December is a time to STOP and take inventory!

Morning folks!!

Here is just a few little thought widgets I decided to share:

#1 If you want to fly the fastest plane first you need to learn how to fly.

If you want to make a lot of money in the domain business the first thing you need to do is learn what makes a domain have value. I see that as the #1 problem most have. They don't know a good domain from a crappy domain. Nothing new. Been that way since day one.

The domain business is easy to get in. Take a few grand out of your pocket, search for a domain that you think has more value than the price you can pay, buy it, flip it.

I will always be a .com guy and it is still my advice to focus on .com. However never put blinders on. Sometimes it is ok to settle. But when you settle, settle for a PRIME domain even if the extension is not .com. In other words, if you want sex.com and most extensions are taken but you stumble on the weakest extension .biz. GRAB IT!!!! But if you are going to get moneyimadeatschool.biz.....what the hell were you thinking? If you are going to get a crappy and weak domain like that, at least make sure it is .com because if it is not, it is likely worthless.

#2 I have a few questions to ask domain investors today. 

Q1. How much money does a PPC company make if domainers do not send their traffic to them?

Answer ZERO. It is OUR traffic that is supporting all these companies. Without our traffic they are not even in business.

Q2. How much is the PPC service worth? If the PPC company makes ZERO without traffic, how much should they be entitled to for the service they provide? What percentage is fair? How do they arrive at that percentage. Is that before or after costs?

Q3. Since larger players get a larger share wouldn't it be a smart idea for smaller domainers to unite as a group and be able to offer a PPC company the same or more traffic than the largest players? And if the largest players join can they not get another few points?

4. There is some vast research being done and I can tell you that the numbers don't add up. So where should the money earned from those domains go? The friends you made at the PPC company or your own wife and kids?

Now don't get me wrong. PPC companies have over head. They provide an important service. But we need to sit down with our partners and see what's what. That is why transparency is such a vital issue as you will discover in the paragraph below.

This is December. This is the time to STOP what you are doing. HALT! CEASE! Time to take inventory. Time to reflect on the passing year and set a course for the upcoming year. Report card time my friends. Make sure you give yourself honest grades. If your domains earn $1 million a year in gross ad revenue.....how much should you get of that pie? And if your PPC company is telling you, that you are getting 65%, don't you have a right and a DUTY to make sure? For goodness sakes you folks count your frickin' change from a $20 bill at McDonald's and don't do the same thing when MILLIONS may be at stake??? How smart is that?

Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz

Comments

[Kevin]

Great post Rick!

Exactly why I'm focused on developing and dealing directly with advertisers.

Also, we need to get away from this click model and into impression based advertising.

Why should we only get paid on clicks or if someone buys a product or service.

When Budweiser runs a $3 Million SuperBowl TV spot, does CBS only get paid if 10 million viewers go out to buy a beer? Hell no. They get paid with no ifs, ands, or buts.

Who came up with this concept that its our responsibility to only get paid if someone clicks or in the like CPA model actually buys a product or service from the advertiser?

It should be pulled out of our wallets that way. All these click ads are showing URLs in the ads, they are branding that advertiser's name and we only get paid if someone clicks?

On the CPA model, what if an advertiser has a crap sales pitch or presentation. I send traffic and only get paid if they buy from the guy? Why is that my problem? Our traffic is all targeted. The best you can get. We should be paid to deliver eyeballs, end of story.

It would help if there is transparency at least, but there is none. The maze made is so complex that we can't even see what advertiers are even paying for the clicks so we could once and for all know what the traffic senders share of the pie really is.

We have to acknowledge at the same time that the current ad models have made many domainers very wealthy. So ultimately you have to say thanks to the windfalls given many of us. But in all fairness, things need to change and everything should be balanced, fairly split and transparently clear.

We are the ones delivering hundreds of millions of eyeballs every day and we need to start getting some equal footing in the equations for that fact.

[Harvey]

This is a good idea for sure.

I see a huge benefit to both the ppc company that embraces the concept and the domain holders.

I would also like to know exactly what percentage is being taken from my traffic,why shouldn't I??

I guess people are just afraid to ask or rock the boat, but there should be nothing wrong with asking these companies what they take and being up front could help them get more business.

Being in a 'Bulk Traffic Club" would give us a lot of power almost like a union.

You are right, this IS gonna piss people off but this is BUSINESS and it changes all the time.

There is power in numbers..

[Donald Williams Jr. aka biggie]

Hi Rick

you bring up good issues as always, however if domainers join or form a "consortum", union or whatever, what would be much different than what it is now?

I've always liked to compare the PPC copanies by moving around domains which have proven themselves over time. They are consistent earners, and with each move, the revenue only goes up or down a few dollars.

Now imo, this says that "overall" all the PPC services are pretty much paying out the same.

