Monetisation?

ribble-valley · Apr 5, 2009

Hi all, I'm getting conflicting advice from all over the internet on the best way to earn from my domains. I'm out of work so I've plenty of time on my hands to put the effort in providing I'm heading in the right direction.

Example domains are below (from a pot of around 25).... I guess the answer will also be down to the domain name itself and the potential it has. I'm not expecting to retire off these but enough cash each month for a few beers & a curry would be nice.

n97payg /com
sendapallet /co.uk
dimmerswitches /net
ukceilingfans /com
tree4life /org
auction4cash /net
vintagesuits /co.uk
motorhomefinance /info

1) Sedo - I parked with sedo for 5-6 months and got about 10 unique hits on 5 domains and 2 clicks, so my revenue was not worth the screen it was displayed on.

2) Adsense for domains - again, conflicting advice, is anyone here doing okay from this?

3) Building a site - I'm pretty good with drupal and writing content, could this be the way forward?

4) Sell them

5) Any other options? For example I've heard of affiliate schemes but not really had any experience.

Many thanks

Paul.

Systreg · Apr 5, 2009

Hi Ribble

For 1 and 2, I would forget about parking and Adsense for domains unless you have really nice generic type in names.

3, 4 and 5, if you can, build sites for them and use retailers from the likes of Affiliate Window to fill your site with goods for sale. Alternatively, develop a site for each and try to sell them on, they'll be worth more if they're SEO'd well, ranked and are getting traffic and revenue.

retired_member32 · Apr 5, 2009

i would try to buy only .co.uk and org.uk which in my opinion are the easiest to get to the top of "G" in the UK ,a good generic domain would cost too much to purchase so that would hurt your financial situation,i find it easier to purchase a domain in a field that i know a little about hobby or occupation,hyphen in a domain isn't impeded in it's quest to the top,google doesn't discriminate against the hyphen in fact it is thought that it can actually help in listing your domain,it is frown upon because of it's "memorability" and resale value is affected by this,but for adsense is good route to take and are generally cheaper buying from other domainers.

mark

Systreg · Apr 5, 2009

deliajen said:
hyphen in a domain isn't impeded in it's quest to the top,google doesn't discriminate against the hyphen

As an example, I have a fraud related .info domain with 2 hyphens in it that's top of Google.com and .uk for several search terms, same on Yahoo search, I actually don't mind hyphens, I could register the unhyphenated .co.uk version of my domain, but I'm not bothered by missing type in traffic as the domain is top anyway.

ribble-valley · Apr 6, 2009

Systreg said:
As an example, I have a fraud related .info domain with 2 hyphens in it that's top of Google.com and .uk for several search terms, same on Yahoo search, I actually don't mind hyphens, I could register the unhyphenated .co.uk version of my domain, but I'm not bothered by missing type in traffic as the domain is top anyway.

Cheers everyone for the comments so far, much appreciated.

donreeco · Apr 7, 2009

I'm find conflicting advice a major problem - I think much of it is down to the fact that outdated information is left lying around on the internet and the old information itself ranks better because of its age.

In terms of hyphens, my understanding is that it used to be the case that a hyphen helped search engines to differentiate the words, so hyphens could actually help if your goal was simply to develop and rank a domain. I don't think that is the case anymore. In fact, i have read that the extra boost that G gives you for an exact match domain can be lost with the hyphen.

In terms of your domains - i''d develop them, get them ranked, then monetise with adsense/affiliates.

Good luck with them!

ribble-valley · May 6, 2009

Hi again everyone.

Further down the road with my plans now and really pleased to say that some of my domains are now top 10 in Google for their primary keywords in less than two weeks.

n97unlocked.co.uk (currently number 2 for n97 unlocked) has an RSS minisite on it with some adsense ads and has earned me a few pounds already which has put a nice smile on my face this morning.

I'm going to develop it further using Drupal and hopefully in a few weeks time I'll be reporting back with some even better news.

Paolo.

accelerator · May 6, 2009

ribble-valley said:
1) Sedo - I parked with sedo for 5-6 months and got about 10 unique hits on 5 domains and 2 clicks, so my revenue was not worth the screen it was displayed on.

2) Adsense for domains - again, conflicting advice, is anyone here doing okay from this?

3) Building a site - I'm pretty good with drupal and writing content, could this be the way forward?

4) Sell them

5) Any other options? For example I've heard of affiliate schemes but not really had any experience.

Building a site properly and learning how to get traffic to it is always going to be the most profitable option, and monetising it through affiliate ads is always going to be better than AdSense because your % of the commission is much higher. I suggest you spend some time improving your site building skills, join some affiliate schemes, learn how to get traffic and work on your conversion optimisation. Visit my online marketing site for some more help.

Rgds