Hi all,

So, in promoting the dot WS extension you might get a question or two about the TLD itself.  (I recently wrote an article on that at passiveincome.ws if you want to check it out.)

We all know that it's actually a country code TLD that comes from Western Samoa.  And generally the search engines will rank ccTLD's in the country they come from.  For instance, a dot FR TLD and your website will show more readily in France.

However, some ccTLD's are so widespread that search engines actually treat them as gTLD's (general top level domain).  The full list and a link to Google support on these ccTLD's can be found in that same article on my site.

The dot WS TLD is among that list.  They treat it the same way they would a dot COM.  Meaning, to them, it's a gTLD and not a ccTLD.

But wait a minute, don't dot COM websites rank better anyway?  The answer is, no.  I found no studies that in any way confirmed that dot COM ranks better than any other TLD.  In fact, I did find studies that showed the opposite.

Matt Cutts, leader of the Google Web Spam Division confirmed this by saying, "Sorry, but that's just not true, and as an engineer in the search quality team at Google, I feel the need to debunk this misconception. Google has a lot of experience in returning relevant web pages, regardless of the top-level domain (TLD)."

So, despite what the title claims, dot WS can rank in the United States just as well as a dot COM or dot NET.  It is a valuable alternative to anyone seeking a specific domain name that has been taken by more common TLD's.

Hope that helps!

Hey all,

So, a new team member the other day was freaking out.  Her new site was jumping around radically in the search engines.  She has gone from being on the first page to being on the 20th page to not being indexed at all back to being on the first page and so on...

If you are experiencing the same thing please, do not worry.  It's frustrating, I know.  However, virtually every new site experiences this radical change in position for the first 1-4 months.

This happens for several reasons.  First, your site is probably small right now so any changes you make can cause the search engines to re-evaluate your site.  Second, it can take them weeks, months and even years sometimes to find and index any backlinks you may have.

But rest assured, as your site grows larger changes will not have such a major and quick impact.  I've owned several sites that sat at the top of the search engines and can personally attest to how crazy the shifts are at first.  They will level out in time.

Hope this post reaches at least one person undergoing the search engine position shuffle.  You have done nothing wrong and your site is fine.  Keep doin' what you are doin'.

Hi there, Andrea.  I think it depends on what kind of website you have up.  For instance, my blog using the WordPress plugin looks great on my Samsung S4.  But I have seen sites (not necessarily GDI ones) that don't function properly.  Give us a link, if you will, so we can see what's up.  I'm pretty sure the sitebuilder uses a lot of flash which does not always display properly on all devices.  I would consider that a phone issue.  Not sure, though!

Hello there, Cleveland, Ohio!  Wish you all the best.  Put a link to your .ws website in your profile so we can all have a look see. 


Hi Tracy!  Awesome.  There are so many people with experience but the forum has been so quiet.  Looking forward to seeing you on here more.


Hi there, Ricky.  There is a lot to learn and there are so many different ways people grow their business.  Everything from blogging to... well, one of our top members used to use billboard ads!  What have you done with your site so far?  Any ideas on how you WANT to grow the business.

There really is no one size fits all.  There are basics, for sure.  My personal advice is not to bother buying programs that say they will teach you everything.  Not bashing programs like that but, I have rarely found anything from paid sources I hadn't already found by doing searches on Google.

Of course, nothing wrong with buying books (for instance, want to blog?  Maybe read up on how to write things that get results.  Joe Vitale has some great books called Hypnotic Writing.)

Any ideas on what you want to do?  Blogging, social media, forums, paid advertising, talking to people you meet and know (I had a team member who's whole strategy was to talk to people he met at parties.)  Gotta find what fits for you, then research it and most importantly, do something.  Heck, a simple post (not spammy ones) on Facebook can bring in some of your first members.

There is just so much.  Let us know if you have specific questions! 

Hey all,

Just wrote a new post and would like some input and/or critique.  It's a post about NOT needing a website for affiliate marketing, though I less than sneakily slipped GDI in there multiple times.

There is an affiliate link to a game addon in there, but it's nothing I expect you to buy.  So, not trying to sell you anything or get anything from you other than... you input. 

http://passiveincome.ws/affiliate-marketer-without-a-website/

What do you think?  Like it?  Need improvement?  ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT???

Hi all,

The vast majority of us on here are here because we like and believe in GDI's products, and we want to make some extra money.  Right?

Well, our product is domains and hosting, and many of us have built our own blogs and websites using the various platforms GDI provides and supports.

Now, I've been out of this game for quite some time so had to catch up on current SEO practices and how to rise up in the search engines.  And during that search and research I ran into a lot of conflicting information regarding the practice of building links back to our sites.  So, I wish to propose a question here and give you my opinion based on what I found out.

