BuyDomains Newsletter

Greg: Community and social media are huge trends online; review sites which aggregate audiences are really important.

For small enterprises the majority of business comes from word of mouth. The growth of online social networking amplifies the importance of this phenomenon.

Let's use a restaurant critic as an example: in the past there was one person writing in the local paper, reviewing one restaurant at a time.

Today there are thousands of individuals offering their opinions about scores of establishments.

People are basically fair, but it is hard for the business owner to manage this sort of public dialogue.

Print yellow pages are still the biggest SOLE source — but are trumped by the Internet in aggregate. Online searches are now the vehicle through which consumers find information — but it is a very fragmented audience. The small business owner is bound to ask themself: where do I put my money and focus?

In future I think that social media and mobile devices will become the new search paradigm.

Greg: Simply getting online is not a difficult thing for business owners.

A web presence which is relatively professional: a site that is Search engine-friendly, has accurate, clearly presented information (hours of operation and/or contact details, product information and so forth) is a good starting point for most companies.

Marketing the site is a bigger problem. There is a learning curve involved in using search engine marketing (SEM) outlets such as Google and Yahoo — but there are options for small business owners to buy outsourced SEM.

In my research I've found that business owners cite three top reasons for not leveraging Internet advertising:

1. A lack of budget. This is really a perception issue as it can actually be much less expensive to advertise online and reach a targeted audience than it is to undertake traditional advertising — in a local newspaper, for example.
   
   The other advantage to the online solution is accountability: you can more easily track the impact of online media buys than you can in most cases using traditional media.
2. A lack of time. This is a real issue: business owners are often doing three jobs — but it doesn't have to prevent them from pursuing online promotion. With the turnkey solutions available today there are many low-cost options which provide good exposure.
3. Confusion. Also a real issue. If you don't know where to look, it can be hard to get started. Hopefully some of the resources which I've outlined here will help to point people in the right direction.

Greg: Many yellow pages also offer free business profiles; site owners should definitely take advantage of this service.

For a small fee UniversalBusinessListing.com will allow you to create a profile which is picked up by yellow pages, portals, and city guides, for example.

Services such as www.reachlocal.com, www.locallaunch.com and www.webvisible.com also offer turnkey options for Internet-based advertising that will help the business owner tackle local advertising without having to take on the work himself.

Greg: I think it's important to note that 97% of retail sales in the US are still completed in stores, not online.

The influence of the web on in-store purchasing is growing exponentially, however. People shop online, but buy locally.

Shoppers use the web to do research and form opinions. When they get into the store their buying behavior is influenced by the knowledge gained online.

Greg: The Internet "levels the playing field." Your small site can outrank a larger competitor and can derive advantages from positive feedback in online forums.

In my research I noted that business owners viewed the possibility of online reviews as a good thing. And the majority of these owners were aware that review sites existed.

I think the business owner needs to evaluate the appropriateness of social media tools in light of the results being sought. What are you hoping to achieve by using them?

Vehicles like chat can bring real time engagement to the small business site, allowing the customer interaction to be immediate and personal. But it is an investment of time to monitor and use tools like chat; the business owner needs to be prepared to make this commitment.

Michael: User-generated content and social networking are the most powerful tools for driving online traffic and, audience growth and engagement.

This drives revenue from incremental advertising inventory. It also turns a website's passive audience to an interactive forum that enables participation from the company's customers.

Small businesses can utilize this to facilitate a community where its customers can express their affinity towards the brand. This in turn becomes a channel for word-of-mouth, viral marketing, as well as what equates to a large focus group with the company's customer base.

Michael: Our customers run the gamut of global media and entertainment companies to web publishers and developers of all sizes.

These brands and individuals are using social networking to drive audience growth and engagement around their website. This results in increased revenue opportunities from online advertising, ecommerce and sponsorships.

Michael: VIBE Media, a leading brand in urban music and culture, used KickApps' social media platform to power an online hip-hop talent contest in the spirit of American Idol.

The total implementation time for the project was under four weeks. With minimal promotional effort, the site attracted more than 60,000 registered members. In response to the campaign's success, VIBE is in the process of launching additional KickApps-powered communities.

KickApps collaborated with VIBE to develop a community contest called VIBE Verses Rap Battle. Through the Verses site, members could submit videos of themselves rapping over pre-selected music tracks. In addition, each member had his or her own customizable profile page and the ability to connect with their peers via comments, photos, and blog posts.

Throughout the campaign, members voted on their favorite videos, and by process of elimination, the top contestants were whittled down to a single winner who received $10,000 cash, a recording contract, and a full-page profile in VIBE magazine. The contest was sponsored by AT&T.

From May through early August 2007, when the contest winner was announced, the VIBE Verses community drew over 350,000 unique visitors — 60,000 of whom became registered members.

In addition, there were 4,000 media uploads, more than 750,000 media views and 200,000 votes cast during the course of the campaign.

"The response to Verses has been phenomenal," said John DeMarchi, General Manager, VIBE Digital Media. "For a fraction of the cost of building this technology ourselves or creating original editorial content to drive a comparable level of engagement, we were able to consolidate hundreds of thousands of people around our brand, foster the discovery of many talented artists, and drive millions of monetizable ad impressions. This is the future of VIBE Media, and KickApps made it simple."

VIBE now has a rich and vibrant community and continues to market new contests and events to its members.

Michael: Small business owners can start by downloading KickApps' whitepaper on creating successful online communities: http://www.kickapps.com/get-started/resources.php.

Additionally, they should read Jeremiah Owyang's blog: www.web-strategist.com. Owyang is one of the industry's leading bloggers and analysts. He writes regularly about how businesses can and should use social media.

Read more about BuyDomains' partner KickApps

Scott: Domain parking is a simple, effective way of monetizing your domains.

If you are not interested in developing your domains, or would like to earn revenues while your website is under development, this can be a great option.

And NameMedia's parking services are free (though there are services in the industry which charge a monthly fee in order to park your names with them).

Scott: Parking is not only for the big players in the industry; many of the clients on GoldKey and ActiveAudience have smaller portfolios and are building them over time. Once you start investing in domains you realize that there are still great opportunities if you invest a little bit of time and thought.

Of course the big players in the industry earn of millions of dollars each year — and many people dream about being able to build a portfolio which delivers significant returns.

We find that if you can earn enough each year to cover the registration cost alone you are winning as domain names are appreciating in value — so holding names in this way offers the possibility of a good return.

Scott: The basis of domain parking is pay-per-click revenue. Visitors come to a parked page, click on a sponsored listing and the revenue generated is shared between the owner and the parking provider.

Parking your names is simple and takes no technical expertise.

For example: through NameMedia's free parking platform ActiveAudience you can add and optimize your domain in minutes with our interface that was designed with ease of use in mind.

ActiveAudience offers over 600 custom themes with pre-defined keywords and several customization options.

Once you load your domains you can alter the keywords, color schemes, add a custom photo and logo — all with the goal of improving click-through rates — increasing your revenue potential.

ActiveAudience also offers advanced reporting features which allow you to track click patterns, and monitor revenues earned.

Scott: In developing our own platforms, and in looking at other providers within the parking industry, I'd point to the emphasis on customization options.

People see their domain names as assets; they want to extract maximum value from these assets and they know that creating pages which look appealing, with a personalized feel, help to drive improved click-through rates.

NameMedia holds one of the world's largest domain portfolios, so we are constantly testing new page configurations and optimization tools to drive performance for our own portfolio.

Once we find a feature that works, we roll it out to our customers so they can reap the benefits of our research.

Other providers are, no doubt, looking to improve their technology as well. It is a rapidly evolving industry and this is a great time for domain owners to explore parking options.

One thing that I would suggest — especially for those new to domain parking: seek out personalized service; you should have someone available to answer your questions. At NameMedia we strive to provide personal service to our customers — helping them to understand how they can better monetize their portfolios.

If your readers would like to read our User Guide it will give them a better idea of how domain parking works through ActiveAudience.

And, I am always happy to answer any questions. Simply email me at sbriggs@namemedia.com.