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Affiliates and Domains
By Joshua Sloan

There’s been a lot of buzz about the new “domain-boom”. With some domains selling for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, a new Domain Gold Rush seems to be under way. Affiliates are positioned to make money in this boom time by becoming both buyers and sellers of domain names. They are already aware of the potential and importance of domains and therefore are growing their own domain sales and personal domain portfolios very quickly.

Affiliates of companies who sell domains, such as 1&1 Internet, are using this new market excitement to generate substantial traffic and commissioned sales. They understand that the domain name is the first critical step in building a successful website.

1&1 domain owners now get a free “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” WYSIWYG web site editor and significant email storage, all for the price of a domain name. This means that even without a huge amount of HTML web design skill, anyone can now get a website up and running for 1 year for less than the cost of most fast food! This helps make domains an easy sell for 1&1 affiliates.

How Affiliates Sell more Domains

Affiliates know there are several reasons why 1&1 domains are easy to sell. It is because there are so many good reasons why people want or need domains.

1. Starting a new “branding” site: Even if not selling through the web, personal and corporate sites need names! A good domain means people will be able to find you and you can express your uniqueness to the world.
2. Starting a marketable site: Generating revenue can be done in many ways from selling your own products, or information or even using advertising to generate revenue through. Domains can also be bought for special marketing purposes, for example, to target a specific city or state, or demographic or to track the effects of specific ad campaigns. Many of our affiliates host sites on domains which provide webmaster guidance, and they use the traffic from these sites to generate domain sales for 1&1.
3. Starting an affiliate site: This can be a simple redirection of a domain to a good advertising partner (like 1&1) or the building of content driven “product specific” micro site of 3-5 pages. Content driven affiliate sites of 10+ pages are extremely popular and provide real information to consumers. Tip: just stay far away from domains related to trademarks or copyrights! They are not worth the potential legal hassle.
4. Domains as investments: With the price being so low, many people today are buying domains as investments. If you can afford to hang on to them, it can be similar to other forms of investment. Hot new technologies, products, and even locally targeted domains can be worth big money to the right owners.
5. Transferring of Registrars can save domain owners money. The cost of 1 domain at some registrars can be as much as 3 from other domain registrars. It pays to consolidate and cut your domain expenses. This is a big motivator of people who own many domains, or who are looking to consolidate them in one affordable place.

Affiliates use these selling points in combination with reviews; testimonials to gain new referrals (and commissions) while building site traffic. The following are some reasons why people need domains, understanding them will help you sell them:

Tip: Affiliates should know that many people who are attracted by domain name prices and features are often “up-sold” to web hosting packages, which frequently include free domains, thus earning a much higher commission. Audiences targeted by affiliates include first time site owners, webmasters, web designers, and specialty niche groups like non-profit, clubs, churches and hobbyist groups. All segments of social groups are now expanding online, and most will need domains.

When selling domains which you own, you can use the auction-like selling system or brokerage like Sedo.com, sell them on eBay or post them for sale on various domain name forums. Knowing how much to charge can be a difficult subject and legal or brokerage advice. However, an unused domain can either be left unused, used, or left to expire. Even affiliates have been known to horde domains and simply redirect them to an advertiser like 1&1 (using their affiliate link of course!)

Helping Your Referrals to Buy Domains

Domains are not as technical of a concept when compared to HTML, ASP, or other code related site information/skills. 1&1 offers an easy Domain Checker tool which allows your referrals to check whether a domain is available for purchase. This tool also makes suggestions of other available domains. As an affiliate you can highly recommend the following guidelines to you referrals.

Some common guidelines for choosing domains are:
1. The domain should be easy to remember (try not to use more than 1 dash)
2. The domain should be easy to spell. Shorter is usually better.
3. The domain should typically contain a keyword or keywords. This helps search engines and visitors know what your site is about.
4. Buy some typo variants. Plurals are typically a safe buy for example.

New banners have been added to our ad inventory to help you sell even more! These reflect the newest of free software valued at up to $900 which 1&1 is now offering customer who sign up for 1 year with us. This combined with our free domains (included with shared hosting), our free .info domain promotion should help you to increase your sales considerably. 1&1 is the only one in the industry to offer so many value-add-ons and is the only host with a 90 day guarantee. You should feel confident and proud when referring new customers to us.

To get more banners with your unique tracking code, simply go to your Control Panel

Did you know?

While many 1&1 affiliates will place banners on their site, a banner's sales performance can be greatly enhanced by simply placing a small amount of text near it to describe to viewers WHY you like 1&1 and are recommending us. Content is king on the web, and while some site visitors try to ignore banners, text and text links are not "overlooked" as easily.

Since the last Affiliate eNews, a few questions have come up:

Q: Can I send my Affiliate Link in emails to friends and realtions
A: Yes! You can even create an email signature with your link in it ('Spam Filter by 1&1 Internet Inc'. or 'Hosting and email provided by 1&1' with a link to http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=xxxxxxx) (replace "xxxxxxx' with your own affiliate ID)

Q: Can I use my Affiliate Link several times on the same page?
A: Yes! The more the better! By writting about 1&1's features you can use your Affiliate Link each time you write a specific product.

Q: What are other great ideas to use my Affiliate Link?
A: Here are a few:
- Create a Photo Aulbum using the 1&1 Photo Album, and place your link in next or under it.
- Make a links page with useful links, use your Affiliate Link to refer people to 1&1 for hosting or domain names.
- Create a news page and try to find domain name or webhosting related news, use your affiliate banner on that page.
- Create a blog, newsletter or an ebook with tips on how to choose a great host for example, and use your Affiliate Link to link to 1&1

Tools in this edition of 1&1 Affiliate eNews are completely FREE!

Add these goodies to your web favorites! This section will feature useful sites for site owners and 1&1 affiliates. Many have valuable free or paid newsletters.