The .CO landrush has come to an end and it has been a spectacular event. In just a few hours, the .CO registry will open to the public for general availability registrations.

There have been over 40,000 pre-registrations during the landrush period and a lot of media coverage both within and outside the domain industry.

General Availability

Update: The registry is now public! Remaining .CO domains will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. GoDaddy has .CO for $29.99 per year.

CoInternet is now reporting over 215,000 registrations so far.

Thousands more domains will be claimed during the general availability today and in the coming days, weeks and months.

Combining todays’ expected registrations and premium domains awarded for landrush applications should easily total several million dollars in estimated value.

Notable .CO Domains

O.co – Sold for $350,000 to Overstock

E.co – Sold for $81,000 at charity auction

T.co – New short URL for Twitter (likely to be implemented today)

Disrupt.co – TechCrunch startup event

Duck.co – DuckDuckGo Search Community

.Co Founders Program – Many businesses and individuals awarded free .co domains under contract to actively develop for at least 2 years. You will begin seeing many launch announcements on .co domains soon.

3 Things I Like About .CO

• It rides on the coat tails of .COM in representing commerce and companies.
• Registry operator CoInternet is doing a phenomenal job marketing the launch and will likely continue to do so.
• Early adoption by big players such as Twitter

3 Things I’m Concerned About

• Will people have a problem recognizing a .CO domain when spoken verbally? We are so used to hearing .COM
• Over speculation within the industry may cause public outcry against domaining and tarnish .CO similarly to .US
• Owners will fool themselves into believing their keyword .CO domain is worth just as much as it’s .COM counterpart.

What do you think of .CO? Please leave your comments below or send me a message on Twitter @DotSauce.

Want to know more about the domain industry or how to get started buying and selling? Ask a question on the all new DotSauce Q&A forum.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

The majority of these keyword names have at least 2000 monthly searches on Google in the US alone, often much more.

Act fast to secure the best names before Tuesday, July 20th general availability.

Please pre-register at GoDaddy using this link to support DotSauce.

Use the link above and .CO coupon: MIN1 for 10% OFF when checking out!

Computers / Tech / Internet

• USBCable.co
• WirelessAdapter.co
• USBModem.co
• WirelessMouse.co
• ACAdapter.co
• USBHub.co
• CableModem.co
• Cat5.co
• PowerAdapter.co
• WirelessModem.co
• InkjetPrinter.co
• HomePhone.co
• DigitalCamcorder.co
• CheapTV.co
• CheapTVs.co
• GreenGifts.co

• MediaPlayer.co
• MediaCenter.co
• Publisher.co
• Sketchup.co
• PhotoEditing.co

• InternetSecurity.co
• Malware.co
• MalwareRemoval.co
• OnlineBackup.co
• BackupSoftware.co
• Virtualization.co
• SpywareRemoval.co
• VirusRemoval.co
• AccountingSoftware.co
• DiscountSoftware.co

• VirtualServer.co
• DedicatedServer.co
• DedicatedHosting.co
• VPSHosting.co
• FTPServer.co
• VirtualPrivateServer.co

• BusinessWebDesign.co
• CheapWebDesign.co
• WebDesignTemplates.co
• WebDesignJobs.co
• WebPageTemplates.co
• WebPageHosting.co
• BestWebHost.co
• WebDevelopers.co
• ContentManagement.co
• ServerMonitoring.co

• AffiliateNetworks.co
• MarketingSoftware.co
• SEOSoftware.co

Books

• ReadBooks.co
• BestSellingBooks.co
• VampireBooks.co
• DiscountBooks.co
• ElectronicBooks.co
• CollegeBooks.co
• ClassicBooks.co
• KidsBooks.co
• MustReadBooks.co
• PersonalizedBooks.co
• GreatBooks.co
• BooksOnCD.co
• FictionBooks.co
• ColoringBooks.co
• OldBooks.co
• BargainBooks.co
• TwilightSeries.co
• MysteryBooks.co
• ScienceFictionBooks.co

Gaming

• GamingNews.co
• GamerNews.co
• FishingGames.co
• GameDesign.co
• KidsGame.co
• RacingGame.co
• GameDownload.co
• VideoDownload.co
• ShootingGame.co
• PuzzleGame.co
• ArcadeGame.co

Music

• MusicVideos.co
• SheetMusic.co
• MusicDownloads.co
• MusicLyrics.co
• CountryMusic.co
• MusicPlayer.co
• ChristmasMusic.co
• HipHopMusic.co
• ChristianMusic.co
• HouseMusic.co
• TechnoMusic.co
• DanceMusic.co
• PianoMusic.co
• IndieMusic.co
• ReggaeMusic.co
• GoodMusic.co
• MusicPosters.co
• MusicBlog.co
• MusicSoftware.co

Business

• BusinessManagement.co
• BusinessConsulting.co
• BusinessCardDesign.co
• SampleBusinessPlan.co
• BusinessArticles.co
• BusinessNames.co
• BusinessJournal.co
• BusinessTechnology.co
• SmallBusinessAdvice.co
• SmallBusinessHelp.co
• BusinessEmail.co
• BetterBusiness.co
• BusinessBanking.co
• StartingABusiness.co

Mortgage

• MortgageCalculator.co
• MortgagePaymentCalculator.co
• MortgageLoanCalculator.co
• AmortizationCalculator.co
• Amortization.co
• LoanPaymentCalculator.co
• HomeLoanCalculator.co
• RefinanceCalculator.co
• MortgageCalc.co
• TaxCut.co

Other

• iPhoto.co
• SalesJobs.co
• Update.co
• Updates.co
• Roommate.co
• PrintShop.co
• InternetFax.co
• Professional.co
• Ultimate.co

Pre-Register Now With 10% Off Coupon Code

Please pre-register at GoDaddy using this link to support DotSauce.

Use the link above and .co coupon: MIN1 for 10% off when checking out!

Want more lists before the public launch? Let me know in the comments below. Good luck securing your new domains!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

While GoDaddy cannot guarantee that you will receive the domain name, you can pre-register now to be first in line during the July 20 general availability date.

If your order is not secured you will receive a full refund.

Owning any of these popular U.S. city domains would be an excellent opportunity to develop a memorable local website business.

Pre-register one or more of these cities for $29.99 at GoDaddy, click here.

233 U.S. cities over 100,000 Population

Bonus List: Most common U.S. place names

• fairview.co
• clayton.co
• milford.co
• milton.co
• mountvernon.co
• centerville.co

Pre-register one or more of these cities for $29.99 at GoDaddy, click here.

I am working on additional keyword lists for various industry categories and will post them soon. Stay tuned.

Surprisingly, many generic phrases and keywords have been pre-registered! A good sign for the .CO landrush and initial domain valuation.

You will need to act fast to secure some of the best names.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

MY.CO is opening up a world of opportunity for domain name registrars during the highly anticipated .CO launch. Their service offers registrars direct access to the .CO registry.

25 years after the creation of .COM domains, the .CO domain extension is being opened up to the world as a fresh opportunity in a crowded space. The anticipation is building like no other TLD launch before.

This new service from MY.CO allows ICANN accredited registrars such as EuroDNS to offer landrush registrations for .CO domains until July 16th and public registrations during the launch. It all happens behind the scenes, through a robust EPP gateway.

Additional features include:

• WHOIS resource showing a registrar as the entity of record
• Customer data kept private within a registrar
• High performance EPP protocols, Tier 4 datacenter
• Supported and authorized by official .CO registry (CoInternet)

Dedicated resources will be allocated during the landrush for each registrar partner, ensuring a smooth experience during peek volume. I imagine MY.CO partners’ and their customers’ pre-registrations will be successful during the landrush period with this advantage.

The .CO domain extension is proving to be very popular even before it’s launch and there is expected to be an explosion of registrations in the coming years.

Interested registrars can sign up here or learn more at MY.CO.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Many are upset with VeriSign, the organization which manages the .COM and .NET domain space. Annual 7% fee increases for domain registrations have been in effect for awhile now. On July 1st, the registry fee will again increase, jumping from $6.86 to $7.34. It’s from this base price that ICANN accredited registrars then set their registration markup.

I have always had no problem with fee increases. I feel strongly that it somehow increases the bottom-line value of each domain name. Domainers could simply pass on that value by marking up domain sales prices.

I had to put this “gut feeling” that registration price increases may actually be a good thing for the industry to the test. So, I set about browsing a few microeconomics articles on WikiPedia about supply and demand. I wanted to see how the price increase may affect demand for domains.

Price increases generally do have an adverse affect on demand. However, there are a few products and services that do not apply to the normal rules of supply and demand. These goods are known to have a positive price elasticity, meaning that as prices increase so does the demand.

Could a domain name be classified as a Veblen good? These are luxury items that are not easily attainable.  Certain premium .com domains fit that description very well, some could even be considered priceless.

In 1998, I had no real concern paying $75 per year for .com registrations. It was a necessity for a quality web presence and perceived status of any business or personal site.

Today, domain registration costs are relatively low compared to what one would consider a typical Veblen or luxury good, but they have the special characteristic of being 100% unique.

