CPN CEO calls on African TLDs to create demand

ITRealms

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Computer Registration Professional of Nigeria (CPN) Mr. Sekiru Shehu has called on the African Top Level Domain (AfTLDs) to create more demands, reports ITRealms.

Speaking to ITRealms in his keynote to the 2014 Africa Domain Name System (AfDNS) forum holding at the Nicon Luxury Abuja on “Monetizing the Africa Domain Name Space” Mr. Shehu noted that there are two sides to a business, namely the supply and demand sides respectively.

According to him, the problem is not supply so “we have not done well in creating demand – And so, we have to wake up.”

Members of the African TLDs community need to develop capacities for business development, take seriously the issues of quality of service (QoS), quality of experience (QoE) and put in place friendly operational policies and procedures.

He pointed out that as many Africans go online, African businesses and governments are turning to the internet and in particular the domain name industry to help them elevate their work to the next level, to help them grow and increase impact.

“The domain name industry is increasingly becoming a major contributor to our countries, Gross Domestic Products (GDPs). This has brought about the need to look at ways of taking advantage of the new opportunities through investment and monetization,” he asserted.

In addition, Shehu said there are many different categories of domain investment and monetization, with some being easier than others.

“Some methods have a higher return than others. They all have their pros and cons, and they all take time and hard work to utilize effectively. This will form the basis of our discussion in the next three days,” the CPN boss said.

Monetisation within the domain name space include developing affiliate websites – Think of a good domain name, register it, and then build a website filled with various advertisements for other sites that bear a similarity to your domain name, making money off anyone who clicks on the ads and purchases the advertised products.

As said by him, by developing Pay Per Click (PPC) websites people make money one, which means these are very much like affiliate sites, except the revenue generated comes from PPC advertising systems like Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network.

Additionally, domain parking – There are several services, like sedo.com, where you can “park” your domain. The domain will have a variety of keyword targeted ads, similar to the ppc and affiliate sites mentioned above. You make money off the ads that your parking company puts up. Additionally, you can also list your site for sale at the same time.

For him, domain leasing, which entails renting the domain name out to advertisers or other interested parties, could be a source of monetisation, just as domain purchase and resale – register use domain or buy an existing domain with hopes of reselling it to other domainers.

“Domain Development – Register a domain name and develop a website for it, with unique content and some sort of business model,” he said.

Remmy Nweke

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Pix Mr. Shehu, CPN, CEO