In my third year of college (1997), my friend Jeanette and I ventured on a summer road trip to Dallas to see the Dave Mathews Band.  On the drive down there, we discussed what bars we should visit, but neither of us had ever been to Texas.  I saw a few billboards with hotels, restaurants, etc.  I thought, what if there was an Internet guide where you could find listings/peer ratings of various bars, dance clubs, live music, etc?  When I got home, I began searching for related domain names, like NewOrleansBars.com (which I still own).   It’s a lot like sifting for gold and a love for finding good domains was born.

I had some savings bonds my grandparents gave me when I was born.  I took a risk and made an investment in about 100 domains.  I saw a need for user-driven forums (Vbulletin) where people can find the bar/nightlife spot, driven by peer reviews.  This expanded into other verticals, like real estate and entertainment.  In the years following, I had aspirations of developing the sites, growing the traffic and selling them off.

In the end, I sold about 30 domains and bought a few more.  So luckily, I got my investment back; I think my grandparents would be proud.  I currently have too many “irons in the fire” and am looking to sell about 60 great domains, (see the full list of domain names here).  I am interested in selling or possibly co-developing the domains.  If you have any questions per available domains, please email pchriskovac@gmail.com.  Thanks!

If you have a domain name story or adventure, I’d love to hear it.  Please leave a comment.

Thanks!

Chris Kovac
@chriskovac

The best part, by far, was the people I got to meet along the way.  It was interesting to go to a number of cities (7 I think) and get different attendee and speaker perspectives on marketing, business and life in general.  I met a ton of truly great folks and drew inspiration from a number of them.

The thing I really enjoyed was over going out and grabbing a bite to eat (and maybe a libation or two)  after the conference with the other speakers.  It was awesome to share thoughts and ideas with peers who are very smart and have progressive marketing minds.  More importantly and without exception, they are really great people.  I can honestly say I made a lot of new friends.  It’s also been cool to see ideas scribbled out on napkins becoming reality…I can’t comment further, yet, but I think there will be very exciting things happening in 2011.

Props to  Shawn Elledge (@selledge) the inventor/owner of the Integrated Marketing Summit.  I think Shawn was a pioneer in trying to get marketers to think about how all the pieces of the marketing puzzle can be integrated, not just focusing on the “new, shiny” tools, like social media.   I thought there was a good mix of client-side experts from big brands (Best Buy, Intel, etc), national/regional marketing agencies and entrepreneurs.  It was nice to get a holistic perspective and to debate different points-of-view.

Finally, I thought the speakers at every conference were exceptional (there are far too many to name here).  First hand, I though the content was (mostly) fantastic.  I also tried to get feedback from people in the sessions and it was overwhelmingly positive…seriously.  Great job Shawn and I’m sure a number of people would echo that.  I look forward to seeing what 2011 brings!

If you are interested in viewing/downloading my presentation decks from IMS and other speaking events, please click on:  http://chriskovac.wordpress.com/chris-kovac-social-media-speaker/

The Wall was perhaps the best live show I have seen.  The production values were unbelievable and the show/music was perfect, and I had very high expectations.  I hope to make it to the Tacoma show in December.   More to come but here are a few pics (from my iphone ).  I don’t have video, but you can probably find good vids on YouTube.

@chriskovac

I wanted to thank Mark Jorgenson, the 2010 United Way campaign co-chair, whose vision made this happen, the UW staff that have been great champions per this initiative and the individuals that helped form the social media committee who have done a wonderful job, from the initial strategy to the tactical execution.

Thanks to you and the Kansas City community for helping a wonderful cause!

@chriskovac

The presentation slides from the SMCKC breakfast are embedded below, or you can click on the following link: http://www.slideshare.net/chriskovac/smckc-breakfast-united-way-gkc-social-media-launch

Mark Jorgenson, the 2010 United Way campaign co-chair, made a commitment to help make the most of the social media phenomenon by forming a committee to help the organization create a strategy for increasing awareness of its fundraising goals.  Some of the top social media professionals in the Kansas City area volunteered to help with a number of initiatives that include: helping craft a social media policy, training for UW staffers, creating an editorial calendar for Twitter and Facebook, several online video campaigns and more.

You can support the United Way of Greater Kansas City number of ways: donating via the United Way web site, volunteering your time at any number of United Way supported agencies, spreading the word via the United Way GKC’s social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and more.  If you have any questions, please comment on this post and I will email you back.

Thanks for your support of the United Way and Kansas City!

The 2010 United Way GKC Social Media Committee includes:

Here’s why…You run a (high) risk that someone, maybe even a competitor or ex-employee, will register a profile and you will have no control (and little recourse) over what they post.  Obviously, that can be very damaging.  There’s risk, but there is also opportunity!  One of the benefits of this is more “relevance” in the search engines.  In short, “relevant” links pointing back to your website (from 3rd party sites), the search engines gives you “extra points” in the search engine rankings.  Another benefit is qualified traffic generated from people clicking on a link that’s embedded in your bio.  Finally, make sure you register common misspellings of your company/brand names — make it easy for people to find you.

Placeholder best practices include:

• Have a relevant & search-friendly (using relevant keywords) bio within the profile
• Include messaging that says “Hi..we’re not yet on _____ but you can find more information about us on our website at _____.com
• Make sure the profile is properly “tagged”with relevant keywords
• Register your company, but don’t forget brands and product lines
• Look for opportunities to own an issue (preventing infections, child education, etc)

I’m interested in any comments you may have.  The preso is embedded below the post.  Thanks!

@chriskovac

Presentation from IMS Chicago

I also spoke at IMS Denver (on Integrated Social Media – here’s the Slideshare link) and was pleasantly surprised when Jamie asked if I wanted to be in one of his videos.  He has such a cool concept and I’ve had several people tell me they really liked the format.  Jamie had a great idea to shoot on the escalators — I thought it came out so great!  The video is on the top free social media monitoring tools.

I really enjoyed being part of 60 Second Marketer and encourage you to check it out!  Many props and thanks to Jamie for including me per his great idea!

@chriskovac

P Chris Kovac
@chriskovac

@chriskovac

I am happy to say I am now blogging for MobileLocalSocial.com.  I will be writing more about that later on…

My first post, “Social Media Monitoring for Marketing Professionals” is a general overview of social media monitoring, including technology and marketing uses.  I will be writing more on the subject and other social media marketing topics several times a month.

http://mobilelocalsocial.com/2010/02/social-media-monitoring-for-marketing-professionals/

Thanks!

Chris

@chriskovac