Could it also be that as more people register domain names the overall desire to claim more domains increases? This is known as the bandwagon effect.

I’m no economics expert, so my ideas on the price-demand correlation may be wrong.  I can’t help but feel these fee increases are justified and beneficial to the industry as a whole. What do you think? You’re welcome to leave a comment below with your thoughts on the matter.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Some people may be under the impression that it’s what comes before the dot in a domain name that matters most. I would love to put that myth to rest.

In this article, I will be sharing my thoughts and opinions on the many domain name extension options available today and some that are coming soon.

Here is a brief explanation of the different types of top level domains.

Generic TLDs or gTLDs

These extensions include .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .JOBS, .PRO, etc. ICANN is currently in the final rounds of policy making to open up applications for new gTLDs.

One of the first new gTLD extensions we will see is .XXX. Many others will follow such as .ECO.

Country Code TLDs or ccTLDs

These extensions include every country’s short-code. A handful of countries have been blessed with a pleasing acronym such as Tuvalu (.TV), Montenegro (.ME), and Colombia (.CO).

Other countries generally have to make due with local usage.

Which gTLDs are premium?

The clear winner is .COM. Most would agree that this is the best option for recognition, search rankings and inherent value.

Looking at .NET and .ORG sales, they are typically just a fraction of a comparable .COM sale. I will say that .ORG may be the best available option for organizations. I do not consider .NET at all, except for brand protection because it is a dated idea.

Aside from .COM, I don’t believe any other currently available gTLDs are premium quality.

I do admire and respect the promotion, innovations and community outreach by Telnic, managers of .TEL. However, I do not consider the gTLD itself to be premium. A premium alternative for what they are doing has not been created yet, it would be something like .SOCIAL.

.XXX, .MOBI, .BIZ, .PRO, .JOBS – These extensions all had the right intentions, but ultimately they are created for too small a niche to be premium quality in my book.

Which ccTLDs are premium?

I believe .ME is doing well after it’s launch just 2 years ago. Many successful websites are using the extension for blogging, social and personal apps. It has a broad, yet unique concept that is also memorable.

For the past few years, the internet and our televisions have been coming closer and closer together.  Finally this fall, Google TV will be made public, bringing the internet and a mass media of citizens to your TV box set. I think this will really seal the deal for .TV as a premium ccTLD. The extension has already had alot of success as businesses are founded and existing media outlets have adopted it with open arms.

On July 20th 2010, the unprecedented public landrush will take place for .CO domains. Unprecedented because of the phenomenal work by CoInternet in marketing the launch. There has been early adoption through innovative promotions like the CoFounders program in which Twitter was accepted and claimed T.CO.

So what makes .CO premium? The main fact is that it rides on the coat-tails of .COM. The extension could not have launched at a better time. Society has embraced bite sized information in the form of status updates, many of which contain odd two-letter ccTLD link shorteners.

This .CO extension will best other ccTLD options and will be adopted by a wide audience for both personal and business use. It also passes the requirement for both memorability and meaning, though in this case, .CO has a multitude of meanings.

More Premium gTLDs Coming Soon

The future is very bright for the domain industry. As I mentioned earlier, ICANN is finalizing policy to open up new gTLDs. This change will bring about many not-so-good domain extensions that you should avoid, but it will also introduce high quality extensions with real meaning and value!

For now, I’ve got my eye on a couple of generic .CO domains I’d like to develop or hold on to. GoDaddy’s .CO registration is $29.99/year and the public landrush will take place on July 20th 2010.

What domain extensions do you think are premium quality? Which ones are bad? Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments area.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Popular domain registrar Name.com will soon offer discounted domain registrations and other incentives for their best customers. A new investor program will officially launch next Thursday, July 1st.

The only requirement to claim investor benefits is that your Name.com account has at least 25 domains.

A VeriSign fee increase will soon raise prices across the board at all domain registrars. Name.com’s new pricing will be $9.99 for new .COM and .NET registrations for all customers.

The domain registration discount for the investor program has not yet been announced. It should be a very competitive price which will rival industry leader, GoDaddy.

The program will include additional benefits depending on how large your portfolio at Name.com is. A larger portfolio of domains could earn you completely free private WHOIS services. The exact number of domains required and benefits for each program level are yet to be announced.

Be sure to visit the Name.com blog on July 1st for complete details on the new investor program.

Also on July 1st, next Thursday, DotSauce will be announcing the winners of our Q&A Forum Grand Opening prize raffle.

Join the DotSauce Forum to network, learn and share experiences with other domainers for a chance to win cash, domains or a premium WordPress theme from PliablePress!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I recently read a book that rang true for me as I turned the pages and applied it’s ideas to my experiences in online business. This book has given me a lot of confidence in myself, my goals and my vision for the future.

Daniel H. Pink describes a transition from the Information Age to a new Conceptual Age in his bestselling book “A Whole New Mind, Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future.”

So, what exactly does the Conceptual Age entail?

1. Society is becoming overwhelmed by abundance. We have everything we need at our fingertips and it’s cheap.
2. Information Age jobs are increasingly transitioning to Asia. For example each year, India’s colleges and universities produce 350,000 engineering grads.
3. Products, services and manufacturing are becoming automated, taking out the human element all together.

The good news? Domaining is fairly conceptual. We need to be creative, forward thinking and understand the big picture of the internet because we are it’s foundation.

• Can someone overseas do it cheaper? No.
• Can a computer do it faster? No.
• Am I offering something that satisfies the nonmaterial, transcendent desires of an abundant age? Yes.

Daniel Pink offers six aptitudes on which professional success will increasingly depend on as we move into the Conceptual Age. Here I am going to share my thoughts on each one of these traits and how we can apply them to the business of buying, selling and monetizing domain names.

Design – A true right brain ability, yet still something that can be learned! I don’t proclaim to be a designer myself, but I am proficient with certain aspects of web style, trends and usability. Domainers can use design to drastically improve their online presence. The design of your blog, domain portfolio or business website is something that should be visually appealing and very user friendly. We can also use design to make more sales and more money.

Story – Domainers need to be able to tell a story when marketing their domain for sale. Like any good writer you should do some research and get your facts right. We can do this by searching for similar domains and how they are being used. We can also build our story by gathering important domain metrics and analytics to provide insight into value.

Symphony – Or the ability to detect patterns and understand the big picture. Do not be misled by automation in the domain industry! Many tools and services will spit out domains using some algorithm, others will provide automated domain valuations. An experienced domainer has insight into the industry as a whole. Start by keeping tabs on the latest domain sales. If you can understand the relationships between events, solve problems, and develop your intuition, you can become a visionary entrepreneur.

Empathy – This is extremely important when applied to domaining, especially when it comes to pricing your domains for sale and marketing. Empathy means to understand what another person is feeling, to imagine yourself in their position. Usability experts are extremely empathic. They understand that the majority of web users have limited navigation skills and short attention spans, so they accommodate with extraordinary results. Learn to place yourself in the position of a potential buyer for your domain when pricing, marketing, negotiating sales.

Play – What do the best web startups and industry giants have in common? Their employees are having fun. They have developed a great work environment and that attitude is also shown in how the company represents itself. Humor can capture attention and provide a much needed change of pace. Go ahead, laugh it up. By the way, if you haven’t looked around lately, games are going to be a big part of the future.

Meaning – This is the quintessential attribute of the domain game. Without meaning our domain names would be worthless strings of characters. What exactly are you selling? A domain name should not simply be some keywords or a brand, but rather an experience, a vision or calling for someone to develop their own web presence. Take some time to discover meaning in your portfolio or before registering your next domain.

If you found these points insightful, I highly recommend you read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind to learn more about improving these abilities. The Conceptual Age is upon us now, so brush up on your creative skills for web success.

Please consider sharing this article with your network. As always, comments are welcome. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you put your right brain to work.

Want to know more about domaining? Ask a question on the all new DotSauce Forum.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

CoInternet is proving to have the most interactive, intriguing and lucrative domain extension launch to date.

TheDomains broke the news, Twitter has been accepted into the CoInternet .CO Founders program. An initiative to get developers involved in launching websites and businesses on quality .CO domains.

Twitter’s Official Link Shortener Coming Soon

Twitter’s new domain, T.CO will be used as the official link shortener to protect users from malicious sites. T.CO links will appear within all tweets and direct messages.

T.CO links will be monitored for malware. If malware is reported or detected then a T.CO link is flagged and a warning is shown to a user before visiting.

Users can still use existing link shortening services such as bit.ly, but those shortened links will be “wrapped” within an official T.CO link.

Twitter has other big plans for T.CO. The official announcement on Twitter’s blog mentions they will be putting click-through data to work for their Promoted Tweets program and within future commercial applications.

…routing links through this service will eventually contribute to the metrics behind our Promoted Tweets platform and provide an important quality signal for our Resonance algorithm—the way we determine if a Tweet is relevant and interesting to users. We are also looking to provide services that make use of this data, an example would be analytics within our eventual commercial accounts service.

