LDS has now become a staple of my domain research process. I haven't bought any domains through it yet, as I mostly just use it for research/to see what's out there, but I really like the results I get back and the overall feel. It just seems to give me the best idea on domains available for the concept I'm looking at, while requiring minimal creativity/shuffling on my part.
One thing though: if you're checking the available results, the vast majority should be, you know, available, so why is it still tough to find domains that are not being squatted on?
Nice to see that the growth (beyond the initial rush from HN) is remaining consistent and not tailing off. I've not bought any domains found with this tool but have been impressed with some of the tests I've done so far.
Thanks Peter. It's interesting to note that following the launch post and following the midway post there's a distinct slope to the the growth. Down the road, once there's a few more press milestones, there might be enough data to analyze how "sticky" the traffic is, that is, how much the long term growth improves as a result of the coverage.
The affiliate revenue is high variance so it would be misleading to give a number without detailed analysis, which I don't feel comfortable doing at this point.
What if I told you that 90% of the people who use the site use GoDaddy as their registrar and the percentage of affiliate revenue that I get is in the same range? Would you still recommend that I take it off?
Keep what pays the bills. No matter what your personal grievances are an entrepreneur (especially one thats bootstrapping) can't afford to turn away what the market wants =/
Nice job, Matt.