Remember Me
forgot your password?

The Domain Name Gold Rush

All the good ones are taken. The really good ones, that is. But they don't always stay taken.

Domain names often come back onto the market. Even before they do, domain name prospectors are sifting through them to find the gold domains among them.

Why domain names become available again

Thousands of domain names expire every day. Other domains are offered for sale. The reasons are varied:

Carelessness

The webmaster forgets to renew the domain by the expiry date.

The email address that the domain is registered with becomes invalid, and the domain name registrant doesn't receive the renewal notices.

- Lack of need or funds

- The company that had registered the domain goes out of business.

- The website owner loses interest in or doesn't have time for the website.

- The website owner doesn't have funding to continue the website venture.

- The domain name registrant registered numerous domains on speculation and couldn't afford to continue renewing unused domains.

Profit

- The domain name registrant may realize how much a domain is worth and decide to sell it.

- The domain name registrant may have registered the domain because of its potential worth, with the aim of selling it later.

What makes a previously registered domain name valuable?

In July 2005, the domain name website.com sold for $750,000, the highest-valued domain name sale this year. Why would anyone pay so much for a domain when they could register a new domain for under $10?

- Instant traffic

If the domain name previously pointed to a website, search engines have already indexed that domain name. Other websites probably still have links to that domain. If the domain is listed in directories, these links bring in even more traffic. You register the domain, and the work getting incoming links has already been done for you.

- Surf value

Sometimes web surfers search by typing generic words followed by dot com (or other extensions) into their browsers, for example, dogs.com. This particular domain name redirects to the website for a company that sells pet products and services. A domain name like this constantly brings visitors to the website without the cost and effort of advertising and marketing.

- Easy to remember

Your company name may not be memorable, but domains such as dogs.com and website.com are. People are more likely to return to a site or pass on the name to their friends when they can easily remember it.

How to find domains pending expiration

You decide to join the gold rush for valuable pre-registered domains. Finding expiring domains is the first step, but you also need to research domains that are about to come back on the market.

Lists of domains pending expiration

At these websites, among others, you can search for domains containing keywords you enter. At expireddomains.com, the results contain domains that are currently available, soon to expire, on hold, in the Redemption Grace Period (RGP), or for sale by their registrants. Extensions searched: .com, .net, and ..org.

The domainsbot.com database searches .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz extensions for domains that are available, for sale, or expiring.

Domain research

You can find some (but not all) incoming links to a domain by entering "link:siteURL" (replace "siteURL" with the domain name) into Google or Yahoo. When you find the links, follow them to see what types of sites link to the domain. How would you feel about having these particular sites linking to your site?

Also look into any possible problems associated with the domain. Search engines may have banned the domain if the previous site had controversial search engine optimization techniques employed, such as the use of hidden text or links. Check the history of the site at a domain name via the WayBack Machine. If the domain previously pointed to a site with gambling or adult content or a lot of affiliate links, or if it employed questionable search engine optimization techniques, search engines may have banned the domain. Aside from the possibility of a domain being banned, you may not want incoming links from sites associated with these types of content.

How to register domains pending deletion

You've decided on a domain that you want. How do you maximize your chances on getting it?

At eNom.com's Club Drop, you can bid on expiring .com and .net domains the day before they're available to the public. You can also be notified when domains matching your search criteria become available.

The NameWinner system places bids on .com, .net, .org, and .info domains for you. It bids only as high as is necessary to maintain your high bid position up to your maximum bid.

How to profit from your domains

- Selling domains

If you have a domain that may be valuable and that you aren't using, consider selling it at a domain auction. If you already have a buyer for a domain, you can transfer it securely through Escrow.com.

- Paid parking for domains

With paid domain parking programs, also called "domain monetization" or "monetize domains," you can earn pay-per-click revenue via targeted advertisements. These sites offer domain monetization services:

- DomainSponsor

- Park Quick

- Domain Spa

- Google Adsense for domains

With the right knowledge, timing, and a bit of luck, you have a chance as a domain name prospector to hit pay dirt.

