Newbie: typo question

[Armster]

My name is Dave and I'm a newbie.... admitting it is a big step towards resolving the issues right?! :O)

ok so after a few kneejerk reaction buying of some domains then asking opinions on here i found out that my innitial buys were just frankly stupid at least i have a few testbeds to try out things on huh ? :P so I've put a bad on all buying until i gather some more information for a few weeks.

I cam across the sticky on this section for typo names, however it seems very dated and all through that piece there we people saying that the death of typo domains was soon. them posts we near2 years ago. My First question is this....Are typo domains still a valid option or are there more and more legal issues(if you can find the good ones that is)?

My second question is about finding the good ones....

Due to the appraisal of typo names being different from regular keyword domains and the fact that the overture tool is now dead, what are the best ways to appraise the popularity of BOTH the master domain (ie amazon.com) and the tpyo domain (ie. amaon.com)

My third question is more along the lines of your past experiences....

without being able to pull up enough stats i'd presume missing letter typo's are the best bang forbuck in this segment is this correct? and would it be the missing middle letters than generate more results ? I'd presume that people would notice a typo more at the start and end of the word.:tri:

Note: I'm looking at buying a number of types of domains but due to financial restraints at the moment i'll have to be going for either bargain bbasements, expiring or newly registered domains.

 

[exsedo]

Intersting that you are looking to trade in typo domains.
A few things to consider, when you register a typo of a famous name, (most of which are trademarked) you are registering a name in bad faith. Also it will be confusingly similar to the the original domain. Both of these things will go against you if the trademark owner decides to sue you.
These type of domains, by their very nature, are registered with the sole purpose of stealing traffic from the proper domain name. Even if the typo is not of a trademarked domain name, it is still a domain registered with the sole intent of stealing someone elses traffic.
Still think it is the right way to start in domaining ?

 

[mrjohn]

Typos are worthless, especially if they pertain to a product or service that has already been dominated in Google SERPs by the properly spelled version.

Every year the market for typos declines because the vast majority of people do not type a domain into the address bar. Instead, they bash it into Google. And Google fixes the typo.

 

[exsedo]

Of course, there are more ways other than type in, to steal traffic from the rightful recipitant, but as far as I am aware, they are illegal. If trademark owners were more responsible, and protected their marks, as they are required to do, we would see a massive reduction in cybersquatting. Registrars, parking companies, search engines, domainers, auction houses, hosting companies, etc. are all involved in profit making from Tm and Tm-typo domain names. The hypocrisy of the biggest players in the game is astounding, and these are the ones who need to be made an example of. Cybersquatting throughout the domaining world is like a cancer which will destroy the industry unless it is treated, and I believe that the day of reckoning is not too far away.

 

[Armster]

Thanks for your input although the condescending tone of the reply from exsedo is somewhat unwarranted. As I said in my previous post I'm doing research on various aspects and I had a question about this particular aspect I didn't understand. While I take on your revulsion of typo domains etc... The additional questions of how to find typin traffic stats is still a valid question in my opinion.

Thank you mr john for your reply although I dont really understand why people would put in additional steps of searching within google rather than just typing it in if you know the address? lots of lazy stupid people out there I suppose

 

[exsedo]

Ok, in your original post, you stated that you were a newbie and that your initial domains were stupid registrations. This led me to believe that you were unaware of legal issues regarding typo domains.
However, as you think my contribution is 'condescending', I will assume that you were already aware
of the implications.
Maybe you should try blackhat or warez forums ?

 

[mrjohn]

Thank you mr john for your reply although I dont really understand why people would put in additional steps of searching within google rather than just typing it in if you know the address? lots of lazy stupid people out there I suppose

I don't know the actual root of the behavior, but it is astonishing the number of times is see log entries for my sites that show the referrer as google.com?search=whatever.com

I don't think, on balance, that the average human being views the address bar as more efficient. Especially when Google will fix your typos for you, while the address bar will let your typos take you straight to malware hell.

I'll warn you this: don't be married to an idea if the evidence runs contrary. Domain typos are a hard thing to get Google to go for.

For my part, when I'm nibbling around the fringe of something someone else controls, I look toward accurately typed .NETs and even .INFOs. I actually out SEOed an established .COM site with a INFO because the guy pissed me off and I told him I could do it because his site sucked. It didn't win me a gig -- confrontation isn't a good marketing strategy -- but it was funny to watch the freakout in my inbox the week Google decided to love. Best 99 cents I ever spent in my life!

 

[Armster]

lol mrjohn thats awesome!

 

[Archangel]

I'll throw in a few quick things:

Typos really aren't the way to go. Type in, let's say, basball into Google (where the vast majority of traffic comes from) and although it'll show you the results, it'll have a link for the correct term, accompanied with the words, "Did you mean baseball?" or similar. Typing into browsers is COMMON but it's not done at a large volume. So don't expect (m)any visitors from that.

The idea of a typo is to steal traffic. That is the only reason they exist (although 'stealing' is relative, depending on who actually owns the domain). I wouldn't start your career with typos. The value of typo is always random as one month, the domain could get 500 unique visitors and another month, it could get less than 100.

You can get lucky with them but that's a rarity. I bought one once for $100 and resold it for $400 a week or 2 later. Aside from that, I see typos sell for very little.

Oh, from my experience, double-letters do the best ie Disneey.com opposed to Diney.com. But if you're going to reg Disney domains, make sure you have a good lawyer handy.

 

[mrjohn]

Address bar typing is a residual behavior among those of us who were using the web before the search engines were reliable. Anyone who found the web from 2000 or later is barely aware of the address bar.

I have actually, during tech support calls, had to explain to some of my clients what the address bar is.

 

[exsedo]

In a recent security article I read, they were analysing traffic to successful sites. Surprisingly, type in traffic was still the top method of reaching the sites they looked at. 27%.