I spoke with Art from Bido and he gave me clearance to go ahead and post up the live chat transcript from yesterday’s live domain name auction where I answered questions in their live chat room.
Read through some of the interesting discussion below about keyword domain names, finding type in traffic domains, and more.
Here is the chat transcript in it’s entirety:
[13:01] Jarred: Welcome to Bido
[13:01] Joel Ohman: Thank you very much for having me!
[13:02] Jarred: Thanks for being our special guest today Joel
[13:02] Jarred: @Joel, what is your background?
[13:04] Joel Ohman: I originally started out in the finance space as a CFP (I still am although I don’t currently take clients) and then began to do some web work on our the health insurance agency website that I own
[13:04] Joel Ohman: from there that morphed into more SEO
[13:04] Jarred: CFP as in certified financial planner
[13:04] Joel Ohman: all for in house websites that I own
[13:04] Joel Ohman: yes
[13:05] Jarred: thats fantastic so you enjoy helping people and make money at the same time
[13:05] Joel Ohman: and then the SEO turned into more of a domaining type angle as I realized the value that a domain name can have on not only your ranking but on your long term sustainable value
[13:05] Jarred: and then moved from that to in house stuff
[13:05] Jarred: @Joel when exactly was that when you started domaining?
[13:06] Joel Ohman: yes, I currently own 4 companies with 1 being the health insurance agency, 2 being companies that hold portfolios of domain names, and the 4th being a new domaining tools site at http://www.DomainSuperstar.com
[13:06] Joel Ohman: I started domaining probably almost 2 years ago
[13:07] Joel Ohman: although before that I was maybe a domainer but didnt know it as I owned various domains but all I thought about was SEO really
[13:08] Jarred: were you going straight for premium and aftermarket domains or still able to get hand regs at the time, or both?
[13:09] Joel Ohman: I tend to do a mixture of both: I am able to find a lot of nice hand registrations that I really just can’t pass up when I use the type-in traffic finder and some of the other tools on my site but my main focus is premium insurance .com domains
[13:09] Joel Ohman: I love insurance .com domains and really almost any other finance .com domain
[13:10] Joel Ohman: although I have domains in every niche available both developed and waiting to be developed
[13:10] Joel Ohman: anything from hypnosis to heartburn
[13:10] Jarred: @Joel when did you start DomainSuperstar.com and can you tell us a little more about it?
[13:10] Jarred: wow thats great
[13:10] Bido: Today’s special guest is Joel Ohman of DomainSuperstar.com
[13:11] Joel Ohman: DomainSuperstar.com is a fairly recent site that was developed by my partner John and I
[13:11] Friend: Joel Ohman, You mentioned two domain portfolio companies you have ownership in. Do these companies strictly buy domains, develop domains, sell domains, flip domains, or just sit on them for long term investment?
[13:11] Joel Ohman: the really cool thing about DomainSuperstar.com is that a lot of the domain finding tools use real time data from Google, Yahoo, MSN, Alexa, etc to help find domains
[13:12] Bido: Yes, @Joel what is your domain strategy, and are you more of a buyer, seller, or holder of domains?
[13:12] Joel Ohman: the 2 domain portfolio companies I own buy domains in order to develop them
[13:12] Joel Ohman: so monetization and cash flow is what we are all about
[13:12] Joel Ohman: of course, although selling is not a goal - everyone has a price no matter what they say
[13:13] Friend: Is that price usually market value or much higher? Also do you base your sale prices off revenue?
[13:13] Jarred: what type of domains do you actively seek to acquire?
[13:14] Joel Ohman: in light of today’s auction with the geo domain knoxlanding.com I also wanted to point out quick that we just released a new tool at DomainSuperstar.com that is a Google Maps mashup that will find geo domain names
[13:14] Jarred: that sounds fantastic
[13:14] Joel Ohman: we don’t actively list domains for sale so I don’t necessarily offer a price to anyone but from time to time I am approached with offers to buy some of my established domains that are developed into websites and I will entertain offers
[13:15] Jarred: whats your typical response?
[13:15] Joel Ohman: I actively seek to acquire auto insurance, health insurance, life insurance, homeowners insurance, and long term care insurance exact match keyword only .com domains
[13:16] Jarred: very lucrative industries. Have you been able to pick up some deals now with the state of the economy?
[13:16] Joel Ohman: my typical response is to first get them to make a solid offer because a lot of the time it will be people that aren’t maybe qualified or serious enough in the first place
[13:16] Joel Ohman: absolutely, I firmly believe that now is a fantastic time to pick up domains for very cheap that can be monetized quickly
[13:17] Jarred: you mean you wont accept $5? j/k
[13:17] Joel Ohman: maybe not flipped quickly but i you know what you are doing as far as monetizing a domain name then you can have a lot of success
[13:17] Jarred: do you have some strategy to make it easy for people who are interested in buying your domains to locate and contact you?
[13:17] Joel Ohman: that is kind of the goal behind some of our new website development tutorial videos for premium members at DomainSuperstar.com
[13:18] Jarred: Joel approx how many domains do you have in your portfolio?
[13:18] Joel Ohman: most of my domains are built out and developed into functioning websites so I don’t like to have a specific area for people who are interested in buying the domain but of course there is a functioning contact form on each site
[13:19] Joel Ohman: I have around a thousand domains in total
[13:19] Jarred: thats great, do you also use whois as a tool to find buyers?
[13:19] Jarred: some companies are marketing their domains in the whois output, how do you feel about that, is it a good strategy?
[13:19] Joel Ohman: I never look for buyers as my main goal is not to sell a website but rather to buy a website that I think I can monetize
[13:20] Joel Ohman: marketing your domain via your who is records is not a bad idea,
[13:20] Jarred: very good strategy
[13:20] Joel Ohman: I have seen that done and it is probably worth the effort if selling the domain is your goal
[13:21] Jarred: @Joel why should someone join DomainSuperstar?
[13:21] Joel Ohman: all of our tools are free but premium members have access to all of the premium features for each of the tools as well as access to all premium content like the website tutorial videos I mentioned earlier
[13:22] Jarred: Jeff1, AlmightyNinja, SAnon, hi
[13:22] Jarred: Carter, AlexIn, gentlesavage, hello
[13:22] Jarred: cvm3654, Ty_, DomainBits, welcome back
[13:22] Joel Ohman: for example, one of our very popular tools is the type in traffic finder that uses real time data from the Google Keyword Tool to find exact match keyword domain names
[13:22] Jarred: Friend, theoretical, tldagent, hello
[13:22] Jarred: Art, protuberance, Sahar, hi 
[13:22] Carter: Hi Jarred
[13:23] Joel Ohman: free members get access to search for .com’s on a limited basis while premium members get unlimited access and also the ability to search for additional tld’s
[13:23] theoretical: what kind of numbers do you like to see before you hand reg a name?
[13:23] Art: hello
[13:24] Joel Ohman: it all depends on the niche of the domain but generally speaking I like to see at a bare minimum a CPC of at least $1 and average exact match searches of at least 500
[13:24] Jarred: so the output of the tool makes it easy to spot a gem?
[13:24] Joel Ohman: even then I pass on A LOT
[13:24] Jarred: do you feel that domain tasting has made it harder to mine nowadays?
[13:25] Joel Ohman: yes, with the type in traffic finder if you type in say “home loans” then it will return all of the related keywords from the Google tool and then check the availability of the domains for all of those related keywords
[13:26] Joel Ohman: so what I like to do is start out broad and then go more narrow by re-seeding the tool with some of the more specific related keywords
[13:26] Joel Ohman: the cool thing is that the tool will ONLY return domain names that match exactly to keywords with montly search traffic in Google
[13:26] Jarred: and you have tutorials on the site that show you what to do, correct?
[13:26] Joel Ohman: yes, we have written tutorials and video tutorials as well
[13:26] Bido: Today’s special guest is Joel Ohman of DomainSuperstar.com
[13:27] Jarred: do you feel that domain tasting has made it harder to mine nowadays?
[13:27] Joel Ohman: as for the domain tasting question I don’t necessarily think that domain tasting has made it harder to find great domains
[13:28] theoretical: Do you ever reg dashes? What kind of things would make you go with a dash?
[13:28] Jarred: so some fish were perhaps caught and thrown back? or just overlooked?
[13:28] Joel Ohman: just the other day someone was complaining in a forum about not being able to find a good keyword domain related to “web templates” or “web design” or something and so I plugged one of those terms into the type in traffic finder and I think it returned like 55 or so available domains available to hand register - and every one of them were exact matches to keywords with searches in Google every month
[13:29] Joel Ohman: I am not a big fan of dashed domains unless I own the non dashed version as well
[13:29] Jarred: not many current events and breaking news type domains in insurance industries as compared with new technology type domains
[13:29] Joel Ohman: I just hate the idea of losing repeat traffic to the non dashed version
[13:29] Joel Ohman: (or people thinking that I couldn’t afford to purchased the “best” domain - i.e. the non dashed version”
[13:29] Joel Ohman: )
[13:30] Jarred: true, those repeat visitors will be hard pressed to find you again
[13:30] DomainBits: Do you buy cctlds?
[13:30] Jarred: they may find you the first time in a search engine but the second time they might try and look for you and find some other site
[13:31] Joel Ohman: so for example, if your business is called Bob’s Plumbing and you register bobs-plumbing.com people will most likely return to bobspluming.com and/or maybe even wonder if you are the “real” Bob’s Plumbing since you didn’t register the non dashed version
[13:31] Joel Ohman: *bobsplumbing.com
[13:31] Jarred: maybe by then they have their insurance policy though so repeat visitors might not be as important as with other industries such as medical
[13:32] Joel Ohman: I definitely see value in certain cctlds although I personally do not buy them currently
[13:32] Joel Ohman: true - certain niches are different than others
[13:32] Jarred: Joel do you have direct deals with advertisers, or how else do you monetize your sites?
[13:32] Joel Ohman: I have some direct deals
[13:32] Jarred: so you cut out a middleman or did you not ever deal with one?
[13:32] PrivyDomain: Hi Joel
[13:32] Joel Ohman: hello
[13:33] Joel Ohman: my last resort for monetization is Google Adsense
[13:33] PrivyDomain: I have used your tool several time & found it quite nice & user friendly
[13:33] Joel Ohman: thanks!
[13:33] Jarred: perhaps coming from the financial sector you have some good connections there I would presume
[13:33] Joel Ohman: yes
[13:33] PrivyDomain: but some point i have to add
[13:33] Jarred: fantastic
[13:33] Ross: what up
[13:33] Jarred: @Joel what do you think is the state of the domain market today?
[13:34] Jarred: hi Ross
[13:34] PrivyDomain: the searches shown in there are not exact ” ” searches
[13:34] Ross: Jarred, lol i though you said human market
[13:34] PrivyDomain: it would be better if they are provided instead of broad
[13:34] Ross: thought*
[13:35] Joel Ohman: yes, the searches are broad match because the Google API does not currently allow exact match data to be accessed via its API
[13:35] Ty_: @Joel, how accurate do you think that the various metrics and figures are in predicting real world behaviours?
[13:35] PrivyDomain: ok
[13:35] Jarred: Ross, seeing double today 
[13:35] Joel Ohman: broad match is still a great indicator but then when you go to buy I like to double check the exact data
[13:35] PrivyDomain: thats it
[13:35] Jarred: no slavery here @Bido
[13:36] Joel Ohman: so I will use the tool to find some potentially good domains and then right before I make the buying decision I check the exact match data and the CPC
[13:36] PrivyDomain: i have to again cross check with google keyword
[13:36] PrivyDomain: same
[13:36] Jarred: Joel are there other data repositories you plan to tap into there at DomainSuperstar?
