advice Typo advice to typo newbies

[Domainate.com]

This is all pretty much speaking from my own experience with typo domains...some others may have a different experience with them, and so I wouldn't accept this advice as "fact". It's my opinion on the best way to approach getting typos.

First off, get typos of domains, not words. One of the reasons Pocker.com and Porker.com were able to sell for as much as they did were because Poker.com was an established, fairly high traffic site site in addition to poker being an elite keyword. Keep this in mind when selecting your target to get typos of. The Overture Keyword Selector Tool is often referenced around here as one of the most powerful domain tools, and indeed it is. Put your target domain in here and see how many results it gets. Compare a lot of different target domains you have, and the higher number is the better target for traffic since those are direct type-ins to Overture.

Secondly, though harder to judge, try to target domains in more lucrative markets. Poker is my favorite, because Fabulous pays $8-$20 per click on their poker parking. Casinos are even higher and are another good target. There are many high-paying keywords out there, and a good way for those who have a hard time figuring them out is the Overture Bid Tool. It shows the max bids of links placed on Overture, a PPC-based search engine. The higher the better of course.

So...onto the first revelation: The best typos I have are actually not typos. They are either misspellings or substitute related terms inserted in place of a word in the domain (like putting "auto" in place of "car" in the domain). I have about 30 poker names among which are many misspellings and "related term" names to a couple of poker sites, and it's generally those doing the best.

For the misspellings, target words that could be hard to spell. I was excited to see a commercial for UltimateBet.tv, knowing first that Ultimatebet.com/net was an established poker site and that the .tv was probably new to their arsenal, and seeing that "ultimate" is misspelled a LOT. The misspellings I got for that site have worked out rather well. An example of related term is a "typo" domain I got for DoylesRoom.com/net (another poker site). Doyle Brunson is who the site is named after, and a simple switcheroo of his last name in place of his first and I found myself some available names that have been making me a nice earning.

Some of the other typo names I own are in fact typos though. Again, based on how mine do, if you want to get typos, get missing letter typos or transposition typos instead of extra letter or wrong letter typos. Extra letter typos and wrong letter typos usually involve many situations with 1 single letter of the name. Missing letter involves only 1 situation per letter, and transpositions of letters right next to each other also involves only 1 situation. Don't do more than one transposition or missing letter at a time. Like "music"...search for usic, msic, musc, musi, umsic, msuic, muisc, and musci sooner than typos like mussic, nusic, mudic, etc.

That's all for now. Hope this post helps a bunch of you aspiring typo-ists! If any other people out there doing well with typos would like to chime in, feel free to do so.

 

[jijigren]

Nice post on typo domain... thanks

 

[dominiosclave]

yes nice typo info, thanks

 

[damage]

nice tips for starters, pretty cheeky stuff in here! I've been checking for some typos and I can't believe that most are already gone (good ones)!

I've two questions, if someone would please help me:

1) Where can one check whether the names are TMd? I mean, this should be a logical TMDing of a product/service but where can one check it online?

2) Is there a website which will give you the Typos and OVT at the same time? Keywordbox doesn't do that. Or do I have to buy a software?

cheers,

 

[UneekTT]

Nice read - Thanks a ton for sharing, I feel as though this article/post has been very valuable to me as a semi-noob. I have never purchased any typo domains, but you have inspired me sir - Thanks again!

 

[-TV-]

nice tips for starters, pretty cheeky stuff in here! I've been checking for some typos and I can't believe that most are already gone (good ones)!

I've two questions, if someone would please help me:

1) Where can one check whether the names are TMd? I mean, this should be a logical TMDing of a product/service but where can one check it online?

