Researching Keywords For Domaining

July 15, 2009 by 1 Comment

So far, we’ve had an introduction into the art of making money from domain names. We’ve learnt what domains are, and we went deeper and learnt about domain extensions and saw that choosing the right extension will improve a domain’s value. However, the really valuable part of a domain name is not the extension, it is the second level domain. You may recall my example of sex.com being significantly more valuable than sex.net. The domains, however, derive their value from the word “sex” – which is the second level domain in both cases.

Domain keywords are what make up your second level domain and, indeed, they are key. They account for almost all of any domain’s value.

It is possible for the keywords of a domain to contain absolutely no relevant words and still be valuable (e.g google.com, squidoo.com) but this happens after a lot of time and effort from the domain’s owner(s). Google.com is valuable because of the google brand – on day 1 of its registration, its value to a domainer would have been pretty close to nothing. However, other domains (like sex.com) are valuable from day one. Why? This is because the word making up the domain (e.g. sex) is inherently relevant. It is a key word. Keyword based domains have an inherent value and are much more easier to sell as a domainer.

Successful domainers usually have a portfolio that mostly consists of keyword-oriented domains since these have more obvious value and appeal better to search engines.

Researching Keywords For Your Domains
An easy way to come up with valuable keywords for your domains is to follow trends, seasons, fashion and major events/happenings. For example, many domainers made lots of money by taking advantage of the opportunity presented by Micheal Jackson’s death. Another example: I know of a domainer who quietly buys a portfolio of summer related domains (barbeque, camping, etc) during the cold months and then sells them at a profit when summer finally comes. He lives in the USA though – where this is possible.

Another approach to getting valuable keywords is found in SEO concepts. I mentioned before that domainers have to be SEO-conscious and I repeat it again: as a domainer you have to understand how SEO works. Domain keywords are a huge part of search engine optimisation and should be picked carefully and always with SEO in mind.

Researching search trends is a good way to assess the potential traffic of a domain as well as to get ideas of how valuable that domain could be. The basic idea is simple: analyse search engines like Google and find out what people are searching for (their search terms are your keywords) then develop those keywords into keyword-based domains.

How do you do this? Fortunately, there are several tools available:

Tools To Analyse Search Trends:
Google Trends – With Google Trends, you can compare the world’s interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they’ve been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions people have searched for them most.

Google Insights For Search – With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties.

Digital Point Keyword Suggestion Tool – This is a handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Enter a search phrase to see how often it’s searched for, as well as get suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords.

Other tools
Keyword Discovery
WordTracker
NicheBot
Google Keywords
SEOChat SEO Tools
Lycos 50

Generally, keywords that receive a lot of search engine traffic would be more valuable and you therefore want to get those. However, competition should also be put into consideration. For example, if you found a keyword that gets searched only about 25,000 times a month (which is low) but there is hardly any competition, it would be a good keyword to develop a domain (or domains) around. The Adwords Tool is useful in analysing competition.

Getting Your Domain Name
Researching search trends will leave you with a list of keywords. You know want to get a nice, brandable domain name based on these keywords. How do you do it? Well, you can sit down and brainstorm. Or you can use a domain name generator like DomainsBot. Domainsbot allows you to sort domain suggestions based on extension, availability, and by synonyms. It’s a fantastic tool

Other tools:
Nameboy
Domainfellow
Raining Names
E-gineer’s Domainator
SnapItNow

This article is part one of a series of articles that will fully explore making money online from domain names. The other articles in this series are:

1. Introduction
2. Domain Extensions
3. Researching Keywords
4. Domain Name Registration
5. Domain Name Parking
6. Selling Your Domain

Be sure not to miss any of these articles by subscribing to Like Chapaa (free) or signing up to receive free updates by email.

Filed Under: Internet Culture, Make Money Tagged With: ,

Domain Name Extensions

July 13, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The domain name extension is the tail end of the domain name and is predefined by ICANN. You know, the part that comes after the dot. For example, the .com or .org. Once upon a time, there were just a handful of different domain name extensions to choose from. The choice used to between .com for commercial organizations, .net for network services such as ISPs and .org for non-profit organizations. On a country by country basis, many countries offered domains based on the two-character ISO country codes, such as “.fr” for France, “.ke” for Kenya and so on.

Then the picture became more complicated, with more and more domain names and alternatives springing up until we were left with the mess that is the current domain name industry. And it’s going to get messier with new domains coming in 2010.

It would, however, be unnecessary to go through the history of domain name extensions so I’ll only cover the bare basics. Extensions come in two forms: Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) – which includes .com, .net, .org, .gov and some others; and Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) – like .co.ke, co.uk, .ca etc. Note that a ccTLD is usually worth significantly less than a gTLD.

TLD stands for TOP Level Doman. The .com, for example, is the top/first level. What are the other levels? I’ll illustrate using an example. In www.jobs.problogger.com, the .com is top level, the second level is “problogger” and the third, and final level, called a subdomain, is the “jobs”. Same case for likechapaa.com. The “likechapaa” is the second level domain in this case.

As Domainer, the first and second levels are the only ones you need to worry about. However, there have been rare cases of very valuable third level domains. An example is the massively popular del.icio.us. These are few and far between, though – you can afford to focus on the first and second levels exclusively.

The Value Of domain Name Extensions
Undoubtedly, the .com extension is the most valuable TLD and domains with this extension usually sell like hot cakes and at premium prices. Seventy Eight (78) of top 100 domain sales this year have been .com domains. Another example: sex.net was sold for $450,000/- a couple of years ago. Sex is a very popular word and the sale was a good and tasty one, right? Well, get this, Sex.com sold for $14 Million.

I would say that the domain values are usually like so:
1. .com
2. .org /.net
3. Everything else

Keep in mind that there are a ton more domain extensions (including our own .co.ke) but once you go beyond the gTLDs it is not easy to figure out which domain is actually worth more than the others.

As a domainer, it is important to keep up with what ICANN is up to as the domains industry is largely shaped by ICANN policies. Sometimes, ICANN releases a set of new TLDs and jumping on them could be very lucrative. When the .mobi extension was released, some clever guy registered mortages.mobi and later sold it for a sweet $10,500/- less than a month after that TLD was open for registration. Could this be you some day?

This article is part one of a series of articles that will fully explore making money online from domain names. The other articles in this series are:

1. Introduction
2. Domain Extensions
3. Researching Keywords
4. Domain Name Registration
5. Domain Name Parking
6. Selling Your Domain

Be sure not to miss any of these articles by subscribing to Like Chapaa (free) or signing up to receive free updates by email.

Filed Under: Internet Culture, Make Money Tagged With: ,

The Nation Media Group, Plagiarism, An Apology, and Customer Service – A Case Study

November 13, 2008 by 2 Comments

This follows the article that I wrote yesterday regarding plagiarism by the Nation Media Group (NMG): Shameless Plagiarism at The Nation Media Group. If you read that article, you will notice that I wrote it while I was pretty upset at the NMG.  I felt that they had been dishonest and, feeling that there was little I could do about it, I decided to tell the world (that part of the world that reads what I write) of my frustrations. After writing that post, sharing it with Bidii Africa members and putting it up at Let's Explore, I felt a little happier.  A got an email that essentially said, "Cool, let's slay this behemoth."  Word spread, and what I wrote was picked up by Irani Media where Stephanie added her thoughts and experiences with NMG and plagiarism.

Putting the issue of plagiarism aside (I'll get to it later), I think this demonstrates the profound challenge facing organisations everywhere.   All it needs is one person dissatisfied with your product/service with a blog and suddenly your reputation and respectability could be facing a  big ugly challenge.  What is a company to do when there's a good number of its customers armed with blogs and ready to trash them at the slightest provocation?  Surely, there probably aren't any silver bullets out there; the solution(s) to this problem are probably wide and varied.  Yesterday, the NMG did something right.

One of the first people to email me following the post calling NMG on the plagiarism was Charles, a write I respect deeply, who is from the NMG.  His email was pleasant, but curt: He wanted me to point out instances of the plagiarism so that he could look into the matter.  I did that last night and today I got a response that was satisfactory to me.  Let's analyse this using Joel Spolsky's Approach to Remarkable Customer Service.  What did the NMG do right?

1. Take the blame.  When you're dealing with an angry customer, you have to take the blame.  The customer is always right, as they say. Take the blame and move on to the more important matter of solving the problem.  The NMG did this well.

2. Don't fight the customer.  "When an irate customer is complaining, or venting, it’s easy to get defensive.  You can never win these arguments, and if you take them personally, it’s going to be a million times worse. This is when you start to hear business owners saying, “I don’t want an asshole like you for a customer!” They get excited about their Pyrrhic victory. Wow, isn’t it great? When you’re a small business owner you get to fire your customers. Charming." (Source: Joel Spolsky's Approach to Remarkable Customer Service).  As Patrick McKenzie writes, you never win an argument with a customer.  NMG didn't fight the customer.

3. Fix everything two ways.  Every customer service problem has two solutions (and you have to use both): You solve the immediate, superficial problem and also make sure that particular problem doesn't happen again.  Charles not only calmed me down by explaining why they published Bidii Africa articles, he proceeded to tell me what the NMG did to make sure the problem didn't recur. So the NMG have this covered too.

4. Make customers into fans.  The trick here is to treat your customers so well that they talk about it.  This is the whole rationale behind remarkable customer service.  Yesterday, I was extremely disappointed by the NMG.  To see a paper that I love turn suddenly (in my eyes) into a dishonest behemoth got me sad, and angry.  I'm just one out of its thousands of readers but today I didn't buy a copy of the Daily Nation.  It was my way of solo, frustrated protest.  I was going to make sure that anyone who values my opinion thinks twice about buying The Nation.  I know what you are thinking – my 35bob and that of six of my friends won't do anything to hurt the NMG in any way. However, remarkable customer service isn't about being nice to most of your customers, it's about being nice to all of your customers.  Charles, and the NMG, got this right, very right.  I didn't buy the Nation today, but I'll buy it tomorrow. Why? Because Charles was pleasant and helpful.  He seemed sincere and made me believe that there are good, honest, respectable people at the NMG.  Yesterday, I was pretty hard on them.  I made a list of possible reasons why the NMG would plagiarise.  The list didn't have anything nice to say about the NMG.  I wrote that post and overlooked another possible reason for the plagiarism.  Dear readers, and everyone at the NMG, I wish to apologise for this.  The plagiarism that I wrote about yesterday could have been the result of an honest mistake, and I fully believe that it was.

Be sure to read the rest of Joel Sposky's article as I have only dealt with items that I feel apply well in online customer service and reputation management.  Also, Seth Godin has an interesting take on starting over with customer service.

What other lesson can be learnt from this experience?  As I wrote elsewhere, it is important to keep track of what is being said by you online and to respond super fast whenever there's a problem.  Notice how Charles' fast, sincere and helpful actions won back a customer and made a new fan.  One wonders where the Wananchi Online people are when their new product Zuku is getting a bad reputation. Welcome to Online Reputation Management.

—

Now, regarding NMG's plagiarism, I am convinced that the instance of plagiarism that I wrote of yesterday was an honest mistake, and a misunderstanding.  However, the very fact that this is not the first complaint of plagiarism by the NMG is a little worrying.  Other complaints are here and here.  Some people say that where there's smoke, there's fire.  Perhaps the NMG could do something to clear up all of these issues.  I don't know, though – maybe they already did.

The NMG did, however, clear every doubt in my mind regarding the instance of plagiarism that I had written of.  I cannot put it in better words so I shall put the email from Charles here:

"We have now established how Bidii articles ended up in Daily Nation. First, let us acknowledge that, indeed, the articles were published in DN and The East African.

How did this happen? Beginning from when it was KaziAfrica, Bidii material come to the email addresses of very many editors and journalists at Nation, even in many instances when they have not subscribed. Anyhow, every
one took it in good stride. However, someone got the email for Letters from the paper and added it on the Bidii list. Thus all Bidii correspondence ends in Nation's "Mailbox".

Everything that comes into the "Mailbox", as the name indeed does indicate, is for publication. The Letters editors, therefore, have on occasion published some of the letters that caught their fancy. They did it in good faith, in the understanding that they were sent to the "Mailbox" be considered for publication (because that is what the notice says).

They weren't aware that by doing so they would cause offence to Bidii members. They also say it is unfair to accuse them of plagiarism or stealing, because they attributed the letters correctly to the authors (although perhaps, one could argue that they should added Bidii too. However, there were no such instructions).

Going forward, instructions have been given that no material from Bidii should shall be used in Nation because the members don't intend that to happen. However, to absolutely ensure that no slip up happens, we are instructing the IT Department to block all Bidii material from the Mailbox and other general addresses at the Nation.

I hope that you can explain this to your members, and that you find this satisfactory. Finally, to say we are sorry that this happened and for the misunderstanding."

What do you think? Does the Bidii Africa group deserve an apology in print?

Filed Under: Case Study, Internet Culture

Shameless Plagiarism at The Nation Media Group

November 12, 2008 by 4 Comments

I’m a new and proud member of a google group: Bidii Africa.  It is a wonderful group made up of smart people – the kind of place where you learn new things everyday.  What we talk about is probably helpful to everyone that I, and you, know.  The Nation Media Group (NMG) thinks so too.  In fact, they recently printed some articles from Bidii Africa in The Daily Nation and The East African. Sadly, though, they stole what they printed out.  It is sad because I respect the NMG very much (or used to). 