[13:36] Ross: .99cent coupon at godaddy today - 99BUYCOM
[13:37] Jarred: trellian, wordtracker…
[13:37] Jarred: thanks Ross
[13:38] Joel Ohman: @Ty_ I think that some of the metrics like avg searches, CPC, and other similar data is a great place to start but if you have a true understanding of your niche and what people really want then that can make the different between just having an average performing domain and a truly great performing domain
[13:38] Ross: Joel Ohman, you can find a domain with little to no search but with huge PPC that a company will pay a premium for 
[13:39] Jarred: Joel how do you host your sites you develop?
[13:39] Joel Ohman: @Jarred We really love the data from Google as opposed to Wordtracker just because we think that it is better all around although we do use data from MSN, Yahoo, Alexa, Compete, and some other proprietary data that we have obtained
[13:39] Jarred: Ross Joel said he holds, tries to not sell, just monetize when he can
[13:39] Jarred: proprietary is good, bravo
[13:39] Joel Ohman: we have a proprietary spider that searches throughout the web and then seeds in keywords into the Google tool via their API and returns exact match keyword domain names
[13:39] Ross: Jarred, i was just simply pointing out that a domain with no traffic can be sold for a premium price
[13:39] PrivyDomain: Jarred i’m thinking of submitting some good domains for Bido. How many days do you take to confirm the submission & how many domains can one submit at one time?
[13:40] Ross: Joel Ohman, wordtracker on your tools would be amazing btw
[13:40] Joel Ohman: free members can view all of those domain names from the spider plus domain found from other type in traffic users at the keyword domain repository
[13:40] Jarred: Ten at a time and it takes 24-48 hours to get an approval notice if any were selected
[13:40] Joel Ohman: premium members get instant access while free members don’t see domains for the first 24 hrs
[13:41] Jarred: so there’s a delay, more incentive for someone to be a premium member
[13:41] Ross: .
[13:41] Jarred: how much does that cost?
[13:41] Joel Ohman: @Ross Yes, sometimes it is very interesting to see a domain with huge PPC and somewhat small avg search traffic go for a pretty high price
[13:42] Joel Ohman: premium membership is $97/month full price but it is currently at a discounted rate of $47/month
[13:42] Joel Ohman: the price will increase to $77/month on 5/1 though
[13:42] Jarred: how long is that offer good for?
[13:42] Jarred: ok
[13:42] Ty_: Joel, do you think that these metrics are accurate in defining a domain’s value?
[13:42] Joel Ohman: all current members never receive a price increase though
[13:42] Ross: Joel Ohman, there is a technique to selling those types of domains
[13:42] Joel Ohman: so you can lock in the lower price for lifetime
[13:42] theoretical: Can you talk about your research/development process a bit more once you find a good keyword name in order to get the most out of it?
[13:43] Joel Ohman: @Ty_ I think that those metrics are just a start - there are a ton of things that are sometimes hard to be quantified that still need to be considered - one example is buyer intent
[13:44] Ty_: And that elusive “Wow” factor too I guess
[13:44] Jarred: @Joel do you ever joint venture with others?
[13:44] Joel Ohman: @theoretical I like to use data from the Google keyword tool, the Wordtracker keyword suggestions tool, and some other sources to “Mind Map” out my site architecture for a new domain
[13:45] Joel Ohman: I also really like to use Wordpress as a backend if I can just because I love the automatic scheduling feature
[13:45] Joel Ohman: although most of my sites are not WP
[13:45] Jarred: DomainSuperstar seems as if it is, at least the outside shell
[13:45] Joel Ohman: @Jarred I do consider joint ventures - in fact 3 of the 4 companies I own I own with other partners so yes, I am open to that idea
[13:46] Jarred: thats great, what advice do you have for people as far as that goes?
