Categories
Blog Featured Articles

Demonised.com Site Updates

It’s been almost a year since I started developing Demonised.com; my domaining, designing and developments blog and it had sported the same funky and vibrant theme since its launch. I’ll be first to admit that I have been very lazy at writing articles and adding content during this time. But to my defence, I’ve also been very busy with client projects and a major domaining project that’s eaten up about 6 months of my time.

Anyway, I decided this site needed some major changes. Starting with the design and layout. It’s not so much that I didn’t like the original template I’d spent hours customizing. Nor was it that anyone had said they disliked the theme. But the truth is I felt it was a bit dated, I was growing bored of that “web 2.0” look with all those shiny / glossy graphics.

So here it is, right before your eyes. The new theme. I haven’t had much time to customize it yet, its pretty much the stock theme I purchased from Elegant Themes. I just love the simplicity and minimal graphics. I’ve got some ideas for customization, but I’ll do that gradually over the next few weeks.

I’ll also be doing some major updates to my domain portfolio, not just in terms of aesthetics, but also by adding another 500 or so domains that I’d left behind all this time.

The links section and the faq section will also get some new content. However, the most important thing is that I will now be able to add new articles much more often than before. So, come back tomorrow and have a look around, you’ll a few new bits and pieces… and some available domain names lists.

Categories
Products

Logitech Dinovo Edge Keyboard Review

I’ve finally got myself a new keyboard, an upgrade from my Logitech Dinovo which I’ve had for over three years. I’m quite picky when it comes to keyboards and mice, afterall I spend a lot of time at my computer and I care very much about comfort.

The Dinovo keyboard and mice I had for the last few years have served me very well. I paid over £120 for the set, admittedly a high price… but it was well worth it.

When it came to upgrading, I didn’t look further than the Logitech brand that has served me so well over the years. A few months ago I bought the Logitech MX Revolution Wireless Mouse for about £50. I’m very happy with this as well. I love the way it looks, it feels great and has plenty of functions and customizable keys making it perfect for assigning shortcuts for Photoshot / Dreamweaver etc.

Anyway, I won’t go too much into the mouse, because this is all about the Dinovo Edge.

I compared quite a few brands and nothing comes close to this. I’ve only had it for a day and I’m very impressed! It looks absolutely stunning. It cost under £90 from Amazon, yes quite expensive, but I know I won’t regret it. Judging by the extensive use from my previous Logitech Keyboard and how well it has served me, I know this one will even better.

I guess I should have waited a bit longer before writing this review – because to be honest I’m still in that “excited with the new toy” mode – so it’ll be quite biased. So here’s the deal, I’ll finish writing this review in a few days – but now – heres a few snippets from what other people are saying about this keyboard:

S. M. Johnson (Bradford UK) logitech are renowned for their innovations in hardware design, i myself own a number of their products and have never had any problems. although this is an incredible thin keyboard (approx 1cm) it is in no way flimsy, there is literally no bend in it at all, but still it isn’t heavy.

Mr. Rds Harley “Robin” (UK) I have seen reviews of this keyboard that bemoan it’s lack of a numeric keypad and mark it down as a result, but that’s missing the point. It’s like buying a Ferrari and then complaining that it only has two seats! Anyone who buys this would (should) know it doesn’t sport those extra keys, so if having them is a necessity then look elsewhere but don’t knock the Edge for not having them.

R. Knight I’ve used a whole range of keyboards in the past (from cheap and cheerful PCWorld specials, up to top of the range Logitech and Microsoft “professional” ones), and this is by far and away the most stylish piece of kit I’ve owned. The battery life is exceptional, and the build quality is up there with the best.

Categories
Domaining

MysteryDomainAuction Is Canceled

Following much debate and criticism, the Mystery Domain Auction – billed as the Domaining Revolution by John Motson of DnXpert.com has been canceled just days after being launched.

