Hi,

Just a thought and interested for your feedback.

We all dream of leasing our names to tenants but the main reason we don't is the fact the tenant has no control and if they build it to #1 then you (domain owner) may take the name back from them.

However, what if you were to get your name to #1, then lease it out?

Makes sense to me but it's very difficult to convey the value a #1 site has to potential customers as you would be very well aware. Then again, I don't have a broad range of niche/industries to tell if I should expect the same from other businesses.

I'm going to do this with the dresses website, time will tell.

IMO - I would think that a name @ #1 should be an easy sell??? Any business owner should know the 'real life cost' of every lead they generate in the off-line world, so if you build a site that generates leads then a value could be easily shown.

Show decent analytics and display that basic SEO goals have been achieved and are sustainable, add their reputable brand and custom unique content and products and it should be reasonable to assume any business owner would want to dominate the industry.

In my experience, the average business owner is becoming increasingly aware and educated on the importance of harnessing the interwebs - while some will never get it, there are plenty of end-users that would jump at an instant lead generating vehicle.

It's all about transparency and educating end-users, I would always pay an inflated price rather than lease anything, but in saying that I live by the adage; If I can't afford to pay cash, I can't afford it.

As many of you know, I buy and develop names purely for lead generation.

In essence selling leads is a type of "lease" arrangement, however this concept would be allowing the business who leases your site complete control over it.

You would also need to maintain the #1 position for them.

I would definitely stay away from the "maintaining the #1 position for them" part. Especially if you have no control for anything on the site. How can you guarantee a top position in Google?

Soj, you'd have to guarantee the #1 position for them or they would not continue to lease the site as the value would disappear. Perhaps you would need to work with the client to advise them of a "best practice" so you had more of a chance to maintain #1.

Like I said, sell the entire lot - "It's all about transparency and educating end-users", there's no need to maintain the #1 spot for them, I have 5 'SEO Experts' within walking distance of my apartment, all with SEO/SEM plans ranging from $100 - $2500 per month.

Educate the end-user to appreciate that this is a business model in itself and that they'll need to maintain the sites authority.

You're right, personally though I would maintain it for them and charge them a fee to do so.

Perhaps charge a base rate + seo/ranking rate? sort of like a tiered rate.

eg $100/month +

$ 100 if site is ranked 1st
$ 50 if site is ranked 2nd
etc

I would think a change of content is likely to effect rankings a lot of the time?

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