Posts Tagged ‘free’

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?

Within the past year I acquired the domain SwapWay.com. I just happened to come across it and liked it’s potential so I grabbed it. The name gives the impression of some sort of trading site so at the moment I am comtemplating that. However, I am open to any ideas. Do you have anything in mind?

Name Recognition:
I have come across numerous trading sites in my searches, but there are none marketed well enough to dominate the market (*Maybe this is a clue that there is no market whatsoever). Personally, I think SwapWay is a marketable name that is easily remembered. Would you disagree? If so, why?

The Marketplace:
Honestly, I have just begun to look into the trading market so my knowledge is limited. I don’t know how many people would be willing to trade online rather than sell items on ebay. Would you ever trade an item online?

Profit:
Presently, I imagine SwapWay’s business model focused on advertisments and add on features such as pictures showing the product or priority placement. The standard listings themselves would be free. I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of successful online ventures offer free services to appeal to the masses and keep them coming back.

Yes, I’m just babbling as I’m building this plan from scratch and at the moment have no direction. Any comments would be much appreciated.

Looking for a great way to organize your life online? MyDataBook is something I have used for a while and highly recommend. This PHP/MySQL script is free and hosted on your own server. It keeps track of your calendar, contacts, daily journal and email reminders all in a simple interface. It does take someone familiar with manual database installation as there is no auto-install available at this point. Also, if you are familiar with PHP it is very easy to customize to your liking.

Other PIMs (Personal Information Managers) can be found here.

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.