Innovative multimedia company, Tynt is working behind the scenes on over 400,000 sites including many well known media and news publications. Their service extends to over 200 million web users.

Tynt Insight technology is being used to track content sharing via copy & paste actions in a user’s browser. According to the company, an average of 6% of page views on the web result in some kind of user action that can be tracked by their technology.

In a recent rebuttal towards TechCrunch’s claim that 45% of all social sharing is done on Facebook, Tynt has shown clearly that this is not the case.

Email deserves the top spot for overall shares at 75%, Facebook accounts for 25%, blogs and forums (labeled “Other”) still account for a significant number of shares while Twitter is still growing with 1% of the social sharing action.

Tynt went on to provide a different and all-together more interesting break down of social sharing by showing how shares are performing in the chart above. Apparently Tynt Insight is tracking more than just copy/paste actions. This is valuable and definitely insightful click-through data!

Here are highlights I’ve observed containing some very interesting data revealed by Tynt:

• There are an estimated 1 trillion to 1.4 trillion page views on the web each month.
• Slightly over 2% of all page views result in sharing via copy & paste actions, totaling 20 billion shares per month.
• Sharing via built in share buttons (Digg this, Tweet this) account for only 400 million shares per month.
• Email is used for 70% of all social sharing and accounts for 48% of new site traffic.
• Blogs, forums and other mediums generate 36% of new site traffic despite accounting for only 4% of total shares.
• While 25% of all sharing is done on Facebook it only generates 10% of new site traffic.
• Digg generates 5% of new site traffic despite accounting for less than 1% of total shares.

What can we do to improve user experience and cater to the kind 2% of visitors who choose to share our content?

Website publications and blogs could definitely use more accessibility and unity with email sharing. We put an emphasis on social sharing and tend to leave email as a fall-back option when in fact it is being used the most.

Adding a prominent notice or automated form to share via email may do the trick and help tap into the prevalence of email sharing.

I’m sure improvements and new applications, website widgets, and browser addons for both email and social network sharing will be coming soon throughout 2010.

Tynt’s Insight software will automatically include a link back to the source page when text is copied from a website. I’m still a little dumbfounded that they are tracking copy and paste data, why didn’t someone think of this sooner?

I’m interested to see what content is being copied from my sites, how often, and how I can use that information to generate more site traffic. If this sounds good to you as well, check out Tynt Insight’s free service and leave a comment below with your thoughts.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Two WordPress plugins have peeked my interest recently. A startup has launched with a completely new advertising concept and an older plugin (new to me) is reportedly increasing AdSense revenue for many bloggers without being intrusive to their regular readers.

A New Medium: Sponsored Comments

TalkAhead.com recently launched with a new approach to advertising through sponsored comments on blogs. The idea is that advertisers can connect and engage with readers of a targeted article and promote relevant products and services with a link to their website.

This chart shows the benefits and potential of sponsored comments as compared with traditional and often shady contextual advertising.

Marketers can sign up to receive automated alerts anytime an article of interest is published.

Oddly enough, I found a blog comment by TalkAhead founder Philippe Lang with some insight into how the system is working thus far.

…we are getting positive feedback from readers, our advertisers receive high click-trough rates and our publishers generate new premium revenues.

I went through the process of registering as a publisher and am quite impressed with the administration, setup and configuration. There are options for creating new channels for multiple blogs, moderating incoming sponsored comments, viewing performance reports and more.

Another cool feature I found was the option to create a coupon code which can be used to offer free or discounted sponsored comments to a business of your choosing.

Why Do Work? AdSense Plugin Works For You

An intelligent AdSense plugin found here at WhyDoWork.com allows you to display AdSense units on posts older than X days. This plugin has been around for quite awhile and has received excellent reviews and confirmed increase in AdSense revenues.

It makes sense to display AdSense on older posts. Visitors coming in from search engines are looking for something specific on your blog. The bounce rate is typically quite high and the return visit rate is typically very low. Why not take advantage of this and serve them prominently featured targeted advertising?

An important feature was not left out, any article can be excluded from displaying AdSense units individually.

I have included AdSense units on certain articles which receive daily search traffic and it’s paid off well. This AdSense plugin makes it simple to do just that and automates the process to strike a balance between respecting regular readers and monetizing search traffic.

Want more? Check out VigLink Affiliate Links and Ecwid eCommerce Widgets, two more innovative solutions for WordPress business that have been featured on DotSauce.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

This will be the first of a two-part article detailing insight into the past and the future of the internet. Before delving into what is to come in the not-so-distant future, I would like to offer some tech history for those unfamiliar with the creation of the internet. Following that I will be sharing some of my personal experiences and ideas regarding the .COM space.

First, there were local computer networks established within government organizations and universities across the globe. In 1973 the TCP/IP protocol was being developed by Vinton Cerf from Stanford and Bob Kahn from DARPA which would allow diverse networks to connect to each other. Did they ever.

In 1985, the first domain name was registered (Symbolics.com). Years pass and a select few savvy entrepreneurs, businesses and investors including IBM, Intel, AT&T and Cisco stake their claim by applying for .COM domain names.

By 1995 the networks had exploded and become the world wide web, a collective pool of human knowledge. Millions are aware, if not getting involved actively or passively. The internet did what it is now known to do very well, that is, grow!

ICANN was established in 1998 as in independent organization with the task of managing IP addresses and domain names.

Just prior to ICANN’s formation in 1997, a major internet milestone was reached. 1 million .COM domain names had been registered. It took 12 years. This number is now dwarfed in comparison to the over 80 million .COM domains registered today.

Over the past two decades the internet has grown to become an integral part of our individual lives and society as a whole. It may even be getting the recognition it deserves with a nomination for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

The .COM top level domain has reached it’s 25th anniversary! You can join in the celebration and learn more at 25YearsOf.com

The .COM Bubble (Our 15 Minutes of Fame)

The .COM Bubble was the period from 1995-2000 during which investors poured massive amounts of funding into internet and technology startups. After seeing record rises in stock valuations, business was moving lightning fast and without caution. It turned out to be quite a big mess. I prefer to remember this as the period in which over 20 million .COMs were claimed.

In 1997, I taught myself how to code websites and soon had my very own one-man web hosting and design company up and running. I witnessed the boom in online business and began to create my own web properties, communities and sites for local business by contracting for design work and reselling hosting.

Along the way, I made a few domain sales on eBay and Afternic. Unfortunately, I lacked the capital to invest very much in domains (oddly enough, domain registration was $75 per year back then). A small barrier that would soon be broken down.

If you entered into the domaining industry after 2000, like myself, then you probably have a little nagging feeling that you somehow “missed the boat.”  The forethought and technical understanding to apply to register keyword domains was held by a select few. Many of those individuals are now famous today for their successes.

One of those founding domainers is Frank Schilling who holds one of the largest domain portfolios in the world. In an older post on DotSauce I featured some predictions from the pros, from which I’d like to share this quote by Frank:

Today, getting a good domain name may be pricier than it was in the early days of domaining, but dollar for dollar you are still far better off investing in .COM domains because .COM is a global brand.

There is still countless opportunity today, still massively profitable investments to be made in .COM domains. You simply need to break down the barrier of entry into this business.

The .COM Barrier

There are a few things that prevent your average internet enthusiast from becoming a successful domainer. Let’s review them and help break down the .COM barrier.

1) Price - High quality .COM domain names sell for $1 million+ seemingly every month. Countless small and medium sized sales in the hundreds to several thousand dollar range are made every day across many domain marketplaces.

Most would agree that it is easier to make more profit by investing in high quality domains at a price tag of a few hundred dollars each which can later be sold for several thousands rather than do lots of smaller sales. While this may be true, raising the initial capital is a barrier that many face.

You can, however, get started now with those smaller sales. New .COM domain registrations are around $7 if you use a coupon code and there are other bargain deals in the aftermarket to get you started towards building a valuable portfolio.

2) Domain Industry Knowledge – A successful domain investor understands the big picture. They know the life cycle of a domain, it’s expiration process, the registrars and organizations involved. They know the best research tools, analytics and data to discover worthwhile domains.

Some domainers have all this down to a science and keep watch for the latest news and notable sales.

It would be difficult to get far without a solid understanding of the domain aftermarket and domain names themselves. Having a passion for what you do goes a long way.

3) Common Sense – Unfortunately, this is a big part of the barrier to overcome for success in domaining. Without common sense, your experience domaining may not be such a pleasant one and could turn into a money-sink. One needs to apply common sense when undertaking these domain business tasks.

• When registering or buying a domain be sure the vision for your domain is clear. You want to know that it is worth your investment and ideally have potential end-users present. With new tools, like Estibot, it is becoming easier to evaluate a domains potential, but further research and a human’s perspective is always recommended.
• When choosing how to monetize a domain through development or parking. Without significant time invested in development and content creation, most mini-sites or landing pages will not be indexed high enough on search engines to be worth the time invested. As for PPC parking, if your domain does not receive enough traffic to recoup the yearly renewal fee then don’t bother with it. Many domains are not fit for either, and that’s OK. Instead, focus on sales or your established websites.
• When marketing domains for sale, pricing your inventory and negotiating sales you need to have a good understanding of the liquid and potential value of your domain. What a name may sell for years from now is not a realistic interpretation of present value. Understanding who you are marketing to is also a very important factor in determining a successful sales price.

Be reasonable, be real and learn from your mistakes to overcome these and the other barriers to .COM success.

The Future

In part 2 of this article series I will be exploring some of the latest innovations, research, data and predictions of how the internet will evolve and grow over the coming years.

I’m very excited about writing this feature as I’m somewhat of a futurist, early adopter and science-fiction fan. Or maybe it’s because I don’t want to miss the boat again. How about you?

Please subscribe by RSS, by email or follow @DotSauce on Twitter to be notified about part 2, The Future of The Internet!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I’m sure you’ve come across some of the following resources before, at least I hope, because I’ve selected some of the very best publications catering to online business entrepreneurs.

These websites are some of my favorite destinations where I try to consume as much relevant information as I can. I hope you find time to check them out, subscribe or follow on Twitter because it is definitely worth it!

1. Hacker News

A social news sharing community hub that was started by the popular venture capitol firm YCombinator. There is always fresh online business news to be found with a heavy sampling of programming and technological innovations. (Twitter: @HackerNews)

2. Inc. Magazine

Inc. Magazine provides inspiring and educational articles on small business, marketing, social media, branding and much more. They have some of the best interviews with successful entrepreneurs. My favorite interview is with WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg who shares how he works from home. (Twitter: @INCMagazine)

3. Mixergy

Like Inc. Magazine, Mixergy also provides phenomenal interviews, but this wildly popular blog has taken it a step further with countless live video sessions with successful online entrepreneurs. Tune in to learn from business experts like Seth Godin, Timothy Ferris, and Gary Vaynerchuk as well as some less-known upstarts that made it big. (Twitter: @Mixergy)

4. AdvertisingAge

AdAge, as it is commonly referred to, is an industry leading online marketing publication. Comprehensive coverage and in-depth articles for big and small business marketing, branding and what is to come in the new age of social media. (Twitter: @AdAge)

5. eConsultancy

This blog is one of my favorite publications because they provide a selection of articles on subjects ranging from website management, SEO and marketing to usability and social media. eConsultancy is always looking out for what’s on the horizon for online business. (Twitter: @eConsultancy)

6. eMarketer

eMarketer provides profoundly insightful articles because they do some serious research, gathering data from thousands of sources. eMarketer analysis of media usage by the public and internet marketing trends is definitely a must follow. (Twitter: @eMarketer)

7. Social Media Examiner

As you might guess, Social Media Examiner is all about Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin success. This popular blog has become a phenomenal resource containing articles on optimizing your marketing and brand building efforts across these networks. (Twitter: @smexaminer)

If for some crazy reason you want more (I know you do!), please follow me on Twitter @DotSauce where I’m often found sharing resources related to small business, marketing, social media, web development and domain names.

I hope you found these resources for online entrepreneurs useful. Consider passing this article on to a friend to share the knowledge!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Nothing compliments a domain name like a really nice logo design. The creation of a brand identity immediately increases the value of any domain name. In some cases a professional logo design can turn a $7.50 domain registration into $1000+ brand package.

Here are three businesses that really get it when it comes to uniting well designed logos with domain names.

Brandstack

Brandstack (formerly IncSpring), which I wrote about here and listed in the Top 20 Places to Buy Domains in 2010 was originally a marketplace of logo brand designs.

Designers were naturally coupling domain names with their brand creations to further increase their value and interest. It works both ways. A quality .com domain name will make a professional logo design all that much more valuable.

Brandstack has continued to improve their platform over time to make it a user-friendly marketplace for both buyers, sellers, designers and domainers. So, they now have a unique area just for domain name sales (with or without logos).

Brandbucket

Brandbucket is similar in concept to Brandstack, but they cater specifically to quality, pronounceable and short .com domains.

If your domain qualifies to be listed on Brandbucket they will create the logo for you and help to market your brand for sale. I have not listed here personally, so I can’t speak from experience, but there is likely a hefty commission fee to be paid upon a sale.

Pricing across Brandbucket seems to be inflated for the majority of listings. I’m sorry, but you’re not going to get $4000 for Oscula.com, don’t fool yourself.

Castello Brothers

Castello Cities Internet Network at CCIN.com is owned by brothers Michael and David Castello, two or the biggest players in and supporters of the domain industry. I’d like to point out some of their portfolio as they obviously understand the value of a quality brand image.

How To Cash In on Logo Designs For Your Domains

With the vast array of open source software and tools available today for web development. Web design, logo creation and branding is actually the biggest challenge a business or individual faces when launching a web presence.

Obviously not every domain name is destined to be a brand. It’s ultimately up to you to decide which of your domains is best suited for brand creation or if it is worth the investment to hire a designer.

Like I mentioned previously in the bit about Brandbucket’s pricing, you need to be reasonable with your asking price and have a clear goal in mind. That goal should be to make a sale. Many of the brands on these marketplaces will sit for years because they are asking for a fraction too much, making the sale unrealistic.

Get In Touch With The Creatives

Connecting with designers is now easier than ever. Twitter is a great place to start. I have been creating a Twitter list of designers myself that you’re more than welcome to check out. There is also a list of domainers if you’re interested.

Alternatively, there are always popular freelance marketplaces like oDesk, available to hire designers on the cheap and you can post an ad for your design job for free on FreelanceSwitch.

Here’s an idea: If you can’t afford a professional logo design for your domain, consider befriending a designer and offer them a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of the brand.

Has creating a logo brand for your domains help you make a sale? Do you know of any other businesses or services that get it when it comes to domains and logo designs? I would love to hear about your experiences. Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I thought this would be a nice question to see what you might be interested in learning more about. There are numerous resources and tools available that make domaining more accessible to those just getting started and experienced domainers alike.

Note: My apologies for the duplicate publication. DotSauce Mag was transferred to a new server and this latest article was lost in the process.

If you previously responded to this poll your vote was lost, sorry!

I am almost positive that “Selling domains to end-users” is the obvious answer to this poll question. End user sales is the most profitable and difficult task a domainer faces. So, I have excluded that response to get a more realistic view of interests. Here are your options…

Building a Domain Portfolio Website

In a previous poll on DotSauce, I found that 37% of respondents had created a custom domain portfolio website. With open source software like WordPress, it’s fairly simple for the average person to create a nice looking web presence.

It pays to learn some of the more advanced features and find the right plugins that complement your site.

Marketing Domains for Sale

I’ve written about selling domain names a few times. It’s always a popular subject as one might guess! Have you embraced new tools, avenues and resources for selling domains in 2010?

Creating an Email Newsletter

Some of the biggest brokers in the world rely on their email newsletters to bring in the sales. Have you considered creating one? There are lots of options in this space, some paid, some free. There’s also the question of just how to get people to subscribe and buy.

Valuating / Appraising Domains

This is a definite skill that can’t be learned over night, but with each sale and purchase you make or hear about experience is gained. Learning from industry experts and keeping a close eye on the aftermarket is a good place to start.

Automated appraisals are a popular topic right now, but are they really useful for valuating a domain for sale?

Researching Domains to Purchase

There are many great tools and techniques for researching expiring domains and domains on other marketplaces and drop houses. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming.

Negotiating Domain Sales

This can be a difficult task as each domain sale is unique. Many have shared sales letters, email correspondence, tips and tricks on asking prices, making offers and bartering. What really works?

Please select an option below and click “Vote!” Thank you!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Subscribe to DotSauce to be updated on future articles and resources related to the topics you’ve just read about. And be sure to come back soon to view the results of this poll!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I’ve recently dived back into some domain research after much too long of a break and have chosen a select 42 quality .COM domain names that have recently expired and become available to register.

Here’s your chance to get into the domain game!

Yes, the domain names listed below can be claimed at any registrar for cheap and can be resold at a later date, kept as an investment or developed into a website destination, further increasing their value.

Use this link to GoDaddy.com to register domains for just $10.

