Over time, buying domain names has become a very popular business. It’s said that FB.com was purchased by Facebook.com for 9 million dollars because of the amount of users new to Facebook typing in FB.com when searching for Facebook.com. Not to mention, the web has grown enormous and there are some websites that are NO longer active. You can actually purchase these expired domains for cheap and some of them have high authority from their previous optimization. However, the question I get often is: Should you invest in an expired domain and can it be profitable?
There are several factors involved and you’ll have to look them over closely to ensure it can be of value when either building a website of your own or selling the domain. Let’s look at some of the factors involved so we can determine if it’s worth the investment.
Time Invested
For you to make your domain profitable, you have to add value to it. This applies whether you’ve purchased a brand new domain or an expired domain. First, a brand new domain is simply “new†and has NOT build credibility within the SERP’s. Next, if you find the right expired domain, then it’ll have value, but once it was deleted, it could have lost the search rankings. Before you can add a value to the domain name, you have to ensure you have taken the time doing the following…
- Research a very profitable niche
- Increase domain and page authority above 25+
- A high quality backlink profile (without the spam)
- Adequate trust and citation flow
All of these metrics is what I look at before even making a decision to purchase a domain name for blogging or selling.
However, this can be a very lengthy process and you have to calculate your time and effort. If you’re going to hire a solid SEO company, this can cost you $500/mo-$1,000/mo and over six months around $6,000. However, if you’re going to be handling the campaign, don’t forget to calculate your time and effort if you decide to sell at a later time. It’s a tricky business and the ROI will obviously depend on niche and if it is a domain that a major company would like to buy, i.e., Facebook.com
Sustainable Income
Many people purchase domain names as a way to create an income flow. However, it’s important to note that selling domain names is NOT a sustainable income. Once someone buys the domain name from you, it’s a onetime deal and the buyer can then turn it into a sustainable income flow by creating something special. This is why many of the top bloggers and online business will encourage you to build an income stream on a high value domain. For example, if you find an expired domain with awesome metrics and you can leverage to rank high in the SERP’s very quickly, then why don’t you use it instead of selling it? Next,
Under the terms, once you’ve sold the domain and been paid for it, you have to transfer it over or can potentially face a lawsuit. Be very careful before selling and always explore your options.
Finding Legitimate Buyers
I’ve heard this is a very difficult part especially when you’re dealing one-on-one with buyers. Some don’t know what they’re talking about and others just waste your time. If you have a high value domain where there’s going to be a large financial return, it’s going to become more difficult selling it. This is why you should explore your options and what you can do to ease the stress. It’s even cool to hire a domain broker who’ll take the responsibility of selling the domain for you for a small commission. However,
If you decide to tackle the job yourself, it can be a pain in the neck and might NOT even be the trouble.
A Sloppy Domain
Sometimes, when buying a domain, you’ll be left with someone else’s dirty profile and you’ve essentially lost your investment if you can’t clean it up. Even if you can, it’ll take time and hiring someone can become very costly. Not everyone has the best intentions when they start a blog and will resort to black-hat to rank their websites and with no success, they’ll let the domain expire. These domains could have been around for years legitimately before they started utilizing black-hat techniques and can have a high DA and PA. Trust me, I’ve actually seen them! Next,
They’ve been purchased several times in between where the link profile was bombarded with spam links, etc., and purchasing this domain will leave you with all the sloppy links. It’s important you know what you’re investing in and what to look for before purchasing. Why? People buying domains from you will definitely be using state of the art tools before investing money into domains.
Make sure you do your research, looking over the link profile and making sure it’s relevant to your high authority niche. Some popular domains can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars so it’s important you protect yourself before losing out.