2) Is there a website which will give you the Typos and OVT at the same time? Keywordbox doesn't do that. Or do I have to buy a software?

cheers,

hi

for your first question yes you can check the TM go here http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=p9tok.1.1 then look for SEARCH in your right side click on it , then find and click on "New User Form Search (Basic)" then you can type the domain name or keyword you like and hit search you will find DEAD or LIVE TMs , but an advise from a friend , " dont play with TMs" ,

for your second question i don't know if there is a website to create typos and show you ovt score in same time , for software there is one in my sig you can check the demo

thank you

Tv

 

[damage]

coolness, thanks a bunch

 

[Domainate.com]

One thing I figured I'd mention about typos of sites is about selling them. You may wonder "why are typos priced a lot less than generic names getting the same traffic?" or "why does anyone ever sell typos for a year and a half to 2 years revenue?"

There are 2 very simple reasons:

1. Typos of active sites are about the last domains that you would want to develop a website on. Generic names getting traffic can be developed on on the other hand, and so the traffic can be retained and grown. That's why whenever anyone asks for an appraisal of a typo, I generally say "it's worth what it makes in PPC", because there generally isn't much worth otherwise. There are very few exceptions to this, and that's generally if the site you're typoing is an often used phrase, and your typo is has a clever homonym for one of the words. I can't even think of a case of this off the top of my head, but the key thing to ask yourself is "would anyone remember this site name and come back if I had a site on it?" The answer is generally only yes if your name is a brandable misspelling in some way.

2. Your success is tied to another site's success; your failure is tied to another site's failure. I know first hand about both ends of this stick. I've gotten typos of poker/gambling sites that initially did poorly and are now making up a majority of my PPC revenue. I've also gotten typos of a couple sites that were literally worthless within the year of registration, because either the site stopped using the URL (like with UltimateBet .tv), or they simply got shut down (like with Vegas21Club .com and .net). If I had sold those for even 1 year's worth of revenue, I would have made a good sale, but I couldn't have known that back then. Basically, it's a risk either way: Risky to hold onto them and wait for the money, hoping the site doesn't go down, and risky to sell them when the site could grow in popularity and make you look silly for selling. Since they are risky to hold however, the prices for them go down. Big buyers of traffic names generally don't like when fate is out of their own hands. At the very least with genereic names, a long-term trend needs to happen for them to lose a considerable amount of traffic to the name.

I'm very happy to see this thread still alive and helping people, and I thank -TV- for helping out as well. If any of you have experiences with typos that you can share, like what's been working for you and what hasn't, feel free to do so in this thread.

 

[member-55834]

Zoiks! What can I say. This is a pressure cooker. Guys - I'm with The ICA (Internet Commerce Association). We are doing our darnedest to establish domain name ownership as a credible, legitimate, and utilitarian industry - but TMs, or domains likened to them, have the effect of blemishing the whole industry. I've attached a link from Sedo.com's "domain law" section to elaborate and keep you out of trouble.
http://www.sedo.com/legal/index.php4?tracked=&partnerid=&language=us

The important thing is to know that buying and selling domain names is perfectly legal, as long as the domain being sold does not infringe on the trademark rights of a third party. Today, the vast majority of domain investors operate within this legally-acceptable territory. However, in some cases a domain owner is unaware of, or chooses to ignore, the legal constraints. Fortunately, in these cases, a trademark holder has numerous channels for addressing their ownership dispute. These resources are described below.

Domain name sellers should be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that their domain name is free from possible trademark infringements before listing it for sale. Ignorance of the law is no excuse! Use the links and information provided here to inform yourself about your rights and the legalities governing domain name ownership to reduce the risk that you will lose your domain.

Trademark holders should be aware that possessing a trademark for a given term does not automatically mean that you have a legitimate legal claim to a domain name. Possession of a valid trademark is only one of three requirements that you need to meet to win ownership of a domain name via ICANN's Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the policy governing ownership disputes for the generic TLDs (.com, .net, .org, .biz, and .info) or the U.S. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (15 U.S.C. sec. 1125).

Just as important are the requirements that (1) the domain registrant have no legitimate interests in the domain and that (2) they evidenced bad faith in registering the domain. Both elements require evidence beyond the mere registration of a domain. Please take the time to inform yourself about the UDRP and other legalities governing domain names using the resources provided below.

