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Domain Industry Sponsored Workshop:Domain Strategies for Successful Online Marketingwith:Jeremiah Johnston :: COO, Sedo.comBob Mountain :: VP of Business Development, NameMedia, Inc.Jeff Kupietzky :: President & CEO, Oversee.net
Speakers
Session Summary
Domains for SEO
Supplement SEO with Domains
Search engines such as Google, Bing & Yahoo! place a high value on matching search terms with keywords within domain names
Owning a generic domain name relevant to your company or products can put your website at the top of search engine results
Generic domain names typically earn significant, highly targeted natural traffic that can be used as an alternative to traffic purchased through expensive SEM campaigns.
++_____THE RIGHTDOMAINSEO Success Story: Fly.com
Bobbleheads
SEO Results:Google search for bobblehead results in bobbleheads.com as the top result, saving money on expensive SEO and SEMWarren calculates that this investment brought him 13,500 more monthly visitors/leadsDomains for Reputation & Branding
Reputation & Credibility
Descriptive, product-oriented domains establish you as a leader in your industryYou can become an authority portal by eliminating tricky words and focusing on products rather than your brandCreate a brand from generic domains!Rebranding for Success: Jets.com
Jets.com wanted to strengthen their brand with a generic domain
After consulting with our broker, we were able to see the value in Jets.com for our rebranding strategy We now have a competitive edge that is tremendously powerful for our industry and the service we are offering.- CEO, Jets.comAuthority Portal Success: Diapers.com
Branding & ROI
High traffic domain names such as Fly.com or Call.com can cost over six figures but bring with them thousands of visitors a month in direct navigation traffic, offsetting the cost with an immediate return on investment
Companies with smaller budgets can opt for location specific domains tailored to their regional marketsGeo-targeted Domains
Dyn Inc. Manchester, NH
Dynamic Network Services, Inc (Dyn Inc.) wanted to integrate all business unites under one short, memorable domain: Dyn.com
Their previous domain was dynamicnetworkservices.comFollowed with dyn-inc.com, which was confusing:People thought we were a printer ink company when we used that name, so it was a bit confusing.- Kyle York, VP of sales and marketing, Dyn.com
Build-out Opportunities
Build-out Opportunities
(Re)Branding Tip:
Register your domain(s) early in the campaign development process:Internal KickoffProject InitiationDefinitionCreative DevelopmentClient ReviewDevelopmentCopy ApprovalQuality AssuranceFinal ReviewDeliveryDomains for Direct Navigation
Direct Navigation
Visitors type a domain name into a browser instead of a search term
An estimated 1 in 6 searches is conducted through direct navigation
Natural domain traffic is nearly 2X as likely to convert vs. normal search engine traffic
Direct navigation bypasses the search enginesYOUWhat is direct navigation in laymens terms? Basically its whenever you (or someone) visits a website by typing the URL address directly into a browsers address bar. This happens way more often than you might think. Even more specifically is something called Type-In Traffic which takes this direct navigation method one step further. Its when someone types in a keyword followed by a TLD (such as .com) in their address bar rather than searching that keyword in a search engine.
According to a UCLA study entitled Analysis of User Web Traffic with a Focus of Web Activities, 86% of online consumers reach websites through direct navigation. This essentially means that web users access websites in 1 of 3 ways a majority of the time:
Through a bookmarkBy typing in a domainBy typing in a keyword with a TLD appended (eg. widgets.com)
Another compelling statistic comes from the a study in 2005 by WebSideStory Inc. The study showed that Internet traffic from direct navigation converted into sales for advertisers at a staggering 4.23% of all total visits compared to 2.3% from search engines. This is crazy! This study showed that conversion rates nearly double when coming from Direct Navigation. And to top it all off, many domain experts are showing increased traffic numbers in their direct navigation efforts year after year showing that Direct Navigation apparently isnt going away.
