Online Marketing Success Blog - Internet Riches - e-Riches 2.0 by Scott Fox

Which Domain Names should I buy?

Scott,

I have been thinking about domain names and my question is how important is it to buy .NET, .INFO, .ORG, .CO, .US domain names as well as the .COM name?

Additionally, is it smart to buy the plural or singular form?  If I would like my new domain to be example.com, should I also register examples.com?

This may seem silly, but I would hate to buy a new domain name and have a competitor pop up because I didn't do my due diligence.

Thanks for the help!

Click Millionaire Jennifer
Flowery Branch, Georgia

 

SCOTT FOX'S ANSWER

Hi Jennifer,

This is a great question.  You are smart to think this through before your competitors catch on and buy your domain name's variations. 

Of course you should start by buying .COM.  The .COM domain extension is still the clear leader, especially in the US. 

After that how many domain names you buy depends on your outlook for the business and your budget.

I usually buy .NET since that's the second most recognized extension and I also buy .TV because I think the whole web is turning into something like interactive television.  (You can make a similar argument for buying .MOBI domains, too.)

.ORG is also nice if your business has a non-profit or charity angle to it.

I usually stop there.  Even though they have been available for years I still have never seen a serious business using .WS, .BIZ, .INFO, .US, etc. 

Also, spelling variations can be valuable.  Plurals and common misspellings are important if you are getting a lot of traffic and/or have an easily misspelled (or just mis-typed) domain. 

I usually buy the 1 or 2 most obvious ones of those variations also.

You can see that this is quickly adding up... 

So, the bottom line is to look at your wallet and compare your budget to your growth projections.  Buy a few domains today to get started and protect yourself, then buy more as your business grows and makes the variations more valuable and also brings in revenues to pay for them.

However, if you're super confident in your new biz and have the money, I would buy all the domain name extensions that you can afford.  It's a cheap form of insurance against competitors squatting on your turf.

I hope that's helpful.

Best,
Scott

p.s.  Domain name purchases at my InternetMillionaireDomains.com are appreciated if you don’t already have a registrar picked out.  I give the profits to charity.

Which domain extensions do you prefer?

Did I miss any good strategies to share with Jennifer?

 

What's the Best Web Site Builder?

What's the best web site building service today?

The "best" website builder means to me the one that offers an easy combination of tools for non-technical users to build a robust new website inexpensively. 

But I'm looking for a service that is not just cheap or free or easy...

The best website building service to me includes hosting (meaning you don't have to have your own servers).

It offers professional-looking (and free) design templates, and includes WYSIWYG access to the underlying HTML and SEO customization, too.

Which web site builder do you like best?

I'm looking for services other than Wordpress.  I'd like something simpler, even if it is not a free website builder.

My #1 recommended website builder is Site Build It.  Their service includes such good SEO training, a helpful support forum, and a money-back guarantee that I'm an affiliate for them, too.  Learn more about Site Build It here.

These are the web site builders I hear the most about.  Do you have comments on any of these? Or others to suggest?

Typepad Site Build It Jimdo Squarespace Wix

Weebly Intuit/Homestead GoDaddy Moonfruit Citymax

While I'm dreaming...

I'd also like the service to offer fast and reliable hosting, an easy upgrade path to features like an e-commerce store or blogs, and, of course, great customer service.

I know, CRAZY, right??

But, every year website building services like these do get more powerful, so I'm still hoping to find the best one!

What features are on your wishlist for the best website builder today?

And which website building services do you nominate as "best" and why?

(Nominations for "worst" are also helpful!)

Thanks for sharing. 

Your comments below are appreciated by me and readers worldwide!

 If you find it helpful, please tell your friends about this post
using Facebook, Twitter or Google+ buttons below?

Disclosure reminder

Hello - It's time to remind you again that Scott Fox, The Liminal Institute, Click Millionaires, and associated persons or businesses may have content, promotional, advertising, customer, consulting, or equity relationships with the entities discussed or recommended on this web site. Many of the links on our web sites and in associated materials contain affiliate advertising codes, for example.

