Elliot Silver continues strong, this time with a powerful and insightful interview with “Domain King” Rick Schwartz.
There’s too much good material to quote so I will keep it short, but be sure to read the whole interview for more. It is a fascinating read.
1.) EJS: Development seems to be one of the “hot topics”? at recent TRAFFIC conferences, and you’ve indicated that you will be developing some of your domain names. What names in your portfolio are at the top of the line for development, and what type of development options are you considering?
RS: “I think Property.com, Candy.com and Widgets.com are the ones that are ripest for development. I have been in discussions with companies on two of these domains. However nothing concrete at this point. Like most things, it all is about the timing. iReport.com is also high on my list. I have experimented with other development. RumorMill.com for one. But development does not automatically mean more revenue. RumorMill.com will likely morph into another type site and be a PPC page during the transition. What most people don’t realize is I had developed sites in 1996 and 1997 when I still had my real world businesses. I have also developed sites that just stay in orbit and I even forget I have them.. eRealestate.com was one of my early sites and I have left much of that largely as a time capsule with only some obvious updates. But most of what was written there came from 1996-1999. I have about 10 other developed sites that I don’t talk much about. As the net matures, matching a great domain name with a profitable formula for development will become easier
Which is why parking pages are so popular. You may collect a little less but you tied up zero time and that alone has value. So every time you discuss development, it circles back to 100% automation. Parking = 0 minutes per month. Development = much more time per month. Eventually there will be some other options as businesses realize just how potent type in traffic is. No matter how you cut it and how well folks think they are doing the fact is the traffic domains produce is worth 10x the current payout rate and sometimes much much more. When the true value of traffic is fully exploited then you will see payouts explode. 2 cent visitors will be worth $20 or $200 or more. What kind of an increase is that? What does that do to the price of domain names with targeted type in traffic? And as parking pages get more sophisticated they will begin to capture data and email addresses and do mail outs and do other things to aid in developing databases of buyers. So development may not be what we expect it to be and it sure as hell is not easy to develop AND be profitable. But like solving the Rubix Cube”.we keep trying.. And when folks laugh at those payouts above, they will just show their lack of vision. If I have somebody looking for a $1 million property and I hand delver them to the agent that could make a $60,000 commission, you going to tell me that is worth 2 CENTS?? 2 DOLLARS. $200?? BS! I would rather sell him a 25 cent piece of candy for that 2 cents or just give the visitor to charity. But when the DAY comes that the Realtor says you can make me $60k and I can pay you THOUSANDS for that lead”.THEN you will see what a visitor is REALLY worth.. And if a domain can produce just 10 of those people a year, what is the value of that domain? We will laugh when we look back at this period of pennies. Wait until they actually figure it out. How can I be so sure? 2+2 =4. Just because we are in a time in which they have not figured out that 2+2 =4 does not mean WE have to change anything. 2=2 IS 4 and when they figure it out our job is to just be there waiting and the key ingredient is patience. So overpaying for a domain today is still a HUGE bargain when you look down the road and see what I believe will unfold.”?
We see that every single day with FuneralHomes.com. A click that used to be valued at 10 cents now converts to a funeral of USD10K revenue and for the funeral home, potential life-value of a consumer of much more.
great job Elliot!
“A click that used to be valued at 10 cents now converts to a funeral of USD10K revenue and for the funeral home, potential life-value of a consumer of much more.”
‘life value’ for the consumer of the service, I hope you mean the family etc not the poor guy in the coffin
—-ANSWER—-
No kidding!
Yea, of course, the family.
Sahar
A click, a lead, a sale!
This is why it’s much more interesting for web publishers to be paid in a CPA basis when you have a web site that convert.
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Glad to read you are doing well.
I have seen these guys at funeralhomes.com from the outside and have monitored there progress… In one word INCREDIBLE!!!!
Great Job Guys
I am very surprised there isn’t a sophisticated affiliate/revenue share/parking service yet. Like the one described- giving a fair share of profit to domain holder…