As you may know we’re not big on domain parking as a business model. It seems that most of those who acquire large numbers of names and use a parking approach end up building their own templates- after all why share revenue with a parking company when their primary service is placing contextual advertising for you? However that argument can wait for another day…
Parking domains has proven useful from a development POV. We park new domains as soon as we register them (we’re not buyers in the aftermarket as we seem to find plenty to choose from in new registrations) and use the traffic stats to help us determine which we should develop. While this seems obvious, the results are not always obvious.
These stats are just one piece of the process. We also want clear niche subject matter domains that are associated with a buying mindset. Our environmental domains get good traffic but are not big moneymakers (we’re in it for a variety of reasons including getting out ahead of what may be the biggest new business sector in our lifetimes- it’s strategic) because readers of environmental and energy subjects aren’t buying related items…yet.
On the opposite end, our kitchen sites are chock full of buying mindsets- the average new kitchen costs $28,000 when you factor in things people don’t consider like new pots and pans, small appliances, home electronics, etc. It’s a $44 billion annual business in the US alone and when people are spending that kind of moola they want information.
Interestingly the few adult domains we own get clicks when parked but don’t make money. I suspect they really need a lot of visual content to work (wink wink). We’re going to get rid of them at some point, not because we’re prudes, but because we are building a portfolio model and they don’t fit.
I’ve blogged here quite a bit about the selection process in buying domains. It’s completely different if your business model is mass acquisition vs. development vs. flipping vs. building a traditional business around a great domain- each has very different criteria. And all are viable and important to this early stage business called domaining.
Gotta love it.