Domain Parking

Protected Parking Monetizes “Risky” Domain Names

While at the domain investor meetup in Chicago, I met someone whose company has an interesting business model that monetizes trademark domain names. While I think it is highly risky for people to own domain names that contain famous trademarks or are typos of famous marks, I thought Protected Parking’s business model was interesting.

I understand that Protected Parking has deals with major branding owners that allow them to monetize domain names that likely would be considered cases of cybersquatting. It is also possible that keyword domain owners could use their services if their domain name is in a vertical that monetizes well with the company.

I asked Marlon Phillips, the company’s Vice President of Sales, if he could share more information about his company, and here’s what he told me:

Bodis Acquires TrafficZ

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During the last week of December, TrafficZ announced that the parking service was shutting down at  the end of 2014. I was a bit surprised that they chose to shut down rather than be acquired, especially after a commenter reported that there were still quite a few domain names using TrafficZ DNS.

According to an email I received this morning, Bodis has acquired TrafficZ. The email was sent to me because I have a  TrafficZ account (rather than as a news article to report), and there aren’t any details about the terms of the acquisition.

Here is what the email said:

NamesCon: Spotlight on ParkingCrew

Below is an interview with Axel Kaltz, Managing Director, ParkingCrew.com. For the past month, I have been interviewing NamesCon exhibitors and sponsors.

NamesCon will be held January 11-14, 2015 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. To date, over 500 people have registered to attend the conference, and we are expecting to have 800 registered conference attendees in attendance.

Can you tell us about your company and how long you have been there?

ParkingCrew.com is a direct navigation monetization provider. Founded by

Always Check Your Landing Pages

Parking services are pretty smart when it comes to categorizing domain names. I often take the process of categorization for granted when I load new domain names into my account because it’s such an easy process, but I can think of two reasons why it is a good idea to check them out and make sure they are categorized correctly.

The first reason is quite obvious. If you have a domain name that should have insurance keyword links, but instead, the links and landing page are related to pets, you may be leaving money on the table. Not only could you impact your click through rate, but you’d almost certainly be getting a lower RPC on a lower value term. There may be a reason the parking company thinks it is suppose to show pet related advertising, but you may have a better understanding of the domain name than the parking company’s algorithm.

The second reason is similar but there may be different consequences. This morning, I was searching for something for my daughter. As is the case so many times, that led me to look up domain names related to this product. I noticed that one of the better exact match .com domain names is parked and owned by a domain investment company. I was surprised when I saw that the landing page had

Rook Media Acquires DomainSponsor from Oversee [Updates]

ds_logoI just received a press release announcing the Rook Media has acquired DomainSponsor from Oversee.net. The terms of the transaction were not released. Founded in 2002, DomainSponsor is one of the oldest domain name parking companies, and according to DailyChanges.com, its nameservers have nearly one million domain names resolving to them.

During the last several years, Oversee has evolved from being one of the largest domain name industry companies to perhaps moving away from the domain business, at least in terms of being a service provider. Previously, Oversee sold its Moniker domain registrar and SnapNames auction house. I think the company’s evolution is even more clear when you compare how Oversee is described in company press releases:

In 2012: “Oversee.net ® is a leader in online performance marketing.”

Today: “Oversee.net is an innovative technology company that owns and operates a portfolio of websites designed to help consumers discover, compare, and save.”

I think this deal should be seen as good news for domain investors. From my perspective, the more domain names that are parked with a monetization service, the better revenue share they should be able to command from the upstream provider. Some people may look at it from the other perspective of fewer providers means fewer options and lower payouts, but I don’t necessarily think that will be the case.

I am curious to know if

DNS Testing New gTLD Cross Sell on Landing Pages

A friend shared something interesting that he noticed when typing in random keyword domain names this afternoon. If you visit KneeBraces.com, a domain name that is owned by Frank Schilling’s Name Administration and parked via DomainNameSales.com, check out the link below the PPC advertising links:

This domain is registered. Click here to buy KneeBraces.Email

When you click the link, it takes you to

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