DNCart – Domain Network

Here’s a quick poll question that may inspire you to seek new ways to earn more money from your domain name portfolio.  With traditional Pay-Per-Click parking revenue on the decline, the concept of “domain parking” has been evolving.

Many domain name owners are seeking alternative revenue streams which may help pay for those yearly registration fees or much more.

While it’s unlikely you will become the next Yun Ye (who sold his portfolio for $154m), you can tap into new resources and technologies of today to expand your online empire and put those domains to work!

So, just how are we making money from our domain names? Let’s take a look!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Thanks for responding to the poll! Please comment below with any additional information on how you monetize your domain portfolio and check back soon to see the results!

More to Monetize the Merrier

The DotSauce Available Domains Newsletter is an extremely valuable resource for domainers looking to add additional high quality .COM domains to their portfolio. These names are researched by hand and delivered right to your email inbox twice per month.

Last Week’s Poll Results

Last week we asked, “Will you pre-order or buy any .CM domains?” and the results suggested DotSauce readers were quite strongly against being involved with .CM domains. Over 75% of respondents said “No.”

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Sponsored by FreshDrop – Powerful web based tools for researching expired domains and domain auctions. Try out FreshDrop free and explore FreshDrop Pro features for access to more leading edge analytics and domains from all major auction houses!

POLL: How Do You Monetize Your Domain Name Portfolio?

Earlier this month Moniker & SnapNames announced a slick new site makeover and some welcome changes to their domain auction strategy.  One of the key new features is the start of monthly themed domain auctions!

Starting today, July 16th at 12:00 PM PDT / 3:00 PM EDT, the Summer Stimulus Auction kicks off with 44 domains at no reserve!  Here are a few of my picks…

• DegreePrograms.com
• HeadButt.com
• PokerStrategies.net
• Scared.net
• GolfingMaui.com

This is an exciting opportunity for anyone to acquire valuable domains at great prices.

Some premium quality domains are also being offered at auction with reserve prices. Here are some of the best…

• WirelessModem.com – Reserve: $1001 – $2500
• Pumped.com – Reserve: $1001 – $2500
• MusicArchive.com – Reserve: $2501 – $5000
• BuildingInspections.com – Reserve: $5,001 – $10,000
• HomeFitness.com – Reserve: $10,001 – $25,000
• 3N.com – Reserve: $25,001 – $50,000

Visit the SnapNames Summer Stimulus Auction now to view all 80 domains and place your bids.

What do you think of the names in this auction?  Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Sponsored by FreshDrop – Powerful web based tools for researching expired domains and domain auctions. Try out FreshDrop free and explore FreshDrop Pro features for access to more leading edge analytics and domains from all major auction houses!

Summer Stimulus Domain Auction at SnapNames

The .CM domain name was made popular by the Business 2.0 story of Kevin Ham “the man who owns the Internet.”  Domainers know that .CM is actually owned by Cameroon and is prized for for the natural traffic it receives from .COM typos.

Risky Business

There are evident risks for trademark infringement when using .CM domains.

I encourage any decent sized company to take the initiative and pre-order their respective .CM domain to prevent any later headache.  I also strongly discourage anyone from attempting to profit from typo traffic on established .COM websites.

The typo traffic is likely not as much as you think on your average .CM name. There are more profitable ways to quickly develop online business on legitimate domain names.

I’m also not convinced that .CM is a viable brand option for anything but a company in Cameroon.

Traffic Machines?

On the other side of the table, there are countless .CM domains are generic in nature and can not be said to violate any trademarks. Could these be valuable resources for driving some targeted traffic to existing business?

Rick Latona is managing an auction currently of premium .CM domains that are generic in nature.  Domains such as Cars.cm, Loan.cm, Games.cm, etc. are available with reserves from $1000 to $20,000.

NameJet has gained exclusive rights to manage the sunrise registration / pre-orders for .CM domains.

So What’s Your Move?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Please respond to the poll and leave your comments below.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

POLL: Will you pre-order or buy .CM domains?

Just a little over a month ago, veteran domainer Rick Schwartz made the announcement that he had sold his premium domain name, Candy.com.

Schwartz agreed to sell the domain for $3 million in a deal with the Melville Candy Corporation, founded by cousins Joe Melville (left in photo) and Greg Balestrieri.

The Boston Herald has just published an article on the new owners’ upcoming launch of Candy.com

Candy.com is scheduled to go live on July 20 and will be selling more than 6,000 different types of candy from over 500 manufacturers big and small. They will also be featuring product reviews and interactive discussion forums.

