#39
Domains?
banking and financial crisis is affecting the domain industry. Whether or
not this specific crisis affects domains, the general economic slow-down is
definitely having an effect. While $3,000,000 did change hands in Moniker’s
T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York live domain auctions, this is down from $10,000,000 in
2007. Last month’s newsletter provided information on similar
deceases in parking income; and on Oversee.net’s staff cuts.
only two T.R.A.F.F.I.C. shows in 2009. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. had three shows in 2006
and in 2007. There were either three or four in 2008 (depending on whether you
count T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under). If Rick Schwartz and Howard Neu are slowing
down, then you can bet that the domain industry is slowing down.
Undoubtedly some of us will let some domains expire because they are a bit
harder to monetize. This creates buying opportunities for others. The burst of
the dotcom bubble in 2000 created a similar buying opportunity for astute domain
owners. Keep your eyes open in the next few months, and you may find some real
domain bargains.
[Email editions of this newsletter incorrectly stated that only $2,000,000 was made at the recent T.R.A.F.F.I.C Moniker domain auctions. I apologize for this error.]
Countries
The domain parking service Parked hasannounced that more countries are being added to their main Yahoo feed. Donny
Simonton would not share the exact countries, stating on a domain board “I’m
not allowed to announce the countries until the week before, but they are mainly
in South America and South East Asia..” Presumably these new countries will
also be featured on other Yahoo-based domain parking services services such as
ActiveAudience, GoldKey, and
SmartName.
Parked continues to lead set the standard for customer support
among domain parking companies. Donny and his staff answer questions quickly
and he maintains a personal presence on the domain forums. They will usually
create custom templates for your domain if one of their thousands of templates
does now work for you.
SmartName Headers and FootersWork Again
The header and footer functionality in
Smart Name Shops is now working again. SmartName is a
very exclusive “domain parking” program from NameMedia that allows you to create
ecommerce comparison shopping sites with a few clicks. In the September newsletter I had mentioned that these shops were broken – that the
header and footer text that you enter did not show up on the
site.
Smart Name Shops are a work in progress, and
there are likely to be more bumps in the road. The ability to add your own
AdSense ads to your shops makes these especially interesting. The rules for
these shops are different than the rules for normal “domain parking.” You can
send paid traffic to these sites, link to them from other sites, and otherwise
treat them as developed sites.
at the bottom of the home page are a custom footer.
WhyPark is Worth AnotherLook
be working again on at least some sites. AnxietyArticles.com is an example of one of their newer
templates, without customization. All I did was to add AdSense code for a small
banner and a video ad. WhyPark was one of the first networks to help you develop your
domains into full-fledged sites. Some of the sites have gotten search engine
ranking, but Google’s duplicate content penalty punished them for a while. The
site now has an integrated ad network in case AdSense ads are not working for
you.
other month or so. The first edition was published in mid-September and is
available at several sites, including NameMonetizer, YouTube and
Blip.tv. If one of
these links is slow, try another one, or one of these. You can subscribe to the videos at YouTube to
be informed when a new one is published. The first video is fairly poor
quality. I just wanted to get it out there. Look for better production values
in future videos.
Did you notice the new layout? The newsletter design is based
on the new Name Montetizer
website design. Name Monetizer will continue to cover the domain parking
companies that are reviewed at ParkQuick.com, but coverage of new monetization options is
expanding. Parking is not the only game in town, and more and more domain
owners are looking to develop their domains. Developing a domain into a
full-blown high-quality website takes a lot of time and resources. We hope to
bring you short-cuts and reviews of services that claim to develop your domains
quickly.
a blog that will
update news stories more quickly than the email newsletter. You can subscribe to the RSS feed through
Feedburner to get these stories sooner
– as they first appear.
There were no changes in our recommendations this month.
-
DomainSponsor blends PPC and CPA with high-tech Taguchi
testing. -
Parked Pays twice a month – 7 days after you earn
-
Sedo and Sedo
Pro – Google-based. 1-click ads available for all domains -
Active
Audience and GoldKey – provide very good Yahoo-based income -
SmartName builds ecommerce shops on your
domains
I will send this newsletter out monthly or when there have been
significant changes in the domain name monetization industry. An extra issue
may be sent when there is a major change in a service that warrants your
immediate attention. Back issues are available at NameMonetizer.com. Compare
domain parking services at ParkQuick.com. For a variety of content related to domains
and SEO check out DomainerSEO.com. You can subscribe to the RSS feed through
Feedburner to get these stories as
they appear.
Leonard Holmes,
Ph.D.
CEO, Healing
Sites Network, LLC
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