April 12,
2006
In This Issue:
1. Top 30 or Bust
2. In the News - Whois.sc changes, Domain stats
3. More News Headlines
4. Wrapping It Up
_________________
Top 30 or Bust
I wouldn't file this under "hot news"
or anything like that, but a new study from Jupiter
Research seems to prove what we've all known or
at least suspected for quite some time now.
As reported this week on Search Engine Watch,
the study suggests that your goal, as an online
business owner, is to get your site on the first
three pages of the SERPs. The reason? 90% of users
studied clicked on a listing in the first three
pages of search results; 62% clicked within the
first page. Both of those numbers are higher than
they were in a similar study conducted four years
ago.
So your goal is to be seen on the first three
pages. And keep in mind that it's not just about
the natural / free listings -- you can use Google's
AdWords program or Yahoo Search Marketing to buy
ads that give you visibility on those first three
pages. Here's a link to the full article at SEW:
Searcher
Behavior Research Update
_________________
In The News
Whois.sc becomes DomainTools.com
My favorite domain research tool, whois.sc, has
just changed its name and brand to more accurately
reflect what it really is. The new name is Domain
Tools, which makes sense because the web site
provides a lot more information than just the
domain's WHOIS record. As an example, check out
the owtweb.com listing at Domain Tools:
http://whois.domaintools.com/owtweb.com
You get page info., directory inclusion info.,
server data, and a lot more. Might be worth a
bookmark for your future domain research needs.
Domain Stats
Speaking of domains, a guy named Dennis Forbes
has posted some interesting facts about domain
names on his blog that he uncovered after going
through the entire zone file of all .com domains
currently registered. Of note, all 2-character
and 3-character domains are registered. About
20% of 4-character names are available, but most
are number/letter combos like 7RG8.com and such.
Forbes says that 11 characters is the most popular
length for a domain name, and that S is the most
common first character of a domain name. Want
more? Here's the link:
Interesting
Facts About Domain Names
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
Social
networking is your friend
April 11, 2006 - ClickZ.com
A social networking strategy is not optional.
Five best practices for making social networking
work for you.
This
boring headline is written for Google
April 08, 2006 - News.com
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
Wrapping it Up
That's all for this week. Hope business is treating
you well!
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
The OWT Newsletter is a weekly service
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