That’s right, ArmyBases.us, NavyBases.us, and AirBases.us – names that your average Domainer might not even blink an eye at sold for $8,500 on Flippa yesterday. What I think is so incredible about this sale is that it illustrates just how powerful content and an exact match .us domain are. As I’ve said many times before, a majority of my revenue comes from .us sites – I find they rank well in both Google and Yahoo. For me most of my money goes-into content, with good content and solid SEO you can get massive traffic. However this sale shows that it doesn’t have to look pretty to get the job done. You have to see the site first to understand what I’m talking about – it is bare-bones simple. The focus is clear, content.
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As you can see this is just about as simple as you can get, nothing but text and Google Adsense. Navigation on the side contains content on army bases across the US and content on the right is separated with ads. That’s it – nothing more nothing less. The site ranks #1 in Google for “army bases” and has had over 200,000 visitors this year. One thing I love to see is when a simple .us site like this outranks Wikipedia, as you can see from the search results below it does:
You will notice that Google has added links to specific states. This is because of the amount of content ArmyBases.us has on their sites as well as how it’s organized on the page. This is not something you decide but instead up to Google – if this happens to one of your sites consider it a gold star from the big G.
I think this sale serves as a great example of how much potential .us has when it comes to domain monetization and resale. You don’t need to build a sophisticated database driven site designed by a team of expert designers to make money and dominate a niche. Without revenue these domains would be lucky to sell for $1,000…and that would only go to a very specific .us buyer that could take a long time to find.
Sure – if you want quick flips .com is the way to go. That being said with a little work and patience you can create a passive income stream that can be flipped for a massive profit whenever you want. I think Rob from Epik has done a great job illustrating this with his platform, taking ordinary non-revenue producing domains and turning them into income generating properties. This is what I love about monetization – it provides a solid exit strategy, which every business needs. If you have a portfolio full of domains without traffic or revenue there is no timeline for when you can sell them and if you can get the price you want. A portfolio full of revenue-producing domains can be sold at any time for a profit and this provides for a great long-term position.
Don’t forget about my holiday contest! Simply hit the “Like” button at the top of the page and you will be entered to win a prize worth $499!
