The point of pointers....
by Ross Lasley
Feeling link happy? Check this out:
http://www.kisscomputing.com
http://www.kisscomputing.net
http://www.getkissednow.com
http://www.ptownkiss.com
http://www.kissclicks.com
(Not feeling link happy? All of the above are our web site:)
These are pointer domains – and most businesses kind of miss what they really work well for.
Lots of people started registering variants of their name to stop consumers from being confused – if you were somestore.com you didn't want anyone else owning somestore.net.
Today there are lots of extensions and most people have given up on the protection games – if you try to buy every misspelling of your name in every extension it is a very expensive proposition.
One of the very best things about selling things on the web – tracking. The best use for a pointer domain? Tracking.
Ever see this when watching the boob tube: http://www.dell.com/tv ?
The tracking present there is obvious – this is actually an experiment of the marketing department to see if people are happier with typing in /tv than they are with a unique name like dellontv.com
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Everyone uses the offline world – print ads – to push people to web sites. What most folks don't realize is how very easy it is to track exactly how many people actually went to your site from a specific ad by using a pointer domain. In the past when we placed ads in a Provincetown print magazine we used the domain name "ptownkiss.com" in the ad. We counted the number of people who went to that domain name while the ad was running and were able to measure how many people checked out our site as a result of the ad.
You can do this same thing for segments of your business or specific products. One of our clients – the Cape Codder Resort – has an excellent spa at their location in Hyannis. The domain name http://www.capecodderspa.com leads to the spa page on the Cape Codder Resort web site. They use that address when advertising the Spa in print.
Another client of ours has a hard business name for the web – Conklin & de Decker – it is hard because you can't use an ampersand (&) as part of a web address, and also the name is difficult to spell. For years they used www.conklindd.com , but recently pointers have allowed them to use simpler names and specific product names – like http://www.aircraftcosts.com (what they do) and http://www.aircraftcostevaluator.com (the name of one of their popular products).
This basic tracking technique can also be applied to email using catch all forwarding. Catch all forwarding is when the email for your website is setup so that all email with your domain name is delivered to you – sales@yourname.com, info@yourname.com, etc. The original purpose of this was so that when people made a typo – like rsos@kisscomputing.com – it would still get delivered.
If you have catch all forwarding setup this is another simple way to track web activity from print – use email addresses in just one place like NYTimes@yourname.com for an ad placed in the New York Times. Then when email comes in that has been addressed that way you know exactly where it comes from.
The last thing about the connection between the offline and the online world is a simple one that lots of people still miss. Have a website? Have an answering machine or voicemail system? Make sure your answering machine message lets people know they can find out about your business on the web at www.yourname.com. This simple little thing will make customers feel more serviced and can give you the opportunity to close a sale when you aren't there.
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 Tasty Tip: Tomato Jam |
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by Michael
McGrath
Do you like savory relishes and jams? We've a recipe for
you this week that we think you'll like... a tomato and garlic
jam for sandwiches. Easy, quick, and very tasty on a roast
beef sandwich.
1 # plum tomatoes
2 tb minced garlic
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar
salt and white pepper to taste
Dice the tomatoes ½ inch in size and add to a 2 quart
sauce pan, along with all of the other ingredients.
Bring almost to a boil, and then reduce the temperature to
a light simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until all of
the liquid is gone, the tomatoes have broken down, and relish
or jam consistency has been achieved.
Let cool, containerize and refrigerate. This will keep for
5 days.
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