Here is the official blog release taken from DnXpert: “Following legal advice obtained as a result of concerns raised by fellow domaining bloggers and some NamePros members about the legality of an all-pay auction in the US where this site is hosted in addition to consideration of the problems I may face at the end of the auction in case more than one person bids with the same amount which is very likely I have decided that the best option is to cancel this auction effective immediately.” – read the full release here (dnxpert.com)

John Motson cleverly created much hype prior to the launch of MysteryDomainAuction and within minutes of the launch on January 1st 2009, there followed a frenzy of blogs and forum posts that drove further publicity towards what was billed as the Domaining Revolution.

Drumming up the Hype!
Just over a month ago, John had decided to give away his popular eBook “The Domaining Manifesto“… but in order to download it, users were required to join the mailing list for “The Revolution”. A lot of people, including fellow domainers blogged about this and the word spread pretty fast. John also mentioned this on his own blog (DnXpert) and the ball was rolling.

Not exactly “The Revolution”
Everyone assumed that “The Revolution” was either going to be another eBook or some kind of site that changes the domaining world. Following the success of “The Domaining Manifesto”, everyone expected this to be just as good or even better. Unfortunately it was neither. It turned out that “The Revolution” was in fact the “MysteryDomainAuction” – an auction site for a domain name worth $10,000, or $10,000 in cash.

It was an “all pay” auction, meaning bidders had to pre-pay for their bids regardless of whether they win or not. In exchange they get to have a link back to their site/blog etc.

Criticism & Publicity
Just a day had passed since the release and the criticism began. The so-called “Revolution” or the lack of it annoyed many in the domaining industry. A lot of domainers expressed their disappointment via forums (eg. NamePros.com) and via personal blogs (eg. DomainNameWire.com / DnKitchen.com just to name a few). Some even went as far as calling it a scam.

Whatever way you look at it though, there was a lot of publicity, good and bad.

My Take on the MysteryDomainAuction
I personally thought it was quite a good idea and it had potential, but it just wasn’t executed properly. Had it been done differently, I think it could have actually brought more attention to the domaining industry. It would’ve been interesting to see the outcome and also to find out what the domain name actually was.

Would it have changed the domaining world? Most certainly not. John said that he was hoping that this auction would bring attention from businesses and individuals outside of the domaining industry, but I don’t think that would have happened. I don’t think many outside of the domaining world would’ve have been interested in it at all. But I guess now we’ll never know.

Scam / Rip-off – I think those are too harsh words to use. Everything was clearly explained on the website. But of course, one person stood to benefit the most and that wasn’t the winner of the auction, but it was John Motson. Maybe that wasn’t his sole intention, but that was the reality… and I think that the massive share of profit in comparison to the little benefit this would have brought to domainers is what annoyed a lot of people (domainers).

Hopefully there’s lessons to be learned here and I certainly am interested to see the reaction on forums and blogs to the news of the auction being called off. Hopefully we’ll see John bounce back with something more innovative and helpful in the near future.

Categories
Domaining

Analysis of the LLL.in Domain Market

It has been almost a year since the LLL.in buyout occurred and we at a point where there is much discussion and differing views on whether the buyout will hold or not. A lot has changed since last year in terms of registration/renewal pricing for.in (Indian) domain names and more importantly the economic situation around the world.

The buyout occured at a time when the financial / economic outlook was quite bullish. The registration for .in domain names was on a promotional special pricing of just $3 or $4 at most registrars.

Throughout the year we’ve seen some great sales of premium LLL.in names both on domaining forums, sedo and other aftermarkets. At one point we even saw sales of anti-premiums (eg. domains containg poor letters qwxz) going for upto $5-$6 in the reseller market. This can be looked at as double the return of investment (ROI) if you consider they were bought at just $3 or $4.

Thousands of LLL.in’s have exchanged hands amongst resellers, names of all letter qualities. Average names were going for as much as $25-$35 each! Double premiums with semi-premium letters were averaging around $45-$65 each. Triple premiums reached were going for no less than $120-$150 each.

We saw very few names being dropped and those that were… even all anti-premium letter names… got snapped up within seconds. Competition amongst drop catchers was fierce, with some names being taken within 4-8 seconds after being dropped. However, with about 8-9 months passing after the buyout… things started to change.

Despite the higher quality names holding value throughout the year, the lesser quality names started to go down.The top speculators would have forseen this and taken actions just in time to make sure they didn’t lose out. However, many have fallen foul and will lose a lot of money.

