CloakerJosh dot com: The domain name I didn't realise I wanted until I bought it.

So, I just bought the domain name www.cloakerjosh.com. I wasn't even in the market for a domain name, honestly, it just happened. Google makes things too damn easy, the bastards!


I was fiddling around with some settings in my Blogger account, when I noticed that they ask for a Domain Name URL in one of their input fields... I looked at it and saw language to the effect of (I can't remember verbatim, despite being only 20 minutes ago) "Don't have a domain name? Click here to buy one for USD10."

FYI kids: If you're trying to click the word "here" in the previous sentence, stop it. It's an underline, not a link. In my case, it was a link and click the damn thing I did!

"Cloakerjosh.com? 10 dorrar? Very interesting..." I say to myself, stroking a white cat I've never met before. I put it outside and return to my computer.

So, curious that Blogger/Google was offering domain names for sale directly, I navigated through the prompts to check out how it all works. Okay, so it apparently integrates directly into a GoDaddy API to check the availability and register the domain; Pretty damn swish. I whipped out my credit card and punched that sucker in. Less than $10 Australian dollars to register www.cloakerjosh.com for a year? Why the hell not?!

I fill out fields and whiz through the sign-up process. Before I knew it, I was signed up to Google Wallet and owned a domain through Google Apps. The domain automatically integrated itself into my Blogger account, and it's not a redirect! It actually files all of my post URLs under the assumed domain.

That's pretty freaking cool. As I reflect on this, I realise that Google's integration is tight, man. I work with web analytics on a corporate site myself, and I am in awe of how well Google just sold me a domain name clearly using witchcraft. I didn't even know I wanted it, and I had literally clicked on a link out of curiosity and purchased the product in less than 2 minutes. We could learn a thing or two about customer conversion from these warlocks.

Well played, Google... well played.

Side note: Typing the search term cloaker josh with no inverted commas into a Google search brings me up as the first listing. Awwwwww yeaaaaaah.