A Domainer is someone who buys and sells domain names on the internet. A domain name is like “misinterpreted.org” or “SupermanLives.com.” This is virtual real estate, and people make a lot of money at it. Well, some people. A lot of good domains were taken early on, but there are still ways to find yourself some hidden gems.

One of the most interesting things about domaining is that you can get lucky when you find a valuable domain name that has expired. For whatever reason, the current owner didn’t pay to keep it for another year. You can snag it up and park it, put up a web site, sell it, or let it age…

But how do you find good expired domains? Network Solutions just invented an incredible tool. It’s an RSS feed creator that you can use to generate a simple, easy to read feed with info on upcoming expiring domains.

It’s awesome. Visit their feed creation page, input a few details, and you’re done.

Let’s try finding domains that include the word “myspace”…

Ok, here are the results. Neat! There’s hottestmyspacepics.com, yesmyspace.com, myspacehelpforparents.com… Wow, this tool is really helpful.

So if you’re interested in domain names and would like to try out this crazy new domain name RSS Feed, simply head on over to Network Solutions and get started today!

How thoroughly could you remodel your house with $20,000? A $20,000 home makeover would probably allow you to install an indoor spa in the master bathroom, create a kitchen island, and put in some nifty new carpets. And you could paint everything, get some new furniture, and fix all the tiny little problems that have built up over the years. Instead of dreading doing what little menial chores are left, you could look forward to revamping virtually every detail, at no cost to you! Awesome…

But gee, if only there were some way to make this crazy wild insane dream of a $20,000 home makeover come true… Waitaminute! Isn’t Renuzit TriScents having a contest right now with the grand prize of a home makeover worth exactly Twenty Thousand Dollars? Hey, yeah! That’s right! Wow, what luck!

In case you didn’t know, TriScents are “electric scented oil air fresheners.” Mmm, smell that scented air…

You can enter to win by submitting a video or a photo-essay combo, demonstrating why your house is in shambles (and therefore needs a makeover) and how Renuzit TriScents can help you bring your abode back from the brink of domestic destruction!

Remember in school where your professor would say, “Write me an essay of no fewer than 200 million words?” Well the TriScents contest is the opposite. If you choose the photo-essay combo entry, your essay must be no longer than 250 words. If you do a video instead, it must not exceed 2 minutes in length.

Hey, if you’ve never even heard of this company before, you can easily download the Renuzit TriScents Starter Kit coupon and go do some local shopping (or international if that suits your fancy). Once you’ve sampled their product (and at the discount provided via coupon) you might feel better about entering their contest. Or see official rules, just so you know what you’re getting into before you sign up.

Then again, a $20,000 home makeover might provide enough motivation all by itself!

Frustrated with Google AdWords? You might turn to Yahoo, where the "ad quality" standards are less stringent. But it costs $30 to sign up. So who else is there…? Microsoft! Many have said that they've got softer standards, and some of the lowest costs per click around! And adCenter only requires $5 to sign up. Plus, since they're the new kids on the block, they've got codes all over the internet for free clicks!

You may have seen an offer for a $25 credit.

You may have seen one for $50.

I've got one for $150.

I did a quick search, and came upon this page:

https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40044077

Trying to visit it, both IE and Firefox warn that it may not be a trustworthy site, as something seems to be wrong with its certificate. However, it's part of Microsoft.com, so I found it trustworthy enough to visit. I haven't noticed any problems.

Once there, a visitor is presented with a promotional offer of $150 in free adCenter credit for the first 5000 Microsoft Partners to sign up. From what I can tell, a Microsoft Partner is a special VIP of sorts. I'm not quite clear on the requirements.

However…

The page says the first 5,000 people to sign up for adCenter using the promotional code MSPP-150QL-08 by June 30, 2008 will receive $150 in free adCenter credit, and 60 days of QuickLaunch campaign support, in which an expert helps you optimize your PPC campaign for free.

To continue with QuickLaunch after 60 days, you must be spending at least $30 per day.

Participation in QuickLaunch is optional.

To continue with adCenter after 90 days, you must pay for all subsequent clicks. After 90 days, your $150 credit expires.

