Month: September 2010

Can a WordPress theme transform your group buying domain name into the next Groupon?

Chances are: No. 

But a number of start-ups are springing up all over the internet and taking a gamble, even as the group buying space becomes more and more crowded with each passing day. 

And if you own a geo domain, or have been thinking about launching a group buying web site in your city or town, being able to rapidly build a site could be the motivation you need to give it a shot.

Even Microsoft has entered the group buying market. 

In Australia, that is.

The startup, named Cudo, launched last week and sees Microsoft, publishing giant PBL and  NineMSN (itself a joint venture between Microsoft and PBL) join forces to try and dominate a local market that has seen a raft of new, but relatively small, group buying startups this year.

The article points out that Cudo wants the number one position in Australia.  But unlike Groupon, which has a global footprint, Cudo doesn’t look to have its sights set worldwide. 

Cudo runs on cudo.com.au. Not cudo.com, which is owned by a registrant in China.

Now, if you’ve been looking for a chance to start your own group buying web site without the development costs, a new Premium Theme to the WordPress market just went online this week called Group Buying Site. 

About Group Buying Site

I haven’t evaluated the WordPress theme yet, but the theme that launched this week, appears to be the first of its kind in the Group Buying space. 

The owner of Group Buying Site contacted me via Twitter after the Fusible story titled Group Buying can make starting an online business, low-cost: with Domains and Development. 

At the time the article was posted in July, surprisingly, there didn’t to be any WordPress themes available to help webmasters launch their own group buying websites quickly. 

But now, one web site claims to finally have the answer: Group Buying Site.

However, before saying the WordPress Theme is worth purchasing, I’ve requested an evaluation copy.  Currently, Group Buying Site has no online demo, just screen shots.

So as soon as I’ve evaluated a copy, I’ll share my findings.

According to Group Buying Site, the Theme and Plug-in allows publishers to:

Create a niche daily deals website, launch a group buying site for your own city, or simply add a deal-of-the-day section to your existing WordPress blog!

In April 2010, Apple released the iPad and has since sold millions of units. 

Good news for Apple, but bad news for Apple when it comes to domain names. 

The company’s only iPad domain: iPad.co.  A name the company acquired in July, but doesn’t use.

Instead Apple settles for using the web address apple.com/ipad – the top search result in Google for the keyword “ipad”.

Will Apple buy iPad.com?

In January, TechCrunch writer Robin Wauters wrote an article title “Apple Doesn’t Own A Single iPad Related Domain Name“, but despite all the attention the article attracted, nothing has changed.

Though Apple purchased the domain name iPhone.com for seven figures  from businessman Michael Kovatch months after it released the iPhone, there haven’t been any signs of the same happening with iPad.com.

For now, the owner of iPad.com continues to receive thousands of visitors per month, spiking well over 100,000 visitors some months.   Traffic that appears to be for the most part, type-in traffic.  As of today, ipad.com displays a Coming Soon page.

iPad.net is a developed web site, that hosts a blog dedicated to news, reviews, tricks, accessories, and more centered around the iPad.  It too, is not affiliated with Apple Computer in any way, but shows up on the first page of Google Search results for the keyword ipad.

Who knows what will happen with the .com domain? 

Maybe Apple has no interest in buying the .com domain, or maybe a plan is in the works to turn another domain owner into an instant millionaire as other writers and bloggers have suggested in the past.

Apple isn’t the only big company that doesn’t get domain names, as Mike Berkens points out in a story posted today, MySpace is another company that has difficulties.