If you're thinking about getting into the domain parking industry then I'll let you in on a little secret: The odds are stacked against you. This business has been dominated by a few big players for a while. If you're starting from scratch, then you have as much chance to succeed in this game as a Tibetan monk with violent garlic allergies has at establishing himself as a dominant player in the Italian Mafia.

The domain parking industry is fundamentally flawed because it is passive. Any business plan that involves a lot of sitting around must eventually fail. It's similar to any get-rich-quick scam that uses the phrase, "Just sit back and watch the money roll in!" I've heard countless eCommerce, Adsense and affiliate schemes that make this claim. They will tell you to have faith in their system, they will warn against doubters who want to steal your get-rich-quick dreams away from you. But I tell you: Don't buy into anything that says, "Pay me $99.95 and I'll tell you the secret to making money without having to work."

Obviously some people make a living in the domain parking industry. I will tell you how they do it. First of all they have tons of awesome domains such as gardens.com or love.com. They do not depend on domains such as "ilikegardensalot.com" or "ireallylikelovealot.com." Any domain with two or more words will probably never make back the money you spent to register it.

Be wary of buying domains that seem clever right now because they probably suck. You will discover this after it's too late to cancel your domain choices and get a refund. It doesn't even matter if you and all your friends think your domain names are clever. What matters is what the general masses think is clever.

Keep in mind that you need people to type your domain names manually. Search engines won't help you because they hesitate to even acknowledge your parked pages. So you have to ask yourself honestly, "What are the chances of someone typing in ireallyreallylikegardensalot.com?" In order for your domain, ireallyreallylikegardensalot.com to pay for itself an average of one hundred separate people will have to type that entire domain every day.

You might try buying thousands of dollars worth of domains in hopes that they make more than what it cost to register them in the first place. If you purchased a domain from scratch that made $5 dollars more than what it cost you to register it per year, that would be a miracle. So what if you could find 10,000 similarly miraculous domains? Then you would have an administrative nightmare on your hands.

Another option is to purchase domains that are already popular. Suppose you bought a kick-ass domain for $20000. Suppose this domain was so awesome that it made you $1000 dollars per year on cash parking. How long will it take for this domain to pay for itself at that rate? 20 years.

Try to maintain a shrewd, business mindset. What's the payoff here? What's the timeframe before this investment starts to make a return above its original cost? Will the internet still exist by then?

There are a few domain parking companies that will do you right, such as NameDrive.com, Sedo.com or Godaddy.com. I am currently with Godaddy.com, making an average of 15 cents per click, which is unbeatable as far as I've seen. At this rate, I only need 10,000 clicks to break even. I've spent weeks' worth of income and months' worth of brainstorming energy to come this conclusion about domain parking: It's not worth it.

by Patrick Roberts www.BooksByPatrick.com