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Do you have your own website?

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levinsondomains

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Hey folks,
I curious how many of you have their own website, and if you direct traffic to your custom landing page.
In addition, if you mind to share websites that you have that are not built with efty.
Thank you in advance!
 
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of course i have, they're on my sig and on my profile photo
 
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I've created DefinitelyDomains.com - works well. All of my names are pointed to their individual landers.
 
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I curious how many of you have their own website, and if you direct traffic to your custom landing page.
I do. It has a contact form on it.

You don't need Efty. You can use Google Forms for free:
  1. Create a contact form in 5 minutes.
  2. Use your registrar's URL forwarding.
  3. Done.
You don't need anything else.
 
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Just started NameFord.com - with Daily Closeout Picks (inspired by DSAD .com, tldinvestors .com, etc.) and portfolio showcase on Wordpress.
 
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Nice work. Are you happy with progress on the site?

Yes I can work all my own leads if I want or I can assign them to brokers that negotiate well.
 
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Get yourself an account on 2CheckOut. That's what i use for my domain shop. Unlike Paypal, they are always at the merchant side, it's virtually impossible to get chargeback from them if the deal is legit. And the buyer can still pay with Paypal via them.
Has anyone used escrow.com ? Did you have a good or bad experience?
 
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Has anyone used escrow.com ? Did you have a good or bad experience?
There are numerous discussions about Escrow.com on these boards. Do a search in the top right-hand corner near your username. In a nutshell I'd say most people view them as a little expensive, but they are the largest provider and well recognised. Signing up and getting your account verified can be incredibly difficult if you are international since their verification processes seem to struggle with anything outside their expectations for a US client. Usually once everything is verified their service itself works well. Again, if you're international, be aware of the Wire Transfer fees for disbursement.
 
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I do have my own website, my website is below my avatar.
 
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I made my own website and used Efty for inspiration with the design. My first page shows some of my showcase domains and my listings page shows all my listings which are automatically imported from my killer excel/google spreadsheet.

I find a properly designed spreadsheet is worth it weight in gold and I have it set so it only imports 4 columns to the website. I don't worry about updates because it's all automatic.

Right now I have the best website I have ever had and my back end gives me more information than any other system I have ever used. Including notes, how many inquiries etc.

See it in action at: www.MapleDots.ca or www.MapleDots.com
 
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There are numerous discussions about Escrow.com on these boards. Do a search in the top right-hand corner near your username. In a nutshell I'd say most people view them as a little expensive, but they are the largest provider and well recognised. Signing up and getting your account verified can be incredibly difficult if you are international since their verification processes seem to struggle with anything outside their expectations for a US client. Usually once everything is verified their service itself works well. Again, if you;'re international, be aware of the Wire Transfer fees for disbursement.

Thank you! I will check it out. Much appreciated. I am based in US
 
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Thank you! I will check it out. Much appreciated. I am based in US
No worries. You might find things a bit easier being in the US.
 
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After seeing this thread and thinking about how increased exposure through your own site makes a lot of sense, I spent most of last month putting together a site of my own. So, thanks for the inspiration people. (y)

https://domains21.uk
 
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Since I posted earlier, I have now made some updates in my home page. I would appreciate any feedback. I know, in this Wordpress dominated world, some will not like the tight image block approach, but I see value in the "above the fold" design criteria that used to be in vogue and wanted all of the most accessed material (e.g. to the full domain list, to the catalog homepage, to a by price category page, etc.) to be just one click away from the top of the opening page, and for the site to work in both landscape and portrait modes, and with mobile (still sorting out an issue with small screen not handling the sidebar material optimally).

https://NamesThat.win/

I am still tweaking some of my other pages on site, but would welcome comments and suggestions especially on the home and cattalog sections!

The recent changes I made took out a few icons to make it a bit less busy, added some short text between rows to make it seem bless blocky, added visual features for a small selection of domain names in the right sidebar, and added some links to a few of my blog posts along bottom to make it seem more current. Thanks for any feedback. @frank-germany you helpfully provided comments to earlier version. I suspect will still not be enthusiastic on this one, but if you have time would love your thoughts on whether this one is better.
 
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Hi @MetBob. I personally am a big fan of keeping important things above the fold. I still like visually appealing sites, but just don't 'get' why a full page graphic or slider has become so popular.

With that said - a few brief comments below (just being honest, no offence intended).
First - Who is your target market: end users or domainers? More comments on this below.
Second - Are you doing much business through your site already? If so, then ask your current users what they like and what needs to be changed. If not, then I suspect a bunch of stuff needs to be changed.
Third - what's the point of your site? Selling domains or providing info? You need ONE over-riding reason for existence which then helps dictate what's important for the rest of the design.

