Domain names, when wisely invested, can be quite lucrative, just as investing in real estate would be. It’s picking the right name, following the registration requirements and selling or trading at the right time. With any investment, you want to be well informed of exactly how and when you can turn a profit, and there are important considerations before you want to even make your purchase.

The shortest name is almost always the better option. Phrases are OK, and some of them will get a lot of hits to your site or get you plenty of offers for decent money, but keep in mind when people are doing searches, they usually just put one or two words. The less words, the more hits you are likely to get.

Avoid domain names that have hyphens or numbers. People rarely if ever put either of those in their searches.

If you have never purchased a domain name before and want to use one for your business, website or as an investment, you may want to ask around and find someone that has invested in domains before and get all the advice you can from them. Find out what hurt them and how they negotiated the value. You may also want to seek advice from a business advisor or domain name appraiser. It may cost you a little bit of money, but a small cost in the beginning could lead to big profits in the end.

Become familiar with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). ICANN governs extensions (i.e., .com, .org, .edu, etc.) from around the world, from its headquarters in California. Certain extensions have different rules and regulations, so your location could affect the rules and regulations you are governed by.

Don’t just buy a domain name from anyone. Do your research and get background on the seller. Make sure the seller actually has the name registered and owns it. They should be an accredited owner. There is a website called WHOIs that will tell you exactly who owns what name. In Australia, the name for the WHOIS website is AUda. Australia has some different rules they go by.

Often, people forget to register a domain name, think they own it and did at one point, but if the registration isn’t renewed every year and the $10 registration fee is not paid, the name goes up for grabs again to anyone that wants it. When buying, be sure to check the registration date, and if it is less than 60 days old, it is not a legal sale.

There is no formula for purchasing a domain name, just as there is no formula for purchasing a home. It’s about knowing the rules, regulations, registration requirements, etc., and going from there. The most important thing is picking a name that everyone wants. The more people that want it, the more valuable it is and will give you great negotiation power when selling or trading.

Always do your research when investing. Always check backgrounds as well as consider the market potential of the name you’re considering. Will a name that is valuable now be valuable in the future? For example, would VCRs.com be as valuable today as it was 25 years ago? No. Of course we didn’t have the Internet in the 80s, but hybrid cars are going to become more and more popular with the oil issue right now, so hybridcars.com would probably be a valuable name that will continue to gain more and more value as time goes on.

R. Scott Hall publishes Marketer’s Express where you can learn more about buying domain names.

Go to the World’s Largest Domain Registrar — GoDaddy.com

Internet marketing is a funny animal. Just when things are going well, BAM… you get hit with a slow economy or a holiday or whatever. Suddenly your $300 a day income is down to $100 a day… You’re about ready to hit the panic button and throw the baby out with the bath water. Well, before you do that, this article will help get you through those slow times. Trust me, they will pick up again.

The first thing you have to understand is that marketing goes in cycles. There are actually times during the year, especially for certain niches, where things are just plain dead. Your traffic is going to go down and so is your sales. This is just a fact of life. How you deal with it is what makes the difference between success and failure with your business.

The best way to get around the bad times is to branch off into other niches that are seasonal. The reason I suggest seasonal niches is because when your main business gets back on track, you don’t want to be so bogged down with work that you can’t take care of things. So you want to concentrate on some things that are only big during certain times of the year, like Christmas-related businesses. This way, you have the extra income without a lot of extra work.

Another thing you might want to do is check out Google Hot Trends. You’ll notice that there are a number of topics there that are hot because of some news item, like a celebrity getting married or something like that. There are many ways to capitalize on hot trends, one of which is to put up a blog with a few articles and some AdSense blocks. If the hot trend gets enough traffic, you just might make a few bucks off your AdSense income, and it’s not a lot of work.

You might also take this time to work on your next project. If you have the time to create a new product, go for it. You’re certainly not going to get the chance during the times when things are crazy, so you might as well take advantage of the lull and crank out your next “miracle in a box” for the public to gobble up.

The main thing is not to panic. Like I said, the Internet marketing world goes in cycles.

Eventually, things WILL return to normal.

Steven Wagenheim publishes My Secret Articles where you can go and find out how he earns a monthly income that exceeds 5-figures and how he can help you do the same. Visit his site for a free report.

There are millions of blogs on the Internet. In fact, there are a very large number of regular websites about blogs and blogging. For every niche and subniche, there are thousands, even millions of blogs. For every person’s opinion or personal crusade, there are millions more.

The trick is to make yours stand out from the crowd and capture your readers. The ways to accomplish this are very similar to the steps you’d take to develop a unique spin for a product you’d plan to sell in your niche. Essentially, your blog is your first Internet product, and you would position and market it to attract and build a relationship with loyal readers.

So you’ve got a great idea for a blog? Just like the process of developing a product, all blogs start with an idea. But what makes your idea different? This is very important, especially if you are going to write a blog aimed at the blogger audience. Since this niche is so competitive, you will have to fill a need that no other site is offering. Failing that, you will have to outdo your competition by over-delivering valuable content to your reader — better yet, position yourself to do both. This applies to every niche, not just one focused on the blogging community.

One way to see if you can offer something unique to your audience is to research your competition. The most common way to do this is to search Google for blogs in your niche and visit them. Another method is to search your niche at Alexa, which ranks websites according to their traffic. Take a look at what they are doing. Study their pages and what topics they are focusing on. Then add your own voice, experiences, and personality to their strategy.

This is a very neglected step that most people skip when starting their blog. They get their great idea and put up their blog… then wonder where the traffic is. This might take you a week, but the time you spend doing it will not be wasted. It will pay you dividends in the ultimate success of your blog. You might even discover an approach that none of the competing sites are using.

Once you’ve reached this point, you need to develop a plan to attract attention and readers to your blog. This is where your content plays a big role. You’ll need lots of it, and it has to keep appearing several times a week, if not daily. Content attracts traffic to your blog. Your voice might hook the reader on that first visit, but it is your quality content that will keep him returning frequently to keep up with your posts. You will lose your readers quickly if you fall behind on adding new posts and articles.

Elle N. Dee writes for The Blog Ladies which offers tips and tools, plus a free AdSense WordPress niche theme and “Cash Blogging for Beginners” ebook at Niche Blog Designs.

1. Sell your own products. “Infoproducts” for minimum hassle (everything gets automated!). Easiest way to get started: Clickbank.

2. Join & promote affiliate programs. Programs are free. No such thing as a legitimate affiliate program you have to pay to join.

IDEA: Sell own product, and push/promote an affiliate program offering on the back end.

Good/popular affiliate program networks to join:

• Clickbank
• Commission Junction
• Shareasale

3. Sell Advertising — Google AdSense. Unless you know what you’re doing, don’t even bother trying to sell advertising space and just sign up for Google AdSense (free).

Special report from MarketingSherpa (free open access until April 12, 2007) shows how one company created a virtual currency which encourages customers to return.

• 48.5% compound annual revenue growth.
• 47% repeat customer rate.

(Free access until 4/12/7)
Go to report »