What would you like to know about PPC domain parking?

Please list any questions for reps of PPC domain parking programs

[Webwork]

In an effort to extract value that is educational - versus promotional - I'm giving thought to either submitting a series of questions to the reps of the various domain parking programs or opening up a single thread, with questions (no softballs, no promo bait questions, no attacks either) - to be addressed directly here.

What, if any, questions do you have about optimizing the revenue you might generate from "fallow domains"?

Please, no promo or "this program is great" or other posts that mention specific programs at this time. No kidding. Anyone running such a program feel free to sticky me, but don't post about your program please.

Simply: What would you like to know about making PPC money from parked domains?

[joost]

My questions:

Is it possible to park a new domain in a ppc domain parking program just to wait out the Google sandbox?

Is there a Google penalty for sites that have been in such a program?

[maherphil]

Thanks for this Webwork. I have a fair amount of domains now and am wondering how to get into google's parked domains program [google.com...]

I figure that this would cutout the middleman (ie sedo and others) and give you (this is all in theory) the max PPC.

I've tried to apply to this google program but with no luck.

<Edit>I'm interested in comparison data for the various parking programs.</Edit>

[edited by: Webwork at 12:35 am (utc) on Aug. 12, 2005]
[edit reason] This thread is only for presenting questions to be answered in a future thread. [/edit]

[Laker]

What, if any, questions do you have about optimizing the revenue you might generate from "fallow domains"?

Ohhhhhh, a couple of questions come to mind... that I'd like to have the different reps answer...

1. Who supplies (powers) your landing page links?

2. Do your landing pages contain "mandatory" house (generic) links? (i.e. "mortgages", "hotels" "casinos')
   (If yes, why?)

3. Do your landing pages contain a search box?
   (If not, why not?)

4. Who powers your search engine?

5. Do customers receive credit for multiple click-thrus per unique visitor? (i.e. a visitor clicks on landing page link, then the visitor uses search box, then the visitor clicks on new landing page link. -- will customer (me) receive payment for both clicks?)
   (If not, why not?)

6. How are domains optimized?
   What is the specific process?

7. Are domains "optimized" only as a result of words typed into the search box by the visitor?
   (If yes, why?)

8. Do you offer forced optimization?
   (If not, why not?)

9. Do you generate pop-ups/ pop-unders?
   If yes, is this at the option of the customer?
   (If not at option of the customer, why?)

10. Do you generate "exit pages" in addition to pop-ups/unders?
    If yes, is this at the option of the customer?
    (If not at option of the customer, why?)

11. Who supplies (powers) the pop under inventory for your network?

12. Do you offer the option of a "text box" on the landing page to enable the customer (me) to insert unique text on each domain's landing page?
    If not, why not?

13. Do you enable your customer (me) to block certain advertisers from appearing on my domain's landing pages?
    If not, why?
    If yes, is there a limit to the number of advertisers I can block?
    If there is a limit, why?

14. Do you enable your customer (me) :-) to block ads containing specific key words from (my) landing pages?
    If not, why?
    If yes, is there a limit to the number of key words I can block?
    If yes -- there is a limit, why?

15. Is there a minimum number of domains necessary to be a customer of your domain parking program?
    If there is a minimum, what is it?
    If yes, why?

16. Are there any domain extensions that you don't accept into your program?
    If yes, what extensions don't you allow?
    If yes, why don't you accept them?

17. Do you "expel" a domain name currently in your parking program for any reason(s) related to traffic/revenue?
    If yes, what are the reasons/criteria for removal of a domain?

18. Where is your company located? (city/country)

19. How long has your company been in the domain parking business?

20. How many employees (approximately) do you have?

21. Are you an ICANN Registrar or reseller?

22. Is each customer/client assigned a specific Customer Service / Sales Rep?
    If no, are some customers assigned a specific Customer Service / Sales Rep?
    If yes (some are assigned a rep) - what is the criteria used to determine which customer gets a rep and which doesn't?

    If no customer is assigned a specific CSR, why not?

23. Do you offer live support 24/7?
    If not, when do you offer live support?

    If you don't offer live support at all, why not?

24. Do you have different "tiers" or "levels" or "programs" in which some domains are in one program, and receive a certain style/type of landing page, while other domains are in a different ("better") program, and receive a different "better" or "improved" landing page?

    If yes, why?

    If yes, is the net PPC revenue per click paid to the customer (me) the same for both levels/programs?

    If the revenue is not the same, why?

    If the revenue is not the same, does the advertiser pay less? ... or does (your) domain parking program make more?

    If yes (you do have different "levels/programs"), how many different levels/programs are there?

    What is the criteria by which a domain is evaluated to be placed in the "premier" (better) level? -- or otherwise placed in one program over another?