- It does look a bit too 'blocky' to me, though I think that would be easy fixed. The current site looks too busy and I would be likely to bounce straight off since it looks like a lot of 'work' (I will have to sit there to figure out what it's all about rather than it being obvious). I just don't think you need a block for every item (suggestions follow)...
- I would get rid of the marketplaces altogether from the home page. Put a link to a marketplaces page in the top menu if you really want to, or even bury it deeper than that. I think it's confusing to an EU since they won't know all the marketplaces anyway. Even as a domainer I am thinking well are all domains listed at each MP, or do I have to trawl through all the MP's to view all the domains? Same with your domain listings - many say I can buy on any of 3 marketplaces. Only a domainer might care. That's just confusing for an EU. Much better to replace with a max of 2 links - 'click to buy now', 'click to make an offer' (linked to your chosen MP).
- If the site is directed to EU's I think you need a definite tagline at the top stating what your site is about. The things that most stand out to me when I first see the page are 'Domains by Price', 'FAQ', 'Featured Domains' and then each of the graphics on the featured domains - particularly the frog. So there's a fair chance I can deduce that it's about domains - but I would suggest making it extremely obvious for the EU by stating exactly what your site is about. Then people know whether they want to stay and look, or bounce. Without that I think they're more likely to bounce.
- If you want to persist with the 'block' approach I would suggest a max of 6 blocks. Or even 4 would do. At the most, the 4 from the top row and 2 from the bottom. No need for a block for 'Contact' since everybody is used to finding contact details in the top menu (usually far right, which is where you have them anyway).
- If you're going to have the first 3 blocks on your home page I would 'organise' your top menu a bit more. Perhaps a top menu item of domain list with sub menus of catalog (probably more correct 'by category') and 'by price'. And a menu item called 'More Info' under which you could have stuff like FAQ, Whitepapers, How To, Blog. You could still feature the Blog on the home page if you wish.
- I would prefer a search facility for the domain catalog (like you would find on SD, etc) so I can drill down and select an IOT domain for under $100 (for arguments' sake), but I am guessing that's probably not something on your radar so listings 'by category' and 'by price' as well as the full list are adequate.
- The 'Featured Domains' listing is good.

That should give you some food for thought. All the best.
 
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Thank you so much @NicTraders for your in depth, insightful, and well thought out comments. I promise that I will take each of them to heart, although probably not as you suspect implement them all, at least not soon.

I agree still too many blocks (I did take out a few) and I generally like your suggestions of which ones to take out (e.g. Marketplaces and Contact).

I had played with a search feature, but what I had in beta I did not like and eliminated. I would see virtue in a sort of alternative price and topic search like you suggest, but for the level of sales activity that I do (have sold 24 over 12 months, but by no means all starting at the webpage) it is probably more work than I care to do.

Your question re target audience is a good one. Ideally I think more end users, but realize more of my blog posts are intended for domainers. But if I chose one, and the idea of having that clear is very true, it would be end users. My ultimate goal is to serve end users in very small and nonprofit sectors, those who are willing to pay more than hand reg, but are realistically resistant to going beyond mid $$$ at the upper end.

The More Info approach is a good idea and it is now a good time to think about that before I get too much in How To and Reports implemented.

Thanks so much for an incredibly valuable report. I so appreciate the time you took to do it.

Bob
 
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No worries @MetBob. I see you make plenty of useful contributions to the forum so thought I should return the favour a bit.

Yep, fair enough - no use spending oodles of time if the sales are minimal. From what I saw you mostly have fairly low-cost gTLD's - nothing real premium - thus you need to balance the time you spend vs the potential sales value to you.

You seem to have articulated your target market pretty well. If possible I'd come up with some sort of tagline for the website which tells people that as soon as they arrive. As short and sweet as possible. And then that can double as the 'Mission' of your site (or you can articulate a longer 'Mission statement' for your eyes only). Then everything you do to your website ask yourself if it helps fulfil the mission. You may find yourself concentrating too much effort on something that doesn't even help you get where you want to be.

I think a lot of domainers end up with a dual purpose - a sales site, plus a blog which is more directed to other domainers. Thus if your blog readers are actually coming to you from your NP signature or some other place it doesn't really matter if it is buried a bit (or less prominent on your home page). And of course if the blog becomes a larger focus you can always spin it off into a different website if you prefer.

Probably a couple of thoughts there that a few others might take some time to consider too...
All the best.
 
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Since I posted earlier, I have now made some updates in my home page. I would appreciate any feedback. I know, in this Wordpress dominated world, some will not like the tight image block approach, but I see value in the "above the fold" design criteria that used to be in vogue and wanted all of the most accessed material (e.g. to the full domain list, to the catalog homepage, to a by price category page, etc.) to be just one click away from the top of the opening page, and for the site to work in both landscape and portrait modes, and with mobile (still sorting out an issue with small screen not handling the sidebar material optimally).

https://NamesThat.win/

I am still tweaking some of my other pages on site, but would welcome comments and suggestions especially on the home and cattalog sections!

The recent changes I made took out a few icons to make it a bit less busy, added some short text between rows to make it seem bless blocky, added visual features for a small selection of domain names in the right sidebar, and added some links to a few of my blog posts along bottom to make it seem more current. Thanks for any feedback. @frank-germany you helpfully provided comments to earlier version. I suspect will still not be enthusiastic on this one, but if you have time would love your thoughts on whether this one is better.


thanks for asking ;)

the speed is great
the site is very functional
the look is like 1999
( maybe you like it ;) )

I guess the 1999 look is based on the kind of logos you use, not quite sure about that

last week I have changed all my landing pages
solving a similar problem as you were facing

I am using expression engine
http://pkws.com http://ubku.com/

would appreciate your feedback
 
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Thanks for your comments, @frank-germany. I am planning to reduce the number of blocks as @NicTraders suggested so that may help, and will think about how to redesign them so they look less 1999 (at least I am now almost to the new century :xf.wink:). I do like icons that are descriptive rather than only artistic, but I realize my potential buyers are much younger than me and more into modern trends and may have different tastes.

Re your landers, I really like how they look (especially on a full screen computer). I really like how you have various sales venue options in an obvious way. I notice you have an Undeveloped price less than GoDaddy. I presume to reflect commission difference? I had never thought about differential venue pricing, I guess because I only have BIN at one place.

Graphically your landers look really professional. I like that in the PKWS one you provide some explanation of meaning. Best of luck with your high quality portfolio, and thanks again!
 
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