An Inside Look at a Premium Domain

Melville Candy is reporting that Candy.com receives 1000 visitors daily from natural type ins.  Type-in website traffic is really what separates an average keyword domain from a “generic” or “premium” or “category killer” domain. Whatever you would like to call it, Candy.com sure fits the bill!

Jeremiah Johnston, COO of Sedo.com domain sales and auctions made this guest commentary:

“There’s a certain misconception that people only navigate the Web through search engines, and that’s just not true.  It delivers many people to a company’s doorstop without them necessarily knowing what’s behind that domain name. For the people that run those domains, that’s a pretty valuable lead source right there.”

Greg Balestrieri, new Candy.com co-owner had this final comment…

“In five to 10 years from now, we’re going to look back and say that $3 million was a bargain.“

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

“The $3 Million Bargain” Candy.com Ready To Launch

Starting tomorrow members at Bido.com will begin to see multiple domain names simultaneously being auctioned for sale.  Starting the series off on Monday, July 13th, at 1pm EST will be LearnHypnosis.com, TWZ.org, TRN.org, and HousesRefinance.com.

Once signed in to your free Bido account you will be able to navigate to the auction of your choice and enter live chat and bidding for the event.  Auction start times will be staggered slightly.

Bido has also made a few other promising changes like bulk domain submission and Bido Expert voting on domains. Many other domain industry professionals such as myself are registered as Bido experts.

Experts, look for the new “Submitted” tab on any auction detail page to cast your vote for user submitted domains to be auctioned.

Just What Are Bido Experts Voting For?

Looking at the submission list myself, it is apparent short domains are gaining the most interest regardless of domain extension. We seem to have several experts interested in X-rated domains and eventually I did see a few strong keyword domains that need some more votes!

If you know a thing or two about domain names (or even related industries like SEO, SEM, Marketing, Branding, etc.) you can apply to be a Bido Expert. Our votes decide which names make it to the auction block.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Multiple Daily Domain Auctions at Bido

Summer domain auctions are heating up and the next one is tomorrow (July 9th) at 6pm EST! NamePros, our industries’ most popular domain forum always draws a big crowd to their live auction chatroom events.

The NamePros live auction inventory looks good so far with some decent keyword .com names, LLLL.coms and various brandable names. There is still room for more as auction inventory is usually much larger than this. Looks like all domains submitted may get a shot at being sold!

Now is your last chance to submit domains to be auctioned.

$1 Reserve Featured Domains!

I am liquidating a few names myself for some extra spending money and have listed these nice domains for just $1 reserve!

• ExpertEbook.com – The definitive name for a professional ebook product, yet it is still useable across all niches! The name is very memorable because of the double “E” alliteration. A strong brand name with big potential as a product itself or network marketplace of thousands of ebooks.
• CelebMeter.com – Great domain for a blog featuring all the latest in celebrity news, gossip and Hollywood happenings. Wired Magazine even has a tool called Celeb Meter!
• AdvertisingHumor.com – This domain is your best choice for a humorous website on advertising. Advertisements today feature a ton of comedy. Society loves to laugh and remember really funny commercials. There are thousands of these videos on YouTube and other sources that you could feature on your new website easily.

You can view all the domains being auctioned and place your bids here!

Turnkey Domaining Site For Sale – DropEntry.com

I am also selling a turnkey available domain sharing website that I had developed but never had the opportunity to use.  You can read more about DropEntry here.  This auction lot features the DropEntry.com domain name, custom script and professional logo design!

Join us in the NamePros Live Chatroom at 6pm EST to see the sale!

Upcoming NamePros Auctions

The next event will feature ALL $1 No Reserve domain auctions, that is sure to be fun!  Other NamePros live auctions will highlight ccTLDs and short domain names.

You can view this thread on NamePros.com for all the details on upcoming themed domain auctions, dates and times.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

NamePros Live Domain Name Auction! Thursday, July 9th, 6pm EST

I have been researching WordPress Theme development lately and have discovered some invaluable resources and tutorials used to create your own WordPress Theme from the ground up.

Ian Stuart of ThemeShaper, the man behind the Thematic WordPress Theme framework, has recently published a comprehensive tutorial on creating your own unique WordPress Theme.

Follow the tutorial through just 11 lessons and fairly quickly piece together the basic framework for a WordPress Theme you can truly call your own.

Additionally, NetTuts has this nice tutorial on creating your own WordPress Theme from scratch which includes source files for TutsPlus members like myself!  If you are a member of TutsPlus (well worth $9/month) you also can get access to the in depth 6-part series entitled “WordPress: Beginner to Master”.

WordPress Rockstars

Graphic designers that are savvy with WordPress are living it up, developing and selling WordPress Themes. Would it be possible for you connect with a designer and create your own WordPress Theme product?  Many are putting a creative and innovative spin on the concept of themeing like the WordPress shopping cart, link directory or Wiki theme.

