Domain Parking Companies. Who’s the Best? Part II

For the next few parts of the series, we’re gonna’ stick to the companies I mentioned in Part I - Parked.com, TrafficZ, Sedo, NameDrive and Bodis. I have many other observations on some parking companies not listed above (and the reasons why I don’t use them anymore) saved for later posts in the series, maybe Part VIII. lol

Let’s get with it, I’ll kick off Part II with my observations on Parked.com.

Parked.com uses a couple different ad feeds that I see. Their primary feed is supplied by Yahoo with a second lower-tiered feed from Ask.com mixed into their ad results. There may be more, but that’s the two I’ve identified.

Parked.com records each unique visitor and click. So it’s not uncommon to see a high Click Through Rate (CTR) because of they way they record their stats. It’s entirely possible (and probable) a visitor will click multiple ads looking for whatever it is they’re searching for. I’ve see some of my domains there carry a 700% and 800% CTR at times. One visitor may have clicked 7 or 8 ads thus the high CTR.

I receive payouts twice a month via Paypal, and their payouts from my experiences are higher than almost all the others most of the time. Revenue Per Click (RPC) depends on your domain and the advertisers that advertise there, but since they record all clicks, it’s easy to see if you’re monetizing your selected “keywords” properly. I’ve changed keywords more than a few times trying to find the “sweet spot” and over a week or so of traffic you can tell by your RPC if the domain is monetized correctly. Lower paying keywords get shelved for higher paying keywords within my niche.

Parked allows all bot traffic unless it either gets out of hand or you request they block them. Now I never understood why somebody would send in a request to block bots. Domains get bot traffic from link directories, blogs, search engines, etc. Why you would want that bot traffic blocked is beyond me. I think all bots are a good thing. They can be a pain-in-the-ass at times, but they’re still a good thing overall. I know I have some domains still listed in a few link directories (from when the domains were developed websites) that get pinged when the directory updates their PageRank listings, or checks to see if the site is still available to the directory. The directories send out a spider that check the header response from the domain. Why would anybody want that to cease? It might be junk traffic, but it’s still traffic in my opinion.

Parked.com also offers a referral program. See that Parked.com image button to the right? If you use that and sign up for Parked.com through that link, I receive a commission off your portfolio revenue. It’s not a cut in pay from your end, Parked pays that to the referrer in addition to what they pay you for your portfolio of domains.

They have an easy to use Control Panel (CP) with one “stand out” new addition; the ability to import/export a .csv file with all your domain information. It works perfectly. You don’t have to go through each domain one-by-one anymore, you can build your spreadsheet completely, download it once and you’re done. All domains with one click are now just the way you’d like them, right down to the layouts, keywords, colors and descriptions. I highly recommend building a few domains at Parked, downloading the domain .csv file and see how they use the formatting. Once you see how they format, you can add and subtract all your domain in the file, then download it once and now you’re configured exactly the way you want your domains to be configured and shown. They also allow custom content including pictures, links and relevant information. You can add these modifications to any or all of your domains.

Included in their CP is a fully user customized “domain for sale” notification if you wish. Parked does not act as a broker on any sales (or purchases). You negotiate independently with the other party to the sale or purchase. Since they do not negotiate any sales or purchases, there is no commission owed Parked for any transactions.

Two words. Tremendous support. Email support tickets are answered promptly and courteously. Another plus for all Domainers is that Donny from Parked sits near the “official” Parked.com thread on the Namepros Domain Forum. He is always near and answers all questions sent his way, even the tough ones. The thread is also a great place for anybody (not just newbies) to learn about program changes or to see what other Domainers are doing with their Parked portfolios. There’s a slew of tips and tricks there from some of the domain parking industry pros.

Wrapping up my Parked.com observations; in a nutshell… Parked.com is a great domain parking company with superior support. It may very well be the best all around parking company available.

Next up in Part III - Sedo

L2 Lumpy