MIRANTHA
Elite Member
- Aug 6, 2019
- 1,525
- 614
mostly general in niche.. buying intent kw have some competition
Expired domain strategy for E-commerce sites
- Thread starter Henny10
- Start date
handsomeone
Regular Member
- Apr 25, 2018
- 414
- 54
Buyer intent keywords obviously have higher potential to convert into a sale. Did general (informative I guess) posts in the niche worked out into sales to you?
I suppose it will differ niche by niche, but I am definitely keen to test ignoring producing lots of blog posts in favour of buying a powerful expired domain, optimizing the category and product pages and seeing how that works
duckquackingmullard
Newbie
- Sep 6, 2022
- 17
- 7
Going with an aged domain is just a waste of time, more so how google changes on things you got the age there but as soon as you break away to doing anything different from the previous site it's not going to help.
If ads are doing its thing for you for now I would stick with that while you build up the current site and expand on it further.
Doing a blog is just a waste of time for e-commerce you are better off keeping the blog for news and pr purposes for your own brand and any news you may or may not have. Shift all of your content out of a blog and build a content hub.
This allows you to explore a little outside of your direct market niche and venture into other related topics where a blog can sometimes be limited in how you reach these.
Build your organic outreach around the hub, aim for 30-40 articles inc video, photos, information or whatever before launching into a new topic or "spoke" if done well and researched correctly you should have a structure built in place that will build your authority and reputation for both public (customers), industry and search (google)
Content or blogging isn't just about chasing the long tails you are finding customers who didn't know they needed your product and you can also warm them up to you in a way that wasn't possible before. Category & Product page ranking is just bringing in the customers that want what you offer and KNOW they want it, the hardest bit is converting them to a buy.
Building an e-commerce store or brand that lasts is bringing in the customers that didn't know they wanted or needed you and thats a whole other level.
So if I was in your shoes id be looking into what a content hub is and how you can use that to leverage your self above the competition. Secondly your ads, id be working out what's working and what isn't (obviously something is) but can it be refined further, can your landing page work better for you, what % of ad clicks are you missing and why are you missing.
Id be spending the money there than on a new domain otherwise all you will be doing is chasing the "next thing"
If ads are doing its thing for you for now I would stick with that while you build up the current site and expand on it further.
Doing a blog is just a waste of time for e-commerce you are better off keeping the blog for news and pr purposes for your own brand and any news you may or may not have. Shift all of your content out of a blog and build a content hub.
This allows you to explore a little outside of your direct market niche and venture into other related topics where a blog can sometimes be limited in how you reach these.
Build your organic outreach around the hub, aim for 30-40 articles inc video, photos, information or whatever before launching into a new topic or "spoke" if done well and researched correctly you should have a structure built in place that will build your authority and reputation for both public (customers), industry and search (google)
Content or blogging isn't just about chasing the long tails you are finding customers who didn't know they needed your product and you can also warm them up to you in a way that wasn't possible before. Category & Product page ranking is just bringing in the customers that want what you offer and KNOW they want it, the hardest bit is converting them to a buy.
Building an e-commerce store or brand that lasts is bringing in the customers that didn't know they wanted or needed you and thats a whole other level.
So if I was in your shoes id be looking into what a content hub is and how you can use that to leverage your self above the competition. Secondly your ads, id be working out what's working and what isn't (obviously something is) but can it be refined further, can your landing page work better for you, what % of ad clicks are you missing and why are you missing.
Id be spending the money there than on a new domain otherwise all you will be doing is chasing the "next thing"
Strong views on aged domains - interesting.
I think you've pointed out the key thing with domains and that is relevancy. I wouldn't expect Google to reward a site that has been completely repurposed into a completely different niche, but as with all things I'm sure someone has done that successfully.
When I'm referring to aged domains I'm meaning something that was previously used for a very similar purpose + is still indexed + has a clean and powerful backlink profile.
Again, could be a waste of money, won't know until I test it.
One thing for sure is that I won't be producing lots of content for the next site, Google has made it clear in the SERPs for my niche that it wants to see category pages. My plan is to deliver highly optimised category pages.
