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You Should Make Landing Pages for your Domains

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Link to original Medium article.

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First of all, what is a landing page? The term has many meanings on the internet, but for domaining purposes it simply means:

A site for your domain name where visitors can make sales inquiries.

Sounds simple enough, but what’s so special about it? Is this an alternative to listing on secondary marketplaces (e.g. Sedo, Flippa, etc.)? Is it better than traditional parking?

Okay, okay — you’re skeptical. Let me help break it down for you.

Parking Revenue is Declining…
For the end-user at least. Look at this 2015 survey result from popular domain news source domainnamewire.

1*9aKS9gPr5hyFG0TqhYH6LA.jpeg

Credit to Andrew Allemann (www.domainnamewire.com)

Yes, domain parking revenue used to be very lucrative for many domainers in the early days of the internet. Yes, it was a simple and easy way to make money from your domains. But, in today’s reality, parking tends to only bring in a couple of bucks a month.

There could be a few possible reasons for this such as fewer people typing in URL’s to unknown websites, people becoming less likely to click on advertising links, parking companies not giving you a fair share of the revenue, etc.

Regardless, parking revenue is on the decline for many domainers (and basically nonexistent for many others...). So where should you put your domains now?

Marketplaces Don’t Cover All Your Bases
There are dozens of domain name marketplaces where you can list and sell your domains to other people. Some marketplaces allow you to redirect your domain to its respective listing page. Or they may provide free and/or paid parking options while your domain is currently being listed. And some marketplaces provide neither.

You probably have a number of domains listed on marketplaces. You’re relying on the people who peruse these marketplaces to eventually find your domain and then purchase it.

But what about the people outside of these marketplaces? How will direct visitors know your domain is for sale — especially if your domain only shows parked ads or shows nothing at all?

Don’t Alienate Your Visitors
There are going to be a number of people who visit your website directly (i.e. by typing in the domain into their browser). Some of these people are going to be interested in buying it. How can we best persuade them to make an offer on the spot? Or at the very least, let them know the domain is for sale?

1*FFf_RyiKdD8n5v-bBDh3sg.png

A typical Uniregistry parked domain. (with satire)

The above image is an example of a typical parked domain’s site provided by Uniregistry. A single banner at the top that states the domain is for sale and provides a phone number. Clicking the banner directs you to another marketplace where you can submit an offer (quite redundant). The rest of the site is all advertisements.

If a potential buyer were to stumble onto this domain, would they know what to do? No, chances are they’ll bounce because the site looks like typical spam and you lose out on a potential sale opportunity or lead.

1*XLdNijaPcAgkwg7TDPinLg.png

Let’s try to help visitors avoid seeing this little guy.

Even worse, you have nothing on your domain and the user sees some kind of browser error or blank page.

AdBlock Is On the Rise
The number of users who use some form of adblock (software to detect and avoid ads on a page) is increasing. Let’s face it. Not many people like being targeted for advertisements.

1*XivM1d8mQYZde2TWGTgxPQ.png

Source — 2017 Adblock Rep

When people arrive at your site and see advertisements or they see nothing because of adblock, they are more likely to just leave the page immediately.

Dedicated Landing Pages Bridge the Gap
Landing pages ensure that your visitors will see something better than just ads or errors when they land on your domain. Good landing pages will also make it immediately obvious to the visitor that your domain is for sale. An even better one has a visible price tag (buy-it-now price or minimum offer price) and a simple contact form to get in touch.

This way, visitors won’t get confused by strange advertisements and redirects, errors or blank pages, and they’ll have a easy way of contacting you.

But that’s not all! Landing page services and platforms also provide a variety of different stats and visuals you can show on your page. These things help visitors understand the domain better, potentially increasing the likelihood of a sale. Additionally, many of these services provide portfolio management and help you get set up across all of your domains in a short amount of time.

Don’t want to lose out on potential marketplace sales? Don’t worry, you can have a dedicated landing page and still list your domain on other marketplaces. This way, you can maximize your reach and alienate as few visitors as possible.

Conclusion and Follow-up
Our next post will cover the things that make a good landing page as well as things to avoid when creating one!
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Some parking pages are so lame or look so spammy, you just wanna click back and get out asap.
The sponsored links can be dangerous too (UDRP-wise).
I think building your own landers can be a good thing because you have total control of the visitor's experience. You can also deliver pages that stand out from the rest. Some pages are so familiar people are no longer paying attention.
Adblock can be a real concern, because once it's installed users have no idea of the stuff they are missing on. Thus it can result in lost sales opportunities.

My rule is that if the domain doesn't get significant traffic, then the parking revenue is inconsequential. Therefore you can renounce monetizing the domain and put it on your own landers instead. The clutter is not worth it if you're earning peanuts.
 
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Biggie is asking a very sensible question,
why someone that is interested in buying a domain won't click the -quite obvious- sales banner?

@Hypersot ,I may have an answer for that. I've read it in a study (double-blind, observation and user-testing derived) somewhere that every time a user (a potential customer) is faced with a situation where they are required to make an extra click for gaining a reward (new knowledge, info) for satisfying curiosity they are inevitably just a click away from an actual sale. Domaining is like a sport of golf: the shortest path to success is paved with 'click' shortcuts :)
 
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@DomaHub , with all due respect, I think it's you who didn't get Biggie's post.

Biggie is asking a very sensible question,
why someone that is interested in buying a domain won't click the -quite obvious- sales banner?

As long as that banner is clicked then the landing page will immediately switch to a more appropriate page according to the visitor's interest, ie. buying the domain.

Hi,

That is one part of his post I actually overlooked and did not respond to, thanks for bringing this up.

I understand that people who are looking to buy the domain are more than capable of clicking the obvious sales banner. But why must someone who wants to buy the domain have to go through an extra click to get to the sale?

Why do they have to be redirected to a different marketplace page?

Also why must the domain have all these irrelevant advertising links?

We know customers are fickle and can get cold feet easily. We should make it as easy as possible for them to make that final purchase.

Thanks to @Hypersot for reiterating my point

and to @DomaHub for replying

i think when someone is looking to buy a domain, they don't have to go thru an extra click or even go that route of pursuit, and if they do, then i think, it further illustrates their interest and possibly their intent.

other means for potentials, is they can simply use "whois" to contact the owner, which many of us have received inquiries thru.
while those who use "whois privacy", may be adding an unnecessary deterrent to reaching the owner.

as for the advertising links on parked pages:
the "click thru rate" determines if those ads are irrelevant or not, based on what the visitors sees when they arrive.
while the "epc" provides revenue, while the owner waits for right buyer.

i'll concede that ad blockers have had some effect on ppc revenues, but conventional landers don't generate revenue at all.


given the choice between,
how determined a buyer is to reach me via a parked page, via whois, or thru a marketplace listing, including any potential ppc earnings while i wait for him/her/them to click thru or email me.....
over landing pages replacing that.

then i choose $ for now.

:)


imo....
 
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i'll concede that ad blockers have had some effect on ppc revenues, but conventional landers don't generate revenue at all.

Not at all.. If you don't want to rock the boat of continuous usage of Uniregistry service, there is a third - a compromise alternative, stuck between the rock and a soft sales page - option, i.e, landing/pages, with affiliate links attached instead of the traditional parking strings :).
 
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I've just started building dedicated landing pages for each one of my domains, to feature on my website, built on wordpress.

Each domain when typed directly in redirects to my site. It's a reasonably long process but I dont have a huge amount of domains and I'm sure there's quicker ways to do it than my way.

For me, if I was in the shoes of being an end-user (which I have been before I started domaining), I would like to see a professional looking page, virtually spam-ad free (targeted ads are much better), with some proof of concept about the domain (e.g. a conceptual logo), some information, a price and a clear link to where/whom I can contact to get this domain.

I'm with @Criterion811 - dedicated landing pages on a wordpress site that I can control the look and feel of, as well as making it look "professional" by offering other services, tying in to social media accounts, and making a few extra cents on Adsense revenue, so the user (and potential buyer) knows they are buying from someone who is reputable.

See my site at Domain Direct Services , as well as the jagdomains site I've listed for sale on Flippa (see my signature below) if someone wants to buy a pre-made domain site.
 
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Use www.efty.com has made my life simpler.
its not as easy as it looks, landers and with multiple wp sites comes multiple security risks, multiple updates to plugins. I am tight but my time is worth more than i pay efty

ps. just my opinion, I am sure many will disagree :)
 
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I get far more offers with individual landing pages (i.e. EFTY) than I did by merely redirecting all domains to a portfolio site. However, I still get a lot of "offers" that aren't really offers - people looking for apartment rentals, jobs, investment in Bitcoin, submitting offers in Colombian pesos (exchange rate ~3000 to the US$), submitting acceptable offers and then not responding to a request on how to handle escrow, etc. So you end up dealing with inbound messages which do not lead to a sale.
 
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I decided to build my own landing page for my domains.

Here's and example:

Golf/d/o/t/wales

It works and i get the odd enquiry
 
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Thanks to @Hypersot for reiterating my point

and to @DomaHub for replying

i think when someone is looking to buy a domain, they don't have to go thru an extra click or even go that route of pursuit, and if they do, then i think, it further illustrates their interest and possibly their intent.

other means for potentials, is they can simply use "whois" to contact the owner, which many of us have received inquiries thru.
while those who use "whois privacy", may be adding an unnecessary deterrent to reaching the owner.

as for the advertising links on parked pages:
the "click thru rate" determines if those ads are irrelevant or not, based on what the visitors sees when they arrive.
while the "epc" provides revenue, while the owner waits for right buyer.

i'll concede that ad blockers have had some effect on ppc revenues, but conventional landers don't generate revenue at all.


given the choice between,
how determined a buyer is to reach me via a parked page, via whois, or thru a marketplace listing, including any potential ppc earnings while i wait for him/her/them to click thru or email me.....
over landing pages replacing that.

then i choose $ for now.

:)


imo....

Thanks for the reply Biggie. I think a lot of the consensus we've seen from this thread is that "spammy" looking landing pages are a big turn-off for most people, but you do raise a good point that truly determined buyers will click through regardless.

Any logical person would choose making $ over not at all, but when the cost of making that $ is seeming less professional (via advertisements or spammy landing pages) or creating "click-barriers" for your customers, then it becomes a bit harder to justify.

May I ask roughly how much you make from your parking revenue per month? It's okay if you do not want to divulge that information, but without hard numbers to back up your claim, it seems a lot of people in this thread are choosing the professional landing page option over spammy parking pages.
 
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so now you wanna know how much ppc money goes in my wallet huh?

well, that's not for you to know

don't need my hard numbers, nor do i need to back up any claims

you make negative characterization about parking because it uses ads, but there is nothing spammy about the pages.
the landers provided by them look good enough to get the job done and the templates may have even been created by professional writers, even though they are provided to users "FREE" of charge

but no one has to justify their usage of ppc services for you or to you,
or to anybody else who doesn't use it.

the consensus you speak of, is only based on those who post.
and those who did post, do not represent the majority opinion of all domainers


imo....
 
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so now you wanna know how much ppc money goes in my wallet huh?

well, that's not for you to know

don't need my hard numbers, nor do i need to back up any claims

you make negative characterization about parking because it uses ads, but there is nothing spammy about the pages.
the landers provided by them look good enough to get the job done and the templates may have even been created by professional writers, even though they are provided to users "FREE" of charge

but no one has to justify their usage of ppc services for you or to you,
or to anybody else who doesn't use it.

the consensus you speak of, is only based on those who post.
and those who did post, do not represent the majority opinion of all domainers


imo....

No problem, Biggie :xf.smile:. To each his own I suppose. Thank you for your valuable input to this topic.

And I am going to quote what I wrote earlier in the thread regarding the landing pages provided by these services--

There is a difference between the domain's listing page on the respective marketplace and the actual site that is shown when you visit the domain. We are specially talking about direct traffic to your domain. Not to your domain's listing on some secondary marketplace.
 
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If you have hosting - Install WordPress with Instabuilder plugin. Drag and drop landing pages, looks nice and add a contact / make an offer form without any knowledge of HTML/PHP

Hope this is of help to some. :xf.smile:
 
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the consensus you speak of, is only based on those who post.
and those who did post, do not represent the majority opinion of all domainers

With more comments dropping in, we might eventually reach a statistically valid sample size to support a default claim on this thread. But for now, there is more than enough evidence available, in the number of people using efty or undeveloped (among other services) as shining examples of perceived value of parking (links)-free sales/landing pages with regard to low-performing (revenue-wise) domains to demonstrate considerable consensus,
 
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A very important decision I had to make was keeping the domains parked and earning some type of money towards renewals or have a nice looking landing page to obtain more leads and this way increase my sales.

