PARKED.COM - Official Thread!

[ZOX]

Hi,

Welcome to the OFFICIAL PARKED.COM thread!

 

[Seabass]

I think it's fair to say the TQ script is borked. I wouldn't trust any number it gives you.

Yahoo, never being noted for their great tech abilities, may just truly be struggling to do the right thing for everyone, but that is no consolation to my bottom line.

I just hope they get it fixed soon.

 

[Mobi Cheap]

Seabass, I remember my figures from before when I had no content and I still see a huge change in CTR.

Mobi Cheap, I have seen a 35% Upward change in CTR. However, the CTR change could be due to many other reasons.

Imo, your CTR depends on various factors and not just your content. You could have no content and yet get a high CTR. I wish I had a way of tracking "visitor duration" which could actually help me understand if visitors are actually spending time on the landing page reading content. In the absence of such information, I can only assume that adding content has helped my CTR.

I feel your CTR is determined 80% in advance based on your site description which the visitor has read before coming to your landing page. I mean if your site has been indexed by a search engine, and if your meta description tells that visitor clearly what he/she is going to expect on your landing page, you have almost created a clickthrough. This is also true for your campaign ad, in case you run a PPC campaign.

I tend to clearly tell my visitors that they are coming to a page of "options" and "choices". I never convey the message that they will get the product/service on my landing page, but specify that they might need to make choices to get to their final destination. That helps a lot. Plus, I use the domain title to always give a "call to action". Something like, "get a free money saver quote now!". That kind of gives them a mental suggestion of an action to consider. It works in most cases.

And as always, I prefer light colors and backgrounds which make the keyword links visible. It is also important to make sure that your related links look clearly visible to increase choices for the visitor. I mean, you don't want the related box to have keywords in black over a red background. That is like killing an opportunity for a click. I like lighter backgrounds which make the ads stand out clearly. For example : domainparking dot net dot in. 2 click example : paydayloans dot net dot in.

Finally, I am working on creating images with calls to action. A good 250x251 image with an action call can work wonders.

Lots of great points, +rep added.

 

[netmeg]

I think it's fair to say the TQ script is borked. I wouldn't trust any number it gives you.

I sent a request in yesterday to my rep to ask why my score was showing as 6 all of a sudden, and he replied back that as far as they could tell, my last score was still 10, and he had no idea why it was displaying as 6. So... I dunno.

 

[Avo19]

stats have finalized and it's absolutely crazy. Domains that usually get $2-4/click now getting $0.05! Overall down 20% on estimates. Not happy jan....

 

[Spade]

stats have finalized and it's absolutely crazy. Domains that usually get $2-4/click now getting $0.05! Overall down 20% on estimates. Not happy jan....

Interesting... Mine have not finalized yet.

 

[StrictlyNames]

Spade - click on 'portfolio' - finalized there.. but individuals and dashboard update later.

avo - did you check your traffic analysis on your domain with .05 - may have been a search box keyword, or foreign traffic that pays low.

 

[mrizos]

Yahoo announced they are laying off hundreds of staff...this may be a clue to that low CPC you boys are speaking of.

Personally my CPC's have been the same, just less visits.

 

[whitebark]

yahoo's advertising wing was noted as being profitable still.

 

[kemjika11]

Interesting... Mine have not finalized yet.

Same situation over here too. I hope when they "finalize", my 8 visits and 61 clicks (@ RPC of $1.12) from yesterday remains the same. lol. we'll see

 

[netPH]

Yahoo announced they are laying off hundreds of staff...this may be a clue to that low CPC you boys are speaking of.

Right... in the news http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/885a7463d6d44a1dddeadfc542b8444f.htm

Reports: Layoffs Planned at Yahoo Inc.
Reports: Slumping Internet Icon Yahoo! to Shed Hundreds of Workers Amid Calls for a Shake-Up
January 22, 2008: 11:57 AM EST

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Battered by slow revenue growth and the popularity of social networking Web sites, Yahoo Inc. is poised to lay off hundreds of workers, according to published reports.

:td:

 

[madpoet]

Mine went up almost 25% after finalized stats if the Portfolio view is to be believed. I really think people are trying to read some global trends into this when it often comes down to your own domains and niches.

 

[biohammer]

its a bit of a ride but things seem to be more "normal" for me last couple of days . Some good rpc and increased traffic.. and finals ending close to estimates.

Hopefully Yahoo is just trimming the fat and getting ready for a new push into the search market.

 

[GILSAN]

Yahoo announced they are laying off hundreds of staff...this may be a clue to that low CPC you boys are speaking of.

Yes I read that news last night. These CEOs seem to have an enormous lack of imagination. When things are not going right, the first thing they do is lay off hundreds and sometimes thousands of staff. Anyone could do that!

That´s easier than being a domainer and they earn infinately more!

GIL

 

[netmeg]

Lookin' pretty grim for me. Doing well elsewhere with Google feeds though, so maybe it's just Yahoo.

 

[Avo19]

Lookin' pretty grim for me. Doing well elsewhere with Google feeds though, so maybe it's just Yahoo.

Well I'm not so sure about Yahoo. As I noted yesterday, same domains, keywords & traffic source on another Yahoo feed show none of these erratic daily swings. Plus has a higher RPC to boot....

 

[rickkumar]

Ok just got updated.

 

[GILSAN]

Yesterdays finalized stats have gone up for a change. I´d been waiting for this for a while. My stats have been like the Stock Markets in the last few weeks.

I´m also pleasantly surprised with my domains today. They are doing well!

Seems like my Quality Score change from 10 to No Score has been beneficial! At least I hope it´s not the bots that have finally discovered me.

GIL

 

[Mike]

I can happily report that yesterday was my all time best day at parked, with an overall 98% CTR, exceeding other days by more than twice the final value. If i could stabilize that, i'd be a VERY happy camper.
Interesting side note; i still don't have a Quality Score. ...not sure that i really want to know, though :lol:

M.

 

[GILSAN]

I can happily report that yesterday was my all time best day at parked, with an overall 98% CTR, exceeding other days by more than twice the final value. If i could stabilize that, i'd be a VERY happy camper.
Interesting side note; i still don't have a Quality Score. ...not sure that i really want to know, though :lol:

M.

Yea Mike, lets hope our Quality Score remains at "No Score" for a long time.

GIL

 

[turner10]

I was just going through some of my sites and wanted to play with a few that where not doing that well, changing keywords ect. I took a look at my traffic stats to see my keywords and traffic and was very surprised.

I have noticed alot of you guys talking about these "bots" that are clicking your sites and i thought i was lucky because i have not seen any activity like that with my domains. Then i take a closer look and at my traffic stats and they are a complete mess! 49% of my traffic coming from Korea? It looks like they must have cleaned up the mess in my portfolio but my stats are still showing bogus searched words and bogus locations. Its a little harder to optimize my sites like this. I have a snowboarding domain that had about 30 searches for real estate keywords from korea.??? I sure would like to see this back to normal so i can see the true results for my traffic analysis.

 

[packrat]

Well I'm not so sure about Yahoo. As I noted yesterday, same domains, keywords & traffic source on another Yahoo feed show none of these erratic daily swings. Plus has a higher RPC to boot....

Yeah - something going on for sure. I got hammered for a 30% decrease
after stats finalized. It was all in RPC going down esp. with financial
domains. Hard to swallow!

 

[Seabass]

My numbers are lower than they should be. The PPC price is dropping on my end it appears.

 

[.X.]

Yeah - something going on for sure. I got hammered for a 30% decrease
after stats finalized. It was all in RPC going down esp. with financial
domains. Hard to swallow!

Mine are at Minimum as well, Financial as well, In a nut shell, All my names RPC is extremely low.

If they keep going down, we will be at a Sedo level RPC

 

[whitebark]

Domainers are rounding the wagons... where is Donny?

 

[.X.]

Domainers are rounding the wagons... where is Donny?

I Dunno, But the ASK.com feed needs to go bye bye, Ask ,Is history here soon, I would rather see a straight Yahoo USA feed, At least for right now.