
Couple of guys make a mint off of generic domains. - iamelgringo
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/b4040059.htm
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blacksoftware
Converting visitors to buyers with generic named URLs is hard!

Placing well known "brand name" affiliate marketing image code is simply a bad
idea.

I dropped out of the Linkshare network when I realized I was displaying their
affiliate images hundreds of thousands of times to visitors to my sites.

I took them all out and use Google ad-sense code sparingly. I think we should
be about the content we all want on our pages, not the other stuff, because
when more queries and feedback forms come in with stuff people care about
there is a ton of good will generated and lots of future potential customers.

I think building a site to expect revenue from affiliate code Ad turns is like
playing the lottery: the house always wins.

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wallflower
Another one for the I-wish-I-had-business-foresight. Who knew generic domains
would be immensely valuable properties back in 1993/1994ish? They did. Back
then, I wanted to register command.com - clueless still I am (DIS research
owned command.com since 1990ish).

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ilamont
All of the other people who own generic or semi-generic doorway pages should
pay attention to what these guys are doing. There's probably a business in
creating the ad and content relationships that can then be matched up with the
appropriate domains ...

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powerflex
This will likely continue to be a solid strategy. As new technologies and
innovations come to light new generic groups are created. Maybe one technique
would be to keep track of emerging internet meme's and jump on related domains
ASAP?

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mikesabat
Building a brand online doesn't have that much to do with the URL anymore.
There are really too many company examples to name.

The fact is that everyone knows how to use google. Even serious tech laggards
understand that you search in google and then click a link. The days of people
searching in the address bar are very over.

It sounds like these guys have done a great job building an Internet property,
but the value is in their content partnerships, SEO, distribution etc.

Maybe the URL gave them motivation to start the company, but they would be
doing just as well with choco-latefan.com

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gruseom
Interesting in the light of the Auctomatic story last week.

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utnick
Seems like they built a useful and profitable retail and info site, could have
done this without paying 300k for chocolate.com probably

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rob
But a generic domain such as 'chocolate.com' probably receives tons of
targeted, type-in traffic every day that can result in $$$ if they know how to
convert their visitors.

