How Much Could a Super-Premium Generic .COM Domain Make from Parking?

[DomainTalker]

This is something that's fascinated me...

I often hear it said that the great .Com generic names make a terrific income from parking...But, I've never seen posted any approx real $$ numbers that they might earn the owner per month...


I'm not asking for personal secrets, of course....But, I'd be grateful if those that know could share some ball park figures that may be realistic?


Suppose, for example, one owned, say, Camera.com...


Google Keyword Tracker says: 1,500,000 searches per month for that Keyword

Wordtracker says: 48,794/mo

Lots of PPC Ads, too


What sort of income might the owner receive per month?


C'mon, you old hands....Make me drool...

.

 

[-REECE-]

Different domains will have different percentages of direct navigation traffic. Let's assume 5% to make the calculation easier, so you're looking at 75,000 visitors to your parking page per month.

Now let's assume you have a 10% CTR (this will again heavily depend on keyword optimization and on the category of the domain).. So you end up with 7500 clicks/month.

Suppose the ad feed provider makes $1/click on camera.com on average -- take that $1 and factor in your rev share (or your rev share of your parking companies rev share).

Take the 7500 clicks, multiply by what you're left with per click after the ad feed provider and parking company have taken their share. This is your monthly income. Divide by 365/12 to figure out what it makes per day on average.

This is something that's fascinated me...

I often hear it said that the great .Com generic names make a terrific income from parking...But, I've never seen posted any approx real $$ numbers that they might earn the owner per month...


I'm not asking for personal secrets, of course....But, I'd be grateful if those that know could share some ball park figures that may be realistic?


Suppose, for example, one owned, say, Camera.com...


Google Keyword Tracker says: 1,500,000 searches per month for that Keyword

Wordtracker says: 48,794/mo

Lots of PPC Ads, too


What sort of income might the owner receive per month?


C'mon, you old hands....Make me drool...

.

 

[ALG]

Different domains will have different percentages of direct navigation traffic. Let's assume 5% to make the calculation easier, so you're looking at 75,000 visitors to your parking page per month.

Now let's assume you have a 10% CTR (this will again heavily depend on keyword optimization and on the category of the domain).. So you end up with 7500 clicks/month.

Suppose the ad feed provider makes $1/click on camera.com on average -- take that $1 and factor in your rev share (or your rev share of your parking companies rev share).

Take the 7500 clicks, multiply by what you're left with per click after the ad feed provider and parking company have taken their share. This is your monthly income. Divide by 365/12 to figure out what it makes per day on average.

Its about whether your parking page is within the first three pages or an incredible typein...

&.........word REECE!!!

 

[sgtppr]

how much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood

 

[-REECE-]

My example above assumes no expired/SE traffic which might not necessarily be the case -- that's difficult to quantify without knowing more about the domain. To provide a number figure, you could likely expect low $XXX/day on a name like Camera.com. My example is greatly simplified and assumes many things remain constant that likely wouldn't. Anything from time of the year to time of the day to location of the visitors/traffic quality, which ad is being clicked (and it's relevancy to the domain), the likelihood of conversions and their value to an advertiser, keyword competition, etc could influence what a generic brings in on any given day.

 

[cobainer]

A friend of mine bought this domain name based on cricket world cup....& he ended up making around $2500 within the first 2 hours...

he's now got it renewed for the next 10 years..

 

[soggyindo]

nice thread OP, and comments, guys.

it's said that Spyware.com makes $1000 a day. I'm not sure what the latest figures are...

 

[bmugford]

Well, parking a super premium domain is stupid in the first place. It is a huge waste having a domain with that potential and parking it.

 

[-REECE-]

Completely agree

Well, parking a super premium domain is stupid in the first place. It is a huge waste having a domain with that potential and parking it.

 

[DomainTalker]

Thanks Reece & others for the comments...

I find this whole Premium generics issue really interesting, as a domainer.


I mean, we fairly regularly see prices paid for generics of, say, $150,000-$400,000...And often a lot more....And, then just parked (eg Cameras(.)com was bought for $1.5m, then parked - Camera(.)com is parked - Bids for the parked Iraq(.)com of $400,000 etc etc

We've seen LL.com's go for $150,000-$750,000, or so...Many of them parked.


Naturally, there's the potential speculative capital gain, over time, with this quality of name. But, in the meantime....This kind of investment is serious money. And, it would need to give a decent ROI, on an annualized basis to make it worthwhile - otherwise, its a lot of cash tied up, performing poorly....That kind of money could be invested in something else that does offer a high return.


It'd be good to develop a discussion about this. So, we understand the real investment value - and, to help us understand the investment/return dynamics, on the higher numbers related to domain investment strategy.

For super-premiums, at, say, $xxx,xxx purchase price:

* Park?

* Develop?

* Capital gain - over time?


