First impressions are important. While there are many ways people might discover your domain names, probably the most important is the lander. An effective lander is attractive and professional, provides a clear route to purchase, and builds trust in the transaction. This week Afternic introduced a buy-it-now lander option. In this article, I explore that new option, along with some alternative domain name landers.
New Afternic Buy-It-Now Landers
NamePros members have for some time requested the buy-it-now price and button on Afternic landers, taking away the need to call an agent to get a price. Particularly for domain names with modest prices, the extra step of contacting an agent may discourage sales. While there were forwarding work-arounds to have landers with the GoDaddy name and price, this was not an optimum solution.
Back in December, Joe Styler shared wth NamePros members that buy-it-now landers would be coming to Afternic in the not too distant future. A few days ago he announced that the landers were operational, and shared an example. Now Afternic have sent out the official announcement of the new landers.
Here is what the landers look like with one of my names.
The new landers are minimalistic, with an effective buy-it-now message and clear black button for completing the purchase. Purchasers who wish to contact an agent with questions are given a US Toll Free telephone number along with an international number for global use, but are not required to do so. The information at the bottom promotes delivery assurance, and the trusted GoDaddy brand that has more than 80 million domain names under management.
In introducing the new landers, Afternic described the advantages this way.
The landers look great in horizontal and vertical formats, including mobile devices. The Afternic announcement notes that they have localized language and currency as well.
Implementing The New Landers
Implementing the new landers could not be easier.
While some have indicated that your domain names need to be in certain extensions, or have fast transfer enabled, in my testing that is not the case. I had no problem implementing the new landers with Afternic listed names that were not fast transfer, and in a number of different extensions. The time delay seems rather variable before they display, sometimes just a few minutes and for other names the better part of a day. That probably is related to dns propagation times and possibly other factors, particularly if you recently added the buy-it-now pricing at Afternic.
If you wish to keep the legacy landers that don’t have buy-it-now pricing, keep using your old name server settings, ns3.Afternic.com and ns4.Afternic.com.
Many feel that make offer pricing is best for high-value domain names, while buy-it-now may be better with pricing of $2500 and below. Now with Afternic, the choice is yours.
If you do use the ns5.Afternic.com, ns6.Afternic.com DNS, but don’t have a buy-it-now price set, the purchaser will be presented with a form to request price information, as well as contact telephone numbers. Here is an example.
Brad Mugford, a successful investor with a large portfolio, has indicated that plans to do A/B testing on the new and legacy Afternic landers to see which convert better. It will be interesting to see results from such trials. GoDaddy have been testing the new landers for some time with their own portfolio.
Join The Discussion
NamePros members are actively discussing the new landers across several threads including the following”
What Else You Might Want In A Lander?
While reaction to the new landers has been generally positive, some have wanted one or more of the following, and therefore plan to stick with alternative landers.
DAN
DAN has set the standard for easy to implement professional landers. One can readily include make offer or payment plan options, if desired. A number of other services also offer domain name payment plans.
I show the DAN lander for one of my names below. DAN allow highlighting who is selling the name, along with the DAN domain transfer expert, while the new Afternic landers only include the broker. The seller can implement various preferences.
It is possible to upload a logo with your DAN domain names, and display traffic graphs if desired. DAN allows you to include descriptions with each domain name. It can be argued whether descriptions help or hurt — see the article Is Domain Name Presentation Important, and the discussion that follows.
There may be cases where descriptions help - such as explaining renewal costs for new extensions that have a mix of standard and premium renewals, or mentioning a word association from another language on a brandable name. Domain descriptions also give a way to indicate if you have available a pair of domain names — see the article Holding Pairs of Related Domain Names.
I don’t know the exact timing, but a new version of DAN will soon implement further features and improvements.
Sedo
Sedo have long allowed both buy-it-now pricing and make offer, They also permit domain descriptions if desired, and visual elements. There are numerous design alternatives on Sedo landers. I show one option in the Sedo lander below.
Both DAN and Sedo offer statistics on visits to names there. Some of the Sedo options include that information in a prominent place. Do you think including traffic or market visits helps a lander to convert?
Epik
With Epik, each lander is in essence it’s own small website, complete with a security certificate. One can select from an array of graphic background elements, in dark or light formats, or upload your own graphic just for that domain name.
If you wish, you can add fully formatted text, including lists, links, multimedia elements, etc. As far as I know, they are the only lander option that allows links within the description. This is handy if you want to link to documents about domain transfer, renewal, etc., or to related domain names in your portfolio. If the registry has a site with real use examples, this can also be helpful. For example, the CO registry has a case studies site making it easy to find businesses using
Epik has the most flexible set of options for payment plans. You can adjust a starting payment, interest rate, length, etc. I show one of my Epik landers below.
