Type in Traffic - Does it exist on .com.au's?

Jonathan · #1 26-02-10, 01:13 AM

Hi guys, I know this has come up a couple of times before but I just wanted to throw this around again and see what people's opinions are, since the type-in traffic revenue model is so huge in other markets.

First of all, am I the only one who is making SFA from domain parking? I have a portfolio of several hundred .com.au's, with keywords that have a combined monthly exact search volume of well over a million, and I am lucky to get several hundred hits a month, and maybe - in a good month - make $10 from that.

Granted, most of my domains are far from super-premium, but I do have a couple with really high monthly search volume (in the high 5 figures / low 6 figures), and even these ones are lucky to pull in more than a couple of type ins per day.

The bottom line is, while some domainers in other markets make a killing off type-in traffic, it seems totally unviable in the Australian market. I don't see that I have any choice but to develop my domains.

What's your experience? And note that I am not talking about stuff you picked up on the drops that has existing backlinks, as this isn't technically type in traffic.

Shaun · #2 26-02-10, 10:02 AM

Hmmm.... It's interesting Jonathan.

I think with Google Chrome there will be more type ins... As you start searching in the search/url bar it predicts the URL for you.

Photographers.com.au would receive on average around 20 type in's a day which is minimal but still something.

DavidL · #3 26-02-10, 10:03 AM

I don't think many people make a killing through parking even overseas unless they own thousands of typos.

For real type-ins as you are asking about you'll obviously make more with a .com. Maybe the figures are like this:

Out of the whole global internet there would be 17m people who could potentially type in a .com.au domain (looking at Australia's internet penetration rates - http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats6.htm#oceania)

For .com's this is heaps more. US have adopted .com as their default ccTLD so you'd count nearly every internet visitor as a potential .com type-in-er. Say 240m (again using http://www.internetworldstats.com/)

Then there are about 1.5b other internet users around the world. The vast majority wouldn't be as loyal to their local ccTLD as Aussies are to .au so many would type .com if they were guessing a website. Perhaps 75%? This would add another 1.125b to the pool however language then comes into play. Maybe only 25% of these 1.25b speak English so this might add only 280m more potential type in visitors

So, with my very crude estimations, a non-geo specific type in .com might have a potential pool of type-in visitors of around 500m. This compares to 17m for com.au

By this reasoning, even in com you could only expect 30 times the traffic. Your $10 a month would be $300 if all your domains were .com instead.

Sorry I've been rambling a bit and I know I've made some HUGE assumptions but I don't think it's any different overseas - it's just a question of scale. You might pay 50x the amount to buy a com compared to a .au but you only get 30x the traffic so I don't think it's any more viable overseas.

Note: there would be exceptions here and there. Geo's tend to get better type-ins (Don, do you find that?) for example as do expired domains (with and without backlinks) and of course typos and TMs

DavidL · #4 26-02-10, 10:17 AM

Also, type-in traffic around the world has been steadily decreasing as users become more sophisticated with their searching. (if you think about it typing in shoes.com.au in your address bar is a very crude way to try & get info on shoes)

I expect the increase in use of all sorts of alternative TLD's has accelerated that trend as people find increasingly typing in the domain doesn't give satisfaction. Eg in the 90's, it was easier to assume .com than now.

soj · #5 26-02-10, 10:50 AM

Then again, at the domainers piss up in melbourne the other week, one guy gave us a bit of a talk about parking domains, and the way they will get users clicking on ads more than a developed domain, even a simple minisite plastered with ads. Seeing as parked pages these days are all ads, you give the user no option but to click on an ad, or leave the page altogether, whereas a developed minisite, you give the user the option of reading the content, leaving the site, or clicking an ad. And if you ask me, Ill read the content and leave all day long.

spacey · #6 26-02-10, 02:52 PM

what is type in traffic .......LOL

johno69 · #7 26-02-10, 03:32 PM

whenever i'm wanting to see a website by using a typein sort of method, I type the name > CTRL+ENTER.

Gives me the .com

To me this is a big reason .com has a lot more type in.

jam · #8 26-02-10, 03:40 PM

$10 from several hundred hits is poor.
From what I've seen in the forum most of the domains your purchasing are domains with large number of searches with minimum competitors, this is bad for parking as no one is paying much for the ads.

3 of my top 4 earning parked domains and finance related with one click earning $9 in December.

Here are some of my stats to compare yours to.

all domains are .au
for the year 2009.
2122 hits
$178 USD
Out of 38 domains 23 made $0
Top 4 domains earned $154
42% of views are from Australia
41% of views are from US

Jonathan · #9 26-02-10, 03:59 PM

I have domains from all sorts of different niches. As you say, some have high volume but are not in particularly valuable niches, but I also have a few domain names with only moderate search volumes and CPCs in the $20-30 range - ie finance and insurance.

Doesn't seem to make much difference.

Who do you park with, and don't you find it unusual that 41% of your views are coming from the US, since I assume we are talking about .com.au's?

spacey · #10 26-02-10, 04:16 PM

i regged idn blogger/com and the next day got a $4.50 click , nearly paid for itself , as for aussie names forget parking income is my view , dont buy if you want parking revenue

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode