Based on my prior posting “Ranking .info domains (or Does Google Hate .info?)” there was some concern about how the .info domain may fare in the world of search. I am happy to report back that it appears that the initial thought that it may just take a little longer in some cases was correct.
The site being discussed in the previous post has come into its own in the last few weeks. It still is not dominating the rankings or anything, but is making a nice climb. It has gone from debuting about a month ago in the rankings (finally) in the 180 or so spot up to currently hovering on the second page for its main keyword phrase and page one for some long tail keywords. I am hoping that this upward momentum continues in the near future and the first page and top 3 slots that were my target with this site will be reached.
There is also additional news to discuss about the .info domain experience here. Based on continuing to see other .info sites rank well and then finally seeing some movement on this one, another .info domain that I had picked up was given a few pages of content, hit with some backlinks, and it has now in a much shorter time (not quite a couple months) consistently been showing on page 2 of the search results. Now, nobody starts out here to make it to page 2, but just like with the other site, it appears that after a little initial problems, the sites are starting to move up the rankings.
Based on this experience, in my most recent domain purchase batch there was another .info in a great niche that has low competition and high search volume that we are going to try to go after. So, for now at least, it looks like it may be safe to keep the .info domain around as a possibility if all the main .com, .net, and .org tld’s for your keyword choice are already gone and the competition is low to moderate.
One of the things that I believe has helped to move both the first site and to get the second site moving more quickly has been the use of a new backlinking focus and strategy that seems to be working very well so far.
In some future posts, this backlinking plan will be discussed in more detail, especially focusing on the tools that have been used to achieve the results on these and other sites.
Filed under Domain Name Selection by on Jan 23rd, 2011. Comment. 
I am still personally struggling with the .info domain extension and am starting to wonder if it should be considered a viable option for anyone looking to get a new website off the ground. It’s low initial price and availability for some domain names have made it an option many are considering, but it seems to have its challenges as well.
As mentioned in a previous post, the .info domain seems to be a bit of a mystery. Domains with the .info extension have shown up as highly ranked in numerous web searches I have conducted in both research mode for keyword research and in normal web browsing. After originally perceiving the presence of a .info domain in the top results as a “weak” market that could be entered more easily, after some additional research it appeared that .info could rank well on its own and shouldn’t be considered as an automatic exclusion like some of the other non-.com, .net, or .org domain extensions.
With this as my background, I went back and found some keyword research that was discarded because of the absence of available .com, .net, or .org domain names and selected the most promising ones and picked them up with a recent order as I needed them to put my order over the amount to qualify for free private registration and at 99 cents each the math worked out well.
With one of the domains on a topic that already interested me that could be written about easily it quickly had a little over 10 pages of original content on it. It has links from a few other websites similar to other strategies used before, and Google just doesn’t seem to give it any love. I would be ok if it still wasn’t ranking highly for its keywords, but it isn’t even indexed yet by Google. The site includes things that normally bring the search engines running like using Wordpress and submitting a sitemap. It has also been manually submitted to each search engine.
If it were performing in a similar weak fashion in the other major search engines that would also help me to understand that something else was going on, but it ranks in the top 10 for its keywords in both Yahoo and Bing and seemed to accomplish its indexing and initial ranking there in normal timeframes.
This anecdotal evidence appears to support the idea that Google is placing the .info domain extensions into its “Google Sandbox” for a while before allowing them to make it into the index and results. It will be interesting to continue to follow these results and see how long it takes to make it into the Google index and rankings.
This information seems to indicate that if you go with a .info domain extension you should be prepared to wait a while for Google results and be prepared to exist on Bing/Yahoo for organic search traffic at first.
If you have had a better experience with .info domain names or have any tips to share that helped you in ranking and indexing them please share in the comments.
Search for your .info domains at GoDaddy or search from the box below:
Filed under Build a Web Site, Domain Name Selection by on Aug 29th, 2010. 1 Comment.
Following up with another short update on progress of the case study site after one month in action. The updates will start to space out further and further apart from here, but wanted to put a quick update in on the one month numbers.
Search Engine Rankings:
In Google it is still sitting at #9, Yahoo still at #2, and now in Bing it is down at #84.
Google Analytics snapshots (one month):
195 Visits, 454 Pageviews, 2.33 Pages/Visit, 64.62% Bounce Rate, 00:01:51 Avg. Time on Site, 91.79% New Visits
These differences between Yahoo and Bing search rankings are strange and with the ongoing integration of Bing search results into Yahoo they provide some cause for concern about the search engine traffic potential from the non-Google side. Determining the factors driving the substantial ranking differences and how to reconcile them if Bing has more influence on Yahoo than the other way around will be significant and may foreshadow a new challenge for webmasters if these anecdotal results hold true across other sites.
As mentioned above, this will likely be the last update on the case study site for a while as it has now been walked through the building process, the initial first couple weeks, and now the first month here. There will be some additional work on the actual site itself coming up from me, but no plans for regular posts on it here unless something changes. I think it has served its purpose as a training tool and a content generator and now some other content areas will be explored here. I hope you have enjoyed it.
Filed under Build a Niche Site, Niche Site Series by on Aug 29th, 2010. Comment.
Choosing which domain name extension can often be confusing to someone new to selecting domain names. The most popular is of course the .com extension, with the .net and .org following relatively close behind. Originally intended to have more specific uses for technical sites or organizations, the latter two extensions became popular for general usage as the .com versions of the desired names became more scarce.
If possible, in almost all cases, the .com version should be selected. This is the defacto standard for web addresses and anyone typing in a web address without the extension is likely to end up there. (Not always, but often). .Com just seems like the default web address extension to non internet marketing people and is a default unless given to them specifically as .net or .org. However, in search engines and indexing .net and .org both seem to get their share of the love as well.
In my personal experience the differences between these three domain name extensions is minimal from the impacts on SEO, search rankings, and indexing. Since I am writing an article on this, I must choose, so in order based only on anecdotal experience, my ranking based on preferred would be .com, .org, then .net from first to third preference.
Go with the version that is available in your chosen keywords with the above ranking of the top 3 extensions as your guide. In my opinion, stay away from almost all of the other domain extensions like .biz (more on .info in a minute) as in general they don’t seem to fare as well although with the right work, content, and linking they also could likely do ok, but be aware it will be many times harder with that working against you.
Based on the article headline, you are probably wondering about the .info domain. The .info domain appears to be a bit of an enigma. In doing keyword and site research, multiple .info domains have showed up in the top 10 of Google so it definitely can rank well as an extension. And at under a dollar a pop at some registrars for the first year, they can seem attractive from a cost standpoint.
This is how my first .info domain was picked up. I needed a few more domain names to get my free private registration so I added a few .infos to my cart for a buck each. From that has developed my experience that getting these .info domains indexed and ranking in Google is more challenging than the above mentioned (.com, .net, .org) extensions. I have a .info domain with over ten original posts on it written by me on an area of personal knowledge that has a few links back to it that is still not indexed by Google. Not even for just the homepage. It is still less than three months old, so maybe it is just stuck in the infamous “Google Sandbox”, but based on indexing experience with other sites, it should at least be indexed by now. Yahoo and Bing don’t seem to have the same issue, as the site went in to those two engines on approximately the same timeframe as other sites have done.
Armed with this information about domain name extensions, I hope you can go forth and make a better informed decision on a domain name selection. And if you decide to go with a .info domain and have a better experience, please come back and share it in the comments.
Filed under Build a Web Site, Domain Name Selection, How to Start a Web Business, Starting a Web Business by on Aug 16th, 2010. Comment.
I have had my eye on getting a netbook
I can state unequivocally that the purchase has been a solid one for me. The model I selected was an Asus Eee PC 1005HA-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Intel Atom Netbook Computer (Crystal Black)
There has been an added bonus that I didn’t expect as well – my writing and website development has increased exponentially and my larger and more powerful laptop is languishing and only turned on about once a week now.
This seems to make sense, as I am taking the netbook with me more places, and it is easier to pull it out and bang out a quick draft post while getting ready to eat dinner, at lunch break, or even while watching TV with the kids, all things that in the past would have had me waiting until the home office PC was activated and I was located in there to do some work. Basically what seems to have happened is that it has psychologically separated me from web work only being done in my home office to wherever I am. Also being smaller and more easy to work with anywhere in the house, now using the netbook just seems easier and more unobtrusive.
Whatever the reasons, having the netbook has significantly increased my site creation and posting frequency compared to before I had it. This doesn’t mean that will do it for everybody, but based on my experience, analyze the things that hold you back and see if any of them fit into the mindset mentioned above. I hope that it continues to help me in keeping everything moving.
As mentioned above, this ASUS model has given me a great experience, but swinging for the extra screen size would be nice, but it also drives up the expense. Take a look at both the model I have and another ASUS with the larger screen size below and to view detailed descriptions on Amazon, click the image.
If you choose a netbook, either one of these or any model, come back and leave a comment and let us know how it has helped you in either web business or anything in your personal life.
Filed under Build a Niche Site, How to Start a Web Business, Product Reviews by on Aug 13th, 2010. Comment.
Should your domain name include dashes or no dashes? Does either choice impact the chance for search engine rankings, branding, and traffic potential? These are key and common questions asked by people trying to select domain names for use in online business. They are definitely good questions, because selecting a domain name and expecting better results than what occurs can be a disappointing result.
The consensus opinion appears to be that having dashes in a domain name negates a lot of the exact match domain ranking power that can be conferred by an exact match domain without the dashes. Limited anecdotal experience on my part also seems to bear this out, as any experience of mine with dashed domains has been slower and lower rankings than expected based on experiences with non dashed domain names. Granted that this is with only a limited number of samples, but it is another confirmation of the conventional wisdom.
That doesn’t mean that a domain name with dashes can’t be made to rank well, just that in comparison to a domain name with no dashes it will take longer and will take more linking and off page optimization factors. That boost of search engine rankings juice that seems to come with the exact match domain name won’t be there to get things kicked off.
Another concern with domain names with dashes is that they can be more difficult to communicate and remember. When sharing the name with others, you must remind them to remember to put the dashes in, and if they forget they will end up on another site and not at yours. With no dashes this is less of a concern, especially with the .com version of the domain name. Having the dashes can hurt your type in traffic which damages your branding efforts.
Exact match (or even non exact) domain names without dashes seem to be more effective at ranking well in the search engines when compared to domain names with dashes. The potential loss of type in traffic when someone forgets to add the dashes also seems to favor the non dash domain names.
If you decide to choose a domain name with dashes be aware that it may take longer to rank for your chosen target market and keywords and will likely require more time in building links, content, and other marketing strategies than if you choose a domain name with no dashes.
Filed under Domain Name Selection, How to Start a Web Business, Starting a Web Business by on Aug 11th, 2010. Comment.
This post is an index/table of contents for the 30 part Build a Website series of posts.
1) Keyword research – 1
2) Keyword research – 2
3) Keyword research – 3
4) Buy domain name
5) Get Web Hosting
6) Setup Domain and email, Change nameservers
7) Install Wordpress, Setup FTP
8 ) Plug-ins
9) Themes
10) Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools
11) Privacy policy, Disclaimer,General, and contact form
12) Pages vs Posts, Wordpress Setup
13) Submit url to Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing)
14) Add Articles and Content – (Outsource possible)
15) Twitter/RSS
16) Squidoo and Hubpages
17) Ezinearticles
18) Adding Youtube videos
19) Adding Images
20) Backlinks
21) Build Traffic and Links – Social Networks
22) Build Traffic and Links – Blog Commenting
23) Build Traffic and Links – Forum Commenting
24) Build Traffic and Links – Article Marketing
25) Build Traffic and Links – Directories, DMOZ
26) Add Forums – Taaki/SMF
27) Monetize the site
28) Build a future plan
29) Add an Opt-in form, Email List, Aweber
30) Advertising page, Guest posting, User Generated Content
With this post, we will close out the 30 post series on building a niche website starting from ground zero and ending with a functioning and fully built website. As we moved through this series a lot of ground has been covered and a lot of information has been shared. Here is to the hope that your startup site is already starting to see some good solid traffic and that backlinks are being built!
The final post closes with a couple of solid tips. One that can add to the revenue streams of a site and another that can help build traffic and backlinks.
Adding an advertising page that lets people know that you will consider taking ads on the site as direct placements is a way to put that idea in front of potential advertisers who may not have otherwise contacted you. Having the Contact page and Contact Form plugin installed as recommended earlier in the series does give potential advertisers a way to contact you without a separate page, but listing it separately can give it more exposure. In addition, if you choose to do this, you can go ahead and list desired pricing for different types of ads (text, banner, sidebar) and for follow versus nofollow, etc. If your traffic warrants it, then traffic numbers can even be added here. This approach won’t be for everyone, but for some sites, this page could help bring in advertisers who otherwise wouldn’t think about advertising with you directly.
Getting user generated content in the form of either guest postings or picture and video submissions can help to add some solid original content to your site while helping to engage with your user base. You can offer a link back to someone’s webpage when they provide a guest post on your site and this is a straight up win-win for both users. One person gets some good original content and the other person gets a link. This is basically what article directories do, but on a larger scale.
This approach can also be carried out with other sites in your niche if you want to do so. If it isn’t necessarily a direct competitor site, then you could contact the owner and ask if they wanted to write a post for your blog (or you could offer to write one for theirs).
Other user generated content can come in the form of pictures or video. If your site has a gallery area or otherwise uses images and video, then a call for user submissions may get you something to add to the galleries.
User generated content in the form of posts, pictures, video or any form can be a help to a site as it provides new content while engaging the readers of the site and giving a sense of community. It may also help in social media and bookmarking traffic as the users who have submitted content share with their friends and contacts, and if they are website owners themselves with their readers.
Use these final two tips to put the finishing touches on your website strategy.
I hope you have enjoyed these tips as well as all of the others in this series.
And that closes out the series of posts on building a website from an official standpoint. On an unofficial basis the plan will be to give occasional periodic update posts on rankings, traffic, links, progress, and anything in general that helps flesh out this series and provides validation or lessons learned for the reader of this site. Happy website building and internet business building and best of luck in your online endeavors.
Filed under Build a Niche Site, Niche Site Series by on Aug 8th, 2010. 2 Comments.
Building an email list through an opt in form on your website is a tried and true principle of internet marketing taught by almost everyone as a method to use in growing your brand and adding monetization to a site. An email list can be used to send information about your site’s updates, send a newsletter, and market to by affiliate offers or in email advertisements. It can increase the “stickiness” of your site and keep users coming back for more.
Aweber is considered to be the premier internet mailing list program. It has a lot of the features that are desired in a mailing software including building the forms and code needed to add to your site as well as templates for different types of mails and newsletters.
With the autoresponder features of a mailing list management program like Aweber, it can be configured so that new subscribers receive preset emails after they sign up in the order and days apart that you set. This is in addition to any on demand emails you would like to send to your list.
This type of opt in and email functionality is often used to offer a special report, free mini ebook, or a several part tips or training course that offers a good free incentive for signing up. This way both parties gain value. The user gets some valuable content that can help them in the search for information they were looking for, and the website owner gets a subscriber to their email list that can potentially become a long term reader and customer.
If you use the signup form below to signup for Aweber’s test drive email campaign you will get a series of emails from Aweber which will answer questions and objections about Aweber, and why they should be the ones to manage your email marketing. This is a signup box with Aweber’s email list. Neither the case study site nor this site at the present time of posting this have an opt in added, in seeming direct violation of one of the commandments of internet marketing. That is something that is planned to happen in the future, but at present hasn’t been added yet. If you don’t want to signup for the email campaign from Aweber just yet, you can visit their site and look around first by clicking here.
AWeber proves it to thousands of businesses every day.
Learn how email marketing software
can get you more sales, too.
And coming up is final post 30 with closing comments for now on building your website.
Filed under Build a Niche Site, Niche Site Series by on Aug 7th, 2010. 1 Comment.
With the last post in the series some methods for monetization were discussed. At this point in the process of launching a site, the site is built, indexed, has some links, some search results, and is probably getting some traffic. After the last post, maybe you added one or more of the monetization strategies discussed and are hoping to see some clicks, commissions, or sales. So now, at this point, what happens next with the site?
One question needs to be answered first that determines the detailed answer to that question. Is this the end of your updating of this site except for maybe one or two posts a year? Have you said what was needed and made a nice resource site? If so, then maybe you don’t plan to do much except monitor the site in Analytics and Webmaster tools to keep an eye on it and monitor and test your monetization results for optimization. There is nothing wrong with this. As the site ages and gains more authority it will just set on autopilot and (hopefully) gain more traffic. Maybe one or two posts a year help keep it fresh, but mostly maintenance free. A lot of smaller sites in more static niches can fall into this category.
However, if this is going to be a site that has more future potential or is in a topic you are interested in, then you will want to post to it more regularly (multiple times a week or month) and keep the content fresh and the traffic increasing. If the site has a lot of untapped potential left then this is a good strategy.
If you are going to continue updating it, then a recommendation is to go ahead and lay out that plan so it doesn’t get lost as you move to building the next site. Go ahead and write down traffic plans, any ideas for great posts, any seasonal ideas (Halloween/Christmas/Holiday articles), basically any suggestions that come to mind to avoid any future writer’s block. Keep this a running list so that ideas can be added in the future. Keep in mind that to build a site that is considered authoritative in the future and gets good page rank (PR) then growing the site past 6-12 posts total is going to be needed, so adding to the content regularly is needed if that is a goal with the site.
I believe that the case study site has that potential as there is a large fan base (of which I am a member) and a lot of new content adding strategies. I think that there is a lot of opportunity for social media and bookmarking traffic as well as organic search results. There should be lots of items on Amazon and Ebay that can appeal to readers of that site as well as possible offers from Commission Junction partners.
With great content possibilities in text, pictures, and videos as well as some seasonal things that could help with traffic (Halloween costumes, Christmas gifts from Amazon, multiple conventions that are of interest through the year, etc) this site seems like a good one to grow. Largely untried at this point, I have some ideas for posts that can get some good social bookmark traffic and backlinks as well. Once there is a decent base of traffic, it is likely some user generated content can be added to the site in guest posting or picture and video submissions. I think there is good potential for a solid long term site.
As things continue to add to the case study site, periodic updates will be posted here as well, but not in the detail that has been in the series so far.
Next up is a post about opt in’s and building an email list.
Filed under Build a Niche Site, Niche Site Series by on Aug 6th, 2010. 2 Comments.