Why Tradeshows are important for driving traffic to your website

Many people and business owners do not think that tradeshows are website traffic drivers.  Let me dispel that rumor for you rather quickly they are.  While tradeshows are setup to attract new business for your organization, you are handing out printed and promotional material (that should have your web address on it).  In all business expo’s you will find that these tradeshows are not meant to sell your product or service at the booth.  The attendees are actually there to collect information, have a quick discussion, then do further research.  As a business owner, you are there for the exposure.  If you sign an agreement while at a tradeshow, I would be stunned, and that would be a bonus, but it is not the norm.  

When the attendees return to their office with a stack of business cards, they tend to go through the cards and keep the ones that made and impact on them and that they may have a need for.  This is where the attendee will view your website.  They are still doing research on your company and your product or service and they need to be able to quickly find you on the internet.  In most cases, the attendee will simply enter the domain name located on the materials that they received from you.  However if they search for your company name, you had better come up in the top 3, or they will get your competitions website, and you may have very well just lost an opportunity for business.

Understanding your website analytics can assist you in understanding what tradeshows you attend produce more traffic in the week following the event.  You should track this to the best of your ability.  Ideally you won’t know if the folks are tradeshow people, but you will know if you have spikes in your web traffic within days after events.  If you only have 2 spikes per year and you only attend 2 tradeshows per year, then you can obviously tell that the spikes are a result of your tradeshows. 

We have seen this with some of our customers that attend tradeshows and I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is a correlation.

In conclusion…Pay attention to your website statistics to gauge the results of your tradeshows and make sure you have your web address on all your printed and promotional materials!

Gmail Unsend Feature!

Have you ever sent a business related email you immediately regretted?  Forgot to attach an attachment?  Mistyped a word and as it was being sent noticed it?  Well Google and Gmail have your back!

If you haven’t heard about Gmail, you should.  Google’s website states, “Gmail is a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that email can be more intuitive, efficient, and useful. And maybe even fun. After all, Gmail has:

Less spam
Keep unwanted messages out of your inbox with Google’s innovative technology.

Mobile access
Read Gmail on your mobile phone by pointing your phone’s web browser to http://gmail.com/app.

Lots of space
Over 7309.223600 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you’ll never need to delete another message.”

Can you maintain your email address with domain name?  Absolutely!  We have been using Gmail at Central Mass Web Design for months now.  I must admit having my work email, web based, is a plus.  I can integrate it into my Palm, as well as check it from anywhere.  (Gmail also has Blackberry applications.)    Not to mention, it’s all free.

So what has Gmail done to make this all even better?  They have added an undo feature to their send mail option.   No more will we send emails to the wrong people.  No more will we forget to send attachments and immediately have to send a second email, making us look unorganized and incompetent. No more will we go on a rant, and immediately regret sending it to our boss.  Gmail allows us to get it back!

Downfalls to this new application… well, if the email is completely sent, there is no getting it back.  Gmail will hold the email for 5 seconds before sending it.  This is the time you have to hit undo, 5 seconds.  Once the email says “sent”, you cannot recover it.  Is this the first step to having completely error proof emails?  Is the future of email a completely integrated email system that communicates with all carriers to allow an unsend feature for all emails no matter how long ago they were sent?  One could hope!

-Kimberly Veautour

Keys to selecting a good domain

  • -Make it a .com if you can
  • -Keep it short
  • -Keep it relevant
  • -Keep it memorable
  • -Never search the main domain places unless you are prepared to buy at that time
  • -Always get the misspellings and .net versions if you can
  • -Ask for help if you don’t know how to manage the domain (it can be tricky)
  • -Expectations on getting help (what people typically charge to assist with your domain)

Find a domain here

Domain Sells for 2.6 Million

I have been telling clients for sometime to get the domains that they think about, even if it is just the .net version. This goes to show how a somewhat meaningless investment can turn in to.

Chris Clark, the man who had the inspiration to register Pizza.com domain more than twenty years ago, accepted to sell it for $2.6 million.

According to Baltimore Sun, Chris Clark bought the name back in 1994, hoping that the domain would help him score a contract with a pizza company. But six years later he sold his Internet consulting company, but he kept paying the $20 monthly fee for the domain.

But when he heard that in 2006 a Russian company paid $3 million for Vodka.com, he decided to put its domain on auction. Clark turned to Sedo.com to help him sell the domain. The auction has started with $100, but in just two days the bidding hit 2 million.

“Really generic description domains are hot commodities these days, especially the ones that encapsulate an entire industry,” said Jeremiah Johnston, Sedo’s chief operating officer, quoted by Baltimore Sun. Sedo.com refused to disclose the identity of the new owner of Pizza.com.

Chris Clark, who now owns Minestream Software Corp., a company that sells Internet protection products, said he has not idea what he will do with the money.

Of course, he has only one regret. “In ’94, you could have just registered everything and anything,” Clark said. “I think about that now, yeah”.

Read the Article Online Here

Domain Kiting – aka Domain Stealing

What is it?

When an internet company finds out that a domain is searched for and buys it, holding it hostage for additional funds. They truly have no use of the domain but to resell it to someone that wants it.

How does this happen?

Only certain companies have access to the direct purchase of domains. Everyone else has to use them. They are called ICANN Registrars.

When you search for a new domain for yourself, if you use a well know Registrar like Godaddy, they record the entry. Then an ICANN Registrar can purchase that domain if you don’t buy it at that time. If you search for this domain again within 48 hours they will most likely buy the rights to it. You may never get the chance to buy the domain you want.

How is CMWD different?

We don’t use these sources to check on the availability of domains. We use our own sources.

Don’t let your friends lose money!

If you know someone who wants to lookup a domain, don’t let them fall prey to this domain kiting scheme. It could truly cost them thousands of dollars versus our $15 annual fee. Have them call us at the office, and we would be happy to perform the proper search and assist them with their domain purchase.