Domaining and Address-Bar Driven Traffic

Domaining and Address Bar-Driven Traffic Monte Cahn, President and Founder, Moniker Online Services Jothan Frakes, Director of Industry Relations, Oversee.net

Monte Cahn
Founder and President
Moniker.com
Marketplace, Live Domain Auctions, Silent Auctions
Host of Domain Masters, every Wednesday at 7 pm EST/4 pm PST –WebmasterRadio.fm
Domain Experience Since 1995
Moniker.com - more than 2.7M Domains under management – 7 th largest Registrar
12 ICANN Accredited Registrars, Domain Sales, escrow, appraisal, Traffic Monetization
First to sell a domain for more than $1M and $2M (Wallstreet.com, Autos.com); more than $45 million at auction
Stealth Acquisition specialist
Invented the Domain Appraisal - 460K appraisals to date, IRS Accepted, used for lending and donation
One of the first to monetize domain traffic in 2000
Focus is on Domain Asset Management – Average Client owns 100+ domains
Clients include – Major League Baseball, NHL, Lions Gate Films, Incisivemedia/Jupitermedia, Marchex, and Yahoo!

Jothan Frakes
Director of Industry Relations
Oversee.net
Founder, Domain Roundtable and Co-founder of DomainFest conferences
Moderator, Domain Marketplace workshops at ICANN meetings
Guest Host of Domain Masters, every Wednesday at 7 pm EST/4 pm PST –WebmasterRadio.fm
Founded and executive produced Domain Roundtable conferences in 2005, 2006
Frequent speaker and industry subject matter expert on domain name industry, PPC, and domain aftermarket
Launched and .cc ccTLD in 1997, operated technical services 4 other ccTLDs
Founding Member of the .Mobi Advisory Group
Consulting Member of the COCCA, Country Code TLD Association
Consultant to multiple Top Level Domain (TLD) registries (Afilias / .info, DotAsia, Dot Mobi, VeriSign, Neustar)

Professional Domain Portfolios
ICANN regulates the domain industry
Empowered by the US Department of Commerce
Following regulations –innovative entrepreneurs invested
Many risked $100,000+ per year with unknown future

Domain Marketing Became Extremely Profitable
Domain revenue sources were not originally known
Revenue = Search revenue, PPC, CPA programs, affiliate sites, and Selling Domains
Annual online advertising revenue estimated to grow to more than $1 Billion in 2007
Domain sales likely to top $500 million this year
Ad revenue has potential to reach $2 billion by 2010
Domains contribute 15% of Google/Yahoo Search revenue
Market includes approximately 14 million domains out of 128 million registered and growing

Revenue drove Domain Portfolio Creation Investment domains: BuyDomains …… 800,000 Oversee ………… 600,000 Fabulous ……….. 600,000 Vendare ………… 500,000 Marchex ………... 200,000 GeoSign ………… 100,000

The worldwide industry is healthy
A record 146 million domain names are now registered, a 31% increase year over year
12 million new domains were registered during Q3 of 2007, an increase of 25% over Q3 of 2006
By 2010, domains worldwide will top 240 million
Today, 87% are live (standard and parked), 74% renewed
More than 240 ccTLD extensions globally, but the top 10 ccTLDs make up more than 66% of the total.
ccTLD registrations total more than 54 million, 38% growth rate year over year at the end of Q3 2007

In the past year, aftermarket sales have increased by an estimated 58%, with total private and public transactions reaching more than $300 million.
At least 57 domains sold twice between 2004 and 2005. The value of these domains increased an average of 288% over just 230 days. More than 200 domains sold twice between 2004 and 2006.
73.3M active (registered) .COM domain names registered. High registration and renewal rates on .COM domain names (according to VeriSign 74% to 78% of .COM names are renewed)
As of 02/24/08 there are 73,366,208 .COM Domain Names

Top ccTLDs for Q3 2007:
1 .de (Germany)
2 .cn (China)
3 .uk (United Kingdom)
4. .nl (Netherlands)
5 .eu (European Union)
6 .ar (Argentina)
7 . it (Italy)
8 .us (United States)
9 .br (Brazil)
10 .ch (Switzerland).
Source: Verisign, Dec 2007

