Many people may not realize that when they ‘buy’ a domain name they are actually only renting it. You can renew the domain and keep it indefinitely but if you don’t renew it becomes one of millions of expired domains. Once a domain has expired, it can be bought by someone else. This can provide a great opportunity for the savvy internet marketer.
To make sure you get the most out of your ‘new’ expired domains, follow these simple steps:
1. First find some expired, or soon to be expired, domain names that you like. You can go to many sites, either domain auction sites or registrar sites that will sell off their expired domains, and see what domain names are available.
Make note of any of the domain names you are interested in. Find out when the auction will end (or start), find out if there is any type of opening bid. Many sites will contact you by email when someone else has bid on the domain name you are bidding on.
Make sure that you set your budget before you even start on this process. You don’t want to get caught up in the moment and over spend.
2. Make sure that you are familiar with all the rules of the auction site before you start bidding. It’s even a good idea to watch a few auctions before you start actively bidding on domain names, this way you can become familiar with the way the site handles the auctions.
Remember, all sites will be different so don’t assume that just because you’ve done it before on another site that you know how it will all work on this site.
3. Before you start bidding on a domain name, carefully research the name. Check to find out how much traffic the site gets. What page rank in Google it has as well as how many searches are done each month for the site name.
Remember, you are buying a domain name and not a website. It’s the name that matters so make sure that you know as much about the name as possible.
Buying old domain names can be a great investment, but only if you know what you are doing. If you spend too much for a name that you ‘think’ will be great only to find out that the name has a bad reputation because of the site that was on it previously, you won’t make money you will lose money. For that reason, you have to do your due diligence and try to find out how much traffic you can expect from your ‘new’ domain.
If you take a little time to educate yourself on just what you need to look for when buying expired domains, and you don’t get caught up in the frenzy of the auction, you can make a lot of money this way. Whether you want to pick up an old domain name for a song and resell it or if you want to build a business around an old domain name, either way, money can be made if you do it right.