Since I didn't know what to choose I decided to just test it for 3 month with landing pages over at Uniregistry and I did see an increase in inbound leads which lead to more people to follow up with in order to close more sales. When I saw this I decided to stay with it and so far so good. I noticed Bodis had some nice landing pages as well that I thought about trying out since I liked how they kept track of the traffic stats vs with Uni.

For someone faced with making the same decision I simply say if the parking income you are earning is significant stay with it but if that is not the case give landing pages a shot and see how it goes for you.

- Will
 
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A very important decision I had to make was keeping the domains parked and earning some type of money towards renewals or have a nice looking landing page to obtain more leads and this way increase my sales.

Since I didn't know what to choose I decided to just test it for 3 month with landing pages over at Uniregistry and I did see an increase in inbound leads which lead to more people to follow up with in order to close more sales. When I saw this I decided to stay with it and so far so good. I noticed Bodis had some nice landing pages as well that I thought about trying out since I liked how they kept track of the traffic stats vs with Uni.

For someone faced with making the same decision I simply say if the parking income you are earning is significant stay with it but if that is not the case give landing pages a shot and see how it goes for you.

- Will

i think what @Willox Perez says above, illustrates the point i was trying to emphasize.

not matter what the popular opinion is, in this thread,
the common sense route for those still earning parking income, is to stay with it.

if you're not making any money from ppc, then do what you gotta do, to keep you going.


Good Luck!

imo...
 
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I don't mind sending traffic to sedo "buy now" pages :xf.grin: afterall I don't want some ppl refund my paypal! :xf.laugh: I do realize about 20% commision! I mean my traffic, my sales why sedo or other marketplace get the commission ? the answer simply because, to avoid headache! :xf.laugh:,

our own landing page good! marketplace landing page suck so bad! though sedo by now pages, are not that bad :xf.grin: sedo only lack about traffic stats! but I don't mind with that!
 
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@DomaHub

You keep referring to yourself as "we". Are you royal or is this a shared Namepros account?
 
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@DomaHub

You keep referring to yourself as "we". Are you royal or is this a shared Namepros account?

Haha, shared account. We have different members drop by and comment sometimes. Sorry for the confusion! (not royal..)
 
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@DomaHub

You keep referring to yourself as "we". Are you royal or is this a shared Namepros account?

Haha, shared account. We have different members drop by and comment sometimes. Sorry for the confusion! (not royal..)

so, how do "we" know, who "we" are talking too, at any given point or post, in time?


do you'z confer with each other, before replying to get on same page, or do one of you just steps forward and starts typing?

are you male or female and of legal age to conduct business

just saying....

glad @promo asked the question


imo......
 
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so, how do "we" know, who "we" are talking too, at any given point or post, in time?


do you'z confer with each other, before replying to get on same page, or do one of you just steps forward and starts typing?

are you male or female and of legal age to conduct business

just saying....

glad @promo asked the question


imo......

Haha....

We all represent DomaHub as a company. We do often discuss responses together before we post them.

To your last question...we are of differing genders and are all of "legal age" but I am not sure how that pertains to the topic of landing pages...are you trying to flirt with us? :xf.grin:

Joking aside, I don't want this thread to get derailed from the original topic. If you have any direct questions unrelated to the original topic, please send us a PM.
 
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We all represent DomaHub as a company. We do often discuss responses together before we post them.

I'm sorry for being facetious, but the detective in my couldn't help noticing the 3 minute lapse separating your reply from @promo's question. May I ask if you have had a chance to confer with the rest of the group in such a short time-window ?:)

ps: kidding, of course!
 
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I'm sorry for being facetious, but the detective in my couldn't help noticing the 3 minute lapse separating your reply from @promo's question. May I ask if you have had a chance to confer with the rest of the group in such a short time-window ?:)

ps: kidding, of course!

All DomaHub employees are allowed 1 personal post per month as part of their benefits package :xf.laugh::xf.laugh::xf.laugh:
 
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Haha, shared account. We have different members drop by and comment sometimes. Sorry for the confusion! (not royal..)

Well I do know shared accounts are prohibited in the TOS. I dont even think business accounts can be shared. Better check with staff.
 
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Well I do know shared accounts are prohibited in the TOS. I dont even think business accounts can be shared. Better check with staff.

Will do. Thanks!
 
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