I welcome everyone present at the first part of our conference. Today I want to talk about the real cost of cheap domain names, but first I will say a few words about the company PartnerGate.
We are based in Munich and have been domain name registrars for over 16 years. We currently manage over 800 thousand domains for our clients. We have about 20 employees.
So, domain prices. No matter where you turn on the Internet, you will always find a site with the cheapest prices for domain names. When we talk to clients, the main question for them is the best price offered.
But what does the best price for a domain mean? I will tell you what forms the cost, and what factors make up the price.
The first pricing factor is domain support. Buyers of a domain need registration, they want it to go online smoothly, so we have to provide them with support. This is a serious issue for you to worry about, and it is an aspect that can easily turn into quite an expensive service.
Next comes domain management. You need to run a domain management system, run your own user interface for clients, or program an interface purchased from others to work.
Think about the processes involved in domain management. Surely your company has many parts that need to be connected to the domain: accounts, accounts and many more elements that must work on the Internet.
Next comes the administration, which works with your company’s clients and must ensure that everything works as it should and that using the domain is convenient. The last, but no less important aspect than buying a domain is its sale, that is, the client providing the rights to use domain names. You have to worry about presenting your domain to customers in the best possible way and encouraging them to register for that domain name. You can even make more money by selling additional domain names.
As you can see, there are many aspects to consider when determining the overall cost of a domain. Let's take a closer look at them.
Let's start with customer support. Who is actually doing the work related to domain names, who is the person who encourages other people to participate in the process? This is your receptionist who represents the technical support staff. These personnel must have sufficient training and experience to provide partners with unlimited or limited support, possibly on a fee basis.
At the same time, support must respond quickly to customer requests; it is not normal for customers to wait hours or days for an answer to a question. If you get support quickly enough, then you have what you need.
I’ll give you a real example that will help you better understand what I’m talking about. Imagine that one of your clients wants to register a domain under the name .no. How many of you know what this domain name is associated with? You? You're probably a registrar too! So, you must be aware of the difficulties involved in the process of registering such a domain.
First, you need to find all the information that pertains to it. You turn to the Internet, perhaps to Google, look for it on sites. Is it available in your language or only in Norwegian? Will this information be able to explain the meaning of these letters and decipher it? Perhaps you need special forms and requirements in order to register such a domain? Searches for information related to this issue will take at least 1 hour of your working time.
Depending on who in your organization deals with this issue, the price of the service is determined. If this is a matter of support staff or customer assistance, then the cost of an hour of work will be 35 Euros. If the company owner or manager does this, the price increases to 300 Euros.
The price is formed in the same way if you turn to the help of a third-party expert. You send a request to an authorized person from the technical support team, then receive personalized and complete information on your issue. Regarding the above domain name, there is information that it is a ccTLD, that is, a national top-level domain extension assigned to a specific country, in this case Norway. The .no name can only be registered to companies that are listed on the Norwegian Companies List, and one registrar cannot register more than 100 domain names at that address. But if you are an individual or if you do not have a subsidiary in Norway, you can register such domain names without any restrictions.
Receiving such information will take you less than 5 minutes, and the cost of the request will be from 3 to 25 Euros.
Now think about it, how often do you do this? Twice a month, three times, once a month? Saving money depends on this - whether you do this work yourself or entrust it to partners. Our company PartnerGate is a team of domain name experts, people with deep knowledge in this field, so you get a competent and comprehensive answer from us, quickly and efficiently.
We have 16 years of experience in the domain name industry and are accredited by several ccTLD accreditation centers, several industry organizations, and offer over 300 TLD top-level domains, detailed in our TLD-wiki. This contains the most detailed information, everything you need to know to register a domain name in one of these domains.
Let's say you're in the business of selling domains. However, are you using your full potential, are your efforts sufficient to achieve your goal?
The first question: is your web interface convenient enough for the user, is it easy or difficult for him to work with your company on the Internet? Do you work with domain name resellers and do you have an interface for them?
Do you have an online service that not only tells the customer whether their chosen domain name is free or taken, but also offers them alternative names to choose from? And when the client sees that the chosen name is taken, he says: “oh, this alternative suits me perfectly”!
We offer clients comprehensive domain purchasing solutions with an intuitive web interface and domain name management system.
We make sure that working with our service is easy and does not require special technical knowledge of the user, so that people who do not have deep domain knowledge can work easily.
We have a developed system for resellers that can be customized according to your needs, for example, it is possible to place your logo. Using this system, it is easy for the intermediary to satisfy the requirements of buyers, for example, if you have a large company, our service provides access to its portfolio.
We will soon be releasing an affiliate program that provides marketing campaign services, presentation services and sales tools to help you resell domain names purchased from us to potential clients.
Let's say you don't want to use our web interface, you have your own that perfectly suits your needs, and you want to integrate our service into your own application. Can the registrar's SOAP/XML API resources support your needs?
Fortunately, this interface gives you the ability to implement all the functions you need.
Do you receive professional assistance with API implementation? Yes, we have developed a design that facilitates such implementation.
Our next service is a comprehensive multifunctional API solution, including SOAP/XML and mail service, which are designed to easily integrate a domain name management system into the client's user interface.
We have detailed documentation that can be downloaded from our website. It contains all the necessary information, even examples of how to implement program code, and you can program the interface you need or make the necessary changes to ready-made script solutions.
We also provide direct access to the developers of these APIs, so you can implement any of their developments into your system.
No less important is the operation, or use of the system. What do I mean by exploitation? For example, you are a registrar yourself and you are accredited, or you are planning to become a registrar because you have enough domain names to sell. The first thing you need to do is determine how long it will take to create your own registration system.
Next, you need to know how many people in your organization need to monitor domain name registry changes and updates that occur for a variety of reasons. What I mean is that someone needs to monitor this process and make changes to your database.
In this case, you can use two models for operating your system.
The first is when you operate your system yourself. You're buying your domain directly from the registrar, so you can expect the best possible price. You establish a direct relationship with the registrar, you can attend their conferences, participate in discussions about general registration issues, and you can enter into a direct commercial relationship with them.
If you do not yet have your own system and need to create one, you will need some financial investment in the engineering activities to implement it. You will need system operators and sales staff, as well as people who monitor changes to the domain name registry. In total, you have three aspects that require financial investments.
The second model is to use outsourcing.
At the same time, the first two components of the price remain the same as the first model, that is, these are the costs of purchasing the system and payment for the partnership service with the registrar. And the third component, that is, the costs of implementing and managing the system do not concern you, since you turn to third-party specialists in this regard.
You also save on labor costs for staff monitoring changes in the register.
Of course, you pay for the services associated with using the system, but in most cases they are much less than if you operated the system yourself.
PartnerGate offers clients the following ready-made solutions: full integration of the technical operation of your registrar account into our Domain Management System. This means that it is possible to combine all operational functions in one system, including your own accreditation, i.e. other TLDs.
You do not lose your Registrar status and continue to enjoy all of your benefits and do not lose any rights. It is important that you maintain a commercial relationship with the master registrar and integrate into their invoicing business process.
We act as the technical operator of your registrar accreditation.
How can you always count on the best price? You believe that purchasing the cheapest products and services will save you money. Therefore, you always look for the lowest prices in stores, the cheapest banking services, and so on. Think about it: if you have many different processes, you need specialists for each of them, so there are many specialized contractors. To manage their activities, you need to have trained and experienced staff. Compare this to having one person manage your entire business.
Cooperation is the best way to solve your problems. It minimizes the number of internal workflows. This leads to savings on staff costs and saves your working time. Your organization is freed from the daily standard routine.
Additional integrated services, which means purchasing multiple services from one place, reduces the complexity of the internal structure and reduces the cost of your business.
We offer comprehensive solutions that combine various services into one common user interface. You can choose from our 300 domains, we also provide SSL security certificate validation, advanced certificate validation, anti-spam and anti-virus protection. Our additional services are aimed at optimizing your business.
We are the first premium partner of the largest domain marketplace SEDO, so we can provide you with a platform to buy already registered domains at fixed prices, meaning you don't have to bid. Additionally, you can also sell your domains through this platform. This platform can be integrated into your system. We also have a Domain Name Vault that provides the ability to secure highly sensitive and high-volume domains with 22 authentication process options.
We also provide trusted local services that allow you to register your domain in the country where you need your presence. We adapt to your needs and always make time to get together and discuss the issues that concern you. We can also help promote your business.
There are many things we can do. Don't look for cheap prices - look for the total cost of ownership of the functionality you need. You should look for the best prices for a package of work that will provide you with the most efficient business management.
Try to exclude the possibility of high costs of supporting seemingly cheap solutions; this cost may be deeply hidden. You may suddenly find out that your cheap purchase is worth much more because it needs additional support that you didn't even realize.
If you have accreditation, you can use our outsourcing and it will cost you much less than if you do it yourself. You can consolidate your contractors and control your work processes much better and more cost-effectively.
The last thing I want to do is invite you to visit our display booth, which depicts a man pouring playing cards into a cylinder with a rabbit standing next to him. It symbolizes the magic that you can see at our stand. This is a real person, David La Vie, and he will show you magic tricks. You will see how easy it is not to notice what is in plain sight and to see what is not really there.
And now I'm ready to answer your questions.
Question:
— What makes your company different from others providing similar services?
Christophe:
— We are focused on a multifunctional approach to solving customer problems. Perhaps other companies are doing the same thing, but look - now everyone is looking for the cheapest prices, without thinking about how much additional services will cost them. Anyone who can offer you comprehensive services like ours could very well be your partner.
Question:
— There are many companies on the market, and it’s easy to get confused in their offers. What should you pay attention to when choosing a domain seller?
Christophe:
- You must consider all aspects of their activities, their reputation, size, portfolio and choose the most optimal option specifically for you, because there are no universal recommendations for selection.
Question:
— Can you share an idea or opinion on how much money a client could save if they choose you as their TSL-monitoring web host?
Christophe:
— If we take as an example several real cases of cooperation with our clients, then depending on the frequency of such needs, you can save from several hundred to several thousand Euros per year. I wanted to show you not how much you can save, but how easy it is to lose money on things you don't know about and don't see.
Question:
— Can you tell us more about managing the client’s accreditation as a registrar?
Christophe:
— You want to ask why it is beneficial for the client to transfer his powers to us in this matter, because he knows better about his main business than we do. There are indeed many web hosting companies with good prices that also provide domain names to customers, and you wonder why you don't go to them directly. Or maybe you want to become a registrar yourself so you can sell domains first-hand to your clients because it improves your reputation. In this case, we say that we see the importance of direct contact with such companies for your business, but give us the opportunity to help you save your money and time, because we have access to an already existing system of relationships and you will not need to implement it. There are no contradictions here between the interests of our client and our activities in relation to him.
Question:
— As an expert and professional in the field of domain management, can you say that domain name prices will fall in the near future?
Christophe:
“You know, this is what some people hope for when they wake up every morning, but it doesn’t happen.” We see that some prices are decreasing, some prices are directly affected by the registrars themselves, but the general trend of decreasing margins is constantly observed. That is, the difference between the cost of buying and selling a domain regularly decreases. However, there is a certain limit below which you simply cannot lower the price. I think that the market will be looking for more and more profitable offers, which relate not only to the price of the domain, but also to the overall costs of operations associated with it. And in this sense, comprehensive services such as those from PartnerGate are of great importance.
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Source: habr.com