This is the first of a four post series on estimating direct type in traffic – the purpose of which is to come up with a reliable metric that can be used to assess a domain’s revenue parking potential. Results are based on the performance of 28 random descriptive domain names that were parked (using my DIY Domain Parking template) and monitored during January.
Part 1 – Overall Performance
To begin with, here is a table showing the overall performance of the 28 domains I have used for this experiment. This was the number of descriptive domain names that I had parked using my template at the time of starting these posts so have used these for my test case. I’ve ordered them by earnings for the purpose of this illustration.
As you can see, results vary quite drastically when you look at the different number of words and letters within the the domain names used. This is good news as the point of this exercise is to look at how these different factors may influence the type in traffic achieved!
Let’s look at a few important findings that can be derived from the above table.
1. Direct Type in Traffic %
The first and most important thing to note is the % type in traffic which comes in at 1.90% across all domains. This surprised me a little as for reasons unknown to me I was expecting around 1%. Good news though and an interesting start to proceedings.
2. CTR
Overall, CTR (click through rate) has come in at 13.50% which is neither bad nor good really. Considering the parking pages are set up in under 10 minutes it’s not too bad a performance but could certainly be tweaked going forwards.
3. Click Revenue
A crucial factor is the click revenue generated as ultimately this will be an indicator of whether parking domains in this way will be financially sustainable or not. The 28 parked domains have brought in £13.85 for the month and I can then use this figure to calculate whether these domains would give me a + / – in the profit / loss column over a yearly time period (assuming similar performance across the year).
Monthly revenue £13.85 x 12 months = £166.20 yearly revenue
£6 domain reg fee x 28 domains = £168.00 yearly reg fees
So, the 28 domains are close to breaking even but there will be no profit to be seen assuming they continue to perform along the same lines for the remaining 11 months of the year.
4. ROI
I’m a firm believer in using ROI (Return On Investment) as the defining yardstick to measure any type of investing that I do – and domaining should be no different.
ROI = -0.01 (income generated / money invested)
So, this is not good – as for all my hard work I am simply on the cusp of breaking even. I won’t let this put me off however, as there are several things that I could do to improve the performance and ROI of my domain portfolio going forwards..
- Sell off poorly performing domains
- Allow poorly performing domains to expire
- Buy more domains of the number of words and / or letters that perform best on average (see following posts for analysis in these areas)
I’m certainly not despondent at breaking even as this means that at the very least I will be able to hold onto the above domains at very negligible cost to myself. I may also receive offers on some of the domains which if accepted could turn the situation into a profitable one.
There are four posts in this type in traffic analysis series, the next of which can be found below.
Type in Traffic Estimator Analysis – Part 2 – Number of Words
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