Most important stats when parking domains?

[scuba]

I first want to say that I am a noob, so please bear with me. I'm trying to figure out what are the factors that are most important when trying to find a domain name that will be used to earn parking revenue. I understand I could sell domains and the development aspect of it would make things more valuable, but setting that stuff aside, what are the things you guys look for?

For instance, I know that pretty much the higher the numbers the better no matter what stats you are looking at, but what are good minimum values to look for? Right now I use Estibot and the Adwords Keyword Tool as my primary references. For these tools, what are the most important categories to look at and what are the minimum values you guys think are acceptable for a domain to be considered worth buying?

Like I mentioned, I'm looking to monetize my domains thru parking them and then if I can sell them while they are parked, that is a bonus. I hear a lot of people saying it is easy to make $1-2 a day or more on each parked domain. I think if you can even make this per month on each domain it is worth it and this is what I'm after. I just want to make sure I know exactly what to look for before I go blow a bunch of money.

I really appreciate any help you guys can give on this topic.

 

[shockie]

i think that the most important stats would be traffic and click-through rate.

 

[nicedomains]

i think that the most important stats would be traffic and click-through rate.

+1

Also, very important is the rpc (revenue per click)

 

[netmeg]

More important than pretty much anything else (to begin with) is traffic. If you don't get traffic, it's just not going to work. Unfortunately, you're pretty limited as to how you can get traffic. You can monetize EXISTING traffic, but few if any parking companies will allow you to actually drive traffic to a parked page (because their search engine feeds don't allow it)

 

[scuba]

I appreciate the responses, but I don't think you guys are actually answering my questions. That isn't meant to be rude, but I'm looking for more specifics. I understand traffic is the key thing, but what parts of the tools that I mentioned would you look at to determine the appropriate traffic to make money by parking (i.e. PPC Ads in Estibot, Frequency in Google in Estibot, Search Volume (exact) in the Keywords Tool, etc.)? And which of these stats do you weigh the most and what values would the different categories need to be at minimum to even consider a domain worth buying?

 

[netmeg]

I think you're going at it backwards.

You need to read through a lot of these items in his forum. Parking, as a whole, is going down - way down in many cases - as far as income opportunity. There might be people buying domains specifically to park - but I don't know of any. Buy to resell, or buy to develop? Yes. Buy to park? Maybe, but I doubt it.

 

[shockie]

...PPC Ads in Estibot, Frequency in Google in Estibot, Search Volume (exact) in the Keywords Tool, etc...

none of those in terms of parking. if there is no traffic, none of those matter.

 

[scuba]

none of those in terms of parking. if there is no traffic, none of those matter.

I was just throwing those ones out there so you knew what I was talking about. What helps you determine traffic and potential revenue then if not the stats these tools provide?

 

[johname]

There might be people buying domains specifically to park - but I don't know of any. Buy to resell, or buy to develop? Yes. Buy to park? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Agreed I dont buy names with the only plan is to park them anymore, there got to be something else there.

Your looking for a magic web tool that will tell you there is traffic and clickablity for a specfic domain, well there is no tool.

You offen have to use your finely tuned intution which comes with expirence.

 

[scuba]

Hmmm, I'm not sure why you guys are not understanding what I am asking. I am not looking for some magic tool. I'm asking how to interpret the stats of the two tools I mentioned in the first post and which stats do you guys rely the most on when determining if a domain is worth buying (outside of the obvious "does the domain sound good", "do the words flow together", "what's the extension", "is the name long or short", etc.). I know I am new to domaining, but the "your site needs traffic" concept is about as basic and broad of a statment as you can make.

I also understand the ultimate goal is to resell the domain (whether it is developed or not). I want to know though that the domains I am buying are not only sellable, but are good enough to earn some money parking while I try to sell them. Also, although I may be new to this, I have read many posts of people making the $1-2 per day or per month and more from parking, so it's hard to believe there aren't at least SOME people buying domains mainly for this purpose. I am trying to figure out what stats people look at to determine that a domain has a solid chance of earning this type of revenue.

I apologize if I'm coming across as rude, but I'm not sure how to make it more clear what I'm asking for help with. Thanks again for your responses.

 

[johname]

I'm asking how to interpret the stats of the two tools I mentioned in the first post

I never use Estibot, and Adwords Keyword Tool is helpful

I know I am new to domaining, but the "your site needs traffic" concept is about as basic and broad of a statment as you can make.

sounds so broad, but soooo important, the problem is no matter how much you stare at the Adwords Keyword Tool it will never tell you how much traffic a name has.

I want to know though that the domains I am buying are not only sellable, but are good enough to earn some money parking while I try to sell them.

