Sold as a pair only, these two candy domain names can showcase your candy-making skills, add revenue to your promotional products company or make your wedding planner business a one-stop shop.

www.MintsUSA.com
www.Mints-USA.com

See These Candy Domains at Afternic

These candy domain names are registered and available for sale at Afternic. For Pricing and Sale Terms, click GO.

Candy Domain Names For Sale Inquiries

Please see listing here.

www.Mints-USA.com is THE site for custom mints, made in the USA.

No Parking!

In last month’s article, If You Buy a Domain Name…, the word “domainer” was defined and I briefly mentioned two ways to make money with domains. This article takes an in depth look at these two distinct domain monetization strategies.

Making Money with Domains: Your Monetization Strategy

A “domain monetization strategy” is an overall plan for making money with a domain. While there are countless ways to make money with a website, there are really only three ways to make money with a domain name: You can sell it a profit. You can park it. Or you can build a website.

Buy and Hold: Sell It at a Profit

The pipe dream of every domainer is to buy a domain name then sell it at a profit. The idea that you can buy a domain name, hold on to it for some time then sell it and make money fuels many domain purchases. But I don’t consider this “buy and hold” strategy a monetization strategy. Certainly, money can be made. But the profit results strictly from the sale and not from the use of the domain name .

Many of us own domain names that are not readily in demand and even when marketed, just aren’t selling – or aren’t selling for the profit we envisioned. Consequently, savvy domainers seek ways to make money with their domains prior to selling them.

Monetizing Your Domains: Park It or Build It

Which monetization strategy should you use? This is the big question; the parting of camps. Given any one domain name, these two strategies are mutually exclusive. You can either build a website on the domain or you can park the domain. But you cannot do both at the same time.

Thus a Domainer must choose between one strategy or the other with regard to making money with that domain. One strategy allows for passive profits but requires buying “right.” The other strategy requires a bit more web skill but offers greater potential returns.

Park It: Making Money with Domain Parking

Domain Parking is a relatively passive way to monetize a domain that relies, primarily, on type-in traffic, or, “direct navigation traffic.” Type-in traffic is traffic that results from someone simply typing the domain name into a browser. This means that the domain name contains either a very popular keyword phrase or a misspelling of a popular keyword phrase.

Instead of creating a hosting account and building a website after buying a domain name, a domainer will choose a Domain Parking Company then “point” the DNS (domain name servers) to a pre-determined set of IP addresses provided by the domain parking company.

Without any development on the domainer’s part, a webpage, filled with ads, links to pages with more ads and a search box will be served up anytime someone types in the domain name – or happens to click on a link to that domain name.

Revenue is generated when a visitor clicks on one of the advertisements displayed on the page.

Unless the domain name once had a website, there are no inbound links to the domain. Thus there is no organic traffic or organic search engine listings. All revenue generated depends first on type-in traffic then on the site visitor clicking on the pay-per-click ads.

Most hosting companies and domain parking companies offer a variety of templates from which to choose. You’ll also be able to enter a limited set of keywords for your domain and possibly write a description. Other than this, though, you have very little control over traffic generation.

They key to success with Domain Name Parking is to buy right!

Look for a domain name with a popular keyword, keyword phrase or misspelling. These domains have the greater probability of receiving type-in traffic. Also, look for domain names with existing traffic.

Two handy tools I use are Alexa.com and dnscoop.com.
Both offer traffic rank (dnscoop.com pulls its traffic data from Alexa). Alexa breaks down the traffic by country and also provides pageview data and up/down trend views. DNscoop has a more attractive page and fills in the gaps with a domain “age,” page rank check and inbound links.

Build It: Making Money with a Website

There is another way to make money with your domains. And increasingly, domainers are choosing the Build It monetization strategy.

Employing this strategy, a domainer will buy a domain name and build a website. Some build affiliate sites, some start a blog and some build eCommerce sites selling their own products. Monetization occurs through sale of ad space, pay-per-click revenue, affiliate revenue and/or outright eCommerce product sales.

The reason many domainers choose the “Build It” monetization strategy” is clear and was said best by Shane Pike at AskShane.org: “the big, safe money is in the development.”

Other Domainers, like Richard at TooManySecrets.com feel the same:

“We all know that parking is not development. There are some new flavours of parking available in 2009, and I tip my hat to the guys building these systems, but parking is only a short term revenue stream. If you want to squeeze the most revenue out of your domains, development is the way to go.”

Mike Cohen at WannaDevelop.com, is a bit more persuasive:

“Domain parking is in its final days and simply put, there is no future or any potential for things to get better with parking… It’s only downhill from where we are today.”

I, too, am a strong advocate of the Build It strategy for several reasons.

• Building a website instead of parking a domain provides more control over the type of traffic received. Simply parking a domain offers very little control over content and keywords.
• Developing the website allows me to control what my visitor sees once they get find my site. I can respond to visitor feedback, honing my pages and improving site content to offer the site experience they desire.
• I choose the location and size of the ad space on my pages, I choose the advertisers, the products and the ad network(s) employed on my sites. When a block of ads does not perform, I can change the ads, offering my visitors options beyond the content.
• Finally, having built a site instead of parking the domain, I now have a domain name with organic ranks in the search engines and steady traffic. When a Buyer can profitably leverage a domain name’s existing traffic, the domain has more value to them. And greater value to the Buyer makes the purchase more attractive.

Domaining: Getting Started

When you consider that an ordinary person can buy a domain name for less than the cost of a meal and have a global voice and global reach, you realize how great the potential of the web is.

Crossing the potential gap, though, requires an input of energy. For a person who is computer-literate but web-ignorant, there is much to learn, no matter which monetization strategy you choose. It is highly advantageous to learn how traffic moves around on the web, to understand the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, to become intimately familiar with keywords, link-building and search engine optimization and the newest trend: social media and social networking.

It is also profitable to keep your eyes on major trends: globally, culturally and politically.

At a minimum you will want to understand
• what domain parking means
• what companies offer domain parking and the revenue share you will receive if you park your domain with that company
• what PPC (Pay-per-Click) means and who the major players in the PPC market are

You may also look into learning HTML (HyperText Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Stylesheets), PhotoShop and DreamWeaver.

Learning more about blogging with services like WordPress and Blogger will serve you well also.

Further Reading: The Money is in Development

If you would like to learn more about monetizing your domains, visit
AskShane.org and read, How to Really Make Money with Domain Names. Shane is a long-time proponent of the “Build It” strategy, voicing his opinion on domain monetization well over a year ago.

You might also give Richard’s article, Get Started with Domain Development” a read. He offers more good reasons to develop your domains instead of parking them.

Finally, have a gander at Elliot Silver’s article, Don’t Develop Dumb Domains.

Without a doubt, “the Big Money is in Development.”

Please feel free to share your knowledge and comment on this article; I respond to all comments and questions!

Then, as a service to his readers, he put forth that the term “Domaining” itself has yet to be defined. For a practice that’s as old as the web, one would think this is either a naive assumption or a bold statement.

But, frankly, he’s right. Most folks know about the internet now, they know what a web site is and they don’t scrunch up their eyebrows anymore if you tell them you are a “Web Developer.” They might even think they need a website.

But tell them you are a Domainer and their eyebrows furrow as the words, “What the heck is that,” slide past their lips.

What is a Domainer?

The term “domainer” can best be understood first, by understanding what a Real Estate Investor does (although there are probably a slew of Trademark Attorneys who would disagree) and then by understanding how the real estate investor differs from a Real Estate Developer.

A real estate investor buys real property for profit. When the investor finds a willing buyer, the investor sells the property. If making a profit on the property entails “squatting” on the property (i.e., holding title to the property until a profit can be made), then a real estate investor squats. Note that this is not considered illegal in real estate.

Similarly, a domainer buys domain names to make a profit. Like a real estate investor, sometimes, most times, a domainer must hold on to the domain name for some time before finding a buyer. Some erroneously refer to this as cybersquatting. It’s not. Buying a domain name and holding it instead of developing it is not cybersquatting.

Some Domainers are also Developers But Not All Developers are Domainers

Going back to the Real Estate Investor analogy, some real estate investors are also real estate developers. They have a vision of profitability based on putting the real estate to some use and developing it for that use. The intention is to buy the land, develop it then sell it for a profit.

Some Domainers are also Web Developers but not all Web Developers are Domainers.

A web developer typically builds sites on domains owned by others using the tools of the web development trade: HTML, CSS, XML, php, Ruby, Perl, Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, a text editor. The goal of the web developer is to produce a website.

Some web developers are also domainers. They buy domain names and develop websites for that domain. The goal of the web developing Domainer, however, has not changed: buy a domain name and sell it for more than s/he bought it for. If building that site creates a stream of steady, verifiable traffic or revenue from product sales, all other things being equal, this should increase the attractiveness of the domain name and the profitability at sale.

At this point, I think it is safe to define a domainer and the industry of Domaining.

Domainers buy domain names to make a profit; some make a profit only at sale, some profit along the way through development. Domaining is the practice of buying domain names for profit. Like real estate investors, domainers purchase with the intention of profiting.

Perhaps if industry folks referred to themselves as Domain Name Investors, the nature of the business would be clearer to others.

As it is, the term, “domainer” has taken root in the industry.

Domaining Philosophies

Domainers appear to be separated into two “camps” or philosophies. Some domainers buy and park their domain names, banking on type-in traffic or simply making a profit at sale. Rick Schwartz and Frank Schilling have a bit to say about buying and holding domain names.

Others buy and develop their domain names, banking on selling a product online, making money with affiliate advertising, generating revenue with PPC (pay-per-click) advertising and increasing the perceived value of the domain by creating a stream of traffic.

As a domainer, this is my personal philosophy as well: the money is in the developing and for good reason.

You’ll find Domainers on both sides of the fence; some of us develop, some simply park their domains. Most of us probably do a bit of both with the distinction being only our initial intentions. For sound explanation of the reasons behind developing versus parking, have a look at Shane Pike’s article How To Really Make Money with Domain Names at AskShane.org.

All of us, as Domainers, want to make a profit selling our domain names. So, whether we buy and park or buy and develop, the end goal is the same: Sell the Domain Name for a profit.

That is what separates us from web developers and defines us as Domainers.

Good keyword research and good search engine optimization (SEO) afford a better position in search engine results for the keyword or keyword phrase specified. Relevant traffic, the kind of traffic that came to your site expecting what you have to offer, is more likely to convert to a sale or list subscriber than non-relevant traffic. The combination of search engine position and conversion are two important factors leading to profit.

Keyword Research and Site Optimization Overview

Keyword research is not something that I can do in an hour or two.

It generally takes me four to five hours to get my arms around the keywords I want to use and the keywords I should use within the pages of a site. Typically, after a half-day’s worth of keyword mining, I’m spent. So, don’t get the impression that this is a quick process. It’s not and I’ll sleep on every one of those keywords before I begin optimizing a page.

Add Google Analytics

The first step I take when developing a new site is creating a Google Analytics account for that site. Then, I make sure my Google Analytics tag is embedded on each page of the site.

Embed Your Keywords and Keyword Phrases

Next, I’ll do a “first pass” SEO on my pages, knowing this first attempt will not remain the same for long. This first pass means making sure the three keywords or phrases I have selected are used in the body of my page. It means my primary keyword is in my title, in my description meta-tag, in my keywords meta-tag and within an H1 tag. And it means I have relevant phrases related to my keywords throughout the body of the page.

Next, I’ll configure my Google Adsense ads and embed them within the pages.

With this, I’m ready to launch. Remember, I know my page will not stay the same; I am expecting it to change but as it is right now, I can begin to gather data on the effectiveness of my keyword strategy.

Keword Research In-Depth

There are a myriad of measures that drive changes to a site’s current optimization and outlining the gestalt of it all is worthy of an eBook or video presentation. I’ll save that for another day. For now, I’d like to explain a bit about the Keyword Research Tools I use.

In this order, I use, Google’s Keyword Tool, PPC Web Spy and SEO Elite.

Google’s keyword research tool is free and easy to use. You can get a quick picture of the average monthly number of search queries matching your keywords that were performed on Google along with the number of advertisers bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google. You will also be able to mine related keywords or phrases.

SEO Elite, from Bryxen Software is one of the best Search Engine results tools I use. This is not a free tool but I wouldn’t be without it; it lets me know quickly where my pages are ranked for a given keyword or set of keyword phrases. It’s sister product, Keyword Elite, is equally good.

But there is a free product that you can use to research keywords on Google – and to know what keywords Adwords advertisers are bidding on. That is where PPC Web Spy comes in. This free software runs in the Firefox browser and lets you know the Cost per Day for that keyword, the Cost per Click (CPC) and much more.

Why is this important? If you are developing a site where you display ads, particularly Google Adsense ads, what would it be worth to you to know the clicks per day a particular ad receives and the keywords that drive those clicks? PPC Web Spy gives you that priceless information and… it’s FREE.

Follow Up Keyword Mining with Google Analytics

After you’ve done your research, put up your pages and waited, it’s time for some feedback and action.

