15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Travel Affiliate Sales Product? - Ideas? Help :)

by adizam
12 replies
One of my domain names (flyaway.com) gets an obscene amount of natural traffic.. right now I just have it cash parked.. it sees a few hundred hits a day on a bad day. In the 26 days I've had it cash parked it has generated ~150.00 USD in clicks off DomainSponsor.com... but.. I feel I can improve this.

I'm planning to sell the domain in the near future.. but until then I'd like to monetize and optimize it as best as possible.

One option would be to actually do some SEO on it.. throw some backlinks at it and increase the hits it sees (more than just the natural keyed in traffic).

But I still don't think that is the best idea on its own..

What about pairing the above idea and selling some kind of affiliate product? A travel product? Vacation package? Something that yields a higher dollar amount and is an actual sale, not just a paid click. Looking for a discussion here.

I've researched a few but haven't found any that are appealing. I'd love your guys advice. I am in the marketing automation/R&D software development side of IM. I rarely deal with actual affiliate type scenarios. I generally take someones idea, or my own idea, experiment, test, and resell the scripts/software/etc. Not quite a newbie, but nowhere near the level of expertise this forum brings to the table.

Open to suggestions. Ty <3
#affiliate #ideas #product #sales #travel
  • Profile picture of the author adizam
    I asked my rather large social network (facebook).. got a few responses for selling affiliate things like..

    "luggage.. luggage tags? clothing for travel... bikini?
    travel insurance
    those pj pants that look like jeans for the plane lol
    sim cards from around the world, unlocked cell phones that are cheap"

    Not sure on the suggestions.. or if those are the best use of the site
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401617].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
      Originally Posted by adizam View Post

      I asked my rather large social network (facebook).. got a few responses for selling affiliate things like..

      "luggage.. luggage tags? clothing for travel... bikini?
      travel insurance
      those pj pants that look like jeans for the plane lol
      sim cards from around the world, unlocked cell phones that are cheap"

      Not sure on the suggestions.. or if those are the best use of the site

      It would be helpful if you knew what links were presently getting all the clicks. Then you could find something similar as a direct affiliate.

      So, how about testing?

      I don't know what the payout is on the clicks you're getting. But some of the items in tht list above won't have much commission.

      You could sign-up as an Amazon affiliate and start testing travel related items. Search at Amazon for popular or hot selling products. Maybe try lower end products, first, because after a certain amount of sales or activity you can get a higher commission. Something like that. Then switch out to higher payout products.

      Also, check out what hot sellers are at eBay that are related to travel. Then see if you can find them at Amazon and test those.

      If you do that, be sure you're tracking your link clicks to see what's generating the most activity. Track clicks.

      Continue testing with links/offers and if possible see about changing the link placement. Also, maybe try some banners, smaller ones that are not annoying.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401695].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author adizam
        Great ideas. Thank you . As far as tracking.. currently domainsponsor's default cash parking doesn't allow tracking of individual clicks.. just overall click counts.

        I'm putting together a basic landing page on top of a framework I built to swap out.. I just didn't want to launch and remove the existing income stream until I had a plan in place.

        I LOVE data.. so rest assured every action a user takes on the site will be tracked. I was mainly looking for ideas on actual products to sell.

        Cheers mate!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401711].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author crissie
        You could get some video reviews made of travelers talking about their travels to such n such a destination. Link that to your site where you offer travel plans via Yahoo, expedia, etc. Good commissions there.
        Signature
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401713].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author chazkey
        Originally Posted by KenThompson View Post

        It would be helpful if you knew what links were presently getting all the clicks. Then you could find something similar as a direct affiliate.

        So, how about testing?
        Ken is totally right here.

        If I were you...
        1. I would create a landing page or travel blog, a good wordpress would do the trick. I prefer the blog route.

        2. Next add the site to Google Webmaster Tools. This way you can start tracking 404 pages and fixing them. You could be missing out on a lot traffic. When you find the 404 page, and then do a 301 redirect to a relevant page.

        3. Add Google Analytics to the site. Start tracking where the traffic is coming from. Hence who is sending you the traffic and why are they coming to your site. Is it from the search engines or from some sites that have linked to you? This happens all the time. One of my clients sites got linked to from a couple of heavy traffic sites and started getting about 300+ clicks a day. You gotta love free traffic...

        Once you know where the traffic is coming from, build a site related to the traffic. I buy domains with traffic and PR all the time.

