When I first wrote about Domain Cash Parking, I wasn’t quite sure how it all worked. But, ever since then, I experimented with various domain cash parking services like Sedo and GoDaddy, as well as Chitika’s domain cash parking service. And, so far, I must say that I haven’t really seen any benefits from this practice. There must be more to it than what I’m doing, though. So, I decided to give it another go.

When I saw that Google Adsense is now offering the Google Adsense for Domains service, I immediately decided to sign-up a couple of my undeveloped domains. Since it comes free with my existing Adsense account, I thought, why not?

These are the basic steps that you need to take to get your domains on to the Google Adsense for Domains service:

1. Sign in to your existing Adsense account (or start one if you haven’t got one yet).

2. Go to ‘Get Ads’ tab and select ‘Adsense for Domains’ in the list of services.

3. Click on ‘Add domain’ and follow the instructions that Adsense will give you.

4. Instructions include signing in to your domain registrar and making changes to the account information. Adsense provides detailed information on how to do this with most popular registrars.

5. Once you’ve set-up your domain according to Adsense’s specifications, wait until it gets approved.

6. When your domain’s approved, you can then edit some of its settings (palette and keywords).

7. Wait for the money to roll in! (or not! )

I’m curious to see if domain cash parking with Google will be different. I’ll have to see and let you know.

What about you? Have you tried domain cash parking just yet? Have you looked in to Google Adsense for Domains? If you have, do let us know what you think of it!

Here’s a sample domain on the Google Adsense for Domains service.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Google Adsense for Domains

Remember the .ME landrush? Well, that’s all done now and tomorrow, the auctions will begin. Yes, it looks like there were several people who became interested in similar domains, so now GoDaddy’s going to auction the popular domains off.

I reserved 5 during the landrush. And, all are going on auction. I’ve decided not to bid on them.

Why?

Well, 3 reasons:

1) At $49.99/year, those domains are already too expensive for me to maintain.

2) GoDaddy made it a bit difficult to participate in the auction, having to come up with different logins and all that; and

3) The whole domain auction thing just doesn’t suit me.

So, chances are, I’ll lose those domains. That’s fine with me. I’m just looking forward to getting my initial deposit back and investing the money elsewhere.

I’m curious to see, however, if any of these domains will eventually take off and make money for those who end up investing in and owning them.

What do you think? Did you buy some .ME domains? Are they going on auction? Are you planning on participating in the auction?

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Why .ME isn’t going to be for me.

One of the things I’ve started to learn more about lately is domain cash parking. And, ever since I blogged about it, I realised that it’s a subject that a lot of people want to learn more about. But, other than the usual suspects with domain cash parking services (Sedo, Godaddy, etc), I wanted to find out other options.

A few days ago, I found out that Chitika offers a similar product/service, wherein you can redirect your domain name to a pre-made Chitika shop site. If you already have a Chitika account and an available domain name, you simply choose that service on your Chitika account management area. Then, you input your domain name and your chosen keywords. It will then generate a shop site. You then update your domain’s nameservers to point to Chitika’s nameservers. If you have some domain names that you’re not using, this might be worth exploring.

To see this in action, check out Crafty Toys.

Have you tried using this yet? Let me know what you think of it!

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

DIY Domain Cash Parking on Chitika

There’s a new domain extension in town! Yes, the extension .ME has arrived recently.

New extensions don’t usually excite me, since I’m mostly a .com kind of domain purchaser. And, I’ve only experimented with .net, .tv, .info, and .biz before. I generally avoid purchasing alternative domain extensions.

However, today, I’ve decided to give .ME a big go. Yes, even though at the moment, it costs a whopping US$49.99/year to register a .ME domain (w/minimum of 2 years per registration) at GoDaddy.

During this time called a ‘landrush’, anyone may apply for the domains. After the landrush, domain names that are requested by one or more individuals will be auctioned off between those who made the request. The landrush ends on 26 June 2008.

I’m not sure if it’ll pay off, but I ended up with 5 new .ME properties today (pending approval). Actually, I had 10 that I really liked. But, shelling US$1,000 was out of the question at this stage for me. So, I cut my choices in half.

Now, how do I make money off these properties? Well, I have to wait and see. But, I’ll keep you posted.

How about you? Ready to jump in to the domain pool with .ME properties too? Do you think it’s worth investing in? Do you believe it’ll take off?

Some domain names that I checked that were already gone/unavailable include: Teach.Me, Bite.Me, Buy.Me, Money.Me, Feed.Me, and Give.Me.

Also See:

• Top 5 Things To Consider When Getting a New Domain Name
• Poll Results: How Many Domain Names Do You Own?
• Open Mic: Domain Name Registrars
• Domain Cash Parking

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Will You Invest in .ME?

This is part of the A-Z of Making Money Online series. This series covers the various ways of making money online, in alphabetical order.

Day Trading – If you’re so inclined to go this online money making route, then be prepared for a steep learning curve.

DealDotCom – A service for people who wish to offer their products or services to affiliates and/or for folks looking for affiliate programs to make money from.

Digital Cameras – If you’re interested in photography, then you might want to consider making money in this area of interest. There are many ways you can do this – from offering free photos to selling stock photos.

Digital Employment – Looking for jobs online.

Direct Advertising – If you have a website or weblog, one way you can make money from it is through selling ad space directly to advertisers. Also see: 3 Reasons Why Direct Advertisers Ignore Your Blog

DoMyStuff – Getting paid to run errands online.

Domain buying and selling – This is a tough area to get in to. But, some people are still making money from buying domain names and re-selling them for a profit. If you want to get in to this, you might want to read the different things you need to consider when buying a domain name.

Domain Cash Parking – This is one popular way to make money online – by buying domain names and parking them with cash parking services.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

D is for…

So, you want to buy some new domains. It may seem simple enough to choose one that you like and go. But, some folks take some basic things in to consideration when purchasing one:

• Branded vs Keyword-Rich – It’s always tricky to figure out whether to get a domain name that can be branded (e.g. Dosh Dosh) or one that’s keyword-rich (Just Make Money Online). There are pros and cons to using either one. Branded domains can be remembered and can be shorter. But, some folks may not know exactly what it’s all about at first glance. Keyword-rich domains tell folks immediately what the topic of the blog or site is going to be. But, it can become a mouthful – and a bit generic.
• .com vs .net vs. others – Which one do you go for? Most folks say that having a .com is still the best way to go. Most people think of websites as .coms still. But, there are still non-.com-sites that have also gained huge popularity, like Problogger.net (incidentally, Darren ended up purchasing the .com version too).
• With or without hyphens? – There are different points of view when it comes to this issue. Is it better to get just-make-money-online.com or justmakemoneyonline.com? To me, it depends. If it’ll visually help to separate the words (or the alternatives are not available), then I think hyphens are okay. As long as it doesn’t become too long. Digital-Photography-School.com is an example of a blog site that uses hyphens.
• How long is too long? – When it comes to domain names, the shorter it is, the better. But, most good short domains have already been taken. So, it’s not always possible to get them. Besides, long domains can still be usable, as long as they’re not too long – and there aren’t a lot of opportunities to make spelling/reading mistakes.
• To localise or not to localise? – You know those domain names that have .uk (for Britain), .au (for Australia), etc.? Is it good to get them? If you think you’re going to serve primarily local audience, yes. Otherwise, if you’re trying to serve a more global market, then you’re still better off with a .com. Unless you want to have a more local feel (e.g., you’re a Philippine merchant wishing to sell local goods overseas, but your goods are primarily Philippine items, then a .ph still sounds good).

Do you have any other domain name tips and ideas?

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Top 5 Things To Consider When Getting a New Domain Name