Who Are You Supporting?

If you surround yourself with people, then THEIR values and beliefs will have an effect on you.

Think about that for a moment – if you were in a room with successful like minded entrepreneurs, then you WILL feel some very positive energy, wont you?

What you may not know, is that OTHER people will judge YOU on the people you:

1. Promote (to your email list, at events, or via Facebook / Twitter)
2. Support (via ads on your blog or people you provide services to)
3. Associate with (conferences and interviews)

Why should YOU care? It’s simple….

When other people see who you promote, they may think twice about getting involved with YOU.

If you are seen to promote unethical people and products, then YOU are tarred with the same brush. Guilty by association. In addition, next time YOU have something to say or a product to promote, people will question it. They will also question YOUR decision making capability.

Scenario – How It Affects You

You get an email from someone you saw at conference a few times, asking you to promote his new product. You think it might make you some extra $$ per month, so you promote it to your list. But afterwards you find out that the person is dodgy and their product was a straight copy/paste from somewhere else. People complain, YOU are associated with it, and the industry is now talking about YOU.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. What is EVEN WORSE is if YOU continue to promote it !! Why? Because people form an opinion that YOU don’t know what you are talking about. They know this person or product is dodgy, but from THEIR perspective, YOU lack the insight to see it.

In 2010, if you have promoted a person or a product (which has turned out to be dodgy), then LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES. Don’t promote them again! Stop yourself – seriously, learn how to SAY NO. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but people will respect you a LOT more if you can admit (even if it’s to yourself) that you made a mistake. All you need to do to fix this, is change your approach.

We are coming up on a new year. In 2011 I’d like to see the industry clean itself up. That starts at the grass roots level, with people like YOU.

Next time someone asks you to promote their product, STOP and think about it. Don’t just look at “all the other people on the bandwagon”. Ask yourself:

1. What will be the impact to MY reputation if this doesn’t work out?

2. How will people view my organisation if I’m seen to promote this?

3. Will I miss out on other (more valuable) opportunities if I promote this?

4. Who are the competitors to this product or person? Will they support me and my business if I’m seen to promote, FB Like or endorse this product/person?

These questions should help you determine the consequences of your actions. In the corporate world this is called reputational risk. It’s something that is closely guarded and protected above all else.

What I’m asking, is that you THINK about this – starting today. I wish you the best for 2011.

Michael Gilmour Talks Risk – Traffic DownUnder 2008

Michael had a fantastic speech and covered off a variety of metrics and calculations. Keep your eye out on Whizzbangsblog for the presentation. In the meantime here are some key points:

Risks vs Business Models

• Risks depend upon the business model being adopted.

• Each business model has its own risk profile that will or will not suit the domain owner. For example: stock items, high value sales, traffic and development.

Risks To The Domain Name Industry

• Advertising aggregators (Google / Yahoo)
• Traffic Aggregators (Parking)
• Domain Sales Models
• Regulatory and Legal

Regulatory and Legal Risk

• Every domainer needs to evaluate their portfolio from a legal risk perspective.
• Asset protection is crucial to long-term success.
• ICANN & Registries will change the rules.
• Get rid of those domains that are unprofitable and with legal risk

Revenue Share

• Google is paying less for traffic
• Based on calculations looking at the mean (curve) the average cost of traffic is 27.9% (what Google pays network partners) and the domain Industry gets 17.6%

Rules For Dealing With Advertisers

• Quality: Google and Yahoo will smart price your whole portfolio up and down.
• Watch out for fraudulent behavior.
• Do not put high paying non-performing keywords on high volume low CTR traffic.
• Match advertisers to traffic.
• Its no longer good enough to set a keyword and never touch the domain again.
• Think about how our behavior effects the advertiser.

Measuring Performance

Parking companies use different metrics. For example, how is an IP address measured?

• 18 Hours – Parking Company 1
• 24 Hours  – Parking Company 2