Parking Service And Pay-Per-Click Ads

The transformation of the domain market also has spawned several sub-industries. For example, more than a dozen companies now ...

The transformation of the domain market also has spawned several sub-industries. For example, more than a dozen companies now sell "domain parking" services. Any domain owner hoping to one day sell the name can pay a parking service to create a page filled with pay-per-click ads so the owner draws revenue in the interim. Revenue is distributed among the domain owner, the parking company and the advertising broker, which could be Google, Yahoo or a smaller online ad company like Kanoodle.com Inc.

DomainSystems Inc., which helps domain owners find buyers, offers a parking service called TrafficClub.com that touts itself as a "domain profit maximization tool." A visit to a site like cd.com will show a parked page from TrafficClub loaded with sponsored links, along with a for-sale sign in the upper right-hand corner. Viewers can click on a link that says "make an offer," and submit a bid for the domain to

DomainSystems. The closely held company has managed the sales of thousands of sites this way, said Monte Cahn, its chief executive.

DomainSystems was tapped this year by the liquidating trust for Excite@Home, the failed Internet company, to help sell some of its domains to help pay creditors, Mr. Cahn said. Two of the domains, stuff.com and home.net, have attracted bids between $300,000 and $500,000 each, he said.