opinion Unless a platform adds an affiliate partnership feature, domaining will stay stagnant

[AEProgram]

I mentioned this many times in the past but it seems this industry of all industries innovates at a very slow pace.

We could all agree and be grateful for the innovations within domaining that helped the industry a lot.

MLS Service: Sedo, Afternic used something that is popular in the real estate industry and they made it available for the domain industry. Imagine if we didn't have this feature? We would have a lot less sales.

Escrow service: A tool popular in real estate mostly became common in domaining. Without any doubt it helped.

Payment plans: Payment plans is an old sales technique and now any domainer can sell names using payment plans without being bothered by setting up their own billing system.

There is one thing though that would take this industry and sky rocket it to a level none of us could really imagine.

Affiliate partnerships is what drives a big portion of ecommerce. You have big networks like CJ, ShareASale, ClickBank that cater to anyone looking to promote something in exchange for a commission.

Domains would do great because the potential commission can be significant compared to other products. Obviously the conversion rate will be based on the source of the traffic, just like any other conversion rate.

Think about the amount of web designers and developers that would promote domains on their site, add a search box, or feed in exchange for a commission from sales.

How about people with some following on social media including LinkedIn being able to post about a domain and collect a commission if it sells.

Domainers should be able to set what % they offer for a domain and affiliates can market it.

The other benefit for affiliate marketers is that this business will pay out faster than most other industries. On average affiliate marketers must wait at least 3 weeks (some a week less some many weeks more) before getting paid.

All the issues a platform can think of are issues other industries are dealing with and it does not stop them from running affiliate programs.

If we want to sell more names we need more eyeballs and the best way to get more eyeballs is to incentivize people to promote things.

I know at least one platform must have a good competent development team that can roll this out. Please do.

 

[lovely4ever]

I think squadhep recently did an effort with something semilar , by putting new optional tool for the sellers to give incentivize to the creative community to submit the premium domains to contests , and incentivize will be deducted from the seller .

https://helpdesk.squadhelp.com/en/a...e-contest-submission-incentives-for-creatives


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[HotKey]

I do like it, but in general domainers aren't the best housekeepers. Especially those dealing into the thousands of domains. If we can't remember to manage our listings on secondary markets, ie removals, than imagine what affiliate programs would look like in a year or two. At least, if you're talking about single domain names and not an affiliate link to say a portfolio.

Hard to say how long a domain will last under someone's ownership, which is different than a set service like an escrow or MLS program.

 

[gt88hel]

I do agree it. @DAN.COM

 

[abstractdomainer]

I don't agree with this. Affiliate marketers build businesses. Domaining doesn't have longevity. You put some effort to make a sale. That sale won't lead to another sale and hence, I do not see this as a viable option. It's a one time thing which Affiliate marketers don't like. They like sustainability and scalability.

 

[AEProgram]

I don't agree with this. Affiliate marketers build businesses. Domaining doesn't have longevity. You put some effort to make a sale. That sale won't lead to another sale and hence, I do not see this as a viable option. It's a one time thing which Affiliate marketers don't like. They like sustainability and scalability.

There are probably over 25,000 active blogs that offer startup advice and thousands of social media accounts that do the same. If they had a way to send traffic to a premium domain market and make 50% of domain sales they would.

You need to stop thinking about the tiny world of affiliate marketing you know and educate yourself about what is really going on out there.

 

[kostaki]

I agree. Simply said, ExpiredDomains.net would not exist if it wouldn't have been for the godaddy affiliate program!

It is sad to say, but 12 years later I can count the good domain related partnerships on one hand and have some fingers to spare...

I also unfortunately see no sign of this ever going to change for the better.

 

[spigiv]

I would say this is what SquadHelp, BrankBucket and other marketplaces for brandable names are doing today. They turn to the community of domainers asking them to submit their very best brandable names to later sell them with a margin to end-users. SH and BB have commercialised sort of an affiliate model with a structured approach for both the domainer and the buyer of the domain. You can earn money by promoting names on SH, holding contests, proposing names too contests and so on. In my view they have a domain name affiliate/marketplace business where they add value in the various steps of the process.