But what is plagiarism, you may ask.  Did the NMG do anything wrong?  Plagiarism.org has this to say about plagiarism: 

” Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense:
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to “plagiarise” means

1. to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
2. to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
3. to commit literary theft
4. to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterwards.” 

The NMG took articles from Bidii Africa and, without permission, printed them on their papers.  They also failed to, at the very least, acknowledge the source of those articles that they printed out.  This act is in extreme lack of any professional ethics and, in my mind, should be criminal. 
 
The recurring question is: why should a successful and respected newspaper plagiarise?   
 
 “Most often . . . the plagiarist has started out with good intentions but hasn’t left enough time to do the reading and thinking that the assignment requires, has become desperate, and just wants the whole thing done with. At this point, in one common scenario, the plagiarist gets careless while taking notes on a source or incorporating notes into a draft, so the source’s words and ideas blur into those of the plagiarist. 

The plagiarist’s standard defense-that he or she was misled by hastily taken and imperfect notes-is plausible only in the context of a wider tolerance of shoddy work. . . .” (Source: Mano Singham’s Web Journal) 
 
Apart from general lack of professionalism and honesty, I can come up with a few reasons why the NMG did this.  Feel free to add your own. They are: 
  • The people at the NMG don’t know what plagiarism is. 
  • The NMG writers and editors are plain lazy. 
  • Not only are they lazy, they are not creative enough to come up with something o
  • riginal.    
  • Or maybe the NMG writers and editors are too busy to do what they are paid to do. 
  • The NMG didn’t think they could get caught.
  • It was an honest mistake.

How do you tell if your work is plagiarised?  Here’s a link to plagiarism checking software: http://www.duplichecker.com/

— 
The bottom line is that the NMG should be ashamed of their actions.  The Bidii Africa group deserves an apology and, perhaps, some sort of compensation.
Update: Some Bidii Africa members raised the issue with people at NMG.  It seems that, in return, they got threats.  How deep does impunity run?
 
Update 2: Charles from the NMG handled this issue very well, prompting me to write a follow-up: The Nation Media Group, Plagiarism, An Apology and Customer Service – A Case Study.  Also added “Honest Mistake” to the list of reasons why the NMG would plagiarise anything.
Filed Under: Internet Culture

How to Kill a Nice Brand – The Business Daily Way

November 8, 2008 by 1 Comment

Do you remember back when The Business Daily Africa was launched?  I was happy to see that we finally had a good quality business newspaper and I bought it enthusiastically.  I especially loved that, from inception, they had a very strong online presence.  They did everything right, it seems.  In fact, I had predicted that it would grow into one of the best and most respected business papers in this part of the world.  Arguably, it already is.  They built the brand well. However, they’re now destroying their nice brand with equal zeal.

Two cases in point:
“My target of vitriol is the headline story on the Business Daily of October 7, 2008, titled “Internet theft hits a new high” Naturally I was attracted to this story because I am an avid Internet user and a promoter of its potential as a business tool. Considering the very serious nature of the paper’s allegation, I expected a fact-laden article with detailed testimonies, statistics, and warnings. Instead what I read was a vacuous, sensational, and rambling article that relied on unsubstantiated claims, wildly inaccurate headlines, false syllogisms, and a lack of understanding of the internet, internet banking and banking in general.” From Startups in Kenya: Literary hacks at Business Daily.
And,
“The Business Daily is not a well run paper. This particular article should never have been published unless they’re shedding their “Professionally done Business Paper” image. If you read the article carefully, you will notice subtle nuances that suggest the writer is not Kenyan, or at least doesn’t usually live here. Personally, I think he hails from the UK or thereabouts.

What does this mean? Two things:
1. The Business Daily sources articles from freelance writers. Nothing wrong with this, of course.
2. The article was a shameless cut-and-paste by some lazy editor who trusts this particular freelance writer so much that he didn’t bother to read the article fully.” From Kikulacho: Hating The Business Daily.
I don’t know when it started, but I think that The Business Daily is turning into something it never intended to become.  This, to me, demonstrates the easiest way to kill a good brand: negative publicity.  Negative publicity has always been a problem but in the age of the internet, it can mean a quick and vicious death fueled by the viral nature of the internet.  For example, one person writes pure hate about your product, another picks up on it, and before you know it anyone who googles you can see nothing but negative reviews and hate for your product.
When you’re hit with negative online publicity, the worst thing you can do is do nothing about it.  In publishing shoddy and suspect content, the Business Daily is contributing to its fall.  It makes it worse by doing nothing about it.  If you work for the Business Daily or you are simply interested in online reputation management, read this: “Customer Service and Reputation Management the Twitter Way: A Case Study.”  That article will give you an idea of how online reputation management should work: it should be fast, genuine and consistent.
Filed Under: Internet Culture, Tips Hacking and Reviews

Safaricom, WiMAX and internet for the whole of Kenya?

