PARKED.COM - Official Thread!

[TOXX]

Hi,

Welcome to the OFFICIAL PARKED.COM thread!

 

[goodkarmaco]

Don't jump all over me for saying this as I have no clue if it is true.

Is it possible all the members who have jumped onto the arbitrage bandwagon have created a lower payouts score for everyone at Parked?

Yes, no, maybe?

 

[Avo19]

Don't jump all over me for saying this as I have no clue if it is true.

Is it possible all the members who have jumped onto the arbitrage bandwagon have created a lower payouts score for everyone at Parked?

Yes, no, maybe?

doubt it. Arb'ers are a drop in the ocean compared to mainstream domainers. The majority just can't get it to work.

 

[Mobi Cheap]

aargh

My sentiments exactly.

Yesterday's number hasn't even finalized officially yet, but the total has dropped a lot.

Regarding the arbitrage theory above: shouldn't arbitrage actually increase conversion rates?

At least compared to the random expired domain (which is often terra incognita to the new owner and hence offers less scope for relevant keywords being used compared to arbitrageur controlled domains)?

Don't arbitrageurs know much better where their visitors come from and what they expect to find after they click on the text ad?

 

[packrat]

Speaking of arbitrage Did I recall seeing somewhere in this long long thread
that traffic from MSN Adcenter is OK with Parked?

 

[Avo19]

Speaking of arbitrage Did I recall seeing somewhere in this long long thread
that traffic from MSN Adcenter is OK with Parked?

Yep. Traffic from Google & MSN is OK. But not Yahoo, for obvious reasons.

 

[madpoet]

Yes to both Mobi and packrat

 

[Mobi Cheap]

Speaking of arbitrage Did I recall seeing somewhere in this long long thread
that traffic from MSN Adcenter is OK with Parked?

Hope this isn't a trick question, but that's my recollection too.

 

[mrizos]

Yep. Traffic from Google & MSN is OK. But not Yahoo, for obvious reasons.

As soon as MSN see's you sending traffic to a parked page they will set your keywords to inactive even if you have custom content.

 

[Seabass]

Don't jump all over me for saying this as I have no clue if it is true.

Is it possible all the members who have jumped onto the arbitrage bandwagon have created a lower payouts score for everyone at Parked?

Yes, no, maybe?

That is a good question I bet most have not thought about.

I bet with Parked though they would not allow it if it was weighing the boat down any. If anything the volume that could bring might lift up earnings.

I do know lower performing players can have a negative effect on the earnings percentage that Google will pay out to a parking company (probably same with Yahoo). I am friends with an owner of a parking company and he spent about three months closely analyzing some domainer's portfolios in 2007 that were long-time customers and he either had them nixed or asked them to leave (which I find sorta' offensive, but.....) and he was able to get a higher percentage cut.

However, I don't think it helped in the long run b/c domainers talk and if you nix or ask them to leave they will tell others. His company has been stagnating since then.

 

[tonyfloyd]

is this 100% true??

As soon as MSN see's you sending traffic to a parked page they will set your keywords to inactive even if you have custom content.

 

[bradocconor]

I dont know about this RPC thing. Here is what I know though. I have closed up everyday but one when I was down a buck or so for the last 10 days. Yesterday on ($972.00) revenue I closed up at $1107 today (portfolio trick) to see before you close out. My TQ score was a 10 changed to no score and is now a 5 so go figure.

 

[Avo19]

is this 100% true??

not for me....so far

 

[tonyfloyd]

my rev stats dropped 30% after update.....wtf???

 

[netmeg]

is this 100% true??

I was assured by someone at adCenter that this was going to be the case effective immediately. I was also told that if the added content was ABOVE the links/categories, it would probably fly, but of course, that's not part of the current Parked templates.

So if you're using MSN, and you're still up and running, take full advantage of it, but start making plans against the day that your account goes dark.

 

[Mike]

I was assured by someone at adCenter that this was going to be the case effective immediately. I was also told that if the added content was ABOVE the links/categories, it would probably fly, but of course, that's not part of the current Parked templates.

So if you're using MSN, and you're still up and running, take full advantage of it, but start making plans against the day that your account goes dark.

Wouldn't this be all the more reason to see truly customizable templates,... quickly?!
Templates that work on a module type basis? (i laid the idea out publicly once and sent Donny a PM about it) Let's hope this happens soon as one of the compelling reasons to be at parked is the opportunity to arbitrage.

