Let’s talk about Domain Parking

So tonight I decided to post a Tweet asking the Twitterverse what I should write about tonight. I’ve never done this before but hey – these are strange and different times, when else should we try something new? I said the first person to respond would pick the topic of my post, Josh Reason responded first so now I’m sitting here blogging about domain parking.

Okay, before I go any further, two things I realized once I sat down at my computer to write this post. First – I told Josh I was writing the post “right now” at somewhere around 8:11PM…it’s now 10:28PM so, yeah, that didn’t pan out.

Second. On my iPhone it showed that Josh was the first to respond, but looking on my computer now, Shane took the cake.

Which means…this post really should be about the best bread to use for bread pudding. But I declared Josh the winner and I had Domain Parking in my head so lets just say, they both win, and tomorrow I’ll write about bread pudding. Which, BTW, I’ve been hungry for ever since Shane mentioned it, which made me actually search for the best bread for bread pudding so now, somehow, I actually do have that on my mind and am ready for that post.

But, this post is about domain parking, so let’s stop wasting your time and get to it.

Ah domain parking. It’s that thing people did to rake in the dough pre-2007 that now we talk about like the Dinosaurs. We know they existed but nobody has ever seen one in real life.

Okay, not quite. The reality is domain parking is still alive, but the market is a lot smaller than it used to be. That being said, there are still people making money parking domain names, but, and it’s a big but, they don’t want you to know who they are.

Why is that you might ask? Well, most of the money in parking now is due to typo domains. How do I know that? I know people who are making really good money parking, some are making five figures, some are making six figures, and all of them are sitting on typos.

Now technically I would say, as many others would, this is cybersquatting. It’s below-the-board, no bueno, not what people should be doing. I’ve been offered typo domains more times than I can count on two hands over the years and I’ve turned the all down, it just didn’t feel right to me.

But, as you all know, I’m a pretty non-judgemental guy so hey, to each their own. I wouldn’t recommend people do it, I don’t do it, but I know some people who are great parents, live a good life, give back, and happen to do it, and so who am I to judge?

That being said, the conversation about domain parking is a simple one. Is it alive? Yes. How do you do it. Typo domains, .COM mostly. I’ve never made money parking and when I started investing in domains I didn’t believe it was a real thing. Then, at one domain conference, a friend showed me their parking account, they had made $40,000 the previous month, this month was going to end up over $50,000 – they were clearing over $500,000/year parking…that’s when I realized, yup – people are making money parking.

As for the opportunity you, me, and any other domain investor has to make money parking. It all depends on your risk profile. For me, I can’t sleep at night if I feel like I’m breaking rules or doing something illegal, it just doesn’t sit right with me…so the risk that comes with parking, I’m just not a good fit. You might be a-okay with it in which case, yes, you can make money parking, it’s still a thing and while the market is smaller, the market is still there.

I’m not going to talk about parking companies because I honestly don’t know who, over beers, would be okay with me sharing what I know, so I think I’ll just need to leave it at that. If you are into parking, once conferences are back in full swing, go to a conference, grab a beer, talk to a few people, and you’ll find out how to get into parking. Until then, well don’t ask me, but maybe someone will share more in the comment section below.\

Josh – thanks for the inspiration – there was definitely a 0% chance I’d be sitting here at 10:42PM finishing a blog post about parking. And Shane, thanks a lot for making me starving for bread pudding and getting it stuck in my head. Tomorrow, expect a post about that. Until then, goodnight!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton