Hi Joel,
First off, your own searches might list different results to those I
have found below, because we are in the middle of the Google Dance -
sometimes you get the old index, sometimes the new one. In the first
case, "domains for sale", I am confident that the Google search is the
latest index, and Yahoo's is the old one.
Google - domains for sale
-------------------------
For the first link I have detailed the methodology which applies to
the other 9 as well.
1. www.mostwanteddomains.com/
Quality Backward Links: 112
Size of site: 140 pages
Domain in title and URL and 13 times within the page
Google places a lot of importance on how many quality sites are
linking to a page (known as backward links).
However, Google only lists (and only takes notice of) "quality"
backward links, which generally means they have a PageRank of 4 or
more.
://www.google.com/search?q=link:http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emostwanteddomains%2Ecom%2F
Every result will contain all three keywords (plural or not) somewhere
in the URL, title, page or anchor text from an external link. The less
common (generally) of the three words searched for is "domain", so
sites that give this word prominence will rank higher.
2. www.register4less.com/
Quality Backward Links: 122
Size of site: 888 pages
Domain in title twice and 22 times within the page
Note: Most of the links to this site are from affiliates, which carry
less weight that normal links
3. www.greatdomains.com/
Quality Backward Links: 395
Size of site: 17 pages
Domain in title and URL once and 6 times within the page
4. www.domain-4-sale.com/
Quality Backward Links: 39
Size of site: 1950 pages
Domain in title and URL once and 13 times within the page
5. www.a-1domainsales.com/
Quality Backward Links: 40
Size of site: 9 pages
Domain in title and URL once and once within the page
6. www.yoururl.com/
Quality Backward Links: 67
Size of site: 18 pages
Domain in title three times, and 16 times within the page
7. www.eagerbiz.com/
Quality Backward Links: 51
Size of site: 39 pages
Domain in title once, and 10 times within the page. Exact phrase
"domains for sale" in the title.
8. www.webmastermedia.net/
Quality Backward Links: 8
Size of site: 20 pages
Domain in title once, and twice within the page. Exact phrase "domains
for sale" in the title.
Note: Having their mirror site www.webmastermedia.co.uk/ listed in
Google Directory helps a lot.
9. www.developeddomains.com/
Quality Backward Links: 71
Size of site: 39 pages
Domain in title 3 times, once in the URL, and 13 times within the
page. Exact phrase "for sale" also in the title.
10. www.urlmerchant.com/
Quality Backward Links: 134
Size of site: 1250 pages
Domain in title 5 times and 26 times within the page. Exact phrase
"domains for sale" in the title twice.
Yahoo - domains for sale
------------------------
1. www.mostwanteddomains.com/
2. www.greatdomains.com/
3. register4less.com/
4. www.domain-4-sale.com/
5. www.yoururl.com/
6. www.webcom.com/lightsrc/welcome.html
7. www.eagerbiz.com/
8. www.webbrands.com/
9. www.a-1domainsales.com/
10. www.urlmerchant.com/
Yahoo results are supplied by Google, although the ranking can
sometimes be slightly different. These two sites also appear in the
latest Google results, but not in the Top 10. The main reason is that
in this instance Yahoo used an older version of Google's index. There
are reasons why the two sites are no longer in the Google Top 10.
6. www.webcom.com/lightsrc/welcome.html
Now redirects to http://www.wotn.org/ - which is not related to
domains
8. www.webbrands.com/
Quality Backward Links: 2
Size of site: 75 pages
Domain in title once and 12 times within the page. Exact phrase
"domains for sale" in the title. Google will have noticed that it
shares substantial duplicate content of developeddomains.com/
Google - domain names for sale
------------------------------
1. www.greatdomains.com/
Quality Backward Links: 395
Size of site: 17 pages
Domain in title and URL once and 6 times within the page. The phrase
"Names for Sale" appears in the title.
Note: the phrase in the title is why it ranks higher for this search
than the other.
2. www.afternic.com/
Quality Backward Links: 873
Size of site: 1870 pages
Domain in title once and 4 times within the page. The phrase "Domain
Names" appears in the title.
3. www.afternic.com/affiliates.php
Quality Backward Links: 873
Size of site: 1870 pages
Domain in title once and 5 times within the page. The phrase "Domain
Names for Sale" appears in the title.
4. www.domainicons.com/
Quality Backward Links: 119
Size of site: 41 pages
Domain twice in title, URL once and 5 times within the page. The
phrase "Domain Names for Sale" appears in the title.
5. www.moja.com/domain.html
Quality Backward Links: 7
Size of site: 24 pages
Domain in the URL once and 8 times within the page.
NOTE: Most webmasters don't bother, but this site got a high ranking
mostly because it has the exact phrase "Domain Names for Sale" in the
text of the page, within <H2> headline tags.
6. www.domainnames-forsale.net/
Quality Backward Links: 19
Size of site: 5 pages
Domain once in the title, URL once and 5 times within the page. The
phrase "Domain Names for Sale" appears in the title, the URL and
between <H1> tags.
NOTE: Once again, the appearance of the exact phrase helps this site
overcome having fewer quality backward links.
7. www.a-1domainsales.com/
Quality Backward Links: 40
Size of site: 9 pages
Domain in title and URL once and once within the page. Sale also in
the URL. Phrase "domain names" in the title.
8. www.choicenames.com/
Quality Backward Links: 32
Size of site: 31 pages
Domain twice in title, names in the URL once and domain 8 times within
the page. The phrase "Domain Names for Sale" appears in the title.
9. www.dotcomagency.com/default.asp
Quality Backward Links: 870
Size of site: 8700 pages
Domain and names twice in title, and domain 5 times within the page.
The phrase "Domain Names for Sale" appears in the title. "Domains for
Sale" and "Names" in <H2> tags.
NOTE: Would rank higher, except Google will have noticed that most of
the sites linking to it have the same content.
10. www.greatdomainsforyou.com/
Quality Backward Links: 95
Size of site: 44 pages
Domain twice in title, once in the URL once and 16 times within the
page. The phrase "Domain Names for Sale" appears in the title.
Yahoo - domain names for sale
-----------------------------
Yahoo returned the same results as Google. If it had given me results
from the old index, the ranking would be in this order
1. http://www.greatdomains.com/
2. http://www.afternic.com/
3. http://www.domainicons.com/
4. http://www.moja.com/domain.html
5. http://register4less.com/
6. http://www.domainnames-forsale.net/
7. http://www.a-1domainsales.com/
8. http://www.choicenames.com/
9. http://www.dotcomagency.com/default.asp for sale.
10. http://www.greatdomainsforyou.com/
The only difference is:
5. http://register4less.com/
Quality Backward Links: 122
Size of site: 888 pages
Domain in title twice and 22 times within the page. "Domain Name" in
the title.
Analysis
--------
It is fairly clear that the main Google optimization principles are
still the same as they were:
1) You need quality backward links. Not one of the Top 10 sites got
there without them, and only one got there with less than 7 quality
backward links.
2) Having the keywords in prominent places is very important. The less
common a keyword is in general (do a Google search for each keyword,
less results equals less common), the more important it is. If
possible the word domain should appear in the URL, in the title,
between heading tags and many times in the page text.
3) The page needs to have normal paragraphs, with proper sentences
that contain the keywords.
4) Having many pages of unique content helps ranking (although not as
much as other factors).
How to design your site
-----------------------
URL: make sure it contains the phrase "domainnames"
Title: Domain Names for Sale
Top of the Page: "Domain Names for Sale" in between <H1> tags.
Index Page Content:
- A menu, preferably in a column on the left, leading to some pages of
unique content, and the big menu of all the domain names for sale .
- A couple of paragraphs about what you are offering, with domain and
names appearing at least 5 times each, and the phrases "Domain Names
for Sale" and "Domains for Sale" appearing once each.
- To get listed in Yahoo and Open Directory, it would help to give the
impression that you are an agent selling the domains of third parties.
- A list of some of your available names with prices.
- A search box for searching you site.
Rest of the Site:
- One big page that lists every domain you are selling. If there are
more than 100, make multiple pages of less than 100, by topic or
alphabetical.
- Some brief articles that carry on about how good having a quality
domain name is.
- A contact page, and an about us page
- An individual page for each domain you are selling, linked to from
the big page. If possible a sentence or two about it, or even a
dictionary definition for the words that comprise it.
- Make sure each page of the site has different keywords in it. Each
should be unique.
Who you need to hire
--------------------
- Web Designer. The site does not have to be fancy. Have an image or
two, but they can be clip-art. Just as long as Google thinks you have
a logo on each page (calling it logo.jpg can't do any harm), and it
isn't too harsh on visitors eyes. The site only requires basic HTML
skills and the ability to incorporate a free 3rd party internal search
engine. Get him or her to follow the general principles of layout and
style used by the Top 10 sites.
- Copy Writer. Someone to churn out some short articles on the topic.
Doesn't have to be terribly interesting, it's just for the search
engines. Depending on what the domain names comprise of, a sentence or
two about each.
- A Search Engine Optimizer (SEO). Mostly they want to fiddle with
keywords and copy. That's easy and you don't need that from a SEO.
What you need is backward links.
Who to Hire
-----------
- Web Designer. Someone local is always preferable. Search Google
Directory:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Designers/
For example, a search for Chicago within the above category gives you
a choice of 142.
://www.google.com/search?q=chicago&cat=gwd%2FTop%2FComputers%2FInternet%2FWeb_Design_and_Development%2FDesigners&hl=en
- Search Engine Optimizer. Google Directory lists over 1000:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Promotion/Search_Engine_Optimization_Firms/
I have never used an Optimizer, because I do it myself, so
unfortunately I do not have any personal recommendations for you.
Finding someone who can guarantee getting numerous quality backward
links is the most difficult part of your quest, and I suggest you post
it as a new question. Everything hinges around this. Make sure they
intend to do more than just get you into directories.
Upfront and Ongoing Costs
-------------------------
Your biggest expense should be the SEO. Without the backward links you
will be wasting your time.
Domain Name - $10 per year. Use different owner details than your
other domains. The new one only needs to be one that is available and
includes "domainnames". These would do:
buydomainnamesforsale.com
domainnamesonsale.net
4domainnames.net
buydomainnames.tv
Web Hosting. You need one web host for the web site, and you needn't
spend more than $10 per month. You should also host all the domains
you are selling, with a simple page each stating the price and contact
details and linking to the sales site. Use a different host than the
sales site. You need a reseller account with unlimited domains. Should
be able to find one for $20-$30 per month.
Copy Writer. Use Google Answers!
One More Thing
--------------
An option is to hire a SEO who will cheat by breaking Google
guidelines, which many of them are good at. In the short term it could
get you Top 10 ranking, but when Google notices the naughty methods
being used (it almost always does, but can take a few months to do
so), that's the end of any useful ranking, and can negatively affect
the value of all the associated domain names.
Finally, I need to repeat this, because it is fundamental. Without
quality backward links your goals can not be acheived. It is not easy.
It requires an exceptionally talented SEO.
Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga |
