Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

The sales pitch letter I usually send to an end-user and how you can make it more effective

Hello everyone,

I was surprised to see no comments on my previous post. It seems none of my readers have ever used those domain registrars 😉

I was talking to one of my friend Julian Moritz who lives in Germany about domain names. He showed me the template message he normally use for sending to endusers. This gave me an idea to share my sales pitch letter with you all.

Normally I use the following as subject line:

Subject: AbdulBasit.com domain

And message goes like this:

“Hello,

We own the domain name AbdulBasit.com. We thought your company AbdulBasit.net might take an interest in buying it.

If you are interested, feel free to email us back by making reasonable offer.

Thanks and best regards
AbdulBasit Makrani”

I normally include phone/email ID/website URL under signature which you can do it as well. That’s an option thing but looks more authoritative.

I have used numerous sales letters in the past but after carefully reviewing each of them about the response rate I found this is the best so far. Now I will tell you how you can make your letter more effective.

First, you need to write short, to the point which must give clear message to the reader what are you trying to explain. Because no one has enough time to read the big story.

Secondly, try to avoid using free email addresses like hotmail, yahoo, gmail accounts. Normally I use @AbdulBasit.com for sending emails. There are two things when I say to avoid using free email address. First, this doesn’t give good look. Secondly, when I use the email @AbdulBasit.com I always keep my domains under the same domain so the enduser in case checking the WHOIS will know that I am the legitimate owner of the domain I am offering to him. For more details about the second reason you can read my article written in past – Use same email address in WHOIS and for sending emails to end-users

Third, try sending the email one by one. I know it’s time consuming but very effective. This will lead your email directly into the inbox of recipient.

Fourth, always change the domain of the company you are contacting. Give a look once again at the sales letter above where I mentioned your company AbdulBasit.net. Sending next email if the company’s URL is AbdulBasit123.com I will use AbdulBasit123.com because many times we see the company has hundreds and thousands of domains and if you are trying to sell AbdulBasit.com to that company would be difficult for them to recognize which domain you are actually targeting.

This will also ensure the email will reach the inbox of recipient because the sales letter is changed every time you compose new message. Sometimes the filter recognizes the same message being sent over and over with no changes which results in getting your message delivered in their spam/junk box.

If you have missed reading my earlier post where I discussed about Best time and days of the week to send an email to end-user than please read out. It is relevant with this post and will help you to send your letter on perfect time.

As always I am happy to hear comments, criticism, etc. Also feel free to share your sales pitch letter you normally send to end-users.

My reviews about some domain registrars

Hello everyone,

Over the years I have used several registrars Like GoDaddy.com, Name.com, Internet.bs, DomainMonster.com, NameCheap.com, Hexonet.net and I would like to share my reviews and personal experience with you.

GoDaddy.comMy first registrar was GoDaddy.com when my father introduced me about domain names. He created an account for me and the year was 2004. For next couple of years I bought few domains but never knew about coupon codes. Eventually I came to know through Namepros while surfing and reading more about domain names. I found GoDaddy Discount Codes with lot of coupon codes people offering for free. To date I can confirm I have saved thousands of dollars. Their interface was quite slow to react but this year I find it easy to navigate and the page opens quickly compare to some previous years. Their phone support is great but mostly the email support team’s response is filled with canned template messages. You need to be aggressive in your next email to get proper and better response 😉

The only thing I got dissatisfied with GoDaddy since I have joined them was the 60 days lock period for the newly domain transferred at GoDaddy.com. For more information you can read an article I wrote some time back. After I posted this my dear friend Jason Thompson wrote and article which is very helpful for those who are still unaware of getting rid of 60 days lock period which can be unlocked within a day! I came to knew and have bookmarked this article of Jason. Although I got one deal cancelled and lesson learned.

Transferring out of GoDaddy is quickly done if it’s not locked under 60 days lock period. You don’t need to wait for the next 5 days to complete outgoing transfer. Simply quick push the domain and it will be transferred away in minutes! I like it because sometimes the buyer needs the domain at their preferred registrar so if the transfer is done swiftly you can get the money much faster.

I would recommend them and rate them my best registrar I have ever used in past many years.

Name.com

Name.comI started using Name.com mainly for registering .IM domain names. They were having special offers ongoing for new .IM domains. I bought several through them but in coming years the price was increased and I had to move out of there to a better place which can offer lower price. I also used Name.com for backordering .CC and .CO domains. Although they were not able to catch any good domain for me. However, I like their backordering system of taking one backorder per person and no auctioning between two or more parties.

The only thing I didn’t like about their backordering system was they charged the backordering fee in advance. So let’s say you wanted to backorder 10 .cc domains you are required to pay $49.95 x 10 = $499.5 – This is not a small amount. The best thing is to enter your CC details with them for backordering domain and they can charge once the domain is successfully grabbed by Name.com.

I have moved away all my domains from Name.com to GoDaddy so currently don’t have any domains with them. Also I am currently not using their backordering service because my focus from the beginning of this year is solely on .com/.net/.org domains and Name.com isn’t good at all for grabbing these. They are good at catching .cc, .tv, .co domains. Possibly fewer more ccTLDs but I am not aware of that yet.

You can easily get the authorization code when you need to transfer out your domains. It’s hassle free.

Internet.bs

Internet.bsI was trying to recall why I started using them. If I remember correctly I first transferred my domains to Internet.bs because they were having offer on .com/.net domains. Their renewals were a bit higher than GoDaddy but transfer fee was quite low compare to GoDaddy (my preferred registrar). I moved several .com/.net domains to them for a year.

I was using a different email address with them so all the notification would come there. Unfortunately when the time came for renewal they usually sent me reminders but my bad luck I wasn’t actively checking the mailbox regularly and somehow lost ALL my domains which I transferred to them one year back. Some of those domains were important ones which I could have easily hold for some years just to find the right end-users. Right now all those domains which were dropped (by mistake) are already grabbed by different people.

One of the nice things I like about them was live chat. Whenever I needed any assistance which I required several times when I newly joined them and I got them online all the time. I am not sure if their chat service is for 24 hours or not but I always found them online and actively helped me all the time. Easy to get authorization code for transferring out your domains. Never had any issues with them at any stage.

Not a bad registrar at all if the price are good enough. Although their prices are good but I am talking from domainers perspective.

DomainMonster.com

DomainMonster.com reviewWhile searching on Google I found new registrar offering backordering service for .cc domains. Until I registered with DomainMonster I wasn’t knowing any service who was catching .cc domains and I was actually very happy using their backordering service. I went ahead and backordered hundreds of .cc domains. I like their system because while creating an account with them you must enter cc detail and later you may add unlimited number of domains under your backordering list. You could even send them huge list and they will add manually. They have actually done for me. Thanks to them.

So once they are successful in catching your domain they would charge your card. Before their backordering fee for .cc domain was $19.99 + domain reigistration fee. The time I use to add backorders it went so high up to $49.99 for single .cc successful backorder. I was still happy because they caught some decent .cc domains like Asia.cc, 4U.cc.

Later when .CO was launched I asked them to start .CO backordering service and they started before the first anniversary of .CO domains. I compiled a big list of .CO domains and sent them to add under my account. They were successful in catching some .CO domains for me. I am sure I was the first one to add all those .CO domain backorders because whatever name I gave was added. I am sure because it was on first come first serve basis and no one knew about .CO backordering service. Later Name.com and many other opened this service and it was tough competition for DomainMonster to grab lately…

Overall, it was great experience with them backordering domains with them and eventually I had to stop because I shifted my focus towards .com/.net/.org domains only. Currently I have around 30 .IM domains all registered through DomainMonster because I find they are the offering .IM domains at best possible rates which no one is offering right now.

Their support was great in the past and we used to get response very quickly but these days it take some time. May be their customer numbers have gone high but they should maintain what they used to be.

One thing I just dislike is their control panel. You have no option to bulk edit your domains. In my opinion there are few other things which they must address and improve them under user’s control panel. Although I have asked them to offer bulk edit option for domains I think more than a couple of years back and their response was quick and seemed positive but no changes yet!

NameCheap.com

NameCheap.com reviewI was reading about them from long time but there has to be something which can force me create an account with any new registrar. I think three years back NameCheap came up with $1 .com/.net domain transfer offer up to 10 domains can be transferred in one account. I was surprised to see this offer and immediately created an account.

I first contacted them through live chat and asked if I can transfer 30 domains to NameCheap by creating another 2 accounts. They gave me green signal and that made me happy. I went ahead and transferred 30 domains into 3 accounts for roughly $30. When the renewal time came I started transferring out back to GoDaddy from where I earlier transferred to NameCheap. There came the trouble….

When I started unlocking the names and tried to get authorization code, it didn’t work at GoDaddy and failed for most of the domains. I was able to transfer only few but rest stayed there. I immediately contacted them and asked to generate new auth code. They said it will take 1-2 days for you to receive it. I got within a day and transfer process went smoothly with no other issues in between. I didn’t understand why some auth codes didn’t work out previously and later when the new auth code was provided it worked…

Overall, my experience with NameCheap.com was great. I still have my account with them and uses it occasionally.

Hexonet.net

Hexonet.net reviewLast but not least. Here comes the Hexonet which I promised myself not to use them ever again. I have written specifically about them in past which you can read here. So there isn’t much about them to share with you. I stand still on my promise even after 3 years for not using them. I just don’t like them. I am sure I can write a lot more about them but that makes me feel very bad and I don’t want to ruin my mood at all 😉

At the end I would like to ask about your experiences with your registrars. Also feel free to comment your views about my experience.

Parking revenue at InternetTraffic.com aka DomainNameSales.com for April 2013

Parking revenue at InternetTraffic.com aka DomainNameSales.com for April 2013

Hello everyone,

As I mentioned in previous month’s parking revenue that I am hoping to have a better April in terms of PPC earnings. I was dead right. There was lot of improvement compare to the previous month. Well, I made somewhat near to US$350 but didn’t hit this mark. Also the best day was 30th April where I made US$20 in one complete day for all my domain names.

I added may be 5-10 new domains every month with DomainNameSales.com so the earnings reflect accordingly. Although my intentions are not to buy domains solely for PPC purpose. I am more inclined towards selling my domains to end-users. But until the domain is not sold, it’s been parked with DNS platform and makes additional revenue which is a great thing.

Overall, I would say I am satisfied with how it’s going and hope to have better month next time 😉

Your feedback is welcome 🙂 Also how was your month (April) in terms of PPC revenue?

Wonder story about Sindbad Wonderland

Hello everyone,

I haven’t posted since few days and after my comeback today I wanted to share something really interesting with you all. Here in Karachi there is a Dolmen Mall and inside there is a play area for all ages named Sindbad Wonderland. All games under that play area and anywhere in our country are played with coins; the old system. But recently they came up with card system which we need to load and swipe it before the ride/games start.

It’s necessary to purchase the card before we can play any game so when I went with my family there for the first time I needed to buy one and load it. I had to give you some background about Sindbad Wonderland above before I tell you something really funny about them.

Below you can see my Sindbad Wonderland card both front and backside:Sindbad-Wonderland-card-front-side

Sindbad-Wonderland-card-back-side

When I got home I read this card and found they have website address mentioned on it and that too in bold. I decided to check and see what was developed. To my surprising I found the domain was available!! I registered it and put on parking and it gets few visitors daily. After checking this domain through Archive.org I found it was owned by them but somehow they let it go. Now this is not something new for me because I can sometimes find an ad in magazine/newspaper and can see the website address but again that is available to register.

If you check their about page on Facebook you will see the URL is also the same. Thanks to them for promoting my domain 😉

I will share something like this in my coming posts so stay tuned and don’t forget to post your comments on this funny story 😀 Also if you had any experience like this before just feel free to share 🙂

Parking revenue at InternetTraffic aka DomainNameSales.com for March 2013

Parking-revenue-at-InternetTraffic-aka-DomainNameSales.com-for-March-2013As I mentioned in my previous month’s parking revenue which was quite low and I was hoping to reach once again US$300 mark this month (March) but unfortunately didn’t reach it. But somehow managed to get very close towards US$300. I am planning to add some more domains with IT/DNS this month so that I can make sure I reach US$300 in April.

One of my friend Mohammed Zaki Ahmed informed me that it’s spring and holiday season in U.S due to which there will be minimal competition among advertisers. That clears my doubt because I added few more domains but the revenue didn’t go up. One thing I noticed overall that traffic didn’t went down and was surely better than previous month because very few domains in March but the only thing which went down was $$$.

Once again my highest revenue making domain was from technology niche.

Did you see any ups and down in parking revenue? How March 2013 turned out for you? For me it was a better month compare to previous month (February 2013).