n00b domain investment?

[williamltd]

Help! So I am attempting to broker the purchase of a domain for a friend of mine. Hoping not to screw it up, I started my due diligence on the domain and found that it had for 4 years hosted porn affiliates of some sort. My friend is looking to not only invest $X,XXX in this domain but rename his startup and brand around this domain name.

Is this a good idea? It shows up clean on all the blacklists but wont it be harder to get strong organic traffic? Are SERs based on historical content? Is this a good investment?

Thanks for helping!

 

[Yeodo]

I dont know much so dont listen to me. All i would say is that i personally would think whether any other extensions are available and B how many existing backlinks from "suspect" places are coming into the domain which might hurt search rankings? if though it is a fine domain name .. maybe none of the above should matter..

 

[mwzd]

Ex-porn domains are extremely tough to regrade, I'd advise against it.

There are millions of 'clean' domains, am sure he can find something better, specially w/ $x,xxx in the kitty.

How would your friend like it when his site popped up somewhere with some adult references... how would you if it was your startup?

 

[Sparhawke]

Unless you are looking at starting up a new porn site I would go with MW here, with $x,xxx to invest you should really be able to get a fairly decent .com to start you off which while it will not have potential customers walking past your door it will have a nice wholesome image more than likely.

Have you ever seen how fast families on trips to Disneyland run past the red light districts?

That is what you customers will likely be doing in the future, don't risk it.

 

[nielsencl]

I don't think the past use will be too much of a problem, but it would depend on what links are going to the domain. Also, I'm curious about what the domain is that was used for porn and could now be used for a different business.

I would run the domain through Estibot and see what value is returned. That may give you an idea what the seller will want for it, or if it is really low you can try mentioning that to keep the price reasonable. With some sellers that may work.

Your biggest problem may be getting the domain for the price you want. Once the owner knows someone is interested, the price may shoot up past what you can afford or at least want to spend. I would have a backup plan for getting a different domain, then approach the owner very carefully so that they cannot figure out that the buyer is anything more than a cheap, sleazy porno webmaster that wants to buy the domain for the same thing they used it for. Persistance and begging may get you the domain for just a few hundred bucks if you play it right. Good Luck!

 

[johname]

Just based on what you said I would be more on the side that you will be ok. You can try to figure out how deep they activity went into the dark side. The thing I would be wondering it how much the name relates to the adult topic. If you hear the name alone does it slap you in the face as adult? There are adult start ups too, I take it your friend's isnt? The way you say it, it sounds like hes willing to pay four figures for just the domain name. If even a domain layman thinks a name is worth four figures then chances are three figures are totally out of the question to aquire it.

 

[clearskies]

How do you find out if an aged domain has unwanted history?

 

[silentg]

check http://archive.org

 

[clearskies]

Thank you. Rep added.

 

[renek]

I'd suggest looking for another domain based on the link in profiles.