October 2, 2008 by 2 Comments

OneCom (which is 51% owned by Safaricom) has just signed a deal that could see universal internet access come to Kenya in the form of WiMAX. (Read the full story over at Kikulacho)


But what is WiMAX, what can it do? According to HowStuffWorks,” WiMAX has the potential to do to broadband Internet access what cell phones have done to phone access. In the same way that many people have given up their “land lines” in favor of cell phones, WiMAX could replace cable and DSL services, providing universal Internet access just about anywhere you go. WiMAX will also be as painless as WiFi — turning your computer on will automatically connect you to the closest available WiMAX antenna“. 

So what does this mean for the average Kenyan?  Well WiMAX is a technology that has had a lot of hype associated with it and not for no good reason: On the surface, WiMAX seems an arrestingly good idea. It’s a wireless broadband technology that can link to homes as a competitor to wireline, it’s good for mobile and portable data at high speeds, you can make voice calls on it, the range is up to about 20 miles … what else could you want? The problem is that the benefits of WiMAX aren’t free; you have to establish a business framework in which the limitations of WiMAX, which are the limits of any wireless broadband technology, don’t stall deployment and success.(Read)

The reality, though, is There is no way that WiMAX can be competitive to wireline broadband where the latter can be economically deployed. Sure, there are second- and third-world applications of WiMAX where very low population density means the number of people per cell will be low, and where wireline services aren’t available. There are likely similar rural opportunity examples in industrial nations, including the U.S. But WiMAX isn’t going to cover the city of San Francisco with twenty-odd cells and generate a service experience that will keep Clearwire and WiMAX credible if the standard of performance is to be as good as wireline.The value of WiMAX has to be in doing something it can do uniquely well, not doing something that other wireline technologies do better.(Read)

Still, many of the limitations of WiMAX become apparent only in heavily populated regions where the newtork is put under strain. Here in Kenya, there are large regions where the number of internet users is sufficiently low to make WiMAX’s adoption smooth and easy.
Filed Under: Internet Culture

How to Fight Internet Addictions

February 18, 2008 by 2 Comments

The amount of time kids spend online is a source of frustration for many parents. Initially, parents welcomed the Internet into their homes, believing they were opening up an exciting new world of educational opportunities for their children. However, many parents soon realized that, instead of using the Internet for homework or research, their kids were spending hours instant messaging with friends, playing online games or talking to strangers in chat rooms. Be Aware.

I believe not just kids are faced with internet addictions. Youu may well find yourself spending way too much time playing an online game, chatting, reading forums, or doing a number of internet activities (including blogging!). Such a situation can be very frustrating. Indeed, many online gamers, for example, hate how much time they spend in the game yet they come back everyday.

How do you beat internet addictions?
1. Houston We Have a problem
As with all addictions, the first step is always to admit that there is a problem. Without doing this, you cannot break your addiction. Here are some simptoms of interent addictions to help you along: (from the simply fabolous Be Aware site on internet addiction)

A.Psychological symptoms
Having a sense of well-being or euphoria while at the computer
Inability to stop the activity
Craving more and more time at the computer
Neglecting family and friends
Feeling empty, depressed and irritable when not at the computer
Lying to family and friends about activities
Problems with school or work

B. Physical symptoms
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Dry eyes
Migraine headaches
Backaches
Eating irregularities, such as skipping meals
Neglecting personal hygiene
Sleep disturbances and changes in sleep patterns

2. What do you do next?

After acknowledging that you have a proble, you can now solve it. A lot of good stuff has been written on how to break away from addictions so I’ll only give (very useful) links.

Be Aware – Internet Addictions. Simply super resource for recognising several forms of internet addictions and combating them.

Break a Work of Warcraft Addiction. Highly recommended and applicable to breaking online game addictions.

Break a Myspace Addiction. Very applicable to breaking social website site addictions.

Defeat a Wiki Addiction. For those of you addicted to wikis. This may be applicable to forum and, possibly, blogging addicts as well.

Seven Steps to breaking Your Addiction. In case your particular brand of addiction isn’t covered above, Dr. Phill’s excellent site is just for you.

Internet Addiction Disorder. Finally, an interesting read arguing that internet addictions are just new forms of older (real life) addictions and, as such, can be fought with old hat conventional methods. For example, a gambling addict is a gambling addict whether he gambles on or offline.

May the force be with you. 😉

Filed Under: Internet Culture