Get Your Plan Started Now

As we move through the first phase of the holiday season planning on projects for 2010 starts going even harder, I thought I would just throw out a few things I am working on outside of my main business right now (Localtek/Missouri.me/Oklahoma.me all have a much more detailed plan), here is a bit of a brain dump from my little domainer and developer mind:

Backlink.us -What is fun about this one is that I bought it just a few weeks back on Bido and about 2 weeks I threw out an idea to my developer on an idea and within a week we had it up and running. In reality this really will be a function that works alongside EzDevelop as well, look for other "experimental" features on Backlink.us and also you are going to see some enhancements in the pretty near future that keeps people coming back adding more and more links, you might want to start using it now to get yourself on top, that is all I am going to say....

EzDevelop.com - We are a bit behind launching due to some work that sidetracked us for a few days on our state platform that we wanted to complete before the holidays. Well, it is done and now we will be implementing the enhancements to EzDevelop.com very soon, as many know by now it is a service that helps you create free minisites (add content and stir) , you can download the files and take them with you. There will also be a paid version that adds some additional functionality. So far the feedback has been very positive, I can tell you I have tested it with over 30 sites myself and have had zero issues after the initial beta test launched. Just a little side note, what is really fun about this is that it came from something we used internally but realized it could fill a need of many other people as well.

People asked if we are trying to compete with the WhyParks, devhub, etc of the world and the answer is no. After we open up the testing you will see the difference in the tool we are providing and parking services.

Affiliate Conversions - This is more for intellectual learning as much as anything, I do not have a ton of time to devote to affiliate marketing but do find it fun to see if I can increase conversions, etc. I recently picked up Affiliate Theme which is VERY COOL. It is VERY customizable. If you are using Wordpress for your sites I would encourage you to pick it up. If you want to see a sample site or two of mine feel free to contact me.

Affiliate Convention Prepwork - Next week I speak at the Affiliate Convention in LA, my topic is new TLDs and developing alternative extensions (what a surprise). I have a feeling my affiliate work will likely increase after that convention as the schedule looks very good. I will be hanging with Morgan Linton of Domainvestors.tv for a few days which will be a blast.

Seminar Schedule - As I have mentioned too often I have been out doing quite a few seminars to end user business groups, as we head into the start of the next year we are working on ways to increase the number of these. This can be very time consuming and overwhelming but is probably my favorite part out of anything I do everyday. I really like to hear business owners get excited as they learn more about how they can actually use the web to grow their business.

Ask Sponsored Listings - As someone who has used Adbrite and Google Adwords off and on for a few years recently (after seeing the 50 dollar free coupon) I decided to give Ask sponsored listings a try. I must say I was surprised at the ease of use and setup and so far on the keywords I am bidding on I am paying MUCH less than I do on adwords and getting much higher listings (this is not a surprise and actually is the main reason I wanted to try it). If you are wanting to get targeted traffic cheaper Sign up with Ask Sponsored Listings and get a $50 matching credit. Use Coupon Code: aslstart50

Domain Outreach - Well, after my post the other day and a few discussions since it looks like a few people would like to discuss a possible plan a bit further and I am going to try to get a framework of thoughts around that. It is going to take me a few weeks before I can get to it but the idea is in my head somewhere, I have no idea where this is going to go but will say the whole reason of doing a post like that is not to tick people off but to get people to start talking and thinking about what it takes to get our message out.

Anyway, sorry for the brain dump but I always like to see what other people are working on

EzDevelop.com Getting Ready to Launch Free Minisites

As mentioned a few weeks ago we are working through beta testing of EzDevelop.com which as many know will provide free minisite creation tools that allow for modification of key components of the site in a very easy to use manner.

So far the feedback has been great, as always in beta there were a few bugs found in the beginning and the feature requests start flying, but we have already made it through the majority of the bug fixes and started adding features that will be in the launch version.

This tool is being created for the DIY crowd, those without the resources to pay for large amounts of sites, and those that have little too no technical know how on hosting, FTP, and other things around turning up a site. As I mentioned before I do not plan to actually be building minisites as a business but by creating a tool that helps people create content rich sites it will make it easier for those that do not have the time or technical know how. To make that point I expect to announce an exclusive partnership with a minisite company before launch that will be our preferred partner for those looking to have someone else do the lifting.

Although I am not listing all of the features yet I will give a bit more info here:

Free Version - We plan to offer a free version that allows for a certain number of sites to be created each month and does not use our hosting. This will be basically the tool how it sits today with a few more tweaks around modifying ad location titles, more themes, and some others. We have already had people ask what we are charging for it as it is, well that answer as it is will be free.

Paid Version - We will have a low monthly cost version that includes unlimited site creations, social media notification of site launch, as well as more templates and pictures. This is a real value, once we announce how much we are charging you will understand. This basically allows you to create a custom site that can be downloaded by you to be moved anywhere you want or can be hosted on our system so all that needs to be done is the switching of your DNS.

Here is a customer testimonial, Don had sent me a very nice email about the platform and I thought I would put it out there:

EZdevelop minisites are so easy to build for a beginner like myself it's almost as though it builds itself. I've tried other programs and got frustrated from the start and of course many didn't get completed because of the time involved. I don't have much time to build sites but EZdevelop made time for me and that's precious.  Thanks EZdevelop .

Although we are still working out a couple tweaks (dang apostrophes being cut and pasted...) I have used it to create a few sites and so far there have been over 100 sites created by our users with the tool since beta launch, here is an example of a couple of mine, JetOwnership.com and RenewableEnergy.me

We look forward to finishing up and letting everyone try it out, keep watching here:)