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Generating Traffic With Expired Domain Names
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One of the greatest difficulties in being a new webmaster is acquiring traffic. This is because trying to build traffic requires a great deal of time and money. Why is this? Well, if a webmaster is trying to obtain traffic through search engines, they will need to spend a lot of time obtaining links to the site and creating content. If they are attempting to obtain traffic through a pay-per-click program, they will have to spend a lot of money if they want to take advantage of a high-performance keyword. However, there is another alternative that can allow a web designer to generate a lot of traffic without having to invest too much in time or money. It involves purchasing an expired domain name.
What is an expired domain name? An expired domain is a domain name that never got renewed by its owner. This may be for a number of reasons such as losing interest in the original website, lack of funds or simply forgetting to renew it. Whatever the reason, the expired domain name sits out in cyberspace still functioning like any other domain. There is just one difference… an expired domain doesn’t have a website attached to it, so it instead points to a 404 error page.
Indeed, it is a waste of traffic when an expired domain name points to a 404 web page. Many domain name companies have realized this, which is why quite a few sell expired domains either through a regular, upfront sale or through an expired domain name auction. The prices for these domains can range from less than $100 to over $1 million. Some of these sales may even include a website.
So, how does a webmaster know if an expired domain name is worth buying? First, they need to check the page rank of the expired domain. To do this they need to download Google’s toolbar and then type in the URL of the expired domain name. The toolbar will then let them know what the page rank is. If the page rank indicator is gray, the expired domain name should not be purchased since a gray bar means that the domain name has been banned by Google. Otherwise, it should be okay, though webmasters should also take into consideration the actual number shown on the indicator. If the number is between 6 and 10, they should strongly consider purchasing the domain name. Secondly, webmasters need to find out the Alexa rating of the expired domain. The Alexa rating determines how much traffic has actually gone to a domain name. If a website has not received a substantial amount of traffic, it will not have an Alexa rating. To find out the Alexa rating for an expired domain name, webmasters need to visit Alexa.com.
Finally, webmasters need to see how many websites link to the expired domain name. To do this they need to put the command link: followed by the URL of the expired domain into a search engine. If a lot of links are returned, this is a sign that the traffic coming to the expired domain name originated from legitimate sources.
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