You’re searching for a domain with a solid set of high-authority backlinks, great SEO stats, and a clean history? Great news!
Shawna Newman is here again with a selection of the top-notch aftermarket domains which she recommend to use for growing a successful business. In March, she picked four Odys domains in the Travel, Tech, Business, and Bikes niches. She elaborated growth blueprints for each of them, taking into account their history, branding, and other factors. Check them now!
RoadMonkey.net
If you’re looking to start a travel or outdoor adventure site, then this is a great domain to get you started. This domain has a history as a philanthropic adventure travel site, with some really great backlinks like the one from Oprah.com.
Travel is one of my favorite niches because it gives you the opportunity to earn some recurring affiliate income. Plus, the RPM for display ads tends to be in the $50+ range.
For this particular domain, I would focus on both adventure travel destinations as well as tours and other things to do in those locations. This gives you the perfect opportunity to earn from both affiliate programs and display ads.
I think the best way to attack such a broad sub-niche of the travel niche is to start your content focus with a single country or region. For instance, Vietnam or Southeast Asia. Then as you conquer all of the content topics for that cluster, you can move on to the next one.
This type of topic cluster strategy also gives you the ability to publish ebooks by country or region once you’ve completed that cluster. You can then sell the books on Amazon for another revenue stream.
EarthOps.org
Probably the best thing about this domain is its age and long history. It was registered back in 1995 and had content focused on space, sciences, and environmental issues. Because of that broad history, you’ve got some options in terms of what you can do with the domain.
I would focus on the “space” aspect of its history and build out a content and affiliate site targeting all things space and astronomy. This gives you the option to promote some high ticket affiliate products like telescopes, as well as take advantage of display ads for the informational content.
I think you could also work in some travel affiliate stuff by doing content on where to travel for good stargazing or viewing eclipses.
You could also do a content cluster on star photography. A good example of a site doing this really well is AstroBackyard.com. This, of course, gives you the option to do affiliate content promoting cameras, lenses, and related photography gear. You could even sell a course or ebook on how to take these types of photos.
I also recommend creating a “news” category on the site and covering all relevant news so that you can get the site into Google News for extra traffic.
In addition to affiliate links and display ads, this niche has the opportunity for real world product sales. Some options include star maps, high quality astronomy prints, and the usual POD options of t-shirts and coffee mugs.
StartupPlays.com
One of my favorite websites is Starter Story and this domain gives you the perfect opportunity to create a competitor to it. It’s got tons of great backlinks that are niche relevant.
There’s no need to re-invent the wheel here, so I would follow the same playbook at Starter Story – find interesting entrepreneur stories and once you get some traction, paywall some of that content with a paid membership program.
Another of my favorite websites is Side Hustle Nation, and I think you could take some lessons from it as well and bolt on a podcast to the site and cover small-time entrepreneurs and people doing successful side hustles.
In addition to the membership program and display ads for the content, other monetization options include ebooks, courses, and other info products that your target audience is hungry for. Even something as simple as a paid newsletter could work in this niche, similar to what Trends.co is doing.
BikeItMaui.com
It’s no secret that niched down travel sites do really well, and that’s why I like this domain so much. The history of this one is as a bike tour company on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and it has some great hyper niche relevant backlinks.
For this site, I would start out with content focused on cycling on the island. With a target audience of tourists to the island, you have the opportunity to promote cycling tours through the Viator affiliate program. You can also create general travel articles on things to do on the island once you’re done with your bike tour. For these articles, you can monetize with display ads and other travel affiliate programs.
If you want to be more hands-on in the niche, you can also offer travel planning services to people who want help planning an active holiday in Maui.
Another possible revenue stream is to find local businesses and sell them ad space on the site. If there are enough bike tour companies or bike rental companies on the island, you could even monetize a directory on the site.
Don’t lose your time
The most powerful and brandable domains are bought like lightning. Of course, on Odys Marketplace we’ve got over 900 aged domains in more than 50 niches, so there’s a huge chance you’ll find what you need even if none of the options described above fit your goals.
In order to grow quickly, you have to be fast, and, if you think big and develop your strategy smartly, it will do so exponentially.
