Few do's and don'ts for newbies

[DNjet]

It might be appropriate to post some do's and don'ts for newbs here, and this relates to parking income only. This just my 2 cents. Feel free to add to it.

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don't pay to high of reg fee, there are very good registrars that offer low pricing, moniker for one is 6.95 for dnf members, you should NOT be paying a dime more., at 6.95 you are looking at trying to make more than .60 a month on average, if you average $1 a month in parking on a hand reg then your getting 66% on your money. if you pay 9.95 for the same name that gets $1 a month in parking then you cut your profit to 20%. Thats just an example to put things in perspective , of course we all like to land the goodies , but it does not happen all the time.

never reg a name just to find out if it has traffic or not, if your going to reg it then you should be confident that it will have traffic based on your analysis, use the 4 day refund system at moniker if you want to JUST find out if it has traffic., to many goofs will eat up your budget in reg fees.

do not be stuck in .com only mode , there are many opportunities in other extensions.

don't be satisfied with one parking company as if they are god and your going to put all your names there, huge mistake , test out several parking companies for 30 days with your domains until you find the one that pays the most for your particular domain, some companies will simply make you more on any particular domain.

make sure you use the tools that are available at each parking company, templates, keyword optimization, etc.....more times than not you can double your rev by hitting the correct keywords and/or template, but if you are complacent in thinking its good enough then you probably are leaving money on the table.

don't sell profit makers unless you have to for needed cash (or for an inflated ammount), many will land a decent one and collect a couple months stats and sell at 10 months rev just to make themself feel good that they made a sale and a nice profit, and you can go get that new set of wheels for your truck, reality is the buyer most likely got the better end of the deal.

try to stay away from spending to much time looking for domains that will have low paying keywords, like myspace stuff and games etc...that pay 3 or 4 cents a click, you will need a lot of traffic to make a profit., 2 clicks for .50 in a month is easier to find than 25 clicks for .04 in a month.

don't fall in love with parking domains and keep them regged for another year in hopes, unless of course its a brandable/sellable domain or you are aware of a future situation on the domain, if its a looser then let it expire.

[Bill Roy]

Just a few of thoughts.

1) Use the Alexa.com traffic search facility on a domain name you are thinking of registering (then use the Wayback.com facility to see the domains history). Alexa is not a cast-iron guarantee on traffic (the system is open to abuse) but these two checks can help provide information.

2) Check other suffixes/plurals/singles of the domain name, some may be developed and getting good traffic in which case it 'could' be an indicator you will 'pick-up' traffic from these sites.

3) Consider developing sites, you could find that the earnings far outway the cost and more people are likely to click a link from a developed page than a parked page.

4) Realise this is a business whether full-time, part-time or hobby. People are in it to make money, they will by as low as they can and sell as high as they can, you have to learn to negotiate to your advantage.

5) If you need advice then ask! Although some things are best not to post publicly it is best to PM a respected member and ask for advice, most are more than willing to give a helping hand - just don't abuse members time and good will.

6) Read, read, read! However, 'Domainers' are like a huge family and each member has their own ideas. Ignor those who are so dogmatic as to say somebody else's ideas are rubbish (putting it politely) and their own ideas are the only 'right ones'. This kind of attitude rarely means that the commentor is open-minded, and this business is cutting edge to say the least, so an open mind is required constantly for reasoned appraisal of new ideas.

Just a few thoughts, hope this helps.

[Rockefeller]

Don't post domain names for appraisals and get pissed when we tell you they suck. It's normal newbies to register horrible domain names for a month or so.