    Is there a well-defined "appeal" process in place for a domain owner whose domain is evaluated as "not premium level"?

25. Do you not pay for clicks generated from certain countries?

    If yes, what country is your business in, and what countries do you block?

    If yes (you do block clicks from certain countries), do you grant exceptions for unique domain traffic --

    i.e., your US based company doesn't pay on non-US clicks, and one of my domains receives 200 hits per day, 199 of which are from France, (always) ... would you exempt this domain from your "non US - won't pay" policy?
    If not, why not?

26. Do you offer adult filters for each individual domain?
    If not, why not?

27. Do you offer landing pages with adult links for adult optimized domains?
    If not, why not?

28. Do you make revenue adjustments if/when your network goes down, and/or slows down?
    If not, why?

29. Are URL's to your landing pages masked?
    If not, why?

30. Do you offer a referral program?
    If yes, what are the specific details?

31. Is there any link and/or information on the landing page enabling someone to contact your company?

32. Do you offer a "This Domain For Sale" notice to appear on the landing page? (If not, why not?)

33. If you offer "for sale" notices to appear, do they have to appear on the landing pages of ALL domains parked -- or just of the domains the customer wants to sell?

    (If you don't offer specific selection of "for sale notices" to appear only on desired, specific domains (as in above question), why not?)

34. What specific procedure is required for interested buyers to contact the customer (as in above "for sale question")?

35. Are there any fees, commissions or charges that you receive as a result of a domain name sale?
    If so, what are they?

    If there are fees, is it your customer's option to have the buyer pay the fees/commission?

    If not (no option -- fees paid by me, your customer), why?

36. What specific tracking/logging data, information and reports do you offer your customer?

37. Do you offer "custom" reporting?

    If not, why not?

    If yes, can, for example, can I track (automatically) the growth of a particular domain both in hits, clicks, averages, and total revenue, over a six-month period? [This data could be helpful in improving optimization]

    Can I have the above reporting per day (for, say, a 30 day period) -- i.e. to enable me to analyze a particular domain (or group) of domains, on a daily basis? (or some other period-basis) [to evaluate optimization results]?
    (if the above type of reporting is not available, why not?)

38. As a possible aid in improving optimization, when a visitor clicks on a landing page's "topic link" (either mandatory-generic or optimized) is that information available to me?
    (i.e. my parked domain is example.com. In addition to direct advertiser links on the landing page for example.com, there are also generic category/topic links on the page, such as "example accounting", "example vacations", etc. -- is information available on clicks on those categories?)
    (If not, why not)

39. What percentage of the ad revenue received is paid to me?

    (is the ad revenue received (in above question) equal to the ad expenditure of the advertiser?)

    (If not, what is the breakdown?)

40. In your opinion, is this the highest percentage offered by Domain Parking PPC programs?
    (i.e. does your company offer the highest payout in the industry?)

41. What payment methods do you offer to your customers?

    Do you offer direct transfer to customer's bank?
    (If not, why not? [subject to regulations of individual countries.]

    Do you charge your customer (i.e. me) a fee for paying me via different payment methods.
    If yes, what are they?

42. When does your transaction period end (i.e. end of month; 15th of month)?

43. Do you have a minimum dollar amount threshold in order for a check to be sent?
    If yes, what is that amount?

44. Are payments sent to the customer by default?
    i.e. do payments sit in customers account by default, until the customer does some action to have a check sent?
    If payments are not sent by default, why?

45. How many days after end of period are checks sent/transmitted to customer?

46. What features, functions and benefits does your domain parking program offer that the others don't?

47. What question do you (PPC rep) think is the most important question for a prospective customer to ask?

48. What else do I need to know? -- what significant questions haven't I asked?
    

[Webwork]

Wow! A set of interrogatories! Depositions to be scheduled upon submission of answers to interrogatories. ;)

Nice work. Is this a first draft or have you been pondering this for awhile? ;)

Amazing piece of work. Thanks for the effort. Stay tuned.

[eWhisper]

Preface:
Many advertisers complain that Google's domain parking has a much lower ROI than other forms of advertising, and wish to block all ads from showing on domain parked sites.

With that in mind, do you think domain parking should fall under the guise of search or content with respect to how ads are triggered?

Do you think of the ads in respect to your revenue only, or do you think about the program as a whole and how it is ad supported and the need for advertisers to find value in the program for it's long term viability?

[kwasher]

What's the difference between domain parking and a site consisting only of ad links?

[Webwork]

Folks, this thread is a "drop box for questions" only. It's not for comments, explanations or anything else about PPC.

If anyone else has any questions they would like answers to, in order to better understand how domain parking - in all its flavors - works, please post them here in the near future.