Internet usage worldwide September 30, 2007 Source: Internet World Stats 244.70% 100.00% 100.00% WORLD TOTAL 149.90% 1.50% 0.50% Oceania / Australia 540.70% 9.30% 8.50% Latin America/Caribbean 117.20% 18.90% 5.10% North America 920.20% 2.70% 2.90% Middle East 221.50% 27.20% 12.30% Europe 302.00% 36.90% 56.50% Asia 874.6 % 3.50% 14.20% Africa Usage Growth Usage % of the world Population % of the world Region WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION

The secondary marketplace for domain names is healthy
Using the top ten reported domain sales at popular reporting center DNJournal.com:
Some Noteworthy Sales:
Porn.com 9.5M USD (2007)
Vodka.com 3.0M USD (2006)
Tandberg.com 1.5M USD (2007)
Cameras.com 1.5M USD (2006)
Scores.com 1.2M USD (2007)
Important to also note that 2007 number is only first half of 2007.
Larger sales, such as pharmacy.com for 75M in late 2007 often go unreported (not reflected in graph, would be 3 slides tall at current scale)

The Secondary Market is Thriving
As we’ll witness today at 3pm in the live domain name auction, the secondary marketplace is vibrant and thriving.
Registration growth and renewal rates, coupled with the growing number of internet users has driven scarcity of unique address labels (Domain Names).

The Secondary Market is Primary Market
When driving with a realtor to view new properties from MLS, typically <15% of homes on market are new, other 85% are mature homes.
Same has become true of Domain Marketplace.
SMB / SOHO / Corporate websites are service and brand quality sensitive more than price sensitive, which is driving this trend.

What makes a good domain?
Natural Generic Brand (search volume = mindshare)
Easy to Remember (radio test)
Clear, Concise and Descriptive (what does it say to the user)
Commercially Oriented (existing search bids)
Industry Segment (is the industry hot/cold, new/old)
Visually Pleasing (what will it look like on a business card?)
Existing Type-In Traffic (marketing benefit)
Back links, Page rank, Alexa Rank, etc.
Mistypes? (generics vs. trademark)

What makes a good domain? SEO Parameters
Keyword Research: Does the domain use popular and focused keywords?
Linkability: Does it appeal to bloggers and webmasters who might link to you?
Top-Level Domain: Dot com is still king.
Used URLs: Check to see if anything is still indexed.
Site Age (if a used URL): Run the URL through The Wayback Machine.
Back Links (if a used URL): Avoid URLs that have negative links coming in.
Blacklists Check: See if the URL or its associated IP address has been black-listed.
Relevancy: Look for direct, focused keyword relevance to you business.
URL Length: Don’t be too specific. Shorter domains are also easier to remember and type!
Potential for Legal Conflict: Be aware of trademarks and copyrights.
Double Meanings: Be aware if your keyword-rich URL has a secondary meaning? Example: www.therapistfinder.com .
CNet, 8/16/2007; Stephan Spencer

How Do Domains Generate Revenue?
Domain Traffic (direct navigation) – ad revenue from CPC, CPA, CPM, Selling Traffic directly to companies or advertisers
Domain Sales – sale of domain names directly or portals
Domain Development – individually or in partnership domain owners add content, diversify advertising and build web networks
Vertical Dominance – to monopolize groups of domain names in category verticals. Dominance means more power and revenue.
Other Sources of $$$ - leveraged value for financing/loans, charitable donations/tax deductions

Trends in Ad Spending by Medium
AD SPENDING VS. MEDIA TIME BY MEDIUM
Source: Figures regarding ad spending and time spent by medium from Forrester Research (May 2005); market growth rates from ZenithOptimedia (December 2006).

Direct Navigation Conversion “ Conversion rates for direct navigation are almost twice that of search engines.” Source: WebSideStory.

