BuyDomains.com has just announced a webinar they will be hosting on 11 August 08.  This is a great event to sign up for if you are interested in learning a few tips.  BuyDomains.com experienced staff definitely know what it takes to get small businesses started on the internet.  Should be a very interesting and informative webinar. Listed below are the details I received via their newsletter:

How do the most successful online businesses drive traffic to their site? Name Media’s top domain name experts give you an insider’s look at the proven techniques and strategies you can use to build your brand and grow your business, even on a small budget.

In this 30-minute interactive presentation you’ll learn:

How to Create a Three-Step Action Plan for Success
The Most Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Five Proven Strategies to Build Your BrandAt the end of the session, you’ll have the opportunity to have your specific questions answered. Save the Date! August 11th, 2008 at 2:00 PM

This event is free, but pre-registration is required.

This is a guest post by Scott Roberts, the winner of the GeoDomain Expo Ticket.

I’ve had a few days to gather my thoughts and get back into my daily routine since the GeoDomain Expo in Chicago.  I need to offer a big thank-you to Steve Morales and GeoDomainer.com for offering me the chance to attend. This was my first domain industry conference, and it was overwhelming in a good way.  I’d like to share a few observations from a first-timers point of view.

It was noted at the conference and people have written about it since, but it bears repeating; everyone was helpful, friendly and willing to talk.  I found this out from the moment I arrived.  When I walked into the (very
trendy) W with my bags, I wasn’t sure if I was in a hotel lobby or a nightclub.  My confusion must have shown, and Larry Milton from Branson.com cleared things up for me.  During the show I got to talk with Andrew Alleman, David and Michael Castello, Page Howe and many others I’m forgetting to name.

Dan Pulcrano and several other speakers noted the declining fortunes of the newspaper industry.  Dan in particular mentioned the void in news reporting this might create.  It will be interesting to watch this unfold and see how geo site owners rise to the challenge of being true media properties.

The food was excellent and the speakers were great.  I hadn’t intended on bidding at the auction, but changed my mind when I saw Strongsville.com on the list.  It’s a Cleveland suburb with good demographics. Unfortunately Page decided he wanted it more than I did, but it was still an exciting time.

If I took away one thing from Chicago other than enthusiasm, it was a new respect for the power of a pure geo brand.  That brand imparts a huge amount of credibility and a running start to anyone developing one of these sites. I’m looking forward to the future.

I was going to write a review of the GeoDomain Expo today.  After all, this blog is dedicated to the geo domain industry and it is maybe expected. I thought about this for a while and came to a conclusion. I could give you my perspective of the show, but I think many would think of it as a biased review.  So I have decided that the best review for the GeoDomain Expo is one from those who attended IMO.

This will help others see the true value of this show without anyone thinking of there being a hidden agenda. I am more than sure next year’s event will be an even more memorable event as this industry continues to grow 10 fold. The truth is always in the pudding and I believe the opinions of attendees will deliver the value of the GeoDomain Expo this year in Chicago.  Here are a few comments from a GeoDomainer.com discussion group. I would like to ask those who attended to share their thoughts good or bad on the GeoDomain Expo here as well for historical purposes. This includes those who were sponsors of the event.

Shaun Pilfold

As a veteran of many domain related  shows (17+), I can say this was one of the best shows I have ever  attended. I found the three days of seminars relevant, engaging and thought provoking. Even outside of the seminars, the veteran players in this industry were very open to sharing, discussing and suggesting ideas and concepts that can help anyone that wants to be successful in this industry.

Thanks to all that made this show a joy to attend and has got me pumped to get our team working on some of the many new ideas (too us) that came from the show. It was great to meet many of the established and new players to this wonder that is the Geo space!

Tim Davids

Words can’t describe how cool the show was…meeting everyone and hearing the stories was super motivating…I am pumped up to work by “butt” off developing the domains I have and to get CharlotteAmalie.com up and running and into Associated cities/geos.

“Next year” seems so far away

Jason Mathews

Had an awesome time at the event and it was worth every penny! Getting to meet so many geo domainers face to face was great and people were so open with sharing information. Although I’m new to the industry everyone including even the Castellos and Dan Pulcrano were very receptive and approachable. Like others have said, I too can’t wait for next years event. The decision to attend this event was probably one of the best professional decisions I’ve made in my life.

One pearl of wisdom I took away is that you have to build your geo domain to fulfill the needs of that particular community but you should also not be afraid to add a part of your personal touch/personality. And you gotta have passion for the geo you are developing if you want to really unlock the full potential.