If you’re an experienced domainer, you will certainly see the potential in many of these domains.

I have not been able to keep up with regular updates to the previously advertised available domains newsletter over the past few months.  So, I apologize to those who were expecting them. Hopefully things will pick up and I will be able to publish more lists like this soon.

Make A Donation

If you feel inclined to give back, here is a way to make a donation through PayPal for my time spent researching these domains.

42 Expired Domain Names Available to Register

Please show due respect to other readers by not bulk registering. I also ask that you do not republish this list on any other website. Thank you!

1. VitaminFeed.com – Taken
2. VideoIraq.com – Taken
3. AuctionReserves.com – Taken
4. PriceApparel.com – Taken
5. WatchFish.com – Taken
6. ExpressPresents.com – Taken
7. SkilletMeal.com – Taken
8. TrendyBrand.com – Taken
9. TrialCasino.com – Taken
10. RobotShirts.com – Taken
11. LocalMarathon.com – Taken
12. LuxuriousBathrobes.com – Taken
13. HomebuiltComputer.com – Taken
14. GamesAnimation.com – Taken
15. DancerBoots.com – Taken
16. StartingPiano.com – Taken
17. SkateMags.com
18. TranslationGadget.com – Taken
19. NotebookGadget.com – Taken
20. PictureGadget.com – Taken
21. VoIPFeatures.com – Taken
22. PowerfulForms.com – Taken
23. DevelopedMobile.com
24. NetworkingJunkie.com – Taken
25. PlasticFabrics.com
26. SimpleSold.com – Taken
27. LoansQuestion.com – Taken
28. SkydivingJump.com – Taken
29. WatermarkPicture.com – Taken
30. AlbuquerqueLimousines.com
31. HoustonNewsletter.com
32. ProcessorWars.com – Taken
33. StrawberrySweets.com
34. RetailorsReport.com – Taken
35. ArticleRanking.com – Taken
36. AutismDisability.com – Taken
37. CollectibleBaseball.com – Taken
38. BookmarkStart.com – Taken
39. TouchFlash.com
40. WeeklyClearance.com – Taken
41. PopularTicket.com – Taken

As always… any comments, questions or suggestions are welcome!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Everybody loves a good freebie! I’ve rounded up some of my favorite places to find quality graphics, code and other useful tools and services here. Dive in and get your download fix.

1. Delicious.com Tag: free

If you’ve been using Delicious bookmark service for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed the community is a bunch of geeks! This makes for some fresh design, software and web service freebies almost daily.

2. DevSnippets Free Code & More

Packed with great resource articles and lots of juicy code snippets for bloggers and developers of all experience levels.

3. WebDesignLedger Freebies

WDL provides extensive resource articles, graphic freebies and design goodies.

4. Smashing Magazine Freebies

A crowd favorite for great freebies ranging from WordPress themes, Icons, Wallpapers and more.

5. BittBox Freebies

This great blog has been offering up free graphics for quite awhile and has amassed one of the largest collections of design freebies ever! Textures, fonts, vectors and more.

6. Envato Network Blogs

Oh, how I love ThemeForest and the rest of the Envato marketplaces. They generously offer up one file from each marketplace each month, so stay tuned for the newest freebies.

7. Noupe Design Freebies

Yet another awesome blog featuring regularly updated graphic design freebies.

8. Tutorial9 Freebies & Resources

Top quality design resources, tutorials and icon sets and some code to boot! You’ll need to subscribe to the newsletter for some exclusive downloads.

9. SEOMoz Free SEO Tools

Some of the most innovative and advanced search optimization tools available are found right here. Alot of SEOMoz tools are free to try and can provide some juicy data on your website.

10. BoagWorld: Free Software for Web Designers

Fresh article points out some quality free alternatives to pricey software designers need.

11. TUTS Plus Free Tutorials

TUTS+ is the leader in quality tutorials for web professionals. They have a huge archive of coding, design, audio, flash, and web development tutorials. I’m a member myself (well worth the $9/month) and love the source files and accompanying video tutorials.

12. Lifehacker Tag: #free

This wildly popular blog often shares free software and resources to keep your PC in tip top shape.

Know of any more great places for web design or development freebies? Please share your favorites in the comments area below.

If you found these freebie locations helpful, definitely bookmark them and consider passing this article on to your network!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

This new link monetization company launched just days ago with venture capital backing from Google. VigLink aims to provide affiliate earnings to bloggers by automatically detecting outbound links that lead to retailers who provide commissions on sales.

A standard link to any one of thousands of retailers or individual products can be detected by VigLink and once clicked, affiliate tracking information is added dynamically. You earn the commission and VigLink takes a percentage for their wizardry.

GigaOM reports, “VigLink estimates that less than half of links that could be monetized are hooked up to affiliate programs.”

Publishers can request a free pre-sales report which analyzes outbound links and uses several estimates to determine potential earnings. In the example report above, popular blog Gizmodo could potentially earn $4,413 per month with VigLink.

On the Horizon – Affiliate Marketing to the Masses

VigLink’s CEO Oliver Roup has hinted that their open API can already be connected to social services.

I believe VigLink will be able to tap into massive social networks where people are sharing links to products constantly. The major hurdle will be making deals with the likes of Twitter and Facebook. If this doesn’t spark an online business boom, I don’t know what would.

I look forward to watching what happens as the company evolves and will likely be joining in myself as this may be a way to circumvent Amazon’s recent ban of North Carolina affiliates.

What are your thoughts? How did your pre-sales report turn out? Please leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

A few days ago, I was in the middle of working on a presentation for an offline audience using the uber-cool Prezi web based software. I was very curious to test out the embed feature to see how it worked, so I placed the code within a post on my personal blog to take a peek.

Without my knowing (I had forgotten Twitter Tools was enabled), the link to my unfinished presentation was broadcast to Twitter. I found out about the mistake an hour or so later and was surprised to see the presentation had several retweets!

Thanks to those retweets I was inspired to clean up and expand the presentation for publication here on DotSauce!

Within the presentation below you will find a handful of key thoughts and observations I feel are pretty important for business success today. I hope you can follow these general guidelines to help propel your business into the growing social sphere.

You can select Fullscreen view if you prefer. Enjoy!

Did you find this presentation helpful? Consider passing it on to a friend!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Usabilla, a usability testing startup, launched earlier this month and congratulations are in order, as they have already been featured on Mashable.

While there are many popular and effective services for getting feedback about your website or application, Usabilla is bringing powerful tools like heat mapping data display and an innovative test interface to the masses.

As expected, the Usabilla member dashboard is extremely easy to use and building a usability test for your webpage is done in minutes.

Here is a quick video introduction showing Usabilla in action.

Usabilla works by displaying an image of your webpage to a participant who is asked to perform a task or answer a question about the page they are viewing.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to ask your website visitors questions like these?

• What things draw your attention the most?
• Which images are most appealing?
• What elements of the page do you like?
• What things would you remove from the page?
• What things need improvement?
• Where do you click to purchase?
• Where do you click for contact info?
• Where would you click next?

Now you can get valuable feedback from these questions and more.  Participants respond to tasks by tagging or clicking areas of the page and can additionally leave comments.

Once all of the data is collected, you can analyze a test through various methods including a visual heat map (shown below), or you can select a specific element of a page to view corresponding results.

You can use Usabilla on up to 5 pages and share the test with up to 25 participants for free. For those with the need to reach more participants and test more pages, there are Usabilla plans from $50 a year.

While reviewing Usabilla, I did notice that flash objects do not show up in their generated screenshots, so you may want to look into uploading a pixel perfect screenshot of your own to get the best test results. I recommend FireShot for Firefox, it can capture an entire page beyond the page fold.

I would love to hear if you give Usabilla a try and how the results work out for you. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I have been enthusiastically beta testing the Wibiya toolbar here on DotSauce for several months.  I’m happy to inform you that registration is now open to any blogger interested in having their own Wibiya toolbar.

The red toolbar you’re seeing at the bottom of the screen now, that’s Wibiya in action. Now loading faster and featuring a handful of new “apps” that can be easily added through a slick user dashboard.

You may have noticed the subtle, yet effective notification messages when visiting DotSauce previously (shown right, currently disabled) which I think is one of the best features of Wibiya toolbar. It provides an unobtrusive way to notify visitors to take action.

Admin Dashboard Features

I could go on at length about the many neat features of Wibiya, but I will spare you the time and just list them here.

