Who is the top domain blog ?

[equity78]

Who in your opinion is #1 Vote in the poll.

What is the most important thing you want in a blog ? sales data, info, how to, etc...

 

[DotWeekly]

The fewer Ads the Better.

NO REFERRAL LINKS embedded in text.

The End.

I always get a kick of reading things like this.

There is a ton of work put into all of these sites mentioned and many more that are not listed. Affiliate marketing works by placing referral links and the blog owner talking about a specific product or service.

The person clicking is not effected in any way, but helps the site owner.

The same goes for the ads. Without them, it is very likely the site wouldn't stay up.

I like all the sites personally and I didn't see an "all" to vote. :tu:

 

[opki]

Quite difficult chosen, many are not bad.

 

[DU]

I always get a kick of reading things like this.

There is a ton of work put into all of these sites mentioned and many more that are not listed. Affiliate marketing works by placing referral links and the blog owner talking about a specific product or service.

The person clicking is not effected in any way, but helps the site owner.

The same goes for the ads. Without them, it is very likely the site wouldn't stay up.

I like all the sites personally and I didn't see an "all" to vote. :tu:

So do you watch ads when you DVR that show you like?
Do you believe in impartiality if there's a giant DOT CO ad?
There are plenty of methods to create value without resorting to a screen that is 50% ads.

I didn't say NO ads. I said the FEWER the better. I wouldn't mind one or two...or a banner ad but PR9 flashing is an exception(Thanks Greasemonkey/AdBlocker)

Too many? When you have Escrow.com, Godaddy.com, .co, Domaintools.com, Afternic, DomainStore.com, Minisites.com, Dynadot, WhyPark, TaxService.com, Domaining.com, IDNTools.com....

These are what are on Elliotsblog right now... and I didn't include ALL of them.

On the other side I said EMBEDDED. I don't like links that have referral codes in them. I automatically strip them out. A link should have reader value not producer value.

If you have an opinion on a product I'd like to read it. If you are paid to have an opinion on a product you should state that. It's just about integrity.

So - Fewer ads is better. Fewer referral code links....the better.

Just IMO.

 

[equity78]

I disagree DU, if the person has not been paid but takes the time to write an article that is complete and honest about the product. What is wrong with a referral code ? If that's that persons livelihood why shouldn't they be paid. Maybe I should say to the person selling me a lemonade at the mall for $3, Fuck you its only water, a lemon and sugar that all come from nature. I agree with you Yofie I always find it funny but none of the people who object to one persons job tell me why they should get paid for their job. If everything is going to be free ok, pure barter system, no money for anything, medicine free,education free, housing free etc.... Its funny when domainers are against advertising, ( before anyone goes on a rant that they are not a domainer, they just hang out in domainer places, I get it.)Its just hysterical IMO.

Bottom line if its the persons job and is not a hobby , its not charity either,when it comes to charity I can think of far better causes. They should get paid. Again IMO

 

[winterwind.com]

I think its definitely possible to go overboard with ads, if they take up 50% of the site or more, or they are really big and flashing it can sometimes be annoying to the user. I dont think Elliots Blog is overboard though. Mostly they are distinctly separated from the content so the site is still easy to read and the ads dont get in the way much at all.

I dont see any problem with affiliate links, even if there are a lot of them. They are the most discrete way of advertising and you lose nothing by clicking on them. But its a chance for the publisher to make a little extra for referring traffic to another site.

Ads sometimes can add a lot of value to the page. Most publishers will consider whether or not their readers would get value or not from the advertiser. They wont just put up the ad thats going to make the much.

In the end, content creation takes a lot of time from the publisher. They have to be compensated or else how do you expect them to keep creating valuable content which is freely available.

 

[DU]

I disagree DU, if the person has not been paid but takes the time to write an article that is complete and honest about the product. What is wrong with a referral code ? If that's that persons livelihood why shouldn't they be paid.

Again. I didn't say NO ads. I said the fewer the better. If you write an article on the 5 best toasters - then by all means use an ad link to the store selling those 5 toasters.

What I don't like is that every time someone writes "domain" it's an affiliate link to GoDaddy.. and "hosting" is a link to hostgator and the link referral is embedded. This is, to me, not transparent enough. I think it's underhanded - this is JUST IMO.

If you are transparent about it I don't care anywhere near as much. So if you write an article about Hosting and you love hostgator... no issues with you writing "I love Hostgator and I use them for my blog" or whatever and providing a referral link. Referral links should be referrals not just embedded covert links. It's an opinion. I don't agree with it as a method to make money when it's not clear that's what is happening.

Again I said:

"There are plenty of methods to create value without resorting to a screen that is 50% ads."

If you think that the future is click ads and referral links then I think you sorely undervalue what is important. That's not innovative and innovation is what makes money in the long run.

One day I'll probably violate all my principles to make some money - but that's beside the point You asked what people looked for.

Maybe I should say to the person selling me a lemonade at the mall for $3, Fuck you its only water, a lemon and sugar that all come from nature.

What I don't like is if I go to a stand that is going to tell me something about the health benefits of Lemonade who then sends me to a Lemonade store and receives commission from them without me knowing. I'm just reduced by them to a schmuck to make a buck from.

If they made their spiel and said - you know, i have an arrangement with the lemonade stand over there.. I'd feel better about it.

Again. It's about integrity. I don't trust anyone who has an opinion about a product if they are being paid to advertise that product UNLESS they are clear about the relationship. It's about honesty.

If someone wants to make a living hocking shit ? That's fine if I want to read a blog with someone trying to make a living hocking shit and that's clear. I'm more likely, however, to go to a site where someone is presenting information I want who might have some advertising links somewhere on it.

My example was Elliot's Blog.. how many effing ads does one blog need? Even competing companies? Come on.. that's just pathetic. What am I supposed to think?

I agree with you Yofie I always find it funny but none of the people who object to one persons job tell me why they should get paid for their job. If everything is going to be free ok, pure barter system, no money for anything, medicine free,education free, housing free etc.... Its funny when domainers are against advertising, ( before anyone goes on a rant that they are not a domainer, they just hang out in domainer places, I get it.)Its just hysterical IMO.

Bottom line if its the persons job and is not a hobby , its not charity either,when it comes to charity I can think of far better causes. They should get paid. Again IMO

I'm not sure what part of what I said you don't understand. I like the BBC news because for the most part it is more impartial than Fox News. Fox News straight out admits that they aren't liberal and aren't actually strictly conservative - they are whatever their local MARKET wants. Yes. The NEWS targets its market. Is that really where I want to get my information? Blogs are the same. Are you giving information or am I just a market? Ads tell me I'm the latter. Just IMO. There's nothing wrong with that but it's not something that I value. I do value freedom from the annoyances of flashing logos.

In the same way that there is an industry proactively trying to make money from ads there's an industry preventing ads. Ad Blockers are everywhere. It has been PROVEN that technical blogs have lower click thru rate than non-technical blogs - I don't think resistance to ads is unique to me and I don't feel defensive about my decision. I'm not stealing anything from anyone by not clicking on ads.

I don't believe that the race to zero is a positive for any industry. I actually believe the race to zero is TERRIBLE for the consumer in the long run. I think that the news should NOT be free - people have no idea what a proper investigation costs. If we lose that investigate part of the news media we have nothing. People are manipulated enough now without the need for it to get made worse.

The simple fact is that most domainer blogs are full of respun shit with 30 ads for each original thought. Perhaps if people put more effort into imparting information versus selling themselves and their portfolio I'd feel differently. I'd pay for news. I may pay for great original informative content. I won't pay for respun articles. I won't pay for unoriginal thought. Elliot and Shane for example do actually appear to put thought into their posts and I respect that it's why I do sometimes read what they say. Shane in particular appears to be writing from a personal place in terms of ideas and thoughts and I respect that. I still don't like the number of ads. I think Shane is one of the most honest of the domain blogs you have listed and in ways I think he's penalized for it by the "establishment" for not being the one of the original domainers. But I don't think he gives a shit - even though he has this weird aspiration to be one of them..ironic since NOT being one of them is, in my mind, admirable.

Even though I like them -- I still won't ever click on their referrals/ads. It's a choice I make. If this was causing them enough hardship to contemplate not blogging? Be up front, be honest and say so. Personally, I think they're doing fine regardless of what I do or don't do.

I don't actually mind Elliot's Blog - he's less smarmy than most and does the one thing I do value - reponds to comments. I just think it's ads galore. I'd respect him more if he didn't have them all. That said - he does do it nicely - he puts content left, ads right - he doesn't embed ads in the middle of his posts. He's not the worst offender by a mile - just an example.

TheDomains has done it better... small footer ads, one header ad and a few on the side - almost innocuous.

The worst? DNJournal. Has links to scams. I mean really? You want me to think you are a high integrity publication and you have links to :

<Your City>: Mom Makes $6795 Part-Time...
Sponsored Link

There was even a thread on it here at NP by someone thinking it was a legit opportunity BECAUSE it was in DNJ!

Did Duke take it out? Nope. Still there.

http://dnjournal.com/news.htm

With your everything free comment...You can play reductio-ad-absurdum if you want but it's not much of a basis for discussion. It's just silly...I could argue that people should put more ads. Hide more ads. Make every word clickable - it's all about the money...they don't remove any information they just add potential revenue and that's only fair....

Your question:

What's the most important thing you look for in a blog?

I said fewer ads, no embedded/hidden referral links.... What I should perhaps have said is that I look for a information that is delivered without any conflict of interest or without pretext.

JUST IMO - which I write because I often only write other people's opinion

 

[SeniorLiving]

Honestly, many domains blogs don't do a great job covering domains. Most cover domain conferences, industry news, or other items that apply to a small number of domainers. What they don't cover is how to launch a domain and make money or flip domains and make money.

The one exception is Eliotts Blog. His breath of coverage is outstanding and while his depth could garner improvement - it is far superior to anything out there.

For example, his coverage of the launch of DogWalker.com was outstanding. He went into details that didn't give away his competitive advantage, but was useful to people looking to launch their own directory.

 

[Embrand]

Just noticed this thread has some pretty strange Tags :O

 

[DU]

Just noticed this thread has some pretty strange Tags :O

It's not unusual. It's common practice for people to tag with strange tags - especially if there are members of the .TV forum involved. People like to tag them. Not sure when it started. Usually it's just for fun...

Sometimes it gets nasty/defensive. I think it's all fun. People take it too seriously out here sometimes.

 

[dnpimping.com]

I like all of them.

 

[DU]

For he who wrote "weknowitsyoudefaultuser"

As you well know:

I can only put 2 tags.
You can only put 2 tags.
We know we change them.

Could you name the owner of the other two tags ?



I put my long ass waste of time post back at #26 if you're curious enough to read what I wrote. I really don't know why I bother. People think I'm angry. People think I'm on philosophical rants. People think I live my life looking through some bizarre pair of multi-colored spectacles. In most cases I think I just say too much, over analyse everything and just ...well say too much. Most of the time I say what a lot of people think but don't say. I'll try and resist pulling it down again.

I sometimes go back an read what I wrote months ago - I should really register defaultuserisbothered.com and make it like http://www.robertisbothered.com/

 

[mwzd]

What I'd love to be able to do is replicate DNWs media strategy.

$100k / yr in advertising from one site is nothing to be sneezed at.

I think it was the initial marketing, not sure if you can replicate it now, at least in this industry.

 

[DU]

What I'd love to be able to do is replicate DNWs media strategy.

$100k / yr in advertising from one site is nothing to be sneezed at.

I think it was the initial marketing, not sure if you can replicate it now, at least in this industry.

What is the strategy?

Why can't it be replicated? Just money targeted at this segment; a case of once bitten twice shy; or the need for something bigger, better, faster, cheaper?

 

[equity78]

Again. I didn't say NO ads. I said the fewer the better. If you write an article on the 5 best toasters - then by all means use an ad link to the store selling those 5 toasters.

What I don't like is that every time someone writes "domain" it's an affiliate link to GoDaddy.. and "hosting" is a link to hostgator and the link referral is embedded. This is, to me, not transparent enough. I think it's underhanded - this is JUST IMO.

If you are transparent about it I don't care anywhere near as much. So if you write an article about Hosting and you love hostgator... no issues with you writing "I love Hostgator and I use them for my blog" or whatever and providing a referral link. Referral links should be referrals not just embedded covert links. It's an opinion. I don't agree with it as a method to make money when it's not clear that's what is happening.

Again I said:

"There are plenty of methods to create value without resorting to a screen that is 50% ads."

If you think that the future is click ads and referral links then I think you sorely undervalue what is important. That's not innovative and innovation is what makes money in the long run.

One day I'll probably violate all my principles to make some money - but that's beside the point You asked what people looked for.




What I don't like is if I go to a stand that is going to tell me something about the health benefits of Lemonade who then sends me to a Lemonade store and receives commission from them without me knowing. I'm just reduced by them to a schmuck to make a buck from.

If they made their spiel and said - you know, i have an arrangement with the lemonade stand over there.. I'd feel better about it.

Again. It's about integrity. I don't trust anyone who has an opinion about a product if they are being paid to advertise that product UNLESS they are clear about the relationship. It's about honesty.

If someone wants to make a living hocking shit ? That's fine if I want to read a blog with someone trying to make a living hocking shit and that's clear. I'm more likely, however, to go to a site where someone is presenting information I want who might have some advertising links somewhere on it.

My example was Elliot's Blog.. how many effing ads does one blog need? Even competing companies? Come on.. that's just pathetic. What am I supposed to think?




I'm not sure what part of what I said you don't understand. I like the BBC news because for the most part it is more impartial than Fox News. Fox News straight out admits that they aren't liberal and aren't actually strictly conservative - they are whatever their local MARKET wants. Yes. The NEWS targets its market. Is that really where I want to get my information? Blogs are the same. Are you giving information or am I just a market? Ads tell me I'm the latter. Just IMO. There's nothing wrong with that but it's not something that I value. I do value freedom from the annoyances of flashing logos.

In the same way that there is an industry proactively trying to make money from ads there's an industry preventing ads. Ad Blockers are everywhere. It has been PROVEN that technical blogs have lower click thru rate than non-technical blogs - I don't think resistance to ads is unique to me and I don't feel defensive about my decision. I'm not stealing anything from anyone by not clicking on ads.

I don't believe that the race to zero is a positive for any industry. I actually believe the race to zero is TERRIBLE for the consumer in the long run. I think that the news should NOT be free - people have no idea what a proper investigation costs. If we lose that investigate part of the news media we have nothing. People are manipulated enough now without the need for it to get made worse.

The simple fact is that most domainer blogs are full of respun shit with 30 ads for each original thought. Perhaps if people put more effort into imparting information versus selling themselves and their portfolio I'd feel differently. I'd pay for news. I may pay for great original informative content. I won't pay for respun articles. I won't pay for unoriginal thought. Elliot and Shane for example do actually appear to put thought into their posts and I respect that it's why I do sometimes read what they say. Shane in particular appears to be writing from a personal place in terms of ideas and thoughts and I respect that. I still don't like the number of ads. I think Shane is one of the most honest of the domain blogs you have listed and in ways I think he's penalized for it by the "establishment" for not being the one of the original domainers. But I don't think he gives a shit - even though he has this weird aspiration to be one of them..ironic since NOT being one of them is, in my mind, admirable.

