Netfleet Parking Pages

[AnthonyP]

I reckon Netfleet would rake in the cash if they offered us customised parking and forsale links to the auction rather than focusing on weird auction practices.

What would you like to customise on the parking?
What are "forsale links to the auction"?

 

[Scott.L]

ok, You guys need to allow a place on the page for relevant links to advertisers or we should get netfleet points when a visitor is directed to you site. that monotisation thingy in the AUDA policy thingy

On the parked page is a link that currently says "start selling "XYZdomain" today" when selected it directs the visitor to your main site -

I reckon the link should say "BUY or BID on "XYZdomain" now" it should direct the visitor to the actual bid or buy now page or to the auction -

see the current image of parked netfleet page

 

[AnthonyP]

ok, You guys need to allow a place on the page for relevant links to advertisers or we should get netfleet points when a visitor is directed to you site. that monotisation thingy in the AUDA policy thingy

On the parked page is a link that currently says "start selling "XYZdomain" today" when selected it directs the visitor to your main site -

I reckon the link should say "BUY or BID on "XYZdomain" now" it should direct the visitor to the actual bid or buy now page or to the auction -

see the current image of parked netfleet page

The parked page looks much better if the domain is actually listed for sale on Netfleet, here is an example.

With regards to adding a section for adverts, we considered allowing owners to add their own adwords account details but we are pretty sure Google will not like this and might shut down your account.

I am open to adding ideas on how to add adverts in a way which is auDA monetisation policy compliant and will be okay with the provider of the adverts.

We are busy working on a video to add to this page soon which explains the value of after market domains. There is a thread dedicated to this video over here https://www.dntrade.com.au/netfleet-com-au/8141-netfleet-parked-pages-video-script-suggestions.html if you missed it.

I am very open to suggested changes on these parked pages, as we are about to start focusing on them again.

 

[Drop.com.au]

ok, You guys need to allow a place on the page for relevant links to advertisers or we should get netfleet points when a visitor is directed to you site. that monotisation thingy in the AUDA policy thingy

Hi Scott,

Parking pages consisting of a "For Sale" message and not much else are inadvisable and may not comply with auDA eligibility policy if you are using the "monetisation" close and substantial reason to justify your registration. In fact you could be in breach of policy as the perception could be that you have registered for the purpose of resale (see http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2012-04/ - SCHEDULE A section 8 and SCHEDULE C section 3).

If you want an auDA compliant solution with a "For Sale" banner that forwards sales leads directly to you, and without a middleman taking a cut, contact me via PM for a Fabulous monetisation account. Quite a few members here are happy Fabulous customers - and it's not exclusive, so you can still list your domains at Netfleet...

Andrew

 

[neddy]

Hi Admin / Mods - I think the posts about parking pages on Netfleet should be moved out of "Drops today - August 2013" - and put into the Netfleet section.

Imho.

 

[chris]

Hi Admin / Mods - I think the posts about parking pages on Netfleet should be moved out of "Drops today - August 2013" - and put into the Netfleet section.

Imho.

Hi Ned, this has been done.

 

[AnthonyP]

Hi Scott,

Parking pages consisting of a "For Sale" message and not much else are inadvisable and may not comply with auDA eligibility policy if you are using the "monetisation" close and substantial reason to justify your registration.

If you are relying on monetisation then this is true. Does anyone know if there is a reasonable amount of time that one has to monetise a domain for before you can reasonably do something else with the domain name, for example if you monetise a domain for a year and then let it become inactive, do you run the risk of losing the domain name? Does it ALWAYS have to be monetised to be compliant.

In fact you could be in breach of policy as the perception could be that you have registered for the purpose of resale (see http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2012-04/ - SCHEDULE A section 8 and SCHEDULE C section 3).

I think you are misquoting policy here as you decided to drop the very crucial word "sole".

I don't see any difference between having a for sale banner on a parked page and having a dedicated for sale page, both have the potential to create the same perception. That said I do not think that having a for sale banner nor a for sale page is sufficient proof of having registered for the sole purpose of resale. You would need to be listing it for sale immediately after registration to fall foul of that rule.

If you want an auDA compliant solution with a "For Sale" banner that forwards sales leads directly to you, and without a middleman taking a cut, contact me via PM for a Fabulous monetisation account.

For your solution to be "auDA compliant" you would need to have a system in place to ensure that the following conditions are met:

a) the content on the website to which the domain name resolves must be related specifically and predominantly to subject matter denoted by the domain name; and

b) the domain name must not be, or incorporate, an entity name, personal name or brand name in existence at the time the domain name was registered*.

* Definitions:

“entity name” means the name of an Australian registered company or incorporated association as listed with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), or the name of an Australian government body. It does not include a registered business name;
“personal name” means the given name(s) and/or last name of a person; and
“brand name” means the name of an identifiable and distinctive product or service, whether commercial or non-commercial.

Could you explain to us how you ensure the above conditions are met?

Quite a few members here are happy Fabulous customers - and it's not exclusive, so you can still list your domains at Netfleet...

Andrew

I definitely agree with this part, I know lots of people are happy with the Fabulous parking solution, if your solution does actually include steps to ensure the conditions are met then I would refer more users to your platform.

 

[Andrew Wright]

Eh. Started to post under the wrong account. :-|

 

[Scott.L]

ok, would this be considered "monotisation"

I set up a website [exact match to my company name] and list my portfolio of domains on it with relevant Google ads and or links + a forsale on it -

you guys allow me to embed a link into your parked page that resolves to my website.

you guys have the forsale link to your site and I have an embedded link to my site.

 

[Scott.L]

another way of looking at it -
I would like an option to embed a link onto the page that can resolve to a relevant advertisers website;

I go out find a local business and say hey I can provide a link to your site, do a deal and done.

 

[Drop.com.au]

Hey Anthony,

Oh, you nit-picker, you

Let me respond to your points, if I can.

If you are relying on monetisation then this is true. Does anyone know if there is a reasonable amount of time that one has to monetise a domain for before you can reasonably do something else with the domain name, for example if you monetise a domain for a year and then let it become inactive, do you run the risk of losing the domain name? Does it ALWAYS have to be monetised to be compliant.

If in doubt ask auDA. If you have registered the domain for another reason and can justify it you should be covered. If you have registered it for the purpose of monetisation under the "close and substantial" rule, and you're not monetising it then you would be in breach, no? Anthony, If you have any doubts about Netfleet parking pages being compliant with monetisation eligibility policy best to bring it up with auDA.

I think you are misquoting policy here as you decided to drop the very crucial word "sole".

Not really "misquoting" though is it? - note the use of the words "could" and the direct link to policy, so that readers can make their own minds up.

For your solution to be "auDA compliant" you would need to have a system in place to ensure that the following conditions are met:

a) the content on the website to which the domain name resolves must be related specifically and predominantly to subject matter denoted by the domain name; and

b) the domain name must not be, or incorporate, an entity name, personal name or brand name in existence at the time the domain name was registered*.

In terms of complying with policy we offer a solution that complies with "a)" (ie "related specifically and predominantly to subject matter denoted by the domain name") in the majority of cases and particularly for keyword rich domains. An automated solution will occasionally result in non-relevant PPC links, but the beauty of the Fabulous.com platform is that PPC results can be tweaked to comply AND produce PPC revenue.

As far as "b)" is concerned, that really is a bit nit-picky. Compliance for that section is clearly out of anyone's control but the registrant.

Anyway enough nit-picking and down to the crux of the matter. Can Netfleet explain how their current or proposed parking pages satisfy auDA monetisation eligibility policy without PPC links?

Andrew

 

[AnthonyP]

Hey Anthony,

Oh, you nit-picker, you

Let me respond to your points, if I can.

