How best to make money off of unused domains?

November 16, 2008 8:10 PM

Best way to make money off of unused domains? Sell or sign up for PPC?

I have a number of unused domains a couple of which I would guess have reasonable value - recommendations on the best services to sign up with for Pay Per Click revenue? and/or domain auction? Sedo.com obviously is the leader.

posted by specialk420 to computers & internet (2 comments total)

If you're sold on parking services I would recommend trying a few and seeing what works the best. I have tried many including sedo.com, namedrive.com, parkingpanel.com, bodis.com, and parked.com (that I can think of offhand), but have all of them at sedo and namedrive currently. Different services have different advertising feeds, features, restrictions, and other things that affect revenue, and any given domain may work better at any of the different sites. These services will only work for domains with existing traffic, if that's not obvious.

If you are willing to put in a little work, I would recommend building a website and using adsense or something similar for ppc. You will get the benefit of search engine traffic as well as the possibility of return visitors. Even a simple relevant 2-3 page site is better than any parking company (in my opinion).

Selling is also an option, but I don't have much experience other than smaller sales for domains that weren't worth the effort to park. If a domain is making me steady money I'd rather keep the recurring income than have a lump sum, but that really depends on what you're looking for.
posted by Kupo? at 10:45 PM on November 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

Another option for domains with some value (especially generics) is leasing. Its a relatively new concept for domains but for those that proactively find companies in the relevant sector and demonstrate the domains value, it can be very lucrative. Most deals are structured for x months with an option to purchase.
posted by Kai2 at 5:27 AM on November 17, 2008