Weekly Roundup and Practical Advice

It happens to so many moms - your maternity leave is up. You’ve decided to go back to work. Or maybe you just need a few hours a day on your own to keep your sanity and get some things done around the house. No matter what your reason, sometimes you need to start looking for a day care for your child, or children.

Your little ones are so incredibly important to you - like many mothers say, having a child is like having a small piece of your heart out of your body, that can walk around on it’s own. Find fitbit coupon. So you want to know that your children are getting the best care possible, all the attention they need, and that they feel 100% happy and safe at their day care.

How to Choose A Good Day Care
1. Word of Mouth Do some research! Ask your friends, neighbours, any moms you can, about where they have brought their children. You will definitely find a few horror stories about certain spots - you can eliminate them right off the bat and narrow down your selection.

2. Figure Out Your Priorities Do you want your child to simply enjoy themselves, or do you want them to have an educational experience? Does your child have special needs, or severe allergies? You need to take into account exactly what you want from a daycare - if you’re find plunking your child down with a few cartoons, paying for a daycare full of child development specialists may be unnecessary.

3. Choose Your Schedule If you are navigating through your schedule, take that into account as well. If you are only dropping your child off for a few hours, are they going to be getting a snack, or a meal? Are they going to be napping for a good chunk of that time? Think about what you are going to be doing in that time frame - for example, if you’re going to be attending a spin class, when you pick up your child are they going to be just waking up for a nap and ready to run around for the rest of the day? Or will they have done a few activities, had a snack, and are ready for some rest.

4. Test Drive Grab your kid and spend an afternoon at the day care you have in mind. How are the caregivers with the children? Are there enough toys, enough supervision for the amount of children?

5. Kid Stick Rate If you are at the day care at pick up time, maybe have a chat with a few parents. How long has their child been going there? If you’re seeing families with children that have been attending that specific daycare for months or even more than a year, you know that the family is obviously pretty happy with the service they are giving. No matter what you do, make sure that you are 100% confident with the spot you choose, and that it has honest, caring and genuine caregivers to take care of your littlest family members.

Written by Sara Quinn, editor at Potty Training For Girls.
 

New Domaining Tool: Domize.com

In my never ending search to bring readers the newest domaining tools to hit the scene, take a second and familiarize yourself with Domize.com.

At first glance, Domize looks like your regular Ajax instant domain search tool but one thing that sets it apart is the "trail" of results that are instantly displayed as you type. Pretty cool.

Notice when I typed in the phrase "credit cards", or even restaurant employee scheduling, each letter typed in is queried to show availability.

Although the results are lightning-quick, Domize is limited to .com, .net and .org results.

Being a brand new tool, I'm hoping other extensions will be added soon.

Don't forget to subscribe to stay up-to-date and current on all the new domain industry tools as they roll out.

Visit Domize.com

How To Search Google Using A Specific Domain Extension

This post is for all the domain newbies out there.

Here's a simple little trick you can use to utilize Google and only search for keyword results using a specific domain extension such as .tv, .asia, .mobi and such.

First, get to the Google Homepage and click on "Advanced Search" to the right of the search bar.

Next, find the area that states "Search within a site or domain". This is where you will type in the domain extension that you want to search under. Go ahead and type in .mobi or .tv in that search field. Then click the "advanced search" button.

After clicking on the advanced search button, you will be taken back to the Google search page, but now the term "site:.tv" will automatically be queried.

Closer look.

Now all you have to do is type in your keyword in front of the "site:.tv" term and presto, all your search results for your keyword will now be narrow down to all websites that end in the .tv extension.  This works for all domain extensions.

Pretty nifty for trying to find websites that queries your search using a specific domain extension instead of getting all .com search results.

Enjoy.

Go Daddy Declares April 29th WebMasters' Day

"If newspaper carriers, cartoonists, doctors and hairstylists all have their own day, it's time for Webmasters to receive the same recognition. That's why, to honor the professionals responsible for the content on Web sites across the world, GoDaddy.com is declaring April 29 Webmasters' Day."

Good karma on Go Daddy's part by honoring and recognizing the efforts of these behind-the-scene professionals who are invaluable to any company with an online presence. 

"The Internet wouldn't be where it is today without this underappreciated group who keep content on the ‘net fresh," GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons said. "I think a day to remind everyone of how vital Webmasters are is way overdue."

For more information about Webmaster's Day or to send a virtual postcard to your Webmaster to thank them for all they do, visit http://www.GoDaddy.com/WebmastersDay

School of the Unethical: Renting .edu Blog Space

Oh how the domain industry needs a hero.

It is now being reported that LinkAdage and the Pickering Institue have teamed up to open up a blackhole of unscrupulous actions by offering anyone blog space for rent...on an .edu domain.  This in effect allows ANY average-joe-schmo to post their blogs under a .edu sub-domain without actually being affiliated with any sort of educational institute.  Dirty pool in my book.

Here is a few excerpts of the front page of the Pickering Institute website:

"Our blogs allow you to reach an education minded audience that is difficult to reach with mass market blogs such as Blogger or Blogspot."

"PI.edu visitors are looking to learn about new things, and we are building the web's most sophisticated blog community. Having a PI.edu gives you instant credibility because we have strict guidelines as to who can have a blog and the quality and truthfulness of the writing."

Did you read that last sentence?  Read it again.

"Having a PI .edu gives you instant credibility because we have strict guidelines as to who can have a blog and the quality of truthfulness of the writing."

Basically...they are saying, "Pay us $50 a month and you can blog using our coveted .edu domain extension." This just kills me. 

Ian over at MarketingConversation.com seems to feel the same way, and posts that using this method of marketing a blog:

1. Takes advantage of a vulnerable population.
2. Skews the search engine algorithm that expect educational information at .edu domains.
3. Is in poor taste.
4. And is generally bad for the community.

I agree.

"For those who don't know: Links from EDU domains may get more authority in the search rankings. So a lot of folks prize links from .edu web sites. That's why this could be a compelling offer to unscrupulous marketers." Ian also explains. 

So, isn't this breaking the law in some form?

Not really.  Seems LinkAdage and the Pickering Institute have found a loophole when it comes to the rules of use around .edu domains.  Since the Pickering Institute is considered a verifiable educational institute, they can assign third-level domains to other parties. This is where the Pickering Institute begins to mold themselves into a "blog community" instead of an "educational institute". 

You can almost hear the onslaught of worthless writing that will soon be flooding the .edu universe.

 

So, How much does it cost to kill a top-level domain extension?

Seems only $50 per month.

Sad.

What Kind of Domainer Are You?

Are you an Investor?  What about a Flipper? You might be a Monetizer? 

Found a fun post over at Media Wizard's blog that divides domainers into 7 general categories according to how they proceed with a domain after purchase.  

The categories are:

- The Investor

- The Flipper

- The Developer

- The Builder

- The Monetizer

- The Broker

- and The Provider

Here's a sample excerpt:

The Investor
"These are the sharpest of them all. Buy good quality when prices are low, hold long term, sell high. These guys hold onto assets, maybe even develop them, ensure that they’re hot and in demand when the market is totally ripe, then sell them. The advantages of emulating this type is that you can afford to sell 1% of your portfolio each year and still manage to pull in the major bucks. The downside is renewals, unless your portfolio generates enough revenue, this cost needs to be factored in. People like Frank Schilling, Rick Schwartz, Sahar Sarid, Adam Dicker, Michael Goldman and probably most of the other big ticket guys will be found in this group."

Take a moment and read the rest of the post here.

And don't forget to comment back  after you decide what category you fit into.

Personally, I think I fit into a couple of groups.  

Walt Disney Goes On Domain Buying Spree

At a New York press conference today, Disney-Pixar Films unveiled their highly-anticipated upcoming lineup of 10 new animated feature films to be released through 2012.

Over the past 30 days, Walt Disney-Pixar Films has began to register a ton of new (and interesting) domain names not only for these specific future planned films, but also for some rumored upcoming works in progress. Speculation and gossip in the Disneysphere has begun to explode over the recent domain names bought by Disney.

The domains recently registered by Disney:

101DALMATIANS2DVD.COM
ADVENTURELANDBLURAY.COM
ADVENTURELANDDVD.COM
AMIGOSDVD.COM
AMIGOSOFFER.COM
BOLTBLURAY.COM
BRIDESHEADREVISITEDBLURAY.COM
BRIDESHEADREVISITEDDVD.COM
BUNNYTOWN-DVD.COM
BUNNYTOWNONDVD.COM
CAMPROCK2.COM
CAMPROCK2.NET
CAMPROCKTWO.COM
CAMPROCKTWO.NET
DADNAPPEDDVD.COM
DISNEYBUNNYTOWNDVD.COM
DISNEYCHANNELONDVD.COM
DONALDDVD.COM
DONALDOFFER.COM
MORNINGLIGHTBLURAY.COM
OLIVERANDCOMPANYDVD.COM
PRINCECASPIANBLURAY.COM
TINKERBELLBLURAY.COM
SNOWWHITEANDTHESEVENDWARFSBLURAY.COM
SNOWWHITEANDTHESEVENDWARFSDVD.COM
SNOWWHITEBLURAY.COM
CHRONICLESOFNARNIABLURAY.COM

FATHERKNOWSBEST-MOVIE.COM

GODSOFMARS-MOVIE.COM
GODSOFMARSMOVIE.COM

JOHNCARTERANDTHEGODSOFMARS.COM
JOHNCARTERANDTHEWARLORDOFMARS.COM
THEGODSOFMARS-MOVIE.COM
THEGODSOFMARSMOVIE.COM
THEWARLORDOFMARS-MOVIE.COM
THEWARLORDOFMARSMOVIE.COM
WARLORDOFMARS-MOVIE.COM

MOONROCK-MOVIE.COM
THEMOONROCKMOVIE.COM

SWINGVOTEMOVIE.NET

BDISNEY.NET
BDISNEYLIVE.COM
BDISNEYLIVE.NET
BDISNEYLIVENET
BDISNEYLIVENETWORK.NET
DISNEYBD.COM
DISNEYBD.NET
DISNEYBDLIVE.NET
DISNEYBDLIVENET
DISNEYBDLIVENETWORK.NET
DISNEYLIVE.NET
DISNEYLIVEBD.COM
DISNEYLIVEBD.NET
DISNEYLIVENET
DISNEYLIVENETWORK.NET
LIVEBDISNEY.COM
LIVEBDISNEY.NET
LIVEBDISNEYNETWORK.COM
LIVEBDISNEYNETWORK.NET

THESUITELIFEONDECK.COM
THESUITELIFEONDECK.NET

SEVENSEASHIGH.COM
SEVENSEASHIGH.NET
SEVENSEASHIGHSCHOOL.COM
SEVENSEASHIGHSCHOOL.NET

HANNAHMATED.COM
HANNAHMATED.NET
HANNAHMATION.COM
HANNAHMATION.NET
HANNAHMONTANACROSS-COUNTRYADVENTURE.COM
HANNAHMONTANACROSSCOUNTRYADVENTURE.COM
HANNAHMONTANAFAMILYREUNION.COM
HANNAHMONTANAMATION.COM
HANNAHMONTANAMATION.NET
HANNAHMONTANAOFFTHECHARTS.COM
HANNAHMONTANAOLDFRIENDSNEWBEGINNINGS.COM
HANNAHMONTANAULTIMATECHOICE.COM
HANNAHMONTANAWELCOMEHOME.COM
HANNAHMONTANAWHEREITALLBEGAN.COM
HANNAHMONTANIMATION.COM
HANNAHMONTANIMATION.NET
HANNAHMONTANAILFILM.COM
HANNAHMONTANAILFILM3D.COM

JONASBROTHERS-MOVIE.COM
JONASBROTHERS3D.COM
JONASBROTHERS3DCONCERT.COM
JONASBROTHERSCONCERT3D.COM
JONASBROTHERSCONCERTMOVIE3D.COM

ABCFAMILYSEARCHFORSANTA.COM
SEARCHFORSANTA2008.COM
THESEARCHFORSANTA.COM

DISNEYJAZZCELEBRATION.COM
DISNEYJAZZCELEBRATION.NET

DISNEYMAGICPLACES.COM

DISNEYSTEPNATIONALS.NET

DISNEYMUSICBLOCKPARTY.COM
DISNEYMUSICBLOCKPARTYTOUR.COM

And some weird ones that no one knows yet why, but assumed future projects:

GOGOROBO.NET
*DISNEYNATURE.US
SHOPKGOTV.COM
MALEMATE.NET
SOCIALCRIB.NET
TOBYFILMHEAD.COM
COLDENBOOKS.COM
HAPPYMONSTERBAND.NET
RUICKANDHUNTPUBLISHING.COM
PERCYJACKSONBOOKS.COM
NIKKI-IN-THE-CITY.COM
WIZARDS-FIRST-RULE.COM

RELATIVEMADDNESS.COM
RELATIVEMADDNESS.INFO
RELATIVEMADDNESS.NET
RELATIVEMADDNESS.ORG

PATTYSPETS.NET
PATYSPETS.COM
PATYSPETS.NET

THEROCKDOME.COM
THEROCKDOME.NET

The full list of domains can be found courtesy of The Disney Enquirer.