by admin on September 9, 2008
In a previous post I mentioned that .ca domains were still going cheap and that there were plenty of opportunities still available. I’m going to add some additional thoughts on that.
First, mine your logs. Go get some log analysis software and look for what people are searching on. Let’s say your in the mortgage marketplace. You see lots of hits for ‘ontario mortgage rates’. Go register ontariomortgagerates.ca. You’ll find your logs are the best place to go find new keyword rich domain name suggestions. Last year when I checked, somewhere between 2 and four of the top search terms in my logs, the domain names built from those keywords were available as .ca’s.
Next put up some content. Even just three or four pages talking about ontario mortgage rates. Make sure you have a means for visitors to convert (either to buy or to convert to a lead somehow) prominently on the site.
Now go use some of the link building techniques we’ve talked about previously to drive 10 or 20 links to the site. Now sit back and wait.
Eventually you’ll start to get some search engine traffic. Are you going to set the world on fire? No. But you will accomplish three things. First, put together a couple dozen feeder sites like this and you’ll get a nice flow of leads. Secondly it helps diversify your online SEO efforts. If your main site gets burned somehow, or just stops ranking you won’t be completely bone dry of business. And thirdly, when the time comes that you need to go grab an aged domain to do some testing or build out a new site you’ll already have a stable of sites to choose from. It’s real nice to be able to go grab a two year old domain whenever you have a new project or want to do some testing.
by admin on August 25, 2008
Think back 10 or 12 years ago. How nice would it be to know then what you know now about domain names? Wouldn’t it be cool to go back and register mortgages.com? Or some nice keyword rich domains?
Well, you can. They’re called .ca’s. And they’re available by the boatload for the registration for less than $15. Get in now.
When I started doing internet stuff, nobody used .ca’s. They were the mickey mouse version of the .com. I recommended that Canadians buy the .com. And it’s nice if you still can get them. But Canadian consumers are changing. Years ago, a .ca was a pale imitator. Now, .ca’s are preferred by Canadians. We’re sick of shopping at American websites, or getting non-Canadian information. Now the .ca’s instantly tell visitors that the site is exactly what they’re looking for. A .ca domain is an indicator of trust now for Canadians. Things have changed.
What hasn’t changed is that these .ca domains are readily available for registration. We’re in 1997 with the .com’s right now - there’s so much good stuff available.
And I’m not talking even about right now. But 10 years isn’t that long of a time. And in 10 years, the .ca’s will be like the .com’s - all the good ones will be taken. For the couple of bucks, it’s worth it to buy a bunch then just hold onto them until they increase in value.
Going back to our theme on mortgages, ontariomortgagerates.ca is available. I doubt there’s a us state mortgagerates.com left available. So get them now while they’re cheap and there’s no competition.
I’ve got a bunch registered myself. For example, in my niche there’s a multi-billion dollar industry in the US, it’s three keywords. Current legislation in Canada says this service is not allowed in Canada right now. That’s fine, but I can’t believe that the website keyword1keyword2keyword3.ca was available (where keyword1 keyword2 keyword3 is the three word name of the industry). So now I own it. What do you suppose that’ll be worth if the legislation changes in Canada? Even if that’s 5 years away? or 20? I’ll still be kicking around in 20 years, I could be looking like a real smrt fella in 20 years with a domain like that. Right now the domain would be worth say $100. If the legislation changes, it’s worth 7 figures.
In addition, there’s plenty of keyword rich combinations that could take some type in traffic. Not even for parked landing pages - but a simple conversion page on a keyword rich domain might yeild some results.
So get on board with the .ca’s. Write out all the keywords in your industry and start looking at the better combinations. Check if the .ca is available. It probably is. Go register it.