As well as instant purchase, make an offer or start a payment plan, the potential purchaser can directly communicate with the seller. This can be an advantage for those who like to know their buyer and directly negotiate. The instant chat button may foster sales in some cases.
You can use Epik landers without your names registered at Epik, although the payment plan option is not possible in that case.
Epik offer a variety of tracking and performance metrics, including market visits, domain visits, and number of times that Whois has been queried for the domain name, including if there are repeated and multiple queries. You can also include your own Google analytics code in the landers.
Dynadot
Dynadot is a favourite registrar among NamePros members. Dynadot refreshed their landers not long ago. They place the clear emphasis on an instant buy now, but include a less prominent make offer option, if the seller selected to allow offers. Trust elements and a prominent Request Support button on the top right complete the lander.
SquadHelp White Label
Now that SquadHelp has implemented optional “white label” sites for your standard listings, this is another lander option. The commission structure is far lower than for their premium listings, yet SquadHelp handle the communication and sales process. Your own portfolio can have the same structure as the main SquadHelp site, yet when the buyer clicks on other domains they only see names from your own portfolio.
You designate one of your domain names as the portfolio name. SquadHelp instructions make this easy to do. My SquadHelp white label site mainly for Canada related domain names is still a work in progress, but if you want to see one in action feel free to visit rename.ca.
Below is an individual domain lander from a SquadHelp standard listing. The seller can select from various visual elements, or upload their own. Alternatively, one can upload or pay for a professionally designed logo.
Further down the lander is a description for that domain name, keywords and emotional characteristics of the name. Payment plans from 0 to 24 months, in 3 month increments, can be offered. Whether make offer is operational is determined by the user. SquadHelp testing suggests that a buy-it-now price, along with a payment plan option, but not make offer, converts best for most names.
SquadHelp offers easy performance metrics on your complete white label site, along with a breakdown on how many times each domain name has been viewed. You can order the featured domain names, a nice feature. It is also possible to use your own Google analytics.
NameSilo
NameSilo landers offer a clean modern look. They come in 5 design choices, each with different color options. Here is one example. They support both buy-it-now and make offer price choices, along with payment plans out to 12 months duration.
While a purchaser needs to create a NameSilo account to buy a domain name, they can leave a message for the seller without one. The seller is given basic information on those who submit a query.
Many Other Options
There are many other options, including the brandable marketplaces like BrandBucket, Alter, Rooted and BrandPa,as well as BIIX, Sav, Uniregistry, and other registrars not listed in this article.
While Namecheap do not have landers per se, you can set domains for sale on their marketplace and then use their forwarder to point to the listing.
Should you have your heart set on a pig-themed lander, the friendly folks at Porkbun have you covered with their domain landers. They are an Afternic network partner, if you prefer the style of the Afternic landers.
Various scripting services provide landers as part of a subscription. I decided that topic was too broad to include here. Others simply develop their own hosted landers, or use a third party page hosting service. Efty has a whole array of landers as part of their domain management program.
Final Thoughts
Various elements are possible in a domain lander. The article Too Many or Too Few Choices discusses whether too many options may actually result in fewer sales conversions, since the potential purchaser is frozen by choice indecision.
The new Afternic landers support one clear choice - a buy-it-now purchase. The GoDaddy branding is front and center, in fact the buyer may even think they are buying a domain name owned by GoDaddy. With GoDaddy’s huge global presence, supported by extensive advertising, the close association is a definite advantage.
There is much to think about when selecting an optimum lander. As @oldtimer commented recently “Different domains work better with different landers.“ That is exactly how I view it. There is not one size that fits all in domain landers. Think about what aspects are critical for each domain name, and set the lander appropriately.
We are fortunate to have so many excellent lander choices.The buy-it-now Afternic landers have given us all a new option that will be a great choice for some names in my opinion.
I look forward to hearing your comments in the discussion. Also, please vote in the associated poll.
I used a number of my own domains to visually demonstrate the different lander options. These are not presented to promote the domain names. I just thought it was best to not use third-party names as examples.
New Afternic Buy-It-Now Landers
NamePros members have for some time requested the buy-it-now price and button on Afternic landers, taking away the need to call an agent to get a price. Particularly for domain names with modest prices, the extra step of contacting an agent may discourage sales. While there were forwarding work-arounds to have landers with the GoDaddy name and price, this was not an optimum solution.
Back in December, Joe Styler shared wth NamePros members that buy-it-now landers would be coming to Afternic in the not too distant future. A few days ago he announced that the landers were operational, and shared an example. Now Afternic have sent out the official announcement of the new landers.
Here is what the landers look like with one of my names.
