July 24th, 2008 PLEASE FORWARD
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News, Rants and Case Studies for Web Design Professionals
by Brendon Sinclair
Read the HTML version of this newsletter, with graphics, at:
http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletter/viewissue.php?id=2&issue=406
INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It wouldn't be the first time I've brought up the
subject of the crucial importance of protecting your business
brand. It's an essential strategy for any business, and in
this edition we'll continue with this theme in order to
visit the other side of this story. Have you ever thought about
how you could increase your income by making your clients aware
of the weaknesses of their web branding?
A new domain name category on the SitePoint Marketplace offers a
sales channel for premium domains. We also take a look at how you
might value a domain, and how you can demonstrate that value to a
potential buyer.
If a prospect approaches you to develop a web site for a project
that, in your view, is certain to fail, should you say so and
refuse the job? It's an interesting ethical dilemma,
and we discuss it in this week's forum section.
We use last week's update on the Google AdWords Keyword
Tool to help you catch some nice juicy domain names - this
tip could net you some beauties!
Happy Reading!
Brendon Sinclair
mailto:tribune@sitepoint.com
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IN THIS ISSUE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- Introduction
- Editor's Perspective: Golden Domain Name Opportunities
- Marketplace Moments: Welcome Back, Domain Name Auctions!
- From the Forums: Doomed Business? Create a Web Site!
- Tips & Tricks: Find Juicy Domain Names
- Latest Tutorials
- Hot Discussions
- New Blogs
EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
GOLDEN DOMAIN NAME OPPORTUNITIES
I noticed that one of a client's main competitors didn't
have the .com.au version of its domain name registered here
in Australia. Based on my previous experience, I know the
.com.au version of this business domain name would attract
about 50 type-in visitors a day.
Should I tell my client about this potentially valuable domain
name and recommend she take the opportunity to register it
instead?
Well, it's a question of personal ethics and pragmatism.
If my client takes the initiative and registers the
competitor's domain name as a .com.au, she will reap the
benefits - and make a significant dent in the site traffic
of that other business in the process. There are plenty of
business people who would act aggressively to reduce a
competitor's capacity to market their business - and
because it's understood as ";just business,"; would feel
perfectly comfortable doing so.
It's certainly within the law. Since the competitor's domain
is a couple of generic, non-trademarked words, there's absolutely
nothing they can do about it. My client could have up to 50 new
leads a day - simply because the competitor does not understand
one important rule of protecting their own branding.
Regardless of what you or I would actually end up doing in this
case, the issue here is that you have to protect your business
as much as possible. And this includes thinking laterally,
outside of your own country if applicable. Protect your business
by registering the important names, such as your business name as
a .com and your country extension as well.
It's an elementary rule, and moreover, it's one that now brings
us to more opportunities for web developers! Develop a
simple assessment of your client's web brand protection and
offer your service to strengthen their barricades. I'll
leave the decisions over more aggressive tactics against
competitors up to you... Oh, and don't forget about the new
".me" extension which just became available!
SPONSOR'S MESSAGE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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MARKETPLACE MOMENTS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WELCOME BACK, DOMAIN NAME AUCTIONS!
The new Premium Domain Name Auctions [1]category on the
SitePoint Marketplace means that we can once again sell domain
names at auction.
Within the Premium Domain Name Auctions category, sellers can
now sell single domain names.
This fact leads us to consider two interesting questions:
- Just how do you value a domain?
- Just how do you get top price for a domain?
Let's conduct a very simple assessment, looking at a
hypothetical domain name to evaluate just how valuable that
might be.
Here's a simple way to value this given domain. The domain
attracts 20 type-in visitors per day looking for a specific
service. If you pop up a simple landing page with ads, you
should be able to generate $1 per day very, very easily.
That's $365 per year for no work and minimal expenses!
And to look at it another way, if I borrow $3,650 at 10%
interest, my repayment is $365 per year.
That $1 per day domain is looking valuable indeed - maybe
not worth $3,650, but certainly worth more than $200.
So, to answer the second question: how do you get top price for
a domain? Easy...you demonstrate the value to the buyer just as
I have above. If you can quantify and prove that value, as
shown, you're on your way to a sale.
[1] <http://marketplace.sitepoint.com/categories/premium-domain-names>
FROM THE FORUMS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
DOOMED BUSINESS? CREATE A WEB SITE!
In the forums, spaceman [1] tussles with an issue that most web
developers struggle with at times: ";Should I develop a web
site for a client even though it has absolutely no chance of
success?";
Firstly, good on you, spaceman, for caring. That you have
concern for your client is a terrific reflection on you and,
I'm sure, would come across in the work you do.
Back to your issue - in the immortal words of the Nike
empire, just do it.
We've had clients approach us over the years with business
models so ridiculous that we felt there was zero chance of
success. We struggled with that. We didn't want them to
waste their money on something that couldn't and
wouldn't succeed.
The decision we always came to was the only one we could
make - at the end of the day, the client's idea had
nothing to do with us. Our job is to develop the web site
exactly how the client wants, providing our recommendations to
make it the best web site possible. That's all we can do.
The rest is out of our hands and is not our responsibility.
Our thinking behind this decision was, well, what if we're
wrong? What if this client is so smart that they're years
ahead of everyone else? What if their drive and passion is
enough to build this business to great heights?
After all, we've all seen ridiculous business models over
the years. And occasionally they turn up a big surprise. I once
heard of a crazy idea where people submit stories of interest
and others either ";dig"; it or not. No one gets paid
for submitting or voting. The site makes a loss. And they expect
to sell it for millions. Ha! Ha! Er…ha? Yes, Digg [2],
I'm talking about you and your $200 million price tag!
If you're employed to give strategic advice on the
likelihood of the business succeeding, by all means tell the
client they won't succeed, if that's what you think.
Otherwise, develop that site to give the client the best possible
chance.
[1] <http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55957>
[2] <http://www.digg.com>
TIPS & TRICKS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FIND JUICY DOMAIN NAMES
In last week's issue, I mentioned that the Google AdWords
Keyword Tool [1] now provides a tally to let you know how often
a particular keyword is searched.
In my experience, a lot of people type in the keyword
they're searching for and simply add .com on the end - as
many as 14%. What that means for the savvy operator is that
there's a simple way to find domain names that should have
a good number of visitors from day one.
It's as simple but effective as this - search on
keywords using the Keyword Tool. You'll see a range of
alternative keywords, and they'll now be accompanied by
the search volumes for those terms.
If you work through the list of keywords, you should be able to
find some very nice domain name ideas that you can purchase with
the knowledge that you'll have a good number of type-in
visitors.
[1] <https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal>
SPONSOR'S MESSAGE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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That's all for this issue -- thanks for reading! I'll see you in
a few weeks.
Brendon Sinclair
mailto:tribune@sitepoint.com
Editor, SitePoint Tribune
LATEST TUTORIALS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Build a Web 2.0 Voting Widget with Flex: Part I
by Jack Herrington
In this hands-on tutorial, Jack lays the foundation for building
a voting widget in Flex 3. Take the quiz at the end of the
article, and score a copy of his book, Getting Started With Flex
3, absolutely free!
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1658
Take Command with Ajax
by Stoyan Stefanov
Want to get a bang out of your Ajax artillery? In this hands-on
tutorial, Stoyan puts Ajax on the front line as he develops a
web app with which you can execute shell commands on your web
server. The downloadable code provides a real tactical advantage
as Stoyan marshals JavaScript and XML to create the app.
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1490
Rich Punctuation: How To Do It And Why You Should Bother
by Daniel Aleksandersen
Learn how to escape the confines of your QWERTY keyboard?in this
article, Daniel shows how you can enrich your web site text with
correct typographic punctuation!
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1655
HTML or XHTML: Does it Really Matter?
by James Edwards
Eight years on, is HTML stuck in a rut? James looks at the
underlying causes of its eight-year sleep, dispels some myths,
and considers the XHTML options open to the standards-aware
developer in the meantime.
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1654
HOT DISCUSSIONS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Google to buy Digg
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=561413>
trademark question about domain names
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=561216>
40% of users don't upgrade browsers
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=560970>
How to Optimize VIDEO clips?
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=560635>
Ethics of accepting a project with (in your opinion) little
chance of success?
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=559577>
Learning graphic design
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=557845>
NEW BLOGS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
News & Trends Blog: INDUSTRY NEWS FOR WEB PROFESSIONALS
Facebook Connect is Beacon Done Right
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/24/facebook-connect-is-beacon-done-right/
GitHub Gist is Pastie on Steroids
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/24/github-gist-is-pastie-on-steroids/
Just What Is the Open Web? (1 comment)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/24/just-what-is-the-open-web/
Webmasters.org Sells for $50k on SitePoint
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/24/webmastersorg-sells-for-50k-on-sitepoint/
Glam Media Launches App Platform (2 comments)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/23/glam-media-launches-app-platform/
Web Pro Business Blog: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
Why Multitasking is a Waste of Time (18 comments)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/01/multitasking-is-a-waste-of-time/
Get Out and Boogie on the Customer Service Dance Floor!
(10 comments)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/06/26/get-out-and-boogie-on-the-customer-service-dance-floor/
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