Domain Parking: Tips & Tricks to Help You Earn More!

[smurge]

And so it begins!:wave:

My goal is to help people learn more about the parking industry and help them earn more money while spending less of it.

There are tons of tricks,tips,secrets that people use to make money in this business.

Let me say this, I will not discuss illegal or bad practices here so please don't ask.

What will I talk about? How to find domains,with traffic for cheap. Creating long term wealth for yourself and how to do it on a budget. I will answer questions and talk about what I know. If there is something I'm not familiar with or not knowledgeable about I will say so.

I am not here to start flaming wars with other domainers or parking gurus. Everyone has their own set of rules to making money. If you don't like mine, that's okay , but please share your ideas with everyone instead of bashing others.


Myths I want to debunk now:

#1. Parking is dead. (Far from it)

#2. You can't make money doing it. (B.S.- you can make a ton of money in it)

#3. Only the rich can do this. (This is not true!)

#4. Google doesn't like domain parking! (Yes they do, they make a ton of money off it. If they hated it so much why do they continue to support it?)



----

So what's the point of all this? It's to help people with parking.

Please feel free to email,pm, or post your questions here and I will do my best to answer them all.


Thanks!

RJ

(P.S. I'm not the best writer so I apologize for any grammar or sentence structure mistakes in advance.)



--Answers to Questions I'm frequently asked!--

#1. What parking companies do I support/like?

These are the main ones I use and have had great success with. I base my success not only on the amount of money I make but also, customer service and transparency.

In alphabetical order:

- Bodis.com (Supports Foreign Traffic)(Zero Click Model Supported)
- Domainsponsor.com (Supports Foreign Traffic) (Zero Click Model Supported)
- Parkingcrew.com (Supports Foreign Traffic)
- Voodoo.com (Highest Payouts In The Industry)


#2. What tools do you use to help you evaluate domains?

Besides my own "TOOL", which I'm not here to promote I would suggest the following;

1. Push2check.com - Great resource site (I do not affiliated with them in anyway)

If we break down the tools I generally look at the following:

Traffic Sources: (Understand that no tool is 100% accurate but together you can get a great picture.)

1. Compete.com
2. Alexa.com
3. Quantcast.com
4. Verisign Labs: http://domainscore.verisignlabs.com/ ( WARNING: This tool to be used when you have mastered other tools. The information on this site is tricky but can be useful)

History of the domain:

1. Archive.org
2. who.is

Backlinks: ( There are plenty of tools for these but here are some sites I use)

1. Majesticseo.com
2. Google Backlinks
3. Yahoo Backlinks
4. DuckDuckGo.com
5. AHrefs.com: https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/overview/subdomains/brickbuyers.com
6. opensiteexplorer.org (Enjoy this one. It's the search engine for backlinks)



Keywords:

1. Google Keyword Tool


#3. Where can I get lists to analyze:

I have my own tools that do the work for me however here are a few places you can grab lists from to analyze:

1. Dynadot.com
2. Expireddomains.net - (good site)
3. Namejet.com
4. Snapnames.com
5. Godaddy.com
6. Freshdrop.net - (this covers a majority of the above & more)


#4. Do all your domains make money?:

NO!

I'll say it again : NO! I STILL PICK LOSERS!

In fact anyone who says they make money on every single purchase is lying. No one has a 100% success rate and you don't need to. What you need to do to win in this business is;

#1. Pick 51% winners
#2. Make sure to keep your costs low and make more then your spending.


Understand a single domain can make up the costs of lost ones. I picked a domain that makes me $15.00 a day in revenue. That means I'll make $450 a month with it and it's recouped $300 I've lost on previous domains.

Trust me, the sea of domains is massive and there are ton's of GOLDEN NUGGETS ready to be mined by all.


#5. How much do you spend on domains?:

I've spent anywhere from $.99 - $x,xxx! If I like a domain I will spend what I need, to get it as long as "I CAN STILL MAKE A PROFIT"! That's the key.

However, recently I am testing a new program which allows me to buy strictly "HANDREGS". YUP, Handregs! You would be surprised at how much stuff is just sitting on the ocean floor of domains that people think are garbage.


#6. Blacklisted Domains? Revenue Sucks! HELLLLLP!

This is something that's not addressed a lot and something everyone should be aware of: THE BLACK LIST!

This still happens to me this day. I'll buy a domain only to find out the previous owner got blacklisted from Google. This will affect your revenue greatly because Google will not allow Parking Companies to display the proper ad's on your site. If this happens you will need to go to a second feed like Yahoo! or Zeroclick model.

Common Terms for Blacklisted:

1. Faillisted
2. Blacklisted
3. Fail

Check the status of a domain when you park it and you'll see what I mean.

Edit:6/12/2012: Thank You www.ri.sch.edu.sg for this tool!

Originally Posted by www.ri.sch.edu.sg

One thing I can add to this thread is to check if the domain is blacklisted before you purchase them, simply point to:


https://api.bodis.com/domainclassification?domain=(Insert Domain Here)

Classification:

Primary = Google

Secondary = All others but Google (Faillisted,blacklisted, etc from google)

Hope that helps






#7. YUM! YUM! Domain Tasting


If you're not sure what this is it's when you buy a domain and test the traffic for a set amount of time and if your not happy with the traffic you can get a refund or partial refund of your handreg fee.

One thing I see all the time is: Domain tasting is dead! No it's not!

Yes; it might not be as prevalent as it once used to be but there are companies out there that still allow it. How do I know this? Because I do it.

#8. Can I promote or advertise my parked domains?


No, No, No, No, No, No,No, No, No, No, No, No,No, No, No, No, No, No,No, No, No, No, No, No!

If I wasn't clear let me repeat it; NO!


#9. What do all those backlinks mean from different sites?

(Thanks Martiinko for the info)

All those sites "backlink" scanners work by "downloading" the pages all over internet and then searching for URLs in it. Moving from one page to the other over these links. But...

1. There maybe a difference in last time they check this domain for backlinks.

2. There is definitely a huge difference in their databases of pages. That means if one site has smaller DB they don't probably have all the backlinks from as many pages as the other site.

3. Some backlinks are maybe updated, some maybe aren't. The process of "crawling" the web is very time consuming, so not all the backlinks can be verified every day.

To your other question. The links like you described are ok. If you park a domain all the requests go straight to the main page. But what is important is where is the link located. Is it a "spam in comments section", is it in the "blog post" or is maybe a "banner"?

..

So I collected couple different pages (and I'm collecting even more) for you to check if the webpage/domain was ever parked before Some have form input some are just simple url + domain name.
I will make it into a simple web app, so you don't have to go to all of this pages when checking a domain name for parking history. Mostly screenshots.

Was this domain name parked before?
All of them are free. And I don't have any connection to them whatsoever.

Fun fact: This article got to 2th place in google search for Domain name parking history after 20 minutes.




..

*** WORDS OF WISDOM ***

1. Never spend money you can't afford to lose! Consider every domain investment a loss till you make your money back because that's what it is. No one can tell me different on this and the reason why is you are "NEGATIVE" that amount of money till it's recouped.

2. When you buy a domain to park; look to get your initial investment back within 6-12 months.

 

[advaita]

Just got a $15 click ! Big money for me - A 'loans' site.

 

[rngrdanny22]

Just got a $15 click ! Big money for me - A 'loans' site.

Congrats! What keywords are you using on that domain? I have a few loan domains myself, but nothing near that much per click.

 

[advaita]

Just general stuff - loan, credit, loan rates

 

[alok897]

I agree. The biggest thing I get frustrated about is when people say "DOMAIN PARKING IS DEAD.


It's not dead nor has it ever been dead. What's dead is lack of information and know how. I still learn things everyday about this business and try to share as much as possible.

Yes, I completely agree with you lack of knowledge or information about internet marketing lend-up people at this conclusion.
:gl:

 

[ProSence]

What is the parking company for $232/click?

 

[NameAgency]

What is the parking company for $232/click?

The screenshot is from Domainsponsor.

 

[smurge]

The screenshot is from Domainsponsor.

Yes you are correct.

 

[smurge]

Well I figure I might as well share this one: $398.00 click

 

[sarosi]

Hi, one of my domains used to earn nicely on Domainsponsor, when it was on zero-click model, now it is back to 1 or 2 clicks, and my revenues fell. I asked them to put it back to zero-click, and i received this answer:

"That is not an option on our system. Our system has all feeds “on” at all times, and the highest bidder wins the traffic. “Zero-click” will always pay more when it wins the bid, but it is not constant. The advertiser decides when to bid or not. Our other regular network feeds are more constant."

