Home Blog Page 1314

Pricing the Advertising on Your Website

Elliot Silver
-
13

Coming up with a price structure for advertising on your website is more of an art than a science. If you price your ad spots too high, nobody will want to advertise (or they won’t renew), and if you price it too low, you could leave a lot of money on the table. So the question becomes, “how much do I charge for advertising on my website?”

Here are the things I think you need to consider when coming up with your website’s pricing:

Prices other sites are charging

  • Media buyers and advertisers want to determine how much a customer acquisition will cost them on your site vs. other websites. If your site gets 1,000 visits a month and charges $200/banner and another site gets 10,000 visits a month and charges $350 for the same banner and placement, you can probably guess where they will spend their money. Perhaps they will run a test with you if you’re lucky, but your pricing should be realistic.

Audience interaction with your website

  • The more comments people post, the more engaged your readers tend to be with your website. If they are interacting with your site, you have a captive audience. Other examples of interaction are Twitter re-tweets and will soon be Facebook Likes once that rolls out further. If people recommend your site to others, advertisers will probably want to be there.

Traffic to your website and rankings (Compete/Alexa/Quantcast).

  • Everyone uses different analytics sources it seems, but the metrics companies generally don’t lie. If you say your website gets 2,000 unique visits a day and you’re Alexa ranking is 85,000 and Compete is at 100,000, you are probably looking at funky traffic #s or perhaps your stat counter is counting bots. Advertisers don’t want to server advertisements (and pay for them) to bots. Bots don’t buy products 🙂

Comparable cost for a PPC campaign

  • If advertisers are paying $2.00 a click on Adsense or other PPC campaign, and they can get more clicks (that are targeted) from your site with the same sales rate, they will probably want to advertise. Determine the going rate for an Adsense campaign on a site like yours and test how many clicks each banner spot typically gets (using internal banners or affiliate banners that track clicks) and price accordingly.

How targeted your site is

  • You can charge a lot more for your website if you get considerable targeted traffic. If lots of people are coming to your site to learn something specific or to read about something specific, they all become potential targets for advertisers. If you have a very broad website, many advertisements won’t be relevant to the visitors, so advertisers will expect to pay less

Your time commitment

  • From an advertiser’s perspective, this isn’t really important, but from a publisher’s perspective, it’s critical. Unless you are independently wealthy, you need to consider the amount of time you put into your website and be paid accordingly. As my business has grown, I couldn’t afford to spend the time and effort writing articles if I wasn’t making enough revenue. I love blogging and sharing, but it just wouldn’t make sense for this to be a detriment to my business growth. Time investment and revenue potential are two things that need to balance for your site to be a financial success.

Latonas One Day Auctions Bringing Quick Liquidity to Market

Elliot Silver
-
14

Over the past couple of weeks, Rick Latona’s team at Latonas.com has had a series of one day domain auctions, with all but two auctions having all domain names listed at $1.00 reserve prices. When a seller opts to list 50+ domain names in a single auction with basically no reserve price, they must have confidence in the venue. If interested buyers aren’t present or a technical glitch prevents people from bidding, it can end in disaster for the seller.

So far, the people who have held auctions at Latonas.com – and Latona’s company itself – have all made out fairly well with their auctions, netting well over a quarter of a million in sales. Here are the auction totals so far:

  • House Auction: $132k
  • House Auction: $19k
  • Richard Whitney auction: $46k
  • .MX auction: $3k
  • $1,000 House auction: $93k
  • Edwin Hayward auction: $27k
  • Eddie Sherman auction: $8.5k

I think Snapnames is the only other auction venue that allows private domain investors to hold personal auctions on its own proprietary platform (Bido may, although I am not 100% positive). The major difference though is that Latonas.com only has one auction during that day, so all of the marketing focus is on the one single auction.

Today, Domain Capital is holding an auction, with the prize domain name being Dolares.com (meaning dollars in Spanish). The auction already has over 40 bids and a price of $2,000 with just a few hours remaining. There are a few other good names in the auction, but with a fairly small auction like this, the best name stands out even more for people to bid.

Will Rick be able to build off of this great momentum? Only time will tell, but there are a number of companies out there with sizable portfolios who would love to drive 5 figures in revenue in a single day, and there are plenty of people out there looking for good deals to keep the sales prices honest.

