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In the old days (early to mid 90s) it seems the term PARKING referred to a "placeholder" page on a domain, which displayed a message, like "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" or "COMING SOON, PLEASE CHECK BACK," sometimes with the animated guy with a jack hammer, or the guy painting the wall, or the street barricade with the blinking orange lights - or, at least, that's what I thought of as a "parked" domain.
The term "parking" seems to be appropriate for such a lander with a simple message. But then, registrars started adding PPC links to their "parking" pages, and even promoted them as "FREE PARKING" to domain registrants as if it were some kind of valuable free service that they were providing. In reality, they were only valuable to the registrars that took advantage of putting ads on domains, set up as their default landing page, at the time a domain was registered, and it would remain a potential money-maker for the registrar, until the domain owner decided to configure the name for its intended use.
So, I believe, that once you put content on a web page, it is no longer a parked domain. If the purpose of a website is to provide links to advertisers, then it is a website for the purpose of advertising (an advertiser directory, often with search capabilities), whether it promotes one advertiser or thousands. It is not really appropriate to call the domain "parked," especially when your intended use for registering a domain is for PPC advertiser listings.
The term "parked" has been so inappropriately used over the past ten years, that traffic monitization companies even use the term in their names - like parked.com, parkingpanel.com and parkitnow.com. I think names like TrafficZ, DomainSponsor, SmartName and NameMedia are more on target with the future and true nature of this business. In fact, I believe that using the term "parked" hurts the business and lessens the credibility and perception of direct navigation advertising, as demonstrated when someone interested in one of your domains sends you an e-mail with something like, "I noticed that your domain is only parked and not really being used..."
Direct Navigation sites are becoming more sophisticated, with more customization, capabilities and optimazation intelligence. So, as this business evolves, I think the term "parked" should be dumped, ASAP. PPC domains are not parked - they are monitized or advertiser-enabled.
The term "parking" seems to be appropriate for such a lander with a simple message. But then, registrars started adding PPC links to their "parking" pages, and even promoted them as "FREE PARKING" to domain registrants as if it were some kind of valuable free service that they were providing. In reality, they were only valuable to the registrars that took advantage of putting ads on domains, set up as their default landing page, at the time a domain was registered, and it would remain a potential money-maker for the registrar, until the domain owner decided to configure the name for its intended use.
So, I believe, that once you put content on a web page, it is no longer a parked domain. If the purpose of a website is to provide links to advertisers, then it is a website for the purpose of advertising (an advertiser directory, often with search capabilities), whether it promotes one advertiser or thousands. It is not really appropriate to call the domain "parked," especially when your intended use for registering a domain is for PPC advertiser listings.
The term "parked" has been so inappropriately used over the past ten years, that traffic monitization companies even use the term in their names - like parked.com, parkingpanel.com and parkitnow.com. I think names like TrafficZ, DomainSponsor, SmartName and NameMedia are more on target with the future and true nature of this business. In fact, I believe that using the term "parked" hurts the business and lessens the credibility and perception of direct navigation advertising, as demonstrated when someone interested in one of your domains sends you an e-mail with something like, "I noticed that your domain is only parked and not really being used..."
Direct Navigation sites are becoming more sophisticated, with more customization, capabilities and optimazation intelligence. So, as this business evolves, I think the term "parked" should be dumped, ASAP. PPC domains are not parked - they are monitized or advertiser-enabled.