What can i still do? How can i attract zero-click bidders? Any help?
Thanks

 

[namemarket]

Well I figure I might as well share this one: $398.00 click

Simply incredible. I believe most domainers who have been parking for many years with 1000s or even tens of 1000s of domains with high traffic rarely if ever get any clicks above low to mid-2 figures, certainly no where even remotely near mid-3-figures a click, even with exact keyword match financial names,

Next post I suspect you may be talking about high 3 figure or even 4 figure clicks!

Can you please explain why this only seems to happen to you? Seriously.

 

[advaita]

Lol Smurge - you seem to be in a competition with yourself !

The $56 click isn't too shabby either.

 

[smurge]

Simply incredible. I believe most domainers who have been parking for many years with 1000s or even tens of 1000s of domains with high traffic rarely if ever get any clicks above low to mid-2 figures, certainly no where even remotely near mid-3-figures a click, even with exact keyword match financial names,

Next post I suspect you may be talking about high 3 figure or even 4 figure clicks!

Can you please explain why this only seems to happen to you? Seriously.

I'm not sure why people think it just happens to me. I think i'm the only person who shares this type of stuff but it happens more often than not.

---------- Post added at 12:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 AM ----------

Lol Smurge - you seem to be in a competition with yourself !

The $56 click isn't too shabby either.

lol....sorry if I come across that way. I just want people to see this industry is far from dead.

 

[advaita]

I wasn't imlpying anything - I'm just amazed at the clicks you get adn wish I could get them too now and again

 

[ibidu]

Well I figure I might as well share this one: $398.00 click

Smurge, if I were you I would try to get into the Guinness Book Of Records - I'm not kidding I'm serious man - so should Federer....

You would make tons more if you could attract advertisers -- don't forget my commissions though, if you tried it

PS- by advertisers I don't mean the PPC crowd.. I'm talking about high profile stuff

 

[smurge]

Smurge, if I were you I would try to get into the Guinness Book Of Records - I'm not kidding I'm serious man - so should Federer....

You would make tons more if you could attract advertisers -- don't forget my commissions though, if you tried it

PS- by advertisers I don't mean the PPC crowd.. I'm talking about high profile stuff

Rumor has it that people have had $1,000 clicks before. I think i might submit it to Guinness to see what they say.


Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Domainer_1]

Rumor has it that people have had $1,000 clicks before.

How do you think, what makes these clicks worth of 100, even 1000$ ?

 

[smurge]

How do you think, what makes these clicks worth of 100, even 1000$ ?

It's about keyword relevancy.

Example:

If you have an educational site and you try to put dog grooming keywords in you're going to have a bad time.

You need to make sure the customer visiting your site is going to get what they came for . Now there are a million types of keywords so you will need to figure out which are best suited for your site.

 

[baseballworld]

Basic principles here go a long way. I am currently running many tests in hundreds of domains. Some I park and do nothing with at bodis even have seen couple dollar revenue clicks alone. so far I have seen:

Visitors: 9,847
Clicks: 1,116
CTR: 11.33%

I mean I can only imagine if I had set the top paying keywords for these domains even the income I would have. Eventually i will but for now my expenses are paid for even. But also this is a hobby for me as I work 110-120 hours every 2 weeks offline.

For those wondering about traffic sources now:

These are direct type in figures for that total. Notice most is direct type in money making.
Visitors: 7,511
Click: 1,038
CTR: 13.82%

All domains are all niches and only domains freshly registered from expired lists. Domain parking is far from dead. i will keyword monetize and try different traffic companies soon as I have some free time. But right now Im working on an idea of developing them to index them first for a while then park them. Gonna see how the figures turn out. I only say this cause I had one domain that ranked page one when i picked it up off an expired list and for the first month I got quite a few well paying clicks that alone paid for the domain and then some. I figure after that any type in income only will add to the profits from there. We will see how this goes.

One last thing I have talked to smurge in the chat room as well as on the forum in the past. My 2 cents is if you wanna be successful take what he tells you, utilize it, and use some of your own ideas as well. Don't be scared to tailor it to your needs. You have to try different things and put the effort in with the homework. He lays the guideline for you. You cant expect to do what he does off a totally different portfolio. You have to make the minor tweaks if you will yourself to make your own work the best.


One last thing for other people who may ready this. Domain parking is not a short term solution to your financial needs. Don't spend more then you can afford. And when renewal comes only renew those domains that have made the cost of the renewal and then some. Don't waste your time renewing domains not making any money. The easiest way to do this is when a godaddy code that allows renewing comes up trasnfer the domain to there at the discounted price. If you make a couple separate godaddy accounts I have noticed you can use your same contact information and everything and use the same new promo codes on each. Just make them one every few days and let them sit first. When you use a payment source use a separate prepaid card from walmart or them american express ones. Fees only few dollars to activate them and you will save a ton of money and keep your expenses down. But whatever you do don't get carried away and greedy with this. Just a way to keep some of those expenses down before the renewals. I mean think about it if a domain even makes you $10-$20 year parked and your renewing at .99 to 2.95 codes each year. All profits to you. Keep that domain, drop the ones no matter what you couldn't make the revenue with, and register a few more to try to make some cash with. This will slowly grow your portfolio and eventually you'll have a nice portfolio of some money makers. this over time adds up to some nice income on the side. Little bit of thinking goes a long way. And yes I have talked to godaddy customer support. they ask why I have multiple accounts. I tell them honestly that I have many niches I deal in and i Like to keep them separated. better organizing.

 

[smurge]

Basic principles here go a long way. I am currently running many tests in hundreds of domains. Some I park and do nothing with at bodis even have seen couple dollar revenue clicks alone. so far I have seen:

Visitors: 9,847
Clicks: 1,116
CTR: 11.33%

I mean I can only imagine if I had set the top paying keywords for these domains even the income I would have. Eventually i will but for now my expenses are paid for even. But also this is a hobby for me as I work 110-120 hours every 2 weeks offline.

For those wondering about traffic sources now:

These are direct type in figures for that total. Notice most is direct type in money making.
Visitors: 7,511
Click: 1,038
CTR: 13.82%

All domains are all niches and only domains freshly registered from expired lists. Domain parking is far from dead. i will keyword monetize and try different traffic companies soon as I have some free time. But right now Im working on an idea of developing them to index them first for a while then park them. Gonna see how the figures turn out. I only say this cause I had one domain that ranked page one when i picked it up off an expired list and for the first month I got quite a few well paying clicks that alone paid for the domain and then some. I figure after that any type in income only will add to the profits from there. We will see how this goes.

One last thing I have talked to smurge in the chat room as well as on the forum in the past. My 2 cents is if you wanna be successful take what he tells you, utilize it, and use some of your own ideas as well. Don't be scared to tailor it to your needs. You have to try different things and put the effort in with the homework. He lays the guideline for you. You cant expect to do what he does off a totally different portfolio. You have to make the minor tweaks if you will yourself to make your own work the best.


One last thing for other people who may ready this. Domain parking is not a short term solution to your financial needs. Don't spend more then you can afford. And when renewal comes only renew those domains that have made the cost of the renewal and then some. Don't waste your time renewing domains not making any money. The easiest way to do this is when a godaddy code that allows renewing comes up trasnfer the domain to there at the discounted price. If you make a couple separate godaddy accounts I have noticed you can use your same contact information and everything and use the same new promo codes on each. Just make them one every few days and let them sit first. When you use a payment source use a separate prepaid card from walmart or them american express ones. Fees only few dollars to activate them and you will save a ton of money and keep your expenses down. But whatever you do don't get carried away and greedy with this. Just a way to keep some of those expenses down before the renewals. I mean think about it if a domain even makes you $10-$20 year parked and your renewing at .99 to 2.95 codes each year. All profits to you. Keep that domain, drop the ones no matter what you couldn't make the revenue with, and register a few more to try to make some cash with. This will slowly grow your portfolio and eventually you'll have a nice portfolio of some money makers. this over time adds up to some nice income on the side. Little bit of thinking goes a long way. And yes I have talked to godaddy customer support. they ask why I have multiple accounts. I tell them honestly that I have many niches I deal in and i Like to keep them separated. better organizing.

Wise words in your post! Everyone should read it. :imho:

 

[ProSence]

Great tutorial here.

One question, I have parked many domains with voodoo, but they are giving just $0.01/click, why?

Two domains of theme are high traffic domains one is miss-spelling of Facebook, and another one is related to tv news......in non-english country.

I need tips to improve revenue, or can you suggest any good parking company?