bobjones.nl » Personal Branding

When Dot Com Is Dot Apple

Phil Butler — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:06:14 +0000

With the news that businesses will now have the opportunity to snap up brand-specific Internet domains through ICANN’s latest gTLD program, no more will domain squatters have a strangle hold on the dot com. That is, if companies have the cash to fork over 200 grand for their brand. Let’s face it, owning Bob dot bob could be a game changer, but the cost may be prohibitive.

The ICANN gTLD “dot brands” are the most recent convention being talked about on the World Wide Web, the move gives some companies the chance to use an internet domain that is specific to their brand name, meaning companies such as Pepsi or Nike will no longer be limited to using a .com or .org domains. Instead, they will be able to host their online operations on .pepsi or .nike domains, and etc. And, experts say that the gTLD brands offer a number of advantages, such as a better (branded) experience for customers, as well as obvious SEO benefits.

Who's looking out for the little guy? - Courtesy © laurent hamels - Fotolia.com

ICANN has announced that there will be a three months grace period, during which businesses will have first option to register domains specific to their brand name, from January until April next year. A $5000 deposit is made, then when the dozens of pages of documentation are done, and the red tape crosses – Bobsrealty dot property can own a very powerful brand. Dot Branding, as industry insiders term it, will probably be changed forever.

However, there has been criticism from some quarters about the scheme, particularly regarding the costs of registering a gTLD. With application fees in excess of $185,000, plus additional fees likely to follow, the dot brands have been lambasted by some as nothing more than a money making scheme for ICANN, who have priced small businesses out of the equation. For the medium sized business, an article on Search Engine Journal suggests a solution however.

SEO and SEM expert Ann Smarty, reported on the latest ICANN initiative, and in so doing mentioned a couple of companies on the leading edge of Dot Branding. One, VAYTON Brand Capital, offers an interesting service for new DotBrands. In short, a way around the excessive costs thanks to special intellectual property rights legislation in Luxumbourg. According to Vayton, companies can essentially take tax incentives for their Luxembourg registered brands, and use these to “auto-finance” their new domains. For those who do not know, Luxembourg offers some of the strongest protection laws for intellectual property assets in the world, not to mention tax savings of up to 80 percent for businesses operating from there.

Companies like Vayton, Dot Brand Solutions, Brand Shelter, and many others have loads of information about these new domains. For those whose companies rake in enough to “save” $200,000 in tax write-offs in Luxembourg, it might be a good idea to contact VAYTON. As for the rest of us? At least we won’t have to worry about domain squatters, but then me operating out of Bob dot microsoft probably won’t happen – EVER.

I leave you with video from ICANN which explains a bit more about these new gTLDs.

Apple now has a social network – Ping

Imran Naseem Banned – Does a BooHoo

Bob — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:49:15 +0000

Honestly, I wasn’t looking for more Imran Naseem material. But I kinda stumbled across this post on the warrior forum. Amazing how Mr Naseem dodges all valid questions from someone that wants to buy his product, and simply tells them DON’T BUY. Obviously Imran cannot produce the proof that the buyer requested, and so tries to shift the attention to the potential buyer, by saying that the buyer should take action instead of complain (which he doesn’t), be productive, and not browse forums all day.

So how the hell are people supposed to buy your products Imran? If all you do is promote your WSO’s on WarriorForum? And you’re telling them not to browse the forums? And what’s this bullshit about you not browsing any other forums but WF? Oh, is that because the similar thread you opened on Digital Point Forums got you banned from there? (Imran has a cry about DP after he got banned here. (mirror).

Why don’t you prove us all wrong about you, and answer the simple questions elirainc asked you about the product you are offering for sale?

What’s kinda scary is that the original post by Elirainc was removed by a mod or admin on WF. Seemed like legitimate questions a consumer might have before buying a product to me.

And I gotta say – Love all the users with 25 posts or less bumping the thread all the time. Proxy much? Come on people on WarriorForum. Wake up and smell the coffee – the ONLY way Imran Naseem is making money is by selling bullshit WSO’s to you. He even had a WSO (mirror) about making money with WSO’s at one time. The site is offline – Imran probably figured out that some people might start connecting the dots.

Oh, and if you lookup “Ironic” in the picture dictionary, you’ll most likely see something like this screenshot:

Learning Customer Skills with Imran Naseem

Bob — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:24:29 +0000

Hi kids. Today we will be learning customer skills 101 with Imran Naseem.

Lesson 1: The customer is always right, even when he’s wrong. Especially when his name is Imran Naseem.

Imran buys a domain from someone.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering why I keep posting about Imran – He keeps messaging me on gtalk about how great my posts about him are, and that I should keep it up.

New Imran Naseem Product Launched Today!

