The Unsaid Value Of Domaining.com
While hanging out with a group of fellow domainers at the Affiliate Convention someone brought up a very good point, something I had noticed but never really thought about much. The point that was brought up is that Domaining.com has really done a good job evening the playing field for new ideas to come to light in the domain industry.
It really leveled the playing field as far as giving people a chance to say their opinion, give info on what they find successful, and in general give a voice to people that may not be big names in the industry.
I know some would argue the value of having people that some would call "amateurs" having a voice but to me the most innovative thoughts come from those looking to find a new way to approach things, that is not to say there is not huge value in listening to the people that have been successful, there is value there. But things are always changing and if you continue to look at things as they were 10 years ago sooner or later you will be left behind. If you would of told me I would be able to grow a business on a .ME 5 years ago I would of told you to run away, not so much now....
Admittedly not every blog is of the same value, we all have those we find interesting or useful but the fact that we can find them and be aware of those we may not of found otherwise really is valuable.
There are some great blogs out there with people looking at various domain monetization methods, new ways to approach buyers or maybe even take a new extension and turn it into a business. I know people would like for you to think there is no value unless you have a one word.com with 1000 type ins a day but that just is not true. You may not be the same type of domain investor as that person but you can still be a successful domain investor.
Kudos to Francois and Domaining.com for letting new ideas come to light and leveling the playing field just a bit for people with new ideas. And also thanks to the person at the Affiliate Convention who brought this up as it really got be thinking the past few days.
Also, another great post to read today if you are someone looking for new ideas and thoughts about your domaining business is over at Fusible.com .
Domaining Blogs Not On Domaining.com
Today as I checked the Domaining.com news list for the 800th time (ok slight exaggeration) I realized that when it comes to domaining news I pretty much only check the top couple aggregators and then move on. That is the beauty of a well put together news aggregator, you do not have to go to each and every sight to see if they have posted something new (ignoring RSS feeds here).
But then it hit me that there are plenty of people on Twitter that I interact with daily that have blogs focused on domaining that are not in the aggregators for various reasons, so I thought I would list a few tonight, if you are not on the list I am sorry, feel free to post your domain related blog in the comments section, this is one time it is ok to comment spam with your domain investment related blog, post links but they must be related. I will check....
Admittedly some of these are more active and indepth than others but I think it is always good to look around some of the sites that are not in the common places we all look. When it comes to other tech niches that I read I look around, but I think the domaining industry pretty much focuses on Domaining.com and Namebee.com (I can tell from my traffic).
RuralTechnocrat.com - If you talk to Cole Mason (not to be mistaken for Mason Cole of Oversee) on Twitter you will know if is a fun guy. RuralTechnocrat.com is his place on the web.
RyanRYoung.com - After putting out a request for unlisted blogs I received this one, looks like he has already made the top 100 list, good for Ryan!
AndrewHazen.com - Although not completely about domaining it is pretty close, a good 50 percent of the articles I saw on the blog were domaining focused. A nice find.
DomainerBlog.org - This blog is just launching and was part of the ChefPatrick.com blog contest. Been exchanging emails with Sergio, the person who runs it, and he has been a great guy to deal with. I look forward to seeing this one grow.
Brian101.com - This blog is stagnant based on the owners comments but about to take off again. Maybe a bit of traffic will get him moving again:)
Domainimal.com - Another find from Twitter, the owner points out it is new, I always find new blogs interesting, especially after starting this one, you never know where it is headed, you feel your way through and find your comfort zone. Good luck to him.
HDN.co.il - If you read ArbelArif.com then you know who runs this one, this blog is Arbel blog focusing on Hebrew domains. Great domain to launch on. If I remember right it got linked by one of the top news sites in Israel lately. Good for him!!!
UPDATE: Adding a couple more as people comment:
OK, comment spam away:) Send us more links to domain related blogs that you have or know about.
My Bottom 5 Least Favorite Blog Posts on BruceMarler.com
I noticed this morning that I was just 5 posts away from 100 since I launched my blog earlier this year. When I initially launched I knew I wanted to blog but was not sure where it would head. I thought as I lead up to my 100th post I would show a few things I am happy I did and not so happy I did. Here are the 5 posts I am wondering what I was thinking:
Sell Your Domain For Free - OK, I know what I was thinking and I think it would be fun to see people pitch their domains commercial style but I know people do not necessarily like to be in front of a camera. This didn't fly.
Chartbeat Launches Real-Time Web Stats - Not sure why I wanted to get this out so quick, although the search traffic was good to this one for awhile.
Available Domain Names - Mathematics Keywords - I always like when other people put up available domain names but unless its a product there is not a lot of value in PPC on a Math keyword. What has surprised me is the number of people that land on my site searching for various math keywords now.
My First Post - You can tell I had no plan at this time, new rule for me is when I launch a new blog the first post has to be something that sets the stage for the good things that will be coming from it. I remember doing this though, I was sitting in a hotel room in Phoenix, AZ and decided it was just simply time to get moving on using BruceMarler.com
Micropayments on Twitter - I was thinking one thing, search traffic.
One thing that I noticed is that after my first month or so I determined what I liked to write about. As with anything you learn as you go in many cases. It will be hard to beat me up for doing these posts above, I already am disappointed I wrote them.