Are the dog days of summer almost over?

[Compassion]

The domain industry has been sputtering a bit this summer.


I was noticing on Alexa that NamePros has seen a dramatic decrease in traffic the past few months. Will things turn around by the end of August?


Dog Days of Summer



The graph shows a complete nose dive during May, which isn't uncommon for this industry and many others. A lot less people are staring at computer screens in the Summer.


It looks like NamePros is bottoming out from mid July until now.

When will things pick back up? two weeks, one month, two months?

 

[-REECE-]

I think things are finally starting to pick up now (at least for me they are). Domaining usually takes a hit across the summer, however it does appear like the hit was much larger this year from what I recall of past years...

In comparison to some other domaining sites, Namepros has weathered the summer better than average.

Eg. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/dnjournal.com
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/estibot.com

 

[Compassion]

I think things are finally starting to pick up now (at least for me they are). Domaining usually takes a hit across the summer, however it does appear like the hit was much larger this year from what I recall of past years...

In comparison to some other domaining sites, Namepros has weathered the summer better than average.

Eg. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/dnjournal.com
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/estibot.com

You're right, NamePros has faired better than DnJournal during the dog days.


It looks like the past two weeks have seen the rock bottoms across the entire industry as far as traffic/users go.

 

[SonnyCooL]

alexa change their method ...

 

[-REECE-]

Yep. I don't know the details of what they changed but it seems to have taken a bit of the "tech bias" out. You can tell from the number of concurrent users however that traffic is still down, sales at auction venues are lower (with less bids), etc.

alexa change their method ...

 

[Compassion]

any link to alexa's new method?

 

[Semtex]

There are also 200,000+ people in the U.S. that have lost their jobs in the last 6 months. When these people rebound in the next 6 months and have time to start buying things again. We should see a 10-20% increase in buying across the board. You can thank GWBush and his policies for the bargains that we are seeing now in the LLLL world.

GWBush + Halliburton + Iraq War + Housing Crash = Online Bargains

 

[Spade]

In terms of Domaining in general. The past 2 weeks have shown an increase in the offers and the offering amounts that Ive received. It had been pretty slow for me since Feb/May. (especially with end-users).

 

[-REECE-]

Yes, domaining has picked up recently for me as well. I've largely sat out of the domaining scene since May, aside from a couple sales because it's been so bad.

Buyers have no money to buy, sellers can't find anyone to sell to. Buyers become sellers trying to free up cash, flooding the market with even more domains when the market couldn't support what it had previously. Sellers start undercutting each other trying to remain price competitive. Soon you have talks about a "domaining recession" and then, after dismal auction results time and time again, a conclusion that prices really are falling on domains, leading to even more frantic sellers and tight wallet buyers...

Is that the Catch-22 to end all Catch-22s or what? Glad things seem to be getting better

In terms of Domaining in general. The past 2 weeks have shown an increase in the offers and the offering amounts that Ive received. It had been pretty slow for me since Feb/May. (especially with end-users).

 

[Venture]

You guys need to market to Brits, summer doesn't exist here.

 

[Spade]

You guys need to market to Brits, summer doesn't exist here.

Thats who im dealing with right now in 2 possible deals. And one italian on another that just went to Escrow.

 

[Compassion]

You guys need to market to Brits, summer doesn't exist here.

Thanks for the advice Tom, I'll remember this.

Which month is the best month to visit in regards to the weather??


I suppose it not Summer, but Winter in Australia and New Zealand :yell:

 

[Seabass]

You guys need to market to Brits, summer doesn't exist here.

Another method to balance PPC income is to invest in Southern hemisphere domains if you live in the Northern hemisphere and and have a Northern hemisphere concentration of domains.

What I mean is if you have basically U.S. traffic domains, then buy domains from the likes of markets like Australia, Brazil, South Africa, etc.... b/c summer in the U.S. is winter in those countries and traffic tracks upwards in those countries at the beginning of the U.S. summer decline. It helps balance a portfolio.

I used to have bad summer lows, but not anymore after several years of concentrated diversification.

"Back to School" or education domains also help beef up the summer PPC doldrums as traffic to those domains pick up really heavily from July up to December.

 

[Venture]

I was partially joking with my comment. Though, it's supposed to be summer and it's rained non-stop for the past week. I guess with Spade's input we can see it was actually sound advice. :lol:

Best time to visit - I would say April / May.