I'm really not interested in doing link building via outreach, too slow, too much effort, would rather just buy links and take the risk - or better yet acquire a domain with enough high authority backlinks to make further link building obsolete
handsomeone
Regular Member
- Apr 25, 2018
- 414
- 54
Basically you're against blogs but vouching for a content hub which is a lot like a blog. Do mind to elaborating on the differences?
malayan
Power Member
- Aug 26, 2020
- 608
- 554
They don't know what they're talking about.
duckquackingmullard
Newbie
- Sep 6, 2022
- 17
- 7
A content hub is structured and curated to present a host of topics or subjects that are all interlinked from a singular source. The topic is also very structured around one theme or keyword wth offsets of each which all fall back to the main. There is no need to create and update or present topics in a liner fashion or have a need to be always posting content if you do it right the topic and content will remain evergreen and work for you over the years.
Blogs tend to follow a singular liner topic with the latest post first, following the same design and layout as all the other posts. Need to be updated to remain relevant, often waves around multiple subjects or topics and interlinking between the posts that is useful for the user isn't exactly straight forward.
While content hubs and blogs can host a range of medium (videos, images, content, audio) and are similar in nature they are both different.
Do a bit of research on content hub examples and read up what they are and how they work.
Aged domain is going to be a waste of time. Hes proven it's already working and is making money via ads. But thinks having another domain will make more money when you can increase ad spend and improve conversions is going to be a more rewarding effort than having an aged domain to try and "game" seo traffic. If the owner has no interest in providing long form content to find new customers because they want speed then focusing on the ads is going to be more productive longer term.
After all apparently its already working so why not tweak the formula.
Anything that goes againt the grain is automaticlly shot down as "They don't know what they're talking about." nonsense
I'm still curious as to how you can be so sure that an aged domain won't work.
Have you had any experience building sites on aged domains? I'm sure there are lots of people who don't do it properly and then don't get results.
I don't mean to start an argument but your messages read like someone who has read a lot but not necessarily done a lot. No offence.
My existing site which is working will continue to work - it's going nowhere. However, I am keen to test out another approach. Nothing more nothing less
duckquackingmullard
Newbie
- Sep 6, 2022
- 17
- 7
Spend all my time in the pond going around in circles, if I'm not doing that I just clean myself. Quackers really. Can hardly read.
I don't think you are arguing with me or visa versa it's all cool.
You need to find an age domain thats doing EXACTLY what you are doing not similar for it to work, otherwise you will be sending traffic to products or pages you dont sell and thus increasing the bounce and having a negative user experiance. That's what using an age domain is for if it's only simialr then its just starting again - dont seem the point. Your trying to rush organic rankings with an aged domain when having ads is for exactly this purpose for people who can't rank or want instant results.
That age domain would have build up authority and put time into building that site up via content (to some degree) something you can't be bothered to do with your own - yet that domain got to where it was by no doubt doing just that.
Don't see why you would want to spend time testing on another approach without testing other things as well. As I said in my first reply to you, I'm not talking about trying to rank for product related terms thats not what I said at all. It's about finding customers who didn't know they want you. If all you are doing is focusing on a small % that know what they want all you have to play with is the conversion metric nothing else matters.
I'm all for testing and experimentation but what you want to do is something different - requires more time and energy than it's worth. Doesn't make sense unless there is something wrong with the business model you have gotten now already.
If you want to grow and be here long lasting then you need to build up your store to aquire the customers who didn't know they wanted or needed your product in the first place. IF your business is just about making a quick buck and moving on / selling. Continue with the ads and go get it valued and move on.
I appreciate your comments but you are saying all of this without knowing what niche I'm in or my business goals.
I can definitely read, and if you read my messages I would hope that you can see I'm taking a fairly balanced and reasoned approach.
With regards to yourself, on the other hand, respectfully, I still don't see anything you've said that suggests you have experience in building sites on expired domains.
I might be wrong about that. Do you have experience with aged domains? If so, what happened? How did you form that opinion? Give me something useful rather than just saying it won't work.
It's very easy to say that something won't work, and to say that something is going to take more time and energy than it's worth - but again, you make these statements without understanding the business I'm in or what I'm trying to achieve - or providing any meaningful examples.
I'm well aware of the relevancy issue - I stated this in a previous message.
How do we learn if we don't try things?
Edit to add - I am currently torn between building this additional site on a fresh domain vs an expired one - I am not building another site purely to test expired domains - I want to test optimizing category pages rather than blog posts to meet search intent as that is what Google is listing in the SERPs.
The other thing to point out, is that there is plenty of traffic available for people who know exactly what they need - it's not necessary at this point to go looking for those who don't know that they need my product.
duckquackingmullard
Newbie
- Sep 6, 2022
- 17
- 7
I already explained about the relevancy. As you pointed out your self. Similar won't work it has to be EXACTLY the same. Same products and that otherwise whats the point of using an expired domain, anything that's passing over to it is no longer carrying the weight it once had...
If you are building on the sole purpose to test opimizing category pages why not start split testing or A/B testing and figure out what works and what doesn't its going to be cheaper and since you are already passing qualified traffic to a site you know is working I don't understand the point in testing out a new theory on a brand new site. In fact you wouldn't get the same results if you duplicated them on your current site as no two websites are the same
If it's testing and optimizing you are going about it all wrong.
Id honestly look into split testing, find a company or service you are happy with and give it a trial. Once you got that out of the way I would then look at building up landing pages and testing those out for both search and ads.
The last bit
So why do adverts? Because you need to compete against competitors. There is only every going to be a finite number of customers (exluding events outside your control example a damand for a product due to covid example) because the number of customers won't change you are ALWAYS competing with your competitors for the same % of customer base. So in order to win you have to convince them to buy from you over someone else.
If you go down the route of finding customers who don't know they need your product to begin with or warming up colder leads because they are researching or whatever you have a higher chance of converting them than your competitors do when they do become a buyer.
I'm not stopping you doing your domain, all power to you
BUT from what I read what you are doing with it and the reasons are wrong in my opinion, you would be far better off looking at reaching a new customer base, figure out who your customers are now and actually build a marketing plan. Then for all your testing start split testing your traffic and tweak what you got now. Once you know whats working and you milked that for all its worth go and do it again on another domain but have a high end and a low end version of your product.See, now you're sounding like you don't know what you're talking about.I already explained about the relevancy. As you pointed out your self. Similar won't work it has to be EXACTLY the same. Same products and that otherwise whats the point of using an expired domain, anything that's passing over to it is no longer carrying the weight it once had...
If you are building on the sole purpose to test opimizing category pages why not start split testing or A/B testing and figure out what works and what doesn't its going to be cheaper and since you are already passing qualified traffic to a site you know is working I don't understand the point in testing out a new theory on a brand new site. In fact you wouldn't get the same results if you duplicated them on your current site as no two websites are the same
If it's testing and optimizing you are going about it all wrong.
Id honestly look into split testing, find a company or service you are happy with and give it a trial. Once you got that out of the way I would then look at building up landing pages and testing those out for both search and ads.
The last bit
So why do adverts? Because you need to compete against competitors. There is only every going to be a finite number of customers (exluding events outside your control example a damand for a product due to covid example) because the number of customers won't change you are ALWAYS competing with your competitors for the same % of customer base. So in order to win you have to convince them to buy from you over someone else.
If you go down the route of finding customers who don't know they need your product to begin with or warming up colder leads because they are researching or whatever you have a higher chance of converting them than your competitors do when they do become a buyer.
I'm not stopping you doing your domain, all power to you
I am driving traffic to my site via ads, yes, but as I already previously mentioned, I have also produced content on my site (blog posts) in order to rank for some of the main KW's in my niche.
What I have since found, and what I should have known from the outset (rookie mistake) is that Google is picking up users' search intent as "shopping" and it is returning category pages within the SERPs rather than blog posts. Therefore, regardless of how much authority a particular post builds up, Google is not likely to rank it for a KW that it thinks should return category pages.
It is simply not possible to carry out a "split test" on the same site. Just how exactly do you think I could run a split test targeting the same keyword within a blog post + a category page?
One of them will rank for the target KW, and one will not = you will learn nothing from that process.
In order to test category pages vs blog posts on my site, it would require a hefty overhaul of the structure, which would obviously be dangerous/stupid to embark upon whilst the site is delivering results as it is.
What I am trying to test out, is whether would I get better results from building out optimised category pages rather than blog posts. As mentioned several times, Google is favouring category pages, not blog posts, for the main commercial KW's in my niche.
And why do this at all you might ask?
Simple. If I can generate traffic organically instead of relying on paid ads alone, I will clearly improve the profitability of the project.
I'm not really looking to discuss the reasons for what I am planning to do, I am here to discuss the merits of expired domains.