Minimum cost per click (CPC) is $0.05.

Unraveling The Mystery

"Be among the first 5,000 partners to sign up…"

What do you have to do to be a partner?

"This offer is valid only for new advertisers opening a new account with Microsoft adCenter."

So that's anybody, right?

"Promotional credit good only for residents in the 50 United States and Washington, D.C."

Ok, so anyone new, in America.

Maybe the trick is to go through their special sign up link. And if that doesn't work, here's the regular link.

From what I've heard, when you sign up and enter the promotional code, adCenter will make no mention of your free $150 credit. However, it should appear under the Billing Activity section of Accounts & Billing in your adCenter user area. Also, this should work even if you don't have a Microsoft Partner account.

Randy Walker mentioned how this Microsoft Partner Program $150 promotion is part of the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Certification program. He says you can sign up through the regular link, and using the code you should get the credit, so I think this will work for anybody. Let me know if you try it. Good luck!

RealRank is still fairly new, so to build up some buzz they're holding a contest. The owner of the top RealRank-ranked blog for each week of February will receive $1000. It could be you!

All you do is sign up with Izea and put a little piece of javascript on your blog template. Once that code can be seen by the RealRank Robots on every page of your blog, they'll begin collecting data, and you'll be automatically entered in the contest. If you don't mind having spies analyze information regarding your blog and the habits of your visitors, this could be for you. And the best part? You've got four chances to win.

Here's a chunk of the rules:

"The eligible blogger with the highest RealRank for the … weekly entry periods will receive a prize. There will be one (1) winner for each weekly period; a total of four (4) winners throughout the Contest. The winner in any previous week is ineligible for the following week(s). Odds of winning depend on number of bloggers signed up for RealRank, and, as stated above, the weekly winner will be the blogger with the highest RealRank. The RealRank algorithm weights blogs as follows: seventy percent (70%) on daily unique visitors, twenty percent (20%) on daily active inbound links and ten percent (10%) on daily page views as reported by IZEA Toolkit.

All winners will be notified by email on or about seven (7) days after the applicable weekly entry period ends."

So, there are two definite pluses here. First, there likely wouldn't be a $4000 giveaway (split 4 ways) unless Izea thought the appeal of the contest would suck in a whole new group of bloggers. That means new blogs being added to the system every day, with the RealRank code being added to those blogs for mega-tracking purposes. So since odds of winning are dependent on how many competitors there are, and Izea is obviously saying "We need more blogs," a decent blog with a good amount of traffic probably has a fair shot at snagging a thousand bucks.

The second plus is that even if you join in the middle of February, you still qualify for the remaining entry periods.

And if you're the kind of blogger who values privacy of information, and yet still thinks you've got a shot at winning, you could always:

1. sign up,
2. install the tracking code,
3. win in one of the 4 periods,
4. collect the cash,
5. and then remove the code.

But that's only for those bloggers John Chow might call… evil!

I heard on television the other day a message along the lines of, "Get the free, Federal edition of TurboTax at TurboTax.com." I thought, "Wow, free?!" So today I hopped on over to TurboTax.com, which redirected to TurboTax.intuit.com, and I saw that the free edition was pretty much bare bones. It provides "Free federal tax preparation for 1040EZ and simple returns," as well as "Free eFile."

Makes sense, right? Offer the bare minimum for free, and when things get more complex, more demanding of "The Box" as one anti-TurboTax commercial puts it, charge more for the software.

A few weeks ago I was intoxicated with the idea of the proposed "Fair Tax," under which new goods and services will be taxed 23%, and that's it. No other taxes to worry about! Just a simple, straightforward sales tax on new stuff. As Wikipedia puts it, "The proposal also calls for a monthly payment to all households of citizens and legal resident aliens (based on family size) as an advance rebate of tax on purchases up to the poverty level." Sounds fantastic.

What I like most about the Fair Tax idea is its potential to save the country the administrative costs that come with putting so much time-consuming effort into reaching the bottom line in a system that is notoriously complex. The simplicity of the Fair Tax would significantly "lighten the load," so to speak.

Still, some say people will find ways around it, ways to "beat the system," and force the little guy to pay more than his fair share of taxes. But isn't that happening already? I think using the argument that the negatives of the current tax system might intrude on the proposed new, simpler system isn't all that compelling.

But here's something else to consider. If we did abolish the current tax code in favor of a simple sales tax, there'd be no need for the whole "Let me do your taxes" industry! TurboTax would become obsolete! I'm sure if that were to happen, there would be other areas that could benefit from the newly freed-up resources of the TurboTax organization.

As it stands now, the tax system just seems like a game we're all playing, and it's overly complex, and it isn't any fun.

Alexa is a company that tries to accurately measure web traffic to as many sites as possible. Their method is to watch user activity on browsers with the Alexa toolbar installed. So if someone visits your site without using the toolbar, Alexa doesn't know about it. But if someone else shows up, and they are using Alexa, your site will benefit. Here's how:

All websites start out with a crazy rank in the millions. A while ago it was around 5, now its closer to 10, and probably even higher. So if your site is brand new, it might rank at 11,000,000. That's the bottom tier, but it's better than "No Rank," which will happen if Alexa isn't aware of your site yet. What we want to do is improve our Alexa rank, because sites that rank higher are considered better, and more valuable in the eyes of potential advertisers.

There has been a great deal of debate about Alexa. Most people used to not care about the ranking system. It didn't really matter. Once advertisers started using it to judge sites, things changed, and many people began to complain because they believe your Alexa rank can be gamed. It is thought by some that there are definite ways to improve your rank. And that is true. One way is to download the toolbar. Another is to run a site geared toward webmasters.

On an episode of, "Family Guy," TV executives at a board meeting were discussing a recent problem on their network. Many people had phoned in to voice their protest. One executive summed things up: "We have received 20 phone calls from offended viewers. As you all know, each phone call represents a billion people, which means 20 billion people were offended!"

The issue with Alexa is it works in a similar way. Since Alexa only knows how many toolbar users visit your site, they use that number to guess how many total visitors your site has. That's right, guess. Can you see where this could be a problem?

If you ran a site that specifically catered to webmasters, many of your visitors, maybe even the widespread majority, would probably already be running the toolbar. So Alexa says, "Your site got 20 toolbar visits, so let's do a little math, and… OK, you must have received 20 billion total visits! Congratulations, and welcome to the top tier! Enjoy your flashy high rank."

What if you don't run a site for webmasters? Doesn't this tip the playing field against you? Absolutely. The system is flawed. But Alexa has acknowledged that the ranks aren't that accurate until you reach the top: "Generally, Traffic Rankings of 100,000+ should be regarded as not reliable because the amount of data we receive is not statistically significant. Conversely, the more traffic a site receives (the closer it gets to the number 1 position), the more reliable its Traffic Ranking becomes."

So how can you improve your Alexa rank in an honest way? By installing the Alexa toolbar on the browser you most use to visit your own web site(s). The toolbar could be considered a scorekeeper for the net. On your browser, it pays careful attention to the sites you visit, and essentially gives each site a vote on your behalf. So if you spend a lot of time tweaking your own sites, it will make sure to give them votes, too. But Alexa makes it clear that to keep things fair, a site will only get one vote per IP address per day.

People have learned that this tends to add up over time. If you consistently visit your site(s) with the Alexa toolbar, you'll likely see results.

However, some have also noted that the higher your Alexa rank is already, the less noticeable a change like this will be. If your rank is still in the millions, then you should probably see some improvement. However, if you're already in the hundreds of thousands, you might not get as big a benefit (if any). But my guess is that if you're doing that well, you've probably already got the toolbar installed!

People have tried to come up with other tricks to improve their Alexa ranks, but some are considered underhanded and risky. There have been stories about companies being banned from Alexa for trying to game the system. I view installing the toolbar so it can see your web site to be upright and honorable because it's a simple, non-deceptive one-step procedure, and because Alexa encourages people to download the toolbar.

