And it seems like everyone is just buying them and parking them.
There are probably a lot of domains that are "parked" without the buyer/owner actually doing it. Many registrars will put up parking pages automatically so the registrar can try to squeak out a few extra dollars somehow.
As far as the people who intentionally do it, some make a ton of money, some make a little, and some lose overall.
I see no benefit to parked domains except that your URL has an actual page instead of nothing.
At the same time, if you intend on developing, don't park it. Google has been known to ban domains using PPC, and then not let them back in for a looong time.
For me, anything parked is intentional. Anything I register or buy and plan to develop can sit unresolved until I get time for it.
Income from parked domains has averaged about $100 per month.
I had 2 pretty good domains in there when I started that drove most of the $.
I took one of those domains and put it on an affiliate program instead and it is making an average of about $15 per day on that. I wish I would have started with that program instead (both for the extra income & and the lack of search engine indexing that will take awhile to correct).
The other good domain received an offer I couldn't refuse so it is now out of the parking program.
But, even with the 2 top producers gone income has remained the same because the parking program has done a good job of making the pages more relevant to type in traffic. I received January's check today for $134.
Based on my experience with it I would recommend that if you have the time to put up a few articles and a couple of affiliate links instead of parking your domains.
I have several domains that I will eventually be developing. Currently I have them parked to guage traffic, keyword click thrus and to make a few dimes and quarters while working on the hosting/programming side of the business.
From what I gather from your posts, this is not the thing to do?
What are the consequences and is there an amount of time a site is parked which will impact future listings? For example, if it's parked a month, two months ... a year?
Point is, I'm wondering if <the money I make now> is worth the trouble I'd face six months down the road when the sites are up and running.
Thanks, in advance.
[edited by: Webwork at 11:05 pm (utc) on Feb. 18, 2006]
[edit reason] Tidying up per Charter and to focus issue [/edit]
Would it make sense for search engines to deploy "per se banning or penalty rules" for parked domains?
No, not much in my book.
Why? Well, it's likely that a mega-domain, one that is removed from parking and developed, is likely to represent an investment in building an authority site.
So, would it be wise for search engines to make a habit of banning authority sites built upon previously parked domains? Not if their commitment is to presenting users with authority sites.
All I can go by is logic and the motto that building a web enterprise based upon the assumption of search engine love is a dumb idea anyway. Build a useful site, one that will attract links and keep your focus on what you control.
I don't think so: [google.com...]
J-M
Then - I am asking in particular powerchuter - how do you get the traffic on the site to generate 134 Dollars or similar amounts?
I am puzzled - my own site is 4 months old, got decent content and some good links, and gets some 40 visitors a day; needless to say that there's not much money involved.
The revenue that I am receiving from the affiliate program is all generated by type in traffic. It is a very good domain that a lot of people type into their browser window because they are looking for that service/product.
I am also being helped because the major corporation in that product area just purchased the singular version of my domain and is starting to advertise their service. Hopefully next year they will run a lot of tv ads.
However; it would have been much more lucrative for me if they had also purchased my domain since at my current income rate it will take over 43 years for me to make with the plural version of the domain what the guy who sold the singular got for it.
I think it is rare to find a parked domain that makes any decent money. High levels of traffic are required to make money, and if you have traffic, most likely you would be doing something else with it (ie - a site).I see no benefit to parked domains except that your URL has an actual page instead of nothing.
It is rare for domains with lousy keywords and no inbound links to make any decent money. Domains with keywords of popular products / services will get some type in traffic. If red widgets are popular, there will be a small percentage of people who will type redwidgets.tld into their browser. This does not mean that someone with coolredshinywidgets.tld will get type in traffic because they have a domain containing red and widgets. The domain name needs to match the product / service being searched. With domain registrations for .com, .net, .org and others costing about $7-8/year, a domain only has to generate 2 cents/day to break even. That is not very difficult for a good domain name. There are some domains that can pay for the annual renewal fee from just one click.
Generally speaking, building a website and doing direct sales or promoting sales through affiliate programs, has the potential to earn more money than parking the domain. However, you should keep in mind that building a site involves substantial effort to expand and maintain, while a parked domain is low maintenance. For domainers with hundreds or thousands of domains, it is impossible to develop and maintain their domain portfolio without hiring a small army of webmasters.
Side note: I haven't posted at WW for awhile, so I just wanted to say hello to webwork while passing through. He's been missing from DS for some time and I just wanted to see if he was still alive.
