Sweetmantra: Internet Marketing Advice

Sinful Domains: TRAFFIC West 2008

I'll be in 'Sin City' this week to attend and speak at the biggest domain name industry event of them all, TRAFFIC.

TRAFFIC West 2008 is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada from February 18-20 and attracts about 500 of the top movers-and-shakers in the domain name industry.

I'm there in my official capacity as the General Manager of the Tucows Domain Portfolio. On Wednesday morning I'll be speaking on a panel about the positive and negative perceptions (and misconceptions) surrounding domain name investing. (Don't get me started...) Joining me on the panel will be Mike O'Conner, David and Michael Castello of Castello Cities Internet Network, Phil Corwin of the Internet Commerce Association, and Dan Warner from Fabulous.com.

I'm also charged up about Wednesday's live domain name auction since Tucows has several domain names up for auction. Let the bidding commence!

Why I'm Promoting the Social Media Telesummit

As you may have noticed, for the last few weeks I've been actively promoting my friend Leesa Barnes' upcoming Social Media Telesummit, which takes place February 20-29, 2008.

I've also been totally upfront about the fact that I'm one of Leesa's affiliate partners, which means I will receive a portion of the registration fees from referrals I send her way. (For the record, I plan to donate a portion of my cut to charity.)

A number of people have asked me why I am helping spread the word about the Social Media Telesummit, so I figured I'd answer that question on my blog.

First of all, I have tremendous admiration for Leesa Barnes. She's smart, funny, and totally committed to educating and inspiring people to use and benefit from the new media. She's taught me a lot over the last few years, and I've tried to return the favour as often as I can. That's why I signed on.

Second, I'm blown away by the depth and breadth of the speakers Leesa has lined up for the event. Paul Colligan, Sherman Hu, Kate Trgovac, Darren Barefoot, Julie Szabo, Jason Van Orden, Andy Wibbels ... and so many others as well. I'm sorry, but I don't know too many other events that offer a truly international roster of social media and Internet marketing experts like this one.

Third, I love the fact that this is a virtual event that anyone from anywhere can participate in. (Well, if they register for it, that is!) For me, personally, this makes the Social Media Telesummit very convenient as I can learn on my own time, at my own pace, and from the location of my choosing.

Finally, I got the chance to experiment with using social media to promote the event, most notably Facebook. If ever an event called for such an approach, it was this one. That, for me, has been the most rewarding part of this experience to date.

I do hope you register for, and participate in, the Social Media Telesummit. Even if you don't, at least now you know why I've been encouraging you to do so.

Domain Names Are the Stars of Tinseltown Conference

Last week I was in Hollywood, California attending and speaking at DOMAINfest 2008, one of the domain industry's two big conferences. Attendance was up this year with nearly 700 people attending from more than 25 countries. Many of the attendees were domainers (domain name investors) looking to buy, sell, and network.

I attended a number of sessions over the course of the event and thought I'd share a few highlights:

"Domain Names and the Law"

Domain name legal expert John Berryhill cautioned domain owners to be wary of vaguely worded purchase inquiries that don't explicitly offer to buy the domain; they could be lawyers representing trademark holders who are trolling with a different agenda (e.g. gathering info for a future legal claim against the unsuspecting domain owner).

Berryhill says, "The best trademark search tool is Google," as opposed to relying on official trademark databases.

"Domainers Town Hall with Frank Schilling"

This session was a Q&A with Frank Schilling, one the most famous and successful domainers in the world. Here are some choice quotes from Frank:

• "Domain names ARE the Internet."
• "There's no shelf life on domain names...domains are like Cognac" - on domain names as assets.
• Owners of even just ten domains will be the media companies of the future."

When asked, Frank said he owns about 370,000 domain names that are managed as a business by a small team of five, including himself and his wife.

"Understanding the Big Picture"

Monty Cahn from Moniker provided some insights into the overall strength of the domain industry. Cahn says 70% of Internet users are using direct navigation (typing a domain into the browser address window) to get to a site. He also predicts that aftermarket (previously-owned) domain name sales will be a $1 billion business in 2010. Cahn estimates that also by 2010, 240 million domain names will have been registered. For reference, that's about double the amount that are registered today.

(My Tucows colleague James Koole helped with this report.)

DOMAINfest 2008

I will be speaking at, and attending, DOMAINfest, January 21-23, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. DOMAINfest is the domain industry's other big industry event (along with TRAFFIC), and this will be my first time attending.

I will be participating in a panel discussion on January 22nd entitled "Branding for Gold, Balancing Hype and Reality." Joining me on the panel will be David Sams, Mike "Zappy" Zapolin, and Andy Miller.

I believe we're going to discuss and debate the 'brandability' of domain names. That should be a lively discussion.

I'm particularly looking forward to the SnapNames Live Auction since one of the many gems from the Tucows domain portfolio will be on auction.

For more information about the conference, visit the official DOMAINfest Website.

An Insider's Perspective on the Multi-Billion Dollar Domain Name Industry

As loyal readers of this blog will know, last month I was in Miami, Florida to attend the biggest domain name industry event of them all, TRAFFIC. While I was there, I recorded interviews with several of the domain name industry's major players. Upon my return, I turned these interviews into six special "road trip" versions of my Marketing Martini podcast, four of which have been released so far.