For a long time, I've been seeing the same standard anonymous avatars for people listed in comments at sites like johnchow.com. These avatars come from places like MyBlogLog and Gravatar. You've probably noticed them too. These are the ones I've seen:

Today I saw this one:

That got me thinking that taking a standard anonymous avatar and tweaking it a bit could be funny. You get so used to seeing the same old ones that when one of them is different somehow, it jumps out at you. So I made a few:

Feel free to right-click and save for your own personal use!

I really like the backwards silhouette, because that's just subtle enough to evoke a "WTF?" I also like the inverted ones, especially the plain types, where the only change is the color inversion. It's like they represent someone from a negative universe. The upside down ones I think are funny too, because there seems to be some blasphemy there. And of course, the evil ones!

I know, everybody who's anybody has already heard of BlogRush. Well, I finally got around to getting this site in on the action, so I figured I might as well give a quick rundown of the service.

If you've got a decent blog, it might be a good idea to sign up for BlogRush. They provide a free, simple widget that earns you traffic. It doesn't interfere with AdSense, and every time someone loads a page from your blog, you earn 1 BlogRush credit. Why? Because that page load included a load of the widget, which itself showed 5 links to other related blogs.

Each time the widget is loaded, you earn another credit. And all those credits you continue to accumulate will be used to get your latest blog posts shown as links on other people's BlogRush widgets. One credit earned equals one showing of a link to your post.

The really interesting part comes when you can manage to refer a good-sized group of people. BlogRush keeps track of everybody you refer, and everybody they refer, on and on for 10 generations. Every time anyone in your referral network earns a credit, you will earn one too, or a fraction of one if they are a certain number of generations away. John Chow at one point had accumulated 10 million credits! Of course, results like that demand incredible traffic.

What I like about the widget is it's easy to add, it's low maintenance, and it's designed to be clicked by anyone, including the blog owner. Free, functional, fantastic.

For those of you who've been planning to sign up (or who just decided to), I'd be grateful if you'd do so through my referral link.

Yesterday I was surfing bored, so I thought I'd look to see if the "Mozart's Ghost" page from "The Net" had become real yet. To my surprise, there does exist a Mozart's Ghost Online site, although it doesn't really resemble what was shown in the movie.

I perused it a little, and found some pretty awesome downloadable wallpapers.

I know that there are other sites with far more wallpapers to sift through, but I wasn't expecting to find any souvenirs at MGO. I thought it was great.

I picked one I thought was neat, set it up, turned my computer off, turned the TV on, and was amused to see "The Net" randomly being aired! How's that for coincidence?

Yesterday I dusted the cobwebs off my copy of Opera, an alternate web browser which I don't use very often. I mainly go between Internet Explorer and Firefox. So I opened Opera, checked for and loaded the updates, and I was ready to roll. After surfing for a little while I began to notice something. All of the pages were loading quite quickly. It was as if I had already been to each one, and had a cached version stored. But that couldn't be. Opera hadn't had a chance to cache any pages, since I haven't used it in a while. And pages I’d never visited before were coming up fast too!

I was thrilled. I thought, "Yes! The ultimate browser! Finally I can surf almost as fast as I can think!"

I played around with Opera, seeing how quickly pages I knew took a few moments to load on other browsers would come up. It seems to me that Opera is faster in a relative sense. If a page is fast in IE, it will be really fast in Opera. If a page is very slow in IE, it will be slow for Opera, too, but still much faster overall. "Opera Slow" is indeed pretty quick.

This all piqued my interest, so I did a short search for why Opera is so fast. I didn't search very long, but one of the results i found mentioned how Opera loads things in a different order than most browsers. Sounds fine. Great even!

Or so I thought, until later when I found out that Opera apparently has had a history of flaws, especially when dealing with CSS. I found and read an article by Andy Budd called "Why I Don't Care About Opera." He basically explains how Opera started out as a possible end to the reign of Internet Explorer, but then got left behind by all its competitors collectively, and ended up a browser that usually "breaks" when confronted with CSS.

What does this mean? Well, I guess it means that there's a browser out there that can run circles around the others speed-wise, but won’t necessarily display things the way webmasters had intended. So the question is, am I willing to wait just a little longer for a website to load correctly?

I think I am. Sorry, Opera.