Expired Domains

There are several reasons you might want to buy a domain that's just expired rather than a domain that you just think of and register. When you register a domain "from scratch," you will have to basically start from zero, building it up, getting it to rank, getting traffic, and monetizing it.

1. Backlinks. When another website links to your site, this is known as backlinking. Backlinks are an indicator to Google and the other search engines that your site is relevant, and if a domain already has any links, you won't have to build them. To check backlinks for any site, you can visit Yahoo! Site explorer at

2. Keyword benefits. If the expired domain you find is keyword-rich, you will have an easier time getting it to rank in the search engines. This is Search Engine 101, but the more specific you can get, the better. There is also a good chance that there are keyword-specific backlinks in place for this url.

3. Volume and diversification. If you spend $2,000 on the domain on your dreams, this puts enormous pressure on you to make that website succeed. However, if you keep your eye on expired domains and buy the ones that catch your eye that you think you'd enjoy working on (and that probably already have hidden benefits since they've been owned before), you increase the diversity of your internet portfolio, thereby increasing your chance of success. Think of your internet portfolio as a pie, with your your richly diverse domain names being the components of that pie. If one of your websites isn't successful, just put more energy into one of the others!

As with any new pursuit, the best way to try it out is by first doing it for free.

The Premium Domain Finder is a service that lets you sign up for up to three keywords/ keyphrases so that you can be alerted when domains with those words expire, plus it gives you 25 random domains that pass their filter system.   They also have a blog where they pick one expired domain every single day and tell you what you could do with it.

If you're already into domaining and you want to take the whole "expired domain analysis" thing to the next level, eXdomain is a powerful piece of software that lets you do everything from track domains that are going to expire in the future, examine the PageRank and backlinks of an expiring domain, and look up the Whois information for the current owner.  These are great things to have in one place and this software is really useful if you're already in the domaining game.