Making the Cash

[furca]

Hello folks,

I bought my first domain in late 03', and sold it for $90 a week later. This brought me into the domaining world.

Since then i've been collecting names, and selling, and collecting.. and selling. Somewhere around a year ago I began developing names, I created a large forum with 140,000 posts and 2,200 members - with 30-40 members active @ any time of the day.

I also have another site that was getting ~$8/day... that is now receiving less traffic and making $0.50 a day.

I have no way to pay for my dedicated server now that hosts my projects unless I sell out advertising space on my sites - and that is what im trying to do.

I hear some of you talk about how you are making loads off of parking ... I have like 150 names and I have 80% of them parked and together they make like $0.10/day.

What's the deal?. Can someone help me out with which direction I should go?

[Vorty]

I hear some of you talk about how you are making loads off of parking ... I have like 150 names and I have 80% of them parked and together they make like $0.10/day.

Develop! They shouldn't be parked...

I also have another site that was getting ~$8/day... that is now receiving less traffic and making $0.50 a day.

Advertise this one... why is getting less traffic?

[Tom K.]

Developing takes time but is worth it in the end.

One suggestion is first off park the domains not developed at a PPC parking service like DS or Trafficz. Also think about getting cheaper Hosting (virtual dedicated as opposed to dedicated server.)

Next, watch the traffic and click-throughs. Those domains that are getting the most traffic should be the ones you develop first.

Build traffic to the developed sites otherwise you won't sell advertising space. No one will buy it. While you are building traffic put up Adsense ads to get some revenue. Adsense revenue will always be more that PPC parking revenue. At the very least it should pay for hosting and domain renewals.

The pattern should be:

1) Observe 2) Build 3) Promote 4) go back to 1


Cheers,
Tom

[dvestors]

Where are your names parked ?

[GT Web]

People need to understand: parking only generates revenue if the names already receive traffic. If you register a bunch of random .com names and park them they wont make you any significant money.

You need to develop these names...parked names wont generate anything unless the are generic type-ins, typos or expired sites with links.

It doesnt matter if your names are parked at sedo, DS, NameDrive or the moon - without traffic you wont be getting more than pennies per day.

[Tom K.]

People need to understand: parking only generates revenue if the names already receive traffic. If you register a bunch of random .com names and park them they wont make you any significant money.

You need to develop these names...parked names wont generate anything unless the are generic type-ins, typos or expired sites with links.

Yes, this is very true. If your dn's are so outthere that they just won't get type-ins and/or residual traffic it makes generating revenue that much more difficult.

Basically, if you register a name and it doesn't get type-ins or residual traffic and you can't afford to develop it or sit on it then it's not an investment, it's a liability.

A good domain name is a leap towards success.

[dvestors]

A simple move from sedo to DS could help you go from $0.10 day to $1 or more. Either you have poor traffic or no keyword optimization but most likely a combination of both.

Try a move to DS or just take your names with the most traffic and develop them. Hopefully you have atleast 1 out of 150 with traffic that can get you going.

150 names should be earning you a bare minimum of $7.50 per day or around $225 per month via parking. That's just estimating 1 click per name per day @ $0.05. If they're not earning that, you didn't research well enough before you reg'd them. Maybe you didn't care at the time, but 150 names is over $1k in reg fees. Start buying more wisely if you're crunched for cash and want a ROI.

[furca]

I am already at DS - I will compile my list of names if anyone is interested.

[Tom K.]

Duncan, why don't you give us a list of what you consider your best and strongest names.

[furca]

I don't want to advertise here, but I think these are strongest

AffectionTest.com
JealousyTest.com
Almosts.com (A site for the failed achievements)
BballForum.com
LiarTest.com
NewspaperFunnies.com
TopicTown.com (Developed)

[jdk]

What are the specs on the server. I may be interested in taking it over.

[furca]

I am renting it monthly, it is located in GNAX.

80 GB hard-drive, 512 MB ram. 1 TB b/w.

I've actually visited my server @ GNAX, its right beside the tech support station (on the closest shelf)

[jdk]

Did you rub her?

[furca]

Yes,

And it's a he.

[dvestors]

lol

[jdk]

Usually with guys everything is a she, unless...

[Tom K.]

Sounds like you have interest in psychology ;-) Most domainers start out by acquiring names related to their area of interest. Here's my feedback (for what it's worth):

AffectionTest.com needs content. Lots of content.

JealousyTest.com looks like is getting some type-in traffic. Would make a nice developed site for help on troubled relationships.

LiarTest.com doesn't point to anything. Should fix that.

TopicTown.com looks like it has potential but I don't see how you can get any revenue from it. No ads. Having ads would help but don't expect high click-through as forums generally have low CTR.

The other sites need to be keyword optimized because the links displayed are not related to the domain.

The domain names are not great but not terrible either. Mostly two words, not hyphenated. However the subject matter doesn't lend itself to high per-click cost. Domains that are business, health, investment or internet related have highest per-click payouts.

Bottom line is: for best results you should develop the sites with lots of content that's search optimized. At least optimize the parking pages to display relevant ads. If these are your strongest names then looks like most names out of your 150 or so aren't worth a lot, so you may want to think about letting them go (see if you can fetch buyers by advertising them) and focus on developing your strongest names. Then with the revenue generated wisely invest in domains that have type-in potential. That's the best purest form of traffic you can get with highest CTR.

[Loco.m]

whats an address of the sites you talk about that you can park your domains and you can get click they payments ?
I always wondered how that worked..

[March2005]

whats an address of the sites you talk about that you can park your domains and you can get click they payments ?
I always wondered how that worked..

http://www.dnforum.com/f211/

[Loco.m]

http://www.dnforum.com/f211/

oh wow, I never knew there were so many big sites that offered parking. I guess I should of known though.
I know this is an old question, but are there comparison charts of which parking sites do better then others?

I've purchased a few sites and merged them into mine, it would be nice to make some money off those domains vs just pointing them to my main site.