Having One Primary Source of Traffic is Not a Good Situation

Many people have websites that rely on Google as the primary source of traffic, and consequently, revenue. Some of my own websites fall into that category, with 80%+ of the traffic coming from Google searches. If there’s an issue with Google’s rankings, the traffic and revenue vanish like my morning cup of coffee.

Similarly, there are a number of domain industry blogs and websites that rely on Domaining.com as the primary source of traffic. Domaining.com helps drive hundreds of targeted visitors a day, but when there’s a problem with that website, there is no traffic as a result.

Unfortunately, Francois is dealing with some sort of malicious sql injection at Domaining.com. He is aware that Google Chrome and other web browsers are showing a warning message to people trying to visit Domaining.com, and he is working on fixing the issue.

Luckily for me, traffic is only affected minimally, but I know there are a few sites that are seeing considerably less traffic this morning.

I am sure Francois will have this fixed ASAP, but it’s a good lesson for people who rely on a single source of traffic. Any type of change in algorithm or other type of problem with that traffic source may cause significant problems down the line. Spend time cultivating other traffic sources and become less reliant on a single source, whether that’s Google, Yahoo, or even Domaining.com.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

7 COMMENTS

  1. The search engine that gives you everything is the search engine that can take everything away from you. Nice simile by the way(coffee) sorry bout the bosox

  2. I believe I read a quote once that talked about owning the brand and how that in itself would deliver traffic regardless of what Google does. Whether Domaining.com is a type-in or a favorite, Google’s algorithm changes really don’t dictate site traffic now that it already has an industry following.

  3. While the search engines can be a great source of traffic, it is true that we should seek other traffic sources. I think that there are a few social websites such as FaceBook that can be used properly to generate a respectable amount of traffic.

    Also in some niches there are niche directories that can provide a nice stream of traffic to your site.

  4. He is not fair to the domaining industry. He is very selfish.

    For example:
    1. Today when his server is having problems, he could have easily re-routed all the arbitrage, and blog inquiries into a temporary solution in order to save the bloggers business; he wont do it unless he can also serve his own ads.

    2. He has no respect for the bloggers that feed his site, he charges them money to advertise, instead of sharing the profits from the traffic many of them bring to him. He forces everyone to display his domain name in their websites.

    3. He sets up business to compete with his customers and fellow domainers, such as escrow.com, sedo, estibot, and so many others,; he clutters the domain blog space with too many ads.

    4. He took money from me for a life time membership to his service, and unilaterally canceled me out because i criticized him, without refunding the money, whereas i’ve asked him to either re-instate the service, or refund the money.

    I can go on and on..

  5. I was gonna mention another small thing he did:

    When .CO was launched last July, he started operating Flipper.CO, and flooded the market with a nascent gTLD, in an effort to make a quick buck, he single killed the .CO aftermarket. And his registration of that name, was in direct competition with Flippa.com, the market place. Someone in his role, should be neutral, not competing with fellow domainers.

    I also noticed that BoxCar.com was paying him a lot of money, while advertizing on his website (domaining.com), but Francois timed his own advertizing campaign for CA.com to coincide, and thereby neutralizing Boxcar’s campaign…

    I can go on and on..

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