One thing I’ve found interesting when sending emails to end user buyers is that they often visit the domain name that is being sold and contact me through the contact form on the landing page. I don’t know if they are doing this to verify the legitimacy of my email or if they simply want to see what’s happening on the landing page.
With that in mind, I am going to try something a bit new as I try to sell StartupConsulting.com.
This afternoon, I am going to begin the process of contacting end user buyers for StartupConsulting.com. I plan to test out the Estibot Lead Generation tool as well as do my own research to find potential buyers for this domain name. As usual, I do not plan to price the domain name in my emails to buyers, and I hope to start a conversation with a few potential buyers that will lead to competitive offers for the domain name.
Instead of keeping a standard Internet Traffic parked page, I built a landing page for the domain name using my corporate website as a template. My goal is to give a bit more legitimacy to the email. In addition, I think that there is the potential for the domain name to come up in Google (eventually) when people search “startup consulting,” and if it doesn’t sell this week, perhaps someone will find it when they are doing market intelligence to see where they rank and/or where competitors rank.
Frankly, this domain name doesn’t earn very much revenue, which is not a surprise. Because of that, I am not losing anything by taking away the parked page and making it a domain name for sale landing page.
As you could probably tell, it took less than 30 minutes to create the bare bones landing page. Perhaps I will make some changes and enhancements to it to help sell it. At this point, I am content with the simplicity of it, and I will let you know how my end user outreach goes.
If you have any suggestions to improve the landing page, I would be interested in reading them.
Let me suggest you to:
1. Add share buttons (FB Like, Twitter Post, E-mail)
2. FB/Twitter/LinkedIn Login as a choice instead of filling the form
#2 is a good idea, but I have no idea how to implement that.
You can use http://janrain.com/products/engage/ to add social login on your site easily. You just need to configure the settings and then embed the code on the page 🙂
I will look into that – thank you.
Here is a manual for FB Login: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/getting-started-web/
Might as well be in French. I have a very, very basic knowledge of coding. Enough to get me into trouble.
If it was enough to code that application form, then I don’t expect any problem in understanding it too 🙂
Was essentially cut and paste from my existing website.
Looks nice. Let us know how things unfold.
However, you may bold the date “September 15, 2013” which will make the potential buyer to decide quickly and submit their offer in timely manner.
Good idea – thanks. I made that update.
Wise move. IMO, any domain with parking rev less than $10 a month is much better utilized with it’s own custom landing page. In fact, I’m almost wanting to bet that any ads on a domain tend to be off-putting to potential suitors, when you’re actively seeking buyers.
The only downside is that it did take me more time to create this lander than to park it, and the parked page does have a notice about it being for sale. I don’t know how much added value it will give, but I will see what happens over time.
So far, I have 2 replies to my email asking me for the price.
Looks nice
What Program did you use to create it?
I used the same template as TopNotchDomains.com and modified it using Dreamweaver.
Now that you’ve created the first one, it should all be plug’n play at this point!
Will see if this one gets any traction first.
It’s got to be worth a try.
I mean, if one of these companies produces a for sale lander that really works…well, maybe that’s the day we’ve been waiting for!
I just use Int Traffic + sedo lander.
Too much pitch copy.
Move the form up to the right hand where you company info is.
Make a graphical colored button to draw eye to form. try orange since it contrasts your blue/green palette
Condense company info run horizontal under logo.
You have Top Notch LLC on the page more than a dozen times.
Add trust badges on bottom portion but “top of fold”: Escrow.com badge, awards, link badge to linkedin (for verificaiton) . .. anything else that adds credibility like the “As seen in TechCrunch . . . . blah blah blah” . All that adds security as well to a potential buyer.
Maybe link out to domaintools for whois verification. “proof of ownership”
Unbounce always has good tips.
http://unbounce.com/landing-page-articles/landing-page-best-practices/
Hello Elliot,
I went over the domain.