The new landers are minimalistic, with an effective buy-it-now message and clear black button for completing the purchase. Purchasers who wish to contact an agent with questions are given a US Toll Free telephone number along with an international number for global use, but are not required to do so. The information at the bottom promotes delivery assurance, and the trusted GoDaddy brand that has more than 80 million domain names under management.
In introducing the new landers, Afternic described the advantages this way.
Today, we’re excited to announce our new Buy-Now landing pages as an additional option to our highly successful Lead landing pages. These new pages enable you to set a Buy-Now price and let GoDaddy handle the rest with a streamlined buying experience. Additionally, the pages offer:
*Increased global exposure with localized language, currency by region and different payment options – all in an easy-to-use format.
*Simple and powerful design. With designs optimized for mobile and desktop, we make the buying process smooth for buyers to quickly and securely purchase your domain.
*GoDaddy brand and support. Build trust and confidence for buyers with landing pages branded by GoDaddy that include 24/7 sales and support.
A few things of note. The GoDaddy branding has totally replaced any mention of Afternic on the landers. The landers do not have GoDaddy automated appraisal information included. There is no link to related domain names for sale at GoDaddy. Most domain sellers regard these positively.*Increased global exposure with localized language, currency by region and different payment options – all in an easy-to-use format.
*Simple and powerful design. With designs optimized for mobile and desktop, we make the buying process smooth for buyers to quickly and securely purchase your domain.
*GoDaddy brand and support. Build trust and confidence for buyers with landing pages branded by GoDaddy that include 24/7 sales and support.
The landers look great in horizontal and vertical formats, including mobile devices. The Afternic announcement notes that they have localized language and currency as well.
Implementing The New Landers
Implementing the new landers could not be easier.
- Make sure that your Afternic listed domain names have a buy-it-now price set.
- At your registrar, make your DNS settings ns5.Afternic.com and ns6.Afternic.com.
While some have indicated that your domain names need to be in certain extensions, or have fast transfer enabled, in my testing that is not the case. I had no problem implementing the new landers with Afternic listed names that were not fast transfer, and in a number of different extensions. The time delay seems rather variable before they display, sometimes just a few minutes and for other names the better part of a day. That probably is related to dns propagation times and possibly other factors, particularly if you recently added the buy-it-now pricing at Afternic.
If you wish to keep the legacy landers that don’t have buy-it-now pricing, keep using your old name server settings, ns3.Afternic.com and ns4.Afternic.com.
Many feel that make offer pricing is best for high-value domain names, while buy-it-now may be better with pricing of $2500 and below. Now with Afternic, the choice is yours.
If you do use the ns5.Afternic.com, ns6.Afternic.com DNS, but don’t have a buy-it-now price set, the purchaser will be presented with a form to request price information, as well as contact telephone numbers. Here is an example.
Brad Mugford, a successful investor with a large portfolio, has indicated that plans to do A/B testing on the new and legacy Afternic landers to see which convert better. It will be interesting to see results from such trials. GoDaddy have been testing the new landers for some time with their own portfolio.
Join The Discussion
NamePros members are actively discussing the new landers across several threads including the following”
- Afternic Introduced New Buy-Now Landing Pages (started by @Ntmt)
- Suggestions for The New Afternic Landing Pages and Platform (started by @oldtimer)
What Else You Might Want In A Lander?
While reaction to the new landers has been generally positive, some have wanted one or more of the following, and therefore plan to stick with alternative landers.
- A make offer option.
- Lower commissions.
- Payment plan options.
- Camel case domain display.
- Instant chat customer support.
- Logo or visual presentation.
- Descriptions.
- Analytics on visits.
DAN
DAN has set the standard for easy to implement professional landers. One can readily include make offer or payment plan options, if desired. A number of other services also offer domain name payment plans.
I show the DAN lander for one of my names below. DAN allow highlighting who is selling the name, along with the DAN domain transfer expert, while the new Afternic landers only include the broker. The seller can implement various preferences.
It is possible to upload a logo with your DAN domain names, and display traffic graphs if desired. DAN allows you to include descriptions with each domain name. It can be argued whether descriptions help or hurt — see the article Is Domain Name Presentation Important, and the discussion that follows.
There may be cases where descriptions help - such as explaining renewal costs for new extensions that have a mix of standard and premium renewals, or mentioning a word association from another language on a brandable name. Domain descriptions also give a way to indicate if you have available a pair of domain names — see the article Holding Pairs of Related Domain Names.
I don’t know the exact timing, but a new version of DAN will soon implement further features and improvements.
Sedo
Sedo have long allowed both buy-it-now pricing and make offer, They also permit domain descriptions if desired, and visual elements. There are numerous design alternatives on Sedo landers. I show one option in the Sedo lander below.
Both DAN and Sedo offer statistics on visits to names there. Some of the Sedo options include that information in a prominent place. Do you think including traffic or market visits helps a lander to convert?
