Presenters: Greg Hartnett Best of the Web, Mary Bowling seOverflow.com, & Matt McGee Small Business SEM

Local search became an emphasis in January 2008 and has increased in frequency since.

Greg: Local Link Development

#1 thing to be concerned with in local search (and search engines in general) is inbound links.  The best method for building a link development plan  is competitive analysis - viewing strategies of sites who rank higher.

I don’t care who John McCain has relationships with…that’s not the point of this post.

So, I learn about John McCain’s “relationship” with Vicki Iseman on Twitter slightly before 5PM Pacific Time. Immediately, I go to my domain registrar of choice and check to see whether vickiiseman.com is available (something I’ve trained myself to do in similar situations even if I’m not interested in purchasing the domain).

I see the following:

Without getting overly political, I don’t think the great American tax rebate will do much to stimulate our economy. Most people will use it to pay already existing debt such as credit card bills or mortgages and I don’t think overall consumer spending will increase that much.

However, this is a simple way to change this…to use your tax rebate money to stimulate “The” economy and “Your” economy.

Google’s Toolbar 5 has an interesting feature guaranteed to draw the ire of the domaining community.

From the features page:

Address Bar Browse by Name
Browse by Name helps you find a site even when you don’t know its URL. Just type the site name into your browser address bar, and Toolbar will take you there automatically. For instance, try typing “oxford” into the address bar to go directly to the university’s home page at www.ox.ac.uk.

Not that anyone we know uses Network solutions as a registrar, but it seems that Network Solutions is immediately registering and holding any domain name you search for if you don’t buy it from them right then, basically holding it hostage so you can’t buy it anywhere else. (according to this report)

So I tried it myself…
I just went through the process at Netsol - (Logged in) and looked for this domain - netsol-is-within-their-rights.com

Excellent article by SEMpdx member Scott Fish…glad to give him some link love.

“I was recently asked by a fellow domainer how I felt about the current prices of domain names in general. Here’s my take on Generic Domain Names, International Domain Names, Typo Domain Names, and other factors such as financing and the dissemination of knowledge.”

Read The Full Blog Post

“Because something is happening here…But you don’t know what it is…Do you, Mister Jones?” Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man

The phone rang at the appointed time.

“Mitch, it’s Denny Fowles…I’m the person who emailed you about purchasing your domain forecasttheyears.com.”

“Hello Denny. You know, I’m quite puzzled by your interest in my domain. I purchased it name for its sentimental value and to get a total stranger to offer me $500 for it out of the blue is somewhat suspicious to me. Can you explain to me your sudden interest?”

Until about a week ago, I had never knew that the city of Maywood Park, Oregon (750 people located in a small part of East Portland) existed. When I first heard of it, I immediately checked to see if the domain had been taken…and since it hadn’t, I took it.

Another reminder as you learn new facts and ideas to train your mind to check if a relevant domain name is available…and to grab it if you can.

Most internet marketers know to purchase their own name as a dot com domain name if it is available. However, many don’t think to purchase the names of their spouses & children and that is a mistake for several reasons:

• Once it’s gone, it’s likely gone forever.
• It’s becoming more and more clear that the dot com domain name of a person’s full name will be a major part of their digital identity. A digital identity will be much harder to establish on a dot net or dot org domain.

Will people ever be able to put domains into a 529 College Plan?

Will governments ever try to tax domains based on their real or perceived “book” value?

Will governments ever use the power of “eminent domain” to take custody of a domain?

Will every bank trustee ever need to know domain optimization as part of their job description?

Would domains ever need to pass through probate?