While efforts have been made to identify the best suppliers/vendors in each of these areas, we assume no liability for your use of them. You should use your own independent judgment to evaluate their services and fit for your needs.

Please see the Legal & Disclosures section for more details.

Marks, graphics, and names are property of their respective owners, as appropriate.

Thanks for reading!

SAAS Risks: Is My Online Store at Risk with a Hosted SAAS Company?

Hosted services can provide your Internet business with low cost access to enterprise grade services online and are commonly called "SAAS" (software as a service) or "ASP" (application service providers). 

I'm getting more questions about the reliability and risks of ASP and SAAS services as these hosted services move more of our data storage and transactions far away into the "cloud".  Here's one recent question I received in the Click Millionaires coaching forum:

Hi Scott,

I am building a couple of hosted online stores. I am spending quite a bit of valuable time getting everything together looking nice and working correctly for these new remotely hosted websites.

I am concerned that I could do a lot of work, only to find my SAAS provider ends up losing all my work (or even goes out of business) and leaves me with no backups. Are these real dangers or am I worrying over nothing?

Tony
ClickMillionaires.com Member
Surrey, UK

SCOTT FOX'S ANSWER

Hi Tony,

Your concern about the risks and dangers of SAAS and similar cloud-hosted services is reasonable but also one of those dilemmas of modern e-business life that is hard to avoid.

Most all SAAS and hosting providers today offer what’s called in the trade a “SLA”. That stands for a “Service Level Agreement”.  Your goal is to find a hosted services provider that offers an SLA of 4 or 5 “nines”. That means they promise 99.99% or 99.999% uptime. This means that they guarantee your site will be online and available for business 99.999% of the time.

The tricks to these SLA agreements usually are that they:

a) Usually calculate the “5 nines” over the entire life of the agreement. So if you have been with them for 3 years and then they go offline for 1 week and cost you a million $ (or pounds or euros), they will say that you had been up 99.999% of the time since 3 years ago when you started, and

b) They disclaim all liability for lost sales anyway.

So, that leaves you with just a couple of remedies to help reduce your risks and sleep at night. I recommend that you:

a) Only work with established SAAS providers who can demonstrate they also host/serve bigger name web sites who have more leverage than you do, and

b) Create and save backup exports of your hosted files on a very regular and consistent basis to minimize your risk if your SAAS provider fails.

On the positive side, however, the hosted services available through SAAS or ASP services are often great deals that provide powerful, enterprise grade software and services for very low, monthly prices.  This inexpensive access to multi-million dollar SAAS services can save your startup tons of money.

On a historical note, I expect this is the same dilemma our great grandparents faced 100 years ago when they began relying on electricity and public water plumbing. Hopefully Internet connectivity and cloud computing is becoming just as reliable as those utilities which we all now take for granted.

I’d love to hear other opinions on this issue, or suggestions as to better backup plans if anyone has them to share?

Best,
Scott Fox

 

Would you like your questions answered like this? 
Get personal coaching from Scott Fox at ClickMillionaires.com! 
It's an affordable way to help grow your business online.

 

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Web Site? video

How much does building a web site cost?

ClickMillionaires.com member Mike asked this basic but important question recently in the Click Millionaires Forum.  If you're looking for the most cost-effective web site building options for you, this Ask Scott Fox video can help.

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Web Site for Business Today?
Watch this short video for my answer including the costs of free web site hosting services Wordpress, Weebly, and Blogger, plus the costs of paid web site builders like Typepad, Wix, Citymax, and more.  These are all cost-effective web site building hosting services you can use to start a new web site business online.

 

 

There are LOTS of web site building services out there today.

Which do you recommend?
Aand how much do they cost to build a new web site?

If you would like more e-business help, join http://www.ClickMillionaires.com for more expert online marketing advice and personal coaching from best-selling author and e-commerce expert, Scott Fox.

Please visit ExpertWebSiteReviews.com if you would like me to personally review your website for redesign recommendations that can help improve conversions, traffic and sales.

(Click Millionaires members can get these reviews for free!)

 

How to Make Money with Affiliate Marketing - Expert Interview

How to make money with affiliate marketing was the #1 question from my ClickMillionaires.com members in a recent member poll.

If you would like to learn how to make money with affiliate marketing, too, you will enjoy this free podcast.

It’s an exclusive (and rare!) interview with Dr. Ken Evoy, Founder and Chairman of Site Sell, Inc., the company behind the excellent affiliate program for their popular web site building and training service, Site Build It.

I selected SBI as our focus for this discussion of affiliate marketing because I have personally made more money as an SBI affiliate than from any other of the many affiliate marketing programs I have tried.

This free podcast interview will help you learn how I became a top-converting Site Build It affiliate and why I recommend you check out the SBI affiliate program, too.  Listen to hear about:

• How you can use your web site, blog, or email list to "presell" visitors into affiliate purchases
• The strategies that lead to Scott Fox's very high conversion rates (20%+)
• How "lifetime cookies" make SBI more profitable for you than most competing affiliate programs
• Why it's critical to pick affiliate products you believe in personally
• How to use affiliate offers to solve your customers problems and make money doing it
• What's more important than being cool...

This free interview (and the fr-ee Site Build It! affiliate training) is full of great marketing strategies you can apply to ANY affiliate marketing program that you like.

WARNING: I'm sorry that this podcast may sound a bit like a commercial for SBI. But their affiliate program really is a good opportunity. This interview should help you understand why I am a successful SBI affiliate myself and why I recommend this affiliate program so highly to you, too. Making money with Site Build It like I do can help you become a Click Millionaire!

More Information
Download an MP3 of this interview here.

For more details on SBI’s free affiliate program, visit http://www.JoinSBI.com

For more details on using Site Build It to build your own successful web site, visit http://www.TrySiteBuildIt.com 

How about you? What affiliate programs are making you money?

Or, where do you need help? 

Please let me know in the Comments below.

Sponsored by ClickMillionaires.com and
Site Build It!, my #1 recommendation for new web sites {affiliate link}.

Click Millionaires Radio Podcast MP3 Archive (FREE)
Listen to previous episodes of Click Millionaires Radio anytime here.  There are lots of great free MP3 downloads about Why I Don't Like Dropshipping, MLM marketing online, Winning Pay Per Click Advertising Strategies, Facebook Marketing, Public Relations Strategies, Google Adwords, Article Marketing, Web Copywriting, Online Video viral promotions, and many more!

Submit your feedback and questions for the Show here.

I'd love to hear from you!

What's the Best Blog Platform - Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger? - VIDEO

What blog platform should I use for my new blog?  Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger?  Have you been asking yourself this common blogging question?

Watch this short video for my answer!  I'd like to help you make the best choice for your e-business needs but the options for blog software can be confusing, especially if you are new to blogging and web site design.

As you can see from this blog platform review video, I recommend Typepad as the best blogging platform for easy e-business startups.  In fact, I use Typepad myself for ScottFox.com and I'm an affiliate, too.

[You can watch more Scott Fox business-building videos here.
Or subscribe to my YouTube Channel here.]

What's your favorite blogging software? 

Do you agree with my recommendation or are you a Wordpress fan?

p.s. More details on Typepad are here, including my review of the Typepad blog platform.

Click Millionaires Radio: Wix.com, How to Collect Emails, Book Winners, Carrotmob.com and Lessons Learned

Listen now to this episode of Scott Fox’s Click Millionaires Radio show for helpful advice to grow your online business, including:

• A review of the Wix.com flash-based web site building system
• How to collect email addresses on your new web site
• Winners of my latest book giveaway contests (for free copies of Seth Godin’s Linchpin and my e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Online Marketing Strategies)
• Carrotmob.com's clever anti-boycott strategies 
• The best online marketing story of the month!