I'd like to understand more clearly whether it truly would be worth considering serious $xxx,xxx to invest in premium .com names....The day-to-day ROI on high $$ investment seems fairly unclear.

Eg, if someone were to invest, say $300,000-$400,000 in anything, they would be looking for a minimum 10% pa net return on that investment - ie $30,000- $40,000, after tax - often more...


How do the super-premium domain investments stack up with that?


Opinions - and experience on this - very welcome....

.

 

[sags]

You could compare spending a 1 million dollars for a premium domain name and parking it.

Or, spending 1 million dollars to buy a franchised business.

Buying a domain name and parking it, means your total overhead is 8 dollars a year for registration fees. There is no work involved at all. Presumably you own the domain name forever, and can sell it at any time to recover your original investment. The parking fees were all returns on the investment.

Buy a franchise and you have to put up a building, buy the eqipment necessary, hire, train and pay staff, hire an accountant, pay taxes, utilities, and all the other expenses. Then you hope you are successful and can make a profit after you pay the franchiser royalties. You may be able to sell the franchise in the future if it is a successful business. You also get to work 20 hours a day on the business.

If a person desired a 5 per cent return on investment, they would have to earn 50,000 dollars a year from parking or affiliate programs.

50,000 divided by 365= 136.98 per day.

The franchisee would have to pay taxes on the income. In many places of the world, the domain earnings would be tax free.

People were pouring billions into US Treasury Bills that paid almost nothing.

They must not know about domain names.

These days a 5 per cent return looks pretty good. The domain name pays for itself in less than 20 years.

I think most of the premium domain names are sold between domainers. A domainer who got into the game early generates enormous returns and can afford to add to his portfolio.

Investors, such as pension fund, sovereign wealth funds, etc. have all overlooked the opportunity here because they don't understand the business model.

 

[blaknite]

Different domains will have different percentages of direct navigation traffic. Let's assume 5% to make the calculation easier, so you're looking at 75,000 visitors to your parking page per month.

Now let's assume you have a 10% CTR (this will again heavily depend on keyword optimization and on the category of the domain).. So you end up with 7500 clicks/month.

Suppose the ad feed provider makes $1/click on camera.com on average -- take that $1 and factor in your rev share (or your rev share of your parking companies rev share).

Take the 7500 clicks, multiply by what you're left with per click after the ad feed provider and parking company have taken their share. This is your monthly income. Divide by 365/12 to figure out what it makes per day on average.

I don't own anything that I'd call a true premium generic. (the kind that sell for xxx,xxx or better) I do have a few names that I've bought between 1K and 15K that are pretty good generics though. I see a few factors here that are off base from what you can expect from a true premium generic. Most of my best names (the ones I've paid serious cash for) see a ctr between 70% - 90%. Also direct navigation on those names is usually 99% or better. They have never been a website so there is virtually no backlinks or expired traffic coming to them. Just in case you want to redo your calculations given some different assumptions.

Also you can throw an error percentage in there for revenue share. Chances are if you have a name that brings in $50,000 or more a year you can get a better revenue share than little ol' me...

The last factor you need to churn around is the product nature of the domain. Cruises.com is going to make a heck of a lot more than hats.com There is just more money per sale on a vacation cruise than there is on a hat, so obviously you will get more per click. This is where most of my domains suffer. I can sometimes afford to grab up a low paying word from time to time, but I'd have to sell my house to even bid on some of the better ones.

 

[takita787]

It really depends/is hard to estimate. But a great domain + SEO & parking is bound to make some decent/worthwile $$

 

[soggyindo]

^ great comments above.

if you're getting plenty of traffic, and your name is related to information on a topic -- or doesn't lend itself to instant sales -- parking is an excellent option. as mentioned earlier, click through rates can be enormous, much more on a parked site than a site where you have to follow adsense TOS and keep ads secondary to content.

it is also a heck easier to persuade a person to click for more information (and earn $$) than to open up the credit card and make a purchase. much affiliate CTR is pretty woeful.

also, there are a whole lot of people out there who know how to play with domains like a wiz, but running a business and producing a profitable site -- it can be a completely separate question altogether.

 

[-REECE-]

I believe you missed my second post

Generics are starting to get developed now. The big domain companies started on it seriously (last year?) and now it seems many of the bigger domainers are following suit.

I don't own anything that I'd call a true premium generic. (the kind that sell for xxx,xxx or better) I do have a few names that I've bought between 1K and 15K that are pretty good generics though. I see a few factors here that are off base from what you can expect from a true premium generic. Most of my best names (the ones I've paid serious cash for) see a ctr between 70% - 90%. Also direct navigation on those names is usually 99% or better. They have never been a website so there is virtually no backlinks or expired traffic coming to them. Just in case you want to redo your calculations given some different assumptions.

Also you can throw an error percentage in there for revenue share. Chances are if you have a name that brings in $50,000 or more a year you can get a better revenue share than little ol' me...

