I recently conducted an in-depth analysis of a statistically sound sample of a several hundred thousand domains. There was nothing special or selective about the sample and yet the results showed that contrary to many peoples believe, domain monetisation is alive and well.
I attend a lot of conferences around the world and I must admit that I get a little flummoxed when I hear over and over again claims that domain monetisation is dead. The reason for this is that my company, ParkLogic, sees the actual data from right across the industry and from our perspective nothing could be further from the truth.
When I say we see data for the industry I really mean that. Any domain traffic on the ParkLogic platform is evaluated every hundred milliseconds to see which company will pay the most for it. There’s no guessing or “gut instinct” involved, it’s all about the numbers.
I have two questions to ask the monetisation naysayers:
- Do you have a statistically sound sample of domains that allows you to speak with any authority?
- What have you done differently with your domains in the last 6 months?
The first questions strikes at the heart of credibility. If you don’t personally have the data or access to the data, then on what basis are you making claims that can potentially be damaging to the industry.
A few year ago, I was publicly ridiculed in a domain forum by an individual and told in no uncertain terms that I know nothing about domain monetisation. I took the condemnation on the chin and in a private message I asked my accuser how much revenue per month they were doing. The answer was $5.
I’ve often found the people with the loudest voices are those people that have no credibility to speak on the topic. For some reason, these people manage to get some sort of following because they rant and rave at the top of their lungs. Compare this approach to the quiet achievers that consistently work away on their business and end up increasing their personal wealth.
The second question is about whether the person making the claim have explored all the viable options. Albert Einstein stated, “If you keep on doing the same thing and expect a different outcome then you’re insane.”
I remember speaking to a domain investor that was bemoaning that his PPC (pay-per-click) revenue was down compared to a couple of years ago. I asked him what he was doing differently, and he replied, “nothing.” You can guess that I was thinking about Einstein at this time.
I’m proud of the domain industry and have no intention in letting gossip be spread by people who really don’t have the numbers to back up their claims. Monetisation has changed and if you’re still doing the same thing as you’ve always done in the past then the performance of your portfolio will be negatively impacted. So my advice is do something different.
One of the things I love about monetisation is that we never, ever finish optimising a domain and extracting the maximum amount of value from the traffic. I love coming up with innovative ideas to generate more revenue from domain traffic….in fact, it’s what keeps me awake at night.....quite literally.
The next time you read something on a blog (even this one), in a forum or on social media then ask both question 1 and 2 before you buy into what the person writing says. This approach can be applied to life, not just domains.