[13:46] Jarred: WP is great
[13:47] Joel Ohman: find people that complement your abilites - for example, with DomainSuperstar.com I am the guy that thinks up all of the tools and figures out how they could be done and then my partner John is the coding genius who actually makes it all happen and puts my ideas into reality
[13:47] Jarred: @Joel do you offer direct internet marketing coaching aside from the tools and tutorials on DomainSuperstar.com?
[13:48] Joel Ohman: we offer the video tutorial videos so that people can “look over my shoulder” as I develop a domain etc but no direct consultation
[13:48] Joel Ohman: although of course we answer questions and interact with our members
[13:49] Joel Ohman: but nothing paid outside of the premium membership
[13:49] Jarred: gotcha… thats great, too
[13:49] Jarred: @Joel what else is in store for you and your company in the future?
[13:51] Jarred: and Joel, what do you think of KnoxLanding.com?
[13:51] Joel Ohman: we plan to release one new tool every month - we just recently released the geo domain name finder tool which is the Google Maps mashup I mentioned earlier, we just released the bulk keyword domain name checker where you can upload or paste in a list of keywords that you have and the tool will check the availability of all of the exact match domain names, and we also just released a dictionary domain name tool with a ton of dictionary domains available to hand register
[13:51] Jarred: one per month, thats a fair schedule, gives you time to create and test
[13:52] Jarred: have you taken suggestions of the members and made any a reality for them?
[13:52] Joel Ohman: there are so many great deals to be found via hand registration that you a premium membership can literally pay for itself in under an hour if you really dig deep with the tools
[13:53] Joel Ohman: yes, one great suggestion we got from our members was to allow additional tld’s to the type in traffic finder which we have done
[13:53] Joel Ohman: we custom code things for our members as well
[13:53] Joel Ohman: if they want a feature in a tool or a new tool then we can most likely code it
[13:53] Joel Ohman: by “we” I mean John
[13:54] Jarred: Sounds great, we like services that actually listen to their members
[13:54] Jarred: What do you think of KnoxLanding.com?
[13:55] Ross: Joel Ohman, type in traffic finder is top notch. One of the best tools around IMO
[13:55] Joel Ohman: I think that KnoxLanding.com is an ok domain for a domainer and I say ok just because there are so many other great geo domain names out there
[13:55] Joel Ohman: @Ross thanks!
[13:55] DotSauce: hey Guys
[13:55] Jarred: so many places, so little domains
[13:55] Jarred: DotSauce, welcome
[13:55] DotSauce: Where is KnoxLanding? Sorry didn’t do my homework
[13:56] Jarred: click description tab
[13:56] Joel Ohman: IMO I would rather use our geo domain finder tool or even better our bulk keyword domain name finder and keep pasting or uploading a list of all of the largest US cities until I found some available
[13:56] DotSauce: oh i see, multiple places.. nice
[13:56] Bido: 4 minutes to go
[13:56] Jarred: yea, big potential
[13:56] Ross: Joel Ohman, havnt looked for any domains for a bit but i did mention your site and tools in my up and coming 7 Days to Becoming a Better Domainer challenge on my blog
[13:57] Joel Ohman: KnoxLanding.com does have some potential value to an end user though
[13:57] Jarred: thousands of potential users, many people live in a knox landing
[13:57] Joel Ohman: @Ross awesome thanks! Shoot me a link to that if you don’t mind
[13:57] Jarred: always nice to make the news Joel
[13:57] Ross: Joel Ohman, http://www.ygrab.com i believe it is in the 4th or 5th day but will be launching the whole thing on monday
[13:58] Joel Ohman: if you are a domainer who has a strategy of buying and flipping and don’t mind being proactive about contacting end users then KnoxLanding.com would make a very solid choice
[13:58] Bido: Today’s special guest is Joel Ohman of DomainSuperstar.com
[13:59] Jarred: @Joel how may the viewers get in contact with you?
[13:59] Jarred: < 1 minute to go
[13:59] Joel Ohman: joel@domainsuperstar.com or http://www.domainsuperstar.com/contact-us
[13:59] Jarred: 5 mins
[14:00] Jarred: was just about to congratulate someone on a great score
[14:01] Jarred: @Joel what internet or domain events are you next attending?
[14:01] Joel Ohman: I don’t have any on my schedule at the moment
[14:02] Jarred: By the way we have a winner of the free ticket to announce
[14:02] Joel Ohman: I am somewhat of a recluse - I like to stay in my office in front of my 3 30″ monitors
[14:02] Jarred: we ran a contest yesterday for a free ticket to the Targeted Traffic tradeshow
[14:02] Sahar: free ticket? something I don’t know about.. fill me in !
[14:02] Joel Ohman: although I do plan on attending some in the future potentially
[14:02] Ross: Jarred, who won that by the way?
[14:02] Joel Ohman: Targeted Traffic would be awesome
[14:02] Sahar: Jarred, who participated?
[14:02] Jarred: Michael Bahlitzanakis - BPHG Media
[14:02] Sahar: i didnt get the memo lol
[14:02] Jarred: congrats Michael
[14:02] Recordweb: I never win anything :>
[14:03] Sahar: Recordweb, me neither
[14:03] Ross: lol i think i am on that boat as well
[14:03] Jarred: a $1,995.00 value
[14:03] Sahar: not fair
[14:03] Jarred: there will be more contests everyone
[14:03] Sahar: re run the contest!
[14:03] Recordweb: I can imagine getting a plane ticket from NJ right now to the show. Probably have to pay $1000 LOL
[14:03] Jarred: fat lady left the building
[14:04] DomainsIreland: 5 mins
[14:04] Recordweb: god, I hate proxy bids LOL
[14:04] Jarred: bid to win
[14:05] Jarred: pop it
[14:05] Recordweb: I’m going to suggest 2 minute extensions
[14:05] Jarred: 5 too fatiguing?
[14:06] Jarred: bid to win early on and there wont be any
[14:06] Jarred: well thats not entirely true, people can always stab away at it
[14:06] Jarred: nice little run here at the end though
[14:07] Jarred: @Joel who do you consider an inspirational figure?
[14:08] Joel Ohman: in the domaining space I consider anyone that purchased domains years and years ago when domaining was not really publicized or popular and inspirational figure and then personally I consider my old youth pastor in PA Pastor Crews very inspirational and someone that I admire and look up to
[14:08] Recordweb: I always wished Ebay would allow 2 minute over bids. No more sniping.
[14:09] theoretical: it actually makes it fun to bid it up, but I don’t think ebay cares
[14:11] theoretical: but yeah, two or three minutes should be all that’s needed
[14:11] Jarred: Congrats owntech
[14:11] Jarred: $162 final
[14:11] Owentech: Thanks.
[14:12] Jarred: nice bidding war there at the end, you took it home though
[14:12] Joel Ohman: congrats Owentech and thank you very much for having me today Bido
[14:13] Jarred: Thanks Joel, it was nice to have you as our special guest
[14:13] Jarred: I encourage everyone to check out www.domainsuperstar.com
[14:15] tldagent: Great site, thank you Joel
[14:15] tldagent: thank you Jarred
[14:18] Owentech: @Jarred - Well, I was a bit worried, but it worked out at the end…
[14:19] Owentech: @Joel - it was a good discussion.
[14:20] Owentech: I may even want to place a site in the near future… now I must figure out how to “get” the domain to use.
Do you have any comments to add? Add your comment below and then head on over to our dashboard to get started using our tools! (Remember to sign up for premium membership to lock in the discounted price of $47/month before it increases to $77/month on May 1st).