Lois S.
Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com and http://www.lowpricedomains.com with experience in the website hosting industry.
Rate this Article: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s)
Print Email Re-Publish

Add new Comment



Captcha

  • Latest Domain Names Articles
  • More from Lois S.

TOP LEVEL GENERIC DOMAINS NAMES

By: Sunnyjit Sinha Roy | 12/11/2009
various top level generic domain names

HACKING OF DOMAIN

By: Sunnyjit Sinha Roy | 12/11/2009
How to protect websites from being hacked

REGISTRATION OF DOMAIN NAME EXTENSIONS

By: Sunnyjit Sinha Roy | 12/11/2009
the need to register your domain names

Importance of proper domain names

By: Sunnyjit Sinha Roy | 12/11/2009
The need to have the best domain names

Tired of looking for the perfect domain name for your business? Want to know what it looks like?

By: Mike Nardine | 11/11/2009
First of all the experts want you to believe that the perfect domain name must have a Dot-Com at the end. There’s no fighting it; you and everybody else thinks “Dot-Com” every time you imagine a domain name. Isn’t it the first thing you type if you’re only guessing at the name? Forget the other three hundred or so domain name extensions, if it isn’t Dot-Com you’ve got a loser.

Cheapest Domain Registration

By: omura | 09/11/2009
There are literally thousands of new websites that join the internet each day.

How to Sell Your Domain Name

By: Marcus Fei Lim | 09/11/2009
If you've got an old website and registered domain name you're preparing to take offline, you may have a chance to make a little money in the process. Don't just let the lease on your domain name expire and fall back into the pool of available domain names. Believe it or not, domain names for websites can be valuable. There are companies, organizations, and individuals who are willing to pay to get the perfect domain name. just by selling or auctioning off your website's old domain name, there

Start Building Online Business with GoDaddy Coupons

By: Andrey Fidrya | 06/11/2009
According to the statistics, the main part of webmasters and website owners usually prefers rather to pay additional 2-3 dollars, but to have a domain name with reliable registrars only than with the cheapest ones. Of course, if you are planning to do online business seriously and expect to have good results in the future you need to keep a domain in secure. Do you know that applying Go Daddy Coupons to order a domain you will manage to perform two things at the same time?

Understanding the power of viral marketing online

By: Lois S. | 20/09/2005 | Viral Marketing
If they understood it, we would be seeing many more online success stories and fewer online failures. Because the word has also been over-used by hype peddlers, many.

Adding City Names At The End Of Your Keywords Can Bring You More Profits

By: Lois S. | 19/09/2005 | SEM
Ads. With Google Adsense the same keyword with only a city inserted at the end can attract substantially higher paying adsense ads to your site. That really surprised me.

Why article writing is increasingly important in this SPAM era

By: Lois S. | 19/09/2005 | SEM
Need from clients and business associates. Many times even email sites are trying to control ever rising Spam volumes. Many times this makes even genuine communication via email.

How to get non-stop free traffic to your website

By: Lois S. | 19/09/2005 | SEM
There are various free, proven ways of generating traffic that will cost you nothing but get you lots of traffic without you having to spend anything. Search engines.

Information Highwaymen and Your Domain

By: Lois S. | 13/09/2005 | Domain Names
When you call the police, they can't do anything because the company papers now indicate that the store belongs to the stranger. The above scenario isn't likely to happen.

Secrets of Expired Domain Name Traffic

By: Lois S. | 13/09/2005 | Domain Names
Email campaigns, pay-per-clicks, banner advertising, are among some of the tactics that are popular. Another method of generating traffic is through expired domain names..

Affiliate marketing secrets that you can use

By: Lois S. | 09/09/2005 | Affiliate Programs
And programs. Since the early days when Amazon

Submit Your Articles Free: Signup
Article Categories




Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (1.54, 8, w1)