Here is another option if you are looking to get away from domain name parking. Today I spent about 15 minutes and tried to come up with a clean and easy template that I liked for a "search" development site.
Today’s project is NetTees.com
What I used to create the site:
- xSite Pro 2
- xHeader (free)
- Google Adsense (Search)
- Hostgator Hosting
The first thing I did was add the domain name to my hosting account at Hostgator (add domains). Went to my domain registrar and set DNS to my hosting. (about 2 minutes so far) Opened my xSite Pro 2.
Added a new website to my Project folder (one page test) and selected a Blank Page as my template. Set "name for site" Keywords, description. Add in page title and meta description and clicked Web pages/Design.
I then opened up xHeader and searched in the directory of pre-made headers, added in the NetTees.com text and saved the header.
Back in xSite I added the header banner to the web page and centered it.
I spaced down and added in the text to try and get people to use the search function… This is KEY in order for this type of page to work!
I then went to my Google Adsense account and created the search function that I wanted, set keywords to match the domain name and other settings needed. I copied the code from Google and went back into xSite, clicked the source tab and placed in the code.
I wanted the "search results" to display on the same page below the search box, so I went back to Google adsense and copied the remaining code for the search results. Back in xSite, I placed the second set of adsense code below the search box.
I set publishing details in xSite, Saved and Published.
Total time, 15 minutes.
Some things that I thought about doing was simply making a Logo for NetTees.com and adding that to the top instead of the header banner. I also thought about adding a couple linked lines of text below the "example search suggestions" that I put under the search box which I could use affiliate links for CafePress.com, TshirtHell.com etc. I could also put a For Sale link for the domain.
Although there is really little to no content on the site, your domain name, page title and meta description are your work horses for search engine rankings, so be sure to make those work for you!
Ed
How successful are you with sites like this? Or is this a bit of a proof of concept for you?
Jamie Zoch
@Ed,
This is my first “search” test page I have done, so I do not have any data on how well this process will work or not. I think although this concept is very basic, often times very basic systems like this work well. I have even seen a couple domain parking companies use a search box like this and figured I would give it a try.
Ed
@Jamie,
Cool. Will be interesting to hear how it works out for you. I might give it a try myself with one of my undeveloped domains that lends itself to that, too.
Johnny
Nice Jamie.
I would expect it to perform worse than regular parking but better than the similar search box functions that at least one parking co. has (parked).
However, the key here I assume is not that is makes less than parking, but that it is a nice alternative to parking.
Thanks for sharing!
Jamie Zoch
@Johnny,
Another big thing to consider and I wrote this in my post about my HandTrowel.com site I did, is that with even light development like this, can greatly increase your search engine rankings. Parking pages will get you indexed, but beyond that the rankings are poor. Even with light development can rank you pretty well for the matching term of your domain. That alone adds value to the domain and is more fire power when you have an interested buyer. This can also allow for the buyer to find you, as I think most interested parties in buying a domain name do a search on a SE using the domain or simply visit the domain name directly. I currently didn’t include a contact link on this page but I am think I should in some way, without taking away from getting the majority of users to Search.
owen frager
Our friends at Cowboys.com have been using this method for a while now after testing many others.
You did a great job, Jamie. Thanks for sharing.
Writer
Interesting concept, will try to implement on one of my domains.