Supernatural Agency: Online business tales

Wikipedia dominates organic search results because of the overwhelming authority of its content. Yet all that huge amount of content resides at one domain and it’s not-for-profit which understandably irritates some revenuers on the web. Now Google announces their Wiki-killer, knol- which stands for unit of knowledge in whatever language they speak in the googleplex. Knol will allow anyone to build a page on a subject they are an expert in, similiar to Wikipedia with three big differences:

• You are identified as the author including bio material, site links etc.
• Ads are served up on the page and there is a revenue share with the author.
• Google will rank the page and show it in relevant results.

As a writer the implications of this blow my mind. As a domainer it freaks me out. The writer says that all I have to do is post the text of my generally recognized authoritative book on kitchen design on Knol (my brother and I retained Internet rights to it) and I should have the top ranking for that search and earn boodles. The domainer says all my kitchen design domains just lost value.

This is a major play by Google. However it forces me to ask myself:

‘Why not spend my time developing knols and not bother with domains?’

I’m still contemplating the implications of this. Yet, who knows, it may not turn into anything…but I think it will, and fast. There’s gold in them thar hills…

I just watched the demo video on Amazon of their new portable eBook reader Kindle that they launched this morning. Unfortunately I think this device is about three years too late to make a big splash. It seems well-designed with well thought-out software, EVDO access courtesy of Amazon (only to Amazon and a bunch of online media) and lots of available books, most at $9.99.

There’s just one problem and it’s a big one: I don’t know anyone who wants add another device to their kit in addition to the obligatory laptop and smartphone. I’m personally dreaming of the day when one iPhone type of device covers me for most of my access needs. As a writer, I’ve been using Google docs more and more, Gmail for email, and wireless for everything else. I can read online without eyestrain and I’m not a kid anymore- screens, including the little ones, are just so much better.

The other counterintuitive aspect of Kindle is that it is a limited device, proprietary to Amazon’s business model. Though it has a querty keyboard, it’s monochromatic and it doesn’t look like you can edit docs with it (you can email your docs to it and Amazon, for a “small fee” will convert them into their format). I don’t want a limited device, I want one that uses a browser. That’s the standard for mobility these days. They could have built this as an online application, offered it for free and made the money selling books.

With Apple (and no doubt others) rumored to start offering solid state sub-compact notebooks early in 2008, what relevance will this device have? The browser is where the action is and this doesn’t have one…

Here’s a shopping list of ways to earn money from your domains. It’s not complete and I welcome additional suggestions.

1. Parking. No brainer- when you register a new domain, park it immediately regardless of what your plans are for it. We just consider it one of the steps in registering a domain. When you’ve got something better built just move it.
2. Adsense. Put up a one page site, write a few paragraphs of keyword relevant copy and add AdSense code. This is the next step up from parking because you don’t have to share revenue but you do get into the world of servers and development, albeit a simple version. Great way to get your feet wet.
3. Wordpress Blog. This isn’t a monetization technique per se but it helps you get a lot of sites up fast. Set up a server account with someone like Media Temple or Rackspace and build your sites in WordPress using the many free templates out there. You can do this without programming skills but some basic html and CSS skills will make a big difference. We are experimenting with setting up FAQ sites using WP.
4. Affiliate Programs. There are literally thousands of affiliate programs out there and they can really generate money. We have sites that are entirely populated with pages generated by affiliate programs- all we had to do was drop the code onto a web page.
5. Amazon API. Our next big idea. Amazon sells a lot more kinds of stuff than you may think and if you can learn how to use their API (application programming interface) you can autopopulate sites with products, reviews, etc. and earn via Amazon Associates, their affiliate program. The beauty of this is that they dynamically serve up the content into your site, based on keywords, and you don’t have to keep changing things. Automatic baby!
6. Ad Servers. It’s getting easier to get on the radar of the ad servers like DoubleClick. As they run out of traffic on the big sites they are increasingly reaching into the long tail where a lot of us dwell. So you will be able to have CPM (cost per thousand impression) banners on your sites.
7. Lead Generation. Huge baby, huge! We get paid $40 per lead on one of our sites. There is a great untapped potential in lead generation and businesses of every kind are desperate for sales leads. One company we know pays $3 every time someone signs up for their free service. I know a software company that would glady pay $2000 for a qualified lead for their enterprise software app- and believe me we’re thinking about how to do it.
8. Sell Stuff. You can do e-commerce but it means inventory, pick, pack and ship, customer service and returns. Focus on selling digital stuff like #9:
9. eBooks. You write a book, put it online, promote it and sell downloads. Better yet, pay someone to write it- there are a lot of desperate writers out there who unervalue their services. I know, I was one.
10. Sell them. List all your domains on Sedo or somewhere similar. Put a minimum (ours are at $500 just to eliminate stupid offers). Who knows, you may get a ridiculous offer. But remember if a domain is worth that much to someone now it will be worth more later.
11. Sell shares in them. This is coming soon. As domains increase in value and decrease in availability people will want fractional ownership. Check with your securities lawyer on this one though- you need to be very careful about offering shares.
12. Lease them. There is starting to be a leasing market out there so you can lease your domain, get some cash yet still hold it. Very early stage right now.
13. Text Link Ads, etc. There are lots of alternative kinds of advertising to tap into. Read Shoemoney.
14. Find Investors. Get an angel group or a VC to invest in your company.
15. Build a business around a domain or group of domains. This means building a real web business around a good domain, the traditional hard work model that can mean huge money down the road but also means employees, management, operations, marketing etc.
16. Sell services related to the domain. If you’ve become an SEO/SEM expert while developing your domains you will be in demand. Just be careful you don’t get sidetracked from working on your own stuff. For us this is a means of bootstrapping.

If you have not heard of this book head over to Amazon and get it now. Here’s the subtitle:

“How everything is connected to everything else and what it means for science, business and everyday life”

He’s not kidding either. This is a comprehensive history of now networks are built, entertainingly written and vital to understanding the Internet, social networks, the way our brains work and more. It is surprising to me that more is not made of this work- written in 2003, Linked accurately predicts practically every aspect of the social web we are all now trying to understand.