HostMaze.com

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 brand 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 important domain passport.com owned by Microsoft themselves was not renewed when it came time to renew the registration, meaning it became available for absolutely anyone to grab.

A person did just that with this domain, but luckily for Microsoft this guy did the right thing and gave it back to them (I think Microsoft paid him back the registration fee).

Other reasons for not renewing a domain might be that the person that owned the domain left the internet game, or they maybe transferred the business that used to operate on that domain to another person. In fact there are a number 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 parked have other domains 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 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 longer time than other domains.

4. Traffic – Many domains will have established traffic, with visitors rolling up to that domain on a regular basis, often as a result of previous promotions completed by the previous web site owner.

5. No Sandbox – New domains are once in a while placed in a “sandbox” where they will not get as much traffic as older domains until they have being around long enough to be trusted by 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 I recommende you become familar with between an aged/expired 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 the registration and you come along and re-register it, then effectively the domain is still three years old and gets 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 websites with free search capability available that you can use to search for 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 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 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 domains

1. Try and get a domain at least five 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. A domain with existing page rank is not essential but a bonus if you can find it.

4. Existing traffic again is not essential but is a huge bonus.

5. Make sure the domain has 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). Wht buy premium domains if you do not need them? You do not need to spend a heap of cash to find domains that have most of the items discussed above. In fact only recently I purchased a 9 year old domain, with 200+ web visitors per day and lots of backlinks for just $5 !

Buying aged domains can really give you a leg up on 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 internet marketing worth spending an extra $5 to get an aged domain so you can take advantage of all these factors?

With over 60 million domains currently registered, it can be daunting
to try to find the right domain — one that will drive quality traffic to your
Website or parked domain. But how can you ensure you”re making the right decision when you purchase
registered and expired domains? Do your research and you’ll feel confident in
your purchase. In this article, I’ll explain the tools and techniques domain pros use to
determine, or at least reasonably guesstimate how much, and what type, of
traffic a domain receives. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to predict
approximately how much money a given domain will make, and thus gain a better
understanding of the domain’s true value. We’ll discuss three methods for
evaluating the traffic a domain receives:

*Trackers/Direct Methods
*Predictors/Indirect Methods
*Traffic Source
The educated buyer always comes out ahead, so read on to unlock the mysteries
of domain traffic and learn how to determine scientifically if a domain is
really worth buying.

Trackers/Direct Methods…
Ideally, you could skip all of the guesswork and find out how much traffic a
domain receives directly from the domain owner. The easiest way to do this is
simply to ask the seller. However, the seller may make a mistake (or simply be
dishonest), so it’s always a good idea to double-check the numbers using one or
more of the following methods.

The educated buyer always comes out ahead, so read on to unlock the mysteries
of domain traffic and learn how to determine scientifically if a domain is
really worth buying.

.Parked Domains…If a domain name is parked, the
parking program may make traffic statistics available automatically through the
domain’s sales listing page. For example, if at the time this article was written,
the traffic attracted by the parked domain, and a site about
uk/united kingdom/leeds/yorkshire
could also be viewed on the domain’s sale page.

It’s worth noting that visitor numbers can be manipulated by malevolent
sellers, but in general, parked domain visitor stats serve as a very helpful
guideline for potential buyers.

Parked Domains…If a domain name is parked, the
parking program may make traffic statistics available automatically through the
domain’s sales listing page. For example, at the time this article was written,
the traffic attracted by the parked domain, and a
uk website
could be viewed on the domain’s sale page.

It’s worth noting that the visitor count can be manipulated by malevolent
sellers, but in general, parked domain visitor stats serve as a very helpful
guideline for potential buyers.

Predictors/Indirect Methods…What should you do if a domain is not parked
and the seller is unable or unwilling to provide you with visitor statistics? Fortunately, a
few handy tricks can be used to help you get a rough indication of whether or
not a domain receives any traffic.

Many high-traffic domain names will receive an Alexa ranking just from their
type-in traffic. In general, an Alexa ranking under 1,000,000 for an undeveloped
site is a good indicator that the domain receives decent traffic (e.g. several
thousand monthly uniques). Rankings over a million are less reliable, but
usually any sort of Alexa ranking means the domain receives at least some
traffic. As with all of these methods, Alexa should be used as a guideline only:
sometimes even domains for which Alexa returns “No Data” (too low to rank) will
still receive traffic. Ranking.com offers a tool that’s similar to Alexa’s.

