discuss Websites to Showcase Your Portfolio...Do they work?

[LiamShiff]

Wondering what you guys thought of creating a website and showcasing all your domains for sale there.

For the NP members that created a website to showcase all their portfolio in addition to listing them on marketplaces, did you see any difference in sales or inquiries?

 

[Kpett]

I use a Wordpress website - am able to not only receive direct inbound offers (like the $1500 offer I just got for one of my domain names last week), as well as being able to add a blog, put on my own Adsense ads, and work the SEO of my pages so they rank in Google. Just about all of my domain names now forward to their own landing pages in Wordpress - and I get a lot of traffic! My only fee is what I pay for the Wordpress hosting, and have complete control how everything works.

I recently decided to set up a new Wordpress site with some of my domains and offer the whole thing for sale - now in auction on Flippa as jagdomains.com ... check it out!

 

[Kpett]

@LiamShiff - exactly - you have a professional website with a landing page for each domain. In the outbound you give them both the main website and the landing page URL for reference.

 

[Silentptnr]

I get more offers through my own site and each domains landing page than from large marketplaces.

I already have one site and have started a second one using a super simple design on the second one. It runs on WordPress with woocommerce and a few tweaked plugins to autogenerate logos, etc. I just upload a spreadsheet and the rest is automatic.

I think the more exposure the better. Does take some time though.

 

[Criterion811]

I was just thinking of making this exact thread! I've just started setting up my webpage in the last 2 days (its in my signature, shameless self promotion!), and I'm really curious as to how it will help drive sales.

I really like brand buckets approach in showing users proof of concept for their future business and I think with how easy/quick it is to make graphics etc. these days this could be a big aspect of future domain sales, particularly with brandables.

Definitely Domains, do you mind me asking what type of data you capture from your page and what are you most interested in etc? Thanks

Will be monitoring this thread!

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks @LiamShiff for starting this thread that asks an important question. My experience is limited as I have only had my domain website operational for about five months, and the site is only now creeping slightly up in popularity (apparently now in the top 9 million websites in world, yay lol). Also, my domain portfolio (see below) is at the low cost only with mainly nTLDs. Analytics tells me about 30 visitors every day, which is OK but wish more lead to queries and sales.

http://namesthat.win

Since I have been operational (5 months) I have sold 14 domain names (but all in $/$$ very low end range). Since I list my domain names both on my own website and on Namecheap Marketplace, and link the listing on Namecheap Marketplace from my website, it is difficult to determine which was important. All 14 were sold via the Namecheap Marketplace, but I know at least 3 of them (possibly more) were driven to the Marketplace after starting on my website.

After winning an Efty membership in the Domain Game Countdown contest (thank you!) I have very recently also listed my domain names there. Not yet enough experience to see how many that drives (none yet but only up a few weeks). My Efty Market can be seen from this link (and of course individual names by simply entering the domain name as URL):

http://www.frugal.bid

I like Efty a lot so far, and if starting from scratch, might have not bothered setting up my own website and simply used Efty. It is particularly attractive how easy it is to set up a landing page for each of your domain names, so someone wanting to investigate can get to you quickly.

One thing that I like about having my own website it that I can set up a catalog which is divided by topic. This is possible, in a slightly different way, in Efty, but I do like the flexibility of my own website in terms of topics, associated graphics, links, etc. You can get to my catalog by choosing the Catalog button from the home page, or directly at this link:

http://namesthat.win/categories/catalog.html

Thanks to all who have contributed to the discussion. I welcome any comments or suggestions from those who choose to check out my domain name website.

Bob

 

[creataweb]

I think it's good to have a showcase site to be your central HQ. That way you can control the prices, sales links, information and much more. If you have brandables or domains you want to show things like stats or detailed info on it's good to have a site to do so. On the MPs you don't really have those options.

Then for secondary sales channels you can list your names on the standard marketplaces.

 

[DanBingham]

I set our portfolio up about 6 months ago, and it has worked very well. It offers complete flexibility in terms of design and content, and allows me to capture page data etc.

Wouldn't be without it now.

 

[Kpett]

@Furquah - I use Contact Form 7 for my contact plugin in Wordpress. Simple, easy to set up, and you can modify the form anyway you like.

 

[Kuffy]

I am thinking does your portfolio put people off? Wondering if actually better off only showing the one name. Many reasons why. If already on a name why confuse things, Any domain that isn't of interest will look expensive. Perhaps portfolio only looks good to you. Once you make a sale you can try market other domains to your qualified buyer.

If the guy wants your name, and goes directly to your landing page, then of course you should make it easy for him to buy the name. But what if the name is too expensive, or he is just looking for ideas? A portfolio with a range of names can help him to find a purchase. Especially if the name he buys hadn't occured to him. A guy looking for a name for a new health store will probably be cruising for suitable names. If Google is your portfolio, then you could face a lot of competition, and you may be quite a few pages down the list. This is why I'm starting to build a few niche specific sales lists.

 

[LiamShiff]

I set our portfolio up about 6 months ago, and it has worked very well. It offers complete flexibility in terms of design and content, and allows me to capture page data etc.

Wouldn't be without it now.

That's great to hear! Has it improved your sales?

 

[DanBingham]

That's great to hear! Has it improved your sales?

Yes, we have found that sales have improved. I guess people like dealing direct on a 0% commission basis!

Definitely Domains, do you mind me asking what type of data you capture from your page and what are you most interested in etc?

Visitor stats on all pages, the number of people who abandon the sales pages (on our BIN domains), and the facility to capture data from those who make contact via any one of our landers.

 

[Josytal]

Wondering what you guys thought of creating a website and showcasing all your domains for sale there.

To me this has become an axiom. I've always posited that your domains' first POS (point of sale) should be your website. What more, these days things have been made extremely simple by plethora of available/affordable scripts to automate the process.

And you can still list the domains on other marketplaces. So, it's a win-win equation.

 

[GoKaizen]

Maybe @Bram C. wants to share advice, opinions?

https://almightydomains.com/

 

[DanBingham]

The user spends more time on the page (assuming the video is engaging) and thus --> Higher chances of selling

Exactly...

 

[obocar]

Speaking of that, i need to work on my site.

 

[Kpett]

@Criterion811 - I just use domain forwarding so that when a domain name is directly typed in it's redirected to the landing page. Subdomains can be a pain - the domain forwarding (I think) is easier to manage, and when you have hundreds of domain names on one website I don't know how you would do it with subdomains. Type in xpm1.com as an example of how I have mine set up ...

 

[Kuffy]

I use the free sales page at Namne Silo if I'm not putting up a mini-site - here is one example
http://www.jointcarinsurance.com/

and a number of niche specific portfolio sales sites - here is one example -
http://www.financefinds.com/

Both of these were generated in a few seconds, and are hosted at Name Silo

They are a bit weak on traffic stats though, so I'm putting together some own hosted sales sites for a few niches and topics.

 

[lock]

I am thinking does your portfolio put people off? Wondering if actually better off only showing the one name. Many reasons why. If already on a name why confuse things, Any domain that isn't of interest will look expensive. Perhaps portfolio only looks good to you. Once you make a sale you can try market other domains to your qualified buyer.

 

[Omar Negron]

I think it's a good thing to have. One place where you can showcase your domain portfolio makes sense. It's A LOT better than sending someone an excel sheet of all the domains you own.

There are a few simple options anyone can use to create a quick site.

-Omar

 

[Kuffy]

Hey Criterion - would we dream of registering lewd names.

Hastily sweeps f u 2 under the carpet.

 

[LiamShiff]

Do the videos actually enhance the domain offers and visitors experience I wonder? Or could they be a distraction? I have never seen videos on a domain portfolio before.

I think the more you make the domain a visual experience the more you will engage the viewer's imagination and hence allow him to imagine himself owning such a name and doing great things with it (as in the video you are showing)

@DefinitelyDomains I think it's a great addition. The user spends more time on the page (assuming the video is engaging) and thus --> Higher chances of selling

 

[Criterion811]

Many thanks, I had thought of data from landers/visitor stats but metrics on abandoned checkouts hadn't crossed my mind.

 

[lock]

I hope to have each domain that I have not developed to have a landing page with relevant keyword ads. Sales pitch links though to a sales page on portfolio site for each domain. Build the domain shop then link the domain into it with a landing page.

 

[Criterion811]

Hi Kpett, would you recommend that each domain redirects to a landing page on your own website when directly typed in? I'm trying to work out subdomains etc...! Thanks