As I registrar I do hold you to a much higher standard than most

If in doubt ask auDA. If you have registered the domain for another reason and can justify it you should be covered. If you have registered it for the purpose of monetisation under the "close and substantial" rule, and you're not monetising it then you would be in breach, no?

What I mean is if you had it monetised for 3 years and got tired of the diminishing returns, then switched it be inactive could you say "From 2010 - 2013 I had it monetised then shut it down"
I will go ask auDA if no one has any experience with this.

Anthony, If you have any doubts about Netfleet parking pages being compliant with monetisation eligibility policy best to bring it up with auDA.

There are no adverts on the page so it is pretty obvious that it is not compliant.

Not really "misquoting" though is it? - note the use of the words "could" and the direct link to policy, so that readers can make their own minds up.

Legalese is not a language well understood on forums, just think it is in everyone's best interest to point that out, especially for anyone new to domain investing

In terms of complying with policy we offer a solution that complies with "a)" (ie "related specifically and predominantly to subject matter denoted by the domain name") in the majority of cases and particularly for keyword rich domains. An automated solution will occasionally result in non-relevant PPC links, but the beauty of the Fabulous.com platform is that PPC results can be tweaked to comply AND produce PPC revenue.

In your experience is the PPC revenue sufficient to cover the cost of manually configuring ones domains to comply?

Is there anywhere that clients new to domain monetisation could go to get an idea on the expected returns they could reasonably expect from parking with Fabulous. I'd love to see some .au examples showing their Category, Exacts and CPC compared with the real in your pocket return at the end of the year. If you could publish a nice PDF we could link to with data like that it would be very helpful to be able to point new investors towards it as an option.

As far as "b)" is concerned, that really is a bit nit-picky. Compliance for that section is clearly out of anyone's control but the registrant.

I agree, I just like the idea of actually having an auDA compliant parking solution to suggest to new investors, as you claimed, so I though I would ask.

Anyway enough nit-picking and down to the crux of the matter. Can Netfleet explain how their current or proposed parking pages satisfy auDA monetisation eligibility policy without PPC links?

Andrew

Ha ha, I assume you are joking here but just in case here goes. The Netfleet for sale page does not contain adverts so it rather obviously does not even attempt to satisfy this. Hopefully I had not mislead anyone.

 

[neddy]

If you are relying on monetisation then this is true. Does anyone know if there is a reasonable amount of time that one has to monetise a domain for before you can reasonably do something else with the domain name, for example if you monetise a domain for a year and then let it become inactive, do you run the risk of losing the domain name? Does it ALWAYS have to be monetised to be compliant.

You have to have a "close and substantial" connection at all times. This can either be by similar name / product or service etc - or it can be via "Domain Monetisation".

I think you are misquoting policy here as you decided to drop the very crucial word "sole".

That word SOLE is so important in the context of this policy. I have written about this many times on DNT.

For your solution to be "auDA compliant" you would need to have a system in place to ensure that the following conditions are met:

a) the content on the website to which the domain name resolves must be related specifically and predominantly to subject matter denoted by the domain name; and

b) the domain name must not be, or incorporate, an entity name, personal name or brand name in existence at the time the domain name was registered*.

* Definitions:

“entity name” means the name of an Australian registered company or incorporated association as listed with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), or the name of an Australian government body. It does not include a registered business name;
“personal name” means the given name(s) and/or last name of a person; and
“brand name” means the name of an identifiable and distinctive product or service, whether commercial or non-commercial.

Could you explain to us how you ensure the above conditions are met?

Because I'm a full-time domainer, I have made it my business to find out what is permissible and what is not. I asked auDA when I was on either a working group or panel.

I'm not a developer - I park 99% of my domains. I use Fabulous predominantly and Rook Media secondly.

What one needs to bear in mind is that you will only ever have a problem if someone actually complains about a particular domain, and auDA feel the complaint may be justified. They then write to you via your Registrar, and you have time to try and address any potential issues.

But watch out if you start getting lots of complaints - because you may well get an audit of your whole portfolio to see if you're compliant with policy.

The only trouble I have ever really had with "parking pages" is for 2L / 3L domains. This is because it is extremely difficult for an automated system to show relevant ads. So if you get a complaint, you need to do something else with these (which is easy enough).

But the following is the most important section of auDA policy. A lot of people don't even know it exists - and they read the initial policy without reading this in conjunction!

In particular read 11.4 (and the last sentence therein). Bolding emphasis is mine.

-----------------------------------------

Guidelines on the Interpretation of Policy Rules for Open 2LDs (2012-05)

11. ALLOCATION CRITERIA – “DOMAIN MONETISATION” IN COM.AU AND NET.AU

11.1 In the com.au and net.au 2LDs, in addition to the categories of close and substantial connection listed in paragraph 10.5 above, it is also permissible to register a domain name for the purpose of domain monetisation under the close and substantial connection rule. Examples of domain monetisation include:

a) resolving the domain name to a website or landing page containing pay per click advertising links (also known as “parked pages”);

b) resolving the domain name to a website or landing page containing content such as general information, news articles, product reviews, blog posts and images, with the primary intent of generating revenue from third party affiliate or commission programs or pay per click advertising;

c) resolving the domain name to a website that contains directory listings;

d) redirecting the domain name to another domain name under a third party affiliate or commission program;

e) using the domain name to provide featured advertising services; and

f) using the domain name for traffic optimisation purposes.

11.2 Registrants who register domain names for the purpose of domain monetisation do not fall into any of the categories of close and substantial connection outlined in paragraph 10.5. For example, a registrant who registers “shoes.com.au” for domain monetisation purposes does not actually sell or manufacture shoes; their intention is to earn revenue from the domain name in one of the ways listed in paragraph 11.1. The policy rules allow people to register domain names for the purpose of domain monetisation under the close and substantial connection rule, but with two conditions of use to ensure that the intent and integrity of the close and substantial connection rule is maintained.

11.3 The first condition is that “the content on the website to which the domain name resolves must be related specifically and predominantly to subject matter denoted by the domain name”. This is intended to ensure that the close and substantial connection between the registrant and the domain name is visible and meaningful to users. If the content of the website does not relate to the domain name in any discernible way, then the close and substantial connection rule is not satisfied. auDA uses a “reasonableness test” to determine whether the content on the website satisfies the condition, ie. would a reasonable person regard the content as related specifically and predominantly to the domain name?

11.4 The second condition is that “the domain name must not be, or incorporate, an entity name, personal name or brand name in existence at the time the domain name was registered”. This condition is intended to ensure that domain monetisation is not used as a cover for cybersquatting or other misleading or fraudulent activity. In determining whether a registrant is in breach of this condition, auDA will take into account whether the domain name is a generic word or may have an alternative meaning which is not related to a specific entity, person or brand.

 

[AnthonyP]

Thanks for posting that Ned, I frequently get asked this question albeit it indirectly and I always forget where I had read it in order to quote it.

We often get support tickets from people who are upset that a client of ours has a domain name which they feel they are entitled to because of their business name. A small majority of them have actually read the policy and try to argue that their business name gives them some extra eligibility rights on generic words.

 

[Chris.C]

Great post Ned!

Not to segway too much, but the design of the parked pages came up so I just wanted to throw in a few of my comments:

Parking pages traditionally are just about slapping some ads on a domain and monetizing the little bit of type in traffic.

I think the the first question that needs to be considered before NetFleet "redesigns" its parking pages are "what are the real outcomes NetFleet and Domain owners want from their parking pages?".

I think it's pretty simple:

1) To sell the domain
2) To make some passive income from the advertising
3) Meet AUDA policy requiments

Now it's my opinion the biggest influence on the first two outcomes is Google given that the majority of online traffic (domain buyers and advertisement clickers) comes via Google and Google also sets the policies on the biggest PPC network - Google AdSense.

So more importantly than the "look" of the parked page, is how does Google see these pages.

To revolutionise domain parking/sales I'd be aiming to get these domains that are parked and list for sale ranking in Google.

So what is Google looking for:

Aim to:

• Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
• Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.
• Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
• Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.
• Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images. If you must use images for textual content, consider using the "ALT" attribute to include a few words of descriptive text.
• Make sure that your <title> elements and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.
• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
• Don't deceive your users.
• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
• Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.

Avoid:

• Automatically generated content
• Participating in link schemes
• Cloaking
• Sneaky redirects
• Hidden text or links
• Doorway pages
• Scraped content
• Participating in affiliate programs without adding sufficient value
• Loading pages with irrelevant keywords
• Creating pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware
• Abusing rich snippets markup
• Sending automated queries to Google

So it's actually not that hard to get a site indexed and ranking in Google with a good domain, some decent content and a couple of back links.

Please note - I'm not talking about ranking #1 for key search phrases, I'm talking about ranking in the top 10 for some long tail stuff.

However, that shouldn't be underrated because a domain owner can go from having 2 type ins a month to getting 20 visitors a month which means 18 more prospects seeing the domain for sale each month (which is the big payday).

This also has the upside of earning more PPC revenue from the domain due to more traffic visiting the site and complying with AUDA policies.

So if you really want to make awesome parking pages I would be trying to find a balance between "promoting the domain for sale" and "allowing domain owners to add unique and original content" to get the domains ranking in Google as well as complying with AUDA policies.

So maybe you make the top 400 pixels of the site dedicated to the sale of the domain, ie with a for sale sign, videos about why someone would invest in a domain and a contact form/buy button/pricing.

Then below that allow the domain owner to add their own unique and original content via a CMS that is relevant to the domain, eg news, info articles, product listings, etc.

I don't know if you would allow them to add more than one page of content (ie having multiple pages would give domainer owners more opportunity to go after certain terms as well being able to add fresh content regularly which are better indicators of quality to Google) but this is something that could be explored at a later date.

Then if the domain owner adds unique and original content to their parked pages get them to enter their AdSense publisher ID into their NetFleet accounts and to opt into displaying AdSense on their domains and maybe NetFleet takes 20% of the ad impressions to help cover costs.

Thoughts?

 

[Scott.L]

So is that a Yes to my suggestion to embed links on the pages?

 

[FleurF]

So is that a Yes to my suggestion to embed links on the pages?

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your time on the phone today - I will be in touch after I've spoken to the guys.

F

 

[neddy]

Not having a smack at Netfleet, but domainers / domain investors need to be aware that NF's current parking pages DO NOT COMPLY with auDA domain monetisation policy.

A member here got himself in a lot of strife because some of his domains simply resolved to a NF parking page with a for sale banner and no monetisation.

Check out this thread: https://www.dntrade.com.au/auda-policy-news/8665-auda-complaints.html#post62792

As Anthony P acknowledged, these pages do not currently meet the requirements of auDA. So be careful when you win or purchase domains - check your default nameserver settings.

 

[DomainNames]

Not having a smack at Netfleet, but domainers / domain investors need to be aware that NF's current parking pages DO NOT COMPLY with auDA domain monetisation policy.

A member here got himself in a lot of strife because some of his domains simply resolved to a NF parking page with a for sale banner and no monetisation.

Check out this thread: https://www.dntrade.com.au/auda-policy-news/8665-auda-complaints.html#post62792

As Anthony P acknowledged, these pages do not currently meet the requirements of auDA. So be careful when you win or purchase domains - check your default nameserver settings.

netfleet can you comment and advise when it will be fixed?

 

[findtim]

netfleet can you comment and advise when it will be fixed?

+1

I know its xmas break but this does concern me as well so some response to this question would be greatly appreciated ASAP

tim