E.CO Charity Auction Underway

Another lively .CO event is underway today. Bidding for the E.CO domain auction has reached over $30,000 on Sedo. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the charity of the winners’ choosing.

The auction is now live and will conclude on Jun 10th at 4PM EST.

Bidders must be certified for this special auction. Follow the links on e.co or Sedo for details.

Claim Your Own .CO

The public launch for .CO domains is nearing.  July 20th is the official date for general availability.

Right now, you can pre-register .CO domains at GoDaddy for $29.99/yr.

If multiple people pre-register the same .CO domain it will go to auction, but your initial fee will be refunded if you don’t get the domain you want.

The adoption of .CO by Twitter and the brilliant management and promotion of the extension by CoInternet is definitely a strong sign that quality .CO domains will prove valuable. What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Google has made several big announcements at it’s I/O developer conference. Among them are a web app store, a font API to make the web more beautiful, and now Google TV may soon be a seriously popular destination for browsing the web and consuming video content.

Here is a brief explanation and demo of Google TV:

Will .TV Domains Be In High Demand?

While I personally do not own any .TV domains, I have a feeling the .TV brand is going to get a lot of exposure this year.

Thousands of websites may be interested in creating their own media channel optimized for Google TV. Of course a .TV domain is not required, but makes clear sense to use in this setting and may provide a more memorable branding option.

Please take a moment to respond to the poll question:

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

Get Your Own Media Channel Started

.TV domains can be registered at GoDaddy for $39.99 per year.

Web Developers interested in getting a head-start will want to read this guide for designing websites optimized for Google TV.

Google TV will certainly not be limited to just video. Images, text and interactive features will need to be carefully placed to ensure a pleasant user experience.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

CircleID contributor Mark Jeftovic recently published a very detailed editorial on his thoughts of the current state of the domain aftermarket. Recalling old predictions and comparing generic sales of years past to more recent sales; Jeftovic has somewhat of a rant that domainers are not really investing, but rather speculating.

I suppose I am guilty of labeling some of my registrations “investments.” I would really rather not call it “domain flipping.” Jeftovic shares this great point that affirms registrations as investments though:

It’s the grain of truth of the domaining world: they really are the single greatest investment on earth, when your cost basis is close to the price of registration.

After reading the article I was thrilled to see Frank Schilling himself had responded with quite the editorial of his own! Defending the value of domains as investments as only one with his unique experience and position as a founding domainer can.

Mr. Schilling touches on the economy, poor PPC revenue and notes the rapid growth of the internet and the nature of domain names as the backbone of the entire system.

As more people buy domain names, more people will figure out that certain names are better in quality than others.

Please follow the link to read the editorial and Mr. Schilling’s response at CircleID:

The Domain Aftermarket Redux: Are Domainers Investors Yet?

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Name.com has been kind enough to share exclusive coupon codes with DotSauce readers in the past, so I thought I would pass on the latest news concerning changes to their WHOIS privacy service.

Name.com announced recently that their private WHOIS service, which was traditionally free, will now cost $1.99 per year.

Because of the sudden change, they are providing a promotional coupon code FREEWHOIS to remove the fee when registering or renewing domains.

DNW has noted that some customers are upset, stating concerns that they have a large number of privacy protected domains or that they should have been informed directly. Honestly, I don’t think this was a significant enough policy change to warrant a mass mailing.

Lets put this pricing change in perspective…

• No registrars that I know of offer free WHOIS
• Use coupon code FREEWHOIS to have the $1.99 fee removed.
• It’s still free.

Enjoy the coupon code and give Name.com a little break; I always see them working hard to serve their customers!

P.S. Check out this morning’s poll question if you missed it:
Have You Sold Domain Names via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn?

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

DotSauce News launched quietly awhile back as a sister site that would provide free exposure to quality domain news and articles. I sent out several private invitations to give it a try and received quite a bit of positive feedback.

The site features a stream of the latest domain industry articles on it’s “Recent” tab and the main page features news and articles which have received votes up, giving the most popular links a time to shine.

Exposure Across DotSauce.com

If you look in the sidebar here on DotSauce (to your right and down a bit) you will see the Industry News widget. This widget features a list of the most popular links from DotSauce News. These links generally stick around for awhile as only links which receive up votes make the popular list.

I would like to encourage domain bloggers to submit their own posts and non-blogging domainers to submit and vote on their favorite domain name related news and articles as well.

Registration is very simple and allows you to submit links, vote and even comment.

Lightning Fast Submissions

Once you have claimed your username, you can drag the bookmarklet link shown below to your browser toolbar or bookmarks folder to be able to submit any URL with 1-click.

Bonus Promotion Through Email and Twitter

I have started to publish a weekly updates email newsletter which recaps the latest articles from DotSauce Magazine. You can subscribe at the top right of this page if you’re interested.

The weekly newsletter is sent out to many hundreds of subscribers. I would like the best articles on DotSauce News to get more free exposure within this newsletter. If a news piece or editorial receives a handful of up votes, I will include a link to it within the newsletter.

I will also share link submissions that receive several votes with my 13,000+ followers on Twitter.

Thank you in advance for registering with DotSauce News and giving it a try. Please leave a comment with any questions or suggestions.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

The World Domain Cup contest has just released a report on the top 100 most voted for potential gTLD (top-level domains).

Japanese internet service provider, Interlink is hosting a quirky large scale contest. Pick the right gTLD and you could win a revenue share of the first year of new domain registrations as well as a piece of $10,000.

Interlink is prepared to invest in a single gTLD when ICANN gives the go-ahead, so they have created the WDC to help select their gTLD.

WDC votes do not necessarily matter, Interlink will be making a selection they feel will be the most successful. However, it is interesting to see which future domains are getting the most votes.

.WEB has the most votes (350), followed by .EARTH (#2) and .LOVE (#3) with a little less than 250 votes each.

.WORLD (#4) and .ORZ (#5) has received about 145 votes, this seems to be a Japanese emoticon.

.BLOG ranks #6 with about 120 votes.

.WWW (Yes, as a TLD) has received about 75 wasted votes.

.MOE (#8) must be a popular name because it too received about 75 votes.

.HOME (#9) and .FREE (#10) round out the top 10 proposed gTLDs with a little over 50 votes in the WDC. For more, check out the Top 100.

.GAME (#11) and .LIFE (#12) both received a little less than 50 votes.

.XXX and .STAR have tied for position #13 with about 33 votes each, what a coincidence.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

This will be the first of a two-part article detailing insight into the past and the future of the internet. Before delving into what is to come in the not-so-distant future, I would like to offer some tech history for those unfamiliar with the creation of the internet. Following that I will be sharing some of my personal experiences and ideas regarding the .COM space.

First, there were local computer networks established within government organizations and universities across the globe. In 1973 the TCP/IP protocol was being developed by Vinton Cerf from Stanford and Bob Kahn from DARPA which would allow diverse networks to connect to each other. Did they ever.

In 1985, the first domain name was registered (Symbolics.com). Years pass and a select few savvy entrepreneurs, businesses and investors including IBM, Intel, AT&T and Cisco stake their claim by applying for .COM domain names.

By 1995 the networks had exploded and become the world wide web, a collective pool of human knowledge. Millions are aware, if not getting involved actively or passively. The internet did what it is now known to do very well, that is, grow!

ICANN was established in 1998 as in independent organization with the task of managing IP addresses and domain names.

Just prior to ICANN’s formation in 1997, a major internet milestone was reached. 1 million .COM domain names had been registered. It took 12 years. This number is now dwarfed in comparison to the over 80 million .COM domains registered today.

Over the past two decades the internet has grown to become an integral part of our individual lives and society as a whole. It may even be getting the recognition it deserves with a nomination for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

The .COM top level domain has reached it’s 25th anniversary! You can join in the celebration and learn more at 25YearsOf.com

The .COM Bubble (Our 15 Minutes of Fame)

The .COM Bubble was the period from 1995-2000 during which investors poured massive amounts of funding into internet and technology startups. After seeing record rises in stock valuations, business was moving lightning fast and without caution. It turned out to be quite a big mess. I prefer to remember this as the period in which over 20 million .COMs were claimed.

In 1997, I taught myself how to code websites and soon had my very own one-man web hosting and design company up and running. I witnessed the boom in online business and began to create my own web properties, communities and sites for local business by contracting for design work and reselling hosting.

Along the way, I made a few domain sales on eBay and Afternic. Unfortunately, I lacked the capital to invest very much in domains (oddly enough, domain registration was $75 per year back then). A small barrier that would soon be broken down.

If you entered into the domaining industry after 2000, like myself, then you probably have a little nagging feeling that you somehow “missed the boat.”  The forethought and technical understanding to apply to register keyword domains was held by a select few. Many of those individuals are now famous today for their successes.

One of those founding domainers is Frank Schilling who holds one of the largest domain portfolios in the world. In an older post on DotSauce I featured some predictions from the pros, from which I’d like to share this quote by Frank:

Today, getting a good domain name may be pricier than it was in the early days of domaining, but dollar for dollar you are still far better off investing in .COM domains because .COM is a global brand.

There is still countless opportunity today, still massively profitable investments to be made in .COM domains. You simply need to break down the barrier of entry into this business.

The .COM Barrier

There are a few things that prevent your average internet enthusiast from becoming a successful domainer. Let’s review them and help break down the .COM barrier.

1) Price - High quality .COM domain names sell for $1 million+ seemingly every month. Countless small and medium sized sales in the hundreds to several thousand dollar range are made every day across many domain marketplaces.

Most would agree that it is easier to make more profit by investing in high quality domains at a price tag of a few hundred dollars each which can later be sold for several thousands rather than do lots of smaller sales. While this may be true, raising the initial capital is a barrier that many face.

You can, however, get started now with those smaller sales. New .COM domain registrations are around $7 if you use a coupon code and there are other bargain deals in the aftermarket to get you started towards building a valuable portfolio.

2) Domain Industry Knowledge – A successful domain investor understands the big picture. They know the life cycle of a domain, it’s expiration process, the registrars and organizations involved. They know the best research tools, analytics and data to discover worthwhile domains.

Some domainers have all this down to a science and keep watch for the latest news and notable sales.

It would be difficult to get far without a solid understanding of the domain aftermarket and domain names themselves. Having a passion for what you do goes a long way.

3) Common Sense – Unfortunately, this is a big part of the barrier to overcome for success in domaining. Without common sense, your experience domaining may not be such a pleasant one and could turn into a money-sink. One needs to apply common sense when undertaking these domain business tasks.

• When registering or buying a domain be sure the vision for your domain is clear. You want to know that it is worth your investment and ideally have potential end-users present. With new tools, like Estibot, it is becoming easier to evaluate a domains potential, but further research and a human’s perspective is always recommended.
• When choosing how to monetize a domain through development or parking. Without significant time invested in development and content creation, most mini-sites or landing pages will not be indexed high enough on search engines to be worth the time invested. As for PPC parking, if your domain does not receive enough traffic to recoup the yearly renewal fee then don’t bother with it. Many domains are not fit for either, and that’s OK. Instead, focus on sales or your established websites.
• When marketing domains for sale, pricing your inventory and negotiating sales you need to have a good understanding of the liquid and potential value of your domain. What a name may sell for years from now is not a realistic interpretation of present value. Understanding who you are marketing to is also a very important factor in determining a successful sales price.

Be reasonable, be real and learn from your mistakes to overcome these and the other barriers to .COM success.

The Future

In part 2 of this article series I will be exploring some of the latest innovations, research, data and predictions of how the internet will evolve and grow over the coming years.

I’m very excited about writing this feature as I’m somewhat of a futurist, early adopter and science-fiction fan. Or maybe it’s because I don’t want to miss the boat again. How about you?

Please subscribe by RSS, by email or follow @DotSauce on Twitter to be notified about part 2, The Future of The Internet!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I thought this would be a nice question to see what you might be interested in learning more about. There are numerous resources and tools available that make domaining more accessible to those just getting started and experienced domainers alike.

Note: My apologies for the duplicate publication. DotSauce Mag was transferred to a new server and this latest article was lost in the process.

If you previously responded to this poll your vote was lost, sorry!

I am almost positive that “Selling domains to end-users” is the obvious answer to this poll question. End user sales is the most profitable and difficult task a domainer faces. So, I have excluded that response to get a more realistic view of interests. Here are your options…

Building a Domain Portfolio Website

In a previous poll on DotSauce, I found that 37% of respondents had created a custom domain portfolio website. With open source software like WordPress, it’s fairly simple for the average person to create a nice looking web presence.

It pays to learn some of the more advanced features and find the right plugins that complement your site.

Marketing Domains for Sale

I’ve written about selling domain names a few times. It’s always a popular subject as one might guess! Have you embraced new tools, avenues and resources for selling domains in 2010?

Creating an Email Newsletter

Some of the biggest brokers in the world rely on their email newsletters to bring in the sales. Have you considered creating one? There are lots of options in this space, some paid, some free. There’s also the question of just how to get people to subscribe and buy.

Valuating / Appraising Domains

This is a definite skill that can’t be learned over night, but with each sale and purchase you make or hear about experience is gained. Learning from industry experts and keeping a close eye on the aftermarket is a good place to start.

Automated appraisals are a popular topic right now, but are they really useful for valuating a domain for sale?

Researching Domains to Purchase

There are many great tools and techniques for researching expiring domains and domains on other marketplaces and drop houses. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming.

Negotiating Domain Sales

This can be a difficult task as each domain sale is unique. Many have shared sales letters, email correspondence, tips and tricks on asking prices, making offers and bartering. What really works?

Please select an option below and click “Vote!” Thank you!

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

Subscribe to DotSauce to be updated on future articles and resources related to the topics you’ve just read about. And be sure to come back soon to view the results of this poll!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I recently added the 144th entry to the Twitter application directory on my site, TweetSocial.com, a Twitter forum community. The shear amount of useful applications I’ve seen in the past year is surprising. A broad range of applications have been built on a fairly simple micro blogging network.

What if we could spark this kind of revolution for the domain name industry? There is alot of room for improvement in many of the things that impact our online business most: domain tools, domain research, SEO tools, domain registrations, domain hosting, auctions, expired domains, available domains, domain sales, marketing, networking, etc.

I would like to see the domain name industry reach out to closely related industries; web development, design, programming, marketing, branding, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. To start off, we could connect our services like domain registration, WHOIS, domain research and more with popular social networking sites through their open APIs.

We have seen advancements in domain tools and services recently. FreshDrop, Valuate.com appraisals, Bido auctions, DomainTools and EstiBot Beta are continuing to develop innovative tools for domain research and sales. There is still much more room to grow. There are huge audiences with a need for quality domain names. We can educate and accommodate with easy to use tools and resources. In return, we are rewarded with growth and exposure, increasing the value and liquidity of our virtual real estate.

X Prize Propels Technology into Space and Beyond

You may remember when the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team (financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen) won the original $10 million Ansari X Prize for space flight in 2004. The X Prize organization is now celebrating it’s 5th anniversary.

So, what is an X Prize? Here’s a great description from the official site:

Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X Prize incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits.

Google now has an ongoing $30 million Lunar X Prize for privately funded teams to deploy a rover on the moon that can transmit video, images and data back to earth.

MIT Team Wins Military Challenge

Just last week, an MIT team won a $40,000 challenge made by the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to find large red weather balloons placed in random locations throughout the U.S.

The MIT team quickly launched a social website which encouraged friend referrals and prizes for spotting the balloons. The team had successfully identified the coordinates of all 10 DARPA weather balloons in less than 9 hours after the contest launched.

This story is quite an inspiring show of the benefits of pitting bright minds against a challenge to spur innovation and additionally speaks well of the power of social networking.

Innovation in Domaining and Development

I would love to host a challenge for programmers, entrepreneurs and domainers to develop tools and applications that improve, promote and otherwise further advance the domain name industry.

The specific format of an X Prize (1 winner and 1 ultimate goal) may not be the most ideal format for a challenge of this type.

I’m not setting any rules or terms in stone just yet, as I would love to get feedback from anyone who may be interested in participating or helping the cause.

What’s the Ultimate Goal? – What should the ultimate goal for the challenge be? It could be as broad as anything related to domain names or online business or as narrow as strictly domain research tool development. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Sponsors and Prizes? – The prize is the backbone behind the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. A nice sum of cash from a sponsor would do nicely. Though there are many other things we all enjoy like domain registrations, books, rum cakes anyone?

If you are interested in sponsoring the challenge, please contact me.

Interested in the Challenge? – A challenge is nothing without competitors. If you are a programmer with the know how or a project manager with the resources, consider this an invitation to get started on building the next big thing. If you think you may be up for the challenge please leave a comment or mention it to me on Twitter or Facebook so I can get an idea of interest.

I have ideas of my own for the challenge, but would like to get feedback from others in the industry before continuing. Thank you in advance for any help making this challenge a success! Stay tuned for updates.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Today, over eight thousand blogs will unite for a single cause by writing to promote awareness of the threats and effects of climate change on the Earth.

Blog Action Day ’09 has set out to bring the issue to center stage and some high profile publications like the official Google Blog, Mashable, DailyBlogTips and more will be joining the movement today including 11 of the world’s top 100 blogs.

You can follow the movement on Twitter by searching the #BAD09 hashtag or to browse some featured blog posts visit Blog Action Day headquarters.

Check out this very cool short video introduction to Blog Action Day and the topic of climate change.

Could Blog Action Day be just the tip of the iceberg?

The Blog Action Day team has gathered 24 non-profit sponsors including former Vice President Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Change.

Gore’s organization has partnered with Dot Eco LLC (SupportDotEco.com) who is campaigning for registration of a new (.eco) top level domain (TLD) to establish an environmental related domain space.

Dot Eco will provide resources for the non-profits that are on the front lines of this really critical work. Funding for research, education and action. – Davis Guggenheim, Dot Eco Director

The .eco TLD will surely be a great source of revenue for non-profit environmental organizations, but I think it’s impact will extend farther than anyone expects.

The .eco domain space will have a massive appeal to green businesses, bloggers and organizations to create new websites about the environment on .eco domains.

I envision that these websites will grow and network with other .eco owners as well as connect with popular green websites on the .com space.  Each site sending out a ripple of good cause and expanding awareness of a need for action to millions.

Support Dot Eco Today

Dot Eco has an astounding 84,000+ fans on Facebook and 6,000+ followers on Twitter. Show your support and expect to see .eco domains take on the web and climate change in just a few years!

What do you think? Would you develop a website on a new .eco domain? Do you think the .eco domain will be as successful as I imagine? Please leave a comment using the “Comments” tab at the top of the article.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I’ve scoured my seemingly endless Twitter stream and have come up with several hundred web development resources shared with my followers over the past 9 months. I have divided my top resource picks into several categories of interest: Domain Names,Web Development, WordPress, SEO & Marketing, Web Design, and Online Business.

To get more resources like these shared daily,
please follow me @DotSauce on Twitter.

Feel free to copy and re-tweet any of these resources to share with your followers, they will thank you for it and I would most definitely appreciate the mention.

Domain Name Resources

Here are some of the latest tools, trends and articles on domaining. For more articles and resources browse the Domain Names and Domain Industry categories on DotSauce.

Coming Soon: The new DotSauce Domaining Directory will begin featuring a collection of top domain name resources.

1. Pending Delete Domains In Drop Order & Drop Time: http://bit.ly/Ut9mV
2. DotSauce Premium Domaining Content is Now Free for Everyone! http://DotSauce.com/1736
3. Impact of domain name on CTR and Conversion: http://bit.ly/19XI6o
4. Excellent info here on the full process of domain name expiration: http://bit.ly/TbJrm
5. Weekly domain sales report from DNJournal: http://bit.ly/uXSEo
6. Root Domains, Subdomains vs. Subfolders and The Microsite Debate: http://bit.ly/zyKBY
7. Domain Names in the News: http://bit.ly/3uQiab – A collection by @dominikmueller
8. Good Domain Names (to Register) Grow Scarce: http://bit.ly/d4q8M
9. Domain Names Podcast Episode 13 with Zappy Zapolin – http://bit.ly/f5SHe
10. Brokering Peace Between Brand Owners and Domainers – NYTimes http://bit.ly/17Uudj
11. Webmaster Radio: Importance of Domain Names to Search – http://bit.ly/3eP5i2 (Skip to minute 4:30)
12. Domain Names Podcast Episode 11 with Jeff Behrendt INForum: http://bit.ly/18HnFF
13. “The Domainers Language”, for all the New Domainers out there: http://bit.ly/EgiF1
14. Tips to Ensure Success in Flipping Websites – http://bit.ly/CkhAS
15. New TLDs For Dummies (Sort of): http://bit.ly/rcOuj by @mneylon
16. DNHeadline Comprehensive Industry Coverage: http://bit.ly/vFwwT
17. Parking, Tasting and Squatting: http://bit.ly/oiYs0
18. The Dot Coms Are Booming Again (Domain Registrations, That Is): http://bit.ly/LzIQ1
19. Is Your Domain Name Killing Your Business? http://bit.ly/guQJ1
20. Does Domain Age or Registration Length Affect Search Engine Rankings? http://bit.ly/yZTex
21. Domain Tools SEO Text Browser Tool: http://bit.ly/leiWn
22. Effective Strategy For Choosing Right Domain Names: http://bit.ly/qZ5bL
23. Rick Latona’s ccTLDs discussion forum: http://bit.ly/ATfFt
24. Interview with Marc Gawith of Godaddy Executive Accounts: http://bit.ly/jUZLn by @brucemarler
25. New tool compares domains’ backlink history: http://tinyurl.com/cq9dve
26. Earning More Money From the Same Domain Traffic: http://tinyurl.com/d8uqc9
27. Pricing Strategies For Your Domains In A Recession: http://tinyurl.com/abp2pp
28. 12 Tools For Picking a Killer Domain Name: http://tinyurl.com/bugtn5
29. 5 Ways to Find Fellow Domainers on Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/dajpgn
30. Matt Cutts Talks About Keywords in the URL: http://tinyurl.com/dgpn2b
31. Domainer Essentials: Registrant Alert by DomainTools: http://bit.ly/CS4Ny
32. Domainer Essentials: Domain Name List Cleaner: http://tinyurl.com/ct2a54
33. Domain Name Search Gets Powerful with Domize: http://tinyurl.com/cjusgt
34. Google PPC campaigns with generic domain URLs can get 105% more clicks! http://bit.ly/RtNkb (PDF)

You may also be interested in browsing or contributing to the DotSauce list of Top Domainers & Industry Profiles on Twitter.

WordPress Resources

I am a huge fan of WordPress, which you will soon see as you scroll through this monster list of top notch WordPress resources. Featuring topics from plugins to themes and everything in-between. For exclusive articles and features on the subject browse the DotSauce WordPress category.

1. 10 Ways to Use .htaccess to Speed Up WordPress: http://bit.ly/C6jBU
2. 10 Ways to Customize and Personalize your WordPress Blog: http://bit.ly/xF4GH
3. Amp Up Your Blog With These Add-Ons: http://bit.ly/2K31ti
4. Powered by WordPress: 10 Themes and Plugins for Turnkey Online Business! http://bit.ly/6VXrj
5. 35 Stylish And Modern WordPress Plugins Using jQuery UI: http://bit.ly/BXKqz
6. 5 Fresh WordPress Plugins Ready to Enhance Your Blog: http://DotSauce.com/1632
7. Get an email notice when your WordPress install needs updated: http://bit.ly/bCuWM
8. Adding and using custom user profile fields in WordPress: http://bit.ly/165a4L
9. 26+ Free AdSense Optimized WordPress Themes: http://bit.ly/5BmSG
10. Advanced WordPress 2.8 Optimization Guide: http://bit.ly/pd7p2
11. WP-CRM plugin / theme – Build a contacts manager powered by WordPress: http://bit.ly/6w04Y
12. CMS your WordPress with these 10 plugins: http://bit.ly/R75Yz
13. 10 Awesome Things To Do With WordPress Custom Fields: http://bit.ly/1Qb0ln
14. 10 Good WordPress Hacks: http://bit.ly/F5cpx
15. 9 WordPress Hacks to Encourage User Interactivity: http://bit.ly/2c9DPG
16. WordPress Theme Design Functions Guide: http://bit.ly/rElFD
17. 13 WordPress related Firefox Extensions: http://bit.ly/19TWko
18. 18 Useful Tricks To Speed Up WordPress & Boost Performance: http://bit.ly/mzz59
19. 10 Useful WordPress Hook Hacks: http://bit.ly/vqnGz
20. Broken Link Checker Plugin for WordPress: http://bit.ly/15EuJU
21. 30 Tutorials Combining Both WordPress and jQuery: http://bit.ly/so2En
22. 25 Essential Plugins for WordPress: http://bit.ly/H2Rgm
23. 15 Killer Hacks for WordPress that Are Extremely Useful: http://bit.ly/ywlOq
24. 50+ Ways To Improve Your WordPress Blog: http://bit.ly/1DdbTh
25. Create Your Own WordPress Theme Tutorial Resources: http://bit.ly/10Kv56
26. 15 Plugins to Unleash the Invincible Power of jQuery and WordPress: http://bit.ly/u5vvB
27. 5 Useful And Creative Ways To Use WordPress Widgets: http://bit.ly/36qfOs
28. 14 Free “Vintage” WordPress Themes http://bit.ly/13EZ7s via @ThemeHunter
29. SmushIt for WordPress: http://bit.ly/6PVIE – Optimize images for web on the fly!
30. Google Analytics Plugin for your WordPress dashboard! http://bit.ly/SGc0d
31. 101 WordPress Plugins to Meet Anyone’s Needs: http://bit.ly/ojv13
32. Add a dashboard widget in WordPress admin panel: http://bit.ly/LuN2n
33. 40 Free Premium-Quality WordPress Themes: http://bit.ly/59ZEX via @ThemeHunter
34. 9 WordPress SEO tips you may have missed: http://bit.ly/AQAlC
35. Any WordPress Theme Can Be a Blank Framework: http://bit.ly/779iG
36. 5 Useful WordPress Functions You Didn’t Know Existed: http://bit.ly/NUafP
37. 20 Most Beautiful Free WordPress Themes: http://is.gd/10BQY
38. Direct integration of WordPress with Facebook – http://bit.ly/yNtVI
39. Custom RSS feeds in WordPress: http://bit.ly/f78F4 Great hack by @yoast
40. 7 WordPress Theme Trends & How To Implement Them Yourself: http://bit.ly/ER3xC
41. The Ultimate Guide to Setting up WordPress after an Install: http://bit.ly/jVlgn
42. 10 Twitter Hacks For Your WordPress Blog: http://bit.ly/ijlD6
43. 40 Exceptional “CMS Enabling” #WordPress Plugins: http://bit.ly/CdnYD
44. Premium WordPress Themes Fail at SEO and How To Fix It: http://bit.ly/6mpM6
45. 20 Tutorials to Develop WordPress Plugins: http://bit.ly/kt956
46. 10 WordPress Tips & Tricks for Your Comment Page: http://tinyurl.com/cubmpb
47. Custom Fields Hacks For WordPress: http://bit.ly/1GQZY
48. WordPress Blog Link & Traffic Analysis Plugin: http://bit.ly/19eTy4
49. Event Calendar plugin for WordPress: http://wpcal.firetree.net/
50. 10 Exceptional WordPress Hacks:  http://bit.ly/16i8Y by @SmashingMag

Website Development Resources

Here you will find a variety of tools, code snippets, full scripts or plugins as well as some interesting articles and tutorials on modern web development. Browse our articles on the topic in the DotSauce Web Development category.

1. Really useful list: 100+ Resources for Web Developers – http://is.gd/qFkh
2. 40 Super-Neat JavaScript Plugins: http://bit.ly/3V5Cvh
3. Improve Your Website Loading Time by 50%: http://bit.ly/ctKfS
4. 100 Ways To Improve Your Blog: http://bit.ly/3QgE74
5. 25+ Free Flash Website Templates with Source Files: http://bit.ly/ReJcb
6. 150 Web Developer Tools and Techniques: http://bit.ly/pJ4Aj
7. 16 Website Clones You Can Build with Drupal CMS: http://bit.ly/E8Bwd
8. Top 10 Most Usable Content Management Systems: http://bit.ly/VRH3w
9. Essential Learning for Ruby and Rails: http://bit.ly/sEanF
10. 10 Web Apps To Build The Next Big Thing Without Writing Any Code: http://bit.ly/I5UVA
11. Resources for Testing Cross Browser Compatibility of Your Website: http://bit.ly/QEvf0
12. 16 Best Facebook Connect Plugins for Your Blog, Forum, Wiki, or CMS: http://bit.ly/i9iEE
13. 21 Handy PHP Code Snippets: http://bit.ly/19x8Op
14. The Ultimate Guide To Speeding Up Firefox 3.5 – http://bit.ly/h1I6S
15. 13 Firefox Add-ons For Web Development: http://bit.ly/U1pMb
16. 6 Promising Open Source Social Networking Software: http://bit.ly/9tENX
17. 50 Extremely Useful PHP Tools – http://bit.ly/mlqIg via @Minervity
18. 40+ Essential Web Developer Cheat Sheets: http://bit.ly/3WlsG
19. 12 Tools To Check Your Site’s Accessibility: http://bit.ly/92dXc via @SitePointdotcom
20. Create Featured Content Slider Using jQuery UI: http://bit.ly/dWbkg
21. Useful directory of PHP scripts: http://is.gd/rldf
22. Evaluate your site’s load times with Google’s “Page Speed” Firefox addon: http://bit.ly/17IE2P
23. 5 Essential Steps to Make Your Site Search & Social Media Friendly: http://bit.ly/LGNv4
24. WordTaps – Web dev resource community. http://bit.ly/JBA27
25. 30 Essential Online Converters for All Webmasters: http://bit.ly/iYent
26. 21 Free And Useful Web Tools For (Non)Web Designers: http://bit.ly/NG4vs
27. Best jQuery and Ajax demos at 9lessons: http://bit.ly/13lFzl
28. 12 Tips For Designing an Excellent Checkout Process: http://bit.ly/2MEKSU
29. 31 Fascinating Ruby on Rails Tutorials & Guides – http://bit.ly/PSq2d
30. Tipster: Web design and development tips in 140 words or less! http://bit.ly/iAtzz
31. 15 Wonderfully Creative Uses for PHP: http://bit.ly/q0tHT
32. FullCalendar, an open-source jQuery calendar script: http://tinyurl.com/cxgyty
33. 20 Excellent AJAX site effects you can download at NetTuts: http://tinyurl.com/d4zjpc
34. 100% Google AdSense: Tools, Tips and Resources http://ff.im/-1E0si
35. 25+ jQuery Plugins that enhance HTML form elements: http://tinyurl.com/cs7s28
36. Great tips from @nettuts on freelance web development: http://tinyurl.com/d9v8h7
37. 28 Useful Web Tools to Speed Up Your Web Development: http://tinyurl.com/cdrztq

Search Optimization and Marketing Resources

Select articles, niche guides and tools on succeeding with the search engines. For additional articles on search check out the DotSauce SEO, Traffic and Marketing categories.

1. How To Optimize Your Site for Local Search: http://bit.ly/15GPEO
2. Get More Blog Visitors – 21 Untapped Traffic Sources: http://bit.ly/7FypV
3. SEO Advice of the Year! Google’s Matt Cutts on Successful Blogging: http://bit.ly/15j477
4. How To Track Google Keyword Rankings In Google Analytics: http://bit.ly/G3y72
5. Monitor your Google, Yahoo and Bing rankings for free: http://bit.ly/2RQ7M7
6. 6 Places to Track A Website’s Traffic: http://bit.ly/11rYrN
7. Marketing Your Website Without Search Engines: http://bit.ly/N5mcm
8. Make Google Search Real-Time With This URL Hack: http://bit.ly/MyWuL
9. Track SEO rankings and Sitelinks with Google Analytics II – http://bit.ly/H3gMR
10. 20 SEO Tips Every Web Developer Should Follow: http://bit.ly/vYOeX
11. Simple ways to build up your website traffic: http://bit.ly/1K2Bau
12. Google Sets & Squared: Powerful Keyword Research Tools – http://bit.ly/cH2aM
13. SEO Blogger: Free Keyword Suggestion Tool for Firefox – http://DotSauce.com/1493
14. International SEO Made Easy: http://bit.ly/2ApLN – Great guide!
15. Geo Targeted SEO: The Technical Review – http://bit.ly/25PQK
16. Top Ten Search Engine Optimization Tips – http://bit.ly/eNGq1
17. 50 Ways to Get Your Site Noticed! http://bit.ly/DLHOJ
18. Top 5 Link Building Resource Websites: http://bit.ly/oADnQ
19. The Top 10 Twitter SEO Tips: http://bit.ly/ou8cE
20. The Complete Google Analytics Power User Guide: http://bit.ly/15fVMr
21. 10 WordPress Plugins That (May) Increase Your Search Engine Ranking: http://bit.ly/XbhlO
22. 5 Easy Ways To Improve Your Search Rankings: http://bit.ly/2mrbmf
23. WordPress SEO – The Definitive Guide To Higher Rankings For Your Blog: http://bit.ly/VMQg
24. Top Search Ranking Factors – Comprehensive guide by SEOmoz: http://bit.ly/UfoE9
25. The Web Developer’s SEO Cheat Sheet: http://ping.fm/VRAJW

Web Design Resources

Some fabulous downloadable graphics goodies, articles and tools for you creative types. Get inspired and enhance your website with these web design resources.

1. 70+ Free Icon Sets and Icons Collections for Web Designers: http://bit.ly/KGDlA
2. 10 Top-Notch CSS Editors: http://bit.ly/s0nzI
3. Awesome Free PSDs – http://bit.ly/3aNUk
4. Using @font-face CSS rule and 15 Free Fonts: http://bit.ly/2b0Di9
5. Lots of sweet free vector files from top graphic designers – Vectors on Fire: http://bit.ly/iU5OG
6. 75 Free Icon Sets for Web Designers and Developers: http://bit.ly/AEMv4
7. Cool! DIVINE software converts PSD to WordPress in minutes: http://bit.ly/72EJr
8. How To: Create Text Blocks Over Images – CSS-Tricks: http://bit.ly/qOJiE
9. 15 Essential WordPress Plugins for Aspiring Designers: http://bit.ly/pKi80
10. 16 Exciting Adobe Photoshop Tutorials To Boost Your Creativity: http://bit.ly/16tEoA
11. 9 Essential Principles for Good Web Design: http://bit.ly/KHFsX
12. 20 Fresh & Awesome Text Effect Tutorials: http://is.gd/1wb9P via @patternhead
13. 40 Free Web Design and Development Books from Google: http://bit.ly/hiX08
14. Create a beautiful timeline using CSS: http://bit.ly/9YwbB
15. Web Design Tutorials: The Ultimate Roundup! http://bit.ly/488Az
16. 1009 Hi-Res FREE textures and background images: http://bit.ly/11UcT8
17. 70 Tutorials Using Photoshop To Design A Website: http://bit.ly/gmW5z
18. 30 Most Influential People In Web Design: http://bit.ly/ybQzi
19. 2500 free high quality graphic icons! http://bit.ly/4kza6Q
20. 10 Common Mistakes In Logo Design: http://bit.ly/8ZXTd
21. 45 Web Design Checklists and Questionnaires: http://bit.ly/b1WhG
22. 33 Free HD Icon Sets designed for Web: http://bit.ly/UC27D
23. 7 New (and Free!) Typeface Downloads: http://bit.ly/19awpD
24. 26 Complete WordPress Theme Design Tutorials: http://bit.ly/4yzVi
25. 80+ Photoshop Tutorials: Practical Web Interface Design: http://bit.ly/7LYuD
26. 80+ Resources! Logo Designers Essential Toolbox: http://bit.ly/ZxKou
27. Wood in Modern Web Design – Free Wood Textures and Wood Showcases: http://bit.ly/gwq7e
28. 25 Awesome Facebook Apps for Designers: http://bit.ly/y2rQU
29. 2500 free icons for use on free and commercial projects – http://iconpot.com
30. CSS Sprites: “One of the most effective ways of speeding up a website’s render time” http://bit.ly/7uV4g
31. 16 Unveiled Logo Design Processes! http://bit.ly/BLEUZ
32. 160+ RSS Feeds For Web-Designers And Developers: http://bit.ly/x6Kij
33. 10 More Places to Find Absolutely Free Vector Graphics: http://bit.ly/2M59O
34. 25 Sites to Download Royalty-Free Stock Photos and Textures: http://bit.ly/112Z5s
35. 40 New High-quality and Free Icon Sets: http://bit.ly/M1ekE
36. How to Create a Slick and Clean Button in Photoshop: http://bit.ly/yFEUN
37. Designing web pages to make sales: http://tinyurl.com/dmqmex
38. 30 Sites For Fantastic, Free Fonts: http://tinyurl.com/dhfert
39. 101 High Quality CSS And XHTML Free Templates And Layouts: http://ff.im/-1BJHM
40. 28 Web Design Tools and Generators For Easy Web Design: http://twshot.com/?BFC

Online Business Resources

From blogging to social networking, there is alot more to do with business today than ever.  Here are some of the latest trends and insights in online business I’ve found this year.

1. 10 Business Lessons I Learned This Year: http://bit.ly/1UdS5n by @neilpatel
2. Hummingbird 2 Download: Pro Twitter Software Launches Beta Test – http://bit.ly/5y8E8
3. How Freemium Can Work for Your Startup: http://bit.ly/ISvs6
4. Discounts, Sales & Coupons, Oh my! A Booming Recession Business: http://bit.ly/4tV9B4
5. Should Your Company Go Online-Only? http://bit.ly/4Dq9w
6. 11 useful Windows apps that tie in to your GMail account: http://bit.ly/uf8kl
7. 8 Ways to Improve Your Web-Based Business: http://bit.ly/19Y0cL
8. Study Shows Small Businesses That Blog Get 55% More Website Visitors: http://bit.ly/8z5Oe
9. Nine Awesome iPhone Apps for Business: http://bit.ly/lMMuL
10. 100 Entrepreneurs You Should Follow and Learn From on Twitter: http://bit.ly/197B4E
11. 999 Business Ideas! http://bit.ly/PMHp6
12. HOW TO: Find your LinkedIn Contacts on Twitter – http://bit.ly/Wo2F2
13. Turning Web Browsers into Buyers: http://bit.ly/MaXmc
14. 6 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Business: http://bit.ly/NfHcc
15. Business Tool: Sample Confidentiality Agreement http://bit.ly/1qZy7a
16. 18 Blog post ideas for any small business… http://bit.ly/dqFeq
17. 20 Business Lessons Learned from Monty Python: http://bit.ly/16lcou
18. The Importance of Choosing Your Customers: http://bit.ly/gtp0r
19. Using Twitter to Find Customers: http://bit.ly/SNbUD
20. Branding on a Budget: http://bit.ly/12j38q
21. Seth Godin on choosing the perfect niche market: http://bit.ly/PU4Fg
22. Customers given too many choices 10x less likely to buy! http://bit.ly/tdNvj
23. Top 18 Industries for Starting a Business Right Now: http://bit.ly/8E6mD
24. WordPress Founder Matt Mullenweg on how he runs his business from home: http://bit.ly/gHoeO
25. Business Opportunities around Google Wave: http://bit.ly/1keSt
26. 108 ways to improve your website profits! http://bit.ly/xHJ8x
27. How to Become a Better Entrepreneur in the Next 30 Minutes: http://bit.ly/1837n2
28. 25 Social Media Marketing Tips from Industry Execs: http://bit.ly/n9US5
29. How to Write PPC Ad Copy: Four Ad Templates that Cause Clicks and Conversions http://bit.ly/57Z74
30. 100 Terrific Twitter Feeds for Young Entrepreneurs: http://bit.ly/17uJFr
31. Six Hurdles to Clear When Promoting Your Brand Online: http://bit.ly/PYd0C
32. 10 Great Entrepreneurs Talk about their Start-up Days http://bit.ly/KcL5V
33. Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Personal Brand Image Online: http://tinyurl.com/dj9tac
34. The New Internet Start-Up Boom: Get Rich Slow – TIME: http://bit.ly/1i5i
35. Monetization Strategy Often Overlooked: Lead Capture – http://tinyurl.com/cz7etj

Enjoy the lists? Follow @DotSauce for more great web development resources and consider sharing this post on Twitter or your other favorite social sites using the buttons below. Thanks!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

These 17 short videos cover the entire talk. Hear Dr. Ham’s story of how he got started on his path to becoming a multi-millionaire domainer.

Watch the video series and take home some solid ideas on being an entrepreneur and businessman online.

Learn the true value of money and get insight into how the Kevin Ham Business 2.0 feature “The Man Who Owns The Internet” came to be as well as details on the infamous .CM deal. Enjoy!

Source: Adam Killam YouTube Channel, Vancouver Enterprise Forum 2009.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

This is more of a fun question to get people thinking about the power of domain names.  I’m sure there are many people, including myself who hand-registered some of their best names years ago.  I’m guessing an even larger audience shelled out the big bucks in the aftermarket to purchase their prize domains.

Let’s get right to the poll question and find out where people are getting their best names!

Before answering, think a moment and choose a single domain from your portfolio that you believe is the most valuable.

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

Thanks for your response! Please leave a comment below if you like.

Previous Poll Results

Last month I asked quite a popular question, How do you monetize your domain name portfolio? Many people voted and the results are pretty clear. Alot of respondents are still using traditional PPC parking. It was a bit of a surprise to see Google AdSense at #2, meaning people are developing custom sites as well.

• PPC Parking Company (60%, 52 Votes)
• Google AdSense (45%, 39 Votes)
• Domain Sales (40%, 34 Votes)
• Affiliate Program Offers (30%, 26 Votes)
• Mini-site Development (29%, 25 Votes)
• Business Development (21%, 18 Votes)
• Product Sales (13%, 11 Votes)
• Direct Advertisement Sales (10%, 9 Votes)
• Domain Usage Rental (6%, 5 Votes)

I would like to see direct advertising and business development become a larger part of monetizing and building out domain names. I suspect we will see more niche ad networks and greater business building tools become popular very soon.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

FreshDrop.net originally launched in 2007 as a unique tool for browsing GoDaddy’s popular TDNAM domain marketplace. Over the years, founder Tan Tran and his team have worked on many enhancements and new features that have transformed FreshDrop.net into an all-around powerful domain research tool designed by domainers for domainers.

FreshDrop.net is not your average domain search and scan tool. The power lies in the amazing filters, functions and statistics that allow domain investors to easily target valuable domains. By filtering out all the “junk” names and getting right down to the types of names one is looking for at the best deals.

Where Do These Domains Come From?

The first thing you will see on FreshDrop is a list of domain marketplaces and individual areas of interest in certain marketplaces. TDNAM, Sedo, Afternic, BuyDomains, Fabulous, Dynadot, and yea even eBay. The marketplace data highlighted in yellow is reserved for FreshDrop Pro subscribers.

Here is a quick overview of some of the filters, features and search parameters that are not to be missed on FreshDrop.net

Domain Filters

This is where FreshDrop really shines. Unique filters narrow down thousands of results based on specific and strict filters like the following…

• Language Filters: English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Pinyin, Turkish, Italian
• Short Domain Filters: VCVC, CVCV, LLL, LLLL, LLLLL, NNN, etc.
• Geography Filters: Geo, Travel, US State, US City, Region, Country
• Niche Filters: Adult, Auto, Finance, Health, Internet, Legal, etc.

Domain Search Features

Once you have chosen a desired filter on FreshDrop.net you can further narrow your results to find the perfect names with these search features…

• Domain Extensions
• Require or Exclude Keywords
• Require Statistical Values (See Below)
• Domain Length Restrictions
• Exclude Undesirable Hyphens or Numbers

Domain Statistics

This is something that virtually all domain marketplaces are missing out on. They simply do not show you the hard data attached to each domain. FreshDrop.net aggregates a ton of valuable data and displays it for each domain. Does a domain receive traffic? Is it indexed on Google?

FreshDrop Pro members enjoy valuable added statistics like WordTracker scores as well as in-depth Google search and advertising data for domain searches that provide awesome insight into the value of names.

Go Give It A Try! Free Pro Subscription Trial

So you’ve read about all these cool features on FreshDrop.net and you’re still here? Go check it out for free!

If you’re a domainer looking to automate and expand your domain research then you definitely want to sign up for FreshDrop Pro, there is a 10-day no risk free trial!

I would love to hear your comments about FreshDrop, please leave one below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

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.

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 Magazine.

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 Magazine.

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 Magazine.

An official date has not been set on when the site will be public.

The Flippa interface is quite simplified but is lacking the defined categories that exist in the current marketplace such as Established Websites, Domain Names, and Startup Websites for example. However, Flippa’s Advanced Search feature may make up for it.

Here is what SitePoint had to say about this specific change…

“In the old marketplace we defined what a ‘start up site’ was and an ‘established site’ and so on. This caused way too much confusion. It’s now up to buyers to define their own categories based on data that sellers have entered for their listing. For instance, I might setup a saved search for “sites with more than 10,000 page-views a month” and I might call that ‘established sites’.” via Flippa Blog

The team at SitePoint seems to be focusing on website sales with this new marketplace brand.  The lack of defined categories could be beneficial for domainers to have their domains placed in the same marketplace stream as websites, especially if those domains are earning revenue.

It has yet to be announced if goods and services like hosting, links, consulting, and scripts will even allowed to be listed on Flippa.

There are some noteable improvements to the process of buying and selling websites through classifieds as well as features from the original SitePoint Marketplace.

Here is a snapshot of the handy statistics widget embedded within each listing.

What are your thoughts on Flippa? I for one am excitied to see it grow and gain more exposure to domain and website sales.  Please leave your comments and questions below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

There have been some great developments this week, interesting article guides, editorials and even big announcements from Microsoft and Google!

Let’s face it, nobody can really keep up with all of the news and articles surrounding the domain and internet industry and I’m sure all you guys who were at TRAFFIC missed some things. I monitor and share this stuff actively and I still manage to miss some of the news myself.

So, for your convenience, I have compiled below what I feel are the most valuable and important articles on domaining from the previous work week.

Domain Buzz – Monday June 1st through Friday June 5th

Whizzbang’s Blog – The PPC Industry: “For the first time ever Google posted a down-turn in earnings which is remarkable for a number of reasons…”

The Domains – Congress Calls ICANN Out On Finances: “Florida Republican Cliff Stearns called ICANN out on its finances , noting that the last balance sheet the nonprofit group showed a $7 million surplus.”

DNW – Congress Beats Up ICANN, 3 Part Series: “members of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet took turns ripping into Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its President/CEO Paul Twomey.”

The Domains – Verizon Testifies To Congress Against New gTLD’s: “in front of the House Energy and Commerce Internet Subcommittee panel, which is holding hearings on ICANN, that new gTLD’s shouldn’t be allowed unless there is a proven market demand”

DN Journal – Final Day Photos and Highlights from the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. : “We have already seen one blockbuster sale, DiamondRings.com at €162,000 ($230,179 at today’s exchange rate). In a solid ccTLD sale, Houses.co.uk just went for €51,000 ($72,429).”

TechCrunch – The Dot Coms Are Booming Again (Domain Registrations, That Is): “VeriSign has just put out its quarterly report on the web domain industry stating that there are now just about 183 million domain names in existence. This represents a 3% increase from last quarter and a 12% increase from last year.” Full VeriSign PDF report here.

DNN – Targeted TRAFFIC ccTLDs 2009 Live Auction Results

INC. Magazine – Is Your Domain Name Killing Your Business?: “Choosing the right domain name is crucial to helping potential customers find you — with shorter, simpler, intuitive descriptive names ending in dot-com considered better.”

DNN – Dan Warner Sails From Dark Blue Sea: “Dan Warner, one of the most public faces of Dark Blue Sea has left his position as COO of DBS (parent company of Fabulous.com).”

DomainNews – President of CCIA will be keynote speaker at Domain Roundtable Conference: “Domain Roundtable Conference in Washington ,D.C. will start this month and will have as a keynote speaker Edward Black, President & CEO of Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA).”

Google – Page Speed Firefox Addon: “Page Speed is an open-source Firefox/Firebug Add-on. Webmasters and web developers can use Page Speed to evaluate the performance of their web pages and to get suggestions on how to improve them.”

DotSauce – SEO Advice of the Year! Google’s Matt Cutts on Successful Blogging: “Matt recently gave a presentation on the subject of SEO and blogging at WordCamp San Francisco and has been kind enough to share his presentation with everyone.”

DNJournal – Wednesday Photos & Highlights from T.R.A.F.F.I.C Amsterdam Including Kevin Ham’s Keynote: “With one day still to go I can tell you this has been an exceptionally informative and entertaining conference.”

DotSauce – POLL: Do You Buy Expired Domains?: “The nature of a domain registration will continue to provide virtually infinite opportunity for domainers, simply because of the fact that names expire.”

DotSauce – Hot New Domainer Resources Coming This Summer to DotSauce: “new Domaining Directory will feature comprehensive industry resources, tools and contacts. It is currently in early stages of development but is already an industry first.”

Rick Schwartz – It’s a DEAL! Candy.com (Sells for $3M). And the Buyer is…: “G&J Holdings, LLC today announced the purchase and acquisition of the web domain Candy.Com and the development of a new internet based confections retailer”

LLLL.com – Marketing — Are Domain Companies doing all they can do?: “9Domain Marketplaces should) have a link on your homepage which showed the last hundred or even the last thousand sales on your site? Would that not give potential buyers more confidence in making a purchase?”

DNJournal – Photos & Highlights From the First Full Day of Business at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. : “Internet Commerce Association President Jeremiah Johnson spoke about new threats facing domain owners, including efforts being undertaken by trademark interests to have the UDRP process replaced with a new system”

WannaDevelop – Exact Match Keyword Domains – Most Important Investment for Online Business: “Lots of opportunities for people who do get it to capitalize on this. Big time! Lots of opportunities for “domainers” and the collectors of quality exact match domains that are two to three keywords long…”

Domainvestors.tv – Do You Know Your Visitors? Why Analytics is Key to Monetization: “Analytics is an often overlooked part of the website development process but potentially the most important step in the long-term monetization of a site.”

eBusinessDomains – Bing Is Now Live – Microsoft Launches New Search Engine: “Microsoft has unexpectedly launched their new search engine ahead of schedule. Bing.com is the new face of search and will replace Live.com”

DNJournal – DN Journal’s First Report from Amsterdam: “The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs conference gets underway tonight in Amsterdam, Holland.”

Hope you enjoyed the Domain Buzz round up for the week! Have a great weekend.

If I missed anything feel free to leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Many of us missed out on the dot com rush, but that doesn’t mean that the domaining industry is slowing down one bit or that you completely missed the boat.

The nature of a domain registration will continue to provide virtually infinite opportunity for domainers, simply because of the fact that names expire.

Please respond to this quick poll question…

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

Many domains will be held on to for decades, but the majority of domains will find their way through the proverbial domain recycling plants.

If they are lucky little expired domain names they may end up at SnapNames, NameJet, TDNAM or Pool.com with multiple people vying to be their new owner or a special name may find a new home after becoming available a short time.

Expired domains keep our industries’ wheels turning and money in our pockets!

If you want to take advantage of the expired domain market and get top expired domain picks from myself, please fill out your name and email here…

This brief newsletter gets sent out about every 2 weeks and contains a list of valuable expired domains that have become available to register on a first come first serve basis.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

You may have noticed a few adjustments to the DotSauce blog layout.  I wanted to freshen things up a bit and provide more breathing room for our articles and make reading and contributing to DotSauce a little easier.

I am currently working on several web development projects alongside DotSauce.  Twitter businesses like TweetSocial, FollowLists and ThemeHunter and other independent websites.

You can find occasional updates on my various projects at MarkFulton.com.

Each development project or startup provides a unique learning experience. While creating the TweetSocial Twitter Directory I was inspired to convert the old PHPLD directory to a more advanced and feature rich system built around our community.

Advanced Domaining Directory

This new Domaining Directory will feature comprehensive industry resources, tools and contacts.  It is currently in early stages of development but is already an industry first.  Still a few key updates like making it nice and SEO and social  friendly.  Be on the lookout for the official launch and possibly a contest for the new directory.

Here are some of the features the new Domaining directory will sport…

• Public ratings and reviews
• What’s hot? What’s new?
• Easy to use submission form
• Quickly sort, browse, categorize and tag
• Create a personal favorites list

If you are a DotSauce Forums member, please feel free to submit your favorite domaining related websites right now.  The directory is currently visible but closed to public submissions.

Hot New Benefits for Premium Members Only

You will also see some new and exciting things going down this summer for DotSauce Premium memberships.  I can’t say too much right now but it’s going to be an excellent opportunity to for anyone to easily profit from legitimately quality domain names.

I am currently running a special discount for full DotSauce premium access, you pay just $9.95 per month or $24.95 for 3 months.  Sign up now to lock in your membership at this low rate!

Current membership rates may go up at any time depending on number of new Premium Members coming in.  The goal of DotSauce Premium is to provide you real world domaining value above and beyond the low membership fee.

Visit the Premium Memberships page for additional details.

Stay tuned for further developments on both the directory and DotSauce Premium.  Hope everyone at TRAFFIC Amsterdam has a blast this week!

Carpe Nomen ~ Seize the Name!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.