Link building has been and still is #2 when it comes to getting your website (one you build, NOT affiliate pages) to rise in the search engines.  #1 of course is creating quality content which, as a side note, is one of the biggest ways to accomplish #2.

If you would like recent experimental proof please feel free to read my post on link building.

Google was the first search engine to use backlinking as a sign of a pages authority on a particular subject (or keyword, same difference).  And to this day it is immensely important.  If you do not believe me check out the YouTube channel Google Webmasters and look for videos by Matt Cutts on the subject.

However, people tend to take a little information and run with it.  For instance, Google has a stance on commenting on blogs.  Now, many people will say that they penalize people who use this as a link building tactic.  And they are not wrong.  But they are not right either.

Google has stated that if they see an inordinate amount of links pointing to a site in a very short period of time, this will raise flags and the site may be penalized.  In other words, if you create a bunch of links in a very short period of time, they will notice and they consider this trying to cheat their ranking system.

They also said that if they see that all of the backlinks your site has are from one particular type of source AND it is what they consider an unnatural amount, it will raise flags and your site might be penalized.

However, they have also said that they encourage people to comment on blogs, write in forums, write guests posts and the like as it fosters discussions, brings new information to the table and helps further topics and discussions.  They are, after all, in the business of bringing relevant information to their users.

Creating backlinks as an SEO tactic is absolutely and definitely viable and not dead!  But with new algorithms they will track down and penalize unnatural behavior.  Buying links, link stuffing, creating massive amounts of backlinks in a short amount of time.  And especially to poorly written, short articles and posts.  Because, why would ANYONE want to link to, much less read, spun and unhelpful posts or articles that only have one thing in mind... to sell.

And of course we want to sell!  But, one of GDI's motto's is "You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want."

The most important thing is to create good, lengthy, quality content that people will naturally want to share!  This will naturally create backlinks.

To keep from writing a whole new post I just want to give you a few tips if you are currently wondering how to create backlinks.  (And you have to be patient!  We all know about the SERP dance when you first create a site.  And it takes TIME for you sites to rise to the top in search engines and stay at the top.)

1. Create high quality content!
2. Comment on blogs.  But not with the idea of getting a backlink.  With the idea of furthering the discussion and bringing new points to the table.  "Great post" or rehashing what has already been said is not a quality comment.
3. Participate in forums but be very careful of your signature.  At the very least do not use the same anchor text from one forum to the next.  This can be seen as trying to game the system and may raise flags.
4. Write guest posts.  But write them on high quality blogs that only accept high quality work.  It's harder to get these, but it's worth it.
5. Create high quality content!

There are of course numerous ways to create backlinks.  But things search engines are looking for are a variety of anchor texts (and no anchor text is fine too!) on a variety of sites in a variety of ways.  Go slow!  Always think first of sharing information and furthering discussions.  The backlink is just an after effect.  If you are visiting a blog just to see if you can create a backlink, you are in danger.

As to the question I alluded to at the beginning... what are your thoughts and experiences?  Please share!

Hi Gavin,

Thank you for replying!  No idea how I missed the reply as I've been on here every day for over a week!

A couple answers to that, so thank you for the question, too.

One, and this of course is purely selfish, I just started a new blog and at some point I want to point people to the forum.  (I'll answer the why in a moment.)  At the moment Global Domains International forum is not searched for very much at all but... well, that brings me to my second answer.  If I do create a post like, "Need GDI Help?  Check out the GDI Forums!" then I would, selfishly, like to earn them as an affiliate if they join GDI from one of the top links on the forum.

Obviously a better way would be for them to click my website link to check me out because I have sooooo much knowledge and information to share, and to join from there.  But, I wouldn't bemoan a signup from here, either.

Now, on to the second part which is why I would want to show people this place to begin with.  And great point!  This has been on my mind for a couple days now.  I took a 3 year break from GDI (kept my account, just took down my websites and all that), and coming back this place is very quiet.  And that does sadden me as it is a good place for affiliates to connect with one another and exchange ideas.  When I first joined Chip Snyder was the main moderator.  Had a lot of fun reading his posts, answers and we messaged each other back and forth a bit.

Anyway, right before I saw your reply I came on here to do one thing: start answering questions.  Start creating relevant, interesting posts to help other members.  To take it upon myself to start helping this site breathe a bit more deeply.  And hopefully by making a personal commitment to being more active, others will do the same and this beast we call GDI will roar back to life.

Wishful thinking?  Absolutely.  But without dreaming and wishful thinking (imagining things that others find impossible or improbable at best), most of us wouldn't be here to begin with.

So, that's why!  Hope it made sense!

And thanks again for the reply!

Hey there, Lisa.

Nice forum!  Thanks for posting a link to it.

For those of you that have created their own website, blog or forum go register on her forum and put your website url in the profile section.

It's a backlink to your site!

Thanks again, Lisa.

Hi everyone,

So, I've been playing around with this to no avail.  My question and idea is... is there a way to tag your affiliate ID on the forum?

The links at the top of the forum like the testimonials page, the bonuses page... they could have affiliate ID's tied to them.  So, is there a way to give people a link to talk.ws with your affiliate ID attached so if they navigate to website.ws or some other page it is tagged with you as the referrer?

Ideas?  Thanks!

Vince

Hi Jon Anthony,

There certainly is.  Go to your member's area in GDI.  https://www.website.ws/members/index.dhtml

In the links on the left click "Downline."  On that page near the top is a button that says, "Move Downline Members."

Remember, you can only move members once, you can only move ones you personally sponsor and the move is not reversible.

For the more advanced that are using WordPress you can also use a plugin like Redirection.  With this you create a link that does nothing but redirects to a new link.  Then, instead of YOUR GDI link you can put in one of your downline members GDI affiliate links.  Like, if you have a JOIN GDI link on your site, you can change it to someone on your team instead of yourself.  Great thing about this plugin is you can change the "target link" anytime you want.  So, each day you can promote for one of your team members across your whole site by changing just one thing in the redirection plugin area.

Again, that's for more advanced users but if you understand what I'm saying and have never thought of it... well, you're welcome.    And of course you can always change it to point to YOUR affiliate link as well when you want!  Totally up to you.  But saves having to change links across your entire site.  It does the work for you!  And your downline members will looooove you and this in turn will keep them in YOUR downline.

Vince

Hi Julie,

Not the most elementary question at all.  Never be afraid to ask.

Looks like you figured it out!  But, for others wondering the same thing here is an easy way...

Login to your GDI member area.  https://www.website.ws/members/index.dhtml

Click on "My Replicated Sites" in the left menu of links.  You see all of your affiliate pages there.

Now, right click on the one you want, choose copy link or copy link location (depends on your browser) and now you can paste it into your blog or website or widget or whatever.

Easy peasy!  Hope that helps.

Vince

Hello, C_Carter1!

Welcome to GDI and the forum.  If you have questions, feel free to ask and someone will answer back.

Hope you have a great time and massive success to you!

Vince

Hi, Yordan.  Welcome. 

Hey there, Smokey.

We live in a good time.  Virtually every answer to every question you might have is pretty readily available.  Of course, instant gratification leads to other problems, but the information is out there.  Like what Cinco De Mayo is!  By the way, I didn't know.  So thanks for that!

The comments about your wife had me laughing.  I'm not married, but I know the look.

Anyway, the whole reason for the reply is about information and relating it to GDI.  Recently a team member wrote me asking about how to come up with content for her blog.  The answer to that is really easy.  Do what Smokey did!  Ask Mr. Google (or Bing or Yahoo or some other), read a bit and write about what you learned.

For instance, she had a question about coming up with content for her blog.  My advice was to look that question up, read a few articles and watch a few videos, and then in her own words right a post about it.  Or split it into 2 posts.  Instant content and you don't have to come up with anything.

So, great story and great lesson.  Use every resource available to you.  There is nothing wrong with not knowing the answers.  Just know how to find the answers.  And you are way ahead of everyone else.

Hey, thanks for the post, Smokey!

Vince

Hi there,

Well, you make money by referring other people to GDI.  Yes, you can also get money from the bonuses and contests.  But the main objective is to refer other people to the business.  That is where the residual income comes from.

Now, how you do that is really up to you.  And there are many ways you can.

• Talk one on one with people you know and have them go watch the movie.
• Hand people around you a business card with your link and have them watch the movie.
• Talk to people on Facebook or some other social media.  Strike up a conversation.  Ask questions and see if GDI would be a good fit.  Whether for the domain and website, for the income or both.  If it is, bring it up.
• You can also share funny videos, inspirational stuff or whatever on social media and include a link to the GDI movie right after your comment.  "Check this out.  Too funny!  YOUR AFFILIATE LINK"
• Think of a topic you would like to write about.  Do some research and find a niche that doesn't have crazy competition.  Write posts that bring value, help and assistance to whomever you are writing for.  Build up a following and from time to time tell them how GDI could help them.  For instance, if you write about video games talk about how they could start their own gaming site or whatever.  You get the drift.
• Start a YouTube channel and do the same thing.  Only, instead of writing make videos.  Just keep GDI out of it on the front end.  Be helpful, useful and as you build relationships with people and as people follow your channel, mention GDI from time to time and how it can help them in some way.

This is just a very short list of things you can do.  Brainstorm and you can come up with many.  I would advise only pick one method, two at the most, and run with those until you see results.  Then you can try other stuff.

Just remember to always provide value.  It gets easier as you go along and learn more.  But the name of the game is referring people to GDI.  Plain and simple.

Hope that helped just a bit. 

Vince