Building the Next Generation of Kayaking.org

Kayaking.org is a domain that I first developed about a year ago, then created a second version, but still never gave it the time and energy it deserved. Hey – it’s business and you have to prioritize and over the last two years the focus has been developing as many of my properties and possible and optimizing my top-performers.

While I’ve loved this domain since the day I bought it – it’s been a tough one to monetize. When I bought this domain I didn’t know much of what I do now about affiliate marketing and lead generation. Yes – this is a category-defining .org, but it’s a category that has limited monetization potential.

So I knew that in creating Kayaking.org v3 I had to really take the site to the next-level and make it as simple as possible for people to buy products they are looking for. Initially I will be selling through Amazon Associates but I plan to establish a few direct relationships this year to move a step-up the revenue chain.

Of course – when building a site like this for myself I always think of ways I can offer the same solution to clients. The idea behind the site was to become an authority on Kayaking information online. The new site has twenty different articles each-one search engine optimized and focused on one of the top twenty keywords related to Kayaking.

I have also decided to take a page out of the Castello Brother’s book who have been an incredible inspiration to me! They have done a great job turning their domains into brand and I’m hoping to do the same thing with Kayaking.org. At DOMAINfest this year I had the opportunity to sit-in on a talk Michael Castello was giving about their properties. The talk was great and I have done my best to learn from what they have done and incorporate some of the features I like into my next-generation of sites!

Of course I know you are probably ready to see what the new site looks like…and as you know I always share my development projects early with my blog readers. That being said – please remember I’m not finished yet so take these as a very early preview of what the site will look like.

The header is still being tweaked a bit but the idea is to make Kayaking.org a brand. When people come to the site we hope to not only look like the authority but be the authority and by having answers and information about everything related to kayaking makes us a destination rather than a portal.

Directly below the header is space for direct advertisements from related companies along with the vertical banner space on the side. A Google search box allows people to search the web directly from my site while I make revenue through Adsense for anything they click on.

The site has not launched yet and probably won’t go live until later next week. I like this domain because it’s been a challenge and I’m one darn persistent person so I look forward to unlocking the revenue potential and sharing the adventure with all of you!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton