Am I the Only One Who is 3 Weeks Behind?
It was my intention to update this blog, initially on no less than a monthly basis and then more frequently thereafter. As you can see, I'm a bit late. But… I think it is with relatively good reason.
Since our initial post a great deal of activity has taken place. In no particular order:
Since last time…
* On Friday, June 11 Mark and I were featured guests on the Vancouver .tel Meetup groups monthly breakfast bunfest. Connected via Skype, we outlined some of our views of the .tel world and previewed some of Mark's Tools. We even had George Moen (all things Grand Poobah-ish over at Blenz) running the projector for our Power Point presentation. How's that for rolling up the sleeves and demonstrating dedication to the cause? Thanks also to Marilyn Anderson and Bonnie Sainsbury for organizing.
As long-term practitioners of .tel, we're looking down the road a ways to see what's on the horizon that might have a positive impact on our .tels. There are two companies I mentioned during the broadcast that we'll be monitoring and lobbying to incorporate .tel into their respective systems.
The first one is SkimLinks. Skimlinks dramatically simplifies the process of identifying and managing affiliates, and more importantly – managing affiliate links. The second company has a very bright (orange) future ahead of them. Root Orange enables many people to "own" top-tier, generic domain at a fraction of the cost and … on an exclusive basis for your selected geographic region. Can you imagine "owning" www.attorney.com for the city of Philadelphia or www.brakeservice.com for New York City and getting all of the natural type-in traffic leads from the major search engines delivered exclusively to you. Well you can (if you're first in line) and Root Orange is making it happen.
Check out both of these sites. Better still start your own mini campaign. Contact them directly and tell them how much you want them to incorporate .tel into their programs. Each of these companies deserves much greater analysis and we hope to dig a bit deeper and see when we might be able to take advantage of their services.
If you know of any other companies that show some promise to help assist .tel owners to monetize their .tel assets, please drop us a line and we'll post it here for all.
Due to time constraints we weren't able to mention an absolutely killer app that has the potential to turn .tel monetization on its head. It's a significant undertaking that will require some additional partners and/or resources to fully bring to fruition. Drop me a line if I've piqued your interest.
.tel Drops
* Many of you know that the first wave of .tels were registered by the general public on March 24, 2009 and growing to over some 270,000 (est.) registrations over the next 12 months. Like many new domain releases there are prospectors, speculators and other assorted registrants looking to satisfy their respective "itch":
- Some investors looked for quick returns by flipping their domains (didn't happen – their short-term goals became long-term investments);
- Some were happy to get in on the thrill of the latest domain release and acquire their "killer", category defining domains. (I can tell you from experience that for some, it's an incredible rush when you've got 4 or 5 screens open, each with a different registrar just hoping that one of them will get that absolutely must have domain… then another… then another… It's all well and good until you start watching the mailbox to make sure you get the credit card statement before your significant other sees it)
- And some just flat out ran amok and registered either way too many domains and/or domains that don't fit the extension
The point is, it has been 12 month, plus/minus 70-80 days depending on your registrar, and .tel domains are in the drop phase. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case might be, there are hundreds of .tel domains dropping every day. Is there still some gold to be mined ? You bet. There are other sources, but Mark has developed a nifty little program that identifies the domains that are dropping every day at around 2:30pm EST. If you want a copy of the list, just post a comment here and we'll be happy to send it to you.
On the Horizon…
* Mark is putting the finishing touches on some of the premium tools that will really help streamline adding content, ads, colors/colours, templates and icons to your dottel properties. Watch for upcoming announcements here. Remember that TelMasters members will always get advance notice of these new releases so make sure to sign up if you haven't already done so. Best of all, membership is free.
* In the very near future we'll be implementing a full-featured email management system that does everything but walk the dog. Part of the requirements of using the system is that all members MUST opt-in. Even if you've already signed up as a member you will be required to opt-in with the new system. But don't fret, we'll make it worth you troubles. More on that shortly.
Our main TelMasters site is constantly being tweaked and updated. Most of the changes are small but they all take time so your continued patience as we work through the bugs is much appreciated
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