Let me be upfront in saying that I got into blogging as a means to earn income in my extra time. I wasn't all that good in writing before I started blogging. For years, I haven't even wrote a whole story. I never wrote a poem, an essay or a story my whole life. Needless to say, people who know me would tell you I'm the last person they expect to be a blogger.

In any case, here I am... 1 year into blogging. It felt like an addiction after a couple of months. Good things kept happening which only encouraged me to get better at it. Right now, I have 2 main blogs I maintain regularly and also I have 3 other blogs in development. This blog included.

Why do I think blogging and domaining can complement each other? Well for one thing, I think a blogger and a domainer are both doing the same thing which is building a brand. When you're blogging, you're trying to create a name for yourself in your chosen niche. Building a reputation and good content is a primary goal if you're blogging. An authoritative blog gets more traffic and gets more readership. In my mind, this is the same goal a domainer is reaching for. To get the most out of selling a domain, a domainer needs to develop his domain so that it gets more traffic, gets indexed by search engines better and gets more visibility on the web. A domainer's blog/domain that gets more subscribers and search engine traffic is definitely more attractive than a domain that is parked. A developed domain/blog will fulfill a domainer's goal of selling the domain for a heftier price.

Not all domainers are bloggers and vice-versa. Knowing both and doing good at both, however, will definitely be a plus in the long run.

Transferring my blogspot blogs to their own domains name hase always been a goal I wanted since I started blogging. When I finally was able to buy their domain name, I successfully made the custom domain name forwarding to their own with little trouble. Of course, I was a little cautious going around the procedures of the whole deal because I was afraid of messing up things especially because I can't just call godaddy for help. I'm overseas and calling their tech support may cost me a lot more than buying the the domains themselves.

So i thought everything was cool. Until I found that all of them were not working as I thought they would be. For example, this blog buymedomains.com is not forwarding to www.buymedomains.com. What's the problem with that? Well... most people nowadays don't type in WWW when they go to a website. All they do is type the root domain buymedomains.com. In this blog's case, when I type buymedomains.com, I arrive at a Godaddy parking page.

At first it was frustrating and since I didn't have the patience of rifling through the so called solutions database of Google, I just let it go at that time. Well, today I had a little time to kill and found the interest to resolve it for my own domains' sake. I found the solution at The Real Blogger Status blog. I can't believe the solution itself wasn't in the Blogger Help Center! I had to follow several links to get to the actual solution.

It was really simple BTW. I can't believe the answer was "just under my nose". All I had to do was delete the one liner under A Host and viola! Problem solved in a matter of 2 minutes. I did the same thing for all my blogs that have custom domains and they all work fine now!

If you're having the same exact problem of using your own custom domain name with Godaddy, check out The Real Blogger Status blog. Follow the screen shots is what I recommend. There's a chance you'll get lost in all the tech talk the blogger has there. It worked for me.

Here's the real deal in the dot me domain registration. It's funny I found this bit of information. I was checking my traffic to see where the traffic for this young blog is coming from. I was surprised to find other blogs actually publishing it's contents already. Thanks to conceptualist.com who published my post. His blog led me to a comment providing more specific information about the .me rollout. There's actually a few domains out there already for .me. One is domain.me where this info is published.

Here's the deal:

March 24:
• Registration of Government second level domains
Migration from cg.yu to co.me/org.me/net.me/its.me – Montenegro only

March 25 to April 16:
•accepting requests for migration from cg.yu to co.me/org.me/net.me/its.me

April 18 to 21:
•requests processed and domains go live
May 1-May 6: Montenegrin Sunrise
• Only applications from Montenegrin entities are allowed and will be submitted directly.
• Applications from Montenegrin Sunrise will be evaluated in the Quiet Period, along with applications from the General Sunrise. If there were multiple applications for a domain, a Montenegrin Sunrise applicant will compete in auction with General Sunrise applicants.

May 6-May 20: General Sunrise
• All accredited registrars allowed into registry.
• Application info available to registrars (via EPP and Web Admin Tool) but not via WHOIS
• Ongoing registrar accreditations.

May 20-June 6: Quiet Period
• Registry closed to registrars; domain queries may be possible.
• 5-day or 7-day Sunrise auctions held for names that received multiple applications. Names for which there was only one application are allocated via batch job. Application info will not be available to registrars; names show up in WHOIS only after they are allocated.
• Domains are billed for at the time of allocation.
• Compliance checking will continue through the Quiet Period
• Newly accredited registrars can be set up in this period in preparation for Landrush.
June 6-June 26: Landrush
• Landrush application info available to registrars (via EPP and Web Admin Tool) but not via WHOIS
• Newly accredited registrars can be set up in this period.
• Sunrise Challenges begin

June 26-July 15: Quiet Period
• Registry closed to registrars; domain queries may be possible.
• 5-day or 7-day Landrush auctions held for names that received multiple applications. Names for which there was only one application are allocated. Application info may be available to registrars; names show up in WHOIS after they are allocated.
• Domains are billed for at the time of allocation.

July 17: Open Registration
• Dot me domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis

“Premium Names” auctions
• Expected to begin in September 2008.

Thanks to domain.me

Here's the next best thing while waiting for the soon to be most coveted domain name extensions since dot com. Well... what's there left to do but wait...

Godaddy.com which won the bidding to provide and register dot me domains in behalf of the assigned country Montenegro says the sale of these Top-Level domains will most likely be this summer or early fall season but stopped short of identifying the exact date.

According to Godaddy Inc., the .ME domain extension may be registered by anyone. The registry, in consultation with Montenegro's Government Council for the .ME domain, expects to begin selling .ME domains in the second or third quarter of 2008.

Here's the rest of the answers Godaddy.com provided regarding the imminent sale of these next best things in domain names.
Will the release take place in stages?
Yes. Like most domain extensions, .ME will begin with a Sunrise Period, where individuals who have trademarks may apply for the .ME version of their domain name. A Landrush Period will follow, during which anyone may apply for a .ME.

Can I pre-register a .ME domain name and will any .ME domain names be auctioned?
Most likely, but the details are still being defined.
Will .ME work like other extensions?
Yes. .ME has been delegated by ICANN and has been added to the Domain Name System root servers just like .com, .net and other extensions. Afilias Global Registry Services will be providing the registry support for .ME. Afilias, the world's second largest registry services provider, currently supports .INFO, .MOBI, .ASIA, and others.

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