Free Website Domain Name

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Internet Marketing: My Newest Ph.D.

Why do people search for “free website domain name”? I can only assume they have an idea for a perfect website concept but don’t want to pay to reserve it. Well there is a way to get a free website domain name, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to pay.

What is Domain Name Service

Some people ask me about the definition of domain name and other ask what is domain name service. These are basically the same question. GoDaddy is a service that, among other things, sells website names. Examples of a website name are Amazon.com, www.thinkgeek.com, or www.benefits-of-resveratrol.com. You think of them as the names of the websites, but in reality they’re called domain names.

Definition of Domain Name

I don’t have any idea what the definition of domain name is. But I can tell you it is a code word that represents a number. See, websites are really just numbered pages and the name is the clever way to represent that number. For example: www.google.com is just a human friendly version of the website’s address 72.14.253.99. If you just typed 72.14.253.99 in the address bar, it would take you to www.google.com.

(Don’t want to get technical, but that number is called an IP Address).

How to Choose Domain Name

This is super easy. Go to GoDaddy.com, type in the super great name you came up with and if GoDaddy says it is available, then buy it. Done.

But if your goal is to strategically choose a domain name, then you might want to read this article 5 Steps Before You Get A Domain Name.

Finally, How To Get a Free Domain Name

My favorite website for securing free domain names is SiteSell.com. This is a website building service that features everything you could possibly need. Keyword/Domain Name Search Tools, SEO analyzing tools, link building tools, Search Engine Monitoring and Traffic monitoring tools, e-mail list builder, newsletter creator, blog creator, etc. . . etc. . . etc. AND when you use their service you get a free domain name AND website hosting.

There’s nothing better.

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Adventures of Mark and Dan -Lost in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Adventures of Dan & Mark, Ever Been There Before?

Ever get lost in Ljubljana, Slovenia? In the course of two days, we had two incidents where we were lost. Maybe getting lost is normal for you, but for us – it’s extremely rare. Both of us are the kind of guys that really have no issue with directions or maps. I wouldn’t even get nervous in the woods knowing which direction to head. That’s just us.

Ljubljana skyline, including Ljubljana Castle
Image via Wikipedia

Early one morning Tom, my brother, and I decided to go for a jog. We knew there was a “Central Park” type place so headed there and actually found a paved jogging trail. (That I didn’t expect). So we took off on a relatively leisurely run.

The paved trail was nice and wide with pretty street lights lining the roads. I don’t know when it dawned on us, but after an hour we realized that we were no longer in the park and didn’t seem to be heading back to the city yet. We found a jogger who spoke English and asked how to get back to town and was told to keep following the trail.  He just failed to tell us that it a 13 mile trail.

After following some back roads and stopping many more joggers, we ended up finding our way back in about an hour. But let me say, that was a long hour.

Then later that day, not the next day. That day. Mark and I decided we’d go get reservations for our ship ride. Tom and Szabi decided they’d hang out a bit and then would meet us at the train station where we’d have a better idea of which train to catch.

It must have taken us longer at the ship reservation place than all of us thought it would because when we got to the train station, Tom and Szabi were not there. They had waited so long, they’d come looking for us.  For the course of another “nervous” hour, Mark and I went searching for Tom and Szabi who were searching for us.

And then it started to rain.

In the end we all kept our wits about us and made our way back to the hostel – probably thinking when in doubt meet at the common meeting place.  For my little brother’s first trip to Europe, I was nervous. Very nervous.

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Your Website Conversion Rate is Meaningless. Period.

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in the technical internet stuff

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People often ask me what my website conversion rate is, which I think is an absolutely ridiculous question. But before we continue, let’s assume you don’t know what a conversion rate is OR let’s define it so the rest of this post is based on a mutual understanding of conversion rate.

Here it is: Number of Visitors ÷ Number of people who buy = Conversion rate (as a percentage).
Example: 100 people visit the site, 10 people buy. Conversion rate is 10%

Easy enough, right?

Let’s start with a real life example (except I’ve been asked to mask the name of the company) so let’s use www.antioxidantexample.com, which is an antioxidant nutritional supplement that advertises heavily on TV and Radio – but no advertising on the internet.

95% of their web traffic is derived from folks who heard the 30 minute radio infomercial or saw the 30 minute tv infomercial then went to the website to buy the product. What do you think their conversion rate is? Well, it just so happens that the conversion rate is 30%. That means 3 out of every 10 visitors buys the product.

Website Conversion Rates are Meaningless

Website Conversion Rates are Meaningless

For a while they advertised using Google’s AdWords program which means they bought ad space on the Google Search Results pages. When they did that they drove thousands of people to the site who had searched the term antioxidant. But guess what their conversion rate was then? Yep, it was .7%

Same website. No changes.

The only thing that did change was the quality of the person that arrived at the site. From infomercials they had 30 minutes of explanation and product examples, but with Google ads they had curiosity seekers, inaccurate clicks and people not getting what they expected.

So the conversion rate is bunk.

