Friday, May 15, 2009
So you are in the market to register a new domain name so you can make your first million (or two) on the internet.Before you rush out and register that new domain I am going to suggest that you consider an aged domain instead.An aged/expired domain is a domain that has been previously registered by someone else, and that person or company has, for whatever reason decided not to renew it.Sometimes the reason is simply that they forget. There was a famous story a few years ago when a high profile domain passport.com owned by Microsoft was forgotten about when it came time to renew the registration, meaning it became available for anyone to re-register.This guy did just that with this domain, but luckily for Microsoft this guy did the right thing and gave the domain back to them (I think Microsoft paid him back the registration fee).Other reasons for failing to renew a domain might be that the person that owned the domain went bankrupt, or they maybe transferred the business that used to operate on that domain to another domain. In fact there are a number of reasons why domain names do get forgotten about.So what are the advantages for you re-registering an expired domain?1. Links - Most domains, particularly those domains that have been promoted heavily in the past and not just left idle have other sites pointing to them over time, and these links form a major part in determining how well the domain will rank in the search engines for particular keywords.2. Page Rank - As a consequence of these links, many of these aged domains will have existing page rank.3. Age - As a general rule the search engines give more power to domains that have been continuously registered for a a longer period than other domains.4. Web site Visitors - Many domains will have existing web traffic, with visitors rolling up to that domain on a regular basis, often as a result of previous campaigns done by the previous site owner.5. No Sandbox - New domains are sometimes subjected to a "sandbox" where they will not rank as well as more established domains until they have being around long enough to be trusted by the search engines.These are probably the most attractive things to consider when re-registering an existing domain versus registering a brand new domain.There is an very important distinction I recommend you become familiar with between an aged/expired domain and a deleted domain.An aged or expired domain name has the age preserved. For example if I registered a domain three years ago and then did not renew the registration and you come along and re-register it, then for all intensive purposes the domain is still three years old and still has all the advantages of that age in the search engines.If however, you re-register a deleted domain, then for all intensive purposes you have registered a BRAND NEW domain. You will still be able to take advantage of any links, page rank, and traffic, but your domain may be subjected to the sandbox, and WILL be treated as a brand new domain by the search engines.So the key is to make sure you get the domain before it is deleted by the domain registar. There are a number of free services available that you can use to find aged domains or expired domains.Just do a search in google for terms such as aged domain finder or something similar.These websites will often even allow you to search for domains and return information about the age of the domain, existing page rank, number of links, traffic, and even allow you to use the wayback machine (a catalogue of all web pages at various points in time) to see what content was on the domain in the past.Some of the more complete services will allow you to search with keywords as well which is a very powerful feature.You see domains rank better in Google, MSN, and Yahoo if they contain one of more keywords relating to the particular niche you are looking to get involved in.For example if you are selling products for cats, then if you have the word cat or cats in the domain name this will help you get better rankings than domains that do not have this (if everything else is equal).Essential tips to purchasing aged domains1. Try and get a domain at least 5 years old (the older the better, this is a minimum).2. Aim for a decent number of links as possible (although this is not essential).3. Existing Page rank is not necessary but a bonus if you can find it.4. Existing traffic again is not necessary but is a huge bonus.5. Make sure the domain has at least part of a keyword relating to the niche you are going to use the domain in.6. Check the history of the domain to make sure you are happy with the previous content that has been used on the domain previously. Bad content may have blacklisted the domain in the search engines. Many services allow you to search for this automatically.7. Optional: Use a service that allows you to search closeouts. These are really cheap domains usually costing only $5 (plus standard registration fees). Wht buy premium domains if you do not need them? You do not need to spend much money to find domains that have most of the factors discussed above. In fact only recently I purchased a 10 year old domain, with 200+ web visitors per day and 1000 links for just $5 ! Buying expired domains can really give you a an advantage over your competition, and if your smart and use the right websites, and look for the right type of domains, it need not be an expensive exercise. Isn't your online efforts worth spending an extra $5 to get an aged domain so you can take advantage of all these factors?
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