Epik
With Epik, each lander is in essence it’s own small website, complete with a security certificate. One can select from an array of graphic background elements, in dark or light formats, or upload your own graphic just for that domain name.
If you wish, you can add fully formatted text, including lists, links, multimedia elements, etc. As far as I know, they are the only lander option that allows links within the description. This is handy if you want to link to documents about domain transfer, renewal, etc., or to related domain names in your portfolio. If the registry has a site with real use examples, this can also be helpful. For example, the CO registry has a case studies site making it easy to find businesses using
.co from any region.Epik has the most flexible set of options for payment plans. You can adjust a starting payment, interest rate, length, etc. I show one of my Epik landers below.
As well as instant purchase, make an offer or start a payment plan, the potential purchaser can directly communicate with the seller. This can be an advantage for those who like to know their buyer and directly negotiate. The instant chat button may foster sales in some cases.
You can use Epik landers without your names registered at Epik, although the payment plan option is not possible in that case.
Epik offer a variety of tracking and performance metrics, including market visits, domain visits, and number of times that Whois has been queried for the domain name, including if there are repeated and multiple queries. You can also include your own Google analytics code in the landers.
Dynadot
Dynadot is a favourite registrar among NamePros members. Dynadot refreshed their landers not long ago. They place the clear emphasis on an instant buy now, but include a less prominent make offer option, if the seller selected to allow offers. Trust elements and a prominent Request Support button on the top right complete the lander.
SquadHelp White Label
Now that SquadHelp has implemented optional “white label” sites for your standard listings, this is another lander option. The commission structure is far lower than for their premium listings, yet SquadHelp handle the communication and sales process. Your own portfolio can have the same structure as the main SquadHelp site, yet when the buyer clicks on other domains they only see names from your own portfolio.
You designate one of your domain names as the portfolio name. SquadHelp instructions make this easy to do. My SquadHelp white label site mainly for Canada related domain names is still a work in progress, but if you want to see one in action feel free to visit rename.ca.
Below is an individual domain lander from a SquadHelp standard listing. The seller can select from various visual elements, or upload their own. Alternatively, one can upload or pay for a professionally designed logo.
Further down the lander is a description for that domain name, keywords and emotional characteristics of the name. Payment plans from 0 to 24 months, in 3 month increments, can be offered. Whether make offer is operational is determined by the user. SquadHelp testing suggests that a buy-it-now price, along with a payment plan option, but not make offer, converts best for most names.
SquadHelp offers easy performance metrics on your complete white label site, along with a breakdown on how many times each domain name has been viewed. You can order the featured domain names, a nice feature. It is also possible to use your own Google analytics.
NameSilo
NameSilo landers offer a clean modern look. They come in 5 design choices, each with different color options. Here is one example. They support both buy-it-now and make offer price choices, along with payment plans out to 12 months duration.
While a purchaser needs to create a NameSilo account to buy a domain name, they can leave a message for the seller without one. The seller is given basic information on those who submit a query.
Many Other Options
There are many other options, including the brandable marketplaces like BrandBucket, Alter, Rooted and BrandPa,as well as BIIX, Sav, Uniregistry, and other registrars not listed in this article.
While Namecheap do not have landers per se, you can set domains for sale on their marketplace and then use their forwarder to point to the listing.
Should you have your heart set on a pig-themed lander, the friendly folks at Porkbun have you covered with their domain landers. They are an Afternic network partner, if you prefer the style of the Afternic landers.
Various scripting services provide landers as part of a subscription. I decided that topic was too broad to include here. Others simply develop their own hosted landers, or use a third party page hosting service. Efty has a whole array of landers as part of their domain management program.
Final Thoughts
Various elements are possible in a domain lander. The article Too Many or Too Few Choices discusses whether too many options may actually result in fewer sales conversions, since the potential purchaser is frozen by choice indecision.
The new Afternic landers support one clear choice - a buy-it-now purchase. The GoDaddy branding is front and center, in fact the buyer may even think they are buying a domain name owned by GoDaddy. With GoDaddy’s huge global presence, supported by extensive advertising, the close association is a definite advantage.
There is much to think about when selecting an optimum lander. As @oldtimer commented recently “Different domains work better with different landers.“ That is exactly how I view it. There is not one size that fits all in domain landers. Think about what aspects are critical for each domain name, and set the lander appropriately.
We are fortunate to have so many excellent lander choices.The buy-it-now Afternic landers have given us all a new option that will be a great choice for some names in my opinion.
I look forward to hearing your comments in the discussion. Also, please vote in the associated poll.
I used a number of my own domains to visually demonstrate the different lander options. These are not presented to promote the domain names. I just thought it was best to not use third-party names as examples.
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