Supernatural Agency: Online business tales

Even though we put some Adsense units on this site we never had any expectations for them beyond a few clicks here and there. That’s because readers don’t come to this site with a purchase or product research in mind. The subject matter (Internet marketing and business) isn’t closely associated with buying.

Gawker Media, the big blog network, announced that it was selling off a few assets including Wonkette, a very popular inside Washington political blog that had over 5 million pageviews last month. With that kind of traffic you’d think they’d be crazy to dump an otherwise successful site. My guess is, that with a downturn  economy, a site like Wonkette which never had a strong advertising model- readers go there for opinions and gossip, not shopping, was probably seeing a big drop in ad revenues. I’m guessing their CPMs were in the toilet despite the high traffic.

To make money with a site you have to choose your subject matter carefully. Is the information you’re providing something people seek during a buying process? Are the types of purchases associated with the site Internet e-commerce friendly? Things like books, jewelry, gadgets, courses and other high value, easily shipped, high margin products work best. Things that are heavy, cheap and have low margins like pet supplies, large appliances and groceries don’t cut it.

Is the subject matter information-intensive? If the buying decision is easy you can’t add enough value via a web site or blog. Look at the ads on general news, opinion and lifestyle blogs/sites- they are often big brand ads for cars, insurance and other generic subjects that are neutral in relevance to the content. These kinds of ads generate almost nothing in CPMs (measured in cents per thousand impressions) and contribute to banner blindness.

Getting a formula that delivers higher revenues requires something a lot of Internet media entrepreneurs don’t want to do: hard work. I’m in the process of inserting relevant affiliate text links into the hundreds of articles on one of our kitchen design sites. We have display affiliate ads but they draw very poorly. The text links are carefully chosen for very high relevance but it’s a lot of work:

• Determine what the reader of the article is most likely to be interested in at that moment. I have an article that recommends getting material samples when planning a new kitchen. The reader wants to know where they can get these.
• I go through the various affiliate programs and find a vendor that not only offers samples but pays out for sample requests, in this case $15 for a sample order (because they know that if you have a flooring sample you like you’re likely to order that specific flooring- resulting in a big sale). This takes a lot of time to research.
• I build a text link with the affiliate code that includes the appropriate anchor text. Free Flooring Samples from XYZ, for example
• I choose the appropriate place the article and insert the link text inline with the content. I don’t hide that it is a link (different color) nor do I hide the brand because I want it clear to the search police that I’m offering legitimate relevant content even if it is commercial. And I want the reader to know that I considered their interest, time and needs when selecting this revenue model.

This is a lot of picky busy work but when I’m done I’ll have an information site that is optimized for revenue-generation in a way that the consumer appreciates. And it is sustainable because once the work is done the site is self-sufficient. On to the next one…

This column for Inc. Magazine is one of the best takes on what constitutes a market-leading vs a market-following strategy. Taking a cue from a basic military principle, Spolsky sets up examples of how successful companies are constantly firing and moving forward, keeping their competition in a defensive posture.

Joel’s blog, Joel On Software, is a must read even if you’re not a techie alhough it has its share of programming posts. He runs a successful and innovative company so this advice is from the trenches- or should I say from an advance across the field?

I have about 20 blogs in my reader that are domaining-related. I read through them frequently and went from initial excitement about the potential of a domain market explosion to frustration at how primitive and out of touch this market is with much of the rest of the online world. We are search marketers and developers and have been for a relatively long time (ten years each). As such I’m mystified by the focus on parking as a business model and on the short-term perspective of many domain traders who are happy to sell for a multiple of what it costs them to register each year. The very short term, least effort approach in other words.

I know this has worked extremely well for some pioneers but, if you read between the lines, you’ll find that most of them are now focused on building businesses around their domains rather than parking. Parking is a holding strategy at best. My opinion of course

Selling Domains

We occasionally get an offer for one of our domains. Since we don’t register unless we can imagine how we would build a business around that domain, we don’t have a lot of things we want to part with. I’ve ranted about some of the silly names people tout but that is really an indicator of amateurs entering the market. If you own something good the only reason to sell is that you need the money- and that’s the worst reason possible (but understandable if you’ve been there). When I think about selling a domain I can’t help but think about what we would do with it if it was our primary focus. That makes it very hard to let them go. It’s like owning hundreds of potentially profitable business concepts.

Finally, I’ve come full circle and no longer consider our company to be domainers because we don’t park, we don’t sell and we develop. That’s no insult to the domain world and I’m going to keep contributing but my perspective has shifted to our core competencies- always a good business plan.

Just posted this and then went on to read Julia on the same subject of domaining and arbitrage. Couldn’t agree more.

A few days ago Maholo founder Jason Calcanis posted a blog post about 17 ways to save money in a start-up. Because of one controversial statement in an otherwise mundane post, he started an intense debate in the blogosphere. I’m not going to weigh in because practically anywhere in the tech blog world you go you can find an opinion. What I am going to talk about is the real purpose of the post which, IMHO, had nothing to do with start-ups or saving money. It was linkbait.

Inbound links are gold from an SEO point of view. If they are from sites relevant to your site’s subject matter they weigh heavily in your favor with the search engines. They also drive a lot of traffic if they come from high traffic sources. Any savvy blogger is on the lookout for ways to acquire links and controversy is a proven tactic. This is known as linkbaiting- writing pieces that piss people off or invite lots of commenting and discussion on other blogs. Calcanis is a master of linkbaiting.

Other common ways to fish for links are insulting Apple Inc. (draws the fanboys in droves), writing contrary comments on sites like Techcrunch (however they get so many that this is no longer very effective) and guest-posting on the blogs of others. Guest-posting is pretty easy as most bloggers are thrilled to have someone else write for them and flattered if you ask nicely. Just write something and submit it to a blog you like.

Linkbait is a better tactic than simply requesting a link exchange because it is in relevant context which makes the links far more valuable.

If you blog and don’t have traffic, add in a few creative linkbait initiatives. Even one good link can make a huge difference in your popularity.

Here’s a pretty cool linkbuilding chart.