The bleak economic outlook and talk of a possible recession has made everyone more weary of how we invest our money. The aftermarket has been hit quite hard… the renewal (and registration) price being around $14+ is a factor many have started to take more seriously, especially with many names being close to expiry.

The top drop catchers are only going after triple premiums or high quality double premium names and leaving most other names alone. From names being taken within 4 seconds we are starting to see some names being available for registration for up-to minutes after drop.

And now with news of hundreds more LLL.in’s close to being dropped – what will happen with the buyout? Will it hold or will it fail?

I think it will fail. Thousands of names are coming up for renewal between now and April 2009. With high renewal prices I’m sure there will be big lists of names being dropped, especially poor quality names. There will be way too many names being dropped that not all will get picked, especially not anything less than double premiums.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in LLL.in domain being valuable and I believe the buyout will re-occur. LLL ccTld domains, especially when we’re talking of developing countries such India, China and Brazil will no doubt be increasing in value over time.  However, the lesser quality names are just too expensive to be taking a risk on in the current economic climate and I doubt there are enough people willing to take a gamble right now and buying large number of dropping names.

I believe the better quality letters and popular acronyms will still continue to get snapped up within seconds, but the lesser quality – maybe even double premiums will be available to register once again. But again, I don’t think this will last too long.  As the financial markets around the world become more stable we will see once again the dropped names being registered… and slowly but surely the buyout will re-occur.

What do you think? Share your views on the LLL.in domain market by leaving a comment below.

Categories
Featured Articles Promotion & SEO

Get Free Unlimited Backlinks

Check out this fantastic new concept in building backlinks and getting traffic to your sites. Its absolutely free and is available only via invites (which I’m giving away here). The site is similar to Squidoo but certainly not the same, it has some very powerful features that will make this a HUGE success. Its set to come out of beta stage within days, the key is to get in early and you’ll benefit a whole lot more!

What are you on about?

I’m talking about a new site called Qassia. It was launched in January 2008 and has been in beta stage since then. The site has over 20,000 users already and is currently in closed beta stage (meaning they are not allowing new sign-ups unless you get an invite).

How is Qassia going to help me?

Promoting a site can be very difficult and time consuming. Site owners are forced to spend hours upon hours doing mundane and unproductive tasks such as exchanging links. Many give up, and splurge on advertising – which is why Google Adwords earns $1 billion per quarter.

Qassia is a tool that allows users to get unlimited backlinks to their sites… but not only that, the more you participate the more promotion your sites get. You’re probably thinking there are tons of other sites like this (social bookmarking / squidoo etc)… and you’re absolutely right – except this site has some powerful features that will make it very popular (in my honest opinion).

What can I do at Qassia?

You can add your websites, and get unlimited quality backlinks. There is no need to pay, or to link back to Qassia. Websites are processed instantly and ranked by the amount of credits you have amassed. To earn credits, you can add “intel” (your knowledge, views etc.)

You can also earn money – real money! Revenue share. But like non-other!!!! You get 100% revenue share… well actually, you’re not even sharing!!!

Did you say 100% Revenue Share?

Yep!. You got it. Unlike other similar sites (Squidoo or Knol for example give like 50% revenue share) – at Qassia you get to keep ALL the revenue that your articles / content generates. You get to keep 100%. So not only do you get quality backlinks but you also earn from within Qassia!

Think about it… you submit your articles / content / views etc… in return you get traffic to your sites (which means more sales or more people click on ads from within your site – either way more revenue)… but on top of all this you also have the chance to earn money (100%) from the actual article/content you submitted at Qassia.  Great huh!

How will Qassia generate traffic?

At Qassia, you will get credit for adding your “intel” (intelligence, knowledge, feedback, views etc etc). The more credit you get, the better your sites will rank. This provides incentive for site owners to contribute to Qassia. Thus harnessing the minds of millions, Qassia will become the largest repository of intelligence on the web.

OK OK… Give me the Invite already!!!

As I’ve mentioned above, you can no longer register on Qassia unless you get an invite – that’s exactly what I’m giving you here. Just click on the link below and you’ll see the “sign-up” button on the page that loads. Click on that, fill in a simple form – and away you go!

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HERES YOUR INVITE

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP

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Enjoy!!

Categories
Blog

My Dial-up Horror!

Picture this… Wednesday, 9.00pm and I’ve managed for the first time in about two months to get a dropping LLL.in domain name into my cart and 1 click from checking out! And… nothing. My Internet connection failed before… actually not before – but JUST as I clicked “submit” to checkout. Bummer!

I spent about an hour trying to figure out what went wrong… then another hour waiting, thinking maybe my local exchange had problems or something… being optimistic that it’ll all be alright soon… but no.

I then spent almost 2 and a half hours on the phone to tech support at BeThere.co.uk – the guy was fantastic, he did his absolute best. We went through so many possibilities, IP changes from Static to Dynamic to MultiPort… router resets… some fiddling around with Mac addresses… he even got his senior manager on the line trying to help out… all this at like 1am.

Eventually, he confirmed the worst… I’d have to get a replacement router. BeThere.co.uk would be sending one out in the post free of charge, but he also said it could take two or three working days!!!!

Oh well, no big deal right?….

WHAT?

Are you mad!! Its a huge deal. I’ve six days to complete a web development project for a client – $5000 project to be precise. I also have a corporate showcase party arranged for Photography company and I need to get all the promotional material out to all the attendees!!! I’m FCUK’d!

Two days… I can live with… but if its three working days, that means Monday – actually no… Tuesday since its a Bank Holiday weekend!!! I thought I was totally screwed!

Anyway, I sulked and smoked about five cigarettes in the space of an hour before realizing a had a 56k modem! YES! Atleast I can send my promotional material out to clients. Great!

So I hooked it all up and pressed “dial”. I haven’t done this for years! The sound of the modem dialing and connecting was like going back to the early 90’s!! Reminded me of the movie “Hackers”.

Well, after a minute or so… I was back online. Now first thing I did was check who caught that domain – and so off I went to Whois.sc and there it was the name I’d been after for two months, taken by someone else. What made it worse was that it was taken about 10 seconds after I had it in my cart, meaning I would’ve successfully checked out had my connection not failed.

Ok, got over that quickly, nothing I coud do. I then opened Outlook – and that was it. I realised I was stuck. I had – what seemed like – normal everyday emails, but each one was taking like 3-4 minutes to load!!! Doesn’t seem so bad, but think about my promo material – each email is like 5mb-10mb in file size, thats gonna take like a day to send 1% of my list!!! Forget that.

I’m really annoyed, angry, panicing and bored all the same time. So I decide I need to stop thinking about work and chill… go to BBC and check out the latest sports news. www.bbc.co…. oh forget that – I can’t wait 5minutes for one page to load! 30minutes if it has a video on there. I’d had enough and went to bed.

This is getting a bit long now, I’d be surprised if anyone actually reading this far down.

I’m sorry.

I just had to share my pain of using Dial-up again. Its horrible. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I feel really bad for those who still use Dial-Up! Its WRONG!

Oh, luckily I only had to wait 2 days and I got a new router on Friday. All this made me realize how much we take broadband for granted. So many people out there still use dial-up connections, broadband still isn’t an option for many people around the world – we should be grateful for what we have.

Right, back to work now – I’m already 2 days behind.

Cheerio.

Categories
Domaining Featured Articles Web Development

Make a Site in 30minutes + Free Hosting

Many of you are put off from building websites because you don’t want to commit to paying web hosting fees without a guarantee that your site will generate enough money to pay for the hosting. But worry not… I’ve found a great solution… free web hosting – with no adverts or banners from the hosting company. Perfect!

Parking doesn’t pay enough?

I see a lot of people on domain forums looking for ways to monetize their domain names – parking them is one option but unless you have keyword rich domains you’re probably not going to make more than $0.15 per click. Besides getting traffic in the first place to generate those clicks is hard enough considering you can’t even promote your domains once its parked (against most parking companies terms and conditions).

The other option is to develop your domain names into websites…

Make a quick simple website instead

When I say develop your domain into a site – don’t worry, I don’t mean a full blown website… you can build a quick mini-site even a one page website! It doesn’t have to look amazing, just some decent content and you’ll already be better off than parking.

