How to Find an Aged Domain
This article will describe some steps you can take to find an aged domain name for your business. Finding an aged domain for your new ecommerce site isn't a requirement to get your store online, but if you can find an existing domain name, your site will get indexed much quicker, giving your business a jump start by taking advantage of the existing traffic it has (an existing domain name if related to your business will already rank for your keyword phrase).
It shouldn't need to be said that before a search for an aged domain name can begin, you should have a clear idea of the keywords and phrases that are related to your business. Anyone starting their own online store should clearly understand the importance of optimizing pages for your business keywords. Assuming you have a clear idea of your keywords, then, proceed as follows:
- Go to Google and enter your keyword or phrase into the search box. This, of course, will list the pages that already rank well for your terms.
- Click through the top 50 - 100 sites and look for pages that are poorly designed, outdated, or look like they were built by an amateur. Granted, most of the top sites ranking for your keyword phrase will be well-built and the owner will have no intention of selling the domain name. However, what you want to focus on are old personal sites, older hobby sites, or parked domains. Poorly designed sites and outdated sites are a good indication of a lack of interest on the part of the website owner.
- When you find a poorly implemented site, look on the pages for an email address or phone number to contact the web owner to see if they are willing to sell the domain name. Don't offer anything at this point; you are simply trying to determine if the owner is willing to sell or not.
- If you can't find contact information on the site, use a whois service to find out who registered the domain name. Typically, you can get the email address and the telephone number directly from the WHOIS listing. Add the domain information to a list and move on to the next listing in Google.
- When you are ready to contact the site owners, create a very simple message such as I'm interested in purchasing the [domain name] domain. Would you be interested in selling it? Keep the message short and simple and do not offer to buy. You're only searching for domain names that are candidates at this point. Send this simple message to each likely candidate on your list.
It isn't always possible to get an aged domain name, even if you have the budget available, so don't get discouraged if your candidate domains don't produce results. Definitely don't let it stop you from moving forward with getting your ecommerce store online. Instead, purchase a new domain name and continue looking for an aged domain as time permits. You can always change the domain name later if you are successful or redirect the aged domain name to your new site.
Another approach is to use the INURL: keyword command. This command will filter all the search results such that the listings will only have keyword in the web address. Follow the INURL command with quoted phrases that could indicate the domain is available such as "domain is for sale", "retired", "under construction", etc. The complete filter would be entered like this:
inurl: my_keyword "domain is for sale"
If you are interested in page rank, be sure to check the landing page address. Often the "for sale" page will not carry any page rank for obvious reasons, and you should edit the URL in your browser to go to the home page where you will likely find a page rank. For instance after your filter search results using the INURL filter, you may end up on a page with an address like:
http://www.my_keyword.com/forsale.html
Typically you won't find a page rank on the above page so you'll need to get to the home page to determine if there is page rank for the domain. I'm not particular about page rank myself but if you can find a domain with page rank then great. You can check for a page rank and the age of the domain by visiting www.checkpagerank.net.
Pricing Strategy
If you are lucky enough to find a useful domain name that has page rank, is a few years old, and the owner is willing to sell, make contact with them and ask them how much the domain name will cost. I wouldn't offer anymore than around half of what they are asking, with a final cost of $200 - $400. I've been able to sell domain names as high as $800, which is not bad for a domain name that cost me a few years of registration fees. But, I probably would have agreed to $400 if the buyer had bothered to offer it.
Additional Options for Finding Aged Domain Names
If you can't find an aged domain name then try the Godaddy Domain Auctions and the Sedo Market Activity. There are usually more than a few domains worth checking into: some are cheap, and some are offered for a premium price. Also, domain names are lost to people who forget to renew them so check for expiring domain names.
Orangetree Internet Service LLC, located in Santa Cruz, CA., provides technical assistance to small and medium sized businesses with Domain Registration Services, including domain portfolio management. Contact us at 830-212-1884 for more information.