Be careful when buying expired names

[EdwinJ]

Sometimes expired domains are great because someone somewhere may have built up a domain ~ developing content, acquiring backlinks, search engine positions & maybe a good page rank. And sometimes, sadly for that person, he or she may have missed renewing the domain for whatever reason and this opens the opportunity for someone else to profit from the name. It's like finding an abandoned house all nicely done up with furniture intact, ready for someone to just move in.

But be careful, things may not be as they seem. The 'house' may have been abandoned on purpose!

I came across this expired domain.
PlasmaWorld.net. Very decent name. Even has a few backlinks. Good niche. Very possible to turn it into a profitable website even as a .net.

However, upon researching the name a bit, I found this.

Bottom line, always do your homework.

Well, the domain is still available. Anyone still interested? :gl:

 

[edit]

Good post. That would be a very tough review to overcome should anyone decide to open a store with that domain.

However, being domain specific I would say if you or whomever purchases the domain were to use it for information purposes along with ads you may do alright.

But the lesson remains the same always do your homework on expired domains, I've had similar problems with dropped domains in the past but not to that extent.

-edit

 

[cache]

someone else got hurt, but you should be OK. So what is the problem?

 

[krishmk]

Registering expired domain names!

Thanks for posting that. I hope it would be a good lesson for those registering expired domain names.

I always have the habit of researching about the domain name before registering it. You could have searched in Google as well as the wayback machine (www.archive.org).

The first two results in Google would have alarmed you.

 

[domaindevelopers]

domain is registered :wave: (not by me)

 

[Lyn]

Thanks

Good advice. Never thought of googling a name before purchase. I obviously have been lucky todate.

Lyn

 

[abdussamad]

I don't understand. Can't you just point to the whois data if somebody questions you over the previous owner's cheating? Just tell them that you reged the domain only on such and such a date and you are not responsible for the previous owner's actions.

 

[Kate]

You should also check domain history in archive.org. It is often instructive.
Some domains have been banned from search engines as well, and used for unsavory purposes (spam). As a result they are more a liability than an asset. For example, when most of your traffic comes from spam backlinks conversion is typically poor and the parking companies won't like it.

 

[.X.]

a good post, thanks for the heads up, the more names of the people that scam we can get, the better.

 

[Muneeb2Good]

Thanks for Posting this information !

 

[mikew101]

Great advice!

However I must add if you come across a name that is just to perfect, and seems like the perfect brand name for you online business this is what I would do under this circumstance.

Find the person that made the review and contact them. Inform them that the old site owners are gone, and that you have started a new business with the same domain name. Offer them money back on any way that they were hurt by the previous owners, and politely ask them to take down the review.

This way you get the name, and you get rid of any negative content about the domain that may be out their. In addition you will want to brand the site completey differently then the site owners that had the domain before you.

 

[Jeffrey]

Thanks Edwin!

I never thought of this idea before, until i read this topic! God bless you!

 

[EdwinJ]

Thanks Jeffrey.

And for those who gave positive rep, much appreciated.

 

[EdwinJ]

On the other side of the coin, there are also expired domains with very good history.

For example, I just acquired www.WebMultimedia.net. I think it's a very good name and I love it.

It has over 50 backlinks and what's more it also has a listing in Yahoo's directory. I'm sure you know that it costs you US$299 just to get your site reviewed by Yahoo for inclusion. And even then, there is no guarantee you will even get in.

And that's not all, apparently WebMultimedia.net is also an award-winning site!

So to get a domain like this for $8 is really cool. :D

If some of you are interested in picking up domains like these see my sig link below ~ referring to expired domains.

 

[YesBrilliant]

Find the person that made the review and contact them.

Unfortunaelly that is not always easy to do.

Most people who post negative comments do not leave contact info, or at least real info. Also, if the matter is significant, it becomes viral with several comments in forums, for example. Close to impossible to clean up.

The site/domain could also be banned on Google (that you can check here www.iwebtool.com/google_banned).

In my opinion, it is too much work. Better finding another domain.

 

[briguy]

You should also check domain history in archive.org. It is often instructive.

Added to favorites, rep added! Thanks

The site/domain could also be banned on Google (that you can check here www.iwebtool.com/google_banned).

Another great link, also added rep added! thanks
Anyway this thread is more backup material for my soon to be on the market..new e-book "The 3 Secret Step to Succe$$" and for other posters of this thread here is the free version

(1) Research (2) Research (3) Research

(now I need a content writer to fill in the page )
Anyway thanks for the tips and the thread EdwinJ rep added also p.s maybe you should write your own e-book :blink:

 

[scribby]

Normally before buying an expired name I Google the name, that way you are shown the back links. If a domain has a PR of 10 but only 2 links pop-up in Google then its obviously faked.

 

[Koopa]

Very important to make sure it's not black-listed