Alexa.com…Alexa ranks web sites based on the
number of visitors they receive. For example, at the time this article was
written, Yahoo.com ranked first, while tisstiss.com ranked at 212,093 and folkk.com
at 717,298. These rankings are based on data derived from Alexa toolbar users.
Translating these numbers into unique views, allready.biz received over 10,000
unique views in the month of September while pummle.com received over 70,000
uniques. (Statistics from Sedo.com).

So of course, a domain name that contains a highly-searched keyword is more likely to
receive traffic. However, the Overture Tool’s usefulness goes beyond that: if
you use the exact domain name (with extension) as the keyword, Overture results
can be used as a predictor for whether or not a domain name receives traffic.
For example, “Yahoo.com” was searched over 11 million times in September,
according to Overture. Our comparison sites fared as follows: “Blue.com” was
searched 794 times, while “Camera.com” was searched 258 times.

Overture Searches…Yahoo! Search Marketing’s
Keyword Selector Tool tells you how often a
given keyword was searched in yahoo’s network. For example, ‘Yahoo’ was
searched 17,858,229 times in September 2005, while ‘Blue’ was searched 178,124
times.

Naturally, a domain that contains a highly-searched keyword is more likely to
receive traffic. However, the Overture Tool’s usefulness goes beyond that: if
you use the exact domain name (with extension) as the keyword, Overture results
can be used as a predictor for whether or not a domain name receives traffic.
For example, ‘Yahoo.com’ was searched over 11 million times in September,
according to Overture. Our comparison sites fared as follows: ‘Blue.com’ was
searched 794 times, while ‘Camera.com’ was searched 258 times.

Research has shown that Overture searches do sometimes have a rough
correlation with traffic (especially type-in traffic), but as with other
methods, there are many exceptions to the rule.
Traffic Source…If you want to better understand something, go to the
source. This aphorism applies to domain traffic just as well as it does to other
information. Thus, in addition to using the above methods to guesstimate the
quantity of traffic a given domain receives, you may want to use these
techniques to try to determine the source of that traffic.
Traffic source will affect the longevity and conversion of the traffic. In
simpler terms, it will have a huge impact on how much money the domain will
make.

.Link Popularity…Any given web site or formerly-developed
domain name may receive traffic from old incoming links and directory listings.
There are many online tools for checking link popularity; Marketleap.com offers
one of the best of these tools.

The important thing to look for here is not the quantity of links, but their
quality. A single link from a major web site may be worth thousands of links
from smaller sites. The longevity of link traffic varies widely: a link from a
news article may generate a strom of traffic that lasts only a week, while a
directory listing may continue to generate steady traffic for years. Another
similar tool worth checking out is URLtrends.com.

Search Engine Listings…Search engine listings are
a major source of traffic for many sites. You can guesstimate how much search
engine-derived traffic a web site receives by looking at its ’search engine
saturation’. This is an indicator of how often the domain appears in the various
search engine indexes. Again, Marketleap.com offers an excellent tool for
evaluating search engine saturation.

Just keep in mind that it’s also very important to look at how high the site is
listed and how often the keyword in the domain is searched. And don’t forget that search
engine listings change frequently, so if this is the primary source of traffic,
expect fluctuations!

.Paid Fluctuations…Some traffic may be coming from
PPC advertisements, exit popups or banner ads that the seller has bought. This
is short-lived when it comes to traffic, because as soon as you buy the domain, the seller
will of course stop paying for the ads! The best way to determine traffic origin is to ask the
seller about traffic sources and view a traffic log. To ensure the logs are
not modified, ask for access to the logs instead of screenshot of the
statistics.

Without access to the logs, it can be difficult to determine if a domain is
receiving paid traffic, but a smart domain buyer will look for a few key pieces
of evidence: do the domain statistics align with the Alexa ranking and the
number of incoming links? For example, a domain that receives a couple hundred
views a day, and has no Alexa ranking and very few incoming links from
low-traffic sites may likely receive paid traffic. But don’t discount such
domains out of hand: they may be receiving typo-traffic, or may even be a seasonal domain (such as one related to the World
Series).

Expired Traffic…If a domain was formerly
developed, some users may continue to visit because of old links and references,
or simply because they remember the actual name of the domain. This traffic may continue for
years, but naturally, it decreases over time.

If it’s not possible to speak with the current owner about the past
development of the site, a few simple searches can help. In particular, use the
hints above to examine the types of sites that are linking to that domain. With this
information, you may be able to get some idea of the type of traffic that’s
visiting the domain in search of old content. After the content is removed, many
of the links will be updated or removed and this traffic will eventually dwindle
or expire.

