Do Multiple Domains Bring Multiple Traffic?

By Colin Hartness

You have registered your business domain and managed to secure a real short and catchy '.com' domain name. It's optimized with your major keyword and describes your company business to perfection....Congratulations!

You have built your website and optimized for the search engines. Your site contains plenty of good, original content and you have achieved some real useful back-links from very popular related sites. In fact you are starting to make some real headway in the search engines for searches on your major keyword...Great you are on your way!

Then, you think..."Wait a minute, what about the 'net, org, biz, info, co.uk etc. Shouldn't I register these domains also before someone else does? And what about the misspellings and other popular keyword domains that are related to the theme of my website? You know what, I'm going to register these too. I mean, after all, domains are pretty cheap and for sure all these domains MUST bring even more targeted traffic to my site"

So you go ahead and register ALL versions of your