Making Money from Your Domains in 2010 – Recent Trends and Developments

There are hundreds of ways to monetize a web domain but some are certainly smarter than others. The internet is a fast moving place and if you want to stay at the top of your game then you need to stay current and move with it. While some web domain monetization methods are very 2010, others are more 20then. We’ll have a look at the options available for getting money from a web domain and decide which are still viable options, which are on the rise and decline, and which are decidedly last decade…

Domain Parking
This is the easiest and quickest way to build money from a domain and it’s still possible to buy a domain and sell it on for more later. In 2010 however the smart domainer will go the build it route and make money in the interim through PPC advertising and other techniques by pointing the DNS to a site or landing page they’ve developed. Ensure that you do your keyphrase research before you buy your domain however as you will be relying on Type-in (or direct) traffic meaning that you’re relying on people typing your domain name directly in to the address bar. Domain parking and re-selling is still a viable way to make money from a domain but be smart and maximise your domain with some development to maximise that profit.

PPC Advertising
The revenue from PPC advertising has continued to decline for the last three years and that’s no secret. However it still remains for most the single most reliable and largest source of income on a domain. The answer then is not to rely on PPC advertising as your only revenue source. Instead rely on several and that way if one stops bringing the money in you’ll still have others (and you can always just sell your domain). This means that PPC Parking, where you simply park a domain and let a PPC listings company display your ads, is always going to be inferior to developing a site and displaying the PPC advertising on it along with other monetization methods.

Traffic Building
This is a method of increasing your traffic by letting a third party such as WhyPark or DevHub create content for you with the hope of attracting search engine traffic. A third alternative, SmarName, also offers products for sale on your domain. These still rely on PPC as their main source of monetization (though DevHub offers CPM, CPA and PPC advertisers too). More and more of these services are cropping up however and those that already exist are tweaking and perfecting their services so they are worth keeping an eye on.

Directory Listings
A recently unveiled site Octane360 and a couple of other similar sites now sell directory listings for domains based on their location. This way third party companies then pay to be listed on the site so that relevant visitors will click the links and discover their services. This is an interesting source of income that doesn’t rely on PPC and certainly one to look in to for 2010.

Membership Fees
Now here’s an example of a largely outdated form of monetization. This is relevant only really for those who have developed their site to a large extent and have regular traffic. Here a site owner would then charge a fee to sign up to a forum or a newsletter in much the same way that you subscribe to a magazine. With so much free content available online, very few people are willing to subscribe to get more and it’s too outdated for 2010 with its association with decidedly analogue print magazines.

Affiliate Products
Selling affiliate products is one of the most lucrative ways to make money from a domain if you’re planning on developing it. It only takes a landing page or a short blog with some affiliate links, but this method is the primary revenue stream for a lot of site owners. If you don’t want to put the effort into developing your site then sites such as PPX are now pairing domainers with affiliate products.

Selling Your Own POD Products
Now this is a very 2010 way to make money from a domain and takes full advantage of recent developments that enable anyone to make books or even ornaments without any overheads. Write then sell a ‘POD’ (print on demand) hard copy book via Lulu or Amazon or even design your own furniture and ornaments using 3D printing services such as Shapeways. Here you only pay for the costs (and a small commission) and there’s no investment as everything is printed out as and when it’s ordered. At the same time the items are designed by you so they can be completely relevant to your domain and any content you’ve uploaded.

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