Just 2 points to consider
1) Add Google Analytics
2) Add Google website Translator link
3) if you have good statistics for the domain / google search counts. display that information also.
4) if you know where your major portion of your visitors come from (ex. UK / US / California / Germany) that too might be attractive. ex. 70% US & 30% from China.
All the best.
Domain parking doesn’t work. That ship sailed a long time ago.
What do you mean?
One thing I’ve started doing is forwarding domains to the DomainNameSales sales page. If you park with InternetTraffic you can set up the redirection by editing the domain details. It’s a pretty easy process and it’s increased my inbound inquiries pretty dramatically.
I don’t earn much parking revenue, so I’m not missing out by doing this.
“The company hopes to find a buyer by September 15, 2013”
This is making people think you’re a little desperate on the sale? I ran it across a few people here and they mentioned the same.
It’s to create urgency, which is something widely used in direct marketing. If it doesn’t sell by then, it is a very easy fix to change the date.
This is just a test that will be updated and revised. Perhaps I will try it out on a few other names. We’ll see.
Elliot, I liked it. It was nice and clean. Good work.
Nice try, Elliot. I like its clean design. If I were you, I would put the focus on the domain name, not your company name. Once you have your page design fixed, you can turn it into a database-design process which will allow you to create custom landing pages for your hundreds domain names.
If the domains are good ..why the sense of urgency? it cheapens you landing page.
CTA?
Adam is giving you the best advice,
Don’t make them think to much.
I suggest you get the book
“don’t make me think” by Steve Krug, I am reading it for a second time, UX it’s a science the book an eye opener….
It’s a marketing tactic. Visit any GD marketplace listing and you’ll see they all have expiration dates that probably mean nothing since they can renew.
are we selling used-cars?
or Intellectual property?
Any semi-smart potential buyer/investor knows that it’s a “marketing tactic”, I personally don’t like that but ultimately is you landing page… your call.
I’ve had luck when I’ve given deadlines in the past, and I see GD utilizing the tactic. I don’t want to deal with someone who is going to think about things, call the SEO guy, talk to his developer…etc. I want to deal with someone who can make a decision and agree to a deal quickly. Those types of buyers close quickly and give me less problems.
This whole thing is a test, so everything can be changed.
Timely thread…
I am working on my own landing page probably buying a smart script that will recognize the url/domain that created the interest without having to do a page at a time, more and more domainers are opting out of parking, the risk/reward ratio is tilting the scale…
I always said the best vehicule to potentially sell your domain is the domain (traffic) itself.
Best of luck.
Robert
Thanks… and thanks for your feedback.
Aside from end user emails, I am pretty sure I’ve sold more names from converted leads that came through the landing page than anywhere else.
Domo, I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that. I know I can create a page that accepts a parameter from the URL and then displays it on the page. For example, on a domain name “thedomain.com”, at the registrar if I forwarded the name to http://www.goodnames.com?name=“thename.com”, then the “thename.com” would show on the page the visitor is being sent to. However, the problem is that for all the thousands of my names, I would have to go in and enter a unique forwarding URL. Lots of work.
Do you know of a way to set all the names in a portfolio to one nameserver and then someone map the name into the page content?
I just want to create one single page, to which all my names are forwarded and the domain name is shown on the page.
Potential buyers are going to end up searching Google and landing on this post reading through the comments. Oh, Boy… 🙂
Don’t really care. They will either want to buy the name for the price I set or they won’t. I’ve had 3 interested companies, turned down a $5,000 offer for the pair (including StartupConsultant.com), and am awaiting expecting to discuss this with the third company at some point today or tomorrow.
Your favicon for this page is EB, can you put up a SC for the Startup site?
I tried to put up a favicon on my killerweed.biz page today and my server coughed, spit, and laughed at me! No go. Try again tomorrow.
Gotta be easy with a little help from Mr. Google… I hope.
A pinch of attention to detail always helps. 😉
Good idea.