information Wordpress Themes or Plugins for Selling Domains

EbookLover said:

Let us know when you've woken up

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I wish! Fully awake at the wheel here, eyes wide open, precious little time to sleep! I passed the proof of concept treshhold a few weeks ago

I realize it sounds like science fiction to you and 99% other people, who have never seen CakePHP "bake" a fully functional, if a bit raw, dynamic website, in seconds, right in front of your eyes. Or seen Ansible in action... you type "ansible-playbook drupal.yml" and watch it (if you have nothing better to do) spin up, build, say 10 Drupal VPS servers in minutes. Or used drush makefile to spin up fully configured Drupal websites... I used Aegir for a few years, but found that Ansible and Drupal are a mach made in heaven (thanks to Drush - Drupal's shell)...

Autogenerating content is the next step. Will take a bit of tinkering. Have to design a new, custom database for this, to populate with data for the AI tools to work with. No big deal really once you understand a little bit of what's going under the hood... AI's is a little bit of code with a very well thought out database schema, populated by a lot of data, is all... well, plus a heck of a lot of testing and tweaking!

Hey, don't take my word for it... Google the tools I've mentioned here... you'll probably have a hard time believing all you'll read, I had! That's until I went and tried it all out for myself

@Domains - Wanted - I have gotten most of what you have said. But I don't really understand this "spin up, build, say 10 Drupal VPS servers in minutes". Why would you need to do that for a DFS website? Or am I missing something? Personally, I think Drupal is way too insecure, IMHO. A great CMS though. You could really build a great DFS website with it. But it does seem like overkill

WP, Drupal, any CMS, adds way too much overhead, IMHO.

stub said:

@Domains - Wanted - I have gotten most of what you have said. But I don't really understand this "spin up, build, say 10 Drupal VPS servers in minutes"...

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My apologies for my shorthand, @stub, neccesarily for brevity's sake. I did include most of the tools' names for further reading, should anyone be interested in learning more.

...Why would you need to do that for a DFS website? Or am I missing something?

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No, you are perfectly correct, @stub. I mentioned "10 Drupal VP servers" for example. Although with lots of testing, modeling going into this, trying out Drupal's existing modules (why reinvent the wheel?), I do run a number of Drupal test servers. Another couple are in the process of being set up for clients' and friends websites to test some stuff in the wild, so to speak. Plus a couple of Drupal servers for my contractors. I'm also running 2 additional Ansible hosts plus a couple remote hosts apiece, where outsourced work can be implemented and tested by contractors, before my migrating it to "my" Ansible production server. This leaves me 100% in control, while making it possible to outsource any work I find too difficult or time consuming... or boring or I'm just too lazy to do myself

Personally, I think Drupal is way too insecure, IMHO.

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Actually, Drupal is one of the more secure, if not the most secure CMS. Properly maintained and updated, of course. This process can be fully automated, although many people don't bother or maybe lack the knowhow to do so.

A great CMS though. You could really build a great DFS website with it. But it does seem like overkill

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I agree. For standard, Efty or Undeveloped type DFS landing pages, Drupal is overkill. In fact, Drupal is overkill for most people's needs and has the learning curve to match its sophistication. Especially if you want to take advantage of its most powerful feature and automation tool - Drush - that sets it apart from WP or Joomla.

WP, Drupal, any CMS, adds way too much overhead, IMHO.

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Once again, no argument here. An SQL database (SQLite will do) as backend and a simple PHP script will do the trick admirably. Using a PHP framework like CakePHP adds considerable overhead, but makes building the application from scratch much easier and well organized.

My simple solution to this is to separate the backends (the database and PHP application servers) from the frontend (Nginx coupled with Varnish reverse proxy/cache), serving static HTML pages literally thousands of times more efficiently

Not to mention keeping on serving websites days or weeks on end even when the whole backend kaboodle goes down on you for one reason or another

Plus making for much better security (backends are not visible from the internet) and simpliying implementation of LetsEncrypt SSL's on every single domain/website.

EbookLover said:

About Ecommerce Payments:

I understand all your points, however you seem to not understand how small business ecommerce works.

When you buy anything from my ecommerce store, be it domains or a pair of shoes, I don't collect the payment. I use a gateway. Be it paypal, stripe, Authorize.net, 2checkout, etc, etc, etc. They collect the payment then they pay me once they take their cut.

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I think @4pm is aware of this, I sure am! However, most potential buyers may not be. I think the best solution is to give the buyers an option: pay onsite or choose to pay via an escrow service and cover the fees. Best of both worlds, like

stub said:

My personal domain portfolio website with 4k+ domains for sale is a hand-crafted HTML/PHP website using bootstrap. Every domain has it's own landing page. So if you type in the domain in your browser it will direct the domains landing page on my website. You are not lamblasted with a string of fancy graphics for all the domains I have for sale. The only method of payment is via Escrow.com, like most major aftermarket brokers. It is safe and secure for all parties. I still list my domains on Afternic, but you need to visit afternic and search for the domain to find it. As opposed to just typing it in your browser and visiting the domains own landing page on my website. If I have set a price on afternic, because of the Fast Transfer process, I set a price on my website for 20% less than is listed on afternic. If you want to purchase via afternic. That's the buyers choice. So they should bear those additional sales costs. But it is in fact easier and cheaper to find the domain by typing the domain they are seeking in their browser, and to purchase it with the same amount of security that they can find on Afternic, but just without the higher price tag. Visitors can of course, if they like my website, search for any number of domains, niches, once they have visited my website, just like they can do, at afternic. I don't see that I am dumbing down the sales/purchase process at all, like you describe. What I am describing does not look at all like what you are describing, from your point of view.

I'm just saying. We do not all subscribe to the scammy practices you are describing in your post.

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I'd love to take a look at your website theme, can you PM me the URL. Thanks again.

financial-domains_co said:

I'd love to take a look at your website theme, can you PM me the URL. Thanks again.

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Can't do that at the moment. While it's still under construction.

EbookLover said:

I agree, wordpress is heavy. And that really sucks. But the problem with building a static HTML portfolio site when you have a lot of domains and removing and adding domains all the time, is that it's not scalable and it's time consuming over a dynamic site like wordpress or otherwise.

With a dynamic site, it can be programmed so that all domain pages pull whois data using an API, like domain age, expiration date, etc, etc, etc. So all you have to do is insert your domains. But even if you still need to upload unique info per domain that you can't just pull from a database somewhere, at least with a dynamic site you can bulk upload from a CSV or XML file.

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Totally agree! Wordpress + woocommerce suck,

Wordpress is moderately heavy but you can adapt and add plugin's like SEO Yoast, control content placement more easily. I'm regretting trying another route that is light and fast but impossible to configure unless you're a coder. When I get time I will be moving all domains to woo commerce on Wordpress. Just my two cents.

Wordpress sites don't have to be slow ... I built Futura Domains - can be used for a domainer to sell their own domains (Buy Now or Auction style) ... and it has the ability for others to register and upload their own domains to sell, for a small fee. Anybody can DM me for details ...

My marketplace is built freehand, no wordpress, no database nothing but static pages and google sheets to list the names.

The google sheet is edited on my pc and the 4 columns I want to show on the website are published the second I make a change on my pc. So if I buy a domain I go to my spreadsheet, add a line, insert buy amount, renewal, expiry etc. The cells that are set to publish will automatically update.

My site uses very few resources and I never have to worry about wordpress updates and all that jazz. Could it look better? Sure it could, but for me self hosting is the best solution, it allows me to manipulate my site exactly as I want.

PS. I took my design idea from Efty, they were the ones I considered but I wanted bigger loggos and a custom favicon, both of which efty still does not offer under the regular plan. So the top half looks a lot like efty but it drifts away as you scroll down.

Anyone wanting to see it in action please click on my signature.

MapleDots said:

My marketplace is built freehand, no wordpress, no database nothing but static pages and google sheets to list the names.

The google sheet is edited on my pc and the 4 columns I want to show on the website are published the second I make a change on my pc. So if I buy a domain I go to my spreadsheet, add a line, insert buy amount, renewal, expiry etc. The cells that are set to publish will automatically update.

My site uses very few resources and I never have to worry about wordpress updates and all that jazz. Could it look better? Sure it could, but for me self hosting is the best solution, it allows me to manipulate my site exactly as I want.

PS. I took my design idea from Efty, they were the ones I considered but I wanted bigger loggos and a custom favicon, both of which efty still does not offer under the regular plan. So the top half looks a lot like efty but it drifts away as you scroll down.

Anyone wanting to see it in action please click on my signature.

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Wow! Kudos.
Hard to believe you could achieve that (https://mapledots.com/) with such minimum resources. I like the no-nonsense approach.
What I think lacking is site-wide search function - no matter how simple. This is a must, especially if you have brandables in your portfolio.
Just my opinion.

Josytal said:

Wow! Kudos.
Hard to believe you could achieve that (https://mapledots.com/) with such minimum resources. I like the no-nonsense approach.
What I think lacking is site-wide search function - no matter how simple. This is a must, especially if you have brandables in your portfolio.
Just my opinion.

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All my domains lead to the lander so if someone types it in it gets to the page. You can search the sheet with a simple control F command but for me search is not relevant. You either come to my site looking for a specific domain or not at all.

I find search pretty useless on a (private) marketplace site. I may visit your marketplace if I type redrover.com into the address bar and it lands on your marketplace. Then I may look at a few others but to use the search??? Why, I don't know what domains you own and I could type thousands of random domains in and never get a search I am looking for. Mine are in groups and alphabetical and I find that works well with no searching required.

A sql searchable database as something that may be added on to a regular html website would be useful. Probably we could find generic ones out there but one more tuned to domains, with categories etc. would be great.

any directory theme of wp can do work for you
also freestore theme in wp is simple to create a domain store

In general I like WP only for blogs. I add a WP blog to some of my sites on a particular page. I believe WP started out only intended for blogs.

I don’t like to use WP for the entire site. I’m not aware of any way to add a sql searchable database to a WP site?

I have dozens of websites each one with unique code.

But, if the site looks good and works for you, I suppose it doesn’t matter who wrote the code, you, or WP.

xynames said:

In general I like WP only for blogs. I add a WP blog to some of my sites on a particular page. I believe WP started out only intended for blogs.

I don’t like to use WP for the entire site. I’m not aware of any way to add a sql searchable database to a WP site?

I have dozens of websites each one with unique code.

But, if the site looks good and works for you, I suppose it doesn’t matter who wrote the code, you, or WP.

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Any SQL database is searchable so it would be fairly easy to integrate that with WordPress. It would require some custom coding though.

WordPress has a decent search function integrated which isn't too shabby either.

Coding can get boring fast if you're not into it though

Anyway, I ran a domain marketplace on WP for a couple of years. About 2K domains listed. Search did work fine but was hardly used. Most traffic and sales came from direct landers.

I'm still using WP for a smaller portfolio (not my domains) and use a plug-in to pull all data from undeveloped and auto generate landers so all the client has to do is manage his portfolio at UD. He does some manual categorisation though.

The thing I don't like about WP is that although it's powerful it's kinda bloated and resource heavy. Like @xynames said, it started out as a blogging platform.

I've been meaning to release the plugin for a while now so reading this thread made me bump it on my to-do list

NameDeck said:

The thing I don't like about WP is that although it's powerful it's kinda bloated and resource heavy. Like @xynames said, it started out as a blogging platform.

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Also the constant updates and security threats drive me nut. Someone finds an exploit and the whole internet needs to update. If I don't have time and have it set to manual I can be 3 updates behind in a flash.

I run another site on blogger, fully customized and one cannot even tell that it's blogger and there are no updates, no security issues. Everything is automatic and I never touch it.

By comparisons I run two sites on wordpress and its almost a constant with the updates.

Well, what I meant by a sql searchable database of course, is one created for domains etc. I mean, this forum database is based on a sql database and it is searchable but its database is for a forum, not for a domain selling website.

Hey All,
I am into customization so I tend to build my own sites, but I have used & have live examples if you want to see what a few look like.

@stub & all ... FolioTrader is great as a starter site, I can recommend it & have found it to work solid as it is sold for a small portfolio - it is a sales platform only no backend domain management, they are treated like a product. A bit dated and clunky - but works good and looks pretty good, you can custom the images and all (design/look wise in the back end files so a little techie) - forgive mine it's a project I have neglected for a while - but check out Rareium.com - to see a FolioTrader site (I have logos "turned off" at the moment, but it's available fyi). Disclaimer, it has never been my primary marketplace - it was more of a curiosity / testing buy - but will comeback to it as it works.

Efty, you can see a ton of examples (& not trying to make this a link promo to all my sites) It's great, easy to use, has the domain management tools. & they seem to add good updates + support well. Prob the easiest way to set up IMO.

UnDeveloped, like Efty - great and tons of examples

My own site, BrandPlease - is based on WP/ Woocommerce, but I don't use the transaction processing in it - it is currently my portfolio and I am redirecting to landers on Afternic - but will all be brought on site shortly.

Also, an odd ball plugin from the old days is MyDomainListPro (wp plugin) now - it's old looking, the end user shopping experience is challenging - but the domain management end (admin end) is (IMO) the easiest way to manage your names - exp, dates, reg,etc... Upload any list in csv and it pulls everything - pre whois block this was even better. I even use it to keep up the info in my EFTY site - as the who is management there is a little cumbersome.

I even have a copy of the OLD Flippa clone site that was big some years ago - I have it live out there somewhere, if I can remember I add the name so you can look and laugh hahaha.

Good Luck,
Brian

WP has pros and cons either way. More pros, than cons though imo.

I personally use GeneratePress framework. It has a very helpful community and is super cheap and can be used on any number of sites I believe.

Hi guys,

I commented on another thread of another post here in the forum, at the moment I am creating a brand on the internet to sell and integrate solutions for domainers, we really have two products:

1. It is a development based on php and mysql with a professional UX.

2. It is a wordpress adaption based on the powerful Genesis Framework, professional SEO-oriented designs.

Also as a premium service we will have the monitoring, backup, weekly report of the operation of the website.

nameflipping said:

Hi guys,

I commented on another thread of another post here in the forum, at the moment I am creating a brand on the internet to sell and integrate solutions for domainers, we really have two products:

1. It is a development based on php and mysql with a professional UX.

2. It is a wordpress adaption based on the powerful Genesis Framework, professional SEO-oriented designs.

Also as a premium service we will have the monitoring, backup, weekly report of the operation of the website.

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Sounds cool. So basically you will provide a domain marketplace theme? Or is it a hosted turkey customisable environment?

Regarding your points:
1. Why php and MySQL? There are better and faster options (php would actually work and is easiest to do) especially when you want to scale up.

2. Why Genesis? It's a great framework, dont get me wrong. When users want to customize things themselves I'd rather opt for bootstrap as about anybody with just a little knowledge about website coding knows the bootstrap basics.

Regarding the premium. What and how will you be monetoring exactly? Do you get a personalized report about your own website or just about the general website. Also, how will you be handling backups?

Not trying to be a pain but it spiked my interest and I don't know the thread about your project.

Hey!!

Answering in your questions:

1. Sounds cool. So basically you will provide a domain marketplace theme? Or is it a hosted turkey customisable environment:

Is a downloadable turnkey theme + plugins (hosted version available too).

2. Why php and MySQL? There are better and faster options (php would actually work and is easiest to do) especially when you want to scale up:

We are creating a script based on Semantic Framework .

The report ranges from the performance of the website in general, to the positioning of your website or keywords in google, plus it will notify you and update constantly when the framework, plugins and anything else needs to be updated.

The backups will be managed and stored with the godaddy backup tool.

Please feel free in contact me and thank you very much for your interest .

Kpett said:

@hubbahubba - I set up my own Wordpress site using a column plugin to allow for the images to line up easier, but it's not particularly a theme for selling things. But you can check it out at: http://www.domainds.com/

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can you tell me PLS name of theme which is used in you website

Kpett said:

@hubbahubba - I set up my own Wordpress site using a column plugin to allow for the images to line up easier, but it's not particularly a theme for selling things. But you can check it out at: http://www.domainds.com/

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How do you set up the redirections for each one of your domains?