NOTE: this is a long post, so go grab a beer.
helloworld, read all this below, you will like it at the end i think.
redirect is really hard to convince a person to buy, its just hard for them to think your stats are honest, my feeling is you to do a 1 page lead gen site and feed the leads which has worked for me, and there's a few other ways to do it which i will explain later.
snoopy, i agree with you , but chris c's point are more in tune i feel.
helloworld: i'm dealing with this same issue myself right now and pondering the possible outcomes, assessing what the buyer will think. frustrating !
kinda like when someone phones you when they have let their domain drop and you purchased it !
i agree with chris c as to the knowledge that potential person you wishing to sell to has, for me right now with my potential client and thus the reason i'm struggling BEFORE i even contact them is i keep remembering a simpson's episode where homer is talking to the dog and the dog hear " bla bla bad bla bla dog bla bla bla.........."
and i remember talking to my own dogs when i was younger and saying in a VERY nice friendly voice, " you have been a bad dog and i'm going to chain you to the washing line" whilst my dog waged his tail in excitement !!!
the dog wasn't bad but i was just experimenting, i also then said in a HARSH voice " YOU HAVE BEEN A GOOD DOG SO LETS GO FOR A RUN IN THE PARK " and he dropped and put his chin on his feet.
i hope you all get the analogies ?
helloworld: my frustration is i have phoned the guy and i always get the " soup natzi " and can't get to the decision maker ! this guy will WANT this domain if he just knew it existed but i've been tracking him and he seems to be "domain illiterate" .
i'm obviously using the wrong keywords on phone calls to get access to talk to him.
at this moment the soup natzi's ask, " whats it about " and i say a variety of things and the common reply is " i'll give him your phone number and if he rings you he rings you and thats it "
so the guy never answers the phone as he has a few staff BUT i am not going to give over the domain name to the plebs, as i think i will loose the high ground, and happy to keep the domain but would like to get rid of it for other projects.
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now the ending LOL
helloworld: i have a directory site and listings, i'm presently rebuilding it for responsive so i have chosen to not bother with the current site and use my time in the rebuild, last month a client that chose not to renew their membership rang me and said " can you remove our listing as we keep getting inquiries " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF
so make it BLATANTLY obvious that the leads are coming from your domain.
the only problem is if no leads come from your domain ! traffic is a useless number i have found, results/enquiries is the first stage, conversions which often are called results are the 2nd stage, for me conversions are " money in my bank account" NOT someone coming to the website !!!
but as i was saying to a dnt member just yesterday via phone, leads are leads, its up to the business to convert, unless its an eccommerce store then its up to the website to convert and that happens through design and ease of use/functionality .
SO, using redirects i don't think will work.
i think you have a few options: if you think your traffic is convertible, and you want to take away the chris c issues of exhorted, winning or losing, which are ALL valid points then you should "bet the farm"
ring them, say i have a great domain for you and i'd like to do you a deal, i'll give you the leads for X amount of time and then we can talk, this way THEY know what you are doing, you know what you have to do and there really is nothing to lose as at present you are already lost
they may say F off, and then go do it anyway, then you can come back and say in 6 months " here are the stats....... i'm going to offer this domain to you FIRST or i will just keep it or may make it available to others " this then is no problems with auda IMO
don't go nasty, but i feel by coming in easy .
the next thing is TRACKING TRACKING TRACKING, you gotta have your stats because the first thing they will say to you is " ahhh , no i got nothing from that........." and you have to be able to come back with " wellllllllll sorryyyyyyyyy..... but you did "
i have the same problem with a client who always says " ohhhh my site doesn't bring me business" and he ranks number one, and i say to him " ok, i'll delete you from google today " and he says " ohhhh NOOO, don't do that ! " i say " greg, i track you emails MATE, i KNOW what your getting from the email so don't sh*T me " . he doesn't question me anymore LOL
look i know this was a longggggggggg winded post, sorry, but it just expressed what i am also trying to solve so if anyone can add to this ( and have survived my post LOL ) then please post some ideas.
helloworld: hope this helps, please post what you decide to do and the results as i would like to know as i think its a really interesting subject that needs brainstorming and could benefit many.
thus why i took the time to brain dump my thoughts.
tim