Earlier this month I dropped my recommendation of Bing-monetized parking companies Parked and SmartName. Income has just not rebounded Since Bing took over monetization of these services from Yahoo. As of this month I recommend the Google-based services DomainSponsor, NameDrive, and Sedo/SedoPro. Income has been dropping at Google services too - but it's been... Continue Reading →
“Bing Sucks”
Donny Simonton shoots straight. After trying to spin the horrible numbers domain owners were seeing from domain parking company Parked this past month he finally came right out and sait it - "Bing Sucks." (Read down this thread to see the transformation in his attitude.)
Domain monetization companies such as Parked (and WhyPark), TrafficZ, and SmartName, have depended on Yahoo's ads to power their services. Yahoo switched their ad inventory to Microsoft's Bing service in November and lots of problems cropped-up.
Domain monetization is new for Bing. They have had an AdWords-like platform for some time, but they have not worked with domain parking companies. It seems that their stats reporting system was not up to the challenge initially. They had to start from scratch figuring out issues like traffic quality - a multiplier they use based on how likely they think your traffic's clicks will result in an actual sale. In most cases they seemed to estimate low, and there were reports that these quality scores would change on a daily basis for no reason.
I reached out to Parked and WhyPark, TrafficZ, and SmartName with some questions about their experiences to date. Only Parked and WhyPark have responded to date. Donny asked Craig Rowe of WhyPark to respond for both services, since they work together to optimize their Bing feed.
Here are Craig's responses to my questions:
Upcoming Events focus on Monetization
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... Continue Reading →
New Parked / WhyPark Forum
Check out the new forum for Parked and Whypark at Forum.Parked.com. This seems to be Donny's answer to criticism he received not too long ago on NamePros. It's already a very active forum for domainers and there are wide-ranging discussions on issues other than parking. It's also another place to buy and sell domains.
Donny Simonton and Craig Rowe on Parked and Whypark’s Future Together
http://blip.tv/play/g9tTgYvuAgA Donny Simonton and Craig Rowe talk about the reasons that Parked bought WhyPark and the synergies that they see going forward. There's not a lot new here, but it interesting to hear them talk about this together. I get the sense that they actually get along. Background on the merger is here.
Yahoo Stats Delayed
Several parking services are reporting delays in stats from Yahoo for the period of 2/15-2/17. This problem has delayed the semi-monthly report calculation for Parked (which pays twice a month). NameMedia's Yahoo-based SmartName, ActiveAudience, and GoldKey report similar stats delays.