My only regret is that I didn’t get to meet everyone at the event, so many geodomainers, so little time! Definitely, need an event directory next time.

PS the W was a great location too, great food and atmosphere

Kevin M.

My take on this event is that it was absolutely great!! I totally enjoyed this show, and felt it was a great networking experience. Everyone there was so friendly, approachable, and outright supportive to each other! There was no ‘cast system’ of attendees. There was so much positive energy there, and such a camaraderie amoungst all. Very glad I went.

Mike, thanks for the great hospitality, openness, knowledge etc., you, your brother and everyone shared with us all. (Hope you slept better the last two nites there!) Steve, thanks to you too for your friendship and efforts on this making the show a great experience!

Brian Null

1) It was a very good conference

2) Michael, it was nice to finally meet you

3) What some of us ‘new kids’ noticed is that folks in the Geo Domain space are very willing to share information on how they approach business development on their properties. As someone relatively new to the Geo space, it is greatly appreciated.

Niko Younts

There is no question in my mind it was worth the money, time, energy and travel. This particular Expo was *very well organized and I wish I would’ve had more time during the days to network.

The city of Chicago, and the “W” was a great combo, setting the stage for a memorable weekend.

Of course with good news–always comes some bad.

Although my hat goes off to EACH and EVERY successful pioneer, investor, developer etc, within the GEO .COM space, the EXPO was 1000% geared specifically toward .com ownership and development. The term “Geo” from “Thurs-Sat” meant “.COM”, at least in Chicago.

Geo owners from around the world who attended (in my opinion)–were silenced, many of which whom share the same beliefs as myself–who were discouraged by the lack of alternative discussions. The .de, .ca, .TV, .net owners were basically along for the ride–without a voice.

The best “technology” award was given to the wrong party. Although Boston.TV was not present, there is NO QUESTION–they deserve this award. Many and most .com GEO domains have NO video at all, let alone a world-class video-driven multi-media platform. 57% of the USA watches video online, and more importantly it is a 10 BILLION dollar industry that for some odd reason, people are ignoring. LX.TV sells for $10+ million–and more BILLION dollar companies embrace and develop GEO .TV domains, and yet, NOT ONE SINGLE word of the DOT TV space was ever mentioned.

Instances like this–where no answer will suffice, proves hidden agendas across the board. Surely you can continue being successful with long pages of text, static ads and selling on historical traffic reports, but the reality is–things change and with time, education and development, everyone in that room will have wished they would’ve been more proactive and had a little less “tunnel vision”.

The largest misperception on the planet earth–is that in order to be successful you NEED the .com version. This couldn’t be further from the reality, especially with GEO domains, and moreso with .TV.

This IS BY NO MEANS a personal attack on anyone–and I actually enjoyed EVERY single person at the EXPO. I have NOTHING against anyone in particular, just trying to establish a “reasonable ground” of REALITY.

GeoDomainer.com continues to grow daily and has reached 210 members. We launched the site in early May and it appears that many users are starting to use the site as part of their daily routines. There is action on the site every few hours, which is outstanding. One major issue we have with the site is the failure of members updating their photo and profiles. Although, the last 2 days, we have seen several of new photos uploaded.

It is going to take some time before we can help members understand how important it is to show who they are and to update their profiles accordingly. The members who have done everything in accordance with the guidelines, have received 10 times more interaction from other members. Perhaps a group should be started by members to discuss the impact of having a professional profile on GeoDomainer.com.

I am really interested in hearing some opinions on how we can educate members on the importance of social communication on GeoDomainer.com.

Chicago is a beautiful city to visit. If you have not visited Chicago, you must! I really enjoyed the city nightlife and the beautiful skyscrapers, sculptures, Lake Michigan Views, and the atmosphere. I went on a great boat tour of the city with Tom Nguyen (Owner of Bellevue.com) on Sunday and had a great lunch at Bennigan’s. It was the perfect way to end the hectic week.

So, I am back to the grind and blogging again. I have several of articles to come on the Expo and perspectives of many who attended. The GeoDomain Expo painted a clear picture how important the Geo Network we are building is going to be for geodomainers, past, present and future. It was very exciting to see how many people support what we are doing for the geo domain industry. In the end, it is all about building platforms that assist users with reaching new levels of success. Most importantly, the Geo Network will continue to build a unified front of professionals that does not currently exist in the domain industry for the most part. When this game plan started evolving over 7 months ago, it was all based off of a strong gut feeling and analyzing market trends on the internet.  I am definitely glad that we were right about the gamble.

There have been a variety of blog posts about the events that took place at the GeoDomain Expo. All of them are outstanding with great perspective. I will outline a few things soon enough. The bottom line upfront is that the GeoDomain Expo was a great event that delivered quality content, a non-hostile environment, a wealth of knowledge, and an abundance of inspiration/motivation and new friendships. The Folks at AC did a great job putting it together on short notice.  I have no doubt that the next GeoDomain Expo will see exponential growth.

I would like to say that I had the pleasure of meeting many readers of the blog. It was quite funny how things turned out on the first day at the cocktail party. Everyone was coming up to me and saying Hi Steve, you don’t know me, but I know you. A little overwhelming at times, but very much appreciated to be accepted and respected by so many professionals. I am thankful for having the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I am very honored that so many of you enjoy reading my thoughts on this blog. We are working on several of projects behind the scenes that will surely be welcomed to the market.  Stay tuned!

Thank you for your continued support.

(Source:DNJournal.com)

Ron Jackson from DNJournal.com has just released this month’s cover story, Skip Hoagland. The interview is an outstanding read and full of great information. If you truly want to understand how to manage your time and build your empire efficiently, then this is a must read.

Skip covers his secret strategies to his success. Along the way, he mentions key people who have assisted him in this journey. It not very often you find a successful person who is willing to put the spot light on others, rather than themselves. Skip is an all around sound businessman and a great friend that few have had the pleasure of calling a friend.

Ron has done a great job with this story and I hope that all of you enjoy reading the article and are able to apply a few strategies to building your domaining empires.

On a different note, I have been out of the loop for the past week. I have an enormous family emergency going on and it will last for the next couple of months. Please understand that I will not be posting as often as I would like. My priorities are to take care of the home front, then move forward. Look forward to seeing everyone at the Geo Expo this week. It is going to be a welcomed break for me, with the current stress level.

Thank you for your continued support.

Tim Davids from GeoOwners.com, has taken the time to put together this very informative Guest Post for those traveling to Chicago for the AssociatedCities.com GeoDomain Expo.

Here’s a few tips for those attending the Geo Expo 2008 Chicago from someone thats been within 50 miles of the city all my life…

This in no way covers the city of Chicago but since most of you will be on limited time and possibly limited money these tips will get you a decent impression of downtown Chicago:

Dont miss Navy Pier. (navypier.com) If you only go 1 place outside of the hotel Navy pier gives you the best street-level view of the city especially at night. Make sure to go all the way out to the end where you’ll find some city/pier trivia and some great props for picture taking like old achors from large ships and such. Navy pier also has some boat trips that begin there, there are others on the river at Michigan avenue…be sure to take one that includes the river, this gives some great alongside views of the skyscrapers.

If you have the need for speed there is a high speed racing boat ride at the pier too http://www.seadogcruises.com. Never did it but looks cool.

Also at navy pier is the east most point of the river-taxi boats…yes Chicago has “boat taxis” that go from the pier down the river to Sears tower…where else in the States can you get a water taxi? Last I checked it was about $7 to go the whole distance (about the same as a “real” taxi.) This also goes right past many skyscraper landmark buildings and is a steal for the money.

Speaking of sears tower, if you’ve never been up in a tall building thats were you want to go…the skydeck is also a Chicago history museum on the inner walls…

Here’s my favorite tip…if your going out for drinks at night away from the hotel go to the 96th floor of the John Hancock building http://www.signatureroom.com/. Just ask anyone and they can point you there. For the price of drinks, which you’d be spending anyway, you get an all around view of the city from 96 floors up…prolly the best deal in town to be honest. There is also a great restaurant 1 floor down but the lounge on the 96th has views from every chair.

If money is no object, Donald Trumps new building is open on the lower levels and is easy walking distance from the W hotel. The lounge there http://www.trumpchicagohotel.com/Food_Wine/rebar.asp also has a great view which focuses on the river.

The other must do is a walk down Michigan avenue. It’s the defining area of the center of the city known as the “loop”. The high end shops are there and some nice cafe’s and restaurants…TIP, if you’ve never been inside an Apple computer store there is one on Michigan ave. It’s very cool and is a business lesson in itself…and the staircase is so unique Steve Jobs has a patent on it! Warning: July 11 the new iphone comes out so I’d stay away that day:)

Last but not least Grant park is due East of the W hotel and is worth a walk into…Buckingham fountain at the center is awesome especially at night with the lights on…this also puts you a few yards away from the lake which you’d like to see if you dont live near water.

That is a very small but inexpensive way to get a quick idea what Chicago is all about…enjoy and I’ll see you there!