PARKED.COM - Official Thread!

[ZOX]

Hi,

Welcome to the OFFICIAL PARKED.COM thread!

 

[netmeg]

netmeg, I had read that but I don't understand what they mean by "on the fly". Don't Google and Yahoo do that already with Smart Pricing and TQ score.

Do you know what they mean exactly by "on the fly"?

They've never admitted it outright, but I've always believed that Smart Pricing occurs 'on the fly'. On the fly means that the value of the click is not pre-determined, but calculated based on the set of circumstances occurring at the exact time of the click. Nobody but Google or Yahoo knows what all of these circumstances are, but we can guess about some of them. Smart Pricing is only applicable for the Content Network (and possibly the Search Network which includes parked domains); it does not encompass ads found on Google's own search pages. I don't know enough about Yahoo to know much about TQ, but it's probably somewhat similar.

Smart Pricing is the the "break" that Google gives to the advertiser, recognizing that not all traffic is created equal, with an equal likelihood of conversion. It most likely takes into account any number of things - source of traffic, location of traffic, average CTR and/or conversion rate for the site where the ad appears, average CTR or conversion rate for *similar* sites to the one where the ad appears, publisher history (over all sites they own) and who knows what all else. To some degree, it's predictive.

Quality Score refers to the combined relevance of the advertiser's keywords, ad text, and landing page. It can also encompass account history, keyword history, CTR, and other things as well. There's more than one kind of Quality Score - Content has a different type than Search, ads have their own QS and so do accounts.

Up till now, all of these things were more or less static - once your Quality Scores were established, they didn't get changed until Google came along and re-evaluated things. That would cause certain keywords to go inactive. Now they're going to calculate them 'on the fly'- meaning at the time they occur - so keywords won't be inactive anymore; while it might not be relevant enough for Search A, they might display it for Search B.

(There's a much better description of this at url: http://www.bgtheory.com/blog/dissecting-adwords-quality-score-changes/)

What I'm saying is that there is really no such thing as a static click price (anyone who does a lot of AdWords or YSM advertising can tell you that) anymore. The value of any given click is calculated at the exact time of the click, based on whatever circumstances (on both sides - advertiser and publisher) are occuring at the time of the click. Advertiser history, landing page, publisher history, competition, time of day, country of origin, budget - the list is too long to type in, and we'll never know the whole thing.

So it shouldn't really come as a surprise when clicks in ANY given niche vary wildly in price. There's a thousand different things being taken into account. The best you can do is work with averages and don't worry about individual clicks. That's probably why TQ doesn't kick in until you get to 100 or so clicks per day.

In my opinion.

 

[ZOX]

I'm still waiting for arbitrage to come back

 

[Donny]

Sleepys - DNZoom will have access to our full API when all of our customers have full access to our API. I have always had some concerns about providing full access to all of your data to a third party, who are domainers at heart. I like the guys from DNZoom, but would you want to look at the information?

About ReplyCycle, which is also brough to you by DNZoom and Bido, it's an interesting concept, but it's not really something they can't patent. I know somebody who was doing this same thing 5 years ago. The biggest problem with it is that you are making the spam problem even worse than it is today. But I'm sure we will look at it and see if we can offer it, if it works out.

Donny

 

[SpareDomains]

I have always had some concerns about providing full access to all of your data to a third party, who are domainers at heart.

Things can be secure or bank level security but things can go wrong as well which would be a lot of users information and passwords in the wrong hands. I guess each domainer has to decide their own risk level, personally I would always opt out of providing all of my registrar/parking info and passwords in 1 central location regardless of who is running it. Then again maybe I'm paranoid.

 

[Seabass]

About ReplyCycle, which is also brough to you by DNZoom and Bido, it's an interesting concept, but it's not really something they can't patent. I know somebody who was doing this same thing 5 years ago. The biggest problem with it is that you are making the spam problem even worse than it is today. But I'm sure we will look at it and see if we can offer it, if it works out.

Donny

Thanks Donny,

It seems to me a autoresponder letting them know the email was received or bounced and is a non-working email( with some links), instead of what they would get in their email inbox shown below seems fairly unobtrusive. They would not be getting two emails just a replacement email

“This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently etc.“

I think this will be the norm eventually and folks will adjust like always.

The nice thing about it, if controlled, is that it is not a search hijacking or error search, but a response to them having tried to contact the domain owner first.

Maybe you could develop something in-house instead of using this software? Just a thought, but I realize this is something that you are aware of already and have thought about.

They've never admitted it outright, but I've always believed that Smart Pricing occurs 'on the fly'.

netmeg, that was one hell of an answer. Thanks.

Rep. added.

 

[Domagon]

Domainers can already do custom email bounces with Sendmail and other similar programs or even via 3rd parties like ReplyCycle ... set CNAME records to cnames.parked.com and set MX records pointing to the MTA (one's own server, ReplyCycle, etc) for the bounces.

IMHO, Parked should remain web only. No email bouncing, no email redirection, no email ads. At most, only provide instructions on how folks, who want that stuff, can do so themselves and/or via 3rd parties, such as ReplyCycle. Though again, IMHO, email bouncing is asking for trouble and should be discouraged by parking companies.

Ron

 

[SpareDomains]

Domainers can already do custom email bounces with Sendmail and other similar programs or even via 3rd parties like ReplyCycle ... set CNAME records to cnames.parked.com and set MX records pointing to the MTA (one's own server, ReplyCycle, etc) for the bounces.

IMHO, Parked should remain web only. No email bouncing, no email redirection, no email ads. At most, only provide instructions on how folks, who want that stuff, can do so themselves and/or via 3rd parties, such as ReplyCycle. Though again, IMHO, email bouncing is asking for trouble and should be discouraged by parking companies.

Ron

I realize the full terms are not disclosed as of yet but as of today I lean to agreeing with you and think this idea in general is a slippery slope.

I'm not quite sure someone sending an email to a dead or wrong email address qualifies as...

"A "transactional or relationship message" – email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship – may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act."

If not it would need to contain an opt out link and a physical address of the sender as it will be a commercial email, parked domains can face some challenges as it stands so I think this would only add gas to the fire and could lead to some legal challenges as well, donny if you do add this make sure my control panel has an opt out button.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm

 

[Sleepys]

Thanks for the quick answer Donny :great:

+ Rep

 

[SebastianJu]

@Seabass

>“This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently etc.“

So they answer spammails with this? That doesnt work. I tried this some years ago with a software. The problem is that a spammer doesnt use its own email-adress. So they never know that you sent this email and dont delete your email.

I think too it would increase spam. Because they use email-adresses from other people as the originator and so the owner of the wrong email will get this messages. My Email-Adresses are used from spammers too. So I sometimes get messages that I have sent mails to a couple of persons that cant be reached. Spammails that I know of because I got them too...

Its spam. Only a spamfilter will help... Thunderbird has the best tested so far for me.

Greetings!
Sebastian

 

[Donny]

The problem I have with ReplyCycle or other software that is similiar to this concept is that it's the way it could potentially cause more spam. Today if somebody sends an email to a domain that is parked with us, there is no mailserver on our end, so if somebody tries to contact the MX record nothing is there, no actual email is sent. If there were a mailserver and somebody tried to send an email to [email protected] and that email didn't exist then the mailserver would tell the other mailserver that the email address didn't exist.

The problem is that I think we all agree that any email address that is more than 6 months old receives at least 50% spam. So if you used a system similiar to this basically you would be sending a "targeted email" back to whoever sent you the original email. Which you are basically just helping in the spam problem.

Now if it was me and I had my black hat on, I would also be scanning all of those emails for different things. Maybe I would use them to create some type of spam filtering software or if I was being really bad I would be scanning for renewal notices, passwords, etc... But that's me.

I do still think ReplyCycle is an interesting idea and I'll definitely be interested in seeing the full system once it's available.

Donny

 

[netmeg]

As someone whose company makes and markets a couple of high end spam filtering services, I'd have some pretty strong reservations about it as well. (I've had my email address since 1994; you can just imagine how many lists I'm on, but I refuse to give it up)

(hey, this is my 1000th post!)

 

[Seabass]

Thanks for the answers everyone...... I suppose it is more complicated than I had initially realized. I had forgot all about the CAN SPAM Act.

I think this will happen anyhow as third party companies will hunt down these bounced emails. You just know most/all the registrars will begin to take advantage of this as an easy income source. Maybe watch how TuCows does with it - you know they'll jump on board.

I could see the service getting a black eye b/c of black hats, especially on expired traffic domains, but like Domagon said, you can already set up a domain to receive emails so really it is already available for abuse. Maybe this will just facilitate it.

Sigh...... there is just something so powerful in the thought of getting money for doing nothing.

 

[Donny]

Seabass - One thing to remember about Tucows they would never use a third party like ReplyCycle, they would spend 6-12 months building their own.

*** Disclaimer ***
*** I do own Tucows stock. Poor me! ***

Donny

 

[Varon]

(hey, this is my 1000th post!)

Congrats on becoming old Meg... Welcome to the seniors club.

 

[netmeg]

Congrats on becoming old Meg... Welcome to the seniors club.

Heh, thanks. I was born old.

