Domain Parking / Sedo Parking ... good thing or not?

[Ditzy]

As my brain is only really good for general wonderments today I'm mooching over things that I've been considering for a while but never actually got round to looking in to properly.

I'd be interested to know people's views on parking your unused domains.

On the one hand when I'm trying to find a good domain name and all the best ones are parked with sponsored content on them or when I'm searching for a particular product to buy and click on a result only to land on a page with more choices to click on it rubs me up the wrong way.

However on the other hand I do have several domains which I condsider to be reasonably good and hope to use at some point but they are currently just sitting there doing nothing.

Are there any obvious drawbacks to parking a domain that I might have missed?

Thanks

[rob.co.uk]

Hi (again!)

On the one hand when I'm trying to find a good domain name and all the best ones are parked with sponsored content on them or when I'm searching for a particular product to buy and click on a result only to land on a page with more choices to click on it rubs me up the wrong way.

Parking , like spam sites, annoying link bait and the rest can annoy internet users. It does depend alot on the domain name eg:
- BrandNameLoans.co.uk
- Loan.co.uk

Say both go to a parking page, the first one it is obvious where the user is trying to go and that is cybersquatting. The second could be a useful form of parking, basically paid search. The user wants Loan info and has a list of Loan related links - win win.

I do realise alot of people do not know/believe that people act in this way, but some of the direct typin traffic is quite large.

However on the other hand I do have several domains which I condsider to be reasonably good and hope to use at some point but they are currently just sitting there doing nothing.

Are there any obvious drawbacks to parking a domain that I might have missed?

As above, it depends on the domain name and its extension. Ensure you comply with the rules ie. UK names do not use them in an abusive manner and do not infringe on other peoples rights.

If you do that correctly I would argue a page of 'links' (sponsored or not) is more useful to a user that ends up there than a 404 or blank page.

Cheers,
rob.

[grantw]

If the domains are purely generic then the only real downside is that google may drop them once they see it's a parked page.

If the domains have any sort of trademark issues you could potentially be opening yourself up to lawsuits etc etc if the page contains adverts from competitors of the tm holder.

Grant

[Ditzy]

Rob - Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Grant - Thanks for your reply too ... I haven't got any domains with trademark issues. Limited on pennies so choose my domains wiser

[Geoffuk]

Hi Ditzy,

I've had mixed experience with parking my domains at sedo...

I've got a dozen or so generic domains parked that make a couple of quid between them on a good month. I've got a typo domain (is that classed as squatting?) that gets a bit traffic. It was making on average about £15 a month which was ok for no input and paid for most the renewals.

However they made a few changes at Sedo a couple months ago (i can't remember what they were) and since then I barely get anything.
I've heard people say there are better parking schemes available but I've never really looked into it.

Geoff

[tomj]

Hi Ditzy,



However they made a few changes at Sedo a couple months ago (i can't remember what they were) and since then I barely get anything.
I've heard people say there are better parking schemes available but I've never really looked into it.

Geoff

They changed their parked pages to include algo (non paying) results...lol

[amisuggests]

I tried domain parking but abandoned it after about 5 months. It just did not pay off

[Geoffuk]

They changed their parked pages to include algo (non paying) results...lol

No bloody wonder it isn't paying then!

[Ditzy]

Thanks guys ...got plenty to keep me occupied at the mo so will probably leave it for now.

Appreciate everyone's in put ... cheers :tup