        I sent you a PM, check your messages.

        Chaz Key
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401920].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author adizam
          Originally Posted by chazkey View Post

          Ken is totally right here.

          If I were you...
          1. I would create a landing page or travel blog, a good wordpress would do the trick. I prefer the blog route.

          2. Next add the site to Google Webmaster Tools. This way you can start tracking 404 pages and fixing them. You could be missing out on a lot traffic. When you find the 404 page, and then do a 301 redirect to a relevant page.

          3. Add Google Analytics to the site. Start tracking where the traffic is coming from. Hence who is sending you the traffic and why are they coming to your site. Is it from the search engines or from some sites that have linked to you? This happens all the time. One of my clients sites got linked to from a couple of heavy traffic sites and started getting about 300+ clicks a day. You gotta love free traffic...

          Once you know where the traffic is coming from, build a site related to the traffic. I buy domains with traffic and PR all the time.

          I sent you a PM, check your messages.

          Chaz Key

          On the same page

          Just need to finish putting together my initial launch. What I meant about not being able to track prior to now was I used domainsponsor's own cash parking software. Very limited but easy to just direct and forget.

          I'll let you know.

          Thanks for the advice !
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401952].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author adizam
            Based off this theme (City Guide | WooThemes) I'm putting together a few fairly generic articles that will change based on incoming keyword & incoming physical location.. defaulting to LA if nothing presents itself (transpo, google map gps, e t c)

            This should work for now to gauge interest... lets see what most people are interested in!
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7402022].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author adizam
    So the model you're proposing crissie would be a basic landing page model.. with some information to keep it ranking.. some kind of article.. but mostly just to deliver them to an affiliate travel page (travelocity, priceline, yahoo, orbitz, whatever).

    The idea here is to monetize it as much as can be for now.. but to sell the domain as soon as possible.

    I like your idea tho.. I've been marketing the domain sale to a few "flyaway tours" places like Air Malta.. maybe I can make it look & feel like a flyaway tour provider.. except links them to a branded affiliate site after being sold by the article/video/etc.

    Food for thought. Cheers
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401778].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author adizam
      The funny thing is.. Obviously more traffic is better.. but right now.. owned domain since 96.. never marketed it.. so all the traffic is keyed in. Could probably fairly easily bring it up the ranks.. the only reason I haven't is I wanted to leave it as a "blank slate" for whoever purchases it to brand on top of.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401784].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
        Originally Posted by adizam View Post

        The funny thing is.. Obviously more traffic is better.. but right now.. owned domain since 96.. never marketed it.. so all the traffic is keyed in. Could probably fairly easily bring it up the ranks.. the only reason I haven't is I wanted to leave it as a "blank slate" for whoever purchases it to brand on top of.
        Wow. Since 96.

        Put 20-30 well optimized pages into it, monetize, and see about ranking it.

        Keep it or sell for a good windfall.

        Do the same if you have any other near-20 yr old domains.

        Let me know if you need content for it.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401806].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author adizam
          Originally Posted by KenThompson View Post

          Wow. Since 96.

          Put 20-30 well optimized pages into it, monetize, and see about ranking it.

          Keep it or sell for a good windfall.

          Do the same if you have any other near-20 yr old domains.

          Let me know if you need content for it.
          Yup! 96! You can see when I updated to Moniker's cash parking in November.

          Domain Name: FLYAWAY.COM
          Registrar: MONIKER ONLINE SERVICES, INC.
          Whois Server: whois.moniker.com
          Referral URL: http://www.moniker.com
          Name Server: NS1.DSREDIRECTION.COM
          Name Server: NS2.DSREDIRECTION.COM
          Status: clientDeleteProhibited
          Status: clientTransferProhibited
          Status: clientUpdateProhibited
          Updated Date: 05-nov-2012
          Creation Date: 28-nov-1996
          Expiration Date: 27-nov-2016

          I intend to sell it as soon as possible. I'm ready for that windfall . Plus a few personally funded software projects that I don't have time to develop myself could use a cash infusion right about now.

          Thank you all for your tips. Keep them coming! I'll update as things progress . Cheers.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401843].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author brentb
      Honestly, since its not really your 'thing' I would try parking it elsewhere to see how much money that makes. See which parking does the best. Then either ride it out or sell it. Then spend your time focusing on your core business. :2cents:
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7401845].message }}

Trending Topics