A lot of people don’t even realize the power of buying old domains, and using them. Which I don’t really bring this up to much, but buying them just has extremely positive effects. For example you buy an old domain that has just been setting around and it has been established since 1999, and you do a 301 redirect from that domain to yours. The impact that it will have on your website will be extremely postitive not only do you get the trust that the domain carried, but you get the value of the inbound links. When purchasing an old domain make sure that *it is* totally relevant to your, so don’t go out purchasing a real estate domain when your in the web design business.

Another thing is that a lot of people don’t even realize how much an old domain is worth and you can find them everywhere on the web for like $200 dollars and etc. I mean some pretty good domains. Places like Digital Point Domain Names, DN Forum, Site Point Domain Names, and v7n.com Domain Sales these websites and social communities have a wide selection of domain names and generally you can just make a post in the domain sales forum topic and you’ll get a pretty big response plus you’ll meet several people that probably have 100’s of domains for sale. Take a look at some of the tips below on what to look for, or what I personally suggest to look for when you buy an old domain.

1. Establishment, Try to find domains that are older then 1999, if you can find one back in 1996 that is gold you better buy it. I would recommend buying a domain that has an actual website on the domain instead of one being parked, try to find one that has inbound links pointing to it already.
2. Search Engine Listing, This is very important make sure the domain is listed in the search engines just type the domain in at Google, and make sure its listed because you never know it could of been penalized at one time.
3. Page Rank, check the page rank of the domain. For example if its got 100 pr 3 links pointing to the domain, but the domain is only reading a pr 0 I would not purchase it because it probably has a penalty against it.
4. Way Back Machine, You know you can use the way back machine to check to see what has actually been on the website before just to get an idea what type of stuff was hosted on the domain at one time.
5. Fake Page Rank, Look for this stuff I have noticed a lot of people doing this, well depends generally you’ll be ok, but you never know there could be that one scammer. Check the domains back links and etc people can actually spoof the page rank very easily.

Thats basically it just mainly check into the domain name and use good sense. If your not famaliar with buying an old domain names and feel confused your probably better off setting down for months and reading into it, or have a broker such as an SEO find you a domain name for you and have them 301 redirect for you. Old domains are like gold, and they can easily increase your website trust. Also keep in mind when purchasing an old domain and when you 301 redirect it, it will take some time to pass the trust on. Check the articles out below for related resources and tips on buying an old domain.

Related Resources

Intelligent Domain Buying Tips
SELF SEO Domain Buying Tips
What Does Google Know about your Domain Names
I Like Em Old
Screw The Sanbox Buy an Old Website
Google Loves Old Domains
Guide To Buying Old Domain Names

Where to Buy Old Domains At

Your Main Domain.Com
Name Pros
Digital Point Domain Names for Sell
Webmaster Talk Old Domain For Sale
Site Point Old Domains For Sale

Above are some places to find old domains, mainly just participate in the communities and you’ll run in some good deals believe it or not, but make sure you focus on the quality of the domain and not the price. Paying a higher price is way better then trying to save a few 1000, or 100 cause overall you want a good domain and plus its permanent so its a win win. Just make sure you try to find domain names that are already established and have links going to them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 2:54 am and is filed under Domains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.