| I don't know about you, but sometimes it seems like | | | | domainname quickly enough, the entry will remain and |
| all of thebest domain names have already been | | | | you will gainthat traffic. |
| taken. On more than oneoccasion, I've come up with | | | | It has a good page rank in Google - Another thing |
| a great domain name for a site,only to find that | | | | thatwebmasters work very hard on is gaining page |
| someone else had already purchased it. I canlive with | | | | rank with Google,the number one search engine. A |
| that, but sometimes I've found that it has | | | | high page rank implies that thesite appears nearer the |
| beenpurchased by some scum domain scavenger, | | | | top in search results pages. When youpurchase a |
| and that's reallyannoying. | | | | domain, you can inherit the resulting page rank |
| A domain scavenger is someone who purchases a | | | | andtraffic. Note that you will need to duplicate the |
| whole bunch ofdomain names under the theory that | | | | page or pagesreferred to by Google in order for this |
| people will want to purchasesome of them during the | | | | to work properly. |
| year or two that they own them. Thesepeople are | | | | The Downside Of Using Pre-Owned Names |
| bottom feeders, as they hold many useful | | | | You inherit spam - If the previous owner received |
| domains,demand huge prices, and do not provide any | | | | spam email,then when you take over the domain you |
| real value. It's notuncommon to find that a domain | | | | may very well inherit it. |
| name is not available, to checkthe WHOIS | | | | Why is this? Well, when you own a domain name, |
| information and find it is owned by "this domain isfor | | | | you get the emailsent to every single username on |
| sale". In fact, some of these scum have been known | | | | that domain. Of course, mostemail servers are smart |
| topurchase thousands of domain names made of up | | | | enough to "bounce" email messages forusers who do |
| the first and lastnames from a phone book, in the | | | | not exist, but that email still gets sent to theserver. |
| hopes that at least some of thepeople will want their | | | | For a domain which received a lot of spam, it could |
| names as a dot com. | | | | meana significant amount of bandwidth used just for |
| Anyway, domains are only purchased for a specific | | | | junk messages tonon-existent users. |
| time period,and they do come up for renewal | | | | You can inherit robot activity - I got a domain once |
| regularly. Quite often they arenot renewed, and at | | | | whichsomeone had listed with a number of robots |
| that time the domain names may be purchasedby | | | | (programs whichperform automatic functions). These |
| others. Even the so-called "good names" are | | | | robots were exceptionallyactive and caused a |
| occasionally notrenewed. | | | | tremendous amount of traffic - so much sothat I had |
| Sometimes domain names do not get renewed | | | | to give up using the domain for a couple of |
| because the businessthat owned them is no longer | | | | monthsuntil the robots stopped visiting. |
| operational. Sometimes the businessstill exists but has | | | | You might inherit enemies - Sometimes people give |
| found it no longer wants or needs a domainname. | | | | up domainnames for a reason. One of those reasons |
| Quite often the bottom feeders will allow | | | | might be an enemy -someone (or a group) that is |
| theirunpurchased domain names to expire because | | | | targeting the name for somemalicious act. For |
| they don't have thefunds to purchase them again or | | | | example, the name might be the target ofemail |
| they feel the domains are nolonger marketable or | | | | bombs or denial-of-service attacks. In these |
| profitable. | | | | instances,you could find yourself inheriting these |
| Occasionally, the domain name holder has died or lost | | | | issues. |
| interestin their business or the internet. Once in a | | | | The domain could be banned - If a site gets involved |
| while a domain isallowed to expire because it has | | | | inspamming search engines (attempting to fool them |
| attracted some maliciousnessand it cannot be | | | | for higherplacement on the results pages), it can be |
| maintained, and most often of all, the domainname | | | | banned. By purchasingthese old domain names, you |
| holder simply does not realize that it needs to be | | | | might be similarly banned. Thisnormally would not |
| renewed. | | | | effect your existing domains, but it mightreduce the |
| In this last instance, the domain name is | | | | value of the domain name that you purchased. |
| unintentionallyexpired and someone can purchase it | | | | Things to do before giving up a domain name |
| before the owner realizesit. | | | | Be sure you really want to expire the domain - Once |
| In any event, regardless of why a domain name | | | | someoneelse purchases your domain name, you may |
| expires, you canoften find yourself in a position to | | | | find it impossible orvery expensive to get it returned. |
| purchase one that has beenpreviously owned. Note | | | | You will lose access to theuse of the name entirely. |
| that in addition to expired domains, youcan also | | | | So be sure that you want to give it upbefore you |
| purchase domain names on the after-market (by | | | | actually allow it to expire. |
| makingbids) or from the domain name resellers (the | | | | Be aware of expiration dates - Keep an eye on your |
| bottom feedersmentioned above). | | | | domain nameexpiration dates as you may not get |
| Some Advantages Of Using Pre-Owned Names | | | | notified by the registrarbefore expiration. This can |
| The name was part of a link exchange - | | | | happen because email is not aperfect delivery |
| Webmasters work hard toget their sites involved in | | | | system, because of a glitch in the registrarsystem or |
| link exchanges. This means thedomain names are | | | | even because you didn't check your mail or email |
| listed on other sites, and this is useful forgetting | | | | forthe renewal. Don't accidentally lose your domain |
| traffic. If you take over a domain name, you can | | | | names. |
| inheritthese incoming links and the resulting traffic. | | | | Change your email addresses - Once you lose access |
| It was listed in Yaho, DMOZ and/or Looksmart - A | | | | to a domain,you will lose access to any email that is |
| small industryhas sprung up recently, which consists | | | | going to that domain. |
| simply of selling toolsand reports to allow people to | | | | Think of all of the private emails that you get, and |
| quickly find domain names whichare listed in Yahoo, | | | | imaginethem going to strangers. Well, once someone |
| DMOZ, Looksmart or other directories yethave | | | | else gets the domainhe may receive those private |
| expired. By expiring, these domain names are up for | | | | emails. |
| grabs,and all of the resulting benefits for the original | | | | Change any links that you can - If you are allowing a |
| site transferto the new site. For a well placed entries, | | | | domain toexpire, be sure you salvage any links that |
| this can literallymean hundreds of thousands of hits | | | | you might want tokeep. While you can do this after |
| per month. | | | | a domain name expires, itmakes more sense to do it |
| There are hundreds of thousands of sites listed in | | | | beforehand. For example, if you hadowned three |
| Yahoo andmillions in DMOZ. Anywhere from a few | | | | domains that all went to the same web site and |
| dozen to a few hundredexpire each month. | | | | youallowed two of them to expire, you might want |
| Eventually the expiration would be discoveredand the | | | | to spend the timeto change the links to the domain |
| entry removed. However, if someone purchases the | | | | name that you keep. |