http://FlamingText.com is the website that we used to create free logo online within minutes for some of our sites noted below.

We created the logo of this very site with Flaming Text – time taken: 3 minutes and a major portion of that being just to decide on the color. For our small biz directory on http://SmallBusinessSites.org, it took us under 5 minutes to create the logo. We created an animated logo in about 10 minutes for http://24365.co. The great thing about this online resource is that you get to see a live preview of the logo with each setting or option that you select.

And, the whole thing is absolutely free. No ads, no watermarks, no restrictions! Just download or email the logo as soon as it is ready.

I have a query for all domainers. You have just opened a browser window and want to search for candy floss. How do you do it?
1. Type google.com in the browser address bar and press enter. When google search opens, type candy floss in the search box and press enter.
2. Same as above, but you check to see if you are indeed in google.com or the local version. If local version then you click “go to google.com” before searching.
3. You type candy floss in the browser’s address bar and press enter.
4. You type candyfloss in the browser’s address bar and press enter.
5. You type candyfloss.com in the browser’s address bar and press enter.

Now, how many of your theories are already flowing out the window? And, I haven’t even talked about different browsers yet! Is it IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera?

Are you on a mobile smartphone?

Do you put the double quotes when you search?

If you are on google, have you turned off the instant search feature?

When you are typing in the search bar, do you look at and consider the suggested phrases?

If you are typing in the address bar, do you consider the history and bookmark suggested links?

Now, what do you think about a type-in?

…to be cont’d…

Name.com has recently started the Name.com Investors Club. Customers who have registered more than 25 domains with them are eligible. You get higher rates of discount than what are advertised for the general public on their Twitter and Facebook pages. And, their sweetest deal at the moment is $11.99 .IN renewal.

Read more about the Name.com investor club and sign-up here (this is not an affiliate link ).

GoDaddy Affiliates frequently get killer deals. Earlier we needed to lick CJ.com’s bottom and still they would kick on our face (God! I hate CJ and similar affiliate networks), but now all GoDaddy customers are automatically eligible to be a direct affiliate.

The GoDaddy automatic / direct affiliate system (this is an affiliate link ) was started by them just a few months back. You get inside info about discounts up to 30% and frequent promotion code emails, like the one we got today for 20% off anything valid only today. We also had one for 25% off everything valid for the whole of last week. No need to search for coupons or promo codes all over the Internet. BTW, are you one of the folks who hate GoDaddy upsells? You are losing out on great, surprise deals that they spring up on you, just for a few clicks more!

A Canadian court recently held that advertising campaigns on keywords that are trademark names, do not infringe on trademark rights. Read more about this legal brief on trademark names at Sedo.

In another case, a US Federal Court rules against Toyota in Buy-A-Lexus.com & BuyorLeaseLexus.com. In brief, it says when the alleged domain owner is obviously promoting the trade mark itself and not competing with it, then it is not bad faith. Read more details about Toyota losing the domain case at TheDomains.com.

UPDATE: May 05, 2010. This post has partly become irrelevant, because Bido.com ceased operations as of date.

April 05, 2010. Every domainer has tried to submit their domain(s) at some or other domain auction portal and faced rejection. Most places where you won’t face rejection are places that charge upfront to list your name. And almost all of these sites try to tell you that your domain is crap unless it is a one word dictionary term and has type-in traffic of a few thousands per day.

If we had that kind of domain why would we want to sell it unless we were bankrupt. Do they think that we can’t develop a business out of such a domain? But when you see their own lists you can see what real crap is. They are looking for premium names to offload their own crap mixed in with good names.

Enter BIDO! Bido domain name auctions have changed the face of domain selling with an ingenious method of free listing along with vote for profit where Bido users vote on names to go for auction. And, in the process, they gain a percentage of Bido profit, when the name they voted sells. It’s the market that decides whether a domain is crappy or not. But sometimes many users may not notice a domain to vote or their votes may get exhausted. For such cases they have the acceleration method. You buy credit and move your domain to the auction without any votes. If you find that you wanted to vote for a name which could bid real high and you stand to gain by voting for it, and your votes were exhausted, then you can use the credit to change to votes and then vote for profit on Bido.

Bido takes commission only when your name sells. There is no upfront charge to list. Your domain name can get voted up for auction or you could use paid credit to accelerate it to auction. Bido’s a favorite online hangout for us nowadays.

Another very useful tool is the appraised drop lists. Lists of domains dropping at different sources are analyzed and appraised and available for download.

The Estibot appraisal itself is a a thorough analysis of various parameters that go in understanding the value and utility of a good domain name.

The site also has a classifieds section where you can list your domain name services, as also domain names for sale and websites for sale.