If you are more into selling your domain name and Raising The Value in your domain name, you may want to consider building a one page site (sales pitch) for your domain instead of parking and making Pennies!
When I tried this test, it was a test… Well, I think it is working in more ways then one.
HandTrowel.com was not making much, if anything being parked at Fabulous.com . So my goal was to create a sales page for the domain name that explained why I thought somebody should purchase it. (end user)
Since the domain was not making much parked, it was well worth the test IMO as I was putting my focus on selling more then making penny clicks.
I created a Very, Very, Very simple page using xSite Pro with my sales pitch. I made sure my keywords were set, Page Title and Meta Description the way I wanted and launched it and forgot about it. That was around the end of April.
I ran across a posting by David Carter today, which made me look into my test with HandTrowel.com, because he sold a domain using the same process I am using. After reading his post, I tweaked my page a little and added a price to the page, which I didn’t have before.
Secondly, I RAISED my price a bit as well. Why would I do that? HandTrowel.com ranked very poorly in SE’s like most parked domains do, but just by putting up my one page lander basic site that took me about 10 minutes.. it now ranks #4 on Page 1 on Google for hand trowel.
Since 720 monthly searches are done global for Hand Trowel on Google alone, this means that all these people are seeing the #4 rank! Having just a domain parking page, this would not of happened! Traffic has went up to about 40 uniques per month with about 300 hits a month.
Not only does this increase the value of the domain name due to it’s P1 listing, it’s an extra sales pitch I didn’t have before! Secondly, it has increased traffic to the domain due to it’s nice ranking in Google. Again, these traffic numbers I didn’t have before is more fire power for my sales pitch.
I still have options as well, as it’s a site I created. I could ad adsense blocks if I wanted. I could create a page tab and use Amazon Affiliate and put a store with hand trowels. I could add a couple more pages of text and fight for the #1 spot if I wish also. Heck, I could buy a bunch of trowels and sell them if I really wanted!! 
The best thing is, I have options.
I will be spending a little bit of time building several more of these identical sites for a lot more of my domains that are parked and making pennies. It takes about 10-15 minutes total once you know what your doing per site. This could also be done using WordPress and I think there is a plugin that allows you to create sites quickly like this, but I forgot what it is called.
I just wanted to share the results of my test and to complete this test would be the result of a sale, with a higher price then I had it listed before due to the nice P1 ranking on Google and increased traffic.
Leonard Britt
Keep us informed. I haven’t tried putting pricetages on my sites yet but as you point out an indexed site with some longtail traffic might be worth more to a buyer than a parked domain with only random typein traffic. But I suppose a buyer still would do something else with the domain so if the purpose is just to promote the domain, you shouldn’t spend too much time on developing the site.
mitch
Great idea! (that I think I’m going to have to steal:)
Your simple page looks great and is very well written. The images are a very nice touch which I think add a lot to getting the name sold. Makes it much easier to visualize what your saying.
Thanks for the post.
Ross
One suggestion. The ending paragraph, instead of saying “use sedo or afternic” you should have your email. Most companies looking at that domain will have no idea what those are and think its spam.
Just an option, think it would help you convert better.
John
I would add a link jump from the top to the bottom and bold the “ready to purchase” part. Adding an email as was suggested above may also be a good idea… or at least a simple web form in addition to the Sedo / Afternic links.
And certainly add an AdSense block and/or a simple widget from Amazon at the very least. You got good rankings and most people visiting the page want trowels and not the domain name – might as well earn some money from the page while it waits for the smart manufacturer or retailer that sells ‘em.
Dan B.
Interesting concept. It’s looker, liken pitch and making it SE friendly will definitely increase traffic. Call me a glutton, but by placing some ads will make site some revenue. I LIKE IT!
Thanks Jamie!
Tony
Why don’t you offer this as a service? $25 per domain.
Jamie Zoch
I have thought about it Tony. I do own the domain BasicSites.com, so if I do, it will be under that domain.
Jamie Zoch
Thank you all for the suggestions. I went back and corrected some grammar issues, added the link jump and an email contact. I may add a form but will do that tomorrow. I will think about adding the adsense as well tomorrow.
Radulescu
You should change the title tag into this “Hand Towel – HandTowel.com is for sale!” – This way you might jump another one or two spots in the serps.
Angela Carpenter
Well, it’s a bright idea..However, parking a domain is also rewarding in case you’re not able to work on domain for a while.
