1. Niche - Decide on a niche to
concentrate on for the "session". Meaning for the time
you have set aside to look for domains focus on one subject
area. Hopefully an area you know a fair amount about.
For example I have some IT certifications so I focused on IT
certifications for my subject to look for type-in domains.
With expired domains you will need to either re-direct traffic
to another site you own and have developed or park this name.
If parking make sure you have a good understanding of the
keywords to use to convert traffic on the site into clicks.
2. Research - Research
possible keywords we like to go to the main web sites for the
subject like certmag.com
and see what type of keywords people tend to use. Also do
some searches on Google.
a. One easy thing to do is
go to a main web site of the industry and view the web page
by Source (IE go to View > Source) and look at the meta tags
(right after the title a meta tags) this gives you some
keywords to research.
b. Use other tools
like Acronym Finder,
for names try Names,
for the largest US cities try this
wikipedia list. Use your imagination and
experience. For more tools check out the
Resources.
3. Stats - Check to see how
much people actually do search with these words using tools
like Overture,
Google by running a search your looking for over a 1,000,000,
but sometimes can take less. I also recommend writing
down the research you gather so next time you hit this niche
you don't need to repeat the work.
4. Bid Rates - Once you have some
terms check out tools to see how much advertisers are biding
on those keywords from your potential domain name. Try
Symbiotic,
Blogger.com, and check out other tools in
Resources.
a. A great name with
low searches and low keyword bids in Adsensee is not a good
candidate for parking, possibly for developing but not
parking.
b. Look for a
combination of solid searches something good in Overture
over 1,000 is great, solid search in Google over 1,000,000
is good, decent money on bid's say over $1, and most of all
use Common Sense see step 5.
5. Availability -
Now you need to find
if there are any expired domains sometimes called dropped
domains available in the niche and
keywords you have decided to focus on. There are several
places to get a list of expired domain names:
enom.com, pool.com,
snapnames.com.
Unfortunately to catch a dropped (expired) domain name you may
need to register with all three of these companies, for more
information on catching dropped domains check out the
Drop Catching Expired Domain Names. The cost is
higher to pick up a dropped name usually so make sure your
research is solid. Remember that most of these names are
expired because domainers couldn't make money from them,
however you may be able to if:
a. The domain was
dropped because the owner forgot to renew it, but it could
park well and was developed. Use tools like the
Wayback Machine
to see if the site had been developed.
b. The business closed
then it should continue to get views just try an see if it
will be convertible traffic.
c. A domainer dropped
it, but you think you can refine the keywords to make more
money from it.
d. A domain can be
dropped because of trademark issues so be sure to check this
out. For more on trademarks check out our
Resources section.
6. Links - The next step is to
check on link popularity. In order to have traffic you
need type-in's or another way for people to find the site.
Usually this is through the search engine which we researched
in step 3 or through links from other sites. There are
some tools for checking this such as
Alexa and
MarketLeap
for more check out our
Resources
section.
7. Common Sense -
Make sure to use
common sense when deciding on a name to register and take your
time. I will sometimes wait 3-5 days after deciding to
register a name to register it. It has saved me from
registering some names that seemed okay at first, but after my
fourth or fifth look I realized just didn't work. Finally your ready
to grab the expired domain name. Check out the
Drop Catching Expired Domain Names
section and then the Domain
Parking to learn more about how to park a domain.
In summary when using expired
domain names you want to make sure that you have solid traffic
with keywords that will convert into clicks and in a subject
area that pays fairly well. Research is the key for
being successful with expired domain parking so find all the
tools you can to make this easier and if you don't mind let us
know what they
are.
Try Some of the links below for additional articles on
choosing a good expiring domain name.
