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A large number of domainers are active in the market because they want to strike it rich (OK, just about all of us). This is especially true after the coverage in Business 2.0 last month that gave a simple “how to” explanation of domain parking. Alas, it’s not as simple as buying some random domain names and setting up parking pages. You won’t be able to quit your day job doing that!

Since many readers of Domain Name Wire are part-time domainers, I thought I’d tell you about a way to make money in addition to buying, selling, and parking domain names. In fact, you don’t even need a web site to make money this way

What am I talking about?

It’s called GoogleCash. When I came across GoogleCash a couple years ago I blew it off as another one of those get-rich-quick schemes. But I quickly figured out that wasn’t the case. Here’s the basic idea: (1) Sign up for affiliate programs (2) Place ads on Google (3) Collect checks through affiliate programs. It seems simple, but if you don’t know what you are doing you’ll flounder quickly and probably lose money. That’s why I recommend buying Chris Carpenter’s GoogleCash book. This book tells you step-by-step how to play the game. It includes real examples, tips for doing it well, and advice.

I don’t recommend products that I haven’t used. I can tell you this ebook is worth much more than the cover price. You see, in addition to buying, selling, parking, and monetizing domain names I’m also an active follower of Chris’ GoogleCash program. Frankly, I make more money from it than I do with domain names. In December I grossed over $20,000 following Chris’ advice. This month is shaping up close to $20,000 as well. This isn’t just a fluke. I’ve been doing this for a couple years and have consistently pulled in thousands each month.

Want to know the funny part? Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I spend about 5 hours a month maintaining my GoogleCash campaigns. Seriously, that’s it. Sometimes a bit more - say 10 hours. But even at 10 hours that’s $2,000 per hour

As you get comfortable with the system you can start to use your domain names and web sites to expand your earnings.

Do yourself a favor and check out GoogleCash.

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The article in the January 30 print edition discusses CEO Stratton Sclavos’ vision to make the company last into the future. But its past isn’t so rosy. Verisign hit a market peak of $255 per share during the dot.com bubble and has struggled since then.

Here are two excerpts relevant to the domain name industry:

On acquiring domain registrar Network Solutions, which it later sold:
At the height of the tech bubble in 2000, VeriSign made its biggest bet and bought domain name registrar Network Solutions for $21 billion. Analysts gasped at the 48 percent premium that VeriSign paid, but the company remained confident that the deal would boost revenues.

It turned out Mr. Sclavos did pay too much. The domain registry business currently brings in only about $220 million annually; the acquisition pushed the company into the red and forced it to write off $17 billion.

On Verisign’s registry contracts:
VeriSign also faces trouble on the domain registry front. Two trade groups, the World Association of Domain Name Developers and the Coalition for ICANN Transparency, which together represent nearly 300 domain name registrars, have sued VeriSign and ICANN, alleging a recent settlement between the two over the domain name registry violates U.S. antitrust law. The legal slugfest has forced ICANN to say that the settlement is not yet final and that it is open to feedback from registrars. This action has thrown into doubt the incremental revenues of $40 million that a price hike could bring.

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DNJournal is not releasing a sales report this week because Ron Jackson is in Silicon Valley for the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference, but it has released news about a big sale: Brown.com for $300,000.

Details are limited right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the buyer is UPS, the international shipper that asks “What can Brown do for you?” If not, it might be an investor that hopes to cashout to UPS in the future. (As of right now, Brown.com resolves to a parking page).

Update 2/7/06: A DNJournal cover story about the latest TRAFFIC conference reveals that Rick Latona of DigiPawn bought the domain.

So that you don’t go through domain sales report withdrawal, here are some of the top completed sales from Afternic last week:
-TexasMBA.com $7,200 (purchased by The University of Texas)
-TheGourmetCook.com $5,000
-GoldenMobile.com $5,000
-SkyBooks.com $5,000
-Studio7.com $3,500
-Patrice.net $3,200
-iHomeopathy.com $3,000
-PurchaseOptions.com $2,500

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If you were signing up for a standardized test prep course, would you realize that TestMasters is not the same company as Test Masters? Apparently there’s a big difference between the two–more than just a space. People think they’re signing up for a course from California-based TestMasters and are actually signing up with Houston-based company Test Masters. The California company has offered courses nationwide since 2000 and the Texas company has offered courses nationwide since 2003.

Robin Singh, CEO and author of the course for TestMasters, says the Houston company is trading on her goodwill:

“It’s unnerving that I put 12 years into this company, and it has grown nationally, but people are signing up for the other course because they look at the domain name, testmasters.com,” Singh said.

It probably wasn’t a big deal that Singh didn’t own the TestMasters.com domain when her company was only in California. But it’s a big issue now that the company is national. Anyone who has heard of the course will naturally type in TestMasters.com. Anyone who sees a flyer for the course will type in TestMasters.com to learn more.

Although Singh has built her brand, she might want to launch under a different name. A name with an available URL.

People are flocking to the domain name market as a result of Business 2.0’s article in December.

I anxiously waited for the latest Business 2.0 to read the letters to the editor that would inevitably result from December’s “Masters of Their Domains” article. The first letter about the article was from a man in Rochester, NY:

“My wife and I truly enjoyed your article on people who are making millions investing in Internet domain names. I had read other articles on the subject, but yours was the most comprehensive and to the point. We started our research yesterday–we’ve decided to become domainers ourselves!”

Welcome aboard! But I’m a bit worried by your statement that you did one day of research and decided to join the market.

First, I’d like to point out that not all of the people in the article are “making millions”. Some of them have managed to spend millions, but not yet make millions. That said, people are making millions.

Here are a few points for newbies to the domain name industry:

1. Don’t buy hundreds of domains before you’ve sold one or know how much money you’ll make from them. I frequently read about people that think they can register available domains and make a mint. This is rarely the case. If you buy 1,000 domains in your first couple months, you’re probably making some bad investment decisions.

2. The first time someone sends you an e-mail offering to buy one of your domains, don’t jump for joy. Make sure you aren’t falling for a scam.

3. Be sure you aren’t buying stolen domains. Sometimes an offer to sell is to good to be true.

4. Don’t cheat. So you’ve parked some domain names and they aren’t magically getting traffic and making you rich? You may be tempted to click on ads on your own parked pages to earn some money. Don’t do it. You are almost guaranteed to get caught, and if advertisers lose their confidence in pay-per-click ads the entire industry will take a fall.

There’s a lot more to learn, but hopefully this will get you moving in the right direction. Have fun, be careful…and make some money!