Typos -n- Variations…Don’t ignore traffic that’s
diverted to the domain name as a result of typos from other high traffic sites.
Check out the traffic that flows to similar or mistyped domains using the tools
above. Also consider traffic generated from variations of names, such as an
abbreviated form of your domain name, or an acronym. If these domains experience
high volumes of visitors, there is just as much of a possibility that this will translate to
high traffic levels for similar sites.

Alexa can be useful tool for doing this — it offers a feature that lists
other web sites that visitors of a given domain also visit. For example, an
Alexa search on: social bookmarking
shows that many visitors to these types of domains also visit other
social
networking websites.

Find the Right Domain…Traffic is crucial for any revenue generating
business on the Web. Finding and choosing the right domain with targeted traffic can take
your business and -profits- to new heights. If you haven’t quite had the
time to build that web site, simply park your domains, let your parking company
place targeted advertisements on the domain’s index page, and sit back and monetize
the traffic. You can do this at sedo by taking advantage of their optimize keyword
tool. Also, use the tools listed above to determine domain traffic and never
make a wrong buying decision again.

With over 60 million domains currently registered, it can be daunting
to try to find the right domain — one that will drive quality traffic to your
Website or parked domain. But how can you ensure you”re making the right decision when you purchase
registered and expired domains? Do your research and you’ll feel confident in
your purchase. In this article, I’ll explain the tools and techniques domain pros use to
determine, or at least reasonably guesstimate how much, and what type, of
traffic a domain receives. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to predict
approximately how much money a given domain will make, and thus gain a better
understanding of the domain’s true value. We’ll discuss three methods for
evaluating the traffic a domain receives:

In this article, I’ll explain the tools and techniques domain pros use to
determine — or at least reasonably guesstimate — how much, and what type, of
traffic a domain receives. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to predict
approximately how much money a given domain will make, and thus gain a better
understanding of the domain’s true value. We’ll discuss three methods for
evaluating the traffic trhat a domain receives:

.Trackers/Direct Methods…
Ideally, you could skip all of the guesswork and find out how much traffic a
domain receives directly from the domain owner. The easiest way to do this is
simply to ask the seller. However, the seller may make a mistake (or simply be
dishonest), so it’s always a good idea to double-check the numbers using one or
more of the following methods.

The educated buyer always comes out ahead, so read on to unlock the mysteries
of domain traffic and learn how to determine scientifically if a domain is
really worth buying.

Trackers/Direct Methods
Ideally, you could skip all of the guesswork and find out how much traffic a
domain receives directly from the domain owner. The easiest way to do this is
simply to ask the sellers about it. However, the seller may make mistakes (or simply be
dishonest), so it’s always a good idea to double-check the numbers using one or
more of the following methods.

It’s worth noting that visitor numbers can be manipulated by malevolent
sellers, but in general, parked domain visitor stats serve as a very helpful
guideline for potential buyers.

Parked Domains…If a domain name is parked, the
parking program may make traffic statistics available automatically through the
domain’s sales listing page. For example, at the time this article was written,
the traffic attracted by the parked domain, and a
uk website
could be viewed on the domain’s sale page.

It’s worth noting that the visitor count can be manipulated by malevolent
sellers, but in general, parked domain visitor stats serve as a very helpful
guideline for potential buyers.

Predictors/Indirect Methods…What should you do if a domain is not parked
and the seller is unable or unwilling to provide you with visitor statistics? Fortunately, a
few handy tricks can be used to help you get a rough indication of whether or
not a domain receives any traffic.

Many high-traffic domain names will receive an Alexa ranking just from their
type-in traffic. In general, an Alexa ranking under 1,000,000 for an undeveloped
site is a good indicator that the domain receives decent traffic (e.g. several
thousand monthly uniques). Rankings over a million are less reliable, but
usually any sort of Alexa ranking means the domain receives at least some
traffic. As with all of these methods, Alexa should be used as a guideline only:
sometimes even domains for which Alexa returns “No Data” (too low to rank) will
still receive traffic. Ranking.com offers a tool that’s similar to Alexa’s.

Alexa.com…Alexa ranks web sites based on the
number of visitors they receive. For example, at the time this article was
written, Yahoo.com ranked first, while tisstiss.com ranked at 212,093 and folkk.com
at 717,298. These rankings are based on data derived from Alexa toolbar users.
Translating these numbers into unique views, allready.biz received over 10,000
unique views in the month of September while pummle.com received over 70,000
uniques. (Statistics from Sedo.com).

So of course, a domain name that contains a highly-searched keyword is more likely to
receive traffic. However, the Overture Tool’s usefulness goes beyond that: if
you use the exact domain name (with extension) as the keyword, Overture results
can be used as a predictor for whether or not a domain name receives traffic.
For example, “Yahoo.com” was searched over 11 million times in September,
according to Overture. Our comparison sites fared as follows: “Blue.com” was
searched 794 times, while “Camera.com” was searched 258 times.