Orangelist.com: “Great Domains, Healthy Oranges”

Elliot Silver
-
16

OrangeList.com

How would you like to get a box of fresh oranges from Florida when you purchase a domain name in the aftermarket?

Register.com just rolled out a unique domain sales venue called Orange List, and when you buy a domain name from the list, they will include a box of Florida’s finest fruit.   In addition, readers of my blog will also get a special discount on Orange List domain names – simply include the phrase “I Love Oranges” when you email or call the contact information listed on the website and you will save “15%.”

I had some questions about OrangeList.com for Ross Vinograd of Register.com, and he was kind enough to reply below.

Elliot: What is the goal of Orangelist.com?

Ross Vinograd: Orangelist.com is the only domain marketplace that includes a complimentary box of oranges.   Our goal is to sell domains and simultaneously increase the health of the domainer community.     It is a noble mission and we aim high.

Furthermore, this is a great opportunity to meet domain investors.

Elliot: How often will the inventory change?

Ross Vinograd: We will publish a new list of domains at the beginning of each month.     If we ship a lot of oranges, we will list new names more frequently.

Elliot: Will there always be 20 domain names for sale, or will the site expand?

Ross Vinograd: The number of domains will be limited to approximately 20.   Orangelist.com is designed to showcase premium names and what better way to showcase premium domains than with premium oranges.

Elliot: What orange grove will the oranges be from?

Ross Vinograd: We’ve done our homework and have identified several groves that will allow us to ship delicious oranges year round.   By the way, we ship coast to coast and only to the continental U.S.

Elliot: Are you planning on doing any other fun lists in the future, like CheesecakeList.com, PineappleList.com, or maybe FerrariList.com?

Ross Vinograd: Good question and I defer to the Scientists who have overwhelmingly confirmed that the nutritional value supporting the release of Orangelist.com far outweighs the health benefits of cheesecake, pineapples, and yes, even Ferraris.

That said, keep your eyes peeled and check out our monthly inventory at:

www.OrangeList.com “Great domains, Healthy Oranges.”

Wooot the Hell?

Elliot Silver
-
9

I was looking through a UDRP decision today regarding the domain name Wooot.com, which was filed by the company that owns the popular Woot website. It didn’t seem like a real surprise that the company won the decision, but the result of the decision was pretty surprising.

Having established all three elements required under the ICANN Policy, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.

Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <wooot.com> domain name be CANCELLED

Instead of giving the domain name to the complainant (which happens almost all of the time when a UDRP case is won, the panelist (Hon Nelson A Diaz (ret.)) opted to cancel the domain name instead. To make things even stranger, there was no reasoning supplied by the panelist for doing this.

I hope the complainant is good at catching drops – or they don’t get this panelist on the next go-round if it’s picked up by another party.

Thanks to George for the tip.

I Am Giving Away Two FREE Tickets to the GeoDomain Expo

Elliot Silver
-
19
Geodomain expo
Offering 2 Free tickets to the 2010 Geodomain Expo

I have an exclusive offer for readers of my blog: I am giving away two FREE tickets to the Geodomain Expo in New Orleans next week, April 28-30.   I can’t attend this year’s conference, so I am offering my tickets to my readers (I’m going on a vacation to Paris, so I can’t really complain).

The Geodomain Expo is one of the best domain conferences and I think it’s the best conference for networking. The #1 reason people attend the conference is to meet other successful domain developers and the GeoDomain Expo is the place to do it.   If you are interested in my tickets (and are sure you can attend) please post a comment in the comment section.

I will create a list of those who are interested in Excel and work with Associated Cities Executive Director Patrick Carleton who will use a random number generator to choose the people that will get the free tickets.   The winners will be chosen on Sunday, April 25th.

**Update**

I think it’s pretty obvious, but the only thing included is the conference ticket – no hotel, airfare, food or any other expenses :).   Also, this ticket can’t replace a previously purchased ticket.

Scottsdale.com’s “City in The Box” Platform Part of Major Development/Marketing Deal

Elliot Silver
-
4

I’ve known about these plans for several weeks, and I am happy to share the press release from Fred Mercaldo and his team at Scottsdale.com, who have been working hard to make this a reality. This puts Fred and his company at the forefront of the geodomain industry, as they will have more pure city .com domain names under their management than just about any other company.