You may be surprised how many good sounding names make no money parked

Also, although I may be new to this, I have read many posts of people making the $1-2 per day or per month and more from parking

Yes but they got there hands on these names a while back and they wont sell them to you without you paying many time thier yearly earnings.

so it's hard to believe there aren't at least SOME people buying domains mainly for this purpose.

Yes there are people that do this but the have built up proffits over the years and they squash low ball domainers like a bug lol

I am trying to figure out what stats people look at to determine that a domain has a solid chance of earning this type of revenue.

(outside of the obvious "does the domain sound good", "do the words flow together", "what's the extension", "is the name long or short", etc.).

They used the comon sense thing that you already know more than you may think

Plus many ask to see parking stats before they buy or test the domain first

 

[estibot.com]

I agree with the posters here that parking sucks and trying to find domains that do well in parking without knowing the traffic beforehand is a game you cannot win.

Hand registering domains for parking is risky, because there is no guarantee of type-in traffic. Buying domains for parking is not good either, because the price is usually an unreasonable multiple of parking revenue, and parking revenues are going down, at least for now.

Having said that, in response to your original question, the stats I look at are exact searches, Overture is not good for this although it will give some idea. Wordtracker is better, but it omits millions of decent terms altogether. Google keyword tool is best, because of its completeness. Look for EXACT searches above 1,000 per month for 3-word dotcoms, and above 100 for two-word dotcoms, well that's what I look for anyway. Look for PPC bids above $5. I use my own tools (estibot) to find available domain names, but I also double check the stats with the Google keyword tool. If they both say "go" then I reg it.

However, I _always_ have development in mind, because even with those stats, very few do well in parking. There is the odd hand reg now and then that does surprisingly well. But even if Google or Esibot says $5 PPC bid, that will probably translate to $0.05 in parking, although occasionally there is the high dollar click. Parking generally sucks, I think it's been said enough times..

Resale is obviously another good strategy for those chosen few who are good at it, but I'm really not.

 

[krx]

Look for EXACT searches above 1,000 per month for 3-word dotcoms, and above 100 for two-word dotcoms, well that's what I look for anyway. Look for PPC bids above $5. I use my own tools (estibot) to find available domain names, but I also double check the stats with the Google keyword tool. If they both say "go" then I reg it.

Very interesting. I don't typically require such high PPC but would also typically not consider anything with less than 200 exact search - even then only for resale or development, not for parking. I have a strong, commercial, generic 2 word dot com that gets 3000 exact search, a full Ad competition bar, and $2 PPC but only makes about $3/month parked.

Esa, how do you weigh the Ad competition? I find a good name now and then, with good search and decent PPC ... but low ad comp. I've been working with a formula that basically multiplies PPC x Ad Comp % x exact search. For example, $5 PPC x 50% (.5) AdComp x 100 search = 250. If you set this (just for example) as your minimum, you gain some flexibility with names that might have lower PPC but higher AdComp or Search, and vice versa.

Any idea what it means when you get a good number in the Avg Search Volume column (say 12,000) but get "Not enough data" in the Search Volume: [month] column? I get this a fair bit but don't really know what to make of it.

 

[estibot.com]

Very interesting. I don't typically require such high PPC but would also typically not consider anything with less than 200 exact search - even then only for resale or development, not for parking. I have a strong, commercial, generic 2 word dot com that gets 3000 exact search, a full Ad competition bar, and $2 PPC but only makes about $3/month parked.

I dont' actually require >$5 CPC either, but it helps. I always have development in mind, so I don't even worry about parking. However, if your hand regged name makes $3 per month parked, then you're all set - it's a profitable name! But then again I assume your 2word dotcom with 3000 exact searches is not a hand reg? Mind telling me via PM what the name is, sounds like an interesting case study?

Esa, how do you weigh the Ad competition? I find a good name now and then, with good search and decent PPC ... but low ad comp. I've been working with a formula that basically multiplies PPC x Ad Comp % x exact search. For example, $5 PPC x 50% (.5) AdComp x 100 search = 250. If you set this (just for example) as your minimum, you gain some flexibility with names that might have lower PPC but higher AdComp or Search, and vice versa.

Good question - I usually look for low # of SERP + high search, high CPC names. That's high KEI for the technical minded. Those perform well: less organic competition, more ad competition. Also easier to SEO up the ranks.

Any idea what it means when you get a good number in the Avg Search Volume column (say 12,000) but get "Not enough data" in the Search Volume: [month] column? I get this a fair bit but don't really know what to make of it.

Another good question. I always regard those with skepticism. I've found that such terms are often suspect and the "average" result may be an exaggeration - but not always. I can't put my finger on it, but something smells there.