Posted on Monday, 8th December 2008 by Kevin
From Matt Cutt’s Other Blog http://www.isitmeoriseveryoneelsestupid.com
This week I was invited to attend a quorum where the subject of domaining and “domain traffic” was the topic for discussion. I wont bore you with the name of the company that held this get together but, sufficed to say, they are a big enough deal for me to bother getting off my arse and actually attending (ahem, i mean “contributing” and not just being there for the buffet).
Actually, my main interest was why this particular organisation would choose to hold such a meeting in the first place, why so many employees of said organisation were at this “quorum” [didnt understand its meaning until i wikipedia'd it] and what their take was on the subject. Perhaps, you might say, I was looking for a “windows” of opportunity… Errm, i mean “window” 
What transpired was a very informative 6hr long meeting which not only felt like about 20 mins but also gave me some fascinating information on the state of the industry, how this silent, yet big player has been watching all along and where they perceive the source to be for all our lovely traffic. In fact, I wasnt so much contributing, more digesting (if you can excuse my hors d’ourves based double entendre). I think i spoke twice actually.
Anyhow, I took a few notes: (not my data)
165,000,000 registered TLD’s (100,000,000 GTLDs, 65,000,000 ccTLDs)
75% of all domains are renewed
110,000,000 domains are developed (67%)
37,000,000 domains are parked (22%)
18,000,000 domains have no DNS settings (11%)
$2.8bn is the annualised total domain parking revenue.
10% of all parked domains earn 90% of the total revenue
75% of parked domains receive no type in traffic
72% of the total parking revenue comes from domains which are a typo of another site
21% of domain traffic is fraudulent (down from 38% 2 yrs ago)
Domain traffic converts at 28% to that of search traffic
From this I made the following observations:
Why on earth does the industry exist…..???
Oh, i get it $2.8bn..
And, are there anymore prawn volauvents left..???
When i enquired about the entry point or potential entry point for this company I was courteously informed that “if” entry was going to happen, then its 12months away. Sooner perhaps if a certain acquisition comes its way.
Tags: Domain Names, domain parking, Is it me or is everyone else stupid?, matt cuts, search marketing
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