Looking for Users That Click Ads Twice As Often? Find a 2-11 Year Old

Domainers and website owners have known it for years, young kids have no idea what is a paid ad and what is just a link.  Studies over the last 10 years have pointed to data showing they will click at much higher rates than other age groups.  According to the latest data from video ad network YuMe ” Kids under 14 are generating the highest click-through rate on pre-roll ads, at 3.7%“.   The next highest click through?  Over 35 at only 1.9% which means that kids are twice as likely to click on video ads.

Way back in 2000, Nielson came out with their own study  and found that kids age 2-11 were twice as likely to click banner ads as any other age group.  Of course they LOVED any ad involving Cartoon Network or cartoon oriented advertising.  Since that time, the average online time of kids aged 2-11 years has risen 63% and still rising.   The results have been lowering PPC rates and even more ads drawing the eye of the youngest age group.  Lots of bubbles, cartoons, and games, all trying to get them to spend time on another site.  All in hopes of getting them to ask Mom or Dad to spend a few bucks to give them some extra priveledges on some game or online world for younger kids.

Some may think this could be considered some sort of click fraud but I’ve found it’s the advertisers themselves who are putting up the ads that are heavily geared towards the young.  They know what they are paying for and actually want the clicks.  So this leads me to the most obvious conclusion in the world.  Kid sites are very profitable and I want a piece.

Despite the low PPC,  they generate an amazing amounts of clicks.  I recently put up a few test sites (both landing page and mini 5 pagers) to test out what I had read about positioning of ads and videos. I had been looking for a great kid domain name and stumbled on Rated G dot com over Christmas.  I first thought about forgoing the kid route but decided to throw it up on WhyPark and see how it would do on Google.  Low and behold, it instantly ranked 1st page number 5 for a few weeks and then last week Google dropped it off.  I think Google is catching on to WhyPark but that’s a different story.  It did show me that with a little development this could be a heck of good kids site and will rank VERY well.   I have hired a person that specializes in kids programming, my 10 year old daughter.  I told her I want her to simply point out her favorite sites, her favorite toys, tv shows, and  movies and we’re going to put them up.   Simple as that.    I even think I am going to make a couple funny kids videos as well.  I figure I will only have this mini test market (my daughter before she becomes a teen) for a few more years so I might as well take advantage of it.  My daughter stands to make some good money off this but like a good Dad I will not give it to her and pay her in Pop Rocks and cute shoes,  the only wants of a 10 year old girl.

Today’s DDD: Daily Dropping Domains

Decided to drop the domains for sale at the bottom.  I’m just too new at this and not enough interest in the names.  No worries as I am selling more names than ever elsewhere so we’ll give it a try next year.  On a brighter note, my silly site lazystripper is up to 1000 uniques a day. (no nudity but not really the kind of site you want to view at work) Now onto the daily drops.

Esap.com Many many acronyms for this one.  41,000 searches.  Probably too many bidders to get a good deal on this one

Perd.com Another 4L but I love single syllable 4Ls.  Doesn’t pass radio test though.  People will spell it pUrd but still a nice name

RescuedCats.com Good news it’s about rescued cats. Bad news, it’s just cats.  Valuate at $2K

FightClothes.com Big money in UFC and MMA affiliate sales.  This would be perfect

Seated.net Nobody seems interested in this name but I think its a nice dictionary name dot net so it has SOME value

AdultFatCamp.com People are fat and they’re looking for ways to get skinnier.  ANYTHING to get skinner (except exercise and eating better)

.

It’s easy to find a lot more good names using DomainStryker.com

This is Why I Don’t Mess With IDNs

I don’t have enough space on my desk for the keyboard

ICANN Decides Kenya is Safe Enough

I’ve been pretty hard on ICANN over the last few years only because I just don’t feel they look out for anyone but themselves.  To prove they don’t look out for anyone, they’ve decided that Nairobi Kenya would make a nice venue for their latest meeting.  According to Rod Beckstrom “Security is a concern for every country but Kenya has its own security issues to sort out,”.   “The guns and security issues make the meeting exciting, dangerous and add a “buzz” missing from many corporate meetings”  OK the first quote was real and the second I made up,  but you get my point.

I get the fact that this is a big world and that ICANN has to represent every country and continent , but hosting the meetings in countries that offer safe travel should be a prerequisite.  According to ComputerWorld, people are having joint meetings in other cities to coincide with the meeting but in safer venues.  Of course ICANN doesn’t acknowledge the other meetings and despite 90% of all revenue coming from North America, used the meetings in Africa to show support for the up and coming African Internet system.  All 4000 users (just kidding).

Now that the meeting will go on, they will go over two problems from previous meetings.  Why they dumped the .xxx tld so quickly and why China was not put on the fast track for IDN names.

Self Domain Appraisal: Written in 2002 and Still Valid Today

Lately a few friends and I have been discussing mathematical models for predicting domain values. More for fun than profit but during the discussion a friend sent me a post written by “Lisa” on WebmasterWorld.com wayyyy back in 2002. Although I’m not sold on this as an estimator or agree with her points system, the guts of what she is saying are very important when it comes to the value of a domain. As always, parts of it are up for debate but in general, she is hitting on key things that give a domain value. Here is the post

I have outlined 13 metrics to judge a domain name in a self-appraisal.

1) Marketability
2) Phone Test
3) Name Length
4) Brand Recognition
5) Development Value
6) Dot Value
7) Site Traffic natural Site Traffic by Search Engines
9) Industry Strength and Positioning
10) Search Engine Popularity
11) Grammatical / Linguistic value
12) Revenue Generating
13) Comparable sales value

———–

1) Marketability
How many parts make up the name?

A part is classified as a word, a hyphen, or a number.
Example.com has only 1 part, the word “example”.
JoeTheFisherman.com has 3 parts, the parts “Joe”, “The”, and “Fisherman”.
Joe-Fisherman.com has 3 parts, the parts “Joe”, “hyphen”, and “Fisherman”.
1Fisherman.com has 2 parts, the parts “1”, and “Fisherman”.
eFisherman.com has 2 parts, the parts “E”, and “Fisherman”.

1 part award 100 points
2 parts award 10 points
3 parts award 2 points
4 parts award 1 point
5 parts or more award 0 points

2) Phone Test
Try giving out the Domain Name on the phone. How does the domain name sound on the phone.

Does the domain use a hyphen or a number?
Do I spell out a number inside the name ex: (“one”)?
Does the domain use a miss-spelling at all?

If the answer to these questions is all “no” then multiple current score by 5.
If the answer to any of these questions is “yes” then divide current score by 2.

3) Name Length (doesn’t include the length of “www.” or “.” or the ending extension)

Find the highest rule that applies.

If 1 part and the name is less then or equal to 8 characters, then multiple current score by 6.
If 1 part and the name is less then or equal to 15 characters, then multiple current score by 3.
If 1 part and the name is less then or equal to 19 characters, then multiple current score by 2.

If 2 parts and the name is less then or equal to 10 characters, then multiple current score by 4.
If 2 parts and the name is less then or equal to 16 characters, then multiple current score by 3.
If 2 parts and the name is less then or equal to 19 characters, then multiple current score by 2.

If 3 parts and the name is less then or equal to 12 characters, then multiple current score by 2.

4) Brand Recognition
Do people know what the site does even before they even go there?
Either through the meaning of the name or by advertising.
An example of advertising is everyone knows Microsoft.com or ATT.com.
Normal people will need to use the domain meaning to score on this point.

If name has Brand Recognition then multiple current score by 3.

5) Development Value
How much work as been put into Developing the site?
Just a Splash page then multiple current score by 2.
Something more then a Splash page then multiple current score by 3.
Has the domain ever hosted a website that received more then 1000 visitors a day then multiple current score by 25.

6) Dot Value
If .COM extension multiple current score by 3.
If country extension multiple current score by 2.
If country extension is now generic no bonus (example .CC, .TV, .WS)

7) Site Traffic Natural
10-39 natural type-ins multiple current score by 4.
40-100 natural type-ins multiple current score by 8.
100+ natural type-ins multiple current score by 25.
Natural type-ins means (Unique IPs without referrers)

Site Traffic by Search Engines
10-39 Unique IPs multiple current score by 2.
40-500 Unique IPs multiple current score by 3.
500+ Unique IPs multiple current score by 4.

9) Industry Strength and Positioning
Does the domain have a calling? If the domain has a targeted industry how crowded is that industry? Does the domain accurately and generically describe what it was registered to do. Here is an example, For a travel agent, FlyCheap.com is a score 3. For a travel agent TravelCheap.com is a score 7.

Describes generically the industry then multiple current score by 7.
Describes specifically something in the industry then multiple current score by 3.

10) Search Engine Popularity
How do the terms in the domain name rank in Search Engines?

“Great”, then multiple current score by 7.
“Good”, then multiple current score by 2.
“All Right”, then no bonus.

11) Grammatical / Linguistic value
Does it sounds correct? Does it read like a human normally speaks. For example: ShoppestMall.com, this sounds wierd. But ShoppingMall.com sounds correct. The plural form verses the singular form makes a huge difference.

If the name sounds correct, then multiple current score by 2.

12) Revenue Generating

Multiple yearly income of the domain by 2.5, add this dollar value to your final price.

13) Comparable sales value

What other domains have sold at that price. Is your name the same score?
Market analysis on your domain price is very important. Being able to justify your price against other domains selling price is key. Don’t do marketing analysis off of list price. Only selling price will work. To find prices of domains that have sold use Afternic or other domain auction sites.

The highest score possible is something huge like 6,615,000,000
Score doesn’t correlate to actual price very well, You need to use percentiles to figure out what the price is.

Total score:
Lowest = $15 (40 percentile)
Low score = $25-$40 (30 percentile)
Mid score = $100-$300 (25 percentile)
High score = $500-$1000 (3 percentile)
Extreme score = $1000+ (2 percentile)

Now if I would have just followed these rules back in 2002 I would have much better domain portfolio

Today’s DDD: Daily Dropping Domains

Seemed a little light on drops today and quite a few “wish list” domains on NameJet meaning they were renewed in the last redemption period.  Here are today’s finds.

HeidiFleiss.com She’s made her way back onto TV by being on Dr. Drew’s Rehab show and with her money problems I guarantee you outbid her.  I can only imagine what you could trade it back to her for

RecordVideo.com I think this would be good for a ………..recording video site?  1900 searches  and $3900 estibot

Bipod.com It’s a two legged tripod and evidently used for guns.  4400 searches and a nice valuation.  Unfortunately already at $500

FreeScholarships.org My first thought FREE scholarships?  As opposed to paid scholarships but 10,000 people are searching for these and the org works for educational things

It’s easy to find a lot more good names using DomainStryker.com

Domains For Sale

kidneydiseases.net  $200

Happa.com $1200

labradoodlepuppies.net  $200

Email me if interested in purchasing domains.  Feel free to make offer

Proof There is No Regulation In Domaining: YourSiteCan.be

I’ve received a lot of deceiving emails and letters in my years of domaining but this is the first actual site that has drawn my ire.  YourSiteCan.be (not going to give link) is a site that sells “information” regarding the registrations of new TLDs.  The problem, you can make up your own TLD.  Any TLD.  Here are some recently “ordered” domains

• make.money
• grandrapids.auction
• order.takeout
• find.boats
• motorcycle.brake
• air.filter
• greenbay.packers
• microsoft.cmo
• mobile.phone
• superior.liquidnatrition
• texas.football
• leather.jackets

According to their website,

By Ordering with us, your domain name will be stored in our database and be displayed as “NOT AVAILABLE” to other users looking for the same domain name. Purchasing our service will keep you in the know before the gerneral public as ICANN releases and permits new domains.

In reality, this is very deceptive.  Sure,  they DO state several times that this does not guarantee that you will get this name but merely provides information about it.  The problem, as I see it, is that it is set up exactly like a domain registration service and gives the feeling that you are really registering a domain.  Anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge of domains realizes only ICANN can release a new TLD and that exactly 0 of these “registered” names will ever exist, but some people may not. They are playing the same game as the fake IDs sold in the back of Cracked magazine in the 70’s and 80’s.  You were pretty sure they were going to be terrible but it was worth a shot.

The fact that people are paying $8 dollars is a shame.  I’m sure that yoursitecan.be has hired a bunch of lawyers to make sure they are legal but that doesn’t make it right.

I Missed a Chance of a Lifetime Opportunity for Great Advertising

A young lady recently had an ebay ad announcing the recent availability of advertising space on body.  Not just an part of the body, her butt. Here’s the exact ebay sale

If you win I will tattoo your name on my ass in hand written font, 1cm high. You will receive a photo for your personal records. I have no other tattoos on my butt, so it will be very prominent.

The no other tattoos is like have a non rotating banner that is up for life.  I would have bid but she wouldn’t guarantee that someone like Elliot would come by and get his site right above mine. It also doesn’t help that the picture on her ad is actually that of Demi Moore so we’ve lost the trust factor in our relationship.  Don’t ask me how I know instantly that is Demi Moore. Now you may say, “How many people are going to actually see her behind?”  Sure, it’s not a great value if you measure “per eyeball”.  I guessing not many, but those who do will NEVER forget my site.

A Few Nice Domains Dropping This Morning ($17.63 CPC)

Monday, Monday.    I had a big weekend.  Got a plant website up (heucheras.com),  ran 28 miles, and got a few hours of work in as well.  I hope this week is as productive.  Now on to the dropping names.

FavoriteRestaurants.com A little long but for $10 you really can’t go wrong

ChinleArizona.com Under 10,000 people in Chinle but like above, I’m pretty sure you can flip this for more than you’ll end up paying.

BabyAnnouncements.net 40,000 plus searches and a CPC over $2.

Searchngive.org A valid PR 5 and not a ton of bidders

ChildSupport.net Not going to go cheap but a very nice name

uHotel.com Could be a nice travel related site with this name

It’s easy to find a lot more good names using DomainStryker.com

Domains For Sale

Owpy.com  $100

Bragn.com $200

400r.com and 400e.com $500 for the pair

Email me if interested in purchasing domains.  Feel free to make offer

A Few Nice Domains Dropping This Morning

I accidentally left a “0″ off one of my domains for sale and in the life of new blogger…..nobody noticed.  Here are the names that are dropping

It’s easy to find a lot more good names using DomainStryker.com

CheapLCDs.com Valuate has this at $3600 and 1612 searches so the present $15 bid is a good deal

ELCU.com I don’t like acronyms but if I did I would buy this one.

ICheated.com Ohhh the things you could do with this name

EggEgg.com In some cases a repeating name in the domain make sense and would be good for an end user.  I don’t know who would ever buy this but I do like saying eggegg

HHF.org A three letter dot orgs….. Those can be nice

Domains For Sale

PurpleScarf.com   $150

uWere.com $250

Email me if interested in purchasing domains.  Feel free to make offer