Do you think minisites help to sell domain names?

[asdomar]

(This is a recursive question that many domainers ask themselves)

Based on you experience, developing a minisite (to show how your domain can be used) helps to sell it to end users or resellers?

Share your thoughts.

 

[dotker]

minisites are always better since you get more control over it than parking.

 

[snoop]

It might impress a domainer if on a low quality domain, for enduser buyers or on a valuable domain name I don't really see why it would have any effect. An enduser isn't going to keep it, probably ditto for most domainers. The only time I can really see it adding value is if it bring in some kind of traffic/revenue flow on a name with otherwise little value. In that case though the multiple is going to be low.

 

[Kate]

For a webmaster a domain that is already SEOed can be a bonus.
For corporate buyers it will probably not matter.

 

[maxeaus]

My interpretation of the question is do i get more inquiries due to my (mini sites) WhyPark sites, which is yes, at least 5 times more inquiries/offers than Sedo offers, if not more.

 

[ssamriga]

Haven't tried selling (or building) minisites, but I think it's quite clear that a domainer would appreciate monetization and extra traffic and better search engine rankings, but endusers in most cases wouldn't care...

 

[hollywood]

I think it helps at least to establish some history for the domain name. Making an investment in a domain name can go beyond the reg fee.

 

[Robin]

Yes, if it gets a page rank. It will help.

 

[teatime]

Yes, I've had more inquiries on mini-sites than on parked sites.
Many of those do not have "This domain name is for sale" advertised on them at all.

 

[CanSpace]

Definitely.... selling a domain just fetches the value of the domain itself. Selling a domain with a minisite also gets you the value of the traffic it currently gets and any possible PR ranking it has.

 

[NameClerk]

Mini-sites will increase traffic which can only help to increase the value of the domain. Also, with increased traffic comes exposure which can also help the chances of a sale.

If a mini-site ranks well for it's primary keywords than you have an additional asset to go along with the domain. If that same mini-site begins earning consistent revenues each month than you are in even better shape. The domain is no longer a liability come renewal time and you're in a much stronger bargaining position when buyers express interest.

 

[mwzd]

It actually depends on the domain but 7/10 times it won't help.

The minisite might actually hurt - a buyer might assume its not for sale since its 'developed'.

Jmho.

 

[Michael]

Samit, you can just put a "This domain is for sale" banner so potential buyers know it is for sale.

An end user won't care about the mini site itself 99% of the time (in a positive or negative way), but there are plenty of other benefits that add value such as ranking well in the search engines and increasing traffic. You can't get that with a parked domain, and you rarely get that with mini sites that have scraped content.

Most domainers, when selling to an end user, tell them the exact match domain will help them rank in search engines and get traffic day after day. If instead of selling them on the potential, you can say "The domain is already on the first page of Google and Yahoo for keyword phrases you pay $1 per click for, and gets 2k visitors per month. These are pre-qualified leads looking to buy from you," you're sending a much more powerful message. You don't need to convince them it will work when it's already working.

However, without approaching an end user, will you get more inquiries from a mini site than a parked page? Probably not much, other than when an end users comes across your domain from a search engine and inquires. Some people argue that having a good mini site helps the end user visualize their future site on the domain better, but I don't really subscribe to that theory.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

 

[mwzd]

"The domain is already on the first page of Google and Yahoo for keyword phrases you pay $1 per click for, and gets 2k visitors per month. These are pre-qualified leads looking to buy from you,"

Whats the % ratio for these types of domains viz others which don't feature in the top 5 pages for domains w/ minisites?

You assume that all other minisites out there are upto spec w/ the quality of work you do, when there are people offering minisites for $10 on most webmaster forums.

Though we're on the same page viz. the OPs question

 

[redrabbit]

Definitely, they acquire traffic and you eventually get some search engine listings etc. And extra traffic is never a bad thing right?

 

[SpareDomains]

The minisite might actually hurt - a buyer might assume its not for sale since its 'developed'. Jmho.

Exactly my thoughts, make sure you put your for sale banner or link at the top of the minisite if it's for sale because if the page looks like it's developed they may just close the window and not scroll to the bottom to see if it's for sale.

 

[garptrader]

As Michael stated, an end user will not care about the content but being able to demonstrate the site is positioned on page 1 or 2 of Google / Yahoo / Bing could be a selling point. The main downside I see is that getting the site there will require an additional investment of resources (a $50 minisite won't do it) and to compensate for the additional effort and expense the registrant will want more money. Then the potential buyer may balk because they didn't want to pay that much just for a domain.

 

[nuke007]

If buyer is really after domain then he will inquire even if it is developed into mini or full blown site. However most of us are developing minisites because domains are not traffic oriented, by keeping content or service we are enhancing value of domain. Utlimately leading to search traffic and ranking.

Minisite definitely good for domains which are not performing well on parking.


Thx

 

[InsanerDomainer]

My Whypark sites get more traffic than my Sedo parked sites. A few of them I semi-deveolped just to improve the content originality a little bit, although I haven't seen how that will play out yet.