Before you make a complaint, make sure that you have consulted a qualified trademark attorney with experience in domain names. Legal disputes should generally be considered a last option: the cost for a UDRP case is $1,500 plus legal expenses, and there is no guarantee that you will win (for a complete schedule of UDRP fees, click here).

If you sue and lose, your chances of then being able to purchase the domain from the current owner is greatly reduced. In addition, frivolous UDRP claims against domain owners can result in a finding of reverse domain hijacking - a practice in which trademark holders engage in a bad-faith attempt to use the UDRP to wrongfully strip the legitimate registrant and user of a desired domain name simply because the complainant holds a trademark in that name or one similar to it.

 

[Joan]

Can I make a suggestion? You don't want the top listed typos you want several of the 3-4,000 hits typos. The reason for that is that no one else wants them but if you get 10 of them and then bid 10 cents each on them you get the ppc benefit.

Just a suggestion IMHO.

 

[Neeb]

I just saw on tdnam a typo sold for $5k
wwwherbalife.com

is this normal? instead of parking a typo could you sell it or is this a special case?

 

[Neeb]

question, when you guys say a site is getting like 4dollar clicks, does that mean everytime someone clicks you get 4dollars? Or is it split somehow or what?

and is there a daily average you guys are getting for typos, like say 1dollar a day for a site is average, 2 dollars is good, 3 is really good
or something like that? or is it more in the cent range

 

[isitthateasy]

Thanks for the info!

 

[tyson55]

anybody use this site for finding typo's.
http://www.domainscrub.com

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

As far as I'm aware yes. Typos of Google on the other hand...

Actually I was looking through obscure words to check out and possibly register, when I came upon a math site that listed every word known to man that described a number or math equation. Here is something that I took note of for obvious reasons:

A googol is the large number 10 to the hundreth power, that is, the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros (in decimal representation). The term was coined in 1920 by nine-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner popularized the concept in his book Mathematics and the Imagination.

The googol is of no particular significance in mathematics, but is useful when comparing with other incredibly large quantities such as the number of subatomic particles in the visible universe or the number of possible chess games. Kasner created it to illustrate the difference between an unimaginably large number and infinity, and in this role it is sometimes used in teaching mathematics.

Google, the Internet search engine, was named after this number. Larry Page, one of the founders, was fascinated with mathematics and Googol, even during high school. They ended up with "Google" due to a spelling mistake.

Just an interesting tidbit I wanted to share.

Also Crooky, do you ever just open notepad or word and start typing the different popular domain names to see what typos you naturally generate?

Link to googol info

 

[Domainate.com]

Google, the Internet search engine, was named after this number. Larry Page, one of the founders, was fascinated with mathematics and Googol, even during high school. They ended up with "Google" due to a spelling mistake.

Just an interesting tidbit I wanted to share.

Also Crooky, do you ever just open notepad or word and start typing the different popular domain names to see what typos you naturally generate?

Link to googol info

Yea, Google is one of many examples of names that are brandable misspellings of words. Anyone remember the BEATles?

As far as typing out words/names and seeing my own typos, in general I don't, but a good friend of mine that makes a living off of typos does...that's one way he gets his. IMO though, that's a small part of the battle. The main issue is finding good opportunities to get typos and make money from them, and most of his time is spent researching new sites and words/concepts that come out. Me, I've mainly gotten lucky and seen a commercial for a fairly new poker/gambling site at the right time.

 

[DomainMayhem.com]

May I ask approximately what can a person expect to see come in on average with a good typo portfolio? $x,xxx? From what I can tell, those that have some good traffic names can live off of parking them.

 

[Callmoney]

DomainMayhem.com it depends of what kind of domains you have.
If you have domains with high paying keywords you dont need good traffic if you dont, than you need traffic to generate a good ctr.
For me Domaining its an hobbie but I can tell you that i'm a typoholyc and almost 98% of my domains are typos
Do i make $x.xxx per month??? I WISH! LOL
I do it per year

 

[Lewstar]

Silly question, Typo Guru, aka Steve, but how do you know which of the bodog typos generates the best response? By the Overture tool? I'm thinking so, but one of the posters to your great piece said that Overture often unravels misspellings.

Also, I knew that domain name sellers used to offer a service called "tasting," whereby one could purchase a name for several days and then return it if he or she wanted. This allowed domainers to determine if a particular domain name was worth keeping, but I do believe tasting is no longer allowed.

 

[Domainate.com]

Silly question, Typo Guru, aka Steve, but how do you know which of the bodog typos generates the best response? By the Overture tool? I'm thinking so, but one of the posters to your great piece said that Overture often unravels misspellings.

Also, I knew that domain name sellers used to offer a service called "tasting," whereby one could purchase a name for several days and then return it if he or she wanted. This allowed domainers to determine if a particular domain name was worth keeping, but I do believe tasting is no longer allowed.

I HAD all those typos of Bodog. As it turns out, they reared their ugly head and took them all, but to be honest, they weren't getting TONS of traffic anyways, so I'll live. But yea, I had gotten all those typos and I said how they did based on how much traffic they got.

Tasting is still allowed, but the time you can keep the name is only 5 days...depending on what you're getting typos of, it might not be enough time. I've had poker typos make me over $100/yr on about 5-10 uniques a month...5 days won't tell me squat!

 

[-TV-]

typos you just need to keep working on them until you have a good portfolio hehehe i know it sound crazy but it will pay at the end , get ride of what don't bring enough to cover the registration of the name per month and keep the other ones etc.. that is how to build , for the game of reg and get ride off in 5 days i think i do agree on what nametrader said even tho i don't use that strategy as Mr "CALLMONEY" <-- (hi by the way long time no see bro lol FaxReport 2007 is soon out ) but 5 days is not enough some times some of the typo i did get started to kick in after a 5+ , and some in the next day

Tv

 

[SimpleDomaining]

can somebody please write in order which kind of typo is ok, good, better, the best?
1. wwwkeyword
2.missed letter keyword
3. misspelled keyword
4. added letter +keyword
5. any other?
thanks in adwance.

i am asking if i have a choice to register a 1 typo, and all of them are available for wery nice site, which about should i think first?

 

[Finer - Tommy]

I honestly think that typo domains are not worth purchasing unless you planning on developing a site out of it.

 

[Posterboy]

I just spent over $100 buying about 13 misspelled domain names. I checked my stats today and most of the domains didn't get any hits. 3 or 4 domains got about 1 visitor per day. Not very useful. Guess I better try and get better misspelled domains next time. It's so hard as most of the good ones are taken and it's hard to come up with mispellings of popular domains that aren't already taken.

 

[HiPurple]

Secondly, though harder to judge, try to target domains in more lucrative markets. Poker is my favorite, because Fabulous pays $8-$20 per click on their poker parking. Casinos are even higher and are another good target. There are many high-paying keywords out there, and a good way for those who have a hard time figuring them out is the Overture Bid Tool. It shows the max bids of links placed on Overture, a PPC-based search engine. The higher the better of course.

Great post, NameTrader.com!

What about a replacement for the Overture bid tool, now that Overture is defunct? I know that many people use Word Tracker, but I'm looking for a Yahoo Search Marketing bid tool that works like Google's Adwords sandbox tool...

Thanks!

 

[FUN4MEE]

Question Please?

Hello Everyone,
I came across the site and have found so much useful information. I want to thank you all for posting. I can't tell you how helpful it is for someone new to this.
I wanted to know if you can tell me where to search typos and the best place to register them. I looked at a site called DomainTools.com and I like the fact that you can just click on all the Typos at once and register them. It seems very easy. Do you know if I would have to pay an additional fee to put up a landing page ?
Please provide me with the best place to register the domains and where I can put up the landing page for free.
Thank you all in advance! I am saving many names over the next few days and really want to make the best choice of sites to use.

Thanks for the advice.

Dave