Has anyone ever tried this? I'm building 12 BANS sites to promote my php auction (music niche). This put out 12 more sites that will bring more traffic (like ebay does) The webmasters who lease these sites will make money on adsense and users who buy from my php auction site. The reason why I want to lease is because I don't want anyone changing the script to ebay (my competition) or taking the domain name to use for something else. Granted these sites that I'm having built will be very hard to recode as it's going through extensive encryptions. My question to you is, does this sound like a fair idea? Please explain the pros and cons. My first thought was to give these sites away free of charge--- but I don't want them changed. Then I lost all my time, work, effort... and money- Thanks in advance for your insight.
Dont lease them simply offer them as free affiliate sites. Tons of companies have done this in the past. if each site is unique that is a different story. Why dont you just start a really lucrative affiliate program. If you are paying out well then people will use your program and will promote it.
Biggest concern is lack of content compared to ebay. I'm just afraid someone would get this free affiliate site and change the script to an ebay. I have some really cool domain names that I'd hate to lose to help promote my competitor. How could I prevent this? A written contract?
Encode it. I dont think someone is going to take the time to take your script. So you are going to provide the domain name as well? Just don't give them the domain names. Have them provide you with the names servers and you input them or you host the site for free and that way they cant do anything with it. I ahve never ehard of giving away the domain name to the affiliate. I guess there is some amount of risk but no risk, no reward! There are sites like http://credit-land.com/ where they update the page with their offers. You should set it up that way so you are handling what is being shown on the site. Sorry I can't be more helpful but the way you are doing it is a little unorthodox.
Mediology, You've been very helpful, thank you! It is unique and I don't mind the risk. I was going to throw some PR1 DN to make the site more desirable. The page script will very intensely encoded. It will be a total hack job in there... If anyone tries changing it they'll probably end up scraping the script. I'll check out the link you provided now. Again, I sincerely thank you for your time.
Should I keep the domain name with my account and have them pay hosting for the script on their account. Every niche website being built for my auction is for the domain name. For example, one of my rough drafts is http://guitarfinder.net. --this name is so perfect for the site... and in due time, going to have some major value. I don't want to give that away to someone who will change it to phpbay pro or something. Ebay is the big dog, I cannot pay like they can. I'm smaller and will pay 75% of the 1.5% I make. To sell on ebay it costs the seller 3%-4% of the final value. My site is only 1.5%- I can offer the webmaster of my affiliate 75%. I cannot pay $25 for every referral who places a bid.. so ebay has the advantage there. However, the webmaster can load the site up with adsense to bring in some extra funds. The good thing about my campaign is I'm the deal with guy, not cj.com. I've read DP members on here questioning if CJ.com was shorting them out of earnings.... (I don't know if they do or not, never dealt with them) This is my idea in a nutshell. I want quality traffic, webmasters want residual earnings. It's win/win.
Hey, I have a question. I read other DP members who lease domain names... does anyone here have more information about this?
As a webmaster I would never lease a domain name. You cant do any long term planning or expensive advertising etc, I spend thousands of dollars every week advertising my sites and building awareness, I could not do that if the sites werent even really owned and could be taken back by someone else.
Yeah, I feel the same way. So that left me with the idea of signing of a contract that stipulates they cannot change the script or redirect the domain to anything else. I totally see where you are coming from. I also thought about owning the site and paying for the server, the webmasters job is to promote the site and reap the benefits of adsense and referrals. Problem with that is the webmaster might not take it serious and the site sits out in cyberspace while costing me hosting and domain fees.... It's tit for tat- ey?
I've seen this happen with blog networks. Someone is set-up a blog and a good chunk of the revenue to post and promote. Within 2-3 weeks the blog is dead as a doornail.
Yeah, same goes with everything. If it's free, one does not respect it.. if they pay for it, they feel "invested" and will more than likely work it. Some peoples mind set after losing interest is: "damn, I invested $60 into this, I'm gonna work it enough to get some of my money back." Then after making some money back: "hey, this is kind of cool.. I making a extra money" And might continue. that's just my observation. lol- ========== Another idea was to sit on these sites for awhile.. get some age and backlinks and THEN sell for big "Profit"- And they can do what they want. Basically, I have about $25 invested into each site. Being brand new, they might not sell for more than $10 (I dunno)- If in one year they sell for $200 each, then I could sleep better at night... and I'd sleep even better if they keep the script the same. Thanks for hashing out this idea with me. I'm not opposed to losing money as long as I know my plan is going to work. (isn't that life hope?) lol
Unless you and the buyer are in the same country, he can just go ahead and sign it then change it anyway, you arent going to be able to do anything about it.
As mediology suggested, Perhaps the most logical conclusion is to just give away the script in the "FREE" board. It's encoded really really secure and it'd be like trying to unravel a ball of tangled thread.
Here is some information about leasing a domain. This I know A LOT about as I have leased out domains on several occasions and right now am in the process of negotiating to lease a very high profile domain name. As Vic mentioned being the lessee of a domain is risky however it can be very profitable. The problem is the contract must be air tight! Also it must allow for some type of buyout down the orad.The problem with this is that it is virtually impossible to come up with a buyout price as the domains value undeveloped is a lot less than it would be developed. To give you an example of how much of a pain this is I have been working on getting this lease done since October. If you do set it up as an affiliate program as you mentioned you have to realize that 1-5% of the affiliates will account for 80%+++ of the sales. I see that with one of my sites. With regard to the domain names don't worry to much about that. If they don't already receive type in traffic it will not help most of your prospective affiliates. You need to target music sites. Places where a guitarists go to look for guitars and make them affiliates or even cross promote with them. I know if I am looking for a new guitar I would go to harmonycentral.com as well as ebay etc. And like bogart says. If you give the sites away or even sell them for short money they will go to waste. I was jsut thinking if you sell the site for say $100 it is going to take the affiliate a while to make their money back and they may get discouraged because of this. Gl
Mediology, Wow! Great post! Thank you for so much useful knowledge in the matter! If you know of a good read about 'leasing domains", then please share =) Ohhh, and trust me, I network the heck out of music forums.. almost to the point receiving warnings. I try to be good tho. I also list items for sale on ebay and sneak my link in there is it's kind of undetected. 9 times out of 10 ebay doesn't find it. I have, however, had listings removed. But not too often. Just for the record, I don't really play dirty and I'm not obnoxious in my 'sneaky-ness', I'm just trying to gain a quicker edge for more exposure. Again, thanks for the good read. I value all that you have provided!