Very informative discussion added to this article in Domainstate.com. Check It out!

In order to monetize domains, you will have to know who the visitors are and what are they looking for. You will also need to know where they are clicking through from...is it search engines or certain websites.

If it is from search engines, then what keywords do they use to find the domains. If it is from backlinks, then you will have to investigate the link.

All these investigations will need you to set up a tracking system so that you know the traffic. I suggest Google analytics. You can just put up a one or two page website, stick Google Adsense on the page and the tracking codes. Once done, you should have a very good idea of your traffic after a week and at the same time, earning some Adsense dollars along the way.

The only reason the traffic converts poorly is because they did not find what they are looking for when they land on your domain's landing page.

Find out what they want and show them the best way to get it, and clickthrus will skyrocket!

Al.

If any of you have had success monetizing these types of domains, I'd love to know your strategy. I'm talking about domains that used to be websites and have a handful of back links, like maybe 10 to 100 back links, and all the traffic comes from the back links, as opposed to type-in traffic. Have you found, like I did, that this traffic converts poorly? How have you handled it?

This has to be one of the most interesting parking program launched. I hope other big monetization companies will start a one-upmainship game to better this program.

Domain parking will soon evolve from a one-page site to a minisite with the likes of Whypark.com and DomainEmbarking.com.

To the DomainEmbarking.com guys....the domain name is kinda long but other than that..congrats on the great concept and best wishes!

Al.

In fact the branding of the .com has been so strong that it is synonymous to the generic "website" or the internet itself. It is in itself regarded as a generic!

Just think of how many people who goes around and says stuffs like " I own a dotcom" when they actually meant "I own a website". How about the term "dotcom millionaire", "dotcom bubble" or "dotcom business".

I have never heard of a "dotnet entrepreneur" or "dotinfo company" :) It is like..."please Xerox this document" or "can you give me a kleenex"? A really strong generic brand, stubbornly engrained in consumer's minds!

Al.

This practice is called "namesquatting" and I believe it is illegal. I should think she will soon find loads of C&Ds in her email after this article is published.

Al.

"between 20 to 30 thousand unique visitors per hour to the website.."  Really? Somehow I don't really believe this. That equates to about 500,000 uniques a day! 

For a domain name such as ...saudi-binladin-group.com ?  mmm....

Al

flowerfish: agreed completely. This is one of the strategies many SEO/SEM experts are leveraging the domain name to boost their result.

@flowerfish: good point.  Domaining seems to be a natural fit for an SEO.

Any SE specialists who goes into domaining will do good in this industry because they are basically keywords experts too! And on top of that, they will know how to drive traffic to their domains.

The only trick is for them to register or buy the keywords in their .com version, develop the domain and optimize the new site with their knowledge of SEO....and they will have a valuable virtual property in their hands!

For those newbies who want to know the efforts involved in domaining, please read this!
Buy a highly brandable domain name that is from a competitive industry and then set aside at least 3 months to develop the domain.

I believe if Peter had developed the domain, he could have earned many times more but then again, he has set his sight on bigger acquisations and something has to go.

I am surprised that he got DayTradingSchool.com at only $1,274 against the likes of Vaxis, Bonkerstwo and bigmooli at Snapnames!

I like this domain and would have paid more for it ...just look at the advertisers in Google for the term "day trading school"...33 pages of PAID advertisers and the top 1-3 placement pays $3.78 - $4.99 a click!

Congrats, Frank, again on another excellent buy!

Al.

I like the idea of Google buying up GoDaddy.  Why?
Well, just so that Google can REALLY help with GoDaddy's slow and most "user-unfriendly" account management panel. If Google can change the userbility of GoDaddy's website, many domainers will be registering domains with them even more!

Got this from Frank Schilling's blog, BTW.

Al.

Frank Schilling talks about this in his latest blog post here.

I feel sorry for all .com.au domain owners. This policy is definitely open for vultures to take advantage of.

Then again, there must be a certain body to protect domain owners from such absurdity. Even for cases such as a generic or made-up word .coms.

There is also a big problem for domainers when trademark holders wield their power and files infringement lawsuits on domains that don't even come close to their trademarks. Well, this kinds of lawsuits will cost tens of thousands of dollars, just to have a counsel appear in court to defend the case. If the case is not defended, then there will be a default judgement and the court will automatically yank the alleged infringing domain to give it to the complainant!

Even after spending tons of money fighting the case and if you won, you will just earn the right to keep the domains. You cannot claim any legal fees from the other party, so most domainers will just give up their domains if it is valued only at a few thousand dollars.

I think this practice is called "reverse hijacking" and you will never know how painful it is until your are faced with one. Trust me, I have been through this!

I will add that this is for the seasoned domainer, the ones who have seen so many good and bad domains and instinctively knows the difference.

As for newbies, do read as much as possible first and avoid the registeration "binge".

After you are very familiar with what makes a good domain, "gut" feeling is definitely there for you to tap into. I have always been a firm believer of trusting your unconscious mind.

"When will you know when to take the next breath?" Just trust your instinct!

Al.

Yes, definitely the .co.uk domain market is heating up! Many research papers on domain names did mention that good .co.uk domains are hot properties nowadays. I do not doubt this....just look at those prices!

Good info at domainprices.co.uk! A real helper for investors to research .co.uk domain prices.

A number of £xx,xxx .co.uk domains were sold this week at a London auction. Check my site for details. If anyone wants a list of recent UK domain sales, try www.domainprices.co.uk

Sahar Sarid has a great and interesting view of this article. Here.

hi greeting ThANKing
please dig it up more from 'the forums e.t.c.
2[to] report the glitches of various domain auction site ,
v'r watching them very closely ,
because : :::::
v'r2 do 'the auctions via e.g. sedo  or greatdomains  e.t.c.

ThANKye , 2w

The first ever book I read on negotiation was "An Idiot's Guide to Negotiation". This gave me the very basic of the skill and after reading that, my skill sky-rocketed and I was much more confident to negotiate.

After that, I wanted more and bought a book by Roger Dawson. That was almost 10 years ago. That was an excellent book but the general idea is almost the same as the Idiot's guide. Roger advocates lots of rapport building.

The most importatnt thing is to do your research, practice, build rapport and be flexible. Thats it!

Al

Is there a particular book on negotiating that you would recommend?

I guess those who are smart and who really put in their due diligence will always end up with the busloads of money. Just check out Frank Schilling's latest post.

It saddens me to read about those who are building castles in the sky with their portfolio of crappy domains. Just remember, research, research and research before you go on a domain registeration binge! It is not that easy now but the opportunity is still HUGE for the smart ones.

Another investment 101 tip....NEVER  put all eggs into one basket!

Trademark owners are going overboard with "domain hijacking" nowadays, whereby they just file lawsuits on trademark infringement claims against domain owners even for some very absurd reasons.

If a lawsuit is filed, the defendent will have to hire a lawyer to defend the case. Just for lawyers to make an appearance in court, a deposit of $50,000 to $100,000 wil have to be made. Most domain owners cannot afford that and will just easily give up the domains. If no defence is made, there will be a default judgement and the court will just simply ask the domain registry to hand over the domains to the complainant. Just like in the bodog.com case.

With such practice so prevalent, I don't see any reasons why scammers will jump into the fray.

Al.

This is very good resource for those who are into developing their domains. From experience, domain name development takes lots of time and you can only develop that many domains.

Always choose your very best domains in competitive industries and develop them. I have seen many people developing their good domains into proxy sites or arcade game sites which generally don't earn much and take up huge bandwidth. This is a complete waste of time, money and good domains.

After you have developed your domains, next comes the marketing part...so you will have to be a "SEOmainer". I read somewhere on the net by some "gurus" that you should spend 10% of your time and $$ developing your website and the rest on marketing it! I guess this is somewhat true.


Al.

This is like fighting fire with fire. Or maybe it is "if you can't beat them, join them"?

Al.