In this article, we will discuss some basic guidelines of
registering new domain name, grabbing expired domain name, or buying
after market domain name with possible search engine ranking and link backs.
What is domain name?
A domain name is unique name that identifies a location on the World Wide Web.
This name does not exist until is registered by someone through a domain registrar.
Once registered, domains are stored on a central database maintained by a company called The Internet's Network Information Center (InterNIC) and coordinated by a
company called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN). Top level Country code domains such .ca, .uk, .jp,
etc have different rules. Some country code domain names are reserved for the residents of that country.
Domain registration process
Registering a domain name is quite simple. Here is what you need to do to register a domain name.
Search and find available domain name that you want register using the registrar's domain availability text box.
Register the domain name by providing your registration information (whois) and paying registrar's annual fee.
Most domain registrars give discount for multi-year registration.
Remember, you do not own the domain name once you register it,
you have the exclusive right use the domain name as long as you paying the
annual fee. You can renew the domain year after year. If you let it expire, than it will become available for anyone to register after the 30-days grace period.
Courts can also take your rights to use the domain name if a company or organization
dispute the name in use.
BlueHost Free Domain Name Some web hosting companies such as bluehost provide free website domain name if you
setup a webhosting service with them. Netfirms provide 5 free domains with any webhosting service.
You can register a domain name for $1.99/1st yr with YAHOO!.
Buying after market domain for sale
It's hard to find a great domain name available since all dictionary words and
well known phrases are registered for popular top level domains such as .com, .net, and .org.
If the name you want register is not available and not setup for a website, than there is
great chance that it's owned by domain invester who would resell it.
Huge number of domains are registered for the purpose of reselling by domain investors.
If your domain name is not available, check if it's for sale.
Also there are domain brokers such as Sedo who would try to negotiate and acquire the domain name on your behalf.
The most popular domain broker is Sedo where you can find domains names for sale, list domain names for sale, or try to acquire registered domain name.
Grabbing Expired domain name
It might be great idea to register an expired domain name since there is
possibilities of traffic generated by previous owner and link backs.
A domain name could have traffic flow or link backs only when a website was setup however, any search engine rankings will drop once the domain is dropped.
Registered and dropped domain name without a website is not any different than a new domain name.
There are online tools that will allow you to check the domain link backs and if there any previous indexed websites for the domain name.
Widexl.com has a link popularity checker tool to view number of links backs for any domain or if any.
You can also check if the domain has a previously published website by archive.org.
Benefits of buying expired domain:
1. Traffic coming from existing links on other sites.
2. Posibibities of previous advertisings and promotions by it's former owner.
2. Traffic coming from previous bookmarks.
3. Domain may have greater value than new name in terms of descriptions and length. Easy to remember is the key word.
4. Expired domain name can generate profit if redirected to a website
similar to it's former website.
Expired domains with search engine rankings
As previously mentioned, search engine rankings such as Google PR will drop
once the domain is deleted or dropped.
Domain resellers and some domain registrars would grab expired domains with Google pr rating to resell online markets such as ebay. The ranking is either fake or not yet dropped but will be dropped next Google ranking update. The main
point is do not buy a expired domain name because of the PR rating. Name quality and link popularity are important factors.