Domain names are a form of modern day real estate. They are also one of the more pure and consistent forms of traffic. Owning a domain name that gets type-in traffic is the only Traffic Source you can actually ever own yourself. Having a personal or company asset that also gives you traffic at the same time is a huge double bonus! Its still the Wild Wild West in the domain world. The more real estate you own the better. And all parties involved, both companies and individuals are constantly making more domain purchases to get the gold thats over them mountains.
19Register domains for your products
20Whats in Your Wallet?
Buy the tagline for your domain before you run your campaign. Otherwise the day your campaign comes out some domainer is going to buy it and the price is going to go from $20 bucks at Register.com over at Midtown to thousands or tens of thousands from a domainer in the Cayman Islands.
21Register domains for your campaign tag line
Tagline:JustDoIt.com = Nike.comLanding page:zoomzoom.com =Club MazdaProduct names leverage direct navigation
Direct Navigation Case Study
Step 1: User enters a career related domain using direct navigationStep 2: User is automatically redirected to Monster.com
Effective extension of Monsters SEM campaignNameMedia generated premium domain lists based on Monsters existing keyword listsImplemented both exact phrase and broad matching options as well as negative keywordsMonster paid on a cost-per-visit modelProgram cost was approximately 20% of an equivalent CPC campaign
1. For the Advertiser instead of having to pay for 1 spot out of many on a contextual ad on a parked page, the advertiser can pay a domain owner for a redirect that redirects the user directly to the advertisers website. This will mean more exposure and more conversions. Something that makes every Internet marketer excited.
2. For the Domain Owner a change from a CPC to a CPV. The Domain Owner can now get paid per redirect (CPV) rather than per click on a contextual ad on that ugly parked page. This simple difference means double the income for the domain owner. Not to mention the fact that Google continues to lower its payouts on its Google Adsense platform.
3. For the End User rather than being presented with a stupid parked page that does absolutely nothing for them, the end user is now redirected to a destination where they can at least make a logical decision and be presented with some good information.
More and more domainers are turning to this CPV or Redirect method as opposed to parked pages because of all 3 of these reasons. Companies like Trellian and Elephant Traffic are spearheading this type of new Internet Marketing method and both companies are doing really well from it.
24How to increase direct navigation traffic
Buy keyword domains for keywords relevant to your industryBuy misspellings and typos of YOUR brandPurchase redirect traffic from other domain ownersChoose your TLDs with care - DotCom is still kingUse GA to monitor direct navigation traffic
Dont be a spammer! Just as Google likes to say do no evil! The same applies to you. Whether you are an advertiser, or the owner of the domain it is your obligation to help deliver quality content to the end user. You have to constantly ask yourself the question is this what the user is looking for? If you can honestly and accurately answer yes to this question, you are going to have great success long term with your domains and/or your direct navigation traffic.
Mention IVI.TV
25What not to do.
Difficult to type:womenentrepreneurs.sk.caDifficult to type:tigh-na-mara.comFinding the Right Domain
Acquisition Strategy
Subjective nature of the domain market calls for close examination. Know your outcome before you begin.
Offensive or Defensive corporate strategy? Creating something new or taking market share from existing verticals?
Develop a relationship with a domain broker to help you navigate the domain ecosystem. Gain insights on trends, valuations, opportunities, etc.
Finding the Right DomainIntrinsic Value
Global keyword search volumeAverage cost per click for that keywordSEO commercial interest(Similar) domain sales historyType in traffic or error search? How many paid advertisements under exact keyword?Total unique monthly visits and/or site revenue?Hard to misspell?Rule of thumb estimates from online valuation tools. (Valuate.com, Estibot.com)Finding the Right DomainSubjective Value
Short, descriptive, and easy to remember?Brandability?Likelihood and cost of a page 1 Google ranking with the domain?How does this domain align with specific business objectives?How attractive/suitable are alternative domain names?How is the industry doing which my domain name represents?How many authority portals does the industry currently have?
orRelevancy & Simplicity are Key
Keep your domain name simpleMake it relevant to your product or serviceBalance branding and SEOBuild 2-3 keywords into the domainBe specificUse .com or prepare a strategy around an alternative, and likely more affordable extension (see t.CO)Leverage the portfolio effect
Turn to the Experts
