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Since I’ve been in the domain industry I’ve been amazed by the number of people that either send all of their traffic to a single monetisation source (eg. parking company), try to manually optimise their traffic via a spreadsheet or even build their own domains database. Over the last 4 years I’ve been optimising hundreds of thousands of domains and I can guarantee that each method is COSTING you money NOT generating you additional revenue over the long-term. Here are the reasons why….
 Single Monetisation Source
Yes, it’s easier just to point your domains at a single parking company and believe that they are diligently working away at optimising the traffic on their platform but nothing could be further from the truth.
For a start, single source means that you are either ignoring Google or ignoring Yahoo and you’re definitely ignoring the benefits from other monetisation sources such as affiliates. For instance, did you know that when Yahoo beats Google they often win by a HUGE percentage not just by pennies. The problem is that working out which domain wins and when they win is a difficult task. By placing all of your traffic at a single source you are losing ALL of the potential upside which is not good in any market.
Managing By Spreadsheet
I love spreadsheets and my business partner loves them even more than me. He has one particular spreadsheet that’s so big that it takes hours to calculate the data. When I first started domaining I used spreadsheets extensively and the vlookup function became my best friend. Each day I would manually crunch the data and direct my traffic to the higher paying solution. What a waste of time! Here’s why…..
Optimising traffic flows is NOT so much as maximising your revenue as it is about minimising the cost of the information that you just purchased. For example, if I have a domain that has an earnings per click (EPC) of $1 and I sample the traffic elsewhere and it gets an EPC of $0.80 then that information just cost me $0.20 (ie. $1 less $0.80). What traffic optimisation is all about is how to purchase that information not with all a domains traffic but with the barest minimum amount and as least frequently as possible……so like a loaf of bread the information isn’t stale.
Over the years at ParkLogic we have found is 30% of domains move monetisation sources around every 3 months. Unless you’re a megalomaniac with spreadsheeting skills beyond those of the average humble human can I suggest that the volume of data is getting the better of you OR you are making bad decisions.
Building Your Own Database
Let’s imagine that you’ve built up a nice healthy portfolio of domains and you’re a programming guru that love tinkering with code. You tried the spreadsheet option and being a smart individual you move on to building your own database system for managing all that data. May I be so bold as to suggest that you STOP right now. Don’t write another line of code, it’s just not worth it and here’s why.
Building an efficient domain management system is a complex business. It’s taken us 4 years to get it right at ParkLogic and that’s been one heck of a journey. More in particular, what you need to ask yourself is, “What’s the opportunity cost of building my own platform?” Wouldn’t it be better for you to spend your time picking off a couple of domains and build a business around them?
What's even worse is that when you build your own system someone has to maintain it. This costs you money or time which is better spent on the beach.
Paying to have your domains in a high-end platform like ParkLogic that is constantly being worked on by a team of professional developers at NO EXTRA cost to you is invaluable. It’s the business model that makes platforms like Salesforce.com so successful. We have found that the majority of customers get a revenue uplift PLUS they get the entire suite of ParkLogic reports and tools. How good is that!
If you have built your own system may I be so bold as to suggest you give me a call. The myth of "flexibility" and "control" is blown out of the water with cloud computing and outsourcing. Since I’m one of the founders of ParkLogic I built the platform to manage my own domains and extract every bit of the value out of them. This same platform is completely open and available to you. So work out what you’re good at, buying domains, building sites or even selling domains but whatever you do don’t reinvent the wheel. It’s a complete waste of your time.
Disclaimer: As well as writing Whizzbangsblog Michael Gilmour is one of the founders of ParkLogic.com and places all of his domains on the management platform. Michael regularly speaks at domain conferences on traffic optimisation, domain management and topics such as transparency and domainer identity.
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Where the domainers would just pay collectively for the developers time to add new features and for hosting. Everything else should be returned to the domainers.
What % of the domain parking does Park Logic keep? As parking revenues have decreased over the last few years, we need as little % being taken out as possible.