The last factor you need to churn around is the product nature of the domain. Cruises.com is going to make a heck of a lot more than hats.com There is just more money per sale on a vacation cruise than there is on a hat, so obviously you will get more per click. This is where most of my domains suffer. I can sometimes afford to grab up a low paying word from time to time, but I'd have to sell my house to even bid on some of the better ones.

 

[h2o]

These days a 5 per cent return looks pretty good. The domain name pays for itself in less than 20 years.

.

The internet has barely been running for 20 years and at the rate technology is evolving it is foolish to assume what the net will be like in five years, let alone 20.

 

[gazzip]

Thanks Reece & others for the comments...

I find this whole Premium generics issue really interesting, as a domainer.


I mean, we fairly regularly see prices paid for generics of, say, $150,000-$400,000...And often a lot more....And, then just parked (eg Cameras(.)com was bought for $1.5m, then parked - Camera(.)com is parked - Bids for the parked Iraq(.)com of $400,000 etc etc

.

I think these sort of buys have very little to do with the PPC potential or return and much more to do with percieved resale value due to memorability/mindshare of the domain and what the ultimate enduser man with a plan may pay for it.

They're still "speculative" but on a much much larger scale

Buying and selling based purely on PPC ROI is a corporate domainer formular made to minimize the risk.

If you can afford to buy, sit on and turn down large offers on domains like Blue.com, Rally.com, Property.com etc then the PPC is just more of a bonus rather than the endgame.

The real ROI comes when they sell it to the "ultimate end user" for many times what they paid for it and more than any 10x PPC income.

Just because people say they're not selling does'nt mean they won't for the right price !


well...that's the way I read it I may be wrong ?




.

 

[Aggro]

You could compare spending a 1 million dollars for a premium domain name and parking it.

Or, spending 1 million dollars to buy a franchised business.

Anyone with sense would be waiting & hunting for foreclosure/distressed property at pennies on the dollar.
And getting huge ABSOLUTE returns

Look around - that's exactly why veteran domainers are currently cashing up (stuff they can live without) waiting for dirt cheap bargains in real estate/property.

People were pouring billions into US Treasury Bills that paid almost nothing.

They must not know about domain names.

These days a 5 per cent return looks pretty good. The domain name pays for itself in less than 20 years.

I think most of the premium domain names are sold between domainers. A domainer who got into the game early generates enormous returns and can afford to add to his portfolio.

Investors, such as pension fund, sovereign wealth funds, etc. have all overlooked the opportunity here because they don't understand the business model.

Funny

Some of you parrots comparing domains v real estate/stocks need to get real.
Now, where are the domainers yachts, smart guy..?

Real estate: worldwide worth TRILLIONS
Stocks: worlwide worth TRILLIONS. Recent stock market falls, wealth destruction measured in TRILLIONS.
Domains:80% of ALL domains with any value would be appraised at merely < $5 BILLION.

That's basically 80% of the whole industry right there.
Chump change when compared to other asset classes.
Yes - that includes the portfolios of Marchex, Schilling, Reinvent, Buydomains, IREIT, Anything, Digimedia and most of the other significant players

Yeah buddy, INDIVIDUAL (billionaire) investors have lost BILLIONS in net wealth from stock market falls.
I suppose Warren Buffet, sovereign funds will now put all their $BILLIONS in pocket change into a bunch of illiquid domains b/c the stock market and real estate are performing so badly. NOT.
Did I mention the cap of domain market was < $5 BN?! LOL

How well are the private equity/corporate investors of IREIT, namemedia (buydomains) etc doing..?
Yep, since IREIT is going down the toilet and namemedia couldn't get their IPO off, them investors sure as heck "don't get it" LOL


Never take financial advice from posters on domain forums. :great:

 

[DDC_Cyn]

At DDC.com we park domains such as Free.com, Forsale.com, Pianos.com -- so basically, the kinds of domains you're talking about. Now obviously I can't get into client specifics but suffice to say that there are domains that bring in what I would call a living wage on a monthly basis.

But I think that you should look at domaining more like building a stock portfolio than buying a business. Like stocks, it's speculative in that you do your research, you buy low, sell high and hope for a nice, steady income in between. If you're good at what you do, you minimize the risk, but, as it is with stocks, there's no sure thing.

When you look at it as a portfolio - you have a person with a batch of domains, some better than others, some need to mature, some might be on their last profitable leg. Some will do better with a couple of thousand thrown in for basic development where others will make a tidy profit with nothing but the typical ad format.

The point is - it's not an all or nothing deal - I spent half a million on a domain name now I'm going to sit here and see if it pays. Like all investments, they need to be watched and nurtured. Education, experience and a little bit of luck makes it a winning game for many. Jumping on the bandwagon for a quick buck, however, rarely works.

 

[Seabass]

$1,500 a day is the highest I have seen and have verified. Totally generic domain.

It's not mine.