Re: Purchasing Domain Names and ROI Tracking Software

From: Paul Schuman <pschuman_at_wi.rr.com>
Date: Thu 29 Dec 2005 13:32:19 -0600

Aaron,

In response to your first question, purchasing unsold domain names to drive
traffic, there are a couple of things you should look at. First, are the
domains you are looking at relevant to a your brand(s) or proprietary
company name (variations, misspellings, etc.)? Those would be the low
hanging fruit to pick up in my eyes. Don't forget the classic mistake of
United Airlines (www.united.com) not purchasing a misspelling of their URL
(www.untied.com) that is now a consumer complaint site. For the low cost of
owning a domain and hosting a redirect page, it's worth it to lock those up
so someone else doesn't. It's also realistic that these types of domain
variations could generate incremental traffic based on people just typing in
the wrong URL when trying to find your site. Outside of brand or
proprietary URL variations, you need to weigh whether people would
realistically be searching for that domain when looking for your company or
product. Those less relevant domains may not be worth the investment.
Again, for the low cost to own and host them, it wouldn't hurt to test some
and see if they work. If not, don't renew them and move on.

As for your second question about ROI serving and tracking, there are many
solutions out there that will fit your needs.

DoubleClick(DART)
Atlas Solutions
MediaPlex / Mojo Adserver

All have the same capabilities to track the ROI for the campaigns you
listed, and it usually comes down to personal preference and pricing
structure in which you would choose. I've used all three, and each has its
pluses and minuses.

Hope that helps! Take care, and have a safe and Happy New Year!

Paul Schuman
online media guy, LLC
www.onlinemediaguy.com





Received on Thu Dec 29 2005 - 13:32:19 CST