Yahoo announces change in parking rev programs-- "most click charges to drop"

[Focus]

I think we are all mostly battling Yahoo on this one, it's their TQ score they give to parked, they pass it on to us, sometimes advertisers are full of sh*t imo. TQ is changing the entire ppc industry model into a cpa model ultimately...we are all becoming affiliates. This most likely will continue to evolve until you are only paid on conversions by advertisers...Yahoo does'nt realize they are cutting off their own revenue stream long term because you are trying to guarantee results from pay per click traffic..then it changes from "pay per click" to something else, pay per performance. This might seriously be the end of ppc as we know it down the road....unless someone stops it.

[DomainsInc]

I think we are all mostly battling Yahoo on this one, it's their TQ score they give to parked, they pass it on to us, sometimes advertisers are full of sh*t imo. TQ is changing the entire ppc industry model into a cpa model ultimately...we are all becoming affiliates. This most likely will continue to evolve until you are only paid on conversions by advertisers...Yahoo does'nt realize they are cutting off their own revenue stream long term because you are trying to guarantee results from pay per click traffic..then it changes from "pay per click" to something else, pay per performance. This might seriously be the end of ppc as we know it down the road....unless someone stops it.

The whole TQ thing just makes me wonder...what is stopping advertisings from saying everything is not converting (despite what it might really be doing) so they pay less?

[chrisuk]

I have my own direct feeds in the UK and I follow TQ news with interest. I deal with a lot of resellers also that are really in some pain. Its actually becoming more than apparent that Y! PPC is becoming less monetisable by the day and crucially for the bigger publisher simply a staggeringly less viable business. There's only one reason for that and its the simple fact that its financial suicide to base your business planning and revenue around a TQ numbers system that isn't transparent, is arguably flawed and you have minimal control over.

Now that wouldn't be so bad except Y! use the numbers as basis for terminations and contract renewals. As a mid sized player myself and with 10yrs in this line of work I have to say if I was starting a new company I wouldn't touch Y! PPC anymore particularly if they represent the core revenue source.

I am sure Y! can see that as a growth issue but probably don't know what else to do, they needed some system in play else would end up like Miva. Personally a lot of entrepreneurs I know who set up successful companies around Y! are now diversifying as a top priority or they sold the business a while back having smelt the coffee. While there is still money to be made its now a very risky industry and not one I'd be content growing old around. Sadly for some its turning into a take what you can while you can enterprise.

[Acro]

Chris, took you 5 years for that 1st post but I must say that you nailed it.

Yahoo is bound to fail; for a company that started it all, it's downhill since the days of triple digit stock pricing. Their TQ model is as transparent as a jello cake.

The bottom line: why does Parked use Yahoo still and when will that change?

[dmyre]

My TQ went from a consistent 10, to a 9 last week, then a 7 this week...
I have a few names that have minimal traffic, so I should probably move those to sedo, and only leave domains that receive daily clicks at Parked and see if that helps.

[David G]

My TQ went from a consistent 10, to a 9 last week, then a 7 this week...

Going from 10 to 9 to 7 isn't nearly as bad as my crazy makes no sense patten over past 2 months: 10-9-2-8-2-3 from the same domains and traffic during that time. Revenue is also a fraction of what it was at start of year.

[H2FC]

We are making less money, and so is Parked I'm assuming...I'm guessing Yahoo is making (keeping) more.

I don't like the assuming part....

How about a straight answer Donny, is Parked making more, less or the same amount now as before?

[David G]

I don't like the assuming part....

How about a straight answer Donny, is Parked making more, less or the same amount now as before?

Good question but I "assume" now that Donny runs his own forum board he may not participate or reply here as much as he did in the past.

[Donny Simonton]

Actually, I'll reply here without any problems. Understand that we make a percentage of what everybody makes, so if you make less, we make less. And sometimes it doesn't always look very good.

I've seen TQ scores go from 10 to 1 to 10 in 3 weeks.

Donny

[Acro]

Why is Parked sticking with Yahoo, when the negatives are obvious?

[Donny Simonton]

The same reason I told you last week when you asked. Still in the US Yahoo pays more than Google.

Plus they have these things called contracts that lawyers create.

Donny

[Acro]

I'd accept the contract part as the real reason; but I don't think the case with paying more for US traffic is accurate. I think Yahoo is the uber-dictator of the game and I have lost all respect for them since they snubbed Microsoft's offer. Their stock price speaks for itself while Google stock is on the up and up daily.

[Donny Simonton]

Yahoo has definitely made some dumb decisions over the years. Hiring Terry Semel was the first problem. Because a business and not letting the programmers/creaters run the business was the second problem. I still don't think they should have sold to Microsoft the first time. But I think the new deal is even worse and they should have actually not done anything. It was funny when I met Carol Bartz a few weeks ago and I had some time to talk to her and she really thinks the deal is good. And they had all of these cronies sitting there drinking the koolaid. Then when she left I asked a few of them questions and they were like we have no idea why we are giving away the farm.

It was really many weird conversations that day. They think that the Microsoft system is a better system, it is MUCH better than Yahoo's system. But they don't have many advertisers and I've been trying to use it myself and I can't get it to accept my ads.

Stock prices don't do anything for me. Especially since I bought Google at $625 and it's only at $491.

For me in most cases, I'm looking for a great deal and that includes many things. The last time our contract was up, we had a better offer from Yahoo than anybody else. Next time, you never know.

I can verify that if you put 1,000 domains with only US/CA traffic on Yahoo and Google that Yahoo would pay us more than Google would pay us. I just started finished the test again this week because of the new updates to the TQ system. But these domains mainly use short tail keywords, I need to try it again in 2 weeks with long tail keywords to make sure. All domains were Yahoo vs AFS(2 click). But I had been averaging about 16-20% higher to the Yahoo side, but with the new changes we finished at about 12% higher on Yahoo. But I will know more in about 2 weeks, once everything with the new system settles down some.

Donny

[H2FC]

Thanks for your answer Donny. I gotta say the way Yahoo is handling their biz recently sure looks mighty strange to me. They must know they are losing a lot of their domain partners/owners to the Google camp. The only way I can understand this is to suspect they have an ulterior motive....something we're all totally unaware of.

If Parked is losing the same percentage of money I am, they're in real trouble too. They are, in fact, in more trouble than me because I can do something about it by developing my domains. What can they do?

BTW...I think a fully automatic website developing system is sure to come that will put all the PPC companies out of business. I'm talking about one where anybody can turn their domain name into a website with a few simple clicks of the mouse. Thats really the thing that Parked and other like companies need to be afraid of IMHO.

[hydroboi]

it's been around for years it's called LPgen, but thats not the solution, big deal you can auto create content, with out linkbacks to it, the content is worthless, and if you haven't evolved in the Parking game you need to, there are still people doing 20mill/month with parking and they DONT own one or two or even three word domains, you can still make a killing you just have to get creative!

[H2FC]

I wish had a dollar or two for every time I've read a post like the previous one....

[Focus]

20 milly a month with parking huh? yeah, BS! lol

[Poker]

squeeeeeeeeze

[David G]

it's been around for years it's called LPgen, but thats not the solution, big deal you can auto create content, with out linkbacks to it, the content is worthless, and if you haven't evolved in the Parking game you need to, there are still people doing 20mill/month with parking and they DONT own one or two or even three word domains, you can still make a killing you just have to get creative!

Really, the 20 mil/mo part sounds far fetched.

Please tell me how I can make a killing too? Creative in what way? Please be specific.