Research has shown that Overture searches do sometimes have a rough
correlation with traffic (especially type-in traffic), but as with other
methods, there are many exceptions to the rule.

Traffic Source…If you are wanting to better understand something, go to the
source. This aphorism applies to domain traffic just as well as it does to other
information. Thus, in addition to using the above methods to guesstimate the
quantity of traffic a given domain receives, you may want to use these
techniques to try to determine the source of that traffic.

Research has shown that Overture searches do sometimes have a rough
correlation with traffic (especially type-in traffic), but as with other
methods, there are many exceptions to the rule.
Traffic Source…If you want to better understand something, go to the
source. This aphorism applies to domain traffic just as well as it does to other
information. Thus, in addition to using the above methods to guesstimate the
quantity of traffic a given domain receives, you may want to use these
techniques to try to determine the source of that traffic.
Traffic source will affect the longevity and conversion of the traffic. In
simpler terms, it will have a huge impact on how much money the domain will
make.

Link Popularity…A web site or formerly-developed
domain name may receive traffic from old incoming links and directory listings.
There are many online tools for checking link popularity; Marketleap.com offers
one of the best tools.

The important thing to look for here is not the quantity of links, but their
quality. A single link from a major web site may be worth thousands of links
from smaller sites. The longevity of link traffic varies widely: a link from a
news article may generate a strom of traffic that lasts only a week, while a
directory listing may continue to generate steady traffic for years. Another
similar tool worth checking out is URLtrends.com.

Search Engine Listings…Search engine listings are
a major source of traffic for many sites. You can guesstimate how much search
engine-derived traffic a web site receives by looking at its ’search engine
saturation’. This is an indicator of how often the domain appears in the various
search engine indexes. Again, Marketleap.com offers an excellent tool for
evaluating search engine saturation.

Just keep in mind that it’s also important to look at how high the site is
listed and how often the keyword is searched. And don’t forget that search
engine listings change frequently, so if this is the primary source of traffic,
expect fluctuations!

.Paid Fluctuations…Some traffic may be coming from
PPC advertisements, exit popups or banner ads that the seller has bought. This
is short-lived when it comes to traffic, because as soon as you buy the domain, the seller
will of course stop paying for the ads! The best way to determine traffic origin is to ask the
seller about traffic sources and view a traffic log. To ensure the logs are
not modified, ask for access to the logs instead of screenshot of the
statistics.

Without access to the logs, it can be difficult to determine if a domain is
receiving paid traffic, but a smart domain buyer will look for a few key pieces
of evidence: do the domain statistics align with the Alexa ranking and the
number of incoming links? For example, a domain that receives a couple hundred
views a day, and has no Alexa ranking and very few incoming links from
low-traffic sites may likely receive paid traffic. But don’t discount such
domains out of hand: they may be receiving typo-traffic, or may even be a seasonal domain (such as one related to the World
Series).

Expired Traffic…If a domain was formerly
developed, some users may continue to visit because of old links and references,
or simply because they remember the domain name. This traffic may continue for
years, but naturally, it decreases with time.

If it’s not possible to speak with the current owner about the past
development of the site, a few simple searches can help. In particular, use the
hints above to examine the types of sites that link to the domain. With that
information, you may be able to get some idea of the type of traffic that’s
visiting the domain in search of old content. After the content is removed, many
of the links will be updated or removed and this traffic will eventually dwindle
or expire.

Typos -n- Variations…Don’t ignore traffic that’s
diverted to the domain name as a result of typos from other high traffic sites.
Check out the traffic that flows to similar or mistyped domains using the tools
above. Also consider traffic generated from variations of names, such as an
abbreviated form of your domain name, or an acronym. If these domains experience
high volumes of visitors, there is just as much of a possibility that this will translate to
high traffic levels for similar sites.

Alexa can be useful tool for doing this — it offers a feature that lists
other web sites that visitors of any given domain also visit. For example, an
Alexa search on: social bookmarking websitees
shows that many visitors to these types of domains also visit other
social
networking sites.

Find the Right Domain…Traffic is crucial for any revenue generating
business on the Web. Finding and choosing the right domain with targeted traffic can take
your business and -profits- to new heights. If you haven’t quite had the
time to build that web site, simply park your domains, let your parking company
place targeted advertisements on the domain’s index page, and sit back and monetize
the traffic. You can do this at sedo by taking advantage of their optimize keyword
tool. Also, use the tools listed above to determine domain traffic and never
make a wrong buying decision again.