Since the beginning of the internet, Americans have primarily used three main Top Level Domains (TLDs) for our websites: .COM, .NET, and .ORG. There are other TLDs that have been introduced that we’re all familiar with, such as .EDU and .GOV.

Understanding Top Level Domains

It’s been fairly easy for us to register .COM, .NET, and .ORG domain names, but you have to be associated with an educational institution or a government entity to secure a .EDU or a .GOV domain name. And then there’s the others that have been available for quite some time now, such as .INFO, .BIZ, and .TV. But still, most consumers in the USA are used to .COM, .NET, and .ORG.

In countries outside of the USA, the Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) are widely accepted, and in fact often the default option. Country codes include .de (Germany), .co.uk (United Kingdom), .es (Spain), .com.au (Australia), .ca (Canada), and .it (Italy). Depending on the location of your business, a ccTLD makes perfect sense as an alternative to .COM.

Since January 2014, hundreds of new Generic Top Level Domains (New gTLDs) have become available for registration, giving consumers greater choice. Examples of such New gTLDs that focus on the automotive industry include .CARS, .CAR and .AUTO. Some of the best domain names in this gTLD are still available for registration.

A Study into a Geo .CARS Domain Name

When we refer to the word “Geo” in the domain name industry, a Geo domain name would be one that includes a city name. An example of Geo keywords would be “Dallas Cars,” “Chicago Cars,” “Atlanta Used Cars,” and “Miami New Cars.” Each of those are Geo keywords, and a Geo domain name would be something like DallasCars.com, Miami.Car, or NewYork.Cars.

Since .CARS domain names have been available for registration for over two years, I decided to evaluate how these domain names are being accepted in the market, how they are performing online, and how these domain names are being used by businesses today. I was also curious to know if they are being accepted and recognized by consumers. Lastly, I decided to evaluate if the required investment into .CARS, .CAR and .AUTO domains would be worth it for the businesses using them.

To analyze the data for Wichita.Cars, I wanted to see what happened in the past two years with the .CARS TLD and websites actually using a .CARS domain. I decided to evaluate if a .CARS domain name is worth the $3,000 purchase price, since this can be considered a premium compared to other TLDs not focused on the automotive industry. To find the answer to these questions, I was given unprecedented access to the statistics for these domain names. After viewing all of the data from rankings and analytics, there were some interesting findings—which I’ll detail here.

Wichita.Cars Study

Scholfield Hyundai Buick GMC, back in 2016, originally launched Wichita.Cars and initially created a brand new single-page website on Wichita.Cars, which essentially allowed visitors to click through to another website. Without a considerable amount of content on the website and only “click through” functionality, the search engines had no incentive to rank this website in the top search results based on the website alone. Google specifically does not tend to rank “thin content” websites very well. This is one of the reasons why the results I found in my analysis below are all the more astonishing.

Traffic and Traffic Value

Wichita.Cars received a good amount of visitors right after it launched in 2016. The amount of visitors grew even further when the car dealership launched a new version of the website in 2017.

Average Cost per Click (CPC) for the “Wichita Cars” keyword, according to SEMrush.com.

17,191 total visitors to Wichita.Cars website during 2016, according to Google Analytics.

The Wichita.Cars website has been live on the Wichita.Cars domain name for just over two years. This is a decent amount of data to draw solid conclusions, based on data collected from Google Analytics along with search engine ranking data from SEMrush.com.

The Wichita.Cars website and domain name is doing better than other similar websites on other TLDs, such as .COM, .NET, or .ORG.

Key Observations

• Cars received 5,518 organic visitors from Google in 2016 and 6,390 total organic search visitors in 2016, just by having a basic website on the Wichita.Cars domain name.
• The average CPC (cost per click) for the “Wichita Cars” keyword is $2.50 per click. If we multiply the average CPC by the number of visitors Wichita.Cars received from organic search during 2016, we get to a value of organic search traffic totaling $15,975.
• The dealership received about $16,000 of value from organic search engine visitors in 2016.
• The direct type-in traffic value the dealership received was $24,280 during 2016, based on 9,712 direct clicks or type-ins to the website.

Based on my analysis of the Wichita.Cars website and domain name being used for over two years and not having been promoted (other than through organic, free search results), we believe the Wichita.Cars domain name and website have been a great success. I expect that this dealership will continue benefiting from using a highly relevant Geo .CARS domain name.

In the first year that the Wichita.Cars website and domain name were live, the car dealership saw about $40,000 of value through direct type-in traffic, as well as traffic from organic search.

The .CARS Top Level Domain (TLD) is just one TLD of 1,200+ new TLDs that have become available in the past several years. Many industries now have their own related TLD, whether it’s the legal, loan, retail, accounting, photography, or wedding industry.

Considering a Switch to a gTLD Domain Name?

Just like the .CARS TLD, many website owners are benefiting from the increased organic search visibility, better Google Adwords quality scores, and better conversions from switching to a better, shorter, more memorable domain name.

If your website uses a domain name that’s long, doesn’t describe the business you’re in, or has a hyphen in it, then consider your options for a better domain name.

New gTLD Stats keeps an updated list (https://ntldstats.com/tld) of all the New gTLDs, and a count of how many domain names are currently registered in that TLD.

Should You Use a gTLD Domain Name for Your #Website? A Study into .CARS by @BHartzer #RocksDigital
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What TLD is your website currently? Thinking about a switch? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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We all have them. Sure, we use a domain name for our website. But, most likely, you own more than one. You might even own more than a few–or even hundreds of domain names you aren’t using right now.

Essentially, domain names are virtual real estate, and when you aren’t using it for a live website, it’s nothing but vacant land. Even without a current live website on it, names do have value. Let’s take a look at how you can turn those unused domain names, the ones that are vacant land, into real cash.

How to Sell a Domain Name

1. Decide what domain to sell
2. Determine asking price, BIN price and reserve price
3. Determine sales method-listing website or buyer direct
4. List on selected auction and listing websites
5. Outreach to potential buyers
6. Negotiate sale price
7. Get paid for your domain name

1. Decide What Domain to Sell

What’s important, first off, is to create a list of your inventory. You need to know and understand what you own, especially if it’s more than four or five domains. Personally, I keep a list of all of the domain names I own in a spreadsheet. This way, I can see exactly what I own, what it’s worth, what SEO value it has, and its current status. Here’s a list of the columns in my spreadsheet and the information sources.

• Domain Name
• Create Date – whois
• Expiration Date – whois
• Current Status – live site, parked, not parked, redirected, etc.
• Registrar – GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Name.com, etc.
• Trust Flow – Majestic.com
• Citation Flow – Majestic.com
• Domain Authority – Moz.com
• Page Authority – Moz.com
• Category/Topic
• Sell? – keep or sell it? yes or no
• Value – Estibot.com, Prior Sales Data (dnsaleprice.com)
• Asking Price
• Buy It Now Price (BIN)
• Reserve Price – the lowest price you’d sell it for
• Sites Listed – yes or not
• Sent Emails – yes or no

The last two, “sites listed” and “sent emails” will need a separate spreadsheet or tab. For example, if you’re listing the site for sale on multiple websites, then you should keep track of where you listed the domain name for sale. That would require a separate tab or spreadsheet, including the domain, the asking price, BIN price, reserve price, and maybe even if you’ve gotten any inquiries on it. It can also be listed as an auction, so you might keep track of how long the auction lasts. For the “sent emails”, you’d also want to track who you sent emailed prospects and their responses. I’ll get into these options later.

After you’ve gotten organized, you’ll need to decide if you’re going to sell the domain name. For example, you might have certain names that you’d never sell. That’s fine. I have a few that I am not currently using for a live website, but am keeping for other reasons.

2. Determine Asking Price, BIN Price and Reserve Price

Deciding whether to sell a domain name may come down to price. You’ll need to decide what value the domain has, and if it’s worth your time to sell. Then it comes to domain name valuation.  You can use a tool such as estibot.com to get a value–but since it’s an automated tool it may not have the correct value. It might be worth more or less, so looking at recent domain name sales (like looking at comps in real estate) can be helpful. You can always ask an expert, such as myself, to help estimate a value for a domain. Once you’ve decided to sell, though, getting all of the other information ready on your spreadsheet is going to really help, especially when it comes to your asking price, reserve price, and Buy It Now or BIN price.

If you initiate the sale as a seller, you most likely are going to get less for the domain than if the buyer approaches you. Every sale is different, but keep in mind that if you need to sell, you may not get as much for the domain name if you’re doing buyer outreach.

3. Determine Sales Method-Listing Website or Buyer Direct

Once you have a domain name valued and priced, let’s take a look at how you can sell it. There are several ways, which generally can be described as Buyer Direct or auction/listing.

If you have lots of names to sell and are just cleaning house, you’ll find an auction or listing website to be the most convenient method.

However, if you have fewer numbers of higher value domain names, you may find the buyer direct approach to be worth your while. With this method, you proactively perform most of the research and prospect targeting.

4. List on Selected Auction and Listing Websites

List the domain name on auction or selling sites. There are several, such as GoDaddy auctions, Sedo.com, Afternic.com, etc. You’ll need to verify that you’re the domain name owner to list them. Keep track of the price and where you’re listing it. One of the biggest mistakes that sellers make is listing it for sale at different prices. Keep the pricing the same across the board. A buyer may find the domain name on another site and then buy it there for less.

Park the domain name. If it’s not hosting a live website, then you should park the domain name. Domain parking companies allow you to change the name servers on the domain name and they will serve up ads on it. They’ll also provide a link to where someone can buy the domain name. Sedo.com, GoDaddy.com, and Afternic.com and popular domain name parking services.

Put up a landing page. If the domain name has value, you might consider putting up a domain name parking page. You can create it yourself, with a link or form where they can contact you if they’re interested in buying the domain name. This typically is good for premium domain names, such as names valued at $50,000 or more. You may still want to park the domain name, though, as you can earn parking revenue from it if it has traffic.

5. Outreach to Potential Buyers

If you’ve decided to proactively target prospective buyers, follow these buyer direct steps:

Make a list of potential buyers. Typically, you can use the search engines to find buyers. Search for the main keyword related to the domain, especially if it’s an exact match domain (EMD). Potential buyers are everyone who shows up in the search results currently for that keyword or multiple keywords. If someone is paying for Google AdWords, then there’s also a good chance they might want the associated EMD domain name.

Sell to competitors. If you’re not planning on using the domain, and it does have value, consider seeing if your competitors are going to be interested in buying. They may be interested in the name if you aren’t. It takes a fully functioning website with links in order to rank well in search, so you’re not necessarily giving competitors something they’ll use against you if you simply sell a domain name. If the name has value, they should pay you for its value.

Use a tool to find buyers. Estibot.com has a tool if you have a paid account. You can enter a keyword and they will find the buyers for you, even giving you their email address that you can then contact.

You may get less than your asking price for the domain name if you do the outreach to buyers. But, you can always price the domain name a bit higher and then sell the domain for less, so the buyer thinks they’re getting a good deal on the domain name. Typically, I’ll email potential buyers that may be interested in the domain name, using a short, quick email. Something such as:

Subject: Keyword.com Domain Name

Body:

Hi Alex,

I own the domain name keyword.com. I was planning on using the keyword.com for a project, but my plans have changed recently. I’m wondering if you would be interested in acquiring this domain name.

A simple question about the domain, without going into a lot of detail at first, can prompt someone to ask you how much you’re asking for the domain name. If you can, ask them to give you a price. But, for these types of outreach emails, I typically have already decided on an asking price, as well as the lowest that I would go when selling the domain name. Let the negotiations begin!

6. Negotiate Sale Price

Entire books have been written on negotiations, so I won’t try to cover that here. However, negotiations are a lot less painful if you have determined your BIN price and your reserve price in advance. When you predetermined the minimum price you’ll accept, it’s a lot easier to walk away from a lowball offer.

7. Getting Paid for your Domain Name

Once you have a potential buyer interested in buying the domain name, and you’ve agreed on a price, you’ll need to get paid.  Typically, if the domain name price is over $500, then I will use an escrow service to complete the transaction. There are several out there that you can use, such as Payoneer Escrow (payoneerescrow.com) and Escrow.com. Both are reliable services. Essentially the buyer gives the money to the escrow service, the domain name is transferred to the buyer, and then they release the money to you. The escrow services have a one-time flat fee.

If you are using an auction service, such as GoDaddy, and the domain name sells, they will handle the payment for you. The buyer pays the service, and they then send you the payment after taking out their fee. The fees vary, and are typically a percentage of the sales price or a flat fee. You will have the details when you list the domain name for sale.  Keep that fee in mind when you price the domain name.

Overall, selling a domain name isn’t tough–the initial decision is whether or not to sell and how much to sell the domain for. Once you inventory and value your unused domain names, you’ll be able to turn that vacant real estate into cash.

How to Sell a Domain Name in 7 Easy Steps by @BHartzer #RocksDigital #Website
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Like it or not, the web is made up of links—and many different link types. Links from one web page to another. Even a search engine’s results are really just a list of links to other websites. Links are the lifeblood of the internet–without links, we probably wouldn’t be able to easily find other websites, and click on them.

Let’s focus, for now, though, on your website, and review all of the link types. There are certain link types that you’ll want to stay away from, and don’t include them. And then there are link types that are actually good, for SEO purposes.

12 Link Types

Here’s a list of the link types, along with comments and issues worth noting.

1. Internal Links
Internal links are links that link to another web page on your same website, on the same domain name.

2. External Links
External links are links that link out to another web page, on another website, on another domain name.

3. Text Links
Text links are links that include clickable text, called anchor text. You can highlight the text in the link with your cursor, and literally copy and paste that text. These are different than image links.

4. Image Links
Image links are links that are clickable-but it’s an image, a graphic, or a photo that must be clicked. Usually there is no text associated with this type of link.

5. Nofollow Links
Generally, a nofollow link is a link attribute added in the link code to another internal or external web page. This link attribute tells the search engines not to trust the link. They may still index the page that you’re linking to, because they know the URL you’re linking to.

But a Nofollow link doesn’t pass any Google PageRank (search engine ranking power) to the other page if the link contains the nofollow link attribute. For example, a nofollow link would look like this:

<a href=”https://www.rocksdigital.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Rocks Digital</a>

There are some times when you should include a nofollow link on your site, and other times when it’s not necessary. For example, links to certain pages on your website, such as your privacy policy and terms of service page, could have nofollow links pointing to them. Blog comments (if someone comments on your blog post) generally should include the nofollow link attribute on links.

There are cases where even if a link contains the nofollow link attribute, Google may choose to ignore the ‘nofollow’ part.

6. Dofollow Links
There really isn’t any such thing as a “dofollow” link. It’s really just a link, a normal link to another web page, that doesn’t have the nofollow link attribute on it. The “dofollow” term is really industry slang to indicate that a link doesn’t have a nofollow link attribute on it.

7. Paid and Sponsored Links
If someone has paid you either by giving you money, merchandise, services, or some other benefit, it’s considered a paid link. Not only by the search engines, paid links have been highly scrutinized by the US government, as well (the US FTC). If you include a link to a website or web page as a result of payment or sponsorship, you absolutely must disclose that it’s sponsored or paid. Also, any external links must include the nofollow link attribute on the link(s). This includes advertising, where a text link or an image link appears on your website.

8. Sidebar Links
Sidebar links are image or text links that appear on the “side” of your web page. For example, these could be on the right side or the left side, and won’t be in the main content area of your web page. Since they’re off to the side of your web page, they’re not seen as often as other links on your site. So, the search engines may consider these less important than other links that are prominent on your web page.

9. Navigation Links
Navigation links are almost always internal links to other web pages on your website. For example, navigation links are how most people “navigate” around your website, from page to page.

10. Footer Links
These are links that appear on the “footer” area of your web pages. They typically appear at the bottom, and not too many people click on those links. I recommend only including links in the footer area that are really needed, but won’t be clicked very often. These typically are the pages such as the privacy policy page, the terms of service, and other related pages.

