I have about 30 CityRealEstateAgent.com and CityRealEstateAgents.com domain names in my portfolio for cities from throughout the United States (such as JacksonRealEstateAgent.com). I listed them for sale in a couple of places, but they didn’t sell to domain investors. They also don’t get a lot of type-in traffic, so the revenue is light. Because they’re very targeted for long tail terms that get searches, the only way I will get traffic is via search, which won’t happen with parked domain names.
This week, I will be working with Craig Rowe of WhyPark to rapidly build sites on these domain names. I plan to use several widgets on the sites, including some provided by Zillow. In addition, I will use the automated content provided by WhyPark, and supplement this with some unique content about each city (I will be working with a copywriter for this). The goal is to get listed in search engines for each search term, which will drive some traffic to the site.
While I don’t anticipate these domain names will make a lot of PPC revenue, I do have an ulterior motive for this project. I plan to email 10-15 real estate agents from each city, offering their related domain name for sale. I will use a version of my end user sales email.
In addition, I will have a link on each page for agents to learn about advertising information. I will offer banners and/or text links, which will be fairly inexpensive for advertisers, but it will be a revenue stream from where there once was none. The only downside is that if I get an advertiser, I can’t sell the name without a problem, so it will have to be enough of a revenue stream to make it worth while.
Assuming the domain names rank well in the search engines because of the unique content, they will have more value to real estate agents. Instead of discussing the theoretical ranking increase for a keyword domain name, I will be able to prove it by saying, “JacksonRealEstateAgent.com ranks higher for the search, ‘Jackson real estate agent’ than your website, despite the fact that you’re a real estate agent from Jackson.”
As with everything I do, I will let you know how the sites perform. I will be looking for the following things:
- Search engine ranking in Google and Bing
- Advertising inquiries/advertising revenue
- Domain Sales
- PPC revenue
WhyPark makes it pretty easy to add widgets and content, but I am going to ask Craig to provide a tutorial later on in the week for dummies like myself who probably wouldn’t be able to figure it out on the first effort.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/penguincakes/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Sounds like an interesting plan. I do have a few domains on WhyPark, but I never really gave them any attention. Looking forward to seeing how this goes for you!
Just out of curiousity, how will you determine your asking price
for these real estate domains? I too own similar .com domains
as well as several City + State Realtor domains. In my experience
these types of Real Estate domains have been difficult to sell.
@Calvin – Realtor domains, if you contact Realtors trying to sell, you are going to get one of them calling the local association. That is a TM and the NAR defends their trademark.
Agree big time with George. Realtor is a highly protected mark.
I like the plan Elliot… I do have a comment on what I believe could pose a difficultly in selling the domains to the end user real estate agent.
At least in Texas, where I reside, I hear commercials on the radio and TV numerous times a day from the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR) in which they try to make a point if you are looking for an agent to list or sell your property, make sure they are a “Realtor” and not just a “real estate agent.” And the point of the commercial is to try and show that a “Realtor” is more expierenced than just a “real estate agent” when in reality it could be they have just paid their dues to TAR and NAR and can use the term “Realtor” in business cards and sales literature.
So my point is, if you are sending the sales emails to an agent that uses the title “Realtor” I believe they would be more hesitant to buy since they want something that says more than just they are a “real estate agent” even though they can perform the same duties but the “Realtor” has paid the association dues.
@ Ryan
Very good point… but here’s a modification of an old saying. Not all real estate agents are Realtors, but all Realtors are real estate agents.
El_Silver,
I think you’re on to something. Join the WP club… you have the right approach, and there’s no better person in the domain industry to trust for straightforward assistance and advice than Craig Rowe.
I hope everyone keys into your article here to follow your progress for the next six months on your domains parked at WhyPark.
Elliot,
Do you have any city real estate BROKER.com domains?
Might be interesting to compare agent vs broker.
All brokers start out as agents. Brokers are more senior to agents so maybe agent is somewhat derogatory?
All of this work, is the return worth even worth it…
@ Jeff
Craig is going to do much of the work, and I don’t think the set up will be too complicated or take much time. This is why I asked him to write a tutorial about what he is doing. That said, this is what I do for a living and testing is important. If it doesn’t work, I’ve wasted a couple of work days. If it does work, I (or anyone who reads my blog) can then buy hundreds or thousands of similar names and “blow it out.” It’s well worth the test.
If it works, it will be worth the effort. You need to keep trying different things and see what might work.
What would you do with a city/Realtor (dot) com name?
Just park it, forward it or let it drop?
Good luck with your plan Elliot, personally I use WhyPark and Noomle to build my minsites. It is very easy to develop the domains and they build up backlinks and more traffic with fairly little effort, instead of just parking them which gives you no revenue unless your names receive decent type-in traffic,
Totally agree, building minisites is the new solution for domain name owners.
Frank