You Should Make Landing Pages for your Domains

[DomaHub]

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!

 

[Adnan Shaikh]

@doma Hub, really helpful post but i would appreciate if you can also guide us to create landing page step by step

 

[toughdomains]

@doma Hub, really helpful post but i would appreciate if you can also guide us to create landing page step by step

I think after hearing feedback from hundreds of our members its almost impossible to provide a step by step that will apply to everyone. Each domainer is seems to be focused on a different aspect of the landing page either a logo or payment method or price. in the end you need a product that can be completly customized in as many aspects as possible.

 

[biggie]

@biggie yes if you looking for NO customization like adding a logo, no commission fees, domain age, IDN support, escrow.com payment options, different templates, a fast page load, a short optimized form that increases responses, cookie compliance, other domains by seller or anything else that would make your lander not look like a page from 1993 then your all set.
You are right, there are a lot of lander services out there but the examples you provided are very limited. The options out there now are amazing and getting better.

for a cost or a fee, i'm sure there are more options

but for free, where i don't have to spend no, mo, money....

is where, i like to be

now guys and gals, let's look at the pitch that's coming......

[We also run our images off Amazon web services to speed up the load time a bit more.

we, who?

note this is another member trying to sell, yet another type of "pick and shovel", in same thread.
they kinda in competition for those extra dollars you got collecting dust in your pocket.

one non intuitive comment (at least to me) we get from our members is once they create a store they get less low ball offers.

Whatever the case its an interesting insight we got back.

parking companies has zero interest in selling your name in the end a good name sold is less revenue for them.

There is a ton of psychology in selling a name for the max price. ...

let's see how the psychology of selling your service works.

first, create a store, then you get less lowball offers

now, is the "store" the hook?

also, assuming if they have any interest, or where parking companies interest are, is a false assumption.

in many cases, a domain sold that was parked and earning revenue, may remained parked by the new owner, indefinitely or until they decide to develop

this is evident in many D2D sales of parked names and evident in domains wanted threads of buyers seeking traffic names.

additionally, services like sedo, gobaddy and others who get commission on these sales, would definitely have an interest.

note to readers: don't just accept what you're being fed. question it and make sure it makes sense, before you spend cents

we already created a feed page it was our first service we offered...
we called it instant domain development.
.

part of the pitch

I think after hearing feedback from hundreds of our members

in the end you need a product that can be completly customized in as many aspects as possible.

ahh... membership numbers

so, in contrast to OP's subtle pitch, this member is more aggressive.


now ain't mad at either of them or anyone else for trying to make money, cuz that's what "we" all here for, right?

just want you to to see differences in your options and how "they" come at you.

choose, what's best for you, don't be told.


now let's see who else has "picks and shovels" to sell here

Good Luck!

imo....

 

[Adnan Shaikh]

@Corey check ur inbox

 

[poweredbyme]

How frequently people buy domains that they visit? You don't know? Yeah it's difficult to know. But you can ask this to yourself: how many domains did you buy based on landing page? Zero? Less than 10%? You will answer the question you want to know. I never bought domain based on landing page. Even I rarely visit the domains before I buy Domain means website with no content. Landing page has no effect to expert buyers as they usually buy domains from domain marketplaces or via direct contact to the owner. Newbies aren't expected to buy high priced domains. Newbie means a person who doesn't know what he is doing. A newbie is a person who is trying-testing something unknown with little money to risk. If your domains are priced less than $50 each, your main market is newbies then go for a good landing page to sell domains to newbies. But yet you will need a domain with very high traffic.

Landing page of a domain should be a parking page to make some revenue until it's sold. Parking revenue will help paying renewal fees until the domain sold. Renewal fee is usually underestimated but it's critically important to prevent your business going bankruptcy due to renewal fees.

As to decreasing parking revenue and increasing usage of adblocks, it's irrelevant to the need for a landing page. Furthermore, if ad revenue is decreasing (I am not saying ad revenues aren't decreasing), revenue will decrease after the domain is purchased and developed. Because the almost same advertisers will buy the same ads via same online advertisement companies on a particular domain. Thanks to the keyword targeting mechanism. Therefore the cpm before and after content (developed and undeveloped domain) will not change dramatically. I mean low ad revenue is a general problem of internet, is not only a problem of parking. Low ad revenue will lower the prices of domains and websites, so will lower the number of domain sales. But this is a different topic to discuss. My point is landing page is a waste of time if you don't target newbies to sell low priced domains with high traffic.

 

[DomaHub]

I noticed that SEDO-powered parking pages with forsale banners, if visited with adblock enabled (at least with my "strict" adblock config) are 100% empty. They are blank. No "for sale" sign. Nothing.
Parking pages of other providers at least show "for sale" banners (but without PPC ads or "related links") with adblock enabled.

This is of course the case now, and may be changed in future - as both parking companies and adblocks perform code changes from time to time

Very good point, thanks @tonyk2000

 

[Adnan Shaikh]

Can i just make landing page for my domain using free WordPress rather than paying monthly fee for just getting templates on efty and others?

 

[toughdomains]

Can i just make landing page for my domain using free WordPress rather than paying monthly fee for just getting templates on efty and others?

there are a ton of options out there. yes you can make a free website using wordpress and plugins. but if you want to connect a domain to the free yourblog.wordpress.com it still cost something. you can also purchase hosting and design your own landing page. you can get free hosting that is supported with ads and build your own pages.
you can also do none of these and use the free parking landers. there are a ton of options.

However systems like ours and efty provide many more options than a wordpress plugin. payment options, logo options, language currency support, templates, emoji support idn support and these systems are free or free trial. There is no way when we started making landing pages we could have foreseen all the requests needed by people using the forms. you add logos to the page and people want larger logos, you offer domain data like age and traffic and alexa and some love it and others say they want a simple form with no domain data. you offer escrow and people scream for payoneer...paypal was so 2014....why dont you offer bitcoin...bitcoin was so 2016 why dont you offer bitcoin gold...
.I dont think landers will ever stop evolving...
its just one more option which 3 or 4 years ago didnt exist. options are always good.

 

[toughdomains]

I agree entirely. Efty makes it easy to set up and change landing pages, even for a large number of domain names. You can add a custom logo if you want, and select an appropriate background. I like the paragraph plus bullet note appearance, and the design of Make An Offer. I still keep a regular website too (because I had it first), but if starting from scratch would probably only use Efty.

Contrary to the view expressed earlier, I think landing pages ARE important. I was surprised by the earlier response that someone said they never check landing pages before buying. I always check out if there is a landing page, not just for the domain I am considering but the same name with other endings and similar names, before deciding if a name is a good investment.

Happy domaining!

Bob

agree 100% to some its important and to others it doesnt matter one bit.

why exclude all the buyers like @MetBob just because its not how you personally consider a purchase? best chances of selling will appeal to all buyers and a landing page wont turn anyone off other than a low baller.

 

[Adnan Shaikh]

I am new to domain flipping and my question might sound silly, Its been 20 days since i purchased a couple domains and put it on godaddy auction and i do not have a single offer yet, if i purchase a domain and create a landing page how effective it would be? Or do you'll suggest i use flippa auctions for selling my domains?

 

[ResoluteDomains]

I'll remove all my domains from parking.
All my domains, previously parked and now moved to development presents an high (bad) EFL (External Follow Links) parameter.
All those external follow links are parking Ads.
I've switched to NameSilo market place, they offer a FREE landing / contact page.
Here you are an example:
http://www.scary.club
http://www.toys.one
No links, no Ads, no bad SEO parameters, no money to pay!

Nice clean pages. Do the names have to be registered at NameSilo or can domains from other registrars be sold there too?

 

[xynames]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/my...re-your-experiences-too.1049387/#post-6429915

 

[toughdomains]

this thread has inspired me to running a landing page contest soon. stay tuned for more info. it would rate all the different aspects of a lander.

I'll remove all my domains from parking.
All my domains, previously parked and now moved to development presents an high (bad) EFL (External Follow Links) parameter.
All those external follow links are parking Ads.
I've switched to NameSilo market place, they offer a FREE landing / contact page.
Here you are an example:
http://www.scary.club
http://www.toys.one
No links, no Ads, no bad SEO parameters, no money to pay!

Can you add a logo to the sales page? do they support IDN? do they provide other payment methods other than NS escrow? do they offer contact info like phone or email?

 

[DomaHub]

Only domains registered at NS.




You can create a custom background with your logo. Only logo is not possible, you can upload your image background.
About payments method, buyer can contact you via contact form and then close the deals with your preferred escrow system.
You can insert your custom text and you can place your email or phone # on it.

One thing about putting up your email or phone number the way you described is that it's relatively easy for a bot to scrape that information from your website and spam you with unnecessary emails or phone calls. Having a dedicated form without any mention of your phone number and email address is a superior method to preventing unwanted spam.

 

[toughdomains]

One thing about putting up your email or phone number the way you described is that it's relatively easy for a bot to scrape that information from your website and spam you with unnecessary emails or phone calls. Having a dedicated form without any mention of your phone number and email address is a superior method to preventing unwanted spam.

you can use a vanity number like kall8 for phone but I disagree I think having a phone on the form is important...most people like to call esp for larger amounts.

 

[toughdomains]

I'm sorry, I was unclear in my previous post. I meant that having a form for the buyer's phone number, instead of having the owner's phone number displayed is superior. I think we both agree that having a way to contact the buyer via phone is important.

you need both older buyers want to call you younger buyers want to email or chat or skype even younger want discord...

 

[DomaHub]

you need both older buyers want to call you younger buyers want to email or chat or skype even younger want discord...

I am not sure I understand what you mean by "both."

My only point was that having a form input for phone number so buyers can put their own phone number in to contact you is superior to having your own phone number displayed so buyers can call you at that number. Even with vanity numbers, nobody likes having to deal with scams/spams that putting your phone number out in the public internet will no doubt invite.

I'll provide pictures so there is no further confusion.

Buyer's phone number inside the contact form. (Good - no chance for bots to scrape your phone number and spam/scam you)

Owner's phone number inside the description. (Bad - bots can scrape your website and sell your contact information to scammers/spammers). This is the solution that @mpls suggested as a work-around to having no phone numbers inside the forms used by NameSilo.

Hope this clarifies everything