Now that parking and mini-sites have gone the way of the dodo, what should Domainers do with their undeveloped domains?

Okay, it’s time to talk about one of the hottest topics in the Domaining industry – what should you put on your undeveloped domain names?

I’ll start by saying that sure, you could be in the 5% of Domainers that still make good money parking, but let’s be honest, you’re probably not. When I started buying and selling domains back in 2007 parking was starting to decline but I still knew a ton of people making good money with parked domains. Fast-forward to 2016 and most people I know who used to make a killing parking agree that it has gone the way of the dodo, which is a really cute bird BTW!

dodo-bird

Even nine years ago people were talking about what to do with their undeveloped domains, and at that time mini-sites were all the rage. Of course, fast-forward to 2016 and mini-sites have also died off which means that the two most common ways of monetizing your domain names just went out the window.

So what should Domainers do with their undeveloped domain names?

Of course I think it’s unfair to ask a question if I’m not going to weigh in myself, so here are my two cents. I think you have to throw away the idea of passive income and focus on doing whatever will give you the best chance of connecting with a potential buyer. This could still mean using a parking service, but it likely means having a bold and bright For Sale banner at the top.

domain-name-sales-landing-page

At the same time, services like Uniregistry offer pretty slick solutions for putting a Make Offer page directly on your undeveloped domain names that can even send those offers directly to a broker who can negotiate on your behalf. New entrants to the domain world like Efty and Undeveloped.com also offer solutions to go beyond a parked page.

efty landing pages

I am personally always experimenting and trying new services and in some cases stand-alone landing pages to see what will bring the most qualified inbound offers on my names. While I don’t have the answer, I am constantly testing and learning and what I can tell you is that if someone on your domain (preferably right at the top) it doesn’t indicate the name is for sale, it will get less offers. So in short, I think you should experiment and see what works for your names knowing that you can’t develop custom sites for each domain but you do need to do something to let people know the name is for sale.

That’s my two cents, what do you think? Comment and let your voice be heard!

Photo Credit: cali.org Flickr via Compfight cc
Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton