Name Park It!

There are several great reasons to park domain names. Parked domain names can offer you a great Return on Investment (ROI). They provide...

The "how and why" you use parked domain names depend on whether you are...

-OR-

So we'll incorporate both perspectives as we examine the main reasons why parking a domain name is a worthwhile consideration...

Please note that existing domain names cannot be transferred in. Name Park It! is for new domain name registrations only.

Reason #1) Reserving a Domain Name for Future Use

Your only goal in purchasing a domain name may be to tuck it away, inactive for now, and saved for possible later use. For example, if your first site goes well, you may foresee several possible ways to "extend" its concept. Prevent others from taking those domain names by purchasing and parking them now.

Here's an example... the owner of anguilla-beaches.com foresees the time when she might want to spin off her successful first site into highly profitable standalone sites.

She should only do this if a "spinoff" can stand on its own as a strong site, has a good reason to exist, and if she plans on putting as much energy into it as she did into the original site. Otherwise, the topic is best off remaining a Tier 2 mini-site within the main site.

Understandably, at an early stage, you will not be sure exactly what part of an original concept will work best and what part will fall flatter than a pancake. But, by the time you're successful, others may have started a business using the domain name you would have picked.

That's why it's important to lock down major possible "spinoffs" now. Keeping this in mind, the owner of anguilla-beaches.com registers the following two possible "spinoffs"...

Not knowing which would be most profitable, she locks them down now. Brainstorm It! keyword research, your knowledge of the theme's subject matter, your awareness of potential monetization models, and your future intentions all help you pick which domain names to protect now.

Now let's look at the specific rationales behind registering domain names...

Monetization plans obviously play a huge role. If you hit a home run with one model (e.g., real estate -- villa sales and rentals) on your site, consider putting extra emphasis on this model by focusing an entire site upon it in a year or two. It's impossible to predict which direction will be the home run...

For example, who knew that visitors to anguilla-beaches.com would really buy $500,000+ villas because of a referral, not to mention rent in droves? Well, they do. So she converts bestanguillavillas.com into an SBI! site.

The take-home lesson here is... Lock them in now for future use. The "future" does, inevitably, arrive.

Conceptual domain names leave the door open to creating a different spin on Anguilla. They're less important, but if you get an idea you like now, you might kick yourself when the domain name is gone in two years.

Bottom line?

Protect those names now, before someone else grabs them.

There's a second part of this reason to reserve domain names for possible future SBI! use. Instead of a spinoff, you might start a totally new business.

You never know what might come your way once you build a successful site. But be ready for it. And when it does come... act!

And what if this solopreneur had other interests, such as kung fu movies? She might want to reserve kungfumovies.com at this point.

Of course, if the intention is to possibly convert this NPI! domain name into an SBI! site, it's important to pick the correct domain name now. Imagine if you were to discover that your "perfect domain name" was no longer available then because you chose the wrong one now.

So do be rigorous. Go about choosing these types of domain names just as diligently as you chose your first one.

There's one more advantage to reserving an NPI! domain name for future use...

If you ever decide to upgrade an NPI! domain name into a full SBI! site, it's easy. No need to transfer a domain name from another registrar (which is usually a headache)!

Click here for more information about upgrading your NPI! domain name into an SBI! site.

Reason #2) Switching to a Shorter, Brandable Name

When you reached DAY 5, you may have decided upon a domain name that contained your Site Concept Keyword and a marketing word or words, which totaled 20 characters or more, including 1 or more dashes. While there's no indication that a long domain name like that has a negative effect on search engine rankings, it's hard to remember and harder to type.

So why not find a shorter, more memorable, brandable domain name? Once you've parked it with NPI!, use Move It! to switch your site to the shorter name. Your keyword research, all of your pages, and almost all of your link juice carry over to the new version of your site.

For details, see the Move It! 301 Option's help.

Reason #3) Severing Bad Links Causing Traffic Drops

One of Google's Penguin algorithm changes may have caused a large drop in your site's traffic and income. If, after determining which algorithm affected your site, and doing everything you could to fix the problem, your traffic still hasn't recovered, it may be time to sever all links to your site.

You do that by parking a domain name with NPI!, then using Move It!'s 302 option to switch your site to that new domain name. You get to keep all of your keyword research and your content. But the link juice that passed on to your old site is severed, giving your site a second chance to wow visitors and Google.

For details, see the Move It! 302 Option's help.

Reason #4) A Typo in Your Domain Name

If you spelled a word wrong when you entered your domain name during the registration process, you can fix it by parking the correct spelling of the name, then using Move It!'s 301 option to quickly fix the mistake.

Reason #5) Insurance

Prevent others from "knocking off" your primary domain name. When you become well-known in your particular island of expertise, others will try to ride on your coat-tails. So...

Park a domain name purely for "never-use"... protect yourself from someone taking a domain name that's similar to yours.

The strategies here are pretty obvious -- dashes, plurals, etc. It was already too late for the owner of anguilla-beaches.com (with dash) to reserve anguillabeaches.com (no dash).

However, registering anguilla-beach.com is an insurance move, protecting the "singular" version of anguilla-beaches.com. And you can employ this strategy while you're also reserving domain names for future use, which is the reason for these pairs.

Note: The reasoning behind the "insurance strategy" is fundamentally different from "future use." It's strictly defensive. There's no "future use" plan for anguilla-beach.com.

Name Park It! protects you. The domain name is yours and no one can take it away from you. It's cheap insurance against knockoffs -- and you can put the unlimited domain name and subdomain name redirects to good use, as we'll see later.

Reason #6) Strategic Ways to Redirect Traffic

Name Park It! ("NPI!") provides important functionality. You can...

This is very useful.

If you're a SiteSell Affiliate Program affiliate...

This is a great way to redirect affiliate-oriented traffic. Use your domain names and subdomain names to create "tight-purposed URLs" to redirect to "sloppy URL destinations."

Clean up what would otherwise be a very long and messy destination URL. For example, suppose you want to write an article in your newsletter about Search It!. The content has a special focus on the "Competition" category, and it highlights how useful the "Google Single Keyword SUPPLY" search is, delivering SUPPLY data for up to 1,000 keywords with a single query. But...

Your SiteSell Affiliate Program RR URL is "search42.html." Yes, SiteSell has grown (just a bit!), so many common words have numbers after them. And even though...

"searchit.sitesell.com/search42.html"

... is better than those infinitely long Amazon and Commission Junction affiliate URLs, it would be more effective to have a cleaner domain name. So...

You register "searchmethods.com," which opens up the possibility for great subdomain names like "best.searchmethods.com" and "smart.searchmethods.com." Each of these can be redirected to your SiteSell RR URL, or to those long and sloppy URLs of any other affiliate program.

So now, at the end of your brilliant article on Search It!, you close with...

For more information, please see...

http://best.searchmethods.com

That redirects to your SiteSell RR URL for Search It!. Isn't that clean? And here's a second benefit... there's no way for the visitor to "cut off" your affiliate URL. If they want more information, they have to click on your nice, tight link -- heck, it's not even clear that it is an affiliate link.

Special Tip

SBIers can even track the number of hits to each link by redirecting their subdomain names to a tracking link in Tracker Library.

If you're an SBIer...

Besides the affiliate redirects (if you're using the affiliate monetization model), use an NPI! domain name and its subdomain names to refer visitors to various parts of your site.

We'll continue using our anguilla-beaches.com example...

Most of the above domain names would not be registered for the specific purpose of redirecting. Some would be left at the default redirect, anguilla-beaches.com. Other redirects illustrate different kinds of non-affiliate redirections.

Generally, though, SBIers use NPI! for "future use" or "insurance" purposes. The redirecting is just a "free bonus."

For affiliates, however, the redirecting functionality is powerful. The option of unlimited subdomains provides incredible functionality. In this case...

If you want to use a domain name and its subdomains for "clean links" to your affiliate URLs, the selection of the domain name will be based upon what you're trying to achieve. You may even want to park several domain names, if you have several different kinds of campaigns planned.

Reason #7) "Accidental" Ways to Redirect Visitors

By checking her Keyword Searches Report, this solopreneur (well, her dad, actually) noticed that people were finding her site for the misspelled word, "anguila." And so she would register two NPI! domain names, this time to generate "accidental traffic"...

Tip: If you purchase any domain names purely for "accidental redirection" purposes to your site, redirect them to tracking links (create them in your Tracker Library).

For example...

anguila-beaches.com would redirect to the tracking link...

www.anguilla-beaches.com/anguila-beaches

... which would then go to www.anguilla-beaches.com.

-AND-

anguilabeaches.com would redirect to the tracking link...

www.anguilla-beaches.com/anguilabeaches

... which would also go to www.anguilla-beaches.com.

Even if each of these generates only 100 visitors per year, the low price is more than worth it. The tracking links will register and report every time someone passes through either of these two domain names.

And that brings us to the final Return on Investment (ROI) measures...

1) It's cheap for any domain name that you think is important for "future use" or "insurance purposes."

2) It's also cheap for any affiliate who wants clean URLs. Register as many "concept-specific" domain names for various companies, campaigns, etc., as you may need. Within each domain name, of course, you have an unlimited number of subdomain names to keep your URLs attractive and effective.

3) Using a domain name for "accidental" traffic is a great idea. Attach tracking links to be sure of your ROI. Use your imagination and creativity -- there are lots of great ways to take advantage of this concept.

Conclusion

Whether you're an SBIer or SiteSell Affiliate Program affiliate, or both, NPI! is a powerful service that can grow your business significantly, not to mention protect its future.