My company’s Burbank.com will be one of the first websites released under this marketing and development deal, and I am excited to be a part of it. I am confident Fred and his team will be able to drive considerably more revenue with Burbank.com.

Fred will be speaking at the Geodomain Expo in New Orleans at the end of the month, and he will be available to answer any questions city .com domain owners may have.

======

GeoDomain Development Ventures, LLC announces development of over 40 Pure City.com Sites in Major Development/Marketing Deal

Scottsdale.com’s “City In The Box” Software to power sites; CitiesPlanet.com formed to Manage Advertising and Marketing Duties.

Scottsdale, AZ — April 21, 2010 — Fred Mercaldo, Managing Partner of Scottsdale.com, LLC and newly formed GeoDomain Development Ventures, LLC announced today a major software development and marketing deal that includes over 40 City.com sites.   “Our proven software platform (www.CityInTheBox.com) will power the sites; once they are launched, CitiesPlanet will perform all marketing and advertising functions, and will procure local partnerships and contracts that will monetize the sites.   We look forward to a successful launch, and our goal is to grow to 150 pure City.com properties under management within 24 months”

Based in Scottsdale, CitiesPlanet (www.CitiesPlanet.com) has worked with numerous creative technology and digital marketing specialists to develop a marketing platform that will successfully reach out to local business in each City.com area.   Combined with a robust CRM system, each business will receive a custom media kit with their specific company featured, giving business owners numerous advertising and partnering options with their local, official City.com branded site.   “Our success rate so far has been 15% to 30% response rate, depending on which Directory category is being marketed, which is incredible”, says Mercaldo.   “In addition, our system features a “nurture” campaign in the event a business has not responded to our first offer, and will automatically continue to send the opportunity to the business owner 3 additional times”.

The majority of the initial City.com sites are owned by State Ventures, LLC.   “Fred Mercaldo has the vision to foresee the future of local Internet advertising and the marketing talent to accelerate the shift of local advertising to city portals,” says Nat Cohen, President of State Ventures, LLC. “Fred is one of the stand-up guys in the Geo Domain industry.   We are very pleased to be partnering with Fred in helping him realize this vision for the industry.”

The City.com properties included in the initial launch feature a very diverse group of demographics and economies.   “Everything from Kalamazoo.com to Burbank.com to Sausalito.com to GreatFalls.com; each City will have its own distinct characteristics and opportunities.   We look forward to the challenge to make each City.com property a household name in each community” says Mercaldo.

CitiesPlanet will also handle all of the marketing and advertising responsibilities for Scottsdale.com, Chandler.com, Mesa.com, FountainHills.com, Tempe.com, and ApacheJunction.com, all of which have been launched and are connected within the Arizona market.   Mercaldo recruited former Travelocity and RazorGator executive Mark Wilson to head CitiesPlanet.   “Mark brings a successful track record of accomplishment to the table, combining both marketing expertise and technology capabilities, which is exactly what this project requires”, says Mercaldo.   The remaining City.com’s will begin launching the first week of May, and will continue to roll out through July until all 40 are established and successfully monetized.   Mercaldo states, “Our entire staff, led by Becky Kelley, has worked tirelessly this past 5 months to get all of these sites ready to go.   We are very pleased to be able to finally announce these partnerships, as it has been on the drawing board for quite some time.   We are ready to go!”

For more information on GeoDomain Development Ventures, LLC, contact:

Fred Mercaldo, 602-859-3786, fred@scottsdale.com

For more information on Scottsdale.com, LLC and “City In The Box” software, contact:

Becky Kelley, 480-343-3654, Becky@scottsdale.com

For more information on CitiesPlanet, contact:

Mark Wilson, 602-363-3345, Mark@CitiesPlanet.com

State Ventures LLC owns and develops many geographic domain names and web properties, including Maryland.com, OceanCity.com, Annapolis.com, Pennsylvania.com, Virginia.com, NorthCarolina.com, Missouri.com, and Minnesota.com.

1...1,3131,3141,315...1,573Page 1,314 of 1,573