At first I thought Francois was simply testing something but I checked out his advertising page and it seems that he is no longer accepting ads (aside from sponsored headlines and menu listings). Let’s help him out with some feedback:
Do you think that he should limit himself to sponsored listings from now on? If not, what do you recommend? Should he sell his ad inventory to just one important advertisers or go with smaller banners and more advertisers?
And seriously, I’ve heard some “but Domaining.com is only an aggregator” opinions and just can’t understand this way of thinking. Domaining.com (as well as the other projects which are a part of the “Domaining.com” brand) has helped this industry way more than some people realize and it’s in the industry’s best interest that this project is successful. If you don’t understand why, think outside the box for just a second and look at the big picture.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Keep everything as it was but decrease the prices, that would be my suggestion.
February 6th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Just one large banner, that’s it. You’ll only have to find one advertiser that way and managing the relationship should be a lot easier.
February 6th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
I personally think it can not make the money Francois wants or needs based on his monthly fee’s he states it cost to run the site and the $100K + paid for the domain being an Aggregator style site, Period! Especially in the domain industry.
February 7th, 2010 at 12:38 am
I disagree with Jamie, the aggregator format is the best choice for Domaining.com. And as for revenue, he can make $300/day from the paid headlines alone. If he doubles that amount through banner sales, the site would bring in over $200,000. I don’t know about you but I consider it a very good amount.
And as for the costs of running the site, I don’t know if he ever mentioned them but I can’t see them go into 4 figures. If they do then it must mean the application is too heavy, some tweaks could bring down the costs dramatically.
February 7th, 2010 at 2:09 am
I visit domaining.com each day, he must be doing something right. Don’t change the way domaining.com is operating, I said it before and I’ll say it again. Just do everything like you used to but temporarily cut prices in half.
February 7th, 2010 at 3:11 am
Does anyone here know what his monthly expenses are?
February 7th, 2010 at 3:20 am
With all the respect – It is only an aggregator !!!
I really cant understand Francois.
He has the best name with a great idea, but he cant do it right…
If he paid $100,000 for the name he is crazy, but it doesnt matter now!
It is all about traffic and market share! and when he is done NameBee will have 50% of the market…
February 7th, 2010 at 3:47 am
Even if he did pay $100,000 for it, he can break even in 12 months by earning just $10,000/month. Look over my calculations again, he could break even just from paid headlines. Do you think they are too optimistic? Well even if he only sells half, he can still break even in 2 years and an aggregator practically runs itself, so it’s a very good amount for an investment which doesn’t involve work (it involves very little work).
February 7th, 2010 at 11:16 am
I agree with LB, you don’t have to do something extreme. Keep the previous layout (with the sidebar ads) but lower your prices.
February 7th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Ideally imho he should have a 728×90 banner under the domaining logo centered (advertise here) with an affordable rate. 2 side columns left and right side with multiple banner sized positions available at (affordable rate) one 728×90 banner on the bottom centered same as above. Thats what I would do anyway, and keep all the blog feeds centered down the page as they are now.
February 7th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
The problem with Rob’s suggestion is that there would be too much advertising on the site and the advertised sites would not receive a lot of traffic. Domaining.com has the featured posts at the top of the site, that is enough for that region and then some sidebar banners.
February 7th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
DNjournal doesnt seem to have any problems with it.
February 7th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
But DNJ doesn’t have paid featured posts, that’s the problem. The top 728×90 banner would take away from the visibility of the featured posts.
February 25th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
Wow! Very interesting explanation of research. My friend will love this. Nice photos!