This is the first part of a three part series that I will release over the next few days on the domain parking survey that concluded a few weeks ago. This was exactly the same questionnaire that I used in 2007 and compared to 2008 the results proved to be surprising.I would first like to thank all of the people that took the time to answer the questions. Without people who contribute in this fashion it's much more difficult to bring positive changes to our industry. I hope that you enjoy reading the results of your survey!
The results
For the second year in a row Sedo has secured top place with over 19.35% of respondents indicating that they parked most of their domains with them. Although this is a large slip down from 2007 of 43% congratulations are still in order to the entire Sedo team, well done on a good years work!
The competition for the top position was stiff with both Parked.com and Fabulous doubling their 2007 result. Domain Sponsor slipped down a little but the big surprise was the fact that many domainers are now exploring other options for their domains in a BIG way.
The second survey question was aimed at who domain owners thought was the biggest parking company rather than who they actually parked with. In this case Domain Sponsor ranked highest with 38% of respondents believing that they were the biggest parking company and Sedo ranked in second place with 31%. This was almost a complete reversal of the two company's positions for 2007.
Hitfarm, TrafficZ and Smartname hit the results as the perceived biggest company for the first time while Skenzo, Parked, Fabulous and Active Audience slipped out of contention.
If I was to interpret the results of the first two questions, Domain Sponsor is still perceived as the biggest parking company while Sedo was where people preferred to park on a ratio of two to one. Even so, the recent volatility of the market is likely to produce some big changes in next year's survey for these two questions.
Source: Posted on WhizzBangsBlog by Michael Gilmour -- Reprinted with permission -- November 1, 2008