Traffic Explosion

Friday, October 28, 2011

The Aged Domain Name Finder Utility

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 shiny new domain I am going to suggest that you consider an alternative, an expired domain.

An aged/expired domain is a domain that has been previously registered by another person, 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 very valuable domain passport.com owned by Bill Gate's Microsoft was accidentally overlooked when it came time to renew the registration, meaning it became available for absolutely anyone to grab.

An individual 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 company that owned the domain left the internet game, or they maybe transferred the business that used to operate on that domain to another domain. In fact there are a multitude of reasons why domain names do not get renewed.

So what are the advantages for you re-registering an expired domain?

1. Links - Most domains, particularly those domains that have been actively used in the past and not just had no promotion have other domains back linking 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 keyword phrases.

2. Page Rank - As a result of these links, many of these aged domains will have existing page rank.

3. Age - As a general rule the search engines give more authority to domains that have been 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, usually as a result of previous promotions completed by the previous web site owner.

5. No Sandbox - New domains are once in a while subjected to a "sandbox" where they will not get as much traffic as older domains until they have proven themselves to the search engines.

These are probably the most attractive factors to consider when re-registering an expired domain versus registering a shiny new domain.

There is an very important distinction you should understand between an expired or aged domain and a deleted domain.

An aged or expired domain name has the existing age kept. For example if I registered a domain three years ago and then did not renew it and you come along and re-register it, then effectively the domain is still 3 years old and gets all the advantages of that age in the search engines.

If however, you re-register a deleted domain, then effectively 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 fall foul of the sandbox, and WILL be treated as a brand new domain by the search engines.

So the key is to purchase the domain before it is deleted by the domain registar. There are a number of free services available that you can use to locate 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 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 offer the functionality to search with keywords as well which is a very powerful feature.

You see domains rank better in Google if they contain a keyword 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 rank even better than domains that do not have this (if everything else is equal).

Essential tips to purchasing aged domains

1. Try and get a domain at least five years old (the older the better, this is a minimum).

2. Aim for As many backlinks as possible (although this is not essential).

3. A domain with existing page rank is not essential but a bonus if you can find it.

4. Existing web 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 old 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). Why 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 11 year old domain, with 500 visitors a day and a heap of 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 future sales worth spending an extra $5 to get an aged domain so you can take advantage of all these factors?