*** I do own Tucows stock. Poor me! ***

I don't follow this particular stock - is it down to OneCow now?

 

[ZOX]

Heh, thanks. I was born old.



I don't follow this particular stock - is it down to OneCow now?

:lol:
...
It's kind of like what happened to Register.com :lol:

 

[GILSAN]

I don't follow this particular stock - is it down to OneCow now?

That was really funny! :lol: Down to one cow and no milk!
Well done Meg on your 1000th post.

 

[Kenny]

Congratz on your 1000th post as well as your 1 year star!!!

We are lucky to have you as a member. :tu:

Cy

As someone whose company makes and markets a couple of high end spam filtering services, I'd have some pretty strong reservations about it as well. (I've had my email address since 1994; you can just imagine how many lists I'm on, but I refuse to give it up)

(hey, this is my 1000th post!)

 

[whitebark]

netmeg you are a riot!

As for the email bounce idea - I don't want my domains anywhere near that. Far too risky and nothing kills resale value and search indexing faster than a bunch of spam complaints!

 

[netmeg]

Congratz on your 1000th post as well as your 1 year star!!!

Oh, that's what that thing is. Well, thank you all very much, and also for the reps; I noticed I gained another little green thingie as well.

 

[replycycle]

Hello All!!

Sorry to intrude here, but there are a few misconceptions that need to be cleared up. As a new company, we want to make sure we get off the the right start.

First, we don't have any affiliation with DnZoom/Bido. Sean Stafford myself and the team left DNZ/Bido a short while ago. We are now working on our own ventures, ReplyCycle.com is one of them.

Also, please keep in mind that we are not contributing to the spam problem that already exists. In fact, all spam that comes through to us is completely filtered and vetted. Anything left over is the "real" emails and only those are replied back to.
We ourselves don't like spam and we are not going to futher the problem by replying to every single email that comes through.

What we do accomplish is letting a sender know that an email box is no longer in service by the individual who once had it. Yes, we do stick in an ad in order to monetize the email, but we are also letting the sender know that they need to take an action to contact the right recipient.

Currently, when someone sends an email to an email box that is no longer is service, 1 of 2 things happen:
1.) Nothing. The email goes into a "black hole" and the sender never knows the email failed
2.) The user gets a bounce back message.

In either case, this happens without reply cycle being involved. This already happens on a day to day basis. When we step in and become involved, we let the user know that they have reached a wrong address, and it is no more intrusive as getting a bounce back message.

If you are interested in learning more, please take a look at our site, replycycle.com
A big apology to Donny here for getting in on the parked.com thread, but as a fledgling company we need to make sure that we correct any inaccuries that may be surfacing.

Kind Regards!
Dan Kimball

 

[copper]

Hello All!!

Sorry to intrude here, but there are a few misconceptions that need to be cleared up. As a new company, we want to make sure we get off the the right start.

First, we don't have any affiliation with DnZoom/Bido. Sean Stafford myself and the team left DNZ/Bido a short while ago. We are now working on our own ventures, ReplyCycle.com is one of them.

Also, please keep in mind that we are not contributing to the spam problem that already exists. In fact, all spam that comes through to us is completely filtered and vetted. Anything left over is the "real" emails and only those are replied back to.
We ourselves don't like spam and we are not going to futher the problem by replying to every single email that comes through.

What we do accomplish is letting a sender know that an email box is no longer in service by the individual who once had it. Yes, we do stick in an ad in order to monetize the email, but we are also letting the sender know that they need to take an action to contact the right recipient.

Currently, when someone sends an email to an email box that is no longer is service, 1 of 2 things happen:
1.) Nothing. The email goes into a "black hole" and the sender never knows the email failed
2.) The user gets a bounce back message.

In either case, this happens without reply cycle being involved. This already happens on a day to day basis. When we step in and become involved, we let the user know that they have reached a wrong address, and it is no more intrusive as getting a bounce back message.

If you are interested in learning more, please take a look at our site, replycycle.com
A big apology to Donny here for getting in on the parked.com thread, but as a fledgling company we need to make sure that we correct any inaccuries that may be surfacing.

Kind Regards!
Dan Kimball

Sounds like cool idea.
Good luck with your venture

 

[replycycle]

Thanks Copper!

 

[aswinstanley]

Yeah its a good idea, I have signed up for the Beta. But will it work with parked domains?

 

[PowerUp]

Whoa, what's with all this spam email posting?

Anyway, I just login to my Dashboard and notice that today's stats is not marked with *. Does this mean that what I see now for today is already the final stats up till now? I see my stats still increasing as the time inch closer to time 00:00. But I'd like to know if what I see is real stats, or just estimates.