Your opinion is that expired domains will not work. Thank you for that, no more input from you is required.
duckquackingmullard
Newbie
- Sep 6, 2022
- 17
- 7
As you said. If google is favouring category or "shopping" as the intent what is the point in testing blog vs category page? It's never going to list, you said that but thats what you also said you want to test? lol... No?
IF the issue is your blog posts are ranking but your category pages are not. You want to look at optimizing them, passing links from the blog aritcle to the category page. Or moving some of that content over to the category page in the footer. HOWEVER I would say if you are ranking the blog within a shopping heavy result that would also suggest google doesnt exactly have the best idea of what your customers are after either...
OR you have done such a number on your blog and category pages that rather than posting on here you would be better off speaking to a few marketing companies and get their thoughts on how to proceed / what they would do to fix it as you can share data and domain with them unlike doing it here
Final thought is your research was wrong at the start and you are trying to rank content for conversion terms which is why organic search is not working for you anyway. Moving to a expired domain wont fix that issue.
If I was you..
Id build out optimised category pages.
I would also be testing you ad traffic to make sure your adverts are converting out the best you possibly can do.
Finally build out content to find customers who don't know they need you as I said before.
Testing category vs blog is only going to get you one result. One makes the sale the other doesnt. What's the point.
Honeslty sounds like you need a bit of a marketing plan and a strategy for the business rather than testing blog vs category
As for the confusion on split testing:
You split test the traffic that comes to your category page or product page. You don't rank two pages it's just one page. You then set 50% of the traffic sees page A 50% sees page B or 33/33/33 however you want to do it.
https://www.hotjar.com/conversion-rate-optimization/glossary/split-testing/
That's how you test to optimize your site / conversion to get the best you possibly can from the current site.
I'll quack off now
All the best to you Thanks again for this enlightenment.As you said. If google is favouring category or "shopping" as the intent what is the point in testing blog vs category page? It's never going to list, you said that but thats what you also said you want to test? lol... No?
IF the issue is your blog posts are ranking but your category pages are not. You want to look at optimizing them, passing links from the blog aritcle to the category page. Or moving some of that content over to the category page in the footer. HOWEVER I would say if you are ranking the blog within a shopping heavy result that would also suggest google doesnt exactly have the best idea of what your customers are after either...
OR you have done such a number on your blog and category pages that rather than posting on here you would be better off speaking to a few marketing companies and get their thoughts on how to proceed / what they would do to fix it as you can share data and domain with them unlike doing it here
Final thought is your research was wrong at the start and you are trying to rank content for conversion terms which is why organic search is not working for you anyway. Moving to a expired domain wont fix that issue.
If I was you..
Id build out optimised category pages.
I would also be testing you ad traffic to make sure your adverts are converting out the best you possibly can do.
Finally build out content to find customers who don't know they need you as I said before.
Testing category vs blog is only going to get you one result. One makes the sale the other doesnt. What's the point.
Honeslty sounds like you need a bit of a marketing plan and a strategy for the business rather than testing blog vs category
As for the confusion on split testing:
You split test the traffic that comes to your category page or product page. You don't rank two pages it's just one page. You then set 50% of the traffic sees page A 50% sees page B or 33/33/33 however you want to do it.
https://www.hotjar.com/conversion-rate-optimization/glossary/split-testing/
That's how you test to optimize your site / conversion to get the best you possibly can from the current site.
I'll quack off now
Well, I'm buying auction domains since late 2016 and I have only found one domain working great.
If fresh domain is working to you like it seems, please do not ruin your business.
And if you're really curious to test an auction domain so much, just build another store under the same supply chain on an auction domain but please, do not mess up your fresh domain.
If fresh domain is working to you like it seems, please do not ruin your business.
And if you're really curious to test an auction domain so much, just build another store under the same supply chain on an auction domain but please, do not mess up your fresh domain.
Hey, I appreciate the concern but I will say this again: I am not doing anything with my existing domain, it will stay exactly as it is
This is an additional website I am talking about running
I think this is a-little dubious....and no im not saying this as a hater, but as an experienced operator...just assume I really know something about this, and FYI unless u buy a domain not expired it wont transfer over the authority, no matter what someone trying to sell them has to say about it...
I’m in the UKDamn, crazy numbers
I'm also with with an online store and physical products but i'm in the low 5 figures because my country and niche is small. What country are you in?