Fabulous Parking

[pixelbugnyc]

OFFICIAL FABULOUS.com Thread

I was wondering how long people have waited for decisions from Fabulous.com? I recently applied for the first time.

That aside, I'd like to hear some recent opinions on their service. All input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Mike Robertson]

Hi Ken,

In the case you presented, in order for the user to click on an advertiser bidding on that actual keyterm, the user must have searched for that keyword via the search box.

So if the keywords are predominantly Auto related, you could then go to the Traffic Control section and optimize that domain accordingly.

Let me know if you need a hand setting Target Keywords and Related Searches.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[Seabass]

Mike.....It use to be that Fabulous was a high RPC parking site, but after testing about 150 domains there I found that click prices plummet for my high-quality generic domains. I guess it is Google Smartpricing....I don't know. These are the best generic domains one can buy in the niche I focus on and I get measly .15 to .20 clicks mixed in with the occasional $2.50 click.......but in the end it is bad rev. totals.

I can't get FAB to perform anywhere nearly as good as Parked.com does. That was not true in the past.....FAB came very close to Parked but did not match or beat it, but now the CTR and the RPC is dismal....it is much worse. Did Google lower your rev. share? CTR is only half that at Parked.com (even after meticulous optimization), and RPC is about five cents less per click as a whole portfolio.

What happened to your fine service?

Also, when are you guys going to add some more photos......your selection is extremely limited. Parked.com has over 15,000 photos. Your selection is very paltry and that hurts the CTR.

Also, why is there not a search box on the first page. You give five links or so only and half of them are not even targeted after doing the optimization. Let's not mention all the free links that Google has decided to put on our Fabulous pages. If it is this bad why don't you guys make the switch to a Yahoo feed?

I don't see how FAB can be a great co. if they don't rise to the challenge to monetize our domains better. I don't mean to be harsh.....but that is just how I see it now. Things have changed drastically.

How dead this thread is is a testament to how bad things are at Fabulous now. Fabulous used to be the shining star of the industry.

 

[netmeg]

Yea, I'm afraid I have had pretty much the same experiences.

 

[Spade]

Mike.....It use to be that Fabulous was a high RPC parking site, but after testing about 150 domains there I found that click prices plummet for my high-quality generic domains. I guess it is Google Smartpricing....I don't know. These are the best generic domains one can buy in the niche I focus on and I get measly .15 to .20 clicks mixed in with the occasional $2.50 click.......but in the end it is bad rev. totals.

I can't get FAB to perform anywhere nearly as good as Parked.com does. That was not true in the past.....FAB came very close to Parked but did not match or beat it, but now the CTR and the RPC is dismal....it is much worse. Did Google lower your rev. share? CTR is only half that at Parked.com (even after meticulous optimization), and RPC is about five cents less per click as a whole portfolio.

What happened to your fine service?

Also, when are you guys going to add some more photos......your selection is extremely limited. Parked.com has over 15,000 photos. Your selection is very paltry and that hurts the CTR.

Also, why is there not a search box on the first page. You give five links or so only and half of them are not even targeted after doing the optimization. Let's not mention all the free links that Google has decided to put on our Fabulous pages. If it is this bad why don't you guys make the switch to a Yahoo feed?

I don't see how FAB can be a great co. if they don't rise to the challenge to monetize our domains better. I don't mean to be harsh.....but that is just how I see it now. Things have changed drastically.

How dead this thread is is a testament to how bad things are at Fabulous now. Fabulous used to be the shining star of the industry.

Ive also noticed that Fabulous simply isnt performing as it used to. The only reason I continue to park a majority of my portfolio there is that their "For Sale" landers do sell domains from time to time.

 

[SpareDomains]

Ive also noticed that Fabulous simply isnt performing as it used to. The only reason I continue to park a majority of my portfolio there is that their "For Sale" landers do sell domains from time to time.

I think that is a good point you mention, with pay per click falling across the board at google & yahoo feeds I think some domainers may start to say the hell with crying over a few less dollars and start to look for "who has the most noticeable for sale sign" I think fabulous has the most noticeable for sale sign so if you made a few bucks less parking but sold more domains that could equal things out a bit, I would like to see the fabulous image library expanded and the search box brought back to the front page though.

 

[Mike Robertson]

In regards to the lower EPC, to be honest, if you look at the various forums and blogs you will see that there are the same comments being made about other parking companies. Whilst I'm not trying to pass the buck, it's clearly an industry-wide problem and not one that is solely associated with Fabulous.com

I can confirm we have noticed a drop in EPC network wide on domains monetized with us and have put it down to a number of factors, taken from our Quarterly Report.:

1. The weaker economic environment in the US
2. Generally fewer advertisers (as observed by Dark Blue Sea) leading to a reduction in bid prices and coverage and hence overall yield received by Dark Blue Sea
3. Changes to the way that online advertisers can place advertisements via the advertiser interfaces of the major search advertising networks; and
4. An overall uncertain strategic landscape stemming from the unsuccessful takeover bid for Yahoo by Microsoft and the subsequent outsourcing of search advertising to Google by Yahoo.

I would also recommend reading the following blog posts, from someone who seems to have inside knowledge at Google, which may also explain the decline in revenues we are all seeing:

Google Parking Changes Approaching
Domain Parking Changes Part2

You raise the point about Google vs Yahoo. There are a number of pros and cons for each company. I won't go into great detail, but some that come to mind:

1. Google have a larger advertiser base for "longtail" keywords
2. Yahoo allow greater flexibility with parked pages. eg. content
3. Google monetize more International traffic
4. Yahoo don't require the web results which Google enforce

Also, why is there not a search box on the first page. You give five links or so only and half of them are not even targeted after doing the optimization.

I have sent the request to include a search box on Fab+ 1-click landers. This is currently in the queue of things to do. As soon as it's implemented I will let you know.

The way Google's system works is that they rotate through different ads to determine the most appropriate result set. Keyword targeting is used to assist ad targeting, but their system will also experiment to determine the best monetization. Google's ad system is constantly learning and will adapt to choose the best monetization for domains.

Also, when are you guys going to add some more photos......your selection is extremely limited. Parked.com has over 15,000 photos. Your selection is very paltry and that hurts the CTR.

As far as our images go, if you encounter a domain where you can't find a relevant image in our library please send a request to your Account Rep (or Support at Fabulous dot com) who can submit it to our graphic department for inclusion.

As a large domain portfolio owner ourselves and being in the industry for over 10 years now, we have found that there are some domains that work better on a Google feed and there are some that perform best at Yahoo.

I've mentioned this a number of times previously (quite possibly in this thread already) that it is important to test your domains across a variety of parking platforms. Again, some are suited to Google feeds, other Yahoo. Even between Google/Yahoo providers some domains will perform better at different companies. eg. Fab vs DS vs Sedo vs ND or HitFarm vs Parked vs Smartname.

I think it's becoming more and more important to diversify the way domain owners monetize their portfolio. As they say, "you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket," so you shouldn't rely on the one revenue stream, ie. PPC revenue. For this reason it's worth spending time developing some of your names and also trying to sell some of your domains.

Some may have already seen this, but our domain sales continue to generate more revenue than our parking business, see this article.

I hope this answered all the questions/comments. Let me know if anyone has any other concerns.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[Spade]

I've mentioned this a number of times previously (quite possibly in this thread already) that it is important to test your domains across a variety of parking platforms. Again, some are suited to Google feeds, other Yahoo. Even between Google/Yahoo providers some domains will perform better at different companies. eg. Fab vs DS vs Sedo vs ND or HitFarm vs Parked vs Smartname.

I think it's becoming more and more important to diversify the way domain owners monetize their portfolio. As they say, "you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket," so you shouldn't rely on the one revenue stream, ie. PPC revenue. For this reason it's worth spending time developing some of your names and also trying to sell some of your domains.

I think this is what bothers me most about domain parking companies in general right now. They always say "Not all domains will work as well with us as others"....

To me - the correct response should be, "Lets find out why certain domains perform better at one parking company, and try to emulate or fix what we can do to improve it"...

I hear less talk of improvement, and more talk of - try someone else...

Thats why this industry is slipping so much - where is the innovative company thats willing to try to do better?

 

[Pound]

I am currently getting the following text on all my sites parked with you (there are no ads):

No input file specified.

 

[Mike Robertson]

Sorry for the delay Pound. The tech guys resolved this issue yesterday. If anyone is experiencing further problems, please let me know.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[Seabass]

I think this is what bothers me most about domain parking companies in general right now. They always say "Not all domains will work as well with us as others"....

To me - the correct response should be, "Lets find out why certain domains perform better at one parking company, and try to emulate or fix what we can do to improve it"...

I hear less talk of improvement, and more talk of - try someone else...

Thats why this industry is slipping so much - where is the innovative company thats willing to try to do better?

Justin......I agree with you. Mike, I do appreciate your detailed response as I know that takes time.

Mike....this is my opinion so please do not be offended. You should just be adding images instead of me making submissions for requests for photos added. You are not being proactive in solving the problem with your angle on photo submissions. You are totally losing income by not having the/enough images.....this is why Parked.com is kicking your butt.......on almost all fronts except for gambling. Why develop such great landers as you currently have, but then not follow through with photos. I actually have been complaining about the lack of photos for years now. I guess you guys don't think it is relative. This is why you lost my business a couple of years ago......Parked had the images and you did not. I complained and nothing was done, so I took my thousands of domains elsewhere, and when I added the correct images my domains revenue shot through the roof.

FYI.....almost NO domain is making more at Fabulous anymore in comparison to Parked........Fabulous has totally slipped in payout. I've tested literally hundreds of primo generics at Fabulous and compared each one individually. Fabulous lost out 98% of the time. IT did NOT used to be like this. The thunderous earnings have diminished to menial payouts with bad CTR's......and this is comparing Fabulous to Parked right now...... not six months ago......so the relative decline in the industry is across the board as you said and that is what I am comparing FAB too. I'm comparing bad earnings at Parked.com to bad earnings at Fabulous. Parked.com wins with flying colors.

You are also telling me to sell my domains since they don't do well, or develop them by taking them out of parking, or try other services as well. While there is some merit to this, it still almost makes me think that you don't want our business, and also that maybe something else is going on, like maybe you don't think Fabulous will be in the domain parking business for long. Something does not compute here. With the market worsening you guys should be working furiously to improve earnings so we don't all leave. You must be thinking domains sales is the future and domain parking is dead. However, I have no intention of ever selling my domains. I'm not in the biz to do that. I want PPC revenue....not domain sales or domain development. I am not going to do sales/development to any serious degree. I might partner with someone who wants to develop, but I won't do developing again. My best skill is acquiring great domains. It's what I do, but I need great parking co's also.

Thanks for your time reading this as it is meant to help, not insult.

 

[Sidharth]

Hi Mike,

I had got approved for Fab on 4th of Nov. I am having 500 around domains which are showing in panel but they are still not optimized. Any idea how long will it take so that NS be changed. If i do optimize them myself would the results be different than done by yours. Also can u tell which redirection performs best Roar or Premium.

While waiting I tried to optimize some myself & set the redirection to Roar which was done next day by your people. But since i was not completely satisfied with some irrelevant search links i tried to modify them. Now after that the "Further Reading" & " "Essential Info" columns on left have disappeared and a new column "Helpful Info" has appeared on right. Is it possible to modify these columns if i want as i would like all the three to be there.

One more thing is it better to have some unrelated links or should all the links be related to domain keyword.

Really liked the editor, though as discussed elsewhere in this thread more picture would be better. Also read somewhere that searchbox is available but couldn't find it.

Can u please help?

Sidharth

 

[Mike Robertson]

Hi Seabass,

Thanks for the detailed response, I appreciate your time and constructive feedback. I have forwarded your comments about the image library through to our design team, hopefully they can start increasing our database soon.

My comments about selling and developing weren't directed at you specifically, it was a general comment and how we approach the domain industry ourselves, with our portfolio. In no way did I mean to offend you or insinuate that your domains aren't any good or that we (as a company) do not value business from our domain partners. In fact, the complete opposite, we know how important our customers are, and strive to offer the best service possible.

