If you register a lot of domain names, you probably already have seen advertisements for the "us.com" top-level domain (otherwise called domain name extensions).

Technically, "us.com" is not a TLD. It's an actual domain name (like www.us.com). The company that owns this domain name is CentralNic. They also own others like "eu.com" and "uk.com".

Their business idea is that people who want a popular keyword in a domain name cannot get such domains because they are already taken. So, by offering this new quasi-TLD, people can get the domain they want: computers.us.com, or motorcycles.us.com, etc...


The question is if it's really worth our while to register such a domain name?

Technically, what you're registering is a subdomain. A subdomain is another website residing under a larger website. For example, under the Google.com website, there are several sub-websites below that such as news.google.com, labs.google.com, desktop.google.com, etc. These are all self-standing websites that fall under the larger google.com hierarchy.

So when you register something like "motorcycle.us.com", you're actually setting up a sub-website under the larger us.com website. The "us" is an actual domain name, much like "google" is a domain name on the .com TLD.

While each sub-website under us.com is a self-standing website, the search engine optimization (SEO) ramifications are still not well known. As it is, no one truly knows how Google handles subdomains differently than domains. What we do know is that Google treats subdomains as if they were separate from their parent site, as far as listings on the search results pages go. But we don't know if Google ranks these websites using their parent site's ranking, or if they force each subdomain to build up its own rank. Only the priviledged few at Google knows that answer.

Moreover, if the us.com domain name gets a penalty from Google, will that penalty trickle down to each subdomain?

That's a serious question to consider if you're planning to invest a lot of time and money into building a reputable website.

I'd avoid registering a name on us.com, and instead focus on registering a domain on an actual TLD (.com, .net, .org. .us, etc..). It might be harder to find the domain you want, or one that suits your requirements. But in the long run, you won't suffer (or benefit) from whatever happens to us.com.

Labels: Domain-Names

So can you really get paid to ride your motorcycle?

Yes, in a way.

If you publish a blog about your experiences and travels on a motorcycle, and that blog earns income through some way or another, then it's technically a business.

And therefore, any expenses associated with that business, can be written off of your income to reduce your tax liability. That means the gas, the maintenance, the motel, the food, all of it.

However, if you also use that motorcycle for personal reasons, then somehow you'll need to separate the personal from the business. You might argue that your motorcycle blog is about ALL of your motorcycle riding experience. But that's an argument you'll have to make with the IRS auditor.

My recommendation is to examine each ride you take as being a personal ride, or a business ride. Then, keep your receipts on those rides that you determine to be business in nature. Even though your blog represents all of your riding experience, the fact is that the motorcycle is still being used for personal reasons.

What I do is treat the overnight rides as business rides. I'll charge the gas, the food, and the motel all on my corporate AMEX card. I'll treat it the same way another person might treat a business trip to visit a client. But if I take a joy ride on a Saturday, I'll treat it as a personal ride.

I figure that if an IRS auditor wanted to question any of my rides as business or personal, the fact that I have a formula for determining which is which, will demonstrate that I'm not just writing off every ride I take. Just having that policy in place, will help an IRS auditor know that I really did think this through. And I think that's all they're concerned about.

But, if you want to blog about every ride you take, then you certainly are justified in writing off those expenses. But you'll need to be more diligent in keeping your receipts for each ride, and keeping them separate from other rides. You'll also do good by printing out the webpage for each article, and stapling the receipts to it, just to prove that you really did make each ride a business ride.

If you really want to go the full distance in writing off your riding expenses, consider incorporating your blogging business. I did exactly that, and all of my blogs are owned by my company, Clear Digital Media, Inc.

Because I'm technically an employee of the company, I can have my company pay my healthcare insurance, and write that off from my company's tax liability. I can buy my computer, my office furniture, my office supplies, and make them all tax write offs. My cell phone, my landline phone, my Internet connection, are in my company's name, and is a tax write off.

My company gives me the benefit of using that cell phone and Internet for personal reasons.

And since I use one of my spare bedrooms as an office, my business pays me rent. And that rent is written off from my company's tax liability.

The IRS allows small corporations like mine to file a "Status S Exemption", which makes those companies, "S Corps". That basically treats all of your corporate income and expenses as personal. You still get the benefit of having a corporation, but the taxes are rolled up into your personal taxes. So in the end, it actually trims extra money off my personal taxes.

That might sound like I'm getting away with murder, but the government created the "S Corp" specifically to encourage the creation of more small businesses. Businesses hire employees, and I do have employees (aside from myself). That's how I give back to the country for these benefits.

You might think that the only thing I can't write off is the food I eat. Well, believe it or not, I publish some food blogs too.

Labels: Business

Most of you reading this probably already have a motorcycle website or blog, and hence, may already own a domain name.

If you want to learn how to make some good money from publishing websites, you'll need to set up more websites, and build your success collectively, instead of just from one website.

There's two primary thoughts on how to choose a good domain name...

• A domain name that has the most important keywords in it


• A domain name that is highly memorable

If you can achieve both in a domain name, great. While many people say that all the good domain names are taken, it isn't really true. For example, I found "motorcycleblogging.com" still available.

If you're going to find a domain based on the first criteria, then you don't need to worry about getting a ".com". A ".net" or a ".org" is just as good. Even a ".us", or a ".info" is ok too.

Domain names based on important keywords are valuable because they optimize on Google and Yahoo a lot better. This very blog you're reading is about blogging, but specifically for motorcyclists. So, if you wanted to search Google about motorcycles and blogging, then a domain like "motorcycleblogging.com" is perfect.

I did the same thing for my other blog, "motorcyclephilosophy.org". I knew that the phrase, "motorcycle philosophy" had a fair amount of search volume on Google's keyword tool, and hence, I wanted to build a blog that would capture that search traffic.

Meanwhile, domain names that are based on the second criteria, that of being memorable, are those that often unrelated to the content of the website. The most famous of all, of course, is "yahoo.com". What exactly is a "yahoo" anyways, and how does that relate to a search engine, or personalized start page? But, it's very memorable.

Domain names based on being memorable need to end in a ".com". If you're going to rely on people being able to remember your domain name, then you have to have the ".com" at the end, for the simple fact that people have a habit of expecting a ".com" at the end of everything.

And if you're going get a domain name that people can remember, then get one that people don't tend to misspell.

Long Domain Names versus Short

There was a time many years ago that people recommended short domain names like "yahoo.com" or those with three or fewer syllables. But I haven't seen any evidence proving there is an advantage to this.

If you're want a memorable domain name, it could just as well be long. I think, "letthegoodtimesroll.com" is pretty memorable.

Abbreviations

Stay away from choosing an abbreviation for a domain name. These are very hard to remember, and they don't optimize well on search engines. If you want to start a blog called, "Two Chicks with Harleys", don't get a domain name like, "tcwh.com". No one will remember that, and they'll have to bookmark you to find you again.

Labels: Domain-Names

The Internet is chock full of get-rich-quick books and CDs about how to make "$60,000 a year" from your blog. There's so much of stuff, I wonder if I should be selling books too.

I found a site today called, "Blogging for Dollars", after seeing a banner ad with this guy saying, "I earn $6,000 a month from my blog". Being that I'm in this business, I had to look at it, just to satisfy my curiosity.

Here's what it said...

1. Start your own blog site using your BlogToolKit. There is absolutely no technical experience required! The site is completely set up for you!



2. Begin writing about the things you enjoy; your pet, your favorite sport’s team, etc. Rest assured that there are people who share the same passion and want to read and participate!



3. Your BlogToolKit will automatically help you setup advertising offers on your blog in just a few easy steps. Then when people visit and read your blog, they will click on the ads and you will make money!

This is exactly what I do already. Except I don't need "BlogToolKit". Google AdSense sets up these ads automatically, as well as Yahoo Publisher. You can also set up similar rotational ads from Commission Junction, or create your own ad rotation from a wide variety of scripts.

The difference is that this site, "Blogging for Dollars", is selling you an instruction manual telling you how to do this.

Folks, don't buy this stuff.

There are already thousands of blogs and websites that tell you how to do this for free. There are hundreds more web forums devoted to this stuff. I'm telling you how to do this for free also.

In my town, there's this gal who's in the same business as I am, building websites and blogs, and making money from the ads. Except she spent tens of thousands of dollars on these books and CDs, on how to get rich from the Internet. She purchased memberships to other websites that sell this information. She spent more money travelling to conventions (air, hotel, meals), just to learn what she could have learned for free.

There's this guy named, "Joel Comm", who apparently has made millions of dollars writing blogs and monetizing them with AdSense. He's really famous in this line of work. But the fact is that he's not actually exceptional with AdSense, he's no more skilled than I am. He's just a guy who sells books and CDs, that teaches people how to do this. That's where his marketing expertise lies, taking advantage of people's desperation.

Labels: Making-Money-Online

Which blog design tends to work best in getting people to click on ads?

It's not always an easy answer.

Most bloggers seem to be in agreement that a design that has the content on the right side, and the side column(s) on the left, tend to monetize the best.

Psychology of the Eye

Read an old article of mine, "Psychology of the Eye", which discusses what people tend to see first when they visit website for the first time.

Basically, people tend to read a webpage from the top to bottom, and from left to right. I also defined a principle called, "Contrast Focus" that says people to focus on colorful objects when placed against a dull, drab background. By using contrast focus, and the left-to-right principles, you can make someone's eye land on something.

The design of this blog, which uses two side columns, and one content column, has become the most successful design I've come up with. The AdSense unit positioned exactly where you see it now, in the second column, towards the top, tends to get the highest click-through-rate for me, than in any other area.

AdSense actually provides guidelines on where to place their creatives in the most effective places. What I'm showing you now, falls in line with the suggestions. They have other suggestions as well. You can read an older article of mine, "Best AdSense Placements", for more discussion on this.

Notice also that my blog design uses very little color. It's large pretty drab. If anything is catching your eye, it's either AdSense creative (using bright blue links), or the title of the first article, not necessarily in that order. The bright blue links contrasting against the mostly drab-white page design, are saying, "Hey look at me!"

Two Columns versus Three Columns

I've found that three column designs, set up exactly like this one, monetizes better than the two column design. For reasons that I still haven't been able to understand, the eye seems to notice the AdSense creative much more when its in a three-column design like this, as opposed to a two-column design.

I think there's something in our subconscious telling us that the middle column is likely the column containing the content. And so, our eye tends to rest on the AdSense creative. However, our rational thinking is saying, "no, the much wide column on the right is likely where the content is."

In the end, your eyes ignore the left-most column, but fights between looking at the middle column and the right column.

Pretty Blogs versus Drab Blogs

A very attractive blog is good for about 15 seconds. After that, people look for the content. If that content is weak, then all the work you did (or money you spent) was for just 15 seconds of eye candy.

A drab design, using mostly white, grey, or black colors, tend to work best. Now, I realize that many of my blogs use other colors, I don't make everything in shades of grey. Instead, use this particular blog to understand the basic concepts, and then you can explore ways to variate that.

The reason is because of "contrast focus", which I described above. By creating an otherwise boring looking design, you can use color most effectively. Banner ads become much more visible against an all grey, or all white page. AdSense creatives stand out much better. You'll get higher click-through rates because of this.

People will visit your blog because you have great content, not because you have a pretty design. So, utilize lots of the whites, greys, and blacks, to give your ads more visibility.

Use White Space Effectively

Placing a lot of white space in between objects helps people see where one ad ends, and another one starts. The more space you put between two objects, the most people will tend to see them.

It's the same "contrast focus" principle. People's eyes don't want to look at the white space. Hence, the more white space you put between two ads, the more likely they'll see both ads.

Labels: Blog-Design

One thing I've noticed among the top motorcycle blogs, is that very few give credit where credit is due.

A "credit link", or "reference link", is simply a link back to the blog or website where you found the inspiration for a new article. It's part of a larger blogging phenomenon called the "meme".

A meme is like a "thread" on a message board, except it's carried out across multiple blogs. One blogger will post something really profound, funny, newsworth, or cool on their blog. A second blogger will see it, and then write about it on their blog, and include a credit link to the previous blog. Then other bloggers will see the second blogger, and then write about it on their blogs, and post credit links to the second blogger, or first blogger, or both. And then so on and so on. It starts a chain of reaction that spreads out across several blogs, sometimes thousands.

That chain reaction builds up Google PageRank value for each of the blogs linked within that chain. The first blog in that meme ends up with a bonanza of PageRank, and that's usually how people build themselves a career in blogging, by writing really good material that gets the blogosphere talking.

If you don't offer that credit link, then you're breaking the chain. You're stealing thunder, basically, for yourself.

Credit linking is very strong in the electronics and gadget blogging world, and as a result, it has built up a lot of PageRank for all of the blogs there. Because everyone gets involved in reacting to each other's articles, and linking back to them, everyone shares in the PageRank, and everyone gets a boost out of it.

I just wish I could see more of that in the motorcycle blogging community.

If you found a very interesting piece of motorcycle news on Biker News Online, and you decided to blog about the same news on yours, then give me a credit link, just to say thanks for giving you the inspiration. I'll do the same for you.

Methods of Credit Linking

Often, bloggers will just create a credit link using some words in the middle of a paragraph.

But there's also a popular way of using a postscript. For example, you might see the following at the end of an article...

via Motorcycle Philosophy

or

KT DID via Motorcycle Philosophy

The first example above, simply says, "The source for my article came from Motorcycle Philosophy".

The second example says, "The primary source of this news comes from KT DID, but Motorcycle Philosophy is where I found out about it."

Instead of using "via", you could also say, "source", or "thanks", or whatever you think works.

Just do all of your fellow bloggers a favor, and give credit where credit is due, and you'll find that they'll do the same for you.

Labels: Blogging-Ethics, Linking-Strategies

There are probably hundreds of "blog directories", websites that contains thousands and thousands of links to blogs. They categorize them, rank them, and review them. But do you get anything out of it?

The biggest selling point is that by having your blog listed in a directory, Google will give you some additional PageRank. That is, because Google relies on links to determine popularity and authority, the directories argue that getting listed on their websites will help towards your search engine rankings.

It's largely baloney.

Google is smart enough to know what a directory looks like, and is smart enough to know that links from directories "don't count".

The reason is because Google considers a link to be a "vote of confidence" on behalf of the site being linked to, AS WELL AS, the site that's doing the linking. It means that the website publisher found a website that he/she felt to be worthy of a link. These opinions are what Google is aggregating across the entire Internet.

So ask yourself, what opinion is there in a blog directory? A blog directory allows any blog to be listed, even if the blog sucks. Anyone who pays money, or offers a reciprocal link, can get listed into the directory. The links in a blog directory obviously doesn't reflect an opinion on behalf of the blog directory owner.

So you're not getting any PageRank value from those links. However, those little image buttons you're placing on the side of your pages are links that do in fact give PageRank back to the directory. You're giving PageRank value to the directory, and the directory is giving you nada.

All that you can ever get back from a blog directory is some direct referrals. Take a look at your blog's statistics, and see if you've ever received traffic from a blog directory. Then wonder how much traffic and PageRank you've given to them instead.

Here's something you can do prove this to yourself.

Go to Google, and type in the following query...

link:http://www.myblog.com

Replace "www.myblog.com" with your blog's address.

This will display all the URLs that link to your blog, but only those that Google considers to be worthy. These URLs are the only URLs that Google is using to calculate your PageRank. I bet you won't find a blog directory in those URLs.

There are actually many more URLs out there with links to your blog, but Google doesn't count them either because it can't find those URLs (behind a database or login), or because those URLs are too new, or because those URLs are redundant, or because Google considers those URLs to be worthless.

Now, go to a blog directory that your blog is listed on. A really popular one is Blog Catalog. In fact, go to their motorsports section...

http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/sports/motor_sports

Now go to Google and run a "backlink search" on that URL (click below)...

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=DKUS,DKUS:2006-44,DKUS:en&q=link:http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eblogcatalog%2ecom%2fdirectory%2fsports%2fmotor%5fsports (opens a new window)

Now tell me if you find your blog in there.

Was it there? If it was, do you feel ripped off? You gave them PageRank, but they didn't give you Jack. They're getting rich off of you.

Take my advice, get rid of all those blog directory links and buttons. You're giving away PageRank to them, and they're using it to grab a higher spot on Google's search results. Run a Google search for "motorcycle blogs" (opens a new window), and go through a few pages. Notice that many blog directories are ranking higher than actual motorcycle blogs. Those directories are grabbing traffic that you could've gotten.

Focus instead on getting links from other people's blogrolls. I've found that those are the most valuable links you could ever get. I'll explain some other time.

Labels: Linking-Strategies