in the running.
Wordpress pros - free, lots of free templates
Wordpress cons - time, time and time (time to setup which isn’t too bad but the time it takes to maintain articles is going to be painful not to mention all the SEO that needs to be done for every site), plus I would have to pay for hosting all my sites.
WhyPark pros - I will have more free time then compared to the Wordpress option (even if I spent time customizing my sites through WhyPark)
WhyPark cons - it will cost me $1 per domain and I probably won’t know how good their SEO truly is until AFTER I sign up.
So for me the bottom line is how much is my time worth and which option is likely to generate a nice monthly revenue in the long run.
Instructions to setup an Amazon Affiliate store for your business
Building Your Website, Business, Making Money March 14th, 2009
I finally installed the Associate-O-Matic software on my website. The installation is very easy. It seemed a little intimidating but it really turned out to be straight forward. I do have a computer background so I have a good understanding of system administration so that might have made a difference for me but I hope you’ll find it as simple as I did. I went ahead and modified the installation instruction from Associate-O-Matic to hopefully make it more user friendly. I encourage you to try the free 30-day trial and see for yourself!
The website I created with Associate-O-Matic is http://www.identifygreen.com/shop.php. It’s not fully configured yet. I think that is the more difficult (and time consuming part)!
Don’t forget, you need 4 things :
1) domain name (WebMom Domains has this.)
2) hosting with Apache and PHP 4 or 5 (WebMom Domains has this also!) :)
3) Amazon Associate ID (free and quick to signup)
4) Download Associate-O-Matic software
Installing Associate-O-Matic on your website
| 1. | Unzip the files contained in the Associate-O-Matic ZIP file to your local hard drive. Make sure that you retain the original directory structures. You will want to see the /AOM directory after you unzip the files.
TIP: To unzip .ZIP files you need a program such as WinZip. You probably have a program on your computer that will unzip this file. Try double-clicking the ZIP file. If you have a Zip program, your computer will know what to do with it. |
| 2.. | Open your FTP client software (or use the control panel provided by your web host) and upload the Associate-O-Matic files to your server (web host).
TIP: Some FTP client software examples are FileZilla, CuteFtp and SmartFTP. I use FileZilla. My FileZilla FTP client application looks like this:
See the circles in red? This is where I initially type the needed information so I can transfer or upload the files:
Click the Quickconnect button and you will get connected to your hosting account (aka server). Now, on the left side of your FileZilla application where it says Local Site, change to the directory where you unzipped your Associate-O-Matic download on your computer. First, upload (FTP) the encrypted PHP files in BINARY mode which are:
To set to BINARY mode on FileZilla, go to the Menu Bar and click Transfer –> Transfer Mode –> Binary Looking at the Local Site using FileZilla, select the 3 PHP files mentioned above (hold down the CTRL as you select each so they all remain highlighted). You can right-click the highlighted files and select Upload -or- you can drag-and-drop them into your Remote Site folder. Now, you can go back and change the transfer mode to AUTO by clicking Transfer –> Transfer Mode –> AUTO. (By setting your FTP software to AUTO, it will decide the mode to use whether it be ASCII or BINARY for the remaining upload.) Now, in your Local Site folder, select the AOM directory and copy the entire directory to your Remote Site by either using the Right-Click –> Upload method -or- drag-and-drop the AOM directory from Local Site into Remote Site. By selecting the /AOM directory, you should be downloading all of the following files below.
Ideally, you would FTP the files to your main public site root directory. Typically, most hosting providers have you log directly into the Site Root folder so you shouldn’t have to worry about changing directories on the Remote Site. Just make sure you don’t overwrite any of your existing non-AOM files if they happen to be named the same. Example Store URLs:
I used my Domain Name identifygreen.com. So, my store URL is http://www.identifygreen.com/shop.php. Check out the #7 section of this article for directions on how to change the URL so you don’t have to type in shop.php at the end. The shop.php and related files can be placed anywhere on your website directories so long as the hierarchy of Associate-O-Matic files remains the same in relation to themselves. |
| 3 | Set the permissions for provided files/directories.
Normally this can be done by right-clicking on the file or directory from your FTP client. NOTE: Windows users should contact their web hosting provider to determine the best method for changing file/directory permissions. Most likely they will provide a mechanism to do this within their control panel.
The permissions for Linux/Unix users are as follows and can vary from web host to web host: NOTE: You may need to modify your permissions beyond the below recommended settings. You’ll know because Associate-O-Matic will give you cues that you still need to write and/or read enable a particular folder such as /aom. For example if 775 doesn’t work you may need to make it 777. Okay, so using FileZilla, you would Right-Click each file or directory below and select File Permissions and make sure the Numeric Value is set to the numbers below. (Don’t worry about the CHMOD part - that’s geek talk for linux folks!) :)
I checked all my files and the only one I had to change was AOM.PHP. It was set to 644 and I changed the Numeric Value to 777 and clicked OK. |
| 4. | You can rename your shop.php and admin.php files or leave them as is. I kept mine the same.
If you rename the files, be sure to keep the .php extension on the end. Also be sure to open the file in a text editor (e.g. Note Pad) and edit the portion at the top where it says “shop.php” and change it to the new name you’re using. The same goes for the admin.php file if you rename it. For example, instead of: You could name it: |
| 5. | Now that all of the files are on your server, it’s time to open the Associate-O-Matic Control Panel.
This would be the admin.php file or the new name if you renamed it. For example, in a web browser open the address replacing “yourdomain” with your domain name: Another example of an admin URL is what I have for my site http://www.identifygreen.com/admin.php. NOTE: The first time you open the Control Panel, you’ll be asked to enter your login username and password. Once set, you’ll be asked for this login on all subsequent visits. If you ever decide to change your login, simply delete the file in the /aom directory called cfg.login.php. You’ll then have a chance to reset the password. You can also reset the login from within the control panel. |
| 6. | Once you enter the Control Panel, you’ll see a number of settings.
At this point you’ll want to make sure you enter your correct Amazon Associate ID (Amazon Section) and the other information for your site (Site Section). It’s the first screen to come up so make sure to get it in there right away and click Save All Settings. Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of customizations you have at your disposal. You can actually save your settings at this point just to make sure everything works. Or go ahead and enter some more of your site details and then save. In the Control Panel Settings section of our online documentation, we describe in much more detail each of the various settings. You can login to your Control Panel at any time and update your settings. |
| 7. | If you would like your domain name to point to your store page (shop.php), please read this post in the Tips & Tricks section of our forum:
http://www.associate-o-matic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52 One suggestion would be to use Domain Forwarding where your Domain Name is held. For example, if you purchased your Domain name from WebMom Domains, you would:
That’s it! (Note: It may take a few minutes for this to take effect.) |
| 8. | Congratulations! You’re done. Lastly, view your store from within a web browser. |
| IMPORTANT NOTE: If you see a blank screen or errors, please see our troubleshooting section. ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you are using an Amazon Associate ID that matches the locale of your store otherwise you won’t receive credit for sales from Amazon. |
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A great way to setup an online store for Amazon
Building Your Website, Business, Making Money March 6th, 2009
I just ran across a website that allows you to create a custom Amazon Associate storefront in literally minutes! It’s called Associate-O-Matic.
What’s an Amazon Associate store you ask? It’s your own online store featuring Amazon products. When people purchase Amazon products through your online store you can earn up to 15% referral fees through Amazon.
All you need is a Domain Name and a Hosting account with Apache and PHP (WebMom Domains has both for its hosting so you don’t have to worry about it if you sign up with us!).
You can sign up for Associate-O-Matic’s Lite or Full Version. The difference between the two is that the Lite version is FREE while the Full version has more functionality. They have a comparison checklist for both versions on their website that you can check out. You can also sign up for a 30-day Full version trial which is what I will be doing. I’ll report back to you on the ease of setup when I’m done!
Besides needing a domain name and a hosting account, you will also need to become an Amazon Associate which is easy to do. The sign up is FREE and once you create an account, you can use your Amazon Associate ID and build your online store with Associate-O-Matic. Actually, if you sign up for an Amazon Associate account, you will find there are many other opportunites to generate revenue. I will be adding those ideas later…
What is PPC? Part 2
Blogging, Business, Making Money February 14th, 2009
Okay, now let’s talk making money with those PPC’s as a content publisher (yes, that’s the terminology just in case you haven’t heard it before). :) Let’s talk specifically about Google AdSense (and keep in mind that there are similar programs out there such as Yahoo’s Yahoo! Publisher Network and so forth). If you have a website or blog and are interested in displaying Google ads, you would do the following:
1. Make sure your website or blog is setup and running and has some content because Google will actually have someone review your site before approving your AdSense account request.
2. Decide whether you need a Business or Personal account before signing up.
3. Now, you’re ready to sign up for a Google AdSense account! Yippee! (It generally takes 2-3 days to get approved but sometimes it can take up to a week so plan accordingly.)