Domain Traffic – Recent Articles, Studies, Facts
GROWING MARKET - 70 percent of Internet surfers use direct navigation, up 53% from four years ago (WebSideStory). Rest use search engines.
Direct Navigation project to be a $1 billion business this year, on track to surpass $1.2B (Susquehanna Financial)
Direct Navigation comprises 8-10% of the U.S. and U.K. search advertising markets – projected to be at least $840 million this year.
At more than 4%, direct navigation traffic converts at double the rate of search traffic (WebSideStory)
VeriSign indicates approximately 12-14% (approx. 100,000 per week) of its new domain registrations are likely related to pay-per-click advertising. 24% are parked.
Domain values have increased 20% on average over the last 3 years due to direct navigation revenue generation.
Public companies such as Marchex, Livedoor, and ValueClick own portfolios of Direct Navigation websites, as do numerous private equity backed companies such as iREIT, Demand Media, and NameMedia – all planning IPO.
PPC advertising is only the beginning/foundation for the Direct Navigation industry as new ways to monetize visitors to Direct Navigation websites evolve.

How Direct Navigation Works
User types in “careerseeker.com” in address bar searching for relevant information
DomainSponsor creates an optimized page of keywords relevant to the user’s search
Targeted keywords refine user search with greater specificity resulting in higher conversion rates

How Direct Navigation Works, part 2 The Google Contract gives Google the exclusive right to this space on Oversee.net’s Direct Navigation Sites More search topic links for additional monetization A click on any of these links generates revenue for you
User clicks on “Find a Job” and gets sponsored results

Domain Traffic – CPC page (1 & 2 Click Revenue) TrafficClub.com – PPC Monetization

Domain Traffic – CPC page (2 Click Revenue)

Domain Traffic – “2 Click” Second Page Domain owner gets paid when users click on the second page. First page clicks are strictly navigational links.

Domain Traffic – CPA options
Typical direct navigation model similar to a PPC parking page
Landing page has links to keywords
When a user clicks, get a listing of additional keywords relevant to the one just clicked
When user clicks on one of those, takes you directly to the advertiser’s landing page
Eliminates competition with other advertisers

Domain Traffic – CPA options
Oversee.net offers a turnkey product
90 advertiser verticals available
Sample Verticals:
Credit Cards Dating
Weight Loss New Car Quotes
Work from home Auto Insurance
Auto Parts Credit Reports
Education Flowers

Generic Domains Search Volume vs. Type-In Unique Visitors Search Volume Annual Uniques There is a direct relationship between domain phrase search volume and domain traffic volume

Creating Your Own Portfolio
Who?
Anyone with moderate capital, intelligence, patience and time
Where?
Aftermarket domain web sites, WhoIs, search databases, trademark exclusion tools, search bidding tools, creative thinking, expired/drop names
When?
Today, you are a little late but not dead!
Why?
Growth is incredible, high return on capital employed, advertising revenues are escalating, capture your market
How?
Find the search phrases that define your market segment
Identify domains that are commercial, rare and valuable
Register domains that are still available
Use Expired name and Drop Services
Contact those who own the rest or Stealth Acquire them
Define your strategy, budget, and time frame
Execute Immediately!

Domains – Brand Identity of the Internet
Choosing the proper domain names is crucial to success.
The winners will see an increased market share among a generation that spends their lives online.
Losers will cling to decreasing audiences, especially among the youth demographic.
Total Online Ad Spending % of Overall Ad Market

Pharmaceutical Companies – “Buy” the disease
Asthma is an $11Billion dollar industry – 60% going to prescription drugs.
GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) created a ‘soft branded’ portal.
Able to control what visitors learn about asthma.
Information about where visitors are coming from (IP tracking), and going to (cookies).
Appeals to GenX patients who are more likely to research an ailment online.
GSK’s competitors will be forced to constantly spend money on search engines and portals to reach potential customers online – expensive for a disease that grew by 35% since 1997.

Insurance Companies – The Lead Generation Portal
With a domain name and a web developer this company partnered with an offline insurance broker to become one of the largest independent health insurance brokers in the US.
Insurance companies spend money on advertising to create an image that distinguishes themselves from the competition
Insurance companies now face having their offerings compared against competitors on functionality alone.

Health Industry Advertisers – How to Lose Your Brand
Hispanic Americans are the largest, youngest and fastest growing minority group in the country – they also have the largest purchasing power of any minority group in the country.
A younger generation raised on the Internet as well recent immigrants will not have brand allegiance to established US diet companies
WeightWatchers or Jenny Craig spend $5 – $10 for each new customer sign-up they get from affiliate networks – can they afford to pass on a domain receiving 200,000 unique Hispanic Americans per month?

Domain Purchase Potholes
Trademark Search
Consider having a valuation done for high value domains
Use a domain escrow service
Financing is NOW available
Domain Statistics – Are they artificially inflated ?
You may have to Stealth Acquire to avoid artificial inflation
What other information can you get?

Useful Links
Phrase Data – WordTracker.com , KeywordDiscovery.com
Bid Price Data – Yahoo Search Marketing Bid Tool searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch /
Web site strength – Compete.com , SpyFu.com
Ownership WhoIS Lookup – v3whois.com , WebHosting.info
Aftermarket Domain Sales and services: Moniker.com , BuyDomains.com , Sedo.com, SnapNames.com
Expired Name/Drop Services – SnapNames.com , Pool.com , ClubDrop.com
Trademark Tools
United States Patent & Trademark Office www.uspto.gov
Microsoft Research research.microsoft.com/URLTracer /
WIPO arbiter.wipo.int/domains /
Domain Masters, Wednesday’s at 4 PM PST – www.WebmasterRadio.fm
Forums and news – dnforum.com , domainstate.com , namepros.com , dnjournal.com, domainboardroom.com
Conferences – DomainFest, DomainerMeeting.eu, T.R.A.F.F.I.C ., WebmasterWorld.com , SES, Affiliate Summit

Monte Cahn
Founder and President
Moniker.com
Marketplace, Live Domain Auctions, Silent Auctions
Host of Domain Masters, every Wednesday at 7 pm EST/4 pm PST –WebmasterRadio.fm
Moniker.com - more than 2.7M Domains under management – 7th largest Registrar
12 ICANN Accredited Registrars, Domain Sales, escrow, appraisal, Traffic Monetization
First to sell a domain for more than $1M and $2M (Wallstreet.com, Autos.com); more than $45 million at auction
Stealth Acquisition specialist
Invented the Domain Appraisal - 460K appraisals to date, IRS Accepted, used for lending and donation
One of the first to monetize domain traffic in 2000
Focus is on Domain Asset Management – Average Client owns 100+ domains
Clients include – Major League Baseball, NHL, Lions Gate Films, Incisivemedia/Jupitermedia, Marchex, and Yahoo!

Jothan Frakes
Director of Industry Relations
Oversee.net
Founder, Domain Roundtable and Co-founder of DomainFest conferences
Moderator, Domain Marketplace workshops at ICANN meetings
SnapNames Live Auction, DomainSponsor Enterprise Sales
Domain Name Experience Since 1994
Founded and executive produced Domain Roundtable conferences in 2005, 2006
Frequent speaker and industry subject matter expert on domain name industry, PPC, and domain aftermarket
Launched and .cc ccTLD in 1997, operated technical services 4 other ccTLDs and Internationalized Domain Names (IDN)
Founding Member of the .Mobi Advisory Group
Consulting Member of the COCCA, Country Code TLD Association
Long Standing Consultant to multiple Top Level Domain (TLD) registries (Afilias / .info, DotAsia, Dot Mobi, VeriSign, Neustar)

Thanks! ( and remember the live domain name auction TODAY at 3pm next door in Pavillion 8 )

http://blog.affiliatesummit.com	102
http://blog.affiliatetip.com	16
http://geekcast.fm	9
http://www.fundraisingonline.ca	1

Domaining and Address-Bar Driven Traffic

by Affiliate Summit on Mar 01, 2008

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

4 Embeds 128

Statistics

Domaining and Address-Bar Driven Traffic — Presentation Transcript