I have updated my most popular post, “23 Must-Read Blogs for Domainers (and Some Extras)” and it’s now “25 Must-Read Blogs for Domainers (and Some Extras).”

I added DotSauce.com, which I just discovered, and Ambler on the Net. That’s Christopher Ambler’s industry blog, covering Internet industry news, ICANN, the Domain Name System, Domainers, domain monetization, and other items of interest.

Also new on the list is CircleID.com. More of a social media site than a true blog, CircleID.com is a community hub for the internet’s infrastructure & policies.

I also added some extras, including GlobeDomains.com (a domain name blog with a focus on ccTLDs) , and Domaining.org.uk, an excellent blog that focuses on .uk domains.

1. CircleID.com – http://www.circleid.com/
   More of a social media site than a true blog, CircleID.com is a community hub for the internet’s infrastructure & policies.
2. The Conceptualist – http://www.conceptualist.com/
   Sahar Sarid’s is co-founder of Recall Media Group and self-made domain entrepreneur. I check this one every day.
3. David Carter’s Blog – http://www.david-carter.com/blog/
   David is a domainer and internet marketer from Birmingham, U.K.
4. DailyDomainer.com – http://www.dailydomainer.com/
   I’m not sure what’s going on with the Daily Domainer. This blog was inactive from June to October, then there was a small flurry of posts, and now it is dormant once again. In any case there’s plenty of good archived material.
5. DirectNavigation.com – http://directnavigation.com/
   A recent addition to this list, DirectNavigation.com is written by an experienced domainer. Frequent updates consist of short domain industry news briefs.
6. DNBizBlog.com – http://www.dnbizblog.com/
   DNBizBlog just debuted in November 2007, but is a truly welcome addition with excellent advice and personal experiences of a long-time domainer. This is what we need more of.
7. DomainBits.com – http://www.domainbits.com/
   Jeff Behrendt’s blog debuted in November 2007 and has already garnered a lot of attention for its well-researched posts.
8. Domain Name News – http://www.domainnamenews.com/
   Run by two domainers, this blog supplies domain industry news, particularly coverage of domain conferences.
9. DomainPulse.com – http://www.domainpulse.com/
   Domain pulse provides a steady stream of domain name industry news.
10. DomainerPro.com – http://www.domainerpro.com/
    W. H. Abdelgawad’s new domaining blog is a welcome addition. Good information for beginning domainers, and general domaining strategies.
11. The Domainer’s Gazette – http://www.domainersgazette.com/
    Billed as ” Domainers Covering the Domaining Industry”, this is Peter Askew’s domaining blog. Peter started this blog in March 2007 and has posted much useful information.
12. DomainTools Blog – http://blog.domaintools.com/
    Jay Westerdal’s blog is updated frequently and provides heavy coverage of domain name conferences and auctions. Jay is a frequent poster on NamePros.com as well.
13. Domain Name Wire – http://www.domainnamewire.com/
    News source for the domain name industry written by industry experts and edited by Andrew Allemann.
14. Dominik Mueller Domain Name Consulting – http://www.dmueller.com/
    Dominik, who has been in the domain business since 2003, specializes in the sale and acquisition of premium domain names.
15. DotSauce Domain News Magazine – http://www.dotsauce.com/
    DotSauce was founded in April 2007 by Mark Fulton who says, “we understand that you want more than drab news and controversy concerning ICANN, so we will often times include articles, reviews and news on innovative applications and resources you may find useful.”
16. Elliot’s Blog – http://www.elliotsblog.com/
    Elliot Silver is the owner of Top Notch Domains LLC, which owns a strong portfolio of generic domain names. His blog is definitely a must-read, not least for his superb “5 With” series of interviews of major domaining personalities.
17. Inside Domaining – http://www.insidedomaining.blogspot.com/
    Steve Granville-Smith’s blog: “This is Your Time, You Were Born to Be A Domainer!”
18. The Key – http://blogs.business2.com/sloan/
    Paul Sloan’s blog is a member of Business 2.0′s Blog Network, and is very industry oriented.
19. Name Brief – http://www.namebrief.com/
    Bret Fausett is not a prolific poster, but his writing is interesting and relevant.
20. RickLatona.com – http://www.ricklatona.com/
    Rick Latona is a top domainer who has recently debuted a blog and a daily newsletter in which he offers premium domains for sale at low prices.
21. The Rick Shwartz Domain and Traffic Blog – http://www.ricksblog.com/
    Rick Schwartz, the “Domain King,” says that he is “famous for ruffling feathers.” In any case, he is one of the leaders of the domain name industry and his blog is indispensable reading for any serious domainer.
22. Seven Mile: the Official Frank Schilling Blog – http://frankschilling.typepad.com/my_weblog/
    Frank Schilling is one of the dukes of the domain name industry. Any domainer can learn a lot from him.
23. Tropical SEO – http://tropicalseo.com/
    Crude language but insightful posts on search engine optimization (obviously), domaining and “competitive webmastering.”
24. Whizzbangsblog.com – http://whizzbangsblog.com/
    Michael Gilmour’s domaining blog.

Other Important Blogs

These blogs are not focused specifically on domain names, though some of them do address the topic from time to time. But they are very useful for anyone interested in website monetization and profitable web publishing:

25. Aaron Wall’s SEO Book.com – http://www.seobook.com/
    An important blog about online marketing and search engine optimization.
26. CopyBlogger.com – http://www.copyblogger.com/
    Copywriting tips for online marketing success.
27. DNXpert.com – http://www.dnxpert.com/
    Domain name industry news. Blogger John Motson also regularly shares lists of good expired or available domain names with his readers and subscribers.
28. doshdosh – http://www.doshdosh.com/
    Subtitled “helping you make money online”, doshdosh.com is an incredibly useful blog. Updated daily, there is a wealth of information here about blogging, website monetization and promotion strategies, and online entrepreneurship in general.
29. Tony Hill’s Ad Publishing Blog – http://www.tony-hill.net/
    Great guidance on effective web publishing.

Extras:

These are not necessarily must-read blogs, but they make for interesting reading nonetheless:

30. Ambler on the Net – http://www.ambler.net/
    Christopher Ambler’s industry blog, covering Internet industry news, ICANN, the Domain Name System, Domainers, domain monetization, and other items of interest.
31. The Amateur Domainer – http://www.amateurdomainer.com/
    He portrays himself as a total bumbler, just trying to make a few cents. But for a beginner he’s doing a lot of things right. I ended up reading almost every post he’s written.
32. BorgHunter’s Blog – http://www.borghunter.com/
    Though only a high school student, Mitchell Bundy’ – the “Borg Hunter” -has notably developed a domain name portfolio plugin for WordPress.
33. BVTD.com: Buying, Valuating and Trading Domains – http://bvtd.com/
    A new blog introduced in March 2008 by a fellow who collects LLLL.com and LLLLL.com domains as a hobby.
34. Domaining.org.uk – http://www.domaining.org.uk/
    An excellent blog that focuses on .uk domains.
35. DNVW: Domain Name Values Weekly – http://www.dnvw.com/
    This blog recently changed hands and David, the new owner, has given it a fresh breath of life. With its new design and updated content, this is one to watch.
36. Income.com – http://www.income.com/
    John Reese’s Income.com blog contains a lot of useful information about marketing, traffic generation and SEO.
37. Quad Letter Domains – http://www.quadletterdomains.com/
    Market trends, news and personal experience of four letter domains for enthusiasts and investors.
38. StevePavlina.com: Personal Development for Smart People – http://www.stevepavlina.com/
    Steve Pavlina’s blog contains enough material on personal development to fill several books. He also writes about blogging and making money online.Inactive Blogs:
    
39. DomainEditorial.com – http://www.domaineditorial.com/
    This blog has not been active since July 2007 but has some good archived material.
40. Domain Rookie – http://domainrookie.com/
    Subtitled, “Stumbling through the domain investment world one day at a time”, this is another blog that had some promise but petered out in July 2007.

32 Free Keyword Tools for Domain Research and SEO

Keyword tools are vital for SEO, but they can also be used as domain name analysis tools. Popular keywords form the basis for good generic domain names. And if the specific domain you want is taken, a keyword tool may help you come up with an acceptable alternative. Keyword tools can also help you optimize your domain’s parking page, analyze a domain or website you’re thinking about buying, and see what your competitors are doing.

I hope to build DomainerPro.com into an important domaining resource that will help both beginning and experienced domainers. Toward that end, I’ve put together this list of 30 free web-based keyword research tools. All of these tools are free and functioning as of this writing. Some of these tools are repetitive, but many present data in different ways, so you may find that you like one more than another. I rejected several other tools because they are ineffective or non-functioning, including the goRank ontology lookup tool, KeywordLizard.com, and the GoLexa search tool.

Here are the tools, in alphabetical order. Feedback is appreciated:

1. 123 Promotion.co.uk Overture Keyword Tool – http://www.123promotion.co.uk/ppc/index.php
   Combines Overture and Wordtracker results from the previous month.
2. 7Search Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://7search.com/KST
   I find the double word verification entry annoying, but results are interesting.
3. Apogee Web Consulting’s Meta Keywords Research Tool – http://www.apogee-web-consulting.com/tools/keyword_tool.php
   This tool may be more useful for SEO than domaining. Put in a URL and it gives you that site’s primary keywords.
4. Ask.com – http://www.ask.com/
   Do any search then see the “Narrow Your Search” link on the left for alternative keywords.
5. CheckRankings.com Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://www.checkrankings.com/keywordsuggestion/
   Focuses on Google Adwords, showing the number of searches and competitors in Adwords.
6. Compete.com – http://www.compete.com/
   Enter up to three domains and this tool gives you a graph showing traffic levels over the last year.
7. Digital Point’s Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
   Like a few other tools here, this one combines Overture and Wordtracker results. Most of them present the data in different ways, so worth a look.
8. Global Promotor’s Keyword Generator Tool – http://www.globalpromoter.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestion-tool.cfm
   Adds to the Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool by drawing keywords from 6 major search engines.
9. Good Keywords – http://www.goodkeywords.com/
   This is a download, not an online tool, but it’s free and many SEO experts use it. Makes use of various tools provided by search engines like the Overture Search Suggestion Tool, Search Engines Like Yahoo, Google, MSN, Ask and other services like Alexa.
10. Google Adwords Keyword Tool – https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
    Suggests up to 200 keywords related to yours, with tiny bar graphs showing search volume and advertiser competition.
11. Google Suggest Labs – http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1
    As you type a word, GSL tries to complete it for you, showing you multiple keywords with search volume. Choose one of GSL’s suggestions to navigate the results.
12. Google Trends Labs – http://www.google.com/trends
    Very useful for analyzing domains you’re thinking of buying. Enter a keyword and this tool gives you a search volume chart, a news reference frequency chart, and a list of regions where search volume is heaviest.
13. Google Hot Trends – http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends
    Not the same as the one above. Trying to figure out what domains to register? Hot Trends give you today’s most popular Google searches. Fertile ground for ideas.
14. KWMap’s Keyword Map Tool – http://www.kwmap.net/
    Displays its results in a very interesting way, in a keyword chart with two axes dotted with keywords. According to KWMap.net, one of the axes shows keywords that are different but related to your search word, while the other is for keywords that contain your search keyword. The most relevant keywords appear in the middle. It’s fun to play with, anyway.
15. Lycos Top 50 Searches – http://50.lycos.com/
    Like Yahoo Buzz or Hot Trends, shows you what keywords people are searching right now. Less useful than the other two, perhaps.
16. MS AdLabs Search Funnels – http://adlab.microsoft.com/searchfunnel/
    Unique tool. Use Microsoft adCenter’s “search funnel” tool to help you visualize how people search. Slightly more functionality with Explorer than with Firefox (the mouseover info balloons only appear on Explorer).
17. NicheBot Classic – http://www.nichebotclassic.com/
    Claims to extract info from WordTracker, Thesaurus, Overture, Keyword Discovery, Keyword Analysis and Google Keyword Ranking.
18. Niche Watch – http://www.nichewatch.com/
    This tool, which requires a free registration, lets you type a keyword or phrase and get an analysis of the websites of your top 20 competitors.
19. Online Thesaurus – http://thesaurus.reference.com/
    Provides multiple synonyms for a word.
20. Overture Suggestion Tool – http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
    Unfortunately this tool’s data is no longer updated and does not go beyond January 2007. Nevertheless, the historical data may still be useful. You type in a keyword and it tells you how many people are searching on that term and related terms.
21. OVT Keywords – http://www.ovtkeywords.com/
    This free version of OVT’s tool shows only the top few results.
22. Quantcast Open Internet Ratings Service – http://www.quantcast.com/
    Enter a domain and Quantcast gives you a wealth of good information, such as number of monthly uniques, visitor demographics, and similar sites. Only works for higher-traffic sites.
23. SEOBook.com Keyword Research Tool – http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
    Excellent tool. I use it all the time to help optimize my parking pages, and to choose article topics for my mini-sites and blogs.
24. SEOBook.com’s Google Keyword Suggestion Scraper Tool – http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-information/
    What a mouthful! Grabs the top queries from Google Suggest and also links through to SEO Book’s own keyword suggestion tool.
25. SEOChat.com’s Google Tool search – http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestions-google/
    Queries information from several Google searches and sorts by relevancy.
26. SEOmoz Popular Searches – http://www.seomoz.org/popular-searches
    This is an aggregation of popular search queries gathered from various sources across the web. This list is updated once per day.
27. SubmitExpress.com Tool – http://www.submitexpress.com/keytracker.php
    Displays WordTracker and Keyword Discovery results in side-by-side columns.
28. URLTrends.com – http://www.urltrends.com/
    Enter any URL and urltends.com gives you a “trend report”, consisting of page rank, Alexa rank, incoming and outgoing links. Also features an interesting URL comparison tool.
29. Webmaster Toolkit’s Keyword Research Tool – http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/keyword-research-tool.shtml
    Select from among 9 different search engines for your keyword suggestions.
30. Webconfs.com Keyword Tool – http://www.webconfs.com/website-keyword-suggestions.php
    Pretty basic. Uses Overture’s database. See also their Keyword Playground tool.
31. WordTracker’s free tool – http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
    First 100 related keyword only, with an estimate of their search volume.
32. Yahoo Buzz – http://buzz.yahoo.com/
    Find out what people are searching for right now and get ideas for domains to register.

Did I miss any good keyword tools? Do you use any of these tools as a domainer? In what ways? Let me know.