I have written a number of posts about how to best monetize your domain investments. One of the most important concepts I’ve discussed is the importance of fresh content and updating your domains as frequently as you can. If you haven’t read my post about What Makes A Minisite Effective you should definitely give it a read after this post.

Through all of my different posts about monetization I’ve left-out an important concept that makes a much bigger difference than you would think. While content is key and design is important, ad placement is oftentimes left-out of the monetization discussion. While I use multiple forms of monetization on the vast majority of my sites – on some of them Adsense is really only best fit. A good example of this is CheapMercury.com an information site I’ve developed about Mercury and buying Mercury online.

There really aren’t any excellent Amazon products about Mercury or good CJ banner ads I thought would make much sense on this site. Remember, I still heavily endorse using multiple forms of monetization when they offer a real benefit to your visitor. If you want an example please check-out my H1N1A information site which has already received many compliments from visitors to the site!

So if you have a site with Adsense ads and the revenue isn’t coming-in like you thought it would, your first reaction may be to move-onto other projects. I’ve found that little changes can actually go a long way so before you give-up…try something different!

CheapMercury.com has made about $8-$9/month for most of this year. It hasn’t been a major focus of mine but in September I thought I should give it a little love and make some small (and I mean small) changes. I added a small Adsense ad front and center to compliment the sidebar ads and also changed the video on the front page to be a more targeted video about Mercury.

Ascetically I updated the navigation bar to make it look a bit more professional. These were small changes and took a total of 30 minutes to make. At first you might think – “So what! You added one puny Adsense Ad and updated a video.” Yes – these are small changes but the placement of your ads has a HUGE impact on the revenue your site can produce. Also – the relevance of the videos on your site can also help SEO in ways you would never imagine.

Okay – so you’re probably ready for the results right? So here is my revenue before and after the change:

July 2009 – $9.13

August 2009 – $8.64

September 2009 – $20.99

October 2009 – $23.61

November 2009 (in first 8 days) – $11.36

Making those small changes DOUBLED my revenue in the same month I made the changes and the growth has been continuous since then. This month the domain is on-pace to make over $30, triple what it made in August before I made the changes!

Now while I don’t think making $23.61 is a crowning achievment – remember…I have over 100 domains with sites like this, most of which use multiple forms of monetization – so it’s all about power in numbers. If you can make even small tweaks to your sites on a quarterly basis you’d be surprised at the returns you can get. The point of this post is simple – little changes can go a long way!

So before you give-up on that MiniSite ask yourself a question “How long has it been since I’ve updated the site?” If the answer is “never” then you might not know what you’re missing!

The buzz word in the Domaining world this week was “Halvarez” as the Snapnames scandal continues to make top news. Conspiracy theories have been flying around and it is very clear that this story will unravel more over the coming weeks.

Below are my three favorite Domaining Blog Posts this week that you should definitely read if you haven’t already.

1. TheDomains.com – Will “Halvarez” Face Criminal Charges? It Maybe Up To You
2. Symbolics.com – Getting Started in Domain Investing: Low and High Budget Advice
3. ElliotsBlog.com – My Snapnames Theory

Back in June of this year I was trapped in Montreal due to the wild inefficiency of the airport combined with terrible service from Air Canada. This weekend I experienced a similar trauma however not as bad as last time. If you didn’t get to read my last airport adventure you can read Trapped in Montreal: My Travel Nightmare!

So what happened this time? I had an 8:10AM flight on Saturday morning to go back to Los Angeles. I thought it would be pretty easy, an early Saturday morning with a direct flight – sounds simple…right? As a frequent traveler I’m used to thing not going according to plan but I do think that Montreal has done a great job of making one of the most inefficient airports on the planet.

I checked-in at around 6:15AM only to be notified that a new baggage system they had installed in the airport was not working. This means that anyone with checked bags had to literally wait in a non-moving line. The agent told me some people had been in line since 4AM when they first opened and still have not moved an inch. Of course I made a video to document the experience!

So a process that normally takes about 30 minutes took three hours! When I finally got to put my bag under the plane the person running the machines said, “we have a very advanced baggage system – it works really well and is the future of automated baggage handling.”

I responded by saying, “I see, and how long has it been running for?”

“Three months without a problem,” he said.

“Hmmm,” I said. “Doesn’t sound like the future of baggage handling if only three-months in the system is completely broken and you have no back-up plan for how to get bags on the plane.”

“I guess that’s a good point he said.” My bag went through on a conveyor belt and then into a mechanical elevator. After my bad went under a red light came on. “Oh no!” the baggage handler exclaimed, “it’s broken again.” It took them 20 minutes to get the next person’s bag on the belt!

Montreal is a great city but the airport seems to be about as efficient as a trip to the local DMV! Of course if you’re going for vacation stick to the summer months since about 8 months out of the year the weather in Montreal is terrible. Visit LA during those other 8 months since our bad weather is the six days of rain we get a year

One of my favorite quotes of all-time is one by Frederick Douglass, “without a struggle there is no progress.” I found this quote in a book back in 7th grade and it’s stuck with me over the years.

This quote has helped me find strength at a number of different points in my life and Domaining has been no exception. What I find dissapointing is that many people start-out in this industry excited and ready to conquor the world and then leave soon-after, bitter and a few thousand dollars in the hole.

What I think plagues these new Domainers is the belief that Domaining is easy. As a broker I receive lists and lists of domains many of which I cringe to think someone even took the time to register. I am always completely honest with anyone who contacts me as I see no benefit in sugar-coating the situation many new domainers have put themselves in.

Over the last two years I’ve seen some dreams shattered and some champions emerge. The interesting thing about both is that in many cases – they all make the same mistakes…it is how you handle the mistake that defines your success, or failure.

You see – I too reached the dark pit of dispair – realizing about 6-months in that I had registered thousands of dollars of truly worthless domains. Immediately I thought – this is the struggle I need to be successful. I learned from my mistakes and moved on.

But guess what? I made more mistakes! In fact every month I make mistakes – but rather than getting angry about it – I learn from each and every one of them. No matter what you do – if you believe in yourself then fail, fail, and fail again – but don’t do it without learning each time!

So why do most domainers give-up? Because they fail and think of that failure as a bad thing. Next time you fail – relish in it, enjoy the moment, learn from it and MOVE ON. This industry is just beginning and ten years from now those of us who are successful will probably be the same people who failed the most!

On that note – October 2009 came-in as my most profitable month ever – beating an already incredible September. I can say that the changes I’ve made in my business this year are responsible for that success and the lessons all came from some very valuable mistakes!

In case you’re not active on the Twitterverse I’d like to bring you up to speed on a new feature that Twitter has just added to their service. The feature is called “Lists” however I think it really should be called “Groups” – but probably a bit too late to change the name!

The idea is a great one and in the general theme of Twitter – very simple. Lists are ways to organize groups of people on Twitter. You can create lists and add people to them so you can organize Tweets from a targeted group of people. This just launched and already there are 31 lists that are following me…

Since I’m a big Twitter geek I thought it would be great to share what I think are five great ways to use Twitter lists:

1. Make a list of your favorite Domainers
2. Create a list of gurus in a particular niche (yes – there are other interesting things out there besides Domaining!)
3. Make a list of other Twitter users in your city or town
4. Create a work Twitter list of people in your office
5. Make a list of all your friends from High School, College, etc.

There are many more great uses for lists – feel free to comment and share your own. One thing is for sure – this feature is only starting to take-off and Twitter has an amazing way of creating very simple but wildly popular features!

Happy Tweeting and don’t forget to add me to your list!

DomainSuperstar.com has created a list of the top 100 Domaining blogs and I’m excited to say that I’m currently #18! It’s about time someone made a list of the top Domaining blogs and a great thing about this one is that it updates daily so there will definitely be some nice friendly competition going on

While it is hard to decide which metrics are best to determine what really makes a “top” blog, I think they’ve done a pretty good job of using the data available to generate a meaningful list.

Here is the current top 20 Domaining blogs. I’ll try to re-publish the top 20 once a week for those that just want to have a weekly update!

1. Domain Tools Blogs
2. ICANN Blog
3. Afternic DLS
4. NameDrive Blog
5. DNJournal
6. Domain Name Wire
7. Dotsauce
8. Elliot’s Blog
9. The Domains
10. Chef Patrick
11. mobiForge
12. Domain Name News
13. INForum.in Blog
14. Domain News
15. DotWeekly
16. Rick’s Blog
17. Rick Latona
18. Domainvestors.tv
19. Bruce Marler
20. Frager Factor

I can honestly say I really like all the blogs in the top 100 and think I read almost every one of them on a pretty regular basis. That being said – the top 40 or so definitely get the most reads from me.

Hey – we all blog because we love talking about this industry but it will be fun to watch these rankings change over time! Let me know if you agree with the rankings or feel free to submit your own top 20 list to share with everyone else!

So we all know that the Domaining industry is pretty much unknown…but did you know that there’s a whole group out there who think they know us? TechCrunch – one of the most well-known blogs out there that receives between 1.5-2 million visitors/day had this to say about Domaining:

Anyone who doesn’t know how dirty the domain name business is just doesn’t know the domain name business. People pay exorbitant sums to acquire domain names, put Google or Yahoo ads on the parked pages, and collect the advertising fees. They often buy and sell individual domains and portfolios with other domain squatters. (TechCrunch.com – Read Full Article)

Hmmm…this doesn’t quite sound like the Domaining business I know and love…and I think I know the domain name business pretty damn well! So there’s a lot here so let me reconstruct this little beauty piece-by-piece.

Let’s start with the last sentence – “They often buy and sell individual domains and portfolios with other domain squatters.”

First let me say – Ouch! Could you imagine if you called multi-millionaire real-estate investors squatters? Just think – many real estate millionaires and billionaires have made their money buying and selling real estate…why does buying and selling online real estate make you a squatter?

Next the author says that we pay exorbitant sums to acquire domain names. This pretty much implies that domain names are all worthless and we’re paying too much for them. This is a wildly broad statements with no facts to back it up. We all know that domains have value and many people are able to buy domains for much less than they are worth and sell them later on for a huge profit…isn’t this was real estate and stock investors do too??

So I could go on and on here but why not let the grand master say his piece. Here is a comment that none other than Frank Schilling left in response to this blog post on TechCrunch – I’ll leave you with these words as Frank says it a million times better than I ever could!

Michael. You have a very big microphone so you can say what you want here and the informed (and sometimes uninformed) masses can lap it up. But calling the entire “domain industry” dirty, is quite simply a stretch. Firstly, in this instance it seems to have policed itself. The supposed bad guy (who has not told his side of the story btw) was outed and the parent company offered refunds to all participants (5 figures in my case). Try finding an auction on this planet that doesn’t have insider bidding, primping, competitive-bid-ups etc. My wife and I collect antiques and have had executives at sterling plated auction houses concede that it’s impossible to stamp out the shill bidding which they know goes on. I suppose it just feels a little icky you dumping on everything around this biz when you were once so close to it and it so enriched you. Nobody hates you BUT everyone in America knows somebody who has sold a domain name for a profit. All those entrepreneurs constitute a part of the industry you are dumping on. So you coming out with your swagger tarring the etire space with same brush just feels yucky. Do you understand my (and other’s) view? (Frank Schilling)

The issue here really comes down to generalizations…and I know where some of this comes from. So how did Domaining get such a bad reputation…or at least with this blogger?

I think it comes down to the parking phenomenon that the industry started with. The average web surfer encounters parking pages and gets angry – I think many people just assume that this must be the strategy of every domain investor.

Over the years Domaining has evolved – in a MAJOR way. In fact – I did an entire video dedicated to building online destinations. If you look at Domainers like Elliot Silver from ElliotsBlog – he has built major websites like Burbank.com that are major destinations filled with useful information.

It is about time people realize that the domain name industry has changed since the early 2000’s – development is fresh in our minds and there are more investors than squatters out there!

When the first episode of Domainvestors Television airs in February of 2010 I hope to show the whole world what this industry is all about – and I’ll tell you this – it isn’t parking or squatting – it’s investing in digital real estate!

I am very excited to say that I have won my first award in the Domaining world! NameTalent.com has announced winners in its Domain Name Video Awards and I won the award for Best MiniSite/Development video for my video about creating an online destination.

Of course Chef Patrick joins me in the winners circle for his famous “nipple-gate” video as well as tied for the win for best interview.

I’d like to give a HUGE thanks to NameTalent for the award and a BIG congratulations to everyone else who won!

Hot off the press – I have some breaking news for this week! Press release below:

London, UK (PRWEB) November 5, 2009 — eBusinessDomains.com has partnered with The Domain Distribution Network (DDN), a product of Australia-based Dark Blue Sea (ASX: DBS), to broaden their domain search inventory of high quality domains.

Under the terms of the agreement, eBusinessDomains.com will market DDN’s domain inventory via its marketplace, which will show in search results next to domains listed directly with eBusinessDomains.com.

Buyers will acquire domains by clicking on a link at eBusinessDomains.com that will take them to the FabulousDomains.com (Dark Blue Sea’s domain marketplace) website to complete the transaction.

The partnership will bring the following benefits to eBusinessDomains.com’s customers:

- Full access to over 500,000 quality aftermarket domains via domain searches.

- Secure payment processing via the FabulousDomains.com website.

- Fully automated transaction, with instant transfer of the domain name ownership via the Fabulous.com Registrar.

eBusinessDomains.com’s founder and CEO Kevin Jackson said, “As a premium domain name marketplace that specialises in selling domains to entrepreneurs and small businesses, we are delighted with our partnership with the Domain Distribution Network, as it expands our inventory and will help us to satisfy the growing demand for quality domain names. We are now able to comfortably supply domains to all niches and business sectors.”

“The Domain Distribution Network is very pleased to partner with eBusinessDomains.com as we continue to expand our distribution channel,” said Jen Sale, Business Development Manager of The Domain Distribution Network. “eBusinessDomains.com truly seeks to add value and satisfy market demand by providing premium domains to small business owners and their customers. We foresee great success for the program.”

Lately I’ve emphasized the importance of focusing on the best 3-5 domains in your portfolio. With domain names it can be all too easy to become overwhelmed with too many projects.

However – there is a caveat here that I thought it would be important to bring-up. By focusing on your best domains I don’t mean you should forget about all the rest!

I’ve compiled a list of five ways to breathe life into your domain investments so that all your domains get at least a little love!

1) Don’t use your hosting service’s parking (like the GoDaddy parking pages) – use a service like WhyPark to actually get content on your domains.

2) Make sure all your domains are listed in Google and Yahoo.

3) Use a service like EZineArticles.com to write articles with links to some of your domains. Don’t go overboard – you can get-away with a few articles to get started.

4) Tweet about your domains periodically and let people know they are for sale.

5) Create a domain portfolio site/page with a list of all the domains you have for sale. This link alone gives at least one backlink to the other domains in your portfolio!

Don’t just use one of these techniques – use a few. That way one or two years from now you won’t be waiting to get your other domains on the radar. They might not turn-into super-stars but they’ll be easier to build-up by just using a few of the tips above.

Remember – a majority of your focus should be on your best 3-5 domains. Decide which of your top five you’d like to monetize or sell and make it your mission to reach your goals!

As with any business – FOCUS is the key!