I know it's been awhile since we released any major upgrades to our parking platform, and I'm keen to get the developers to work on "freshening" up the landers and program in general. A lot of development time this year was dedicated to the Domain Distribution Network (DDN) so I'm pushing for Fabulous Parking "makeover" next year.

If anyone has any comments/feedback they would like to offer, feel free to send it to me directly, mike at fabulous dot com.

Sidharth - can you please PM me your Fabulous username and I will take a look at your account and get your domains optimized accordingly.

In response to your questions, if you are setting up your domains yourself, it's best to use the Premium > Fabulous+ Lander option, rather than Roar.

Searchboxes are available on 2-click landers and the second page of 1-clicks. I have asked for them to be included on the first page of 1-clicks but at this stage it's still in the queue of things to do. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[Sidharth]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for reply. My account is all setup & confirmed by your representative Everett who was continuously in touch with me.

I was again trying to optimize some domains with layout & keywords where i found that in Target keywords & Related Keywords all fields were empty. Is it so configured so that they automatically generate themselves as per the domain name.

I tried to use some keywords in Target & Related fields which i generated them from Google Adwords having max Search & max CPC. Will the revenue be better in such case as compared to your standard algorithm? Also do these changes have to be approved from your side.

Great Service & very helpful

 

[Seabass]

Thanks for the response Mike. That's a fair answer.....I can see how the DDN took up a lot of time. Those kind of things always take a whole lot of effort.

I look forward to the improvements. I know Fabulous can be the best if just some things were to change.

Thanks again, Seabass

 

[Mike Robertson]

Hi Sidharth,

Our upstream provider will automatically select relevant keywords for your domains, unless you specify them yourself.

Whilst they get it right most of the time, there are instances where manual optimization is required. For domains that have a large amount of traffic, I would suggest optimizing the domains yourself, using the method you suggested; search x CPC.

Any changes you make to keywords will go through our Customer Support team for approval. You will receive email confirmation within 15-20 minutes of submitting your changes.

Let me know if there are any further questions.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[Hammerhead]

Hi Mike

PM sent

 

[Mike Robertson]

Hi Hammerhead,

Just replied to your PM.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[FreshAvails.com]

Something is up with the stats. 0's across the board for today. Can you look into it please Mike? Thanks.

 

[Mike Robertson]

Hi all,

We have just posted the following news item in all accounts:

We are currently experiencing a delay in the report of domain statistics.

You may notice issues with statistics reporting between 1pm and 9pm Registry time, December 1st.

Statistics are still being accurately recorded, the issues only affect display of these stats within your account. They will catch up again when the issue has been resolved.

We apologize for any inconveniences, and hope to have this resolved soon.

If there are any questions or concerns, please contact me directly.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[Mike Robertson]

Hi all,

I've got some good news, Search boxes were added to all 1-click landers yesterday!

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[npcomplete]

Hi all,

I've got some good news, Search boxes were added to all 1-click landers yesterday!

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

That is good news Mike. Thanks!

 

[Pound]

Hi all,

I've got some good news, Search boxes were added to all 1-click landers yesterday!

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

Excellent! A change I've been looking forward to for a while.

 

[doggyowner]

Hi all,

I've got some good news, Search boxes were added to all 1-click landers yesterday!

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

What benefits will this have? Sorry if I am missing something bleeding obvious Merry Xmas Mike and the rest of Fab!

 

[SpareDomains]

What benefits will this have? Sorry if I am missing something bleeding obvious Merry Xmas Mike and the rest of Fab!

a user goes to your parked page and the links that google generates are not what the user is looking for, there needs to be a search box so that the user can find what they are looking for as with no search box they would most likely close the page instead of clicking on something they are not interested in, been asking for the search box for a while now good job Mike.

 

[Mike Robertson]

What benefits will this have? Sorry if I am missing something bleeding obvious Merry Xmas Mike and the rest of Fab!

a user goes to your parked page and the links that google generates are not what the user is looking for, there needs to be a search box so that the user can find what they are looking for as with no search box they would most likely close the page instead of clicking on something they are not interested in, been asking for the search box for a while now good job Mike.

What SpareDomains said! :D