What isn’t bunk is the conversion rate for Google AdWords clients who arrive at the site. What isn’t bunk is the conversion rate of the TV infomercial clients that end up at the site. And what isn’t bunk is the conversion rate of the people who found the site via organic search.

Your website conversion rate is meaningless. The conversion rate of your source’s web traffic, on the other hand, is like spun gold.

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3 Very Important Life Lessons. . .Including “. . .that’s my girlfriend”

Posted By: dan | Tags: , ,
Posted in Growing up Military, The Fit Life

On my way back from the Niche Affiliate Marketing Seminar I thought of some stories that weren’t here on the blog yet. In fact, I thought these stories weren’t stories at all – they were lessons I’ve painfully learned:

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Open Letter to @LynnTerry (on Twitter)

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Niche Affiliate Marketing

Dear Lynn,

Having just spent a weekend at the (NAMS) Niche Affiliate Marketing Workshop with you this weekend, I came home with a new appreciation for your 13 years of internet experience.  I’m not sure if your open, kind-hearted nature is a result of your 13 years or just who you are, but I am  appreciative.

The business world, whether on-line or off-line, is full of successful people who are more than happy to tell you what made them successful. However, what they really tell you are the self-serving things that not only foster their continued success but endear their listeners to become followers, buyers of their books and clients of their services. Most successful people are more than willing to reinforce your opinion of their success.

I have found you to be quite the opposite.  I firmly subscribe to your belief that your competition is often your friend, your competition can be your ally and when you reinforce that people who work together will find more pathways to success. You spent an entire weekend of your life (and not the first I might add) helping what many would consider to be your future competition (in some niches). And you spent a weekend helping people who may never be able to help you. That’s true sincerity.

Not only were your experiences real and open and your lessons explained easily, but your actions and efforts continually proved that our success was at the heart of your deeds.  You remind me of the Bridge Builder in Will Dromgoole’s poem, and for that I am grateful.  While I single you out in this letter, you and the other experts at NAMS, lead by an example that I hope characterizes the world of Internet Marketing going forward.

I am proud to be a NAMS student and look forward to more NAMS events, and every passing encounter.

Best regards,

Dan Morris

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Learn How To Create and Sell Products in 90 Minutes

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Niche Affiliate Marketing

The Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop released their newest product “Create and Sell Products in 90 minutes”.  Combining the experience of Lynn Terry, Jeff Herring, Mark Hendricks and Cindi Dawson, the program not only taught how to create and sell products, but was itself a product created in 90 minutes.

Creating and Selling products is not as difficult as it sounds and is as simple as interviewing an expert in a niche.  If you own a garden site and are interested in selling your own products, interview a local gardener on BlogTalkRadio.  While that will help drive traffic and cement your reputation in your industry, it can be downloaded, tweaked and sold as well. You could also easily put the audio form in CD format and sold via the web as well.

Furthermore, you can then have the audio transcribed and then sent to your readers as a free product, used as a giveaway to invite new readers, sold on your site or combined with other products. Then you could create a power point slide show presentation with the transcript and then make a video reading it. That video could be used for site “members”, if you have them, or could be sold on your site in DVD format.

All of these can be product creation ideas can be done in relatively short order. The Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop performed a live teleseminar in front of a crowd, downloaded the audio, and put onto a sales page within 90 minutes.

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Looking to Become a Better Affiliate in Niche Markets?

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Internet Marketing: My Newest Ph.D., Niche Affiliate Marketing

Ijust returned from the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop today that David Perdew put on. I’m pretty excited and will be Tweeting about it all week.

In case you’re not familiar with the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop and products, David Perdew has put together a “community college” for all who want to be an affilite in niche markets. He’s created products like the Niche Mall, the Niche Widget and a 10 part video series called Niche Cash Generator that allow budding internet marketers to go from nothing to “in business” in a matter of minutes.

What’s great about NAMS is that it is not a pitch fest, in fact it is truly a hands-on workshop. Lynn Terry, Kathleen Gage, Mark Hendricks, Joe Marsh, David Perdew, David Preston, Alex Syseof, the WordPress Wizard and many more have taught at the workshop.

During this last workshop, 4 of the internet marketing experts put on a live, recorded “teleseminar” about how to create and sells products in 90 minutes. It was fantastic to get a step by step plan from the experts, which really breaks it down and makes it very simple. Buy that teleseminar for yourself here. In fact, in 90 minutes this teleseminar was thought up, created, recorded and put on-line to be sold. That was awesome.

I’ll be sure to link up all the videos, chat and new products here over the weekend. Enjoy the day!

Check out:

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Almost Catching Halibut in Alaska

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Growing up Military

It sure does seem like a long time ago, but it was only 1985 that this story happened. I bring it to you because like many crazy fish tales, there’s surely someone in Alaska still telling this story.

Back in 1985 my grandparents came to visit us in Alaska. As part of his trip, my dad took him out in deep sea fishing in search of Halibut. Now Halibut, just so you know, can be 250 – 300 lbs so reeling one in is kind of an adventure. The following poem immortalized that story.  There’s nothing ‘fishy’ about it – this is a true fish tale:

Halibut Fishing
Image by jermudgeon via Flickr

I flew into Alaska
On the 25th of May.
Glad to see my family.
Lookin’ forward to my stay.

Saw some beautiful glaciers.
Enjoyed a picnic on a rock.
Gazed at moose and sheep and eagles.
Daylight lingered ‘round the clock.

Monday night my throat was sore.
Tuesday I felt worse.
I ended up with cramps and flu.
I felt ready for the hearse.

But I’ve gotta go to Homer though
Gotta go and catch my fish.
If only for the Halibut
It’s my never-ending wish.

So I took my aches and pains along.

Fishing boats - Petersburg, Alaska harbor
Image by brewbooks via Flickr

I felt better on the way.
Homer, Homer here I come
To fish in Kachemak Bay.

The winds were mild, the waters calm
As we launched out on the Bay.
“I’m goin’ fishin’ in Alaska.
This will be a glorious day.”

I got a great big bite.
Felt the tug upon my rod.
Face to face I saw THE FISH.
He was feisty, big and broad.

My eyes grew large. My heart beat fast.
As I tried to reel him in.
All the fellows on the boat
Seemed real eager to join in.

But what I didn’t ever know
About Alaskan fishin’
Is that it’s quite the custom
For someone to shoot THE FISH I’m fishin’!

The Captain of the boat
Comin’ to my aid
Aimed his shiny pistol
To slow MY FISH, he said.

But that little bullet

Halibut caught off the coast of Raspberry Isla...
Image via Wikipedia

Hit the hook instead.
And set my beautiful Halibut free.
I could only scratch my head.

I left Homer, Alaska
On that windy, cool May day
Without my beautiful Halibut
From magnificent Kachemak Bay.

Now I have great memories
Of this Alaskan fishin’ day.
My trip was sure excitin’
Though MY FISH just swam away.

So this is my tale and every word’s true.
I had one Halibut time.
But you can bet if I come back again
THE FISH won’t be shot from my line.

Written by Mary Morris

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Re-usable Maxi-Pads; Not As Crazy as Cash For Clunkers.

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , ,
Posted in I Should Keep My Opinions to Myself

Let me provide my man-ly credentials on this subject before we begin. I’ve got a 36 day old in diapers,  a 19 month old in diapers and two older boys – and I pay taxes. Whether it’s maxi-pads or diapers – I’ve thought through the disposable arguments.  So while my original thoughts on this subject were nothing short of aghast!, I’m now thinking reusable maxi-pads is not too crazy an idea.  (Look! This lady is making a living selling them on Etsy.com). At least it’s no crazier the other environmentally friendly “Cash for Clunkers” program.

In this day and age of environmentalism gone wild – the reusable maxi-pad is almost the sanest new idea. What seems to have gone terribly wrong is the Cash for Clunkers program. Here’s a program where taxpayers as a whole are buying cars for a select few individuals who probably don’t need a new car.  These people don’t even have car payments – and they’re not the kind of people who just buy a new car every year. They’ve actually taken well enough care of their car that it has become a clunker.

And on top of that, the taxpayers are paying to destroy these cars. We’re actually creating new landfill material.  That means that the car manufacturers are now going to have to make more cars. Where’s the carbon footprint equation on that? And the people who make their living by scrap metal have just seen the rug pulled out from under them. The value of metal has gone WAY down because there’s so many crushed clunkers. What are these people going to have to do?

How many of them will have to get second jobs and start driving to another workplace?

So what’s the point of the Cash for Clunkers program, again?  If they just want to throw our money away, why don’t they just give the employees at GM $4,500? And what are the chances that the women in Obama’s administration are actually using reusable maxi-pads? While it seems crazy, it’s really not any crazier than disposable diapers – and environmentally sound at that.

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Why is SiteBuildit the best legit work from home business

Posted By: dan | Tags: , ,
Posted in Internet Marketing: My Newest Ph.D.

Well the perfect work from home job is a website builder, and there is no better program than Site Buildit. Sure, neither you nor I know anything about website building – but let me tell you what you already know to help you understand why building profitable websites with Site Buildit is the perfect work from home business.

You’re on the internet right now, along with millions of other people. Without even taking out your wallet, you’ll likely make money for someone else before you’re done sitting there.

Site Build It!

That’s because when you click on an ad – like the ones right there to the right- somebody gets paid. In this case, I would get paid. I would get paid because the ads on website pages (and in search engine results) are for businesses who are paying to be there. They want you to click their ad and go to their site. If you own the site where the ad is shown – you make money.

So, can you think of more legit work from home business than this? You don’t even have to sell anything. You don’t even have to look for companies to advertise on your site. The only thing you have to do as a Site Buildit website builder is to write about something that you love, follow some rules (which aren’t difficult), and put some advertisements on each page (which Google automates – they just ask you copy and paste some text onto your site).

If you can type in a box, if you can listen or read simple directions and if you actually like something – you can be a Site Buildit website builder. If you want to see what other people just like you and I have done, from scratch without knowing ANYTHING about website building – check out these links:

Give it a shot and if you have questions – just leave me a comment here!

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