Bob — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:57:45 +0000

Some Scamhatter ripped Imran Naseem’s new product. This is for all you freebie seekers.

Click here to download the PDF file if you want to know how to make thousands of dollars every hour.

Imran Naseem – You crack me up

Bob — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:17:03 +0000

Please Imran ~~Narcisist~~ Naseem, stop digging. That hole you’ve made for yourself is only getting deeper.

Here’s a few replies to points in your blogpost (mirror, just in case you delete it again like you did with the last one), in which you try to justify your behaviour and attempt some form of damage-control.

1. I have now a “Cult Following” on several Blackhat “Scamhat” World forums.

Is that right Imran? You’re giving people on blackhat forums the name “Scamhatters”? So why have you been selling LOADS of blackhat products? (Google doesn’t lie). Does that mean you’re one of the SCAM hatters? Or are you just a two-faced hypocrite?

Here’s just a selection of blackhat sites you created and sold on flippa; blackhatgold.com – blackhatsalvation.com – blackhatcode.com – blackhattersmembership.com – blackhatcodebreaker.com

2. the link juice is excellent and my blog now has a PR of 3 ..thanks to a guy called “Bobby Jones” – who is a member of these “scamhat” world forums and is a professional con artist.

Oh, ok. So Google decided to give your blog a PR3 two days after I posted about you? That’s giving my blog too much credit Naseem. You really don’t know much about how SEO or Google or Pagerank works do you? Retorical question. (That means don’t answer Naseem).

And I’d love to see you give some substance to your accusation of me being a “professional con artist”. (You do know what libel is right? Ask your brother – he’s a professional qualified lawer, no?) I know you’re feeling threatened by the truth, but come-on…random name calling with not a shred of information to back-up your claims? That’s weak, even for you. Smoke and mirrors Naseem…

3. Is Frank Kern a REHASH KING?

Imran, I really don’t think you can consider yourself in the same league as Mr Kern. Oh, and did you know he has a product called Mass Control? Sounds like he’s copied the idea off your products; Mass Offline Control and Mass Cash Control. Funny that!

4. I love it when people talk about me – good or bad. In fact thanks to this “Jones” guy I had a lot of people purchase several products on my blog.

Stop lying Imran. My posts about you only had about 1000 views. Fake it until you make it comes to mind.

5. But all you do is smile and keep launching products and keep helping people make money online.

I think you made a typo there and was meaning to say; But all you do is smile and keep rehashing other people’s products and keep helping yourself to n00bies money online.

One other ‘interesting’ fact about your blog was this; You constantly seem to try and defend yourself against all the haters out there that are jealous and bitching about your online “success”. I’m starting to see a pattern Naseem. Perhaps people are bitching for a reason.

Anyway, that’s another ten back links I’ve given you. Maybe you’ll have a PR4 tomorrow?

Imran Naseem New Product Launched

Bob — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:32:51 +0000

Thanks to anonymous commentator who told me about Imran Naseems new CPA Product. Wonder if CPA Relapse 2 is going to be a CPA Relapse 1 rehash. Or perhaps Imran just ran out of names, and is now forced to rehash his product titles. Review anyone?

Imran Naseem Part 3 – Cry me a river

Bob — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:34:55 +0000

Dear readers, I would like to apologise for the flood of content today, but Imran Naseem won’t stop giving me more ammunition. Either way, this will be the last post I’ll dedicate to Imran. Even he gets boring after a while.

First off, here’s a picture of Imran’s “defence tactics” which he deemed necessary, following my 2 previous posts about him. I figured I’d make a screenshot of his post, just to keep him honest.

As you can see, he’s not telling the whole story truthfully. Just check my screenshots of the email thread, and you’ll notice that I never asked for any freebies. Oh – and I simply love the part where he ‘accuses’ me of wanting free information from pathetic blackhat sites to share.

We all know there is only one Rehash King Imran Naseem who does these things. Except he doesn’t share the free info. He sells it.

Anyway, here’s some more abuse I had to cop from Imran on my instant messenger. Enjoy!

Ah well. He rests his case. Hopefully he’ll keep his word this time and stop bothering me. Otherwise I’d have to sue his for cyberstalking or something funky.

Imran Naseem Part 2 – We’re going to court

Bob — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:01:30 +0000

What a treat kids – not one but two blogposts by your favorite Bob this month! After Imran Naseem read my previous blogpost, in which I expressed my feeling about him, he followed up with a rather amusing conversation on my instant messenger. I’m just following up on some of his advice, and paste the chatlog on my blog.

Imran Naseem will be your friend – if you pay him for it.

Bob — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:13:29 +0000

Internet Marketers about their list; “Mine’s bigger than yours!” – “Easiest money I’ve ever made” – “It’s like an online ATM” – “one email paid for my holiday”.

Most of you know will know what I mean when I talk about the “list”. It’s simply a list of email addresses obtained by an Internet Marketer over time, by getting people to sign-up to it via newsletters and/or freebies. Once a list is compiled, the marketer starts using this to contact the people on the list, trying to sell them stuff. They can say they care about you, but you’re really nothing more than a potential lead for a sale.

So what? Well…nothing. It is what it is. A list of leads. I just thought I’d explain to those of you who didn’t know yet. Anyway, back to the topic…

My email address is on loads of these lists. I’m a sucker for them. Not because I want to buy from the list owners, but because of their entertainment value. I get a chuckle every time I read about how “the doors are closing soon, buy now” – “one time only offer, price will go up tomorrow” – “Only 85 45 27 11 copies left!” – “After we sell 20 copies, we’re doubling the price!”

You get the idea. Marketers are trying to make you feel ike you will miss out on a great opportunity if you don’t act NOW. And that’s fair enough…after all – selling their products to you is their end goal, and they use every tool that they can use to get you to give them your money. They probably wouldn’t be very good marketers if they didn’t.

Once in a while, a list-owner’s behaviour stands out in my inbox. They do things slightly different, and they just kind of flag themselves. One of these guys is Imran Naseem aka Nasio987. Or as some people online like to call him:

* a.k.a. TheRehashingMachine™, MasterRehasher™, CopyPaster™, …,
TheGreatestRehasherWhoEverLived™. All items trademarked by Imran Naseem.

Imran is a product maker/website flipper. Basically what he does is get content from one place, flushes it through his secret rehash machine, uses new wrapping paper, and puts his own stamp on it. He then sells this product on a new sales website, makes a few bucks from buyers on forums full of aspiring and ignorant marketing newbies that are willing to pay for any new product that promises them a magic wand to get rich online. Once this stream dries up, he packs up his things, and sells the sales website and product to some other ignorant and unsuspecting newbie.

The Imran Naseem product catalogue is available on Flippa by the way. See for yourself what I’m talking about.

Say what you want, but I simply refuse to believe that someone who has offered a dozen CPA related websites for sale in the past few months, really has new and useful information on each and every one of those sites.

Well, think of this method what you want – it seems to work well for Imran. He’ll never be out of business with a new sucker born every minute.

*Disclaimer – I have not bought a single one of Imran’s products, so I could be WAY off in this post. But something about selling $5 ebooks on how to make thousands of dollars with something like CPA just doesn’t feel right to me. If your information product is that good, why on earth would you:

A: Sell it for dirtcheap ? (because the cheaper the price, the more you can flog?)

B: Sell it in the first place! (creating competition for yourself)

In case you are wondering why I’m having a whinge about Imran Naseem…Well I replied to one of his emails today, asking him if he wasn’t getting tired of emailing people on his list all day every day. As a response Imran basically told me immediately to piss off, and he kicked me from his list because I never bought anything from him, and I was accused of being a freebie seeker…

I wonder why he got all up in arms and uber-defensive right away. Makes me think he might be used to dealing with complaint emails a lot or something…Here’s the email thread, starting with me replying to a sales email for a product called CPA Relapse 2.

His final request was not to respond to him, since he didn’t have time for this. Assuming he was indeed busy doing some more rehashing and emailing people that will give him their money, I left the conversation at that. See, I’m not such a bad guy after-all. Even gave him a few free links!

I’m a Published Author. Sort of.

Bob — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:48:29 +0000

Don’t ask me how, but for some reason I came across a reference online, which told me that one of my old blogs (Bobmeetsworld.com) had one of it’s articles quoted and published in a real book.

So that might not sound like much, but I bought the book just now, and reading back my own words on actual paper, gave me the urge to write a blog post! Trust me, seeing your words in a paperback is SO much different than seeing them on your computer screen.

Blogging is what got it all started for me. Before Bobmeetsworld, I was an average Internet user. I emailed, I browsed, I downloaded, I chatted. then, I started blogging, out of sheer boredom and a bit of curiosity.

Today, I consider myself as an ‘Internet Insider’. I run a popular TV series website which attracts over 1.5 million page-views per month, I have connections with many other successful insiders, and I make more money online than what I earn in my day-time job. To be honest, I just have my day job so I get to spend time with real people during the day.

The Internet is a magnificent tool, a place to communicate with the world. Getting ideas, passing knowledge, making connections. There isn’t a thing you cannot do online. What you need to learn though, is how to use it. How to behave and communicate with other people online. You only get out of it what you put into it.

Collaboration is key in most online success stories. Bloggers collaborate with their readers. Social networks collaborate with their users. We all need each other to gain success, and that’s why you need to respect other views and opinions. It’s all too easy staying anonymous and give out. It’s much harder to adapt and engage on more levels than your comfort zone has.

The book: (Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs)