Parked Page Pollution

[mhdoc]

As I look for long tail keyword domains to develop into mini sites I am finding more and more which are nothing but parked pages.

For example, this morning I looked at RetroLamps. The dot com is a parked page, the .net is available, the .org is a parked page, and the .info is a parked page that serves an ugly popunder. That is getting to be typical.

Since Whypark creates pages that at least look like they have useful information, perhaps that is why people have had some success getting them to rank.

Speaking as a content developer, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to write a page or two that would outrank any of them.

I have to wonder though, as more and more people park more and more domains if there won't be some backlash. I can imagine Google working hard to filter them out for example.

It also seems like a real opportunity for developers who can quickly write even marginal content.

 

[Kate]

Backlash ? Actually google provides the advertising feed for a lot of parked pages so if they filtered out parked names they would essentially shoot themselves in the foot. Right now the ranking for parked page is pretty low and that is normal...

While I understand your frustration about pollution I have seen a lot of so-called Adsense site that are pretty mediocre in terms of content. To me they hardly better than parked domains. Good, unique content does not grow on the trees.
I myself have hundreds of names that are parked, I will be developing some of them but I cannot develop hundreds of names in no time so I grab them for later use. If I didn't they would be grabbed by someone else and not necessarily put to good use.
I guess it's just a fact of life

 

[has2hands]

Hello,

I would love to know what percentage of Google's income from online advertising is derived from domainers or parked pages. Strictly parked pages.

Is it 2%...5%.... 10%...20% more ??

Think of the power domainers have!

And lets not forget about the others...Yahoo, etc.

What percentage do we contribute to their bottom lines??

WOW!

 

[netmeg]

Unlikely you will ever get that information.

 

[whitebark]

I agree with sdsinc. Many made for adsense pages are extreme low quality and just plain ugly. They look like they might hold useful content but upon closer inspection you see the scraped content from an article directory - aka - same article published 100 times.

They almost always have the whole top of the page covered in ads making it completely revolting to the eye - and they probably wonder why their ctr is in the 1-3% range...

And I also agree with sdsinc's second point - many of us do really develop our domains - we just have to hoard and park until we get to them!

 

[thebutler]

Show me some more please!!!

Wow if I found a strong keyword were everything was just a parked page I'd be all over that. Sure let the parked pages grow. It will make it easier to rank for some keywords.

Like you said it pretty easy to build a decent site. Think long term.

And I, like other folks here, am grabbing some domains for long term development. So they're parked right now making a few bucks until they become priority number one.

As I look for long tail keyword domains to develop into mini sites I am finding more and more which are nothing but parked pages.

For example, this morning I looked at RetroLamps. The dot com is a parked page, the .net is available, the .org is a parked page, and the .info is a parked page that serves an ugly popunder. That is getting to be typical.

Since Whypark creates pages that at least look like they have useful information, perhaps that is why people have had some success getting them to rank.

Speaking as a content developer, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to write a page or two that would outrank any of them.

I have to wonder though, as more and more people park more and more domains if there won't be some backlash. I can imagine Google working hard to filter them out for example.

It also seems like a real opportunity for developers who can quickly write even marginal content.

 

[unholy1]

I agree with sdsinc. Many made for adsense pages are extreme low quality and just plain ugly. They look like they might hold useful content but upon closer inspection you see the scraped content from an article directory - aka - same article published 100 times.

Yet, many still make a lot of money with crappy sites. I know it's not logical but quality does not always equate to better revenue.

They almost always have the whole top of the page covered in ads making it completely revolting to the eye - and they probably wonder why their ctr is in the 1-3% range...

Not all eyes are the same though, what's revolting to one eye may be enticing to another. (Click)

 

[whitebark]

Yet, many still make a lot of money with crappy sites. I know it's not logical but quality does not always equate to better revenue.

Not all eyes are the same though, what's revolting to one eye may be enticing to another. (Click)

Oh I have some of those ugly things as well, and yes they make money - but they are still damn ugly! But at least mine aren't scraped content - aka - decent serps.

 

[goodkarmaco]

Why not tell all your friends who develope domains to come here and buy my names that are parked?.

They could make a million by adding content to them.

 

[mhdoc]

Thanks for all the interesting comments. Since I wasn't sure exactly what I was trying to say the responses have been helpful.

I agree with the comments that this is a great time to accumulate names. I have a feeling a few years from now readers looking through the lists of available names in the archives will shake their heads in wonder at what wasn't picked up. I also suffer from the problem of registering more names than I can hope to develop in a timely way.

I also think it's not fair to lump all parked pages into one group. Some of them look nice and have useful information.

I wrote the post because I was surprised at how often I was looking up a possible name and finding that of four or five extensions registered ALL were parked pages. I'm not sure what the implications of that are; just that there must be some.

 

[goodkarmaco]

missing the boat

Webmasters and developers sometimes get mad at people who park names.

The thing is domainers who do this are really mavericks, seeing the name as future potential for a end user. Plus parking the name at least gives the traffic something revelent to look at. The parked names often times have much valuable material that cannot easily be found by the surfer until they land on the parked page.

Parking is not a sin. It provides some information for new markets and online subjects.

