Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

I found the domain LinkTree.org on a deleted domain list and had to register it. I often browse deleted domains and very rarely find anything interesting. A couple times a week I’ll come across something I’d buy, but by the time it’s in my shopping cart someone else has registered it. Probably by chance I’ve spotted two great names this year that I now own.

Tools I use to find expired domains:

• ExpiredDomains.com - Simple search interface for expiring domains. Basically a free service.
• DeletedDomains.com - Expired domain search tool. Last year a signed up for an account with these guys when their were few comparable services. The cost was $99. I regret it now as free options have popped up over time, however none have the email update system DeletedDomains has.
• Pool.com - This service is used to backorder domain names. This means if someone lets a domain you’ve backordered expire that pool will reserve it for you. First off, this service isn’t cheap at around $60 per successful backorder. Secondly, if anyone else has the domain backordered it will go to auction. I have a large list of backordered domains although I highly doubt any will ever get dropped by the owner. I have only 1 successful backorder to my name and it was for a client.

Back to the point…LinkTree.org. What does this name make you think of? I’d like to offer some sort of free service. Any thoughts?

I enjoy reading many local Utah business blogs. Here’s a list of the ones I’d recommend. Feel free to add yours in the comments and I’ll add it to the list when I find the time.

Paul Allen’s Blog - Actually, I’ve been reading this one for some time. Paul has a history of success and continues to start new ventures.
Cameron Moll - Marketing guru
Phil Windley - Former CIO of Utah
added 12/8/2005 UtahTechJobs.com - Utah tech recruiter blog.
added 12/20/2005 Jona’s Blog - Yeah, work from home John Jonas…that’s me.
added 12/23/2005 Smooth Harold - “Swing for the fences”
added 1/5/2006 Jimmy Zimmerman - Tech & biz blog
added 4/6/2006 Jeff Jordan - COO of FundingUniverse.com
added 4/6/2006 Jordan Gunderson - member of the Provo Labs team
added 4/6/2006 Ryan Money - Money talks
added 2/19/2007 Janet with Affiliate Flash
added 2/19/2007 Michael Eagar
added 2/19/2007 Joshua Steimle from MWI. Josh has another great blog on SEO called The Organic SEO

*If any of the above come across this site I’d be happy to allow a link to AlexMcArthur.com on your site. Really. Please!

I picked up Web Analytics Demystified by Eric Peterson the other day. This book came highly recommended and although I have not yet completed it, I strongly advise it to anyone interested in the field. I believe web analytics is a field that is mistakenly overlooked by small and mid-sized companies. Many businesses pay big bucks for search engine marketing. However, they have no plan once a visitor has entered the site. MidScape has recenly added web analytics services and can improve your ROI success.

*More to come on web analytics as I come across topics of interest.

For those of you who haven’t already heard Google released a new FREE online analytics application this past week. I setup 2 of my domains the day it was released and waited…and waited. Upon login I read “Awaiting Data” for the past two days. Last night I sent a support email to find out if I had done something wrong and received the following:

Hello,

Thank you for your email. I understand that you aren’t seeing data in your reports, even though your tracking code has been set up for over six hours. We apologize for any inconvenience. We have collected your data since you installed the tracking code on your site, and are continuing to collect this data throughout the day.

We are currently in the process of creating reports from your data. You should be able to see your reports populated with data later today. Please note that this reporting delay is associated with unexpected demand for Google Analytics. Under normal circumstances, the data in your reports will be at most six hours old.

For additional questions, please visit the Analytics Help Center at http://www.google.com/support/analytics. If you’re unable to find an answer to your question on our site, please feel free to reply to this email.

Sincerely,

Bo
Analytics Support

As confirmed in this response my data started collecting today. Let me just say Google Analytics is impressive. Yes, I know many people fear google because they collect so much information through your email (gmail), searches, and ads (adsense & adwords). You may as well let them view all of your website analysis. Personally, I’m not afraid of them tracking my data and the new tool is really impressive. Obviously the sophisticated features available from SiteCatalyst aren’t all available, but I’ll choose free over $XX,XXX.