Name Monetizer

Domain Monetization in early 2010

2010-03-02T00:03:34Z

Domain parking income seems to have settled at lower levels than in the past few years, and some people have seen a slight increase in income in early 2010. Some have suggested that the Yahoo/Microsoft paid search deal should further boost parking income on Yahoo-based services such as SmartName, Parked / WhyPark, and TrafficZ. Paid search customers should add more competition for search terms in a combined Yahoo/Microsoft marketplace, and this could result in higher PPC rates for domain owners. There is always the chance that some of the increase won't get passed-on.

Domain owners who depend solely on domain parking for income are still hurting, however.

My advice remains to diversify. Diversify your income stream by actively marketing your domains for sale. Find quick and easy "development" platforms like WhyPark and SmartName to put up content-rich websites and court SEO traffic. Consider services like Above.com which let you compare parking with different companies, and connect you with Trellian's domain leasing service.

More on WhyPark Development

2010-03-01T23:57:13Z

WhyPark is actually a very sophisticated platform that lets you create almost any type of site you want to. You do this by editing the layout of your site using their editing tools. When you go to edit a layout you will see two windows - one for the stylesheet for your site and one for the HTML content. This gives you the ability to edit your site at a very granular level. Some blocks of content - such ad the main article list and the ads above and below - are not individually editable, but you can choose to omit them entirely if you want to by removing the [[mainbody]] tag. (You will almost never want to do this.) Most normal HTML will work with editing your layout. You can also use a bunch of "placeholders" as short-cuts to special pieces of content.

Site Placeholders:

According to WhyPark placeholders are "used to insert the dynamic pieces of your sites into your layout. They add functionality and provide a simple way to move functionality around within your layout." Use the double square bracket terms listed below when you are editing your WhyPark site's layout:

[[domain]] Inserts your domain name into layout.
[[forsale]] Insert a link to sell your domain. This placeholder is replaced with a link to an inquiry form where buyers can contact you.
[[image]] Insert the default small image for your site's category
[[imgHeader]] Insert the default header image for your site's theme or category
[[imgMedium]] Insert the dynamic 385x261 image
[[mainbody]] The main content for every page which includes the full articles, custom pages, etc.
[[newsletter]] Insert a sign up link for your newsletter. This feature is only available with subscribers to the Managed tier of service.
[[related]] Insert the related articles. Related articles show a title and summary of an article on your site to keep users engaged.
[[rssfeed-in]] If you have an external RSS feed associated with your site, insert this placeholder to indicate where the content from it will be displayed. This feature is only available with subscribers to the Enhanced and Managed tier of service. It may take up to 24 hours to see the first data from these feeds.
[[rssfeed-out]] Insert a link to download your RSS feed. This feature is only available with subscribers to the Managed tier of service.
[[sitename]] Insert the name of your site as defined in your main site settings.
[[textads]] Insert text ads you've setup for this site.

Development with WhyPark

2010-02-26T20:48:29Z

WhyPark is marketed as an alternative to domain parking. If you have simply dumped your domains there like you would at a parking company then you are not getting the most from their quasi-development platform. It's even possible to treat WhyPark as a complete development platform, although it means manually editing html and stylesheets.

Be Careful with Keywords.

When you initially add a name to WhyPark you are prompted for several set-up options. One of the most important options to attend to is the "keyword" option. If you put in the wrong keywords you will get off-topic articles from their collection. If you leave keywords for them to optimize you may also get off-topic articles. Part of the Control Panel in WhyPark

My vision for the site GreenInfants.com was to provide resources for eco-friendly parenting. I quickly set the site up and went on to other projects. When I returned to the site recently I found it pulling in articles for green-colored baby furniture and health articles about green poop and green vomit. What was goign on?

I examined the keywords and found: "baby shoes, carters green, green dragon costume, 4t green, green sleeper, feces infants, green babies, green stool, green blood, baby infants, constipation infants, green diarrhea, green baby, green feces, diarrhea infants, green stools, green poop, teething infants, gr

Domain Conference Overload?

2010-02-01T23:15:28Z

Is there really a need for three domain conferences within 30 days? There is a hard core group of professional domainers and domain journalists who go to almost all of these conferences. Andrew Allemann of Domain Name Wire had to pay an extra $500 for his TRAFFIC Las Vegas air fare after booking his flight for the wrong week. He reported that he was booking flights for TRAFFIC (January 21-23 ), DOMAINfest (January 26-28 ) and Domainer Mardi Gras (February 11-13 ) at the same time and apparently got confused.

What about the rest of us? Can you afford to jet to Las Vegas, L.A., and New Orleans in the same month? I can't.

I expect that this will be the last year that we see 3 conferences so close together. DOMAINfest was apparently the best attended conference - with over 650 in attendance. Oversee.net has gained a reputation for having the best combination of content and parties at their DOMAINfest Global conferences. They have carved out a good time for snowbirds to travel to a warmer climate (even though it is the rainy season) and I don't expect they will change.

Domainer Mardi Gras was originally sponsored by Modern Domainer magazine. It is now sponsored by Parked.com. They don't have much flexibility about when they hold their conference - they can't reschedule Mardi Gras. This conference was apparently lightly attended last year. It is primarily a time for domainers to party and relax in the middle of the winter. Next year Mardi Gras will be on March 8th - so the conference (if they still hold it) will be in March instead of February. Will they still have it? It depends on whether Parked and DirectNIC find it worthwhile. If the turnout is low, then this conference may be the first to go.

The TRAFFIC shows are being run by Rick Latona this year. Their website is much more professional and the conference got good reviews (except for the buggy live auction). We may see a pared-down line-up in 2011. Some have suggested that TRAFFIC is scheduled this way to capture people who are on their way to DOMAINfest. If that strategy is working, then they probably won't move either. If they drop a show in 2011 their January show may be the one.

The "average" domain owner would benefit from picking one of these events to attend every year or two. You'll learn about new developments and get a change to meet other domain professionals. Don't limit your attendance to domain conferences, though. Consider attending seo conferences such as an SMX event or an affiliate conference such as Affiliate Summit. As domain parking income dwindles, we all need other business models to consider.

Post-Parking Monetization - Rapid Domain Builder

2010-01-29T20:27:00Z

Oversee.net's DOMAINfest Global was again a big success. The company is the parent company of Domain Sponsor
- one of the premier domain parking companies - but they also introduced domain owners to some new monetization options at the recent conference. Rapid Domain Builder generated a lot of buzz at their "Pitchfest." The purpose of the pitchfest was to introduce domainers to "new, alpha- or beta-stage product and service ideas for increasing website traffic and revenue."

Rapid Domain Builder appears to be a hosting and content management package that is priced in a pay-as-you-go manner. It is still in beta and it has some rough edges. I've played around with it a little and there is a learning curve - but there is also a lot of promise. It uses several different content management systems, and allows you to use AdSense and DevHub as well. You can even create Wordpress sites with their platform (although I'm still not sure why you would want to - WordPress is free and easy to use.)

It does not appear to me that the service adds any content to your domains unless you pay extra for this. You can apparently hire staff to create content for you and develop out your site within their system. You can see your Rapid Domain Builder sites before you pay to actually host them. Kicking the tires is free.

Expect to spend several hours figuring out all the options here. Rapid Domain Builder is built on the MyPage.com platform which appears to primarily provide hosting services. The service promises to give domain owners a quick way to develop and monetize in bulk. Pricing is still a mystery to me too. In some places they quote prices as low as $1 per domain, and in other places it looks like $299 plus $2.99 per domain. That's quite a big difference. I see the potential in their site, but I am hopelessly lost figuring out all the options.

Big Changes at NameMedia

2010-01-26T02:58:30Z

NameMedia has made a big change in their parking strategy. It appears that they have sold the GoldKey.com domain name and they are converting most domain owners to their formerly high-end SmartName service. If you parked domains at GoldKey or ActiveAudience you have probably received an email asking you to change nameservers on your domains. SmartName is known for innovative services such as their SmartName shops. These instant ecommerce destination sites monetize through non-traditional services (such as Shops.com) and they also allow you to include your own AdSense ads on the pages.

SmartName has also announced new content options for sites parked there. They have a new blog-like content system that allows domain owners to create content-filled web sites on their domains in an automated manner. The sites pull in external news and blog feeds to create a unique web that may even rank in search engines. The sites are monetized by PPC ads, and like their shops, the domain owner cah add their own PPC ads.

Your old GoldKey or ActiveAudience logon should work with the new SmartName system. There is a learning curve involved in their new system - but I am planning to start learning.

Domain Parking Recommendations

2010-01-04T01:47:57Z

Is parking still worth it? Absolutely. Many of my domains continue to earn some good income if they get traffic. While you try to sell your domains you should still park them. Domains awaiting development should also be parked.

Yahoo-based services seem to be taking a hit first, as Yahoo announces changes in mondtization. Google seems to be making note of changes in Yahoo, and following quickly with cuts in domain income. Where to park now?