11. Links within Content
Links that appear in the middle of content, usually in the middle of a sentence, could be considered “links within content”. These are important, and could be external links or internal links. If, for example, you’re wanting to prove a point or reference a certain website that you’re talking about, then you would want to include a link to that source.

For example, if you’re talking about another company, then you’d want to link to their website.  It gives the reader a frame of reference, and they can click to the other website you’re linking to if they’re interested. It’s totally natural, and expected, that you would link out to other web pages that you mention in your content. Personally, on the contrary, I believe it’s unnatural not to link out–what would happen if no one linked out to other web pages on the internet?

Keep in mind that while it’s natural to link out to other web pages, such another website, you can help your site’s SEO by linking to other web pages on your own website. It’s natural to link to other products on your website, especially if you mention them in a blog post, for example.

12. Widget Links
Widget links are links that are included in a website ‘widget’. Typically, you’d create an image or code that “does something”, such as load content, load an image, or load software code (usually in javascript) that allows someone to do something. For example, it could be a mortgage calculator that others can include on their website. These widgets typically include links. The search engines, mainly Google, has been very public about their views of links included in widgets. They need to include the “nofollow” link attribute, or the website associated with the link could be penalized.

There are a lot of different link types, and this is just one aspect of effective SEO. Knowing which link type and when to use the nofollow link attribute is important. Whether you like it or not, your website can be penalized in the search results if you don’t use link types properly. But, when in doubt, use your common sense to decide if you should include a link. And, if you are unsure, you can include the URL only, so it’s not a clickable link.

Using links correctly on-page also impacts #SEO says @bhartzer #RocksDigital
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How are you using links on your website?

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Keyword research is, in fact, a big part of the whole entire SEO process, and accurate keyword research data is key. Just recently, it has been reported that Google is restricting the amount of keyword data that you can get using their Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool. If you have been relying solely on the Google AdWords Keyword Planner for your keyword research, Google’s restricting of the data is, in fact, a good excuse to move on. There are plenty of other keyword research methods that you can use.

Your Own Keyword Data

First off, it’s worth noting that you should be looking at your own keyword data, especially if you’re looking for content ideas. There are several places where you can get access to your own keyword data, which essentially shows what your website is currently being found for. The first place I would look is Google’s Search Console. Once you verify ownership of the site, you get access to the search analytics, which shows the search queries, clicks, impressions, CTR, and average ranking position. Below is a sample of the data:

You can get up to the last 90 days of data, and the data is delayed by two days, sometimes for a longer period of time. But all in all, this is your own data, and you’re able to see, for example, where your site is ranking, and how many impressions that keyword had–good data if you’re looking for opportunities to improve your site’s content. For example, if there is a keyword that your site is found for and it shows that there are a lot of impressions (and not a lot of clicks), you may need to optimize a bit differently to target that particular keyword. You can also drill down into the data and see a particular web page on your site–and which keywords that page is ranking for. Again, if the search queries don’t match what you think the page is about, updating the content on that page might help. Sometimes all it takes is and update of the title tag on the page. The Google Search Console Data is free, so you should take advantage of it.

Google Analytics, if you’re using it on your website for web analytics, is also free. This has plenty of keyword data available, and you can even track down to the keyword level that converted into a sale. So, looking at your own keyword data can give you insight that you may have not realized.

Another place where you can get access to your own keyword data (and, in fact, information about the keywords your competitors are ranking for, is SEMrush.com. Unlike Google search console, you don’t have to verify that you own the site. However you can see both organic search traffic, rankings, and pay per click data. When it comes to the PPC data, you can actually see the keyword, ad copy, and the amount of the advertising spend–which is useful if it’s you’re competitors that you’re looking at. I prefer to look for opportunities where my own website is ranking, as SEMrush.com tends to show me keywords that I’m ranking for in the Google Search Results that I didn’t think were actually driving traffic to my site. There are, in fact, lots of opportunities that I typically find on a regular basis by consulting this keyword research source.

A sample of the keyword research data you can get from SEMrush.com is shown below, for RocksDigital.com:

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