I was reading an article on TheDomains.com about domain traffic monetisation and the comment list ended up being filled with doom and gloom. I found the comments tended to spring from domainers harkening back to the “good old days” when raking in money from their traffic was easy. Many of them also showed a complete lack of understanding about how monetisation has moved on from the “good old days”.
I will once again say upfront that I’m one of the founders of ParkLogic and we monetise domain traffic but in a very different manner from ANY other provider. We work with almost all of the traditional parking companies and many of the global advertising networks. This gives us a unique perspective on the industry, and I believe provides us with some authority to speak on the subject of monetisation.
I would first like to tackle the common misconception that parking providers are thieves. Contrary to popular belief, we find the parking providers are not fraudulent and stealing your money. They are often as in the dark as you are as to why a domain’s earnings have fallen apart or why a clawback was applied to your account. Google is pulling all of strings and they don’t share squat with their partners.
Before you go accusing your account manager of theft think twice. They are actually your best friend who represent you to their larger organisation. I’ve heard of some account managers being treated despicably and it’s about time some bad domainers act a little more professionally. Thank goodness most domain investors ARE professional in their approach.
That all being said, have some parking providers attempted nefarious behaviours in the past? Absolutely! In fact, on the whole these companies are no longer in business. They’ve either been caught out by their customers or partners for doing the wrong thing and have now been expunged from the industry. This means the companies that have survived are generally pretty good.
Now let me comment on the state of play of domain monetisation. Is it dead? Nope. Is it dead for some people? Yes. The major reason why domain investors believe that domain monetisation is dead is because they keep on doing the same thing they always have. Go figure?
Let’s think about this for a bit. Many domain investors complain about declining revenues and then do nothing about it. They may change parking providers but that’s just like changing which cabin you’re going to sleep in on the Titanic.
If you’re a domain investor and you’ve basically done the same thing as you’ve always done with your domain traffic, then stop complaining about declining revenues. Get it through your head that Google owes you nothing other than maybe a little bit of gratitude for being stupid. Google’s only obligation is towards shareholders, not you!
When you complain about earnings and then do-nothing, Google loves you! For a start, you end up getting paid less (ie. Google gets more) and this causes you to be economically rational so you drop some domains….which means people end up searching Google and the big search engine now gets a 100% revenue share rather than passing on a portion to you. Doh!
I’ve recently written three incredibly important series of articles on traffic monetisation and you would think that people would sit up and take some notice.
- The first was a case study with real data on how a new client is now getting 50% more revenue than they were previously. Yes, you read that number correctly…..50%.
- The second was on the history of RPM and showed our analytic approach towards optimisation. We take our numbers VERY seriously and we NEVER stop optimising domains towards the monetisation solution provides the greatest yield at that instant in time.
- The third was the future of monetisation and how we are introducing a completely new way of monetising domain traffic into the mix of solutions for client traffic. We’ve been working on this project for the last couple of years and we believe this has the potential to change the entire industry.
When I commented about how monetisation is going really well on “TheDomains” article I received cynical scepticism from some investors. I think the majority of domain investors are so jaded that they now believe the gloom and doom. Let me say right now that there is only gloom and doom if you do NOTHING!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Domain monetisation is alive and well because advertisers want good quality traffic. While many in the industry have been on the Titanic, we’ve been migrating savvy investors onto an aircraft carrier.
Recently we finished rolling out a completely new DNS infrastructure that will respond quicker to request and provide clients with unparallel flexibility. We are now sorting through a huge number of development opportunities that will directly benefit clients bottom line and provide greater insight into their data.
In terms of innovation, we never stop working on new exciting ideas…..the result is that we are doing record months, one after another with monetisation. Yes, you just read that correctly…..ParkLogic is thriving because we continue to innovate. What many need to realise is that gone are the days of you trying to optimise your own domain portfolio and that domain monetisation is now VERY hi-tech.
If you have your domains with a single parking company, then it’s like your using a gold pan to find the monetisation gold. You’ll get some but not much. We are the guys that have all the modern equipment; bulldozers, sluices, rock drills and the works to dig out the domain gold. Guess what, we find it and deliver the result to clients.
I’m finding that some domainers are standing with their gold pan in hand and their mouths wide open in astonishment at all the technology. Monetisation used to be so easy and now someone is talking about algorithms, fancy mathematical formulae and really paying attention to the numbers. This is why more and more domain investors are turning to us to manage their monetisation….we are the guys that lose sleep over the numbers.
Rather than swallow their pride and make some changes some stupid domainers jump on the forums and complain about monetisation being so bad…..how’s that improving your situation? Did your numbers increase last month commensurate with the number of posts you made? I think not.
There are some domainers that behave differently, and these are the ones that typically keep their mouths shut and make a heap of money. They are the ones that partner with companies like my own and we work together to improve their bottom line. They rarely, if ever, say anything in forums etc. because it’s a waste of their valuable time….instead they spend time learning from people that will improve their businesses.
There are so many good people who are making a bucketload of money monetising domain traffic. Just think about this logically, why do you think Google even bothers with the domain industry if it doesn’t make them LOTS of money? If you’re not making lots of money it’s because you’ve been pretty dumb.....sorry if I offend you.
A number of years ago Google produced a report that stated that domain traffic was MORE valuable than search traffic. Why do you think they decided to go after the domain industry in the first place???? Let me assure you that Google isn’t dumb!
Yes, I’ve been really harsh in this article but it’s about time someone called people out on their emotional comments about a side of the industry many of them actually don’t know much about. I love the domain industry and domain monetisation runs in my blood. It’s given me so much over the years and one of the reasons why I blog is to share my passion for domains with others.
I’m throwing the gauntlet down to anyone earning revenue with their traffic and wishes it to be more. I’m happy to jump on a call with you and have a chat about how you can grow your revenue line. My personal skype address is whizzbang01 (no surprise there) and I’m happy to also receive comments and emails (whizzbang @ whizzbangsblog.com) as well.
Have a great weekend!
Michael