PALM BEACH, FL - There is something about success, even just moderate success, that you only experience and/or appreciate once you have gotten there. Something that many people often overlook, and it can sometimes only be fully realized from the outside looking in. I saw something today that reminded me of it all and I am going to share those thoughts with you. It was a day’s worth of commissioned earnings. It was not a huge amount of money, but it was a moderate days’ … [Read more...]
NYT: “Dot-org Symbolizes Neither Quality Nor Trust; False Association with Credibility”
PALM BEACH, NY - Wow, the New York Times has taken a firm and unique approach to the news and industry buzz surrounding the sale of the .ORG registry to private equity firm, Ethos Capital. Bash the domain in a hitpiece to level the playing-field in what it calls the domains' opportunity to be used by a host of bad actors, all whom reap the benefits of dot-org’s "false association with credibility." In an opinion piece published yesterday by Sam Wineburg and Nadav Ziv, an … [Read more...]
Investor Land Grab Opportunity Arises from Donuts Registry with Reduced Price gTLDs
PALM BEACH, FL –An interesting opportunity has arisen from new domain name registry company Donuts Inc., which operates roughly 240 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Although I am less than a huge fan of new gTLDs, there are industry veterans who do in fact use them in certain scenarios of ‘super premiums’, and you’ll have an opportunity to filter through a list of over 1.1 million names (previously on hold) now being released in a price-drop by the … [Read more...]
Amid Declining Revenues And Tenant Bankruptcies, Simon Taking Malls Online
PALM BEACH, FL – It seems that one of the biggest mall owners in the U.S., Simon Property Group, is getting ready to take their physical shopping mall and real estate business online, likely before their physical malls completely empty out. Simon, which owns 235 malls and premium outlet centers across the globe has been testing two ‘beta’ sites called “PremiumOutlets.com” (SIMON PROPERTY GROUP, L.P. ) and “ShopPremiumOutlets.com” (SHOP PO, LLC.) since about March; they … [Read more...]
Donuts Acquisition of BudURL Makes Good Use of New Top Level Domain Names
NEW YORK, NY – Donuts Inc, the company behind hundreds of new domain name extensions has acquired a link shortening service formally known as BudURL, and rebranded it as BL.INK. The service had been around for ten years and was founded by Andy Meadows. The acquisition took place sometime in 2017 according to a company press release, yet Donuts had been operating it in “stealth mode” quietly building in key features which will enhance the services ability to customize URLs … [Read more...]
Internet Sales Tax Law Could Change This June; Decision on South Dakota v. Wayfair
NEW YORK - The U.S. Supreme Court will make a critical decision in the coming weeks that could give states the right to tax small businesses on the Internet. What is being decided is whether or not a decision from 1992 should be upheld in a new case, which prevents States form being able to tax, audit or regulate businesses and individuals that do not reside in their state (Ex: online businesses, who are located elsewhere but do transact business in a state). If the … [Read more...]
More Bad News for Monetization with AdSense; Introducing Lazy-Loaded Ads
NEW YORK – According to a discussion from users over at Webmaster World, it has been found that Google is now utilizing ‘lazy-load’ technology to only load AdSense ads when they are in a user’s actual device view-point. Not only have I personally noticed continual drops recently, but a frustrated colleague who has been monitoring his website decline in AdSense revenue called me up yesterday and pointed out this forum thread detailing the find - which I finally had time to … [Read more...]
Ad Revenue Down? Here’s the Latest Things That Could Be Affecting Your Revenue
NEW YORK – You might say that declining ad revenue is becoming a typical part of the business; if you feel like you are constantly trying to find new ways to build both revenue and traffic on your domains while increasing the number of channels and ad networks you rely on, you’re far from alone. Publisher revenues are being squeezed across the board, and while sometimes you might even feel that the more web traffic you build, the less it pays out – you’re probably correct in … [Read more...]
If I Had Just Started With Domain Names Today, I Don’t Think I Would Make It
NEW YORK, NY – When I started in this industry it was the year 2000. The Internet looked very different than it does today, and people were just starting to get acquainted with Google. Search engine optimization was a lot easier to do with most people not having even heard of the term “SEO”. Back then, as a website owner, you were able to take advantage of certain techniques which could easily put you ahead of the majority. Compared to today, there was little competition … [Read more...]
Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) for “CEOs” – ln Layman’s Terms
NEW YORK, NY - About twelve years ago when “search engine optimization” was beginning to get popular, a competing news publisher invited me to lunch at his restaurant to brainstorm about collaborating. It never materialized, but while there and after getting to know each other for a little while, he then turned to me, changed his posture in his chair a bit, sort of gathered his thoughts, and asked me straight out, “sell me on search engine optimization”, “what is it” and “how … [Read more...]
Digital Advertising Revenue Hits $19.6B in Q1 2017, Highest Q1 Earnings on Record
NEW YORK, NY – The first quarter of 2017 marked the highest ever Q1 earnings for digital advertising in the U.S., hitting $19.6 billion, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and prepared by PwC US. Climbing 23 percent, or $3.7 billion, from the same period just a year ago, these earnings represent the second-highest quarter of all time, and follow on the heels the industry’s strongest … [Read more...]
Google to Become Judge, Jury and Executioner on Ad Placement
NEW YORK, NY - There are a number of domainers out there that live and die by the sword – that is, the ad placement sword, where they cut and slice up deep rich (or some even thin) content pages with just the right mix of ads, images and content to keep users entertained while the clicks keep coming in. This is how the developer-focused domainer drives revenue on their blogs and net properties, especially since domain parking revenue dried up. That last thing domainers … [Read more...]
Well Holy Smokes: U.S. Internet Ad Revenues Hit Landmark $59.6 Billion in 2015; Record-Breaking Numbers
Q4 2015 Reached $17.4 Billion, Rising 23% Over Same Period in 2014; Mobile Advertising Climbs to $20.7 Billion in 2015, a 66% Upswing Year-Over-Year; Digital Video Increases 30% to $4.2 Billion NEW YORK, NY - U.S. digital advertising revenues reached an all-time high of $59.6 billion in 2015, according to the full-year IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, released April 21, 2016 by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and prepared by PwC US. This marks a 20 percent … [Read more...]