Dub.io - A new tool for parking your domains

[Kevin Johnson]

Hi guys,

My name is Kevin, been following this forum for quite awhile, but joined because I wanted to share a news. I am a VP of product at Dub.io, which is a small tool that our team has been building for a few weeks.

We wanted to see if we can create a new (and hopefully better) domain parking tool. We've named ourselves "Dub.io" - nice and short. It works like this.

1. Sign-up and you will get a website - to which, you can of course point your domain to. However, if you don't want to, that's ok. We will give you a Dub.io sub-domain.
   
   
2. Once that's done, you can start "populating" the site with contents. This can come from RSS feeds, YouTube videos or just from the web articles. Dub.io takes care of automatically crawling these and inserting into your site.
   
   
3. Each content can also be automatically tweeted to your designated Twitter account (this will usually bring more traffic and also get you some followers). You can also set up so that it's automatically posted to Blogger or Tumblr sites too.
   
   
4. And of course, you can monetize it. Right now, we allow you to insert your own Google AdSense ads and VigLink code. The best part? You keep all the revenue generated from your sites. We don't take anything.
   
   
5. Each site is all responsive to different screen-sizes. We try to include a variety of media types like images and related videos so contents are more engaging. Right now, we are in a "testing" phase, so everything is free! We would love for you to come and check us out and let me know if you have any questions.

Would love to discuss via this thread or if you have any questions, you can email me at hello @ dub.io

Thank you so much for your time guys.

 

[LarryDomain]

I'm not sure if someone mentioned this to you DUB.IO. If you have a lot of people putting ads onto their own little mini sites on dub.io.. eventually Google will shutdown your Adsense and black list you.

Just think about it and the lightbulb will light up as to why Google will do this.

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@LarryDomain

Thanks for your input. We are quite aware of dynamics of Google AdSense. We are working to make sure that we obey all the rules. Adding Google Ads on "mini" sites, isn't necessarily new. You can do these on "SquareSpace" and "Wix" already. Rules can be a bit tricky, so we are currently in the process of making sure that all google ads on Dub.io is ok by the rules.

Having said that, we are also building out features so that you're not just relying on Google AdSense. There are several other alternatives that our users can utilize. We'll update our tool accordingly!

 

[frank-germany]

@LarryDomain

Thanks for your input. We are quite aware of dynamics of Google AdSense. We are working to make sure that we obey all the rules. Adding Google Ads on "mini" sites, isn't necessarily new. You can do these on "SquareSpace" and "Wix" already. Rules can be a bit tricky, so we are currently in the process of making sure that all google ads on Dub.io is ok by the rules.

Having said that, we are also building out features so that you're not just relying on Google AdSense. There are several other alternatives that our users can utilize. We'll update our tool accordingly!

if the page content is automated
that against g's rules

the adsense account will be lost

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@frank-germany

Yep. Totally understand. Which is why we are refining our AdSense implementation + and also allowing other ad formats available.

Soon, you'll be able to allow other people to submit posts, in which case, you should be able to show Google Ads since it isn't automated.

 

[frank-germany]

@frank-germany

Yep. Totally understand. Which is why we are refining our AdSense implementation + and also allowing other ad formats available.

Soon, you'll be able to allow other people to submit posts, in which case, you should be able to show Google Ads since it isn't automated.

thank you Kevin

you done a great job with your interface - LP
to me it looks promising

 

[frank-germany]

the biggest issue for me is the redirect to your sub domain
the will not do much for my domain

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@frank-germany

Thanks for pointing that out. Someone else did mention that as well, though his thought was that people don't type "www" anymore.

Can you tell me specifically what the issue is in terms of redirect?

 

[Valentineboy]

Please let us know. If it is supported by Google . Can i insert my adsence in it. Won't it get banned. How about my privacy?

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@Valentineboy

As I previously mentioned, Google doesn't allow AdSense on automated contents - which does include contents based on RSS feeds, which is why we have temporarily disabled Google AdSense for now.

However, we are quite close to releasing a feature where you (or your users) can actually submit your own posts. For these contents Google AdSense would be allowed.

At the same time, we are working with several other ad platforms which we can include on Dub.io regardless of what type of content they are.

In terms of privacy (and yes, we will make privacy statement available soon!), Dub.io doesn't sell its users' information to anyone. That's not how Dub.io plans to monetize. We will be introducing a subscription model soon at a very affordable rate and we plan to keep it that way. But like I said, we'll make the privacy statement and terms of service available soon.

Will keep you posted.

 

[frank-germany]

@frank-germany

Thanks for pointing that out. Someone else did mention that as well, though his thought was that people don't type "www" anymore.

Can you tell me specifically what the issue is in terms of redirect?

in order to use your system I need to redirect
my domain to

whatever.dub.io

as far as I understand

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@frank-germany

Yes that is correct.

I don't really know how else I can provide our service without such a re-direction.

I suppose one possible (but rather a far-fetched one) would be to partner up with domain registrars (e.g. GoDaddy) and then have Dub.io available as a add-on service, which will automate the whole process. But that sounds rather ambitious for us at the moment.

 

[frank-germany]

@frank-germany

Yes that is correct.

I don't really know how else I can provide our service without such a re-direction.

I suppose one possible (but rather a far-fetched one) would be to partner up with domain registrars (e.g. GoDaddy) and then have Dub.io available as a add-on service, which will automate the whole process. But that sounds rather ambitious for us at the moment.

just supply an IP adress
so nameservers could be adjusted

 

[Asfas1000]

in order to use your system I need to redirect
my domain to

whatever.dub.io

as far as I understand

You can do a stealth redirect.

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@frank-germany

Got ya. Pointing to nameservers would be another option. Will put that on the list.

@Asfas1000

stealth redirect? Can you elaborate? I know CNAME, A-Record and maybe via iFrame, but what's stealth redirect?

 

[Asfas1000]

stealth redirect? Can you elaborate? I know CNAME, A-Record and maybe via iFrame, but what's stealth redirect?

It's when you're doing a redirect from example.com to your URL , but the browser still shows the initial url (ie. example.com). Not sure if all registrars provide this option.

 

[frank-germany]

It's when you're doing a redirect from example.com to your URL , but the browser still shows the initial url (ie. example.com). Not sure if all registrars provide this option.

that is an iframe setup
which doesn't do anything for your domain

 

[Kevin Johnson]

Hm. Isn't that what CNAME, A-Record and iFrame redirects are for? Perhaps "stealth" is just another label (haven't heard that term personally).

 

[frank-germany]

Hm. Isn't that what CNAME, A-Record and iFrame redirects are for? Perhaps "stealth" is just another label (haven't heard that term personally).

again

what is the purpose?

get some seo results for the domain?
some content

then all those tactics won't supply that

 

[frank-germany]

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16298/how-to-redirect-sitea-to-siteb-with-a-or-cname-records

A CNAME is an alias for an A or AAAA record, which can never be a domain but is always a name within a domain or domain name, for short

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@Asfas1000

Just saw your site on Dub.io. Looks like you're using iframe as a redirect - but it works surprisingly well! But looks like the subsequent pages don't really get reflected properly on the URL. But it does solve the issue of not having to have the "www" at the front. That gives us some ideas as to improve Dub.io

@frank-germany

I suppose the main purpose of Dub.io is allow people to "park" their domain names (as the subject of this thread is) - and SEO results and contents are the by-products, as well as other things such as being able to auto-post to social accounts.

We are certainly not expecting that current offerings of Dub.io will suit everyone (and not sure if that's our goal! ), but many do find Dub.io useful as a quick way to set up a content-driven site - which would be different to the more traditional way of parking domains.

Hopefully we can keep improving our feature-set, so we can slowly win over more people. Time will tell.

 

[cipcip]

Hello @Kevin Johnson
Welcome to Namepros.

My question related to the service would be: If I register now when the service is free, in the future my account will be free as well ? Or when you will insert the monthly subscription, it will require a payment?

Thank you

 

[biggie]

from what i've read

this is not a parking service or parking tool

because parking pays the domain owner, not the other way around.

reads more like another mfa site idea and if using adsense is problematic, then where is benefit for domain owner?

also, consider you'll be redirecting to a .io extension, not com

it will push usage up for dub.io, but what can it do for your name?

imo....

 

[Kevin Johnson]

@cipcip Right now, all the features are free as we are building out our tool and finding our feet. As we introduce fees, some features will naturally fall within the "premium" category. But I can assure you that there will always be a free plan available - which would suit many users.

@biggie For now, AdSense is being re-considered. But (like I mentioned before), there will be ways where AdSense will be acceptable (e.g. contents posted by members of your site on Dub.io). Also, we are working with several other ad platforms.

On Dub.io, the "redirection" is really a "masking" - meaning, users will still see your domain, but behind the scene it's pointing to a sub-domain on Dub.io. This means users will never see Dub.io sub-domain. Even if you type in the Dub.io sub-domain, we redirect to your domain, so only your domain is visible. This means, all links will be pointing to your domain. And you're right, as your domain gets more visitors, Dub.io usage will increase, but so does the usage of your domain. But in terms of visibility, it's your domain that is always available.

 

[frank-germany]

@Asfas1000

Just saw your site on Dub.io. Looks like you're using iframe as a redirect - but it works surprisingly well! But looks like the subsequent pages don't really get reflected properly on the URL. But it does solve the issue of not having to have the "www" at the front. That gives us some ideas as to improve Dub.io

@frank-germany

I suppose the main purpose of Dub.io is allow people to "park" their domain names (as the subject of this thread is) - and SEO results and contents are the by-products, as well as other things such as being able to auto-post to social accounts.

We are certainly not expecting that current offerings of Dub.io will suit everyone (and not sure if that's our goal! ), but many do find Dub.io useful as a quick way to set up a content-driven site - which would be different to the more traditional way of parking domains.

Hopefully we can keep improving our feature-set, so we can slowly win over more people. Time will tell.

 

[frank-germany]

What you are offering is not benefitting my domain but only dub.io

I could go and redirect to a google search result instead with same benefits