The NamePros live auction inventory looks good so far with some decent keyword .com names, LLLL.coms and various brandable names. There is still room for more as auction inventory is usually much larger than this. Looks like all domains submitted may get a shot at being sold!

$1 Reserve Featured Domains!

I am liquidating a few names myself for some extra spending money and have listed these nice domains for just $1 reserve!

• ExpertEbook.com - The definitive name for a professional ebook product, yet it is still useable across all niches! The name is very memorable because of the double “E” alliteration. A strong brand name with big potential as a product itself or network marketplace of thousands of ebooks.
• CelebMeter.com - Great domain for a blog featuring all the latest in celebrity news, gossip and Hollywood happenings. Wired Magazine even has a tool called Celeb Meter!
• AdvertisingHumor.com - This domain is your best choice for a humorous website on advertising. Advertisements today feature a ton of comedy. Society loves to laugh and remember really funny commercials. There are thousands of these videos on YouTube and other sources that you could feature on your new website easily.

You can view all the domains being auctioned and place your bids here!

Turnkey Domaining Site For Sale - DropEntry.com

I am also selling a turnkey available domain sharing website that I had developed but never had the opportunity to use.  You can read more about DropEntry here.  This auction lot features the DropEntry.com domain name, custom script and professional logo design!

Join us in the NamePros Live Chatroom at 6pm EST to see the sale!

Upcoming NamePros Auctions

The next event will feature ALL $1 No Reserve domain auctions, that is sure to be fun!  Other NamePros live auctions will highlight ccTLDs and short domain names.

You can view this thread on NamePros.com for all the details on upcoming themed domain auctions, dates and times.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

NamePros Live Domain Name Auction! Thursday, July 9th, 6pm EST

Ian Stuart of ThemeShaper, the man behind the Thematic WordPress Theme framework, has recently published a comprehensive tutorial on creating your own unique WordPress Theme.

Follow the tutorial through just 11 lessons and fairly quickly piece together the basic framework for a WordPress Theme you can truly call your own.

Additionally, NetTuts has this nice tutorial on creating your own WordPress Theme from scratch which includes source files for TutsPlus members like myself!  If you are a member of TutsPlus (well worth $9/month) you also can get access to the in depth 6-part series entitled “WordPress: Beginner to Master”.

WordPress Rockstars

Graphic designers that are savvy with WordPress are living it up, developing and selling WordPress Themes. Would it be possible for you connect with a designer and create your own WordPress Theme product?  Many are putting a creative and innovative spin on the concept of themeing like the WordPress shopping cart, link directory or Wiki theme.

Here are a few examples of people stirring things up in the WordPress Theme industry…

Maximus a web designer who sells his work exclusively on ThemeForest has sold somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 since joining the site just 11 months ago in August 2008.

Just this weekend, the guys from Obox Designs launched their signature series WordPress Theme collection and have gotten over 48 enthusiastic responses to the announcement.

Unique Blog Designs has released a smashing new product called Affiliate Theme that you previously heard about on DotSauce, implementing advanced features for the online marketer and creating a lucrative affiliate program.

Turning Those Entrepreneurial Gears

I have been planning to develop a .com domain I purchased awhile back (ShortPress) into a unique WordPress Theme that connects WordPress with one of these newfangled trends we’ve been seeing called microblogging.

I’ve already been in touch with a top WordPress plugin developer and have the framework for the product and business laid out.

If you’ve got some interest in collaborating on this startup project or potentially investing funds for some revenue share, please get in touch with me!

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Create Your Own WordPress Theme Tutorial Resources

Hummingbird 2 Beta with my accounts: @DotSauce, @AQDN, and @TweetSocial.

You can download Hummingbird 2 Beta to give it a go now. Note: There have been some bugs reported, and the developers are hard at work. That’s what this Beta test is for, but the original version is working.

You’ll likely want to sign up as an affiliate also because the people behind Mesiab Labs are going above and beyond to make this the premier Twitter marketing software that is 100% compliance with Twitter.com’s TOS.

Get A Free Upgrade

Existing customers get Hummingbird 2 Pro for free when it goes live in 1 to 2 weeks! Yup, you’ll be able to use your current license key to unlock all Hummingbird 2 features.

As a promotion for the Beta launch of the new version, the guys at Mesiab Labs have slashed the price on the original Hummingbird software to just $97 and if you use this link to purchase and enter coupon code “RECESSION” you can get an additional 15% Off!

Proven Twitter Success

Since using Hummingbird just a couple months back I have noticed some great benefits.

• My website traffic has increased dramatically.
• I have built new relationships with individuals and businesses.
• I have introduced numerous people to my industry.
• Able to drive traffic to any resource, product or blog at any time.
• I get tons of Re-Tweets.
• Listed high in Twitter directories.
• I launched a website and gained hundreds of sign ups.

…the list goes on!  There is no reason you shouldn’t pursue more followers on Twitter.

So don’t miss out, give Hummingbird 2 a try (and sign up as an affiliate), then I highly recommend you get the original Hummingbird with discount code RECESSION to be sure you get to upgrade for free!

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Hummingbird 2 Download: Pro Twitter Software Launches Beta Test

Issue #24 of our Available Domains Newsletter was sent out last week and contained 49 quality .com domain names. These names were available to register on a first-come first-serve basis.

In what seemed like just hours over 30 domains had been registered out of the 49. As I write this today, 36 of the 49 have been taken by newsletter subscribers. That is a whopping 73% registration rate which actually doesn’t surprise me because this has been occurring with every issue.

I’m pretty proud of that statistic to be honest and it’s why I strive to put an emphasis on quality keywords, brands and development potential over quantity.

Here is an image of the 36 domains that have been taken from Issue #24:

An additional 13 good domains are still available to register. I see some nice brandables weren’t taken if any subscribers want to go back and re-scan the list!

If you would like to subscribe for free and start receiving these available domains by email, please visit the Available Domains Newsletter page to get on the list!

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

36 Domain Names Find New Home

These .ME domains are owned by Randy Charach, founder of Synergy Domain Club and all around great online businessman and fellow domainer.

There are hundreds of quality, actionable, and generic one word .ME domains that can be purchased for as little as $69 starting today through the month.

I just browsed through the list and over 150 of these .ME domain names already have backorders placed!  Some great brand names can be found and even real world first names.  Here are some examples…

You can follow this link to view all Premium .ME Domains on NameJet.

A handful of these backorder opportunities may end soon, so check it out while you can and keep watching as Randy has just informed me more will be added in the coming weeks.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Premium .ME Domains For Sale at NameJet

There are many ways you can enhance the effectiveness and exposure you can gain from blogging and the most important is optimizing your posts so they rank high on multiple search terms (SEO).

Popular keyword research company, Wordtracker, has recently released an excellent Firefox addon for bloggers called SEO Blogger.

While some bloggers use alternate keywords and phrases related to your post subject by simply pulling them from memory, the free SEO Blogger tool can provide real world search data to back you up.

Ken McGaffin, CMO at Wordtracker makes a great point in this comment about their new SEO Blogger tool…

“Bloggers often don’t take the time to do keyword research… they just want to get their story out there. Now, bloggers have instant access to relevant keywords…That’s sure to bring them extra traffic.”

SEO Blogger Keyword Suggestion Tool: How to Use It

Once installed, click the small Wordtracker icon in the lower right of your screen that looks like this…

The SEO Blogger tool opens in a sidebar panel in your browser (see screenshot) where you can enter any keyword or keyword phrase and then be presented with keyword suggestions ranked by popularity.

You are then able to select which keywords you would like to use in your blog post.

Your saved keywords will be shown in the lower half of the sidebar and you may continue to type in additional keywords in the upper half to be presented with more keyword suggestions.

One of the cool features of SEO Blogger is that as you write your post it tracks how many times each chosen keyword is used.

I might find myself using this tool outside of WordPress also for quick keyword suggestions, domain research, article ideas and other writings.

So, give SEO Blogger a try and let us know what you think of this free tool by commenting below.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

SEO Blogger: Free Keyword Suggestion Tool for Firefox

Gizmodo reports that Google has reserved 1 million new phone numbers from Level 3 communications.

An article by Adam Mills of the Charlotte Examiner points out this twitter update by one of the Google Voice Founders who states they are working 24/7 to get it released!

Just What is Google Voice?

Using VoIP technology (this means any mobile device, even your iPod), users will be able to route all their phone calls from any mobile device as well as send and manage SMS text and voice mail through one central web based location.

Google Voice will also feature all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a Google app, like these examples…

• Voicemail transcripts - Read what your voicemail says
• Share voicemail - Forward or download voicemails
• Conference calling - Join people into a single call
• Call record - Record calls and store them online
• GOOG-411 - Check directory assistance
• Block calls - Keep unwanted callers at bay
• Phone routing - Phones ring based on who calls
• Forwarding phones - Add phones and decide which ring

Goodbye Phone Contracts. Hello VoIP!

The outlook is bleak for the phone carriers of today. VoIP and WiFi hot spots will soon replace these ghastly cell contracts and finally open the mobile web to the masses.

SecondLife virtual world has generated over 15 billion minutes in free online voice calls in just under 2 years and wildly popular Skype has reportedly played host to 200 billion minutes in it’s 6 years in operation.

Here is a quick video demo of some Google Voice iPhone features in action.

Will There Be A Google Voice Phone Number Land Rush?

This could be an opportunity to pick up an awesome phone number for your online business!

You can sign up to receive an email alert when Google Voice goes live at the Voice home page.

Since signing up will require a unique Google account to claim a Voice phone number, I think this phone number rush will be comparable to the recent Facebook username rush.  (Where I scored facebook.com/MarkFulton!)

It is also likely that you will not be able to choose the digits of your phone number, but who knows? We’ll have to wait and see!

I will be looking out for the launch announcement email, you may want to do the same and tell your friends and associates.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Google Voice Launching Any Day Now: Be Ready to Reserve Your Phone Number!

Just what does Authority Labs really do?

The service allows you to monitor your domain names for search engine rankings of specific keywords or search terms of your choice.

Once you set a domain name and define the search terms you want to track, Authority Labs goes to work monitoring your ranking for those terms. There are options to be updated via email alerts and you can view charts to track your performance over time.

Monitor One Website for Free

You can give this service a go for free through a promotional free trial account. You can monitor one domain and 10 search terms.  Simply visit the Authority Labs website to sign up.

There is also a Personal Plan which is $9 per month to monitor 3 domains, though the beauty of this service may lie in the fact that it’s scalable, allowing paying customers to monitor many many more websites with ease.

Why Bother?

Monitoring search rankings can beneficial for numerous reasons. For one, it can help you visualize the progress you are making, especially if you are just getting started!

Keeping tabs on those rankings can help you discover where your traffic is coming from and try to repeat that success.

Do you track your search rankings? Would love to hear your thoughts.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Monitor Google, Yahoo and Bing Rankings for Free with Authority Labs

An official date has not been set on when the site will be public.

The Flippa interface is quite simplified but is lacking the defined categories that exist in the current marketplace such as Established Websites, Domain Names, and Startup Websites for example. However, Flippa’s Advanced Search feature may make up for it.

Here is what SitePoint had to say about this specific change…

“In the old marketplace we defined what a ’start up site’ was and an ‘established site’ and so on. This caused way too much confusion. It’s now up to buyers to define their own categories based on data that sellers have entered for their listing. For instance, I might setup a saved search for “sites with more than 10,000 page-views a month” and I might call that ‘established sites’.” via Flippa Blog

The team at SitePoint seems to be focusing on website sales with this new marketplace brand.  The lack of defined categories could be beneficial for domainers to have their domains placed in the same marketplace stream as websites, especially if those domains are earning revenue.

It has yet to be announced if goods and services like hosting, links, consulting, and scripts will even allowed to be listed on Flippa.

There are some noteable improvements to the process of buying and selling websites through classifieds as well as features from the original SitePoint Marketplace.

Here is a snapshot of the handy statistics widget embedded within each listing.

What are your thoughts on Flippa? I for one am excitied to see it grow and gain more exposure to domain and website sales.  Please leave your comments and questions below.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

SitePoint Set To Launch Flippa.com Enhanced Website Sales Marketplace

There have been some great developments this week, interesting article guides, editorials and even big announcements from Microsoft and Google!

Let’s face it, nobody can really keep up with all of the news and articles surrounding the domain and internet industry and I’m sure all you guys who were at TRAFFIC missed some things. I monitor and share this stuff actively and I still manage to miss some of the news myself.

So, for your convenience, I have compiled below what I feel are the most valuable and important articles on domaining from the previous work week.

Domain Buzz - Monday June 1st through Friday June 5th

Whizzbang’s Blog - The PPC Industry: “For the first time ever Google posted a down-turn in earnings which is remarkable for a number of reasons…”

The Domains - Congress Calls ICANN Out On Finances: “Florida Republican Cliff Stearns called ICANN out on its finances , noting that the last balance sheet the nonprofit group showed a $7 million surplus.”

DNW - Congress Beats Up ICANN, 3 Part Series: “members of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet took turns ripping into Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its President/CEO Paul Twomey.”

The Domains - Verizon Testifies To Congress Against New gTLD’s: “in front of the House Energy and Commerce Internet Subcommittee panel, which is holding hearings on ICANN, that new gTLD’s shouldn’t be allowed unless there is a proven market demand”

DN Journal - Final Day Photos and Highlights from the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. : “We have already seen one blockbuster sale, DiamondRings.com at €162,000 ($230,179 at today’s exchange rate). In a solid ccTLD sale, Houses.co.uk just went for €51,000 ($72,429).”

TechCrunch - The Dot Coms Are Booming Again (Domain Registrations, That Is): “VeriSign has just put out its quarterly report on the web domain industry stating that there are now just about 183 million domain names in existence. This represents a 3% increase from last quarter and a 12% increase from last year.” Full VeriSign PDF report here.

DNN - Targeted TRAFFIC ccTLDs 2009 Live Auction Results

INC. Magazine - Is Your Domain Name Killing Your Business?: “Choosing the right domain name is crucial to helping potential customers find you — with shorter, simpler, intuitive descriptive names ending in dot-com considered better.”

DNN - Dan Warner Sails From Dark Blue Sea: “Dan Warner, one of the most public faces of Dark Blue Sea has left his position as COO of DBS (parent company of Fabulous.com).”

DomainNews - President of CCIA will be keynote speaker at Domain Roundtable Conference: “Domain Roundtable Conference in Washington ,D.C. will start this month and will have as a keynote speaker Edward Black, President & CEO of Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA).”

Google - Page Speed Firefox Addon: “Page Speed is an open-source Firefox/Firebug Add-on. Webmasters and web developers can use Page Speed to evaluate the performance of their web pages and to get suggestions on how to improve them.”

DotSauce - SEO Advice of the Year! Google’s Matt Cutts on Successful Blogging: “Matt recently gave a presentation on the subject of SEO and blogging at WordCamp San Francisco and has been kind enough to share his presentation with everyone.”

DNJournal - Wednesday Photos & Highlights from T.R.A.F.F.I.C Amsterdam Including Kevin Ham’s Keynote: “With one day still to go I can tell you this has been an exceptionally informative and entertaining conference.”

DotSauce - POLL: Do You Buy Expired Domains?: “The nature of a domain registration will continue to provide virtually infinite opportunity for domainers, simply because of the fact that names expire.”

DotSauce - Hot New Domainer Resources Coming This Summer to DotSauce: “new Domaining Directory will feature comprehensive industry resources, tools and contacts. It is currently in early stages of development but is already an industry first.”

Rick Schwartz - It’s a DEAL! Candy.com (Sells for $3M). And the Buyer is…: “G&J Holdings, LLC today announced the purchase and acquisition of the web domain Candy.Com and the development of a new internet based confections retailer”

LLLL.com - Marketing — Are Domain Companies doing all they can do?: “9Domain Marketplaces should) have a link on your homepage which showed the last hundred or even the last thousand sales on your site? Would that not give potential buyers more confidence in making a purchase?”

DNJournal - Photos & Highlights From the First Full Day of Business at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. : “Internet Commerce Association President Jeremiah Johnson spoke about new threats facing domain owners, including efforts being undertaken by trademark interests to have the UDRP process replaced with a new system”

WannaDevelop - Exact Match Keyword Domains - Most Important Investment for Online Business: “Lots of opportunities for people who do get it to capitalize on this. Big time! Lots of opportunities for “domainers” and the collectors of quality exact match domains that are two to three keywords long…”

Domainvestors.tv - Do You Know Your Visitors? Why Analytics is Key to Monetization: “Analytics is an often overlooked part of the website development process but potentially the most important step in the long-term monetization of a site.”

eBusinessDomains - Bing Is Now Live - Microsoft Launches New Search Engine: “Microsoft has unexpectedly launched their new search engine ahead of schedule. Bing.com is the new face of search and will replace Live.com”

DNJournal - DN Journal’s First Report from Amsterdam: “The T.R.A.F.F.I.C. ccTLDs conference gets underway tonight in Amsterdam, Holland.”

Hope you enjoyed the Domain Buzz round up for the week! Have a great weekend.

If I missed anything feel free to leave a comment below.

This article is from DotSauce.com Domain Name Magazine.

Domain Buzz - This Week in Domaining