Sweetmantra: Domain Name Strategy

Recommended: Podcasting for Profit, by Leesa Barnes

I am so not into book reviews, however last week I had the honour of leading a roundtable discussion on podcasting at the Digital Marketing Conference. Near the end of the session I was asked to recommend a book on the subject of podcasting. That book was, and is, Podcasting for Profit, by the multi-talented Leesa Barnes.

Leesa's book was published a few months ago, and I've been meaning to blog about it ever since. Podcasting for Profit is unique in that it's not a technical 'how-to' manual about the production side of creating a podcast, nor is it one of those cheezy 'become an Internet radio star' publications. Plenty of those kinds of books kicking around already!

Podcasting for Profit, on the other hand, is focused on the business side of podcasting. Amen!

This is the book to pick up if you're struggling with whether or not you or your company or your clients should be podcasting. And if you've already decided to move forward with podcasting, Leesa's book will help you identify new business opportunities related to podcasting that you might never have thought of.

Written in a warm, honest, and down-to-earth style (it's by Leesa Barnes, after all), Podcasting for Profit is highly recommended to anyone interested in understanding the business implications of this exciting new medium.

You can find out more about the book at http://www.leesabarnes.com/book/.

P.S. I'm also supremely flattered to be mentioned in Podcasting for Profit, along with lots of other podcasters whose work I admire. Congratulations, Leesa!

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?