4 Factors of Evaluating Expired Domain Names

By Joshua Nyamache

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Let's face it that expired domain names are valuable. In the near future, e-commerce business owners will be faced with a problem of getting good domain names. I mean there will be a shortage of good quality dot com names. The good ones will be all taken.

But wait a minute… Did I say “the good ones will be all taken?” Oh no, there is always a way of solving a problem. Let’s review this statement from another perspective. We won't have a problem of getting these dot com names. Why? You see not all the owners will renew them. And, at one point they will abandon them. So, if these names expire, are they unfit for registration again? Nope, they will be still fit for registration.

Before a domain name is available for registration, it has to undergo some stages. First there will be a grace period of 30 days and at this period it can be renewed at the normal price. After the grace period is over, it will be placed into 30 days redemption period.

After the redemption period, there will be 5 days on which it will be deleted from registrar records. ICANN will drop it from its database and thereafter there will be no Whois information regarding it. Now it's available and anybody can register it to become the rightful owner.

Note that the grace period and redemption period is meant to safeguard the owner from losing it. Once it enters this stage, the fees to renew it will be significant.

Many domain name selling companies are after these expired domain names. They want to snatch them the moment they are made available for registration. They find them to be profitable. They usually use software programs and services that email them daily the expired domain names. After getting them, they appraise and register the good ones. They later sell them at high prices.

As a new website owner, it will take time for your site to rank well on the search engines. Again, you will be required to do a lot of marketing for it to be popular. Marketing your online business requires a substantial amount of money. Instead of doing all these, you can simply buy an expired name and forward it to your website. But before you rush and buy any expired domain name, it is better that you evaluate it first.

Four Factors to Consider when Evaluating Expired Domain Names:

1. Consider the type of extension it has. A dot com works best because it's popular among surfers.

2. Consider the inbound links. Are they from reputable websites?

3. Does this name qualify the good traits of a website name?

4. Was it used by a site that was regarded as a spam by the search engines? If yes, avoid it.