Plus, some great “words of wisdom” from Click Millionaires members, too.

Listen to this show now by clicking on the player at left.

You can also right-click on the microphone above to “Save target as…” to download a free MP3 file of this episode!

Sponsored by ClickMillionaires.com and Site Build It!, my #1 recommendation for new web sites. 

Click Millionaires Radio Podcast Archive (Free)
Listen to previous episodes of Click Millionaires Radio anytime here.  There are lots of great free MP3 downloads about Facebook Marketing, Public Relations Strategies, Google Adwords, Article Marketing, Web Copywriting, Online Video viral promotions, and more!

Submit your feedback, questions, and sponsorship inquiries for the Show here.

I'd love to hear from you!

Ask Scott Fox? Win my new book!

Do you have a question for me?  Can I help you with your online marketing dilemmas or e-commerce strategy questions?  Send me a question!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to shoot and share more videos. I'm off to a good start with some video testing I've been doing for a new "Scott Fox Show".

This is good news for you because an important part of this new show I'm testing is the opportunity to answer more reader questions LIVE.  This new "TV show" format will let me give you longer, more detailed answers than I can in my blog, so I hope you'll tune in.

To email me a question, please visit this page:  http://www.scottfox.com/ask-scott-fox.html

Win e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Online Marketing Strategies
Plus, everyone who asks a question is automatically entered into a drawing to win a copy of my latest online marketing book, e-Riches 2.0! 

Send me a question here now- and then please join me LIVE on camera at www.ScottFoxShow.com on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2pm ET (11am PT / 7PM GMT) for your answers!

Site Build It! New Monthly Payment Special

I recommend Site Build It (SBI) as a great solution for entrepreneurs new to e-commerce and online marketing.  My reasons are detailed in this review of SBI.

Unfortunately, one of the most common obstacles to purchasing SBI is that it may seem expensive.  (Although its $299/year cost is actually a great deal given all that you get.)  But I received good news on this from SBI Founder, Ken Evoy, today:  There's now a new monthly payment option for SBI!

New SBI "Recession Buster" Special
SBI is calling this new monthly billing option a "Recession Buster Special" because it can ease your cash flow without having to pay for an entire year's service all up-front.   Now you can get started with the Site Build It web site building tools for only $29.99!

Another savvy marketing move from SBI, a good company to help you get your web business rolling online today.  Read my affiliate review of the Site Build It! service here for more details.

This monthly payment plan is a limited time offer, so grab it today if you've been considering SBI for your new e-business.

Video: Public Office Hours

This week's public "Ask Scott Fox" Video Office Hours session found me taking your questions live once again.

Watch the free video for my answers to your questions about niche content selection, today's best online marketing tools, the pros and cons of free web site hosting services, and more!

This video is 27 minutes of informative, helpful online marketing and e-business strategy entertainment.  I hope that it is helpful to you.

(If you'd like more personalized e-commerce success coaching, please check out the Free Trial of ClickMillionaires.com.  My private Video Office Hours are for Members-only and feature a lot more personalized advice!)

What are YOUR questions? 
Let me know in the Comments what you need help with?  I'll try to answer your questions in the next session of Ask Scott Fox Video Office Hours.

SBI Halloween Sale

The SBI Halloween sale is on!  If you've been considering signing up for the Site Build It! web site building service, now is a good time. 

I've recommended SBI for years because I like the company's approach.  SBI is the only e-commerce services vendor that I know of that puts strategy ahead of technology.  For example, Site Build It! doesn't just sell you web site hosting, but instead insists on training you in SEO first.  This makes sense to me and is the same approach that I take with my books, Internet Riches and e-Riches 2.0.

And SBI backs up their web site building services with great customer support, a very supportive worldwide user community, and a money-back guarantee, too.

For a limited time, you can buy SBI and get a second SBI for only $100.  Check out the sale details here now!