Here are a few examples of people stirring things up in the WordPress Theme industry…

Maximus a web designer who sells his work exclusively on ThemeForest has sold somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 since joining the site just 11 months ago in August 2008.

Just this weekend, the guys from Obox Designs launched their signature series WordPress Theme collection and have gotten over 48 enthusiastic responses to the announcement.

Unique Blog Designs has released a smashing new product called Affiliate Theme that you previously heard about on DotSauce, implementing advanced features for the online marketer and creating a lucrative affiliate program.

Turning Those Entrepreneurial Gears

I have been planning to develop a .com domain I purchased awhile back (ShortPress) into a unique WordPress Theme that connects WordPress with one of these newfangled trends we’ve been seeing called microblogging.

I’ve already been in touch with a top WordPress plugin developer and have the framework for the product and business laid out.

If you’ve got some interest in collaborating on this startup project or potentially investing funds for some revenue share, please get in touch with me!

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Create Your Own WordPress Theme Tutorial Resources

Just wanted to quickly share an announcement about the beta launch of Hummingbird 2 Twitter client and automation software. The software has been converted to the Adobe Air platform (like TweetDeck) and features beautiful design options, drag and drop functionality and many other great features for managing unlimited Twitter accounts.

Hummingbird 2 Beta with my accounts: @DotSauce, @AQDN, and @TweetSocial.

You can download Hummingbird 2 Beta to give it a go now. Note: There have been some bugs reported, and the developers are hard at work. That’s what this Beta test is for, but the original version is working.

You’ll likely want to sign up as an affiliate also because the people behind Mesiab Labs are going above and beyond to make this the premier Twitter marketing software that is 100% compliance with Twitter.com’s TOS.

Get A Free Upgrade

Existing customers get Hummingbird 2 Pro for free when it goes live in 1 to 2 weeks! Yup, you’ll be able to use your current license key to unlock all Hummingbird 2 features.

As a promotion for the Beta launch of the new version, the guys at Mesiab Labs have slashed the price on the original Hummingbird software to just $97 and if you use this link to purchase and enter coupon code “RECESSION” you can get an additional 15% Off!

Proven Twitter Success

Since using Hummingbird just a couple months back I have noticed some great benefits.

• My website traffic has increased dramatically.
• I have built new relationships with individuals and businesses.
• I have introduced numerous people to my industry.
• Able to drive traffic to any resource, product or blog at any time.
• I get tons of Re-Tweets.
• Listed high in Twitter directories.
• I launched a website and gained hundreds of sign ups.

…the list goes on!  There is no reason you shouldn’t pursue more followers on Twitter.

So don’t miss out, give Hummingbird 2 a try (and sign up as an affiliate), then I highly recommend you get the original Hummingbird with discount code RECESSION to be sure you get to upgrade for free!

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Hummingbird 2 Download: Pro Twitter Software Launches Beta Test

Just wanted to share a little information and a juicy statistic for those who subscribe to the available domains newsletter here at DotSauce.

Issue #24 of our Available Domains Newsletter was sent out last week and contained 49 quality .com domain names. These names were available to register on a first-come first-serve basis.

In what seemed like just hours over 30 domains had been registered out of the 49. As I write this today, 36 of the 49 have been taken by newsletter subscribers. That is a whopping 73% registration rate which actually doesn’t surprise me because this has been occurring with every issue.

I’m pretty proud of that statistic to be honest and it’s why I strive to put an emphasis on quality keywords, brands and development potential over quantity.

Here is an image of the 36 domains that have been taken from Issue #24:

An additional 13 good domains are still available to register. I see some nice brandables weren’t taken if any subscribers want to go back and re-scan the list!

If you would like to subscribe for free and start receiving these available domains by email, please visit the Available Domains Newsletter page to get on the list!

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

36 Domain Names Find New Home

Starting today on NameJet, an exclusive set of premium .ME domain names will be open for backorder.

These .ME domains are owned by Randy Charach, founder of Synergy Domain Club and all around great online businessman and fellow domainer.

There are hundreds of quality, actionable, and generic one word .ME domains that can be purchased for as little as $69 starting today through the month.

I just browsed through the list and over 150 of these .ME domain names already have backorders placed!  Some great brand names can be found and even real world first names.  Here are some examples…

You can follow this link to view all Premium .ME Domains on NameJet.

A handful of these backorder opportunities may end soon, so check it out while you can and keep watching as Randy has just informed me more will be added in the coming weeks.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Premium .ME Domains For Sale at NameJet