Developers who get upset about finding valuable keywords only resolving to a parked page have no right to get upset. They need to get out their wallets and offer some cash for the names and get to work developing them. Lots of nuggets buried in a parked page.

I cannot understand why this big market is untapped.

Webmasters are as slow to "get it" as the status quo marketing companies and corporations. These observations are not toward the poster of this thread, but are for those who are in a postion to grab these money making domains that have not been fully optimized and do not do so.

 

[netmeg]

I think of domains as being like real estate. For good domains (which in my definition are keyword-rich, and, for the most part, .com) the short term market value might move up and down, but ultimately, they are almost certainly going to be worth more in the long run. So it's just a question of how long you can afford to let your investment sit, and how you can monetize it in the meantime.

Man, if I only knew back in 1990 (when I registered my first domain - netmeg.ann-arbor.mi.us, back when they were FREE!) what I know now - well, I'd be so rich you'd never have seen or heard from me on this or any other forum. I'd have bought my own island by now.

Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20. Oh well.

 

[Kate]

Webmasters and developers sometimes get mad at people who park names.

Oh yes. Talk about missing the boat. Most webmasters are clueless about domains. They have no idea about the aftermarket. And it's hardly surprising: what did we know before we entered the arena ? :blink:
I've had an argument with a few arrogant webmasters who depict domainers as greedy and lazy speculators. But they think it's ok to make money from adsense ie the same advertising feed we are using

 

[jabier]

sdsinc,

You're damn rite, dude.. I've a webmaster friend told me that hundreds of domain I've "invested" is useless..and being a domainers is not a good, and he's pointing out the some ugly parked pages.

But when I showed him the same crappy sites from adsense, and asked him "Do these two pages just look exactly the same in users' view? The different is the one with crappy articles is owned by your fellow webmaster..."

He can't answered the question and got silence until now.

 

[mhdoc]

Developers who get upset about finding valuable keywords only resolving to a parked page have no right to get upset. They need to get out their wallets and offer some cash for the names and get to work developing them. Lots of nuggets buried in a parked page.

For the sake of discussion, and speaking as a developer, why should I get out my wallet? The search engines don't seem to care about the tld, so I can register whatever "trash" (.biz?) is still available. It doesn't take a lot of effort to write content that will outrank a parked page. At some point an end user will buy out the .com and develop it, but that could be years from now. For all I know, with the tiny niches I target, an over extended domainer who holds the .com may see my developed site and offer me a deal

 

[harkster]

I agree with sdsinc. Many made for adsense pages are extreme low quality and just plain ugly. They look like they might hold useful content but upon closer inspection you see the scraped content from an article directory - aka - same article published 100 times.

They almost always have the whole top of the page covered in ads making it completely revolting to the eye - and they probably wonder why their ctr is in the 1-3% range...

And I also agree with sdsinc's second point - many of us do really develop our domains - we just have to hoard and park until we get to them!

I agree with the statement about parking polution but they don't always have to be totally ugly as in www.whyrefinance.us (makes no money) but www.rosevillepottery.biz does quite well as does http://www.ozarkcountryrealty.com/ and www.dodgeturbo.com but again www.webroses.com isn't working at all.

Being one of those who got caught up in the Bodis disaster my mini-site development suffered but my ego has finally healed and am working on what names work well parked and which need to be mini-sites or developed.

I do mini-sites differently than most by using a CMS package (usually Drupal). A couple examples www.artpotteryplace.com, www.dubaifestival.info and just getting started with asiatraveler.info.

Am back looking for a decent content writer. Back in the mini-site saddle with www.roycroft.org (this one is fun and the click rate for the subtle ads is great).

What I am getting at is there is no perfect solution and I also get pissed not by the fact that a name I would love to work with is parked but that the owner wants some idiotly high price for an average name.

YAHR

 

[goodkarmaco]

pottery site is nice! What is it, ( cms package) ?

Mhdoc, the only reason really is type in traffic. Plus and this really is a big plus, owning the name that defines a market or category of business puts YOU in the drivers seat with click thrus.

If a person lands on cars dot com, he/she will not hesitate clicking as trust has been established. Developing a name such as carz or wesellreallygoodcars, is not the same in the eyes of the visitor.

 

[unholy1]

pottery site is nice! What is it, ( cms package) ?

Drupal...

I would agree that it is indeed a fine looking site, Hark I'm just curious to know the ratio of revenue you get from the Ebay feed against adsense.

 

[harkster]

Drupal...

I would agree that it is indeed a fine looking site, Hark I'm just curious to know the ratio of revenue you get from the Ebay feed against adsense.

I haven't hit an eBay lick yet. Get a check from CJ off and on. Honestly that site is sitting in the wings until I can get 20-30 pieces of content written.

My adsense check arrives like clockwork from around 35-40 sites. I have honestly lost track how many sites I have adsense on.

I think that to make $$$ from eBay you need something that sends impulse buyers there. Commission from 10-20 dollar purchases can add up fast.

I have yet to figure out how to make affiliate sites pay.

BTW Un one Drupal templates are getting better - RosevillePlace.com and I just turned www.topzunesites.com into a paying site be redoing - was ready to shut down because of no clicks.

Funny what does and doesn't work under different situations.


Bodis was a big nasty experience. I still have about a dozen names which won't produce anywhere else and appears I ain't gonna get back in.