M.

 

[tonyfloyd]

true....but even the arb at parked doesn't seem to be working as planned...(:.....started off well....but can't figure put what has gone so wrong lately???....

 

[Mobi Cheap]

Wouldn't this be all the more reason to see truly customizable templates,... quickly?!
Templates that work on a module type basis? (i laid the idea out publicly once and sent Donny a PM about it) Let's hope this happens soon as one of the compelling reasons to be at parked is the opportunity to arbitrage.

M.

Indeed!

 

[TOXX]

my rev stats dropped 30% after update.....wtf???

Mine too!!
...
You guys KNOW that I LOVE Parked, but my revenue hasn't been this low after the update for a very very long time now...
...
Must be something going on which I'm sure Donny will fix.

 

[netmeg]

Well... it's obviously in Parked and Yahoo's best interest to have the ads high enough 'above the fold' so that they get clicked on. I can't think that they'd reasonably want to see the ads pushed down below the content.

MSN's point is that they don't want to send paid traffic to sites where the ads are the first thing the user sees, and they have to scroll down to get to any content.

Something where at some point we could put content in the *middle* between two columns of categories/ads might work, but we won't know until 1) Parked can do it and 2) MSN can see it. Lotta ifs there.

 

[tonyfloyd]

all i know is that my adwords bids arent going lower....but my revenue is!......any thoughts on how to stop the bleeding??..besides bailing out completely??

 

[TOXX]

Funny, I just had one domain go from ~$80 to $5!!!
...
Don't panic, though, guys...I KNOW there is a good explanation for this.

 

[packrat]

all i know is that my adwords bids arent going lower....but my revenue is!......any thoughts on how to stop the bleeding??..besides bailing out completely??

Same here - Google just wiped out all the adgroups in one campaign with
an increase in prices.

I have been lucky in that I've found a few domains where RPC is good
and keyword pricing has remained static but the whole process is trial
and error.

The only way I see to keep ad costs down is to go to long tail keywords.
This won't give you a whole lot of traffic but might tide one over till
one's domains get indexed and start getting more natural traffic.

 

[Varon]

MSN's point is that they don't want to send paid traffic to sites where the ads are the first thing the user sees, and they have to scroll down to get to any content.

Something where at some point we could put content in the *middle* between two columns of categories/ads might work, but we won't know until 1) Parked can do it and 2) MSN can see it. Lotta ifs there.

The thing is, even if we satisfy all their "requirements" there is still no guarantee that they might not come up with something new. I had similar problems with MSN and told them point blank that I "cannot" create specialty websites for their guidelines. I'm paying "them" money and they aren't paying me anything except sending me visitors who come to their search engine for FREE. I myself stopped 20 campaigns and have a few crappy ones still running there. They can close them whenever they feel like it, it won't make a dent. Although their conversions are amazing, I can do without them.

It looks like I too might have to bail out of the PPC scene. I have a 9 score and nothing delightful to report on the RPC scene. Yesterday was the only day when my stats didn't get a "low down shakeup". I was able to manage a -$3 adjustment. On all days prior, I would lose 20-40% on finalization of stats. At the other end, I have parking panel RPC falling lower by the day. Plus... I haven't seen the stats at PP for ages. I'm kind of forgetting I even have some domains out there.

I need a Miller Lite or a Corona... I'm gonna get wasted tonight...lol....Any guys in the DC/VA area wanna get wasted, please pm me.

 

[hitchhiker]

Mine too!!
...
You guys KNOW that I LOVE Parked, but my revenue hasn't been this low after the update for a very very long time now...
...
Must be something going on which I'm sure Donny will fix.

same here. two parking services both using yahoo feeds. Both having the same keyword on a 1 page lander. Both having RPC dropping like crazy. HOWEVER, Parked is dropping alot faster . . . from $1.30 to 69c a click in a matter of 5 days. . . and this is with 70+ clicks a day so its not like a random click will effect the CPC.

lets hold hands and pray

 

[harkster]

I thought things had calmed down. Rock solid for 7 days and then around a 75% drop for 2 days straight.

I follow most of the parking threads and there does seem to be something rotten in the world of parking.

All the while my Adsense is on track to set a new record this month with basically the same sites and traffic.