If you'd like a glimpse inside the rather secretive, multi-billion dollar domain name industry, I encourage you to give these episodes a listen. Here are a few highlights...

What's a live domain name auction? Find out from the man who runs the top one in the world.

In Episode #29 of Marketing Martini, I talked with Monte Cahn, Founder and CEO of Moniker.com, about the world's largest live domain name auction. It was only after the interview that I realized Monte also hosts his own podcast, Domain Masters. Such a small world!

Ever looked up the perfect domain name for your business only to discover it wasn't available to register? Don't give up hope just yet; a good domain could still be within reach.

In Episode #31 of Marketing Martini, I chatted with Peter Lamson of NameMedia about the "aftermarket" for domain names. In a stroke of accidental marketing brilliance on my part, this episode was released shortly after NameMedia filed to go public.

Did you know that buying a domain name is no longer the only way you can gain use of it?

In Episode #32 of Marketing Martini, I spoke with Jonathan Boswell of LeaseThis.com about the notion of domain name leasing. Jonathan was such an interesting interview subject that he inspired two episodes.

I have received such amazing feedback from listeners about this special "road trip" series of interviews that I wanted to bring the series to your attention. Enjoy!

Earn Your Black Belt in Domain Name Karate at BC AIM Direct Marketing Day 2007

I bought my first domain name over 12 years ago for $70 and sold it a few years later for $10,000. I guess I've been hooked on the magical allure of domain names ever since. In fact, that's one of the reasons I now work at Tucows, the largest domain name wholesaler in the world, where I get to think about domain names all day long.

If you'd like to learn how to protect your domain names, increase your website traffic, and outmaneuver your competitors, join me at the BC AIM Direct Marketing Day, November 8, 2007 in Vancouver, Canada.

I will be giving an informative yet fun presentation entitled "Domain Name Karate: The ‘Ancient’ Art of Maximizing and Defending Your Domain Names." I'll be demonstrating my secret Domain Name Karate moves like "The Quiet Warrior," "The Five Blades," and "The Peacock’s Feather." I might even be persuaded to share "The Green Volcano" with those in attendance, but only if I have a spotter.

Seriously, I'm looking forward to sharing what I've learned about domain names over the last 12 years.

Of course, I'm not the only reason to attend BC AIM Direct Marketing Day. Other featured speakers include Stefan Tornquist from MarketingSherpa and Kyle MacDonald (a.k.a. the One Red Paperclip guy).

I hope you can make it. Visit http://www.bcaim.org/dmday for all the details.

Miami Vices: TRAFFIC East 2007

Believe it or not, there are conferences and tradeshows dedicated solely to domain names.

When I tell people this they think I'm kidding. In fact, I thought I was being kidded when I first found out about this. This only goes to prove how big the domain name industry has become.

Next week I'm off to Florida to attend the biggest domain name industry event of them all, TRAFFIC.

TRAFFIC East 2007 is being held in Miami, Florida from October 9-13 and is described by its organizers like so:

"With more than 500 attendees, including the leading executives and experts, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is the largest and most successful domain conference!"

That's right, it'll be me and 500 other domain name fanatics. Sounds like a riot.

I'm looking forward to meeting in person many of the people I've already been talking to and doing business with as part of my new job at Tucows. Most of these domain industry folks, who are based in cities all around the world, are currently just disembodied voices on the phone to me.

And I'm really excited about attending Friday's live domain name auction (think Sotheby's with geeks) where (if I was so inclined and had a few spare million to burn) I'll have the opportunity to bid on some very choice domain names like:

• computer.com
• xmas.com
• sciencefiction.com
• taxes.com

and my personal favourite...

• bourbon.com

Now how cool is that?

2007 Digital Marketing Conference

The death of Princess Diana. The Bre-X scandal. James Cameron's Titanic.

Where were you in 1997? And what were you doing?

Although it seems hard to believe, this year marks the - gasp! - 10th anniversary of the Canadian Marketing Association's Digital Marketing Conference.

I'm on the organizing committee for this conference and we've really tried to pull out all the stops in honour of this year's first decade mark.

Some of the featured speakers we've lined up include Mike Murphy from Facebook, Chuck Porter from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and Simon Assaad from Heavy.com.

Ipsos Reid returns for a second year with the results of The Canadian Digital Marketing Pulse survey and we've just added a very special surprise session for Thursday afternoon featuring four Canadians you won't want to miss.

The enormously popular roundtables, "The Experience Exchange," are back by popular demand, and yes, yours truly will be moderating one of the roundtables on podcasting.

If you're serious about Internet marketing, please join me and a few hundred other Internet marketing enthusiasts at the 10th annual Digital Marketing Conference in Toronto, Canada on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26.

For more information and to register, visit the 2007 Digital Marketing Conference Website.

Search Engine Strategies Toronto 2007 - Day 2 Highlights

The Search Engine Strategies Toronto conference was held in Toronto, Canada on June 12-13, 2007 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. As always, it was a tightly-run event that was jam-packed with valuable information.

Here are some of the highlights from sessions I attended on Day 2:

Session: Seth Godin Keynote Presentation

• "Search didn't become a business until the yellow pages." - Seth Godin
• In the battle between SEO tricksters and search engines, "the search engines are really winning" because they are becoming much better at determining relevance.
• "Search engine advertising is a classic example of permission marketing."

Session: Perfecting Paid Listings

• "The interaction [with search engine ads] is very quick." - Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro Search Solutions
• Effective search engine ads provide "a bridge of relevance" to the user. - Jonathan Mendez, OTTO Digital
• Brands matter: using a brand name as a keyword (e.g., "Sears") will have no influence on traffic, but will increase the conversion rate and significantly increase the revenue per visitor.
• Perfecting your search engine ads is important; doing so can have a 36% increase in overall lift.
• "Get the site right, then try to grow [by doing paid search]" - Andrew Goodman, Page Zero Media, on the importance of making sure your Website will convert well before you begin advertising it
• "You can buy a lot of 15 cent click in Toronto and Montreal." - Andrew Goodman on what a "bargain" search engine advertising still is in Canada
• Even national advertisers should consider regional targeting and campaign differentiation because searchers in different parts of Canada behave differently.
• "If Canadian advertisers don't step up, US advertisers and affiliates will come in and take [search engine advertising in Canada] over." - Gord Hotchkiss
• "You really want your brand in the ad, including the display URL." - Bill Tighe, Google Canada, on the importance of leveraging your brand

Session: Linking Campaigns and Beyond: Getting Authoritative Online "Mentions"

• A link "is a vote." - Mike Grehan, Searchvisible
• "It's absolutely NOT about more [links] is better." - Eric Ward on the importance of soliciting links from relevant, niche topic sites
• "I ignore [Google's] Page Rank; I use the internal algorithm in my head." - Eric Ward on how he focuses on the content and the user when he's researching sites to solicit links from
• "The people who are getting the most link love are the in the news biz." - Greg Jarboe, SEO-PR, on the power of links from mainstream news sites like CNN and The New York Times
• Soliciting links is "not a begging process, [it's] a PR process." - Greg Jarboe

Visit www.searchenginestrategies.com for more information about this and future conferences.

Search Engine Strategies Toronto 2007 - Day 1 Highlights

The Search Engine Strategies Toronto conference was held in Toronto, Canada on June 12-13, 2007 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. As always, it was a tightly-run event that was jam-packed with valuable information.

Here are some of the highlights from sessions I attended on Day 1:

Session: The Canadian Search Landscape

• Canadians conducted 12 billion search engine queries in 2006.
• Canadians are now conducting an average of 1.4 billion search engine queries per month.
• 80% of Canadian search queries are for Website content, 18% for images, and the balance are for video content, which is growing fast
• Depending on whose numbers you want to believe, Google currently has approximately 75-80% of the Canadian search engine query share, with Yahoo! and Microsoft evenly split over the remaining 20-25%. Expect Microsoft's share to increase as they continue to invest heavily in search.
• MSN adCenter's a 'bargain' deal for Canadian paid search advertisers because it is still relatively new and there's less competition.
• Only a small percentage of advertisers are taking advantage of the Quebec search engine advertising market; lots of great opportunities to get cheap traffic this way.
• 50% of Canadian search queries are related to finding a product or service.
• 78% of Canadians will turn to search engines to research a product or service.
• Martin Byrne from Yahoo! Search Marketing made the interesting observation that companies who have top ranking organic search results convey a "perception of [brand] leadership."
• Canadian searchers are knowledge seekers not bargain hunters.
• Canadian searchers are engaged: they are very active, will look at more brands, explore more choices, and like to build and share their expertise.
• 82% of Canadian businesses with Websites engage in online advertising, but only 36% of them use search engine advertising or search engine optimization.
• When asked why they weren't using search engine advertising, the number one reason Canadian businesses cited was "too expensive" ... which, of course, is ridiculous.
• Search engine advertising in Canada is now as large as the entire online advertising market was in 2004.
• In general, Canada is a less competitive search engine advertising market, which means there is still a great opportunity for advertisers.

Session: Search User Behaviour

• Searching from the Web browser's toolbar has increased 57% in Canada over the last year.
• Toolbar makes searchers more loyal to a specific search engine, and more engaged with that search engine; they conduct more searches.
• When it comes to having an impact on an online purchase, running search engine advertising alone can have a 20% lift, running online display advertising alone can have a 20% lift, but combining the two can have an 83% lift!
• Google image search is starting to get a significant amount of Canadian search traffic: 2% per month and growing.
• On average, a typical Canadian Website can expect to generate about 80-85% of its search traffic from organic listings versus 15-20% from search engine advertising.
• 1 in 4 searches are triggered by offline advertising. Television and print advertising aren't dead yet!
• Mainstream search engines (i.e., Google, Yahoo!, MSN) are the number one choice for B2B product or service research.
• Of those B2B researchers who want to go directly to a potential vendor's Website, 27% of them will still use a search engine to find that Website.

Stay tuned for highlights from Day 2...