50% CTR - Develop Or Park?

[retired_member6]

I have a domain parked at present that's doing 50% CTR. Would you develop it if it was yours? which percentage CTR normally gives a good idea of moving towards development? over 35% over 50 percent?

 

[bb99]

I'm facing a similar dilema with a health & fitness related domain I own (hence I asked on here about fitness affiliate programmes on here a week or so ago).

The traffic isn't huge but the CTR is very solid and hence I'm toying with developing a site around it.

To be honest I've probably missed the boat in terms of the New Year Resolutions fitness market, but I may do it soon if I can find the time.

So I echo Lee's question, I'd be interested to hear the views of others also.

 

[EdwinEdwin is verified member.]

I'd say it's the opposite - the lower the CTR the better off you are developing it. If you're getting massive CTR on a parking page, you're going to have to do very well to beat it on ads around content, given that most ads get <5% CTR. On the other hand, if you're getting tons of traffic but few clicks the opportunity cost is lower and the potential return (of an improvement) is higher.

 

[charliecharlie is verified member.]

I think the dilemma is to some how keep the current CTR and try and increase the traffic to make the most of it. Trouble is you cant be seen to actively promote parked domains.
I would say that developing is the only solution though you take that risk. If the CTR is high but the numbers are low then you aint really going to loose out much. I suppose another factor is the percentage you make from advertising or affiliate - i mean probably £10% of one running machine must be more than the click income?

just thinking

 

[AdminAdmin is verified member.]

If you are using Sedo Pro, do a detailed analysis of where your parking traffic is coming from and what keywords they are using to get there.

If it is a keyword you can affiliate productise your site with easily, then develop it with a simple site to start with and see how your conversion rate goes. I wouldn't spend weeks building a site just to find that people are happy to click on links but dont commit to actually buying anything.

My parking stats are down every Saturday and Sunday which makes me think people browse and research products from work during the week and then nip down the shops at the weekend to see it for real and buy it.

Would you spend a few hundred pounds on a running machine without seeing it / trying it first?

 

[charliecharlie is verified member.]

yeah but to add to that - after they've seen it they go back to the web and buy from where they can get the same machine 20% cheaper.

 

[Canuck]

I think the answer in this may also lie in what type of domainer you are. Many just want the ease of parking their domians via PPC and forgetting about them. If they see a low CTR on a name, they look at the keywords and adjust them and that's about it.

For others, PPC is just a short term hold until they want to move on to development. To each is own. If anything I tend to agree with Edwin in that if CTR remains low, even with tweaking, development may be the only way to get potential out of a names traffic.

For me, I'm a hunter and gatherer...then park at PPC. When in the future, the prices and supply of traffic domains make them unattractive, then maybe selective development of my portfolio may be an option (but that sounds like work).

Canuck