Are You Sitting On A Fortune?

It's every domainer's dream - you buy a name and within a few months, somebody comes along and offers you a small fortune for it because they have an idea to turn it into even more money.

That rarely happens though, at least not to a Mr Average like me.

That's why I tend to develop my names into web sites, usually something that will promote a specific service for which I can get paid loads of money, or I'll put up a site that offers free classified advertising, like on PrivateVilla.co.uk that I mentioned in my earlier post this morning.

Those sites will have Google ads and/or very relevant affiliate programs aimed at the particular audience I'm targeting for the site in question.

They don't earn a fortune (at least not in my case), but they more than pay their way.

Something Interesting Is Happening!

As you know from recent posts here, I've begun to get enquiries (some genuine, some not so) lately, from marketing companies.

The marketing companies are now actively seeking paid links on smaller web sites.

What's promoted me to write this, is an email I have just received from a company representing yet another household name company.

This time, they are asking me to help promote a price comparison engine by advertising on some of my sites in return for money.

They already advertise extensively on prime-time television, in the national press and on bill boards throughout the country, so it's interesting to see that they are now looking to advertise with the little guys too!

Of course, some big name companies have been doing this for years via affiliate networks, but the significant thing here is that they are now shifting towards a direct payment model.

This has to be great news for domainers, particularly those who develop their names.

What it means is that we're no longer reliant solely on Google or Yahoo, who tell us how much we can earn.

It means that we, as web site owners, can keep 100% of the money, instead of an unknown, mystery percentage offered by the search engines.

I don't know what the potential earnings could be, but I welcome the change and hope that more companies begin to realise that domainers really do have a lot to offer.

What I would love to see more of (and what I requested from the company who contacted me today) is white-label affiliate programs with a recurring commission payable on sales.

The adult sites have been doing that for years. In fact, this week, one was good enough to talk me through setting up a CNAME record on one of my sites, so that visitors clicking on their link stay on my site, even though what they are seeing, is actually on someone else's.

When mainstream companies introduce white label versions of their sites, we will really will be in the money.