Domain investors loved earning PPC revenue from direct navigation traffic.
It should be no surprise that many inquiries that stall or are confused are because the people typing in a domain name are confused.
They want to buy a spark plug – not https://t.co/ysmHvxn1Np.
— Elliot Silver (@DInvesting) October 28, 2025
Since the beginning of domain name monetization, domain investors have touted the value of type-in traffic. People type-in a domain name either expecting to find something related to the keyword they typed or to find a company with that brand name. Oftentimes, they would click the links on the landing page, and that would generate pay-per-click (PPC) revenue for the owner of the domain name. Cha-ching. Many homes, cars, and luxuries were purchased courtesy of PPC income.
For many of these visitors, there was some level of confusion involved in their typing and clicking. They either didn’t know what website they needed or they were on the wrong domain name looking for something else. Had they known specifically what they needed or where they intended to visit, they may have used a search engine or typed in the correct domain name.
Confusion earned many domain investors a lot of money. Their domain names had PPC links that helped direct traffic to the right places at a price.
For domain name sellers, this confusion leads to confused inquiries and frustration.
I can’t even guess how often I received an inbound purchase inquiry from someone who was looking to buy a product, needed customer support from a different company, wanted to make an appointment, tried to cancel a service, or had general questions about something completely unrelated to my business. I would guesstimate I’ve had thousands of confused inquiries made on my domain names over the years.
Because so many of my domain names are parked with GoDaddy landing pages, most of these confused buyers deal with GoDaddy brokers and not me. My Embrace.com landing pages also receive these kinds of inquiries, and I get phone calls from people who are totally confused. At best, this is a time waster. At worst, I have to deal with angry people who make me realize why online fraud and scams are so successful.
Domain investors gripe about the number of stalled or confused leads they see. They are upset a broker can’t close a deal for them. Chances are very good those leads are confused people who don’t even know what a domain name is. This is one of the big reasons I moved many domain names back to GoDaddy landing pages. I grew tired of getting inquiries that looked like this “I would like to purchase spark plugs from you exclusively,thank you“
