Other than the declining return in parking revenue, one of the major issues with parking domains has always been lack of traffic data.  While you get to see how many uniques, clicks, and origin of the traffic, you couldn't see what links and keywords brought visitors to those names.  But you can at Sedo.   Not many people realize that if you go to the individual information page of your domain the most popular referring links and the top keywords that brought people are listed. This information is huge if you are trying to optimize your parking or just figure out the value of your domain.  I've b... Read More »

There are a ton of tools and websites I use every day and today I wanted to discuss a few I use daily.  I could talk about the number one tool, DomainTools all day,  but there are others that are useful as well. I'll start out by saying they are not paid endorsements but merely things I think are worth sharing because I like the sites.  I am always thankful when people point out tools so I thought I would pass it on. ViewDNS.info Like most of these sites, this site was created by a numbers guy.  Michael Huges is sharp and has created a one stop shop for all kinds of data retrieval.  Much of the ... Read More »

If you want information about a domain, anyone who's been in this business for any amount of time knows that your homework is done through DomainTools.  Now DomainTools has introduced another stand alone tool, ScreenShots.  It's essentially the same system as the WayBack Machine where you can see how a site looked in it's past history. Although they have always been taking thumbnails and recording them, this is a far easier way to visually see the history of a domain or site.  Because of their late jump it is going to be impossible to go back as far as Archive.org but you have to start somewhere.  I... Read More »

For those of you that don't know about this tool from Domain Espionage, it will literally save you several seconds per day. Doesn't sound like a lot? Well trust me they are some of the most tedious seconds you spend every day while doing keyword research on the Google Keywords Tool. Let me describe the scenario... 1. You pull up the Google Keywords Tool for a niche you're researching. 2. You type in your keywords, Google brings up it's list of results. 3. You spot some keywords that meet your criteria of exact searches/mth and PPC. 4. Now you have to pull up GoDaddy on a different browser an... Read More »

If you have a Godaddy account you can create and download a report on how many people checked the whois on domains you owned.  You can do it both current month and last month.  I've posted this before, but I still have had a few people struggle to figure out to get the report so I made it easy.  Rather than type out the steps I actually made screenshots of the steps to make it easier.  Hopefully this will help a few people out. 1. Go to Godaddy and Log-In.  Then Go to Domain Manager on the left hand side 2. Once in new screen go to top of page and cli... Read More »

GoDaddy VIP I've read a lot of articles over the last few months about domains being stolen at Godaddy. Names that didn't have to be lost if the owners had made a little effort.   If you have over three hundred domains, and most of us do, and they're at Godaddy, then you have no excuse for having them stolen. You can sign up for the free Godaddy VIP service and never have to worry about it again. A few months ago I received a phone call from Godaddy rep that said he wanted to talk.  I was a little nervous as I had just written an article blasting the company and thought they were calling to "discu... Read More »

People often wonder how domain and tech sites/blogs find information for their stories.   Obviously many of the stories on the big boy websites, Domain Name News, ElliotsBlog, and The Domains, come from the owner's personal relationships that they've built over the years being involved in this industry.  People actually send them information and leads because they know that they are able to get the story out. They are also able to verify the information because they most likely personally know someone involved and can make a phone call to get more information.  The other stories you see are merely a... Read More »