Net Hustlin'

Parking domains is big business in 2007. Almost every good domain name is either taken or parked. To find a good name for your site you either have to be really creative or have a lot of money to spend in an auction. Although I don't like parking domains since it makes it harder for small webmasters like myself to find good domain names, I can see the income potential. That's why so many people are taking a part in the trend.

Here are a few tips on how to park domains effectively:

Registering a Domain Name

To park a domain you must first come up with a name for your site. A good domain name is short, simple, and keyword rich. Having a good keyword will determine how easily your site is picked up by search engines. An excellent keyword can bring traffic to your site just from being typed into a URL bar (I.E. "beer.com" or "sex.com").

To find keywords related to your site you can use this webmaster tool. Type in any keyword you are looking for and it will show you how many times it has been searched for in the past 30 days. It will also show related searches based on your keyword.

You can also find and register expired domain names. The upside to parking expired names is they usually have a steady flow of traffic, a Google page rank, and incoming links. You can go to Godaddy to find domains that are about to expire. If there is a site name you want but it is already registered, a search on the site Verisign will tell you when its due to expire.

After finding the name you want I recommend registering it on Godaddy. They are cheap and reliable, especially if you are looking to buy in bulk. Right now they have domains for $1.95.

How To Park Your Domain

Parking a domain is relatively simple. You can park a domain while your site is under construction, while it's being sold in an auction, or just for a little extra money. Parking your domain will give you extra money for the ads that are clicked on your site. Most of the people I have talked to park their domains with Sedo. It's completely free and easy to use.

All you have to do is register with Sedo or a similar site. Once you register, you will be given a DNS address (Domain Name Server). All you will have to do is change your current DNS to that address. Once that is done the site will automatically appear with relevant ads.

www.freefonetones.com is an example of a parked site.

How Parking Domains Will Make You Money

Take my old blog for example: two years ago I had a blog that made around $10 a month.
It had a page rank of 2 and a few incoming links. It also had a small but steady flow of traffic. I wasn't able to keep up with the blog so I let the name expire the following year. Most of the links to the site are still on the internet and it still shows up in Google search results.

Once my domain name expired it was parked by someone who probably paid $1.95 on Godaddy to register the site for a year. Even if they only make $5 a month, they are making that money for doing literally nothing. It's also important to consider that someone who jumped that quickly into parking my site is probably a professional with hundreds of other parked sites, all of which bring in small amounts of money that can add up quickly.

Even sites that haven't been established can get traffic if they have good keywords. They will be easily picked up by major search engines like Google.

Selling A Domain

Auctioning a good domain name can also be really profitable. If you have a great name that is keyword rich you can make hundreds or even thousands of dollars from it. Here are a few sites where you can auction your domain name:

Ebay

Domain Name Aftermarket

Afternic


If you can think of a great domain name, there really is no limit to how much money you can make. You may have heard about sex.com selling for over 14 million in 2006. As thousands of sites are being registered every year webmasters are willing to pay a premium for a good name.