Stability and predictibility may be more important than finding the absolute best deal right now. Avoid new or untested parking companies. The major players are likely to be around for years to come.

Our recommendations take into account both income and stability.

Recommended Services:

Upcoming Events focus on Monetization

2010-01-03T16:42:54Z

The upcoming T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Las Vegas show (January 21-23 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino) is the first produced by Rick Latona. He has ditched Rick Schwartz's "invitation only" policy and opened the show up to all (finally). The new Rick has followed the lead of "fun" conferences like Domainer Mardi Gras and skipped ealry morning sessions. According to the show schedule there are no morning sessions at all. The content starts at noon. Like Mardi Gras, Las Vegas lends itself to late night activities. The show also offers more networking events, and half price tickets have been liberally available. Monetization topics include "CPA as an Alternative to PPC" and "Optimizing Your Domain Portfolio in a PPC Environment."

DOMAINfest Global Follows from January 26th through the 28th at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica - a new venue for this show. Oversee.net has pulled-out all the stops, returning to the Playboy Mansion and inviting Frank Schilling, Ron Sheridan, and Adam Roux to be the judges for the show's new Pitchfest contest, which focus on domain monetization. The contest is designed to explore new products or services designed to enhance the value of parked or developed domain names. Pitchfests are often seen as blatant self-promotion and attendees at other conferences avoid such presentations. It will be interesting to see if this new approach gains popularity with domain owners. You can read their press release for all of the details.

>Domainer Mardi Gras follows in February. Their sessions actually start a little earlier than T.R.A.F.F.I.C., at 10:45. On the agenda are topics such as "Domain Name Investments in 2010 and beyond. Where is the industry heading?" I should be on a panel at the Conference - but I'm not sure which one yet. Domainer Mardi Gras was apparently a small conference last year with a focus on fun (as can be seen in this video). Last year it was sponsored by Modern Domainer magazine, which apparently is no more. This year Parked has taken over as host, with a few additional sponsors announced. This may be my last conference for a while as I work on cutting expenses in 2010. How about you?

2009 in Review

2010-01-02T02:19:35Z

2009 was certainly a year of ups and downs. Most of us who have made money from domain parking will agree that it was mostly a year of downs. The year started off on high note with DOMAINfest Global, which included a party at the Playboy mansion. Parking income had already started to slide, but there was some optimism in the air. (Oversee.net is reprising their conference in a different venue, and the Playboy Mansion party will again be included).

Domain development was touted by many as an alternative to domain parking, but domain owners found this to be expensive and time-consuming. Income from newly developed sites rarely reached former income levels from parking companies. Fully developing a domain actually means running an Online business, and owners of multiple domains rarely have time for this.

Companies like Domain Mass Development and MiniSites continue to offer smaller-scale development alternatives, but Rick Latona closed the doors on his similar AEIOU.com site.

Some scandals in the larger domain industry also touched the domain parking space. Thought Convergence, parent company of TrafficZ, sued Jay Westerdal for violating his contract with them following his sale of DomainTools. Jay is a bright guy with ambitious plans for future businesses, but you could sorta see that coming. Both parties suffered tarnished images as a result.

Later in the year Oversee.net's SnapNames service admitted that an employee was shill-bidding against other bidders. The company reported that the shill bids occurred between 2005 and the third quarter of 2009. During that time period approximately 1 million auctions took place; and the employee reportedly bid on about 5 percent of them. Oversee admitted the wrongdoing, most of which occurred before Snapnames was bought by them. The event still tarnished their image.

2009 saw more consolidation in domain parking. Sedo bought RevenueDirect in May, and followed this in September with the purchase of ParkingPanel. Some of the features of these companies (especially RevenueDirect) found their way into Sedo, but for the most part they got more customers.

My business lost money in 2009 for the first time since domain parking came onto the scene. Some of this was my fault, as I continued to spend on conferences and CPA training that I hoped would replace PPC income. I found CPA is a different animal and much harder to do on a part-time basis. For me 2010 will probably be a year of cutting back expenses and adding a focus on monetization through domain sales.

Sedo Gets a Facelift

2009-12-09T04:29:34Z

The domain giant Sedo has given their site a much-needed facelift. The site looks cleaner throughout, but some of the content is now buried a little deeper. You may also find that some of your settings have changed. If your parking stats aren't showing up, just click in the boxes for the columns you want to see.

Sedo is one of the services that we have recommended for some time for parking. Their Google-based service continues to weather the storm and produce income, and they also have one of the best domain marketplaces.