Dan.com - Problem with landing pages

[Kostas]

I have my portfolio at Dan.com and today I noticed that landing pages do not work properly.

The problem is apparent the first time you visit a new domain. It just won't load.

I have tried this over several iphones, browser safari and brave, different IPs (Greece)
The same happens on Mac but not on Windows or Android from my tests.

After 2-3 tries of waiting 5-10seconds, the domain will load and after that it continuous to load without problem for several minutes.

To demonstrate, pick any domain from your dan portfolio that you haven't visited recently (within the day) and try to load it on an iphone. I hope it works for you and the problem is only local. I have contacted Dan and they will investigate.

I understand this is very weird but it is what's happening, most probably a problem with the SSL certificates (the message I get on some browsers is "can not establish a secure connection"). Why it works after you try 2-3 times to visit the domain I don't know.

 

[karmaco]

I have no issue on iphone ipad mac using Safari or Google to load DAN pages. I must say for me in the US DAN is very consistent and fast compared to others. I have a great speed internet.

 

[theionut]

I have the same problem, "After 2-3 tries of waiting 5-10seconds, the domain will load and after that it continuous to load without problem for several minutes."
On safari everything is working well, on Afternic I have BIN, Afternic NS, not even loading the page on chrome. Just try to see in the domain is working in Afternic, with BIN, it is incredible, if someone wants to buy your domain on chrome, the landing page won't work.

 

[DomainNature]

I have slowness on Dan landers, I think Google is cooking something through their Chromium browser, I observed weird things this last week, Youtube, Godaddy parking pages, Bodis parking pages and now Dan.
I was thinking to go with Firefox recently.
Considering that I even don't have Brave latest updates, the code is manipulated remotely, all this browsers claiming to be the most secure in reality did not remove all Chromium to Google spying, I m sure of that!

 

[ArielT]

Use page speed testing tools

I've just checked some of my domains and they have to improve

Also tested an SquadHelp landing page and they perform much better

 

[Dane]

I'm seeing the same thing.

 

[kor]

A couple of my domain names are pointed at DAN name servers and I'm facing with the same issue as @Kostas explained.

@DAN.COM

 

[Acroplex]

I have experienced this intermittent issue as well. The reason it works eventually past the first failed attempt is because the DNS gets cached. Also, keep in mind some antivirus software such as Avast may interfere with page loading. The issue appears to happen more often in Firefox vs. Chrome.

 

[Sales]

I have my portfolio at Dan.com and today I noticed that landing pages do not work properly.

The problem is apparent the first time you visit a new domain. It just won't load.

I have tried this over several iphones, browser safari and brave, different IPs (Greece)
The same happens on Mac but not on Windows or Android from my tests.

After 2-3 tries of waiting 5-10seconds, the domain will load and after that it continuous to load without problem for several minutes.

To demonstrate, pick any domain from your dan portfolio that you haven't visited recently (within the day) and try to load it on an iphone. I hope it works for you and the problem is only local. I have contacted Dan and they will investigate.

I understand this is very weird but it is what's happening, most probably a problem with the SSL certificates (the message I get on some browsers is "can not establish a secure connection"). Why it works after you try 2-3 times to visit the domain I don't know.

I think your domains are competitive to Namefind portfolio.

Better to use your own landers

 

[Dane]

I have experienced this intermittent issue as well. The reason it works eventually past the first failed attempt is because the DNS gets cached. Also, keep in mind some antivirus software such as Avast may interfere with page loading. The issue appears to happen more often in Firefox vs. Chrome.

This is no joke. I just tested a name and it just spun for the longest time (with a blank white page), then eventually showed an error message, then eventually showed the correct landing page. There's no way anyone will wait that long, they'll be long gone before the page appears. Doesn't @Dan and/or @GoDaddy care about this issue?

Edit - I just tried a bunch more names and it's happening to almost every name I test. First a blank page (for a long while) then an error message (also for a long while) then the landing page. Here's the error message that gets displayed:

This site can’t be reached

xxxxx.com took too long to respond.

Try:

Checking the connection
Checking the proxy and the firewall
Running Connectivity Diagnostics
ERR_TIMED_OUT

 

[Kostas]

I just received a reply from Dan on this and it is very underwhelming. Pasting it below:

Our team has reviewed this and confirmed there is nothing that is causing this delay on our end. They have shared two possible reasons with me, to see if you can resolve this on your end:

• DNS Resolution: The user's DNS server might be slow or having trouble resolving the domain names. This can cause a delay in loading the pages.
• Browser Cache/ Cookies: If the user's browser cache or cookies are full, or if there's an issue with them, it can cause pages to load slowly or not at all.

 

[Acroplex]

Kosta, I agree with you that the issue is real and that the response in underwhelming. I've identified a similar issue that affects new domain registrations when also added to Dan.com; the "cookie" buttons become unclickable on landers until about 60 minutes pass. This points to an issue with the TTL (time to live) values in the Dan settings.

 

[Dane]

I just received a reply from Dan on this and it is very underwhelming. Pasting it below:

Our team has reviewed this and confirmed there is nothing that is causing this delay on our end. They have shared two possible reasons with me, to see if you can resolve this on your end:

• DNS Resolution: The user's DNS server might be slow or having trouble resolving the domain names. This can cause a delay in loading the pages.
• Browser Cache/ Cookies: If the user's browser cache or cookies are full, or if there's an issue with them, it can cause pages to load slowly or not at all.

So all of us suddenly have these exact same issues, all at the same time? I don't think so.

 

[DomainRecap]

I have noticed that domains that do not have regular visits can take a veeeeeery long time to load on Dan - I was going through some low traffic domains to check if they were still valid/linked and some took forever.

I assumed it was the data cache at Dan that has to load from disc when the domain + data is not present.

 

[Kostas]

For now I have switched from the dedicated landing pages to redirecting to Dan’s internal for sale pages. But I have to say I really don’t like their response on this and will be on the lookout for better solutions from other providers going forward.

To me it seems @Acroplex is more competent than their whole dev team in identifying the reasons behind this issue as a further response from support confirmed they’ve read this thread before replying to me.

 

[Dane]

So now what? There's not much point in having names listed on Dan if the occasional visitor isn't able to see a landing page.

 

[Dane]

For now I have switched from the dedicated landing pages to redirecting to Dan’s internal for sale pages.

Where is this setting? Is it called "Host your for sale pages on Dan.com" or something else? (thanks!)

 

[Kostas]

Where is this setting? Is it called "Host your for sale pages on Dan.com" or something else? (thanks!)

That’s it yes

 

[Dane]

That’s it yes

Awesome, thanks! I much prefer not using re-directs... but under the circumstances, I'll take it (at least for now).

 

[Acroplex]

I'm sure this is a temporary (302) redirect that doesn't affect any ranking but it's not a great solution either.

I'm testing the following approach:

1. Use my own hosting & DNS for a group of domains for sale
2. Link an image or text etc. to the Dan internal page
3. Internal lander is make offer or request price only (because if it has a BIN that it's clicked on GoDanny wants you to pay 25%)

 

[Dane]

I'm sure this is a temporary (302) redirect that doesn't affect any ranking but it's not a great solution either.

I'm testing the following approach:

1. Use my own hosting & DNS for a group of domains for sale
2. Link an image or text etc. to the Dan internal page
3. Internal lander is make offer or request price only (because if it has a BIN that it's clicked on GoDanny wants you to pay 25%)

Of course if it's listed on Afternic and just happens to sell anywhere via the GoDaddy network, that's 25% commission.

 

[Acroplex]

Assuming you only list them via Dan.com, removing the BIN on Dan removes the domains from Afternic.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Dan/Afternic/Godaddy are almost completely silent about it here an where it is posted about in official thread(s).

My assumption why they are not jumping on fixing this problem is they are working on integration...it simply isn't important to them.

In the domain world, one decent sale can carry a portfolio for months...the potential to lose a sale/lead due to 12 second or more load time is unacceptable.

Looks like I've got to point names elsewhere and wait for things to settle out (if they do). It will be a colossal error if they let Dan die...best platform for name selling that has been developed in a decade.

 

[Dane]

My assumption why they are not jumping on fixing this problem is they are working on integration...it simply isn't important to them.

My thoughts exactly. They want everyone to move from Dan to Afternic. They bought Dan to shut down the competition and to take their technology. Once the technology is copied it would be redundant (aka: not cost effective) to keep both services running.

In the domain world, one decent sale can carry a portfolio for months...the potential to lose a sale/lead due to 12 second or more load time is unacceptable.

Bingo.

Looks like I've got to point names elsewhere...

But where ??

 

[Mister Funsky]

But where ??

I've got 1000+ pointed to afternic or dan. The trouble is, some brokers are great, some are good and others not (it is like that everywhere and in every industry).

I'm a sales guy from way back so handling my own leads is what I've always done but I wanted to give the afternic/dan system a chance. I might write about it all in great detail later but about 10-15% of leads through afternic/dan end up selling...my close rate is nearly 50%.

So, I will likely move names back to PCrew and Bodis and handle the leads myself. If they leave Dan alone and put effort into keeping it top notch, I will move names back there as I like the ability to have a sales pitch ('sellers notes' they call it).