Internet Marketing Tycoon

**Kayecee** · 12-07-2004, 11:04 PM

O.k. I admit it. I don't know a thing about promoting my site. I have found some really wonderful info here- you guys and gals are great! My biggest questions- I see a lot of talk about links. I will have several affiliate programs when I am finished. Do affiliate programs count as links? How many links do I need to shoot for in the beginning? And what is the difference between a link and a backlink? Sorry for my ignorance.

Oh, and one more thing- of course all of the best .com domain names are taken- would a .tk domain hurt my credibility? It just seems that it would be so much easier for a person to memorize something straightforward and short. Thanks in advance gang! I can tell y'all will have some great answers!

**Republikin** · 12-07-2004, 11:20 PM

"Do affiliate programs count as links?" How do you mean? Any link you place on a page is a link.

"And what is the difference between a link and a backlink?" A backlink is any link that is pointing towards your site.

"would a .tk domain hurt my credibility?" Absolutely. Even if you bought it they portray a script kiddie quality that tends to say, the owner of this site is 12. Then if you try and sell something from it you'll never make a sale. Not all the good .coms are taken, there is a big market for dropped and expired domains. I would check out http://www.domainsbot.com/ and have patience. With a one month subscription your bound to find that perfect domain.

**Kayecee** · 12-07-2004, 11:55 PM

Gee, sweetie- that was quick! Thanks! I was really suspicious of .tk but haven't dealt with building my own site before, so I wasn't sure about it. BTW- Cptwinky.com caught my eye. I'm adding it to my bookmarks!

**Kayecee** · 12-08-2004, 12:05 AM

Ouch! I checked www.domainsbot.com and got 5 results: 3 sucked and the other 2 were $2200 and $5000. I think I'll check back later.

They do have a traffic ad though- "packages start at $28.95 for 5,000 unique visitors." Have you ever advertised with them before? Do these kind of things really work or should I just save my money?

**Republikin** · 12-08-2004, 12:57 AM

Quote:

BTW- Cptwinky.com caught my eye. I'm adding it to my bookmarks!

Thanks.

The free domainsbot search is giving you exactly what you pay for. When you buy a membership there are much more tools and you get access to the lists straight as they come available. One of my favorites is they have a service that checks the major search engines and directories for domains that are about to expire and already have traffic and PR.

As far as the advertising goes, I've never advertised any of my sites. However if your site would fit into the domains category then I would say 28.95 for 5,000 uniques sounds like a good deal to me.

**mixtr** · 12-08-2004, 06:31 AM

Affiliate links don't count as backlinks, that is they don't increase your PR, I believe.

**HoldemCrew** · 12-09-2004, 06:22 PM

Are you saying you will have an affiliate program where people will link to you so they can earn money from you? Those should be normal links.. not quite sure what you're getting at there

As for $ per x,000 visitors, i've found those are almost a complete waste of money. Most of they time they will pop your webpage up under the current person's browser. These are certainly not targeted visitors, and they aren't quality visitors. I think i signed up for 10,000 from one place, and like 2500 from another. Complete waste of money IMO.

**Republikin** · 12-09-2004, 06:30 PM

I believe, although I'm not 100% positive, that DomainsBot uses expired domain traffic which I think can be highly targetted if they have the right domains for your campaign.

**RichTC** · 12-09-2004, 08:35 PM

"Most of the dot com names are gone???"

No, i dont agree - millions & millions of name combinations are available. Whilst some would say that its harder to get a site fully optimised that doesnt carry your main target key word in it, i would say that it can work to your advantage to go for a new name that seperates your site from the rest. With hard effort you can get your name up in the listings and users may find your name easier to remember if its different from the rest.

It does grate on me when idiots buy up hundreds of domain names that they are never going to use in the hope of them being offered large sums of cash for them. Its a big market when after all you can register a name for a couple of quid and get a mug to buy it for hundreds. Frankly i wouldnt give them time of day. If i were you i would go to reg123 or one of the other large dot com providers and brain storm as many name combinations as you can untill you come up with one that would be easy to market and fits the bill. Then book it for a couple of quid and off you go!

After all when mobile phone company "Orange" picked their name they didnt worry about finding a dot com name with "phones" in the title - millions of other obvious companies of the same thought pattern should also come to mind

Good luck

**Kayecee** · 12-10-2004, 11:51 PM

Oh- I didn't even think about picking a domain name without my keywords in it. Duh!

"Cricket" mobile phones comes to mind. But if you have good keywords in your domain name, does that make it easier for search engines to find you- and does it make your PR go up?

**reload2** · 12-11-2004, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoldemCrew

Are you saying you will have an affiliate program where people will link to you so they can earn money from you? Those should be normal links.. not quite sure what you're getting at there.

These won't be normal links. They won't be pointing exactly to the site (like www.site.com), rather something like www.site.com?blablabla

**Jamesanderson** · 12-11-2004, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayecee

Oh- I didn't even think about picking a domain name without my keywords in it. Duh!

"Cricket" mobile phones comes to mind. But if you have good keywords in your domain name, does that make it easier for search engines to find you- and does it make your PR go up?

Some search engines like Yahoo like keyword domains and others offer little weight. The biggest advantage is being able add your site to directories most of which only display your site name as the link text (anchor text), so if you have a keyword domain your anchor text will be keyword rich.

As for choosing your domain try to weigh up the implications of having a keyword domain, believe me you wont enjoy answering the telephone "Hi pink, yellow, green, red and purple widgets with knobs on, how can I help" if that is the name of your site. I would agree with an earlier post and choose a name that provokes thought and stirs the imagination a little.

With a little thought you should come up with a cracking name

.

**Kayecee** · 12-12-2004, 01:28 AM

Thanks!

**Chris Choi** · 12-23-2004, 06:36 PM

Yes a affiliate link does count as a link. For your second question,
I would always go with a .com mainly because people are so used
to .com and find credibility in it.