Even though I like them -- I still won't ever click on their referrals/ads. It's a choice I make. If this was causing them enough hardship to contemplate not blogging? Be up front, be honest and say so. Personally, I think they're doing fine regardless of what I do or don't do.

I don't actually mind Elliot's Blog - he's less smarmy than most and does the one thing I do value - reponds to comments. I just think it's ads galore. I'd respect him more if he didn't have them all. That said - he does do it nicely - he puts content left, ads right - he doesn't embed ads in the middle of his posts. He's not the worst offender by a mile - just an example.

TheDomains has done it better... small footer ads, one header ad and a few on the side - almost innocuous.

The worst? DNJournal. Has links to scams. I mean really? You want me to think you are a high integrity publication and you have links to :

<Your City>: Mom Makes $6795 Part-Time...
Sponsored Link

There was even a thread on it here at NP by someone thinking it was a legit opportunity BECAUSE it was in DNJ!

Did Duke take it out? Nope. Still there.

http://dnjournal.com/news.htm

With your everything free comment...You can play reductio-ad-absurdum if you want but it's not much of a basis for discussion. It's just silly...I could argue that people should put more ads. Hide more ads. Make every word clickable - it's all about the money...they don't remove any information they just add potential revenue and that's only fair....

Your question:

What's the most important thing you look for in a blog?

I said fewer ads, no embedded/hidden referral links.... What I should perhaps have said is that I look for a information that is delivered without any conflict of interest or without pretext.

JUST IMO - which I write because I often only write other people's opinion

Well John you are taking everything personal and its not a personal stint against you. It is one of my pet peeves and probably argue about it daily or every other day. Since 2004 I have heard oh why are their links ? Or I don't like ads, back then I did not even have anything like a blog or site making money and it drove me crazy. People think things online should be free, everything you have a generation that believes music,video and porn should be free. Its like when a site has to charge for what was free, Homestead years ago,Ning,Xtranormal etc... A bunch of people are like well f you I won't use it, the company is telling you if we don't get paid we are closing down. So you not using it anymore means nothing, its actually a good thing you not using the free site. When I ask what they do for a living and should it be free ? The answer is hell no. And it is good that you would pay for news but you are in the smallest of minorities, it would be nice if more people would. I do believe in pointing out the link if there is a referral, I think you should be upfront its business,the same as any other, website owners and bloggers should announce it, there is a link, I get paid a commission, this is my job, its not a public service or a non profit. I agree with you on Shane, But I will leave it there because this will turn into a never ending thread.

 

[DU]

Well John you are taking everything personal and its not a personal stint against you....was free, Homestead years ago,Ning,Xtranormal etc...

I did and I didn't. I thought specific comments were a dig at me. I think also that I am inconsistent in how I apply rules. I believe that a lot of value should be free and it's dependent on the level of effort and openness. I also believe STRONGLY that a lot of things should NOT be free.

I got in stick for saying that I would not use NP if they charged. Why? Because I would evaluate more against other options. DN Forum maybe? It also changes the dynamic of the forum and I would want to see how that worked. Eventually I would likely come back. If they came up with a way to encourage contributions to ensure survival? That's a different need. Again it's all about communication and transparency.

I'd love to find X users to pay a $1 each to get rid of that horrible ad! I'd contribute a $1 a month. How many more user would I need?


Taking Xtranormal. It's brilliant. Really. So is Go Animate.

I PAID for some characters and some backgrounds. Recently I've been reading that people don't think there's enough variety for free and won't use it. It's a shame because I really think they will fail - and it's TOO GOOD to fail. Their pricing is also fairly reasonable. They are failing in part because their pricing is changing almost randomly. Even you checked out Go Animate probably partially out of curiosity for comparison cost/function. They are very different though. I'm undecided which I prefer. But the pressure on their finances is definitely hurting.

What makes me sad? Discussions on their discussion group about whether the software will continue to work after they fold? Some people want to make sure if they drop $1,000 of credits or use the software they will receive their value. Mostly? People want to use a dead company's stagnant software for free. The REAL HOPE? They'll drop their source code into Public Domain (investment/creditors will ensure that won't happen I believe)

I believe in tiered billing - always have. Non-Commercial use is cheaper than Commercial use. The problem? Is your blog with ads Commercial or Non-Commercial? People abuse. Regular use vs Premium use. It's a hard line though and difficult to implement AND get right.

Xtranormal is in trouble from what I've read. In part their own doing they don't have clear pricing. I've got things I need to pay for twice (State didn't maintain my prior purchases). Some free are now pay only. All changed without notice. I purchased credits that provided me with some things that I now can't get.

Then again.. I have credit at registrars that changed their pricing too. It's not unusual.

LinkedIn is a good example to me. You can benefit from LinkedIn with no bells and whistles; however, if you really want to use it properly you need a paid account. The pricing is too high for ME for what I get - but there are options. The real result is that it provides a little more privacy over the openness of something like Facebook. For some, that extra function is well worth the value/price that is placed on it.

The real issue is that FREEMIUM never took off because people ignored the MIUM. I believe it will end one day because the generation that is creating a lot of the need for free is also the generation that yearns for more than ever before and the ideas are incompatible. The millenials are as a generalized group the most selfish generation (imho) and have been taught by the best (the boomers). The irony is how little they really have to be selfish over because it's almost all vapor-ware and vapor service. The music industry has more music now than ever but it's harder and harder to find. Clue: it's the hard working local bands without the major contract.

The saving grace? The millenial group also contains some of the most tech savvy, culturally savvy people in history. Before people think I'm age biased

Too many start-ups yearn for Billion dollar IPOs on losing business models build on open source licensing. There's a renewed sense of American Dream.. and for 99% it's still the American Fantasy. The crash is going to be hard. Companies are beginning to make successes and headway into a for profit model and it's fundamentally changing the way that access and definition of the internet exists. The news media is my bellwether and DEPENDENT on money/income to function. It's a struggle but I think we're getting there.

Japan has taught us that Twitter/Facebook SUCK AT THE NEWS.

One day I'll be an old man and will have seen the greatest move for freedom of ideas and expression in history. I will also have seen the greatest lock down of those same ideas and expression. It's an AMAZING time to be alive. A lot of this won't make sense because really the idea of "separation of the masses from the masses for the masses" is an idea that requires a book and if I were to write it ? It would be outdated by the time I was done!

Parting shot:

I think DNJ NEEDS TO REMOVE THEIR SCAM Sponsored ADS
I think Shane comes out of this poll looking good which I think is credit to his honesty. Few votes but lots of textual support.

 

[equity78]

I agree on Xtranormal. State is confusing. But yeah the software I am told can be used if Xtranormal is no more. GoAnimate is light years better imo. Clear pricing and you can do a lot more.

 

[DU]

I agree on Xtranormal. State is confusing. But yeah the software I am told can be used if Xtranormal is no more. GoAnimate is light years better imo. Clear pricing and you can do a lot more.

I prefer the dry humor you can get with Xtranormal. GoAnimate seems to make simple scene transitions better. I think State has a lot more to offer than the web version (but it's a HUGE download) of Xtranormal.

The death bell will toll for whichever one I decide is better, I'm sure. I picked Dojo over JQuery... and Dojo's mind share plummeted (it's hanging in though)

 

[DU]

Just a note....

Duke updated the news page on DNJournal with a disclaimer.

Credit where credit is due. It is at least clear now.

 

[equity78]

I contacted him and let him know.

 

[DU]

I contacted him and let him know.

Cool.

I was just reading MorganLinton on his post about a service he discovered and used. He disclosed:

Please note that this is NOT a sponsored post. There are no affiliate links here, I am recommending this service because I use it myself and highly recommend it to other small business owners.

Seems that maybe I was too harsh. It seems that domainers do care what people think.