The big exception from my experience has been Fabulous, which fars exceeds others when it comes to casino/gambling domains.

I remember when the defunct "DomainHop" used to pay for visitors as well as clicks, but all that stopped when the "self-clickers" ruined that.
Those who practice in click-fraud are the ones who keep revenues down, as many PPC services have to install systems to prevent and detect this fraud which dilutes the overall "direct navigation" and "targeted traffic" aspect, that we as domainers could bring to the table as a whole. imo...

but going into the New Year, I agree we do need change.

thus I wrote this poem yesterday...

CHANGE

Some expect it
Some make it happen...
Some wait for it
For some, it never comes

CHANGE

Doesn't come to silent wheels
No one hears a silent appeal
For the silent majority,
Things will stay the same...

CHANGE

dwjr 12/12/07

keep pushing the envelope!

[Tasha Kidd]

1. PPC companies need to be transparent, and provide a full audited revenue on the domains that are parked, and what percentage we get vs. them.. because yes, they tell you one amount when you sign up, and there's no way I'm getting that now

2. Domainer investors need to run our own ad network, where companies come to us directly and there's no Google/Yahoo cut off the top, and then there's no aggregator/server cut out of the middle, leaving us the table scraps.

In the early days of "Going West" in the old days of America, there were a few mavericks who went on their own, but most people had to go by wagon train, which charged a premium for the service, and didn't always deliver.

What we need is some infrastructure (such as state roads and interstates) that make it possible for anybody and everybody to get where they need to go with their advertising, without the middle man. It's only a matter of time before the wagon trains are made obsolete in domain parking.... I HOPE!

[SensibleDomainers]

Hi Rick,

This is another great post from you this year..awesome I should say if it's implemented. Someone needs to take leadership obviously to make this possible.. I will vote for you or Kevin Leto or whoever can make this possible..

Another idea:

Why not we quickly form a 'private' group of 200 or 500 domainers first and add the TOTAL traffic/revenue numbers of the co-op and then invite a parking company to join us on OUR terms! Essentially, WE will control them.. How about that? This way, we can make this happen quickly by avoiding to setp all the infrastructure to run the parking company etc!

I am confident that MANY domainers will jump-in to the co-op as the upside is really HUGE for them. Who doesn't want to double or triple their income overnight? More so, when they have nothing to lose! This could be the greatest Christmas gift for all of us!

thanks,

[joezeppy]

Hi Rick,

I agree with you. Domainers have relied on others to do the work of selling advertising and really don't understand the entire picture. I think part of the problem is that there are so many layers. Advertisers pay Google (or Yahoo). Then aggregators like Domain Sponsor or Fabulous take a share as well. The result is that by the time a domainer is paid, the pie has been cut up and split at least three times. That's probably why most PPC companies have become domainers themselves.

[Matt Robson]

Since Steve Forbes used a lot of stories about industrialization, rail roads, and infrastructure, I decided to ask him what he thought about another aspect of the Western world's industrialization - Monopolies - and how they apply to the current market in pay per click.

He said the market's demand would induce new entrants to the market.

Today, its still quite easy for Google and Yahoo to gobble up smaller engines, ad networks, or media properties if they threaten their model.

Note - Google and them can go around buying up "sites", that's why what is needed is not a competitor site, but a competitor SERVICE, which supports syndication of content and advertising.

This will power any number of small sites too small to be acquisition targets individually, but too large to ignore collectively.

[David Wrixon]

When it comes to value, I think the biggest problem is that domainer's tend to look at things very much from their own perspective. They buy because they like it. That is simply not good enough!

You to need target markets and market segments. You need to put yourself in the other guys shoes, feel the cut of his suit and work out what he has in his pockets. You also need to find out what turns the guy on, and above all what makes him spend!

[Roderick Pagnossin]

The parking transparency comments are hitting a nerve with domainers.I have been saying this too for years in the forums. Until the day we get transparent parking domainers will keep getting the shaft.

Rick, you hit it on the nail when you state domain owners are stupid for not demanding this.

In every forum the majority make posts after posts about the fact that they made thirty five cents or so on a click. How do we know it was under a half buck, the click may have been $1.55 and the parking company cleared the rest.

No wonder in the journals the top parking companies are making claims of fabulous growth in their business.

Btw, In Namepros forum, I voted you for the person who has influenced the industry the most. I said, "What I like about him the most is he is so eloquent".

lol,

Roderick Pagnossin
Goodkarmaco

[Andy Kelly]

Great post !
In fact all your posts are telling it how it is ~ what else would anyone expect from you ~ guys like you pull no punches and why the hell should you. You know your stuff for sure.

regards

Andy

www.UrlAcademy.com

[Uzma]

Hi Rick

I may not always agree with everything you say but I DO like your forceful writing style.