• Change color scheme
• Drag and drop interface to arrange each item on toolbar
• Dashboard statistics showing visitor usage
• Suite of add-on applications

On-site Buttons Interact with Toolbar

New “website badges” (which I haven’t tried yet, but look very promising) enable you to place code on your site which interacts with your Wibiya toolbar. So, for example, you could place a “Tweet This” badge which launches your Twitter dashboard.

Excellent Suite of Applications

Who doesn’t love apps? Hopefully more innovative and useful apps will be able to be created by third partys. Here is a quick list of the apps currently available for Wibiya.

• Site Search
• Google Translate
• Latest Posts
• Random Posts
• RSS Subscribe
• Post Sharing Tool
• Live Notifications
• Photo Gallery
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Navigation Links
• Live chat room
• Real time visitors display
• Scroll to Top
• Flash Games

All of those applications translate to alot of value for your website! Here is an older screenshot of my statistics (the stats display has since been enhanced), just to show you how Wibiya is working for me.

Wibiya Works

I believe Wibiya is doing a phenomenal job reducing bounce rates, increasing on-site and social interactivity between a blog / website owner and their audience.

Not only has Wibiya developed the right applications for the job, but they are executing the applications themselves very effectively, reaching out to other companies to bundle features, providing community support and continually innovating!

All that being said, I’m sure you can guess that I highly recommend it! Give Wibiya.com a try on your website as soon as you can.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I recently added the 144th entry to the Twitter application directory on my site, TweetSocial.com, a Twitter forum community. The shear amount of useful applications I’ve seen in the past year is surprising. A broad range of applications have been built on a fairly simple micro blogging network.

What if we could spark this kind of revolution for the domain name industry? There is alot of room for improvement in many of the things that impact our online business most: domain tools, domain research, SEO tools, domain registrations, domain hosting, auctions, expired domains, available domains, domain sales, marketing, networking, etc.

I would like to see the domain name industry reach out to closely related industries; web development, design, programming, marketing, branding, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. To start off, we could connect our services like domain registration, WHOIS, domain research and more with popular social networking sites through their open APIs.

We have seen advancements in domain tools and services recently. FreshDrop, Valuate.com appraisals, Bido auctions, DomainTools and EstiBot Beta are continuing to develop innovative tools for domain research and sales. There is still much more room to grow. There are huge audiences with a need for quality domain names. We can educate and accommodate with easy to use tools and resources. In return, we are rewarded with growth and exposure, increasing the value and liquidity of our virtual real estate.

X Prize Propels Technology into Space and Beyond

You may remember when the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team (financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen) won the original $10 million Ansari X Prize for space flight in 2004. The X Prize organization is now celebrating it’s 5th anniversary.

So, what is an X Prize? Here’s a great description from the official site:

Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X Prize incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits.

Google now has an ongoing $30 million Lunar X Prize for privately funded teams to deploy a rover on the moon that can transmit video, images and data back to earth.

MIT Team Wins Military Challenge

Just last week, an MIT team won a $40,000 challenge made by the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to find large red weather balloons placed in random locations throughout the U.S.

The MIT team quickly launched a social website which encouraged friend referrals and prizes for spotting the balloons. The team had successfully identified the coordinates of all 10 DARPA weather balloons in less than 9 hours after the contest launched.

This story is quite an inspiring show of the benefits of pitting bright minds against a challenge to spur innovation and additionally speaks well of the power of social networking.

Innovation in Domaining and Development

I would love to host a challenge for programmers, entrepreneurs and domainers to develop tools and applications that improve, promote and otherwise further advance the domain name industry.

The specific format of an X Prize (1 winner and 1 ultimate goal) may not be the most ideal format for a challenge of this type.

I’m not setting any rules or terms in stone just yet, as I would love to get feedback from anyone who may be interested in participating or helping the cause.

What’s the Ultimate Goal? – What should the ultimate goal for the challenge be? It could be as broad as anything related to domain names or online business or as narrow as strictly domain research tool development. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Sponsors and Prizes? – The prize is the backbone behind the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. A nice sum of cash from a sponsor would do nicely. Though there are many other things we all enjoy like domain registrations, books, rum cakes anyone?

If you are interested in sponsoring the challenge, please contact me.

Interested in the Challenge? – A challenge is nothing without competitors. If you are a programmer with the know how or a project manager with the resources, consider this an invitation to get started on building the next big thing. If you think you may be up for the challenge please leave a comment or mention it to me on Twitter or Facebook so I can get an idea of interest.

I have ideas of my own for the challenge, but would like to get feedback from others in the industry before continuing. Thank you in advance for any help making this challenge a success! Stay tuned for updates.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

This past weekend, Google went live with personalized search results for all users. Whether logged in or logged out, results will be customized based on search history.

Many search optimization professionals (and enthusiasts) are essentially freaking out and lamenting as if all their efforts to rank highly for certain keywords will be thwarted. In some cases, this may be true.

Here is a brief video introduction to personalized search by Google.

A Step Closer to Search Perfection

This is an innovative change for the general public to gain accurate results. I feel that legitimate business websites, well optimized blogs and organic content will begin to reap the benefits of personalized results soon as well.

Why will this be good? This search history data that Google is collecting is more powerful than we can readily imagine. They will use the nationwide collective data in the future to improve their algorithm, deliver further optimized results and put quality content at the top.

So, if you put in the hard work to deliver great content, network with your industry to gain authority links (which may now be more important) you will be rewarded by Google and indirectly by those who find their way to you through Google.

Another perk may be that spammers, keyword stuffers, obscure minisites or made for AdSense sites may become a thing of the past as the trickle of traffic they do get from Google grinds to a halt.

For more information on privacy issues, opting out and how Google is making sure to keep results diverse despite personalization, Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land has published a nice writeup for further reading on the topic.

Turning It Off For Research Sake

Web developers, domainers, marketers, and SEO professionals may want to consider turning off personalization. Sacrificing your own customized search results to get a more accurate representation of keyword research and where your own sites rank.

Alternatively, you could use a third party service like Authority Labs to monitor your rankings on Google as well as Bing and Yahoo.

What are your thoughts? Will you be turning off personalized results? Comments are always open.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Let’s get it out of the way right off, so that nobody gets confused, Hollywood is terrible at choosing domain names. However, they are generally pretty awesome at selecting short, descriptive, compelling movie titles.

I’d like to break down a couple attributes that I feel blockbuster movie titles represent and how they can be applied to choosing the perfect name for your business or development project.

Go grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the article!

Short

It’s pretty obvious that shorter domains are more attractive, accessible, and memorable. Hollywood is notorious for condensing titles down to their smallest form for big impact.

My suggestion for selecting a domain is to have no more than 3 words (much preferably 1-2 words) and be no more than 14 characters in total if possible.

Descriptive

Selecting the right keywords for your domain name is very important.

The words in your domain should give a general impression of what someone is to expect on your website.

In a perfect world we would be able to select the exact keywords of a specific niche (see “Generic” below), but often you will need to opt for alternative keywords that work.

Compelling

A domain that invokes an emotional response is a powerful one.

Similar to how some colors can invoke a calming, cheerful or otherwise emotional state, so too can the words in your domain.

For example, while the domain Facebook.com does the job, the LinkedIn.com domain invokes a feeling of connectedness and exclusivity.

Action

Action words (go, buy, click, bid, tweet, etc.) are very effective in domain names when used properly.

Some of the world’s most popular brands are built on action names and slogans. (Just Do It!, Go.com, Sprint, etc.)

One must be careful to put the action in the hands of the website visitor (provide options, don’t be forceful) or your action keywords may lead to inaction.

Generic

Generic dictionary terms are known to be the “holy grail” of domain names.

Wise investors have since collected all single dictionary word domain names. But, do not despair! Many of these premium names change hands often in the domain aftermarket.

Candy.com recently sold for $3 million, what a bargain! Generic .COM domains will always be in high demand and their value exponentially increases as the total pool of domains are registered.

Brandable

The mainstay of social media’s latest startup and the app stores latest gadgets.

Brandable domains like DotSauce.com can be an affordable, effective solution to creating a unique identity for a product or company.

While this can be a viable option you must take care to select a name that is user friendly (memorable, pronounceable) as well as marketable. Does it look good and make sense?

Thanks Hollywood!

The majority of movie titles never make it to the top of box office sales. How will your next domain perform in it’s debut?

I hope these pointers will help you in choosing your next domain name!

If you would like further advice on domain names or where to buy domains be sure to browse past articles on DotSauce. If you’ve got a question, I’m always available. Get in touch with me on Twitter (@DotSauce) anytime or post a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Presently, many people are selling domain names, which presents a great opportunity for the savvy domain investor to expand their portfolio. It’s obvious to myself and many others that have been in the industry for any length of time that domain names can provide an extraordinary return on investment. Now is a great time to buy!

It’s hard to rank every single domain marketplace, because each one tends to have a unique price range, inventory size, domain quality, keyword types, domain extensions and other distinguishing factors.

That being said, the top 5 listed below are my personal favorites for 2010. The remainder of the list is not necessarily ranked in any order of importance as great domain deals can be found on all of them!

Top 20 Places to Buy Domains in 2010

1. Bido Auctions

   Features live domain auctions on weekdays.  Now one of, if not the most, feature rich auction platform to date, Bido continues to innovate nearly as fast as they sell domain names. Great deals with opening bids of just $28.

2. GoDaddy or your favorite registrar.

   On a tight budget? You may want to opt for registering a new domain. Finding available domains today is very tough, but if you do your research you may just find a great domain for $7.49.

3. Private Sellers (In progress. Submit your portfolio!)

   The are many savvy investors who own a slice of some of the most valuable internet real estate available. If that perfect name you’re looking for turns up taken, don’t be dismayed, do a WHOIS lookup and contact the owner to negotiate a sales price.

4. BargainDomains Marketplace

   A new service by Domaining.com which uses automated appraisal data and recquires domain listings be a fraction of their appraisal estimate. Turns out this makes for some really good deals on keyword domains.

5. FreshDrop Research Tool

   An informed purchase is a wise purchase. FreshDrop can provide some great data on domains that is easy to browse, search, sort and filter. With pro features you can get some really juicy details on Google advertisers and keyword search data.

6. Flippa Marketplace by Sitepoint

   SitePoint’s new marketplace Flippa has taken off as a popular destination for extended domain name and website auctions.

7. GoDaddy Auctions (formerly TDNAM)

   The largest registrar in the world features their massive lot of expiring domains here. Popular “Domain Fire Sale” section features domain auctions from $5 + registration renewal cost.

8. Moniker Live Auctions

   Moniker features monthly themed showcase auctions and annual live auction events. Coming up, DomainFest 2010 in lovely Santa Monica, CA on January 26-28.

9. Afternic Marketplace

   A leader in domain sales since the early days. This marketplace has a huge inventory of quality domains to browse.

10. @DNMarket on Twitter

    Yea, Twitter!  I started @DNMarket early this year and it has been gaining steam with 725 followers currently watching listings. Follow along and be on the look out for domain sales straight from owners.

11. SnapNames Marketplace & Auctions

    Despite recent setbacks SnapNames remains one of the premier expired domain marketplaces and exclusive private auctions connected to Moniker.

12. BuyDomains Marketplace

    This massive marketplace features lots of premium domains. BuyDomains consistently tops the charts in high value sales.

13. Sedo Marketplace & Auctions

    The largest domain name marketplace to date features domain auctions starting at $60 from private owners. Lots of domains in all extensions are sold daily.

14. Rick Latona Newsletter & Auctions

    Rick is the largest individual domain name broker in the business and publishes a daily domain deals newsletter. Latonas.com Auctions also host live domain auction events through the year and at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conferences (see below).

15. AQDN.com Affordable Domains

    Affordable Quality Domain Names is a marketplace of keyword and brandable .COM domains with development potential. You can also follow @AQDN on Twitter.

16. Brandstack Logo Marketplace

    Brandstack is an excellent marketplace for high quality logo designs. Many designs are coupled with domain names. More recently, Brandstack has featured a domain names only area of the marketplace.

17. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Conference

    A premier domain industry conference founded by Rick Schwartz. Upcoming events and live domain auctions will be hosted in Las Vegas on January 21-23rd and Milan, Italy on April 27-29th.

18. Domainer Mardi Gras Conference

    A fun filled domain industry event coinciding with Mardi Gras in beautiful New Orleans. Feast at the crawfish boil and network with domain industry pros. The event and live domain auction take place February 11-13th.

19. DNForum Community

    One of the leading forum communities for domain industry professionals. Check out the platinum marketplaces for domains being offered for sale above and below $100, fixed prices, auctions and offers wanted.

20. NamePros Community

    The largest domain industry forum features fixed price, make offer and auction marketplace forums. Occasionally NamePros will host a live auction event through the member chat room where domains can sometimes be found on the cheap.

Hope you enjoyed the list and are able to find some great domain names! Be sure to bookmark this article for future reference and pass it on to your web savvy friends.

If you have any comments or suggestions for buying domain names, please leave a comment.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

WordPress is an excellent tool for publishing websites and blogs. This widely used CMS software does alot of great things like creating posts, pages and tags with clean URLs, linking everything internally and generating valid code.

Oddly enough though, the majority of SEO responsibility is placed within the hands of third-party WordPress theme developers as well as yourself, the site owner.

Some theme designers may not be familiar with SEO best practices, so you should take some time to examine your site for any ways to improve it’s effectiveness on search ranking performance.

I’ve come up with several common WordPress SEO mistakes that I see day in and day out. I hope you can use these tips to improve your blog or website!

1. Bloated Title Tag and Abandoned Post Titles

One of the simplest concepts goes overlooked on even the best of blogs. The title tag is essential for ranking well on search engines.  Consider looking into the effectiveness of the way your title tag is currently displayed on search results.

The following method has proven to work wonders for me in getting posts to rank well on Google.

How To Optimize Your Titles

Luckily, this is a fairly simple, but important issue to correct. The code below will feature only the title of your post as the title tag of the page.

With a few simple statements in your WordPress header.php file you can make sure that titles on all posts and pages are properly formatted. Replace your current <title> tag with this code:

<?php if ( is_home() ) { ?><title><? bloginfo('name'); ?></title><?php } ?>
<?php if ( is_search() ) { ?><title><? bloginfo('name'); ?> - Search Results</title><?php } ?>
<?php if ( is_single() ) { ?><title><?php wp_title(''); ?></title><?php } ?>
<?php if ( is_page() ) { ?><title><?php wp_title(''); ?></title><?php } ?>
<?php if ( is_category() ) { ?><title><?php single_cat_title(); ?></title><?php } ?>
<?php if ( is_archive() ) { ?><title><? bloginfo('name'); ?> - Archive</title><?php } ?>
<?php if ( is_month() ) { ?><title><? bloginfo('name'); ?> - Archive</title><?php } ?>

If you must have your website name in the title of every post, then place the most condensed version of your name after the post title separated by a simple, search-friendly dash.

2. Lack of Relevant Keywords and Phrases

Repeating the same keyword or phrase over and over again will eventually hurt your rankings as search engines will recognize this as “keyword stuffing.” It’s a bad idea for usability as well, you don’t want to bore visitors.

Adding supporting keywords keeps content fresh and readable. This practice may show search engines that you have been doing your homework and deserve to be listed as a credible resource for a specific subject.

How to Find Keywords

As mentioned in the previous article here on DotSauce, the new Google AdWords Keyword Tool (Beta) has just been released. This is just one of many great tools for finding complimentary keywords and phrases to use for blog articles.

We’ve also featured SEO Blogger, a free keyword suggestion tool for Firefox. This tool opens up as a sidebar and suggests keywords as you write posts!

3. Disregarding the NoFollow Link Attribute

Love it or hate it, the nofollow tag is helpful for publishers to direct mindless search engine indexing robots to your most important content.

How to Use NoFollow

It is very important not to abuse this link attribute. Slapping a nofollow tag on every external link is not the way to go about it. Here are some basic guidelines on when to use nofollow.

• Use nofollow for external links to large sites that don’t influence your own or are not directly related to the content on your website. (Examples: Twitter.com, Facebook.com).
• Use nofollow for internal links that lead to pages you don’t want to appear in search results.
• Use nofollow on affiliate links and advertising banners, unless otherwise requested by sponsor.
• Use nofollow on untrusted blog commentors.
• Use nofollow when linking to an external video, image or other downloadable file.

4. No Sitemap or Ping Notification to Search Engines

A sitemap is a cleanly defined list of every post and page on your website. Search engines use sitemaps to quickly and efficiently find and index all of your content.

Unfortunately, WordPress does not come packaged with a site-map solution. There is some good news though! This is one of the easiest mistakes to fix.

How to Create a Sitemap

Simply visit your WordPress admin, search for and install the Google XML Sitemaps plugin. You will find there are options to exclude certain categories, posts, and pages that you don’t want indexed.

This plugin will also ping search engines whenever your website is updated with a new post.

5. Not Adding Images in Posts

Yes, just one simple image can have search ranking benefits and I’m not talking about appearing in image search. Adding images is one of the most valuable things you can do for a blog post.

Take note, virtually all of the best online publications and blogs include images in their posts.

Your readers will love the accompanying graphic and will be much more inclined to read the post, share and potentially link to the post.

How To Properly Add Images

WordPress takes care of uploading media and clean image markup. So, you just have to take the initiative! Spend just a few minutes finding a cool image, crop and re-size it to fit nicely above or alongside your content.

Check out the WP Smush.it plugin to compress image file sizes on the fly.

Be sure to include 2-4 keywords that are related to your article and image as the ALT attribute of your image. This may get your original images indexed within image search.

6. Improper Anchor Text for Internal Links

Sometimes we have to trade off search engine value with usability, as is the case with most “Home” links. Website owners don’t won’t to rank for the keyword “Home” but it is good practice for usability.

Using proper keywords as link anchor text is important as it reinforces the keyword or phrase you want to rank for.

How To Format Links Correctly

Identify the root keyword phrase of the page you are linking to.  Check Google Analytics often to stay on top of what keywords are driving traffic to your articles. You will want to reinforce rankings that are doing well by using those exact keywords as anchor text for the article.

For example, a post entitled “55 Active RSS Directories to Help Promote Your RSS Feeds!” would benefit from using the keywords that are sending traffic to that article (i.e. RSS Directories). This is much better than using the entire article title as anchor text.

Make sure the links are readable within the context of use in an article. Users clicking through is ultimately more important than search ranking.

That’s all for now!

Know of any other common WordPress SEO mistakes? We’d love to hear your tips or success stories. What works for you? Comments are always open. Thanks for reading.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

The AdWords team have rolled out a completely overhauled keyword suggestion research tool. Smooth user interface and updates make using the new tool a much better experience.

In this article I will share some alternative uses for the AdWords Keyword Tool and run down the new features in this beta release.

Accessing the Beta Keyword Tool

To access the new beta AdWords Keyword Tool login to adwords.google.com, click the “Opportunities” tab,  find the current Keyword Tool link and then click the (beta) link.

The general purpose of this tool has always been to help advertisers find relevant, popular keywords.

As it turns out, the AdWords Keyword Tool is pretty useful for publishers and developers to get a  glimpse at this data for various reasons.

7 Alternative Uses of Google AdWords Keyword Tool

• Cover all the bases of a specific niche.
• Discover areas of interest to publish content about.
• View what phrases are trending or becoming extinct.
• Improve keyword optimization on your website.
• Target untapped, low competition keywords.
• Find complementary keywords for articles to boost ranking.
• Find exact match available domain names to purchase.

New Keyword Tool Beta Features

The new AdWords tool enables you to search by keywords and a URL simultaneously. Additionally you can filter or browse results from popular defined categories found in the sidebar.

Also new in this beta release is the ability to search broad matches (the original standard) as well as Exact Match and Phrase Match keywords.

Once your searches are complete and you’re satisfied with keywords you see you can download all data for each keyword result or the entire table and let further research begin.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

There is a new WordPress resource site that I’ve been introduced to through the great WordPress community on Twitter.

With so many options available today, selecting the right WordPress theme for your website or blog can be a daunting task. ThemeGrade was created to make finding quality themes with the features you want much easier.

ThemeGrade is not your typical WordPress directory. Quality themes are selected to be reviewed (2 per day) and are then scored against over a dozen critical points related to theme design and search optimization.

Tried and Tested

Each theme is given a bronze, silver or the coveted gold seal of approval. Gold rankings are awarded to themes which excel across the board in general usability as well as enhanced design features like browser compatibility, threaded comments, and designer support.

ThemeGrade also makes sure that top ranking themes perform well for key factors that effect search ranking performance.

• W3C Compliant – XHTML
• W3C Compliant – CSS
• Home page Heading SEO
• Post & Page Heading SEO
• Post & Page Title Tag
• Content Code Position

Sweet Select-boxes!

Searching ThemeGrade is very simple. They have implemented a nice selection box theme fetcher. I’ve never seen this style of search on a WordPress site, very cool! Simply select the boxes related to your interests and go.

ThemeGrade features both free and premium (paid) themes from select designers.

Sort by design structure (1 or 2 columns, magazine style, portfolio style, etc.) or  by theme category (Business, Art, Nature, Internet, etc.).

And, of course, you can select themes by their gold, silver or bronze rankings.

ThemeGrade Tip:

Don’t be discouraged by themes with low SEO ranking.

Proper title tags and other factors can be corrected with a few tweaks to theme files. Stay tuned to DotSauce for more on that very topic soon.

Be sure to check out ThemeGrade WordPress Themes now and follow along by RSS or @ThemeGrade on Twitter as new themes are reviewed.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Since launching my Twitter forum community, TweetSocial, and accompanying Twitter directory early this year, I have been keeping watch for innovative and useful applications that enhance user experience and productivity on Twitter.

While scouring the web I’ve discovered some amazing web based tools that I don’t know what I would do without today. So, I thought I would share with everyone what I think are the most useful apps (in no particular order). Enjoy!

1. Bit.ly Analytics

Lets start with something familiar! Bit.ly is a phenomenal resource for Twitter users because of their comprehensive click and re-tweet analytics.

Quick tip: Add a “+” symbol to the end of any Bit.ly short URL to view it’s stats. Also read our article on how to use the bit.ly sidebar tool to find interesting people on Twitter.

2. TPS Report

Tweet Positioning System or TPS Report takes the prize for coolest app name ever! It’s also pretty darn useful and fun to see where in the world people are talking about you, your business or your products.

3. Splitweet

If you have multiple Twitter profiles and haven’t found a great solution for managing that mess, Splitweet is for you. Very simple way to post to an unlimited number of profiles from a central location. You can also track @replies and messages from the dashboard.

4. Snap Bird Search

A simple tweet search application with a twist. This one goes way back beyond the 10 day official Twitter search archive. Can’t find that old Tweet you or your friend posted last week? Have Snap Bird find it.

5. TwiBack

A super cool application for managing your Twitter background image and profile photo. Awesome feature alert: TwiBack can update your Twitter background for you at an automated time.

I’m just waiting for someone to make a morning & night themed switching background.

6. TwerpScan

Very handy for managing and viewing detailed data on your followers or the people following you. Clean tables are sortable by followers/following, follow ratio, # of tweets, etc. Bulk unfollow or block if needed is very useful.

7. TwitBlock

This killer app is stomping out spammers by the thousands each day and is working to make Twitter a safe and clean place for us all.

I definitely recommend you scan people following you and see what shady individuals you find. Bonus: Big red block & report buttons can be fun and help keep Twitter clean.

8. FutureTweets

For those times when you just can’t be at the PC. FutureTweets will automatically post messages at set times on your behalf.

Note: This is not for posting the same tweet over and over again. Pre-load your stream with tweets for the weekend and take a vacation!

9. TwitterFeed

The premier application for routing blog / website RSS feeds to automatically be published on your tweet stream. Through this year Twitterfeed has added some pretty cool features including click analytics, feed customization and more.

10. Hummingbird 2

Hummingbird is the best selling Twitter automation software and is in full compliance with Twitter TOS.

Note: This one is for small business, bloggers or people who have a product to sell online. Hummingbird is a valuable and professional resource for automatically following keyword targeted people.

Want more cool apps?

Quality resources are featured daily at the TweetSocial Twitter App Directory.

Enjoy this post?

Be sure to share these useful apps with a friend! Is there a Twitter app you can’t live without? Leave a comment, we’d love to hear about it.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

eBay’s latest online destination is a vibrant magazine style blog dubbed The Inside Source which features just that, eBay insiders observing and reporting timely trends from the world’s largest marketplace.

If you are a trendhunter or a member of the eBay Partner Network this could turn out to be one of your favorite new blogs.

Imagine the search data! eBay has 88 million users, 25 million of those are sellers who are posting 200 million live product listings and turning out several million sales daily. From this can be derived global e-commerce trends that only eBay can offer.

The Inside Source keeps a watchful eye on all of the actions, daily searches and sales and reports trends for top categories like technology, home and garden, automotive, pop culture and fashion.

Alongside editorial style blog posts are various widgets featuring top eBay product info.

• Tag clouds for whats popular right now in each topic area.
• Most popular searches right now.
• Most watched products right now.

I’ve already found some interesting data. One of the introductory posts from Insider Source Tech on eReaders closes with this juicy info:

On eBay you can find eReaders from Kindle, Sony, Hanlin and iRex, although the most popular is the Kindle. In the past 60 days, there were over 23,000 Kindle listings with the average selling price around $113.