4. Once you are approved, you can log into your Google AdSense account and customize how your ads will look on your website and then copy the HTML code onto your website or blog. You can use this code on as many websites as you want as long as your websites are valid and acceptable to Google’s program policy.
It’s a good idea to review Google AdSense program policies as well as their Help Center. They won’t hesitate to disable your account if they feel something was violated. For example, you do NOT want to encourage anyone (friends, family, etc) to click on your Google ads! That’s called an Invalid Click and it’s a big no-no! Big brother is watching so follow the rules. I will be adding more details about Google AdSense later this week.
So, once you get your account setup with the contextual advertising program of your choice (Google AdSense, Yahoo! Publisher Network, Microsoft Ad Center, etc), you can start earning revenue from those ads on your website or blog.
What is PPC anyway? Part 1
Building Your Website, Business, Marketing Your Website February 13th, 2009
PPC or Pay Per Click is a form of advertising on the internet particularly on search engines such as Google or Yahoo but also commonly used on websites containing content such as blogs. PPC’s are everywhere. You’ve seen it when you Google. Take a look next time you’re on Google - type in a search for something like “designer jeans” and when the search results are returned, you’ll notice that there are “Sponsored Links” above the organic results on the top left and also vertically down the right side. These Sponsored Links or Sponsored Ads are paid advertisements.
People advertising on Google pay them every time someone clicks on their ads or Sponsored Links. This type of advertising is called Google AdWords. On Yahoo, it would be called Yahoo! Search Marketing. And there are many more places where this type of advertising takes place but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just focus on Google.
These people advertising on Google also bid on the keywords (the search terms that people type in such as “designer jeans”). For example, let’s say you are a denim store called XYZ Jeans and you want to pay for advertisements on Google. You would:
1. Create a Google AdWords account (takes 5 minutes)
2. Create an Ad Campaign if you haven’t already done so (typically it’s 2-3 lines of something catchy that will entice people to click on your Sponsored Link). This Ad Campaign will show up anytime someone types in your keywords (see next line).
3. Assigned Keywords to your Ad Campaign related to your business (this is where you bid on keywords and where it can get costly for your business if you’re not careful - there are likely to be major companies you are bidding against who have bigger budgets than you). The bottom line is the more you pay for these keywords, the closer you get to having your ad displayed on the first page.
So, now you have an Ad Campaign running on Google: a user comes along on Google and types the search terms which happen to be the keywords you paid for (eg. “designer jeans”) and voila! You’ve probably paid a hefty price for those keywords and now your Ad or Ad Campaign showed up on the first page! Woo hoo! The user clicks on it and gets taken to your website and Google deducts the cost of the bid or CPC (Cost Per Click) from your Google AdWords account .
But you’re saying that good to know but I want to make money not pay for those darn Per Per Whatevers! Okay, then. Check out Part 2 of this article.
What is Domaining?
Business, Domains, Making Money February 12th, 2009
Domaining in the simplest terms is the buying and selling of domain names. For domainers (people who buy and sell domain names), a domain name is essentially like an internet real estate market. Like the real estate or stock market, the domain market can fluctuate depending on the economy as well as other circumstances. There are trends and the serious domainers follow them closely. Just like stocks and real estate (and we all know you’ve heard this phrase), you want to buy low and sell high. Most domainers have hundreds and sometimes thousands of domain names in their portfolio. Generally, they consist of a mix of new and after market domains. They hold onto them until they feel it’s the right time to sell and especially if there is a person willing to pay market value or more for it.
In the “old” days (late 80’s to early 90’s), dot com’s were freely available and many domainers during the early years bought all the premium domain names thinking that someone would pay top dollar down the road for them. Of course, during that time there were many people that thought these folks were crazy, however they would eventually have to rescind their comments because those very “crazy” folks were selling their domain names for thousands of dollars years later. Were they smart? You betcha!
Well now, it’s a completely different situation. All the so-called good names are gone for the dot com’s and dot net’s but are they? Well, yes, all the good ones were already registered but not everyone hangs onto their domain names. Often, they are auctioned or sold off in the domain aftermarket on sites such as Sedo.com or tdnam.com or they expire unbeknownst to the owner. If you keep an eye out for an expiring domain name or one that is up for auction, you can buy them and turn around and resell them for a much larger profit. While that sounds simple, it does require a good understanding of the domain market, and in particular, it requires knowledge of what constitutes a valuable domain name. So like real estate or the stock market, you need to follow the experts. They will give you insight into where the trends might be leading.
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