Parking vs Building a Quick Site

Parking a domain name means you can no longer promote it or advertise it anywhere! (except parking with WhyPark.com) Its against most parking companies terms and conditions to promote a domain name in anyway once it has been parked. So you’re relying on type-in traffic alone.

Now, that’s fine if you’ve got a keyword rich domain like “CheapHolidays.com” because its a search term… people search it and could end up on that domain. But what if you’ve got a domain name like “UltraSpecs.com” – a great brandable domain but no ones going to search for “ultra specs”. So then you’re buggered if you park something like that. You’ll get little to no traffic and probably not a single click.

But if you turn that into a one page website… fill it with loads of content about specs (vision/glasses etc) add some google adsense and/or some affiliate links – submit it to a few search engines and directories… and bam… you’ve traffic and will more likely get some revenue – plus if you decide to sell the domain you can get more because it will have traffic.

Put off by hosting fees? Don’t be… get it FREE!

This is one of the major stumbling blocks for people when it comes to site building. A lot of people are put off by the thought of having to pay like $10 a month for hosting without knowing if the site will generate enough money to even pay for the hosting!

Free Web Hosting with Website Builder

But don’t worry… you don’t need to pay to get hosting! Theres loads of free hosting providers out there – the best one by far is 000webhost – they provide 250MB storage space and 100,000MB bandwidth – AND theres no branding or annoying adverts like most other free providers.

Click the banner below to get yourself a free account…

Another great thing is… it comes with a WEBSITE BUILDER – so its easy to build a quick site.

Build a site in Under 30 minutes

It will take you about 30 Minutes… probably not even half that once you’ve done one or two first and gotten used the process. Don’t be scared… I know it can seem daunting even thinking about building a site – but it really is quite simple.

Free Web Hosting with Website Builder

Here’s the process, maybe if you see this you’ll have a little less fear…

Step 1. Prepare all your tools, download a demo copy of Dreamweaver or a free wysiwyg editor if you don’t have something simiar already. No need to download any website editors, because the free hosting company above gives you all the tools you need to make your site.

Step 2. Find some content for your domain, if the domain name is about “travel” then do a search in google, use some info from WikiPedia, find some free pictures on somewhere like www.sxc.hu

Step 3. Copy all the content you find into one document (maybe into word or dreamweaver etc. – you’re going to do this so you have everything in one place. Use this content to write your own content. Don’t copy it, write it in your own words where you can and if you do copy something, make sure you include a list of sources at the end of the content. – This step will probably take you the most time, but the more unique the content you produce the more chance of getting better traffic from search engines.

Step 4. Add some google adsense codes into the page, maybe a few affiliate links

Step 5. And thats it really, just save everything in the site builder and visit your url… there you have it… a quick one page website… go and promote it.. do some link exchanges with friends or on forums… submit it to some free web directories and you’ll see traffic soon enough.

Simple or what!

Well, I’ve laid out the basic steps – just so you see how simple it is… if its your first time, then it might take a little more than 30 minutes, but after the first and maybe 2nd site you build… you’ll be able to do it in under 30 minutes with no problems at all.

I know this is a really simple outline… I know you want more… so next time I’ll write about where to get free content, list free article directories, how to link exchanges and site submissions etc… but for now, just get used to your new FREE hosting account and make a site just to get used to all the “site builder” features at the free host.

Let me know what you think!

Feel free to ask questions… maybe make some of your own suggestions… use the comment box below.

Free Web Hosting with Website Builder
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Categories
Available Domain Names

Available Domain Names – list 1

To celebrate the launch of Demonised.com – I’ve decided to make this a very special edition of “Available Domain Names”. This is the first list that I’m making public since the “proper” launch of Demonised.com, so you’re all in for a bit of a treat.

I will be trying to release a new list once a week (sometimes more and sometimes less) – it will all depend on the response I get from each list and also how much time I have in between my other work/life.

Act Quick!

Although these lists get published here first… they will also be shared across various forums, so if you see something you like, don’t hang around too long! Reg it before its gone!

Stay Informed! Subscribe!

Find out as soon as I release a new list, there are different ways to subscribe – click here to see all the options. Or just fill in the subscription form below…

I recommend that you register on the site rather than just subscribe – registration gives you more options!

In list #1…

This list contains a mix of domains including domain names based on search terms, ‘brandable domains, short domain names, dot com’s, dot info’s and more! Its a bag-fulla-goodies for everyone.

Recommended Registrar:

DynaDot Domain Name RegistrarRegister .com’s for $7.50 ($8.99 regular pricing).
Register .info’s for $1.99 ($2.99 regular pricing).

If you don’t like the domain you register they let you get a full refund (minus icann fee of $0.20) for up to 5 days! Delete option is in the account – refund takes 1 minute. Great for tasting a domain to see if it brings traffic/revenue etc.

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Available .Com’s

StorePallets.com Somewhere to store your favorite color pallets or…
FebruaryThemes.com
Afbud.com
Bacud.com A name? 6,800 google results
Afbad.com
MrZel.com Nice! Very brandable!
HaloThemes.com
ColombiaPhotography.com Great for a photographer / company based in Colombia
LawFirmsDelhi.com
SellStockPhotography.com
Nejde.com Estibot loves this one! $2,500 <—
StorePaint.com
ParkingCones.com Can never have enough – use this as a online shop to sell them!
PrintAdvertisments.com Careful. Its missing an “e”
BusinessCardsHolders.com
London4StarHotels.com
BulletinBoardThemes.com
InStudioPhotography.com Very brandable and useful
StorePaint.com Looks useful – estibot likes it.
FujiPhotography.com TM’d – but surprised to see this.

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Some .info Domains

Most of these names fit very well with the .info extension and have use… please post a comment if you register any – you don’t have to say which one you took… just a “I reg’d 1.info” will do.

ParkingGuides.info Either for domain parking or car parking – useful.
SexTrailer.info
SexAnimals.info Everyone is a sex animal!
SexTechnique.info Not everyone has this though!
MusicCopyrights.info
ParkingFines.info Make a site about Parking fines and how to appeal etc.
IndianBrides.info
ItalianBabes.info
DesignPortfolios.info Guides and how-tos for designing all kinds of portfolios.
DesignDepartment.info
BussinessPlan.info Extra “S” but lots of people search like this. Overture+Wordtracker
FemaleAthletes.info
FemaleBodyParts.info Hmmm…
BankOfBrazil.info Most “BankOF… + major country” is taken.
BankOfIsrael.info
BankOfItaly.info
FemaleArtists.info

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Recommended Registrar:

DynaDot Domain Name RegistrarRegister .com’s for $7.50 ($8.99 regular pricing).
Register .info’s for $1.99 ($2.99 regular pricing).

If you don’t like the domain you register they let you get a full refund (minus icann fee of $0.20) for up to 5 days! Delete option is in the account – refund takes 1 minute. Great for tasting a domain to see if it brings traffic/revenue etc.

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Some more… mix tld’s

Mostly .co.uk in this list… next time I’ll add in some .net’s and .org’s and maybe some .in’s – if anyones interested. By the way, please leave a comment if you register any – you don’t have to say which one you took… just something like “I reg’d 1.us and 2 .uk’s” will do.

LearnAlgebra.co.uk I had problems learning – now I just don’t remember any of it.
PhotographyClasses.co.uk Very useful. Shouldn’t be hard to find end-user for this.
FemaleAnatomy.us Hmmm…
BreastExams.co.uk Useful
BreastLovers.co.uk Adult orientated no doubt.
StoreCreditCards.co.uk Every store wants us to have one of these!

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That’s it for now

I had a much bigger list to post, but at least 30% of the names were already taken since the time I discovered them (about 2 days ago). Next time I’ll try to be faster at post them as soon as I find em’

Anyway. Hope you like something in there… let me know what you think and of course please do leave a comment if you register something… more interest you show… the better my lists will get 🙂

And as I mentioned above… to get updates via email – via rss feeds or via fax… make sure you subscribe. It takes very little time. In fact ‘register instead, because you’ll have more options in terms of subscriptions and how you receive them… (ok not really fax – I lied!)

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Categories
Domaining Promotion & SEO

Should PageRank matter to domainers?

There was a time when webmasters & domainers were going crazy about PageRank. Everyone was trying to get a high PR ranking for their sites n pages by doing all sorts of ‘SEO and promotion. Only a few months later and PageRank isn’t as sought-after as it once was. Some people believe its useless – but they shouldn’t knock it.

A bit about PageRank

PageRank (PR) is a Google tool that measures the important of a web page. It uses a number of criteria such as quality of page content, ‘keywords, ‘backlinks, value of incoming links – so on and so forth… In the past having a higher PR meant getting better search engine rankings, thus more traffic. However, this isn’t entirely the case any more.

How people angered the big “G”

You see, people started to abuse the PR system (plus I don’t think it was that accurate anyway), there were ways in which to “trick” Google into getting a higher PR. Well, it didn’t take the big G (thats Google by the way) long to catch on and change its tactics.

Google fights back

Quite recently a lot of people noticed big changes in their PageRank’s for websites. Some went up, others went down. This was because Google made the changes.

Google has changed the way it measures the importance of a page and also how PR is shown to the public.

Domainers overlook PageRank!

Since all this has happened a lot of domainers have started to overlook the PageRank value when it comes to buying / selling domain names. In the past a buyer would pay a lot more if a domain name had PR value, even a PR1 to PR3 value was advertised as one of the main selling points.

I’ve noticed this is no longer the case. Don’t me wrong many people still pay more for a higher PR domain name but its not a major buying/selling point, especially if the domain in question has no keyword value.

A high PR domain in the past meant it most likely had good traffic. This was the first thing that increased the value of a domain name. You could buy a high PR domain, have instant traffic and get good search placement despite having a complete new site/content.

So whats changed?

It doesn’t take google long to work out if a domain has changed hands… plus if the content changes or in most cases of domain trading – there is NO content (eg. a picked up expired domain)… then the usefulness of PR is no longer of much value.

Most PR domains are picked up from expired domains lists – but the problem is, while that domain was in the expiring/delete cycle (for about 40 days plus!) it lost a lot of value in Googles eyes.  During the delete cycle the domain no longer points to any sites/content- when Google sends its spiders to look at the site – it finds nothing and so it reduces in PR value. Over 40 days it loses a lot of value. All this casuses the PageRank to go down by the time the next update for PR comes around (PR updates happen around every 3 months apparently).

The traffic will slowly die down once Google starts to de-index the pages. And eventually it will loose all the back-links… unless the new owner developers a similar site with decent content again.

I thought you said “PR still matters”

Yes, I did… don’t worry I’m coming to that.

PageRank still matters, especially when the domain is being sold (or targetted) to end-users. It matters more for endusers than it does for resellers. So as a seller, having a good PR domain will still help you get a better sale.

Tell me how!!!

Buyers (endusers) know that if a domain name had PR then it means it was indexed by Google. This saves them time in comparison to trying to get a brand new no PR domain indexed. Provided the buyer already has plans for the domain, he would fill it with content and Google will give the site good traffic again.

Another point is to do with text-links. If the buyer was to sell text links on the site then he/she could deman a slightly higher price for those links based on the PR. And thats becuase for many non-domains/developers – PR still matters. The average person who buys advertising (such as text links) still sees value in PR.

So… there you have it!

Don’t quote me on any of this… I could be a bit off in terms of the technical workings of PR etc. But this is just to give a basic idea and thoughts based what I observed in the domianing industry.

Do tell me what you think… leave a comment below!

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Welcome to Demonised.com

The wait is finally over! Well for me anyway. Demonised.com is now live and accessible to public. Please take a moment to have a good browse around the site and make sure you add it to your bookmarks for future reference. Keep in mind the site was only launched about 12 hours ago, design wise its pretty much complete, but in terms of content theres a lot to be added.

For more information about what this site is about please visit the ‘about section.

Don’t forget – add the site to your favourites and feel free to register, it only takes a few seconds and you’ll be able to stay upto date with site updates, available domains lists and special offers.

Tell me what you think of the site, leave a comment below.

Thanks for visiting and hope to you’ll be back here more often.

– Shay (site owner).