That’s the kind of detail and insight into e-commerce trends I would like to see more of! Definitely consider subscribing to your pick of the various RSS feeds or following @TheInsideSource on Twitter to stay updated.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

November is my favorite month of the year. The winter holidays are just around the corner. We’re all working towards rounding out a solid year of growth and preparing to tackle 2010.

I don’t get to promote my own portfolio very much. As a matter of fact, the majority of these domains have never been offered for sale before.

Browse the unique categories below to find what interests you. There are a lot of quality domains, priced to sell!

This sale will only last through November 30th.

Domains will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.

Please use this contact form with any questions or to purchase domains.

Brandable Names

The App Store

Business Builders

Designer Special

Web Developer Special

Reseller Special

Product Domains

All domains are registered at GoDaddy for a quick and easy transfer of ownership. Payments will be accepted through PayPal for verified buyers.

Remember, Sale Ends November 30th!

Please contact me directly by email at mark@dotsauce.com or, if you prefer, use this contact form with any questions or to purchase domains.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I’ve compiled a delicious collection of 100% geeky goodies for your enjoyment this Halloween, take your pick! Featured are top resources on domaining from October and a few gems from yesteryear.

After you’ve received your tricks, be sure to sample the jaw-dropping collection of downloadable treats for web developers.  Have a safe and fun time out there!

8 Killer Domaining Tricks

These tips, tricks and guides on domain names come highly-recommended. If you are already involved or interested in buying and selling domains or if you’re just looking to be sure to get a quality name for your business then these are for you!

Warning: The domaining tricks below may scare you into buying better quality domains and learning more about this awesome industry.

1) Expired Domains Explained

Domainer Income published this nice looking chart quite awhile back, but there are many people who still don’t know the actual processes going on behind the scenes in the life-cycle of a domain name registration. Great info to know especially when playing the expired domain game.

2) 5 Tips on Selling Domain Names for Maximum Profit

DotSauce shares an in-depth look at being a frugal domainer. Information on finding free marketplaces, avoiding high commission fees, setting up your own domaining business and more.

3) “The Domainers Language” Guide

Arbel Arif has composed a great glossary of domaining acronyms and terms. Must know information for anyone interested in domaining.

4) Is Your Domain Name Killing Your Business?

INC Magazine delves into the world of domain names with some no-nonsense advice on selecting the right name for your business.

5) Expiring Domains Research Pro Tips

DotSauce feature 7 tips and a couple secrets for getting the most out of your domain name research. Information on selecting the right keywords, data you need to analyze and things to avoid when researching expiring domains.

6) Get Your Domains Listed for Sale in GoDaddy’s Registration Path

Andrew Alleman of Domain Name Wire recently wrote about a new feature at GoDaddy. The Premium Listing service can looks promising for getting your domain in front of targeted end-users, but comes at a price with a steep commission going to GoDaddy.

7) Advice from the Most Successful Domain Investors of All Time

Elliot Silver asked some of the most successful domain investors in the business for their advice and has kindly shared it with everyone. Follow through for a killer PDF containing advice from some industry pros.

8) Google’s Matt Cutts On Keywords In The URL

Search Engine Land shares a video by Google’s Head of Web Spam team, Matt Cutts. Confirmation that keyword in URLs lend aid to search rankings in some way. For more from Matt Cutts check out our SEO Advice of the Year feature which includes a presentation by Mr. Cutts on successful blogging.

10 Delicious
Web Development Treats

For your enjoyment, a collection of downloadable goodies and fresh resource lists. Don’t you go and try to download these all at once, your PC may get dizzy!

1) 99 High-Quality Free XHTML/CSS Templates

2) Free E-Commerce Widgets Usable on Any CMS

3) 500+ Free Download Quality Photoshop PSD Files for Designers

4) 23 Free E-Commerce Icon Sets for your Designs

5) 75 Free Icon Sets for Web Designers and Developers

6) 55+ Seriously Useful Front End Web Developer Cheat Sheets

7) 51 Web Apps for Web Designers and Developers

8) 10 WordPress Themes and Plugins for Turnkey Online Business

9) 10 Most Useful Google Plugins for WordPress

10) 10 Best WordPress Plugins for Blog Traffic

This treat bag never ends! So, be sure to pass it on to a friend!  Click here to Tweet this article.

Happy Halloween!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Before I get into the actual solution for adding affiliate IDs to RSS feeds, here is a little background information on what led me to seek out this method as well as an example of how I am putting it into practice.

I am a big fan of the Envato web goodies marketplaces, ActiveDen, AudioJungle, VideoHive, GraphicRiver, but most especially, ThemeForest. Hundreds of fresh, high quality CSS/HTML and WordPress themes can be found from top designers.

The Envato referral program is pretty neat, earning members 30% of the first cash deposit made by anyone they refer. It is not a traditional affiliate program by any means. However, it can still be a nice bonus for little effort (the content really sells itself).

My earned cash is spent on awesome WordPress themes! I have downloaded many premium themes this way, essentially for free.

I Wonder If I Can…

I contacted Envato to request a way to add my affiliate ID to their new category RSS feeds. They replied to let me know that they currently do not have code in place to accomplish this, but would be looking into my suggestion.

I’m pleased to present that I may have saved them the trouble!

Solution for Adding Affiliate ID to RSS Feeds

I decided to find my own solution and came up with a custom Yahoo Pipe for appending my affiliate id to any RSS feed.

Using this solution I would be able to share all the beautiful WordPress themes as they are released on ThemeForest with my @ThemeHunter Twitter followers and earn some cash while doing so!

The Custom Pipe

I am using Yahoo Pipes to alter the original RSS feed and output a completely new feed with affiliate ID appended to the end of each feed item URL. Here is my custom pipe structure:

(Get This Pipe)

Customize the Pipe

Here are the simple steps you need to take to make this your own.

1. Login and Clone the Pipe so you are able to save and customize.
2. Paste your desired RSS feed URL into the “Fetch Feed” box.
3. Replace “?ref=DotSauce” with whatever affiliate ID you need to append.
4. Run your new pipe and get it as RSS!

Using my custom pipe you can create an unlimited number of revenue generating feeds from your favorite affiliate or referral programs. Embed your dynamic feeds on your site or even share them on social networks!

I hope you enjoyed this resource. Please consider sharing this article with fellow affiliates. If you have any questions or related ideas I would love to hear them. You can find the comments tab above the article.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

The TRAFFIC, New York 2009 domain conference is underway and starting right now Rick Latona Auctions is broadcasting live on Domaining.com

Domains being offered today include gems like Bananas.com, Bourbon.com, Database.com, Hookahs.com, Draw.com, Referrals.com and many more.

To review all of the premium domains being auctioned today or participate in the auction you can visit the official auction page on Proxibid.

Frank Michlick will be reporting final sales prices live from DNN.com

Tomorrow, October 28th at 4:00 – 6:30 PM ET Moniker will host another live premium domain auction at the TRAFFIC conference.

Up for auction are some valuable properties including…

• Photo.com
• QB.com
• Feature(s).com
• Stuff.com
• OfficeSupply.com

To review all of the premium domains being auctioned tomorrow or participate, visit Moniker’s Auction Headquarters auction inventory. The extended online auction will continue through Nov 4.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I would like to share a simple yet powerful Twitter tip for finding people with your similar interests to follow on Twitter. There may be multiple ways of going about this process and I think I’ve found the quickest, but the main idea is to follow the re-tweets!

There are two things we can assume about people who re-tweet links to resources and articles. First, they are interested in the subject of that article or resource. Second, they are engaging actively with their followers and sharing. My kinda people!

I have always been a fan of Bit.ly, even before Twitter decided to use them as the default link shortening service. Their click tracking analytics and clean interface have always appealed to me. In this guide we will be using the Bit.ly sidebar tool to find and follow new interesting people.

Step 1. Register an account with Bit.ly.

Once logged in you will be able to drag the sidebar tool button (shown right) to your browser toolbar.

Step 2. Find an article of interest to you.

Popular articles will work best as we’re looking to see who might have shared this article. Consider your favorite blogs’ best posts or the latest news from your topic of interest.

You can use sites like TweetMeme, TweetMixx or Favstar to find articles that have been re-tweeted alot. Now navigate to the article page.

Step 3. Activate the Bit.ly sidebar tool.

Click the link you just placed in your browser toolbar. The Bit.ly sidebar allows you to quickly re-tweet this article, see how many visits the article has received and last but not least you can see the Twitter conversation.

Step 4. Follow the Re-Tweets!

The “Conversations” area shows everyone who has re-tweeted the article in a nice chronological list.

You can scroll all the way to the bottom and see who first shared an article and as you move up the list you see how the re-tweets progressed.

Click a few Twitter profile names at a time while holding the Ctrl key or click with your mouse scroll-wheel to open them in a new tab.

You will likely find hundreds of new and interesting people to check out and follow on Twitter using this method.

These people like to share stuff, so if you have quality tweets there’s a good chance they may be re-tweeting YOU soon!

Speaking of re-tweets, you can click here to Tweet this article.

Be sure to follow @DotSauce for live updates on future articles.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

I’ve decided to share some tips for bloggers and more than a few secrets about my top earning affiliate campaigns. Some readers have expressed interest in learning about affiliate marketing, so I hope these first hand examples will provide some new ideas for your own campaigns.

While choosing great businesses and products is important, building a following, relevant content and authority on a specific niche will help you tremendously. It’s important to establish yourself first and overall give much more than you take, so to speak.

Without further adieu, here are my top 5 earning affiliate campaigns…

1. GoDaddy

I’ve been a GoDaddy affiliate for years now. Hundreds of domainers and almost every domain industry blogger are affiliates with GoDaddy through Commission Junction.

Here is a little insight into how I’ve made GoDaddy my top earning affiliate program.

• Capitalized on the launch of .ME domains! Prior to Montenegro’s ccTLD going mainstream, I wrote several articles and kept readers updated on the landrush pre-launch and eventually the public launch. I walked away with $3000+ in commissions from the .ME launch.
• Provided high quality expiring domains and suggest subscribers to register domains through GoDaddy. Initially I published this service on NamePros, and it evolved into a private subscription service called DotSauce Premium. Recently, DotSauce Premium has been open to the public for free. Earnings are modest with this method, a few dollars every few days. Occasionally someone will make a substantial purchase, likely bulk registration and the commissions go up.

2. Hummingbird

Hummingbird is the #1 best selling software for Twitter automation, having paid out over $76,000 in affiliate commissions. My take is roughly $2,500 so far.

I wrote here on DotSauce about my experiences with the software and how it can be extremely beneficial to any online business. Hummingbird automates the process of targeting quality people, following them and tracking performance. 

How did I make it successful?

• Discount codes. The key element of my article was that I was offering a promotional discount. Traffic from search engines still comes in daily as I rank highly for key terms related to Hummingbird. Unfortunately, there are no current discount codes, but that doesn’t mean people are not searching for them daily.
• Kept the article updated as Hummingbird launched version 2 of their software.
• Recruited Twitter enthusiasts like you to sign up for the affiliate program.

3. SEOMoz

Wrote an article about the launch of SEOMoz’s  innovative new SEO research tool called LinkScape. Again, some select keywords were used here featuring a free trial promotion and I ended up ranking for the ever sought after code.

I received two large conversions who must have paid yearly because each commission check was around $400. In the end earnings have slowed but well worth the minimal effort of sharing a relevant tool from the best minds in SEO.

The SEOMoz affiliate program is managed by the Pepperjam Network.

4. Affiliate Theme

An innovative WordPress theme featuring a slick admin and built to save time creating sites. Affiliate Theme was developed  by an associate of mine, Nate Whitehill and his team at Unique Blog Designs, so I was more than happy to share the launch of his new product. I was sure my readers would be interested as well. Turns out I was right. By sharing this announcement I have earned $842.85 and still receive occasional new commissions.

• I occasionally give Affiliate Theme a shout out on my Twitter profile (@ThemeHunter) that is targeted to WordPress themes.
• Featured this announcement in a special area of my blog. (See featured article slider below)

5. TUTS Plus

This web development and graphic design membership website by the Envato Network features hundreds of high quality tutorials with included source files.

I really have to give credit for this being a success to the TUTS+ team. The price is an extremely good deal at just $9 per month and affiliates get a bonus monthly recurring commission! Here is some insight into how I made it successful.

• Referred 22 people so far which has earned me a $228.50 + 25% of what they pay every month for a year.
• Endorsed TUTS+ as a satisfied customer. The thing I am most happy about is that my own membership is covered and the people I refer are getting a quality resource.

What’s your top earning affiliate program?

If you dare to share, please leave a comment! If you have any comments or questions or even tips for me about my campaigns I’d love to hear them. Thanks for reading!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Qualiteam Software, a leader in open source commercial shopping carts since 2001, has just released their newest product, E-Commerce Widgets or “Ecwid” for short.

Ecwid is a free and flexible e-commerce suite for selling products online and is the first to offer a 100% AJAX solution. This means that store owners can easily copy and paste JavaScript code for their products, shopping cart and other store features to be displayed on existing websites.

Store owners manage their products, sales, payments, customers and store features from a user-friendly control panel on the Ecwid website. All data is managed by Amazon Web Services, making your storefront very secure and lightning fast.

Adding Ecwid to WordPress

Within a CMS like WordPress, Ecwid code can be placed into theme files as well as directly inside posts or pages. Be sure to use the “HTML” tab and not the Visual editor.

You may want to create a new page in WordPress to become your storefront, then place the Product Browser widget code on that page. You will then likely want to place the shopping cart widget into the sidebar theme file.

Demonstration of Product Display and Checkout

Embedding individual products anywhere is also possible. Here is a demonstration of a single product embedded on the left and a checkout button on the right.

Each of these elements can be styled using CSS to match your website.

For a complete demonstration of a full Ecwid storefront and the Admin Control Panel then head over to Ecwid.com.

What do you think about Ecwid?

I am thinking of implementing it on my own domain name sales storefront at AQDN.com. My shopping cart works, but is somewhat dated and I feel Ecwid provides much better management on all levels.

If you decide to give it a go please leave a comment with your thoughts.

Be sure to share this with fellow bloggers and business owners, that’s what the open-source community is all about!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

Today, over eight thousand blogs will unite for a single cause by writing to promote awareness of the threats and effects of climate change on the Earth.

Blog Action Day ‘09 has set out to bring the issue to center stage and some high profile publications like the official Google Blog, Mashable, DailyBlogTips and more will be joining the movement today including 11 of the world’s top 100 blogs.

You can follow the movement on Twitter by searching the #BAD09 hashtag or to browse some featured blog posts visit Blog Action Day headquarters.

Check out this very cool short video introduction to Blog Action Day and the topic of climate change.

Could Blog Action Day be just the tip of the iceberg?

The Blog Action Day team has gathered 24 non-profit sponsors including former Vice President Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Change.

Gore’s organization has partnered with Dot Eco LLC (SupportDotEco.com) who is campaigning for registration of a new (.eco) top level domain (TLD) to establish an environmental related domain space.

Dot Eco will provide resources for the non-profits that are on the front lines of this really critical work. Funding for research, education and action. – Davis Guggenheim, Dot Eco Director

The .eco TLD will surely be a great source of revenue for non-profit environmental organizations, but I think it’s impact will extend farther than anyone expects.

The .eco domain space will have a massive appeal to green businesses, bloggers and organizations to create new websites about the environment on .eco domains.

I envision that these websites will grow and network with other .eco owners as well as connect with popular green websites on the .com space.  Each site sending out a ripple of good cause and expanding awareness of a need for action to millions.

Support Dot Eco Today

Dot Eco has an astounding 84,000+ fans on Facebook and 6,000+ followers on Twitter. Show your support and expect to see .eco domains take on the web and climate change in just a few years!

What do you think? Would you develop a website on a new .eco domain? Do you think the .eco domain will be as successful as I imagine? Please leave a comment using the “Comments” tab at the top of the article.

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.

All time best selling forum community software, vBulletin has just announced and is taking pre-orders for the release of their 4.0 update.

The vBulletin 4.0 Publisher Suite contains updated and completely new features for vBulletin forums (SEO friendly URLs, new UI, improved search, etc.) and is coupled with a comprehensive content management system (CMS) for your community.

These updates will provide the opportunity to seamlessly blend articles, content and forum discussions on one SEO friendly web space. Additionally, your members can easily create their own blogs on site.

Here are some of the highlights from this upcoming release.

• CMS Built for Community
• SEO Friendly URLs
• Community Blogs
• Widget Platform
• Redesigned Forum Interface
• Easier Style Customization

vBulletin 4.0 licenses are available at a discounted pre-order rate of $235 now until October 30th, 2009.

If you are an existing vBulletin license owner there is a discounted pre-order price of just $130 (over 50% off) until October 30th, 2009.

Visit vBulletin for complete feature details and be sure to join us on the DotSauce Forum community. I will definitely be upgrading to vBulletin 4.0 here on DotSauce as well as my Twitter Forum!

This article is from DotSauce Magazine.