Stephen Douglas
Jamie, beautiful example, and great domain, by the way!
However, I understand fully what you’re doing, and I have to say that you can’t overlook the free services at Whypark to do exactly what you’ve already done with this website. Free custom pages, managed keyword help for pennies a day, they have a lot of the services your readers need to reach the value of their domains.
I’d use that BasicSites.com as an affiliate site for Whypark, until you get that baby up in some other form.
I am dealing with identical issues that you are, I have projects, products, domains, directories, potential advertisers, etc etc regarding my domains. It’s a whirlwind…
For the moment, get yourself a free account at Whypark (you can go through me and I’ll give you free advice) and test out all your PPC failures using the instant content buildout from Whypark. My direct signup connect is: http://www.whypark.com/?wpr=4146-109F9
Blatant promotion, but also free advice from someone who knows the system, expectations, and success.
cheers!
Jamie Zoch
@Angela,
I set up this domain at the end of April 2009 and had not touched it until yesterday. A domain parking company would not get your domain ranked that high in SE’s.
Jamie Zoch
@Radulescu,
I took your advice and changed it. It does make sense with having Hand Trowel split up first as that is how people search for it and the spiders search left to right. That should help a little.
Jamie Zoch
@Stephen,
Can you provide some examples of domains that use the system as they should (the correct way).
BullS
I have done this on all my sites.
It is a great success
Lots of offers, and sales and PPC too
Here is an example : http://www.CloudCombo.com
Dave
Jamie,
Have u tried this with .net or .orgs. Do u have any .net or org names that u would consider setting up a page? Or do the nets and orgs have to be extremely good keyword names?
Stephen Douglas
Hi Jamie,
I didn’t really understand what you want from your post. Can you be more detailed in your request? What “system” are you talking about? “Whypark”. And “the correct way”… not sure if you’re talking about my discussion or details in how to use Whypark’s features in the most productive manner. If it’s the latter, you need to email me for the answers.
cheers broey
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Jamie Zoch
Hi Stephen,
I was speaking about the system WhyPark. I was looking for some help for my readers and corners that should not be cut while setting up a domain (the correct way) for the domain to perform the best in SE’s and income.
Jamie Zoch
@Dave,
I have not tried this with “other” TLD’s besides .com . I think some .net and .org pages would work like the .com did, but I do think the .net, .org domain has to be pretty strong (good) to help it rank like HandTrowel.com does. I will likely try some .org’s but a couple product related .net’s that I own. I will keep you updated.
Aub
Here’s an example of what you can do with WhyPark. http://cutpatterns.com I added the Amazon carousel with a link to my store underneath. The free keyword-targeted article content is great, but I don’t believe you could do a full-length custom sales pitch the way Jamie has done with their free service.
Jamie Zoch
@Aub,
How long has the site been using WhyPark? I see it doesn’t rank all that great at Google. You may want to adjust your page title to “Cut Patterns, Discount Tools and Supplies” Then match up the keywords in the meta description while explaining what the site offers. That should help SEO.
Aub
It’s only been up about a week. I think I’ll try a longer title. Thanks for the advice.
Stephen Douglas
Jamie, the first thing Whypark users should do on the free service is find all the different ways to list keywords for their domains, which would be in the form of “questions”. So if you had a domain “reviewcheaptravelpackages.com”, you’d try to find keywords like “cheapest travel packages” or “cheap travel packages to hawaii” and so on… the less common the keyword phrase, the better chance the free site will be indexed.
AUB has some nice ideas posted here too.
Mark
Any update on progress?
Obviously the domain hasn’t sold – but did you generate any enquiries from this tactic.
One drawback to consider if you did this for multiple domains is that using the same sales letter might result in google etc blacklisting your domain for duplicate or stolen content.
You’ll need to change the sales letter each time to make avoid your domains becoming damaged goods.
Another simple way round this might be to write a one page mini site with resources about eg handtrowels. You can add a graphic containing the “This domain is for sale” info.
Clicking on this graphic could then take the potential buyer to a second page with price, contact details etc (which would be more or less the same for all your domains) but this could have a tag so the search engines ignore it.
Jamie Zoch
@Mark,
No sale with the domain yet but I still like this option better than domain parking. It ranks # 2 on Google for the matching term which has increased traffic to the domain drastically. I do get clicks from time to time on the AdSense block but no inquires yet. I have done a couple similar pages but do write unique content for each one.