Expired Domain Lists

There are a number of reasons you may want to register an expired domain. Maybe you are looking to resell it? Maybe the name is related to something you are interested in and you want to develop it? Or, maybe it just sounds cool and you wouldn’t mind adding it to your portfolio of domain names. In this post I am going to discuss things to look for if you are wanting to buy a domain strictly to flip it or hold onto and gain value.

Just because a name sounds cool doesn’t mean that name actually holds value. This doesn’t really apply to .com names because almost all short, brandable .com’s have the value of at least registration fee (usually $7-$8USD). I am speaking of the less popular TLD’s including .us, .net, .info, .org, and .biz.

When looking to purchase an expired domain do some research on it. Here are the first few things I would always suggest researching before you register the domain:

1. How many extensions is this domain available in? If the domain you are going to register has a .biz extension and the .net, .org, and .info are all still available - Don’t expect to get much money for it. As a matter of fact, this domain is probably worth less than registration fee since it has the .biz extension. On the other hand, if this domain is available in .biz and all other TLD’s (Top Level Domains) are taken - or even most of them except the worst TLDs (.name and .ws) then this is probably one you will want to pickup. It may not hold a huge value now, but in due time the value should rise on it. Assuming someone goes and takes the .name and .ws..Now all major extensions for this name are gone and you can probably get 2-3x registration fee for it.
2. Google Results - This one is simple. Goto Google and type in the name or phrase of the domain you are wanting to register (Note: If searching for a phrase be sure to use quotes. for example “credit card application”). See how many results it has. This will give you a broad idea of how many other people mention the word or phrase on their website. If a term has 20,000,000 results then you know the specific word is used often in the english language and could be a good reg. At the same time, if the name or phrase only has 50,000 results - it’s not very common, giving it less value.
3. Overture and WordTracker Score. Visit the Overture Keyword Suggesstion Tool and the WordTracker Keyword Tool and search for your term or phrase. This will give you an idea of how many people search for this keyword or keyphrase in a given month. Unless the domain you are registering is a dictionary word, then the higher the number the better. Anything over 30,000 is alright, anything over 100,000 is excellent. If the word is a dictionary word then the google results will mean more than its wordtracker or overture score.
4. Are any other TLDs developed? The best way to explain this is by an example. If testsite.info is available and most other TLDs are taken, are any of them developed? If testsite.com is a developed website that has traffic then it’s possible I may see some of that traffic. If the .com and .net are both developed, even better! If a specific domain name is expired and available and you are thinking of registering it then take a look at the other extensions. See if they lead to some parked page or are an actual developed website.

These are four hot expired domaining tips you should all keep in the back of your head and practice every one of them before buying an expired or deleted domain. You may find some of the names you have registered in the past aren’t even worth what you paid to register them! Save yourself time and money and practice all of these before registering a name.

Remember, depending on the name, not ALL of these have to play a roll. Odds are you will not find a name that has high OVT (overture score) and millions of google results with all TLDs taken except the one you are looking at and developed extensions. Those will most likely be caught as soon as they drop. Instead, decide which factors mean the most for the name or keyphrase you are going for. If the domain is a dictionary domain - OVT and WT scores do not mean as much, but Google Results and other extensions being taken do. If the name has a very high Overture score (over 60-70k) but not all extensions are taken, it may be name worth grabbing and developing.

A common question by many new domainers and website developers. The simple answer is, No. Pagerank does not effect your search engine rankings at all and it’s main purpose is to give everyone a visual representation of what Google thinks of your site’s importance. If you want to build pagerank on your site the only way to do so is by having other site’s with a pagerank link to you, thus showing your importance.

Think of it this way, if JoeSchmoe.com has a PR8 then Google considers this site to be useful and important. It probably achived it’s PR8 status by hundreds of other important site’s with PR3’s, PR4’s, PR5’s, and so on linking to it. If that site then links to you Google will take the same into consideration for your site. Why you ask? If Google feels JoeSchmoe.com is a useful, informative, and PR8 worthy site, and JoeSchmoe.com is linking to you. Then, of course, Google is going to think the same towards your website. Otherwise, why would JoeSchmoe.com be linking to it?

So after my long rant let’s wrap things up. Pagerank will not help you rankings in any search engine. The main purpose of pagerank is to give you an idea on the importance of your site. Not just how many people are linking to it - but how many quality sites (other sites with pagerank) are linking to it. On top of that, the way you build your pagerank is by having a link to your site from another page with a pagerank. Finally, pagerank works well if you are trying to sell links to other webmasters and/or seo enthusiasts.