With Google Analytics, I can find out how folks found my pages (you’d think I would use Analytics to tell me how many visitors I actually have… No). When I see a fair few number of folks finding a site or a page based on a keyword or keyword phrase I had never even considered, I pay attention. Then, I push that keyword or keyword phrase through “my process” to determine if it is worth optimizing for.

A Good Google Adwords Response is Worth Optimizing For

Imagine you found a keyword or keyword phrase with a high or decent CPC (Cost per Click) with lots of Google Ad Campaigns. You might think, “Great! I’ll optimize for that keyword!” But you could be making a HUGE mistake.

There has to be a connection between that keyword and your particular site in order for you to benefit from that high CPC.

If there is a disconnect – if you offer mints with your logo (shameless plug, I know) but you optimize for pens, instead, folks may get your page, but how will they convert? They won’t.

Why? Because there’s a huge disconnect between how they got there and what you are offering. (Now, this brings up an arbitrage issue, but I am banking that the level of trust generated is so low, that any attempt at arbitrage will not work).

So, how do you know whether a keyword has any conversion potential?

Why, you fork over some dough and run an Adwords campaign to measure the Adwords Response, of course! Essentially, you do a test run with Google Adwords. Now, you only do this if your shopping cart is in place; in other words, if your product can be purchased. It doesn’t matter if your ad copy is not perfect, or if your sales page is a mess. The only thing that matters is whether or not your visitors can convert to Customers – and the only way that will happen online is if your shopping cart is in place and they can buy.

Now, at this point, before I even place an ad, I want to know what keywords other advertisers are bidding on.

Again PPC Web Spy is the free Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool I use.

This beauty of a browser add-on will let me see what keywords and keyword phrases other Adwords advertisers have bid on. In other words, those ads that appear on Google’s pages – you know, the ones on the right and at the very top – each one of those advertisers is paying to appear for a certain set of keywords or keyword phrases. So, before you launch you own campaign or even begin optimizing your pages – especially pages where you will have Google ads appear (hint, hint) – don’t you want to know the keywords that drive the appearance of those ads? Of course you do. And the tool you will use is called PPC Web Spy.

Why they didn’t name it PPC Ad Spy is beyond me, but there it is. Go get your free version while it’s still free.

Now, I’ll qualify the limits of the tool right here: You must use Firefox. If you don’t, it won’t work. The good news is, the Firefox browser is readily available, easily downloaded and frankly, an awesome browser that, as of this writing, according to w3schools.com, 45% of internet users employ.

Also, this is applicable to Google searches only. It isn’t meant to be a stand-alone tool; it’s meant to complement your keyword research and quickly. That’s why it runs in the browser. You don’t have to launch a separate program.

Finally, the free version limits the keywords to ten. Yes, there is another version, very reasonably priced that provides a much longer list. But the free version works very well and will suit many website owner’s needs. So, get your free copy of PPC Web Spy here – and do a bit of due diligence before launching your Adwords campaign or optimizing your site.

Questions? Comments? I’d like to know how you are doing your keyword research, so feel free to let me know.

When Matt and Brad Callen opened their site, they temporarily capped the number of accounts at 1,000. We were able to grab an account and play around with their new tool before they closed the site for new sign-ups.

First and foremost, this site builder was made for people who don’t know how to build a website.

That means that you do not have to know anything about HTML, FTP, PHP or any of the other techy stuff web geeks spend their waking hours learning. And BlinkWeb absolutely delivers on this claim.

If you can point your mouse, click and drag, you can build a website – not just a web page but a website with BlinkWeb.

In addition the simple and clean interface, I liked that BlinkWeb will let you upload your Flickr photos and your videos. It was also pretty cool that you can add your own blog to your BlinkWeb site. But the icing on the cake is that you can even add your own Google AdSense ads to your site.

BlinkWeb was produced by Bryxen Software. Their previous products (SEOelite and KeywordElite) were released with video tutorials. When I created my new BlinkWeb account, a video tutorial was not available. But I was able to easily create a one page site without any help whatsoever.

Today, I noticed that the first BlinkWeb video tutorial had been added to the site. And it provides an excellent overview of the power of BlinkWeb.

I should also mention that while the website was created for people who have no technical knowledge, there are several options available that take advantage of a person’s technical ability. What I am saying is, a seasoned web developer will use this tool as well. For example, I would use BlinkWeb to build a website for a Client who does not want to create their own site but wants to update her text, photos and blog.

As of now, a BlinkWeb account is free. I have read rumors that BlinkWeb will have a “basic” free account and a paid account. I expect their blog will have an update on this soon.

I give BlinkWeb the Big High-Five and recommend you hop on over and get started building your own website.

BlinkWeb is the Website Builder Tool that is easy to use and free!

My mailbox – never sacred ground – passively accepts printed junk touting the newest web site of a business that I never cared for in the first place. The food I purchase from the grocery store comes packaged in advertising material listing the lucky company’s URL (Uniform Resource Locator) along with a perky request to “visit” their site. Even my television set acts as a hawker for some “cool site” that I must, without a doubt, “check out” if I am to remain up with the times. Indeed. It may appear to us that the Web sprung up out of nowhere, sunk its teeth into our wallets and refuses to go away. Only part of this is true.

The World Wide Web exists as a component of a much larger infrastructure known as the Internet.

This Internet has, comparatively speaking, been a long time in the making.

In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik and the U.S. found itself in the unenviable position of “second place” in the race for space. Fueled by cold war concerns, President Eisenhower created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which was charged with improving the military’s use of computer technology.

Twelve years later, the Agency produced ARPANET.

ARPANET was the first Wide Area Network (WAN) and consisted of “links” between computers in California and Utah. Designed for the military, this experimental network is largely responsible for developing the technology upon which our current Internet is based. One example of this technology is TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), which grew out of ARPANET.

It should be noted that while ARPANET was developed for the U.S. Military, many of its designers and developers were from the academic community.

Use of ARPANET was restricted to the Military, and its designers found themselves lacking an effective means of communication. Fifteen years after the start of ARPANET, the National Science Foundation, in conjunction with IBM, MCI and the University of Michigan, launched NSFNET.

Access to NSFNET was granted to Military, Academic and Government Agencies with the sporadically enforced restriction that use be limited to educational endeavors and non-commercial research. By 1988, the NSFNET was the preferred network – the Internet had arrived. ARPANET, slow and cumbersome, hobbled along for two more years and quietly shut down.

Commercial use of NSFNET began in 1991.

It wasn’t until 1993, however, that the general public had access to the software of the World Wide Web. By this time, the Internet supported Email, as well as File Transfer (FTP). Telnet – the ability to use a remote or distant machine – was in full swing and people were “chatting” in real time using a program called Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Netnews was available and the “Web” made its debut.

The Internet, on its NSFNET “backbone” supported all of these functions which contributed to data “traffic.”

In June 1993, approximately 43% of the “traffic” on the Internet was due to the transfer of files (FTP); netnews, email and telnet accounted for the second largest percentage of traffic. With only 130 Web Sites, Web traffic comprised a mere 0.5% of backbone usage. When the National Science Foundation stopped running the backbone in June, 1995, these figures were drastically different. Vying for first place in the traffic war was FTP and the Web. The transfer of files accounted for 24% of backbone traffic while the use of the Web accounted for 23%. The number of Web Sites had climbed to 23,500. Email, telnet, IRC and netnews collectively comprised the balance of the traffic figures.

At the time of this writing (1997), it was estimated that at least half of the Web sites on the Internet were commercial sites. The number of Internet users, approximately 40 million strong, had doubled every year for the past eight years. It was expected to double again in 1997.

I sometimes wonder what President Eisenhower would say if he could see the spawn of ARPANET. Perhaps his only response would be, “Come visit my homepage at www.eisenhower.gov!”

REFERENCES

The Quintessential
History of the Internet *** makes history come to life with his engaging
writing style, humour and grasp of the subject matter. Be forewarned: the
article is lengthy. Bookmark it – it is well worth it.

An
Internet Timeline Albeit a bit technical for the novice, Robert Zakon
presents a well-organized and well-linked timeline.

Internet Background
and Basics A good, well-rounded site consisting of links to Search
Engine basics and reviews, a History of the Internet, Communications Protocols,
Internet Service Providers and more.

6th
Georgia Institute of Technology Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center
WWW Survey Offers raw data, text summaries and graphs of Internet demographics.

Matthew Gray of the Massachussetts
Institute of Technology has compiled statistics on backbone usage over
the last several years.

www.AFishingClub.com
www.A-Fishing-Club.com

Showcase your fishing camp, member catches, fishing tournaments and more with www.aFishingClub.com!

Also included is the Gmail address: afishingclub@gmail.com.

Escrow.com will act as the Escrow Agent for this sale and the Seller will pay all fees associated with the transfer of the domain name.

Fishing Domain Names For Sale Inquiries

Please send all offers to: support@domainnames-usa.com

The Cost of TRAFFIC

To help folks understand why he is asking this question, it is helpful to know, first, that this industry event is not cheap. As of right now, the “early bird” registration fee to attend T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East in Orlando this May is $1,495; after March 1, that price climbs to $1,995. Ouch! And, as Sahar points out, this does not include airfare, hotels, meals and the opportunity cost of attendance (lost revenue due to taking time off from work or leaving one’s business unattended).

The Value of TRAFFIC

At the bottom of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. website, the words, “Network with the biggest and the best,” appear. This is the seven word hook upon which many of us hang. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall when Rick Schwartz takes the podium? Anyone out there not want to rub shoulders with the physical embodimonts of success in this industry?

For Sahid, this is a question of Value. For me, like many others, this is a question of potential Return on Investment: what is my business going to get in return for all of the costs of event attendance?

It is not that I am not a hopeful person; I am.

It is not that the esoteric is lost on me; it is not. Certainly there is a cozy and warm zen value meeting folks who do what you do and who love what they do, they way you love what you do. Trust me, I don’t feel like the black sheep of my field lurking on Sarid’s site or reading Rick Schwartz’s Blog. Frank Schilling and I share similiar feathers.

But, I have to ask, what actionable ideas will I come home with? What information will I have as a result of the show that I would not have otherwise or that I would not have in a timely manner? Finally, what can I put to work immediately to increase my cashflow?

And Your Favorite ROI Is… ?

Sahar wants us to look beyond the cash ROI. He acknowledges a complex form of value greater than cash value when he writes, “The more complex form of value is not to judge ROI in only dollars and cents, but judge ROI in the bigger picture.”

And I agree with Sahar, with all of my heart: The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Event holds much potential value for domainers.

Having good friends and famliar contacts in your industry makes me go gooey inside; I long for the day or evening when I can get together with a group of people who understand the words, “conversion,” “SEO” or “organic traffic.” I long to be able to call someone and say, “Hey! I just bought umpty-frats.com!” and hear that person say, “Holy Crap, park that domain!” instead of, “Okay, show me the money.”

I long for the flow of ideas that happens when friends with similar interests get together (a weekly event over here where 99.9% of our friends are pilots and if we could eat on aviation ideas we’d all be fat).

But I cannot agree with my wallet. I have to ask the nasty cash questions: how long will it take me to make the money back? what cash profit potential does T.R.A.F.F.I.C. hold? what will I learn that I can act on now? I fI cannot positively answer these questions with a cashflow gameplan, I cannot justify spending the money on T.R.A.F.F.I.C. (Well, I could, but my husband would hit the ceiling)

Even Rick Schwartz says, “Nothing happens on this planet until a sale is made.”

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) disagreed, proving size does not matter.

The fact that a company operates “internationally” or holds “world trademark rights” does not lessen the claims of another legitimate business operation, regardless of the size of the territory in which that other business is located.

Imagine an international food grower claiming rights to a “local” farmer’s land based simply on the claim of
1. “World trademark rights” and
2. “That local farmer is located in a small territory.”

That smacks of internet imperialism to me.

But I like this remark by Jasper Sellin most because it shows, for all to see, a dangerous sense of elitism:

“In our opinion, it is far from clear that a holder of worldwide trademark rights should find it obvious that a company operating in a small territory like the Bahamas should have legitimate rights in a .com domain name.”

You must be joking, Jasper.

You mean to say you could not have possibly thought that a company, operating in a “little territory” might actually have a legitimate right to a .com domain name?

You mean to say that the owners of one business could not possibly have known that the owners of another business might have a legitimate claim to a .com name?

Gee, with that reasoning, why not march into every company operating in a “little territory” and demand their .com domain names.

It should be obvious to you that *any* company, regardless of location and regardless of the size of that location, has, from its inception, the same legitimate rights as the company you represent.

And these “world trademark rights” do not give you the right to squat on or squash the potential of any other business idea simply because you want something you don’t own and are not willing to pay the seller’s price for it.

read more | digg story

The technology tracks blogs and “social media.” The comments that folks make on blogs, the links from their blog to another’s blog: Technorati keeps track of these things. As of this writing, they are currently tracking over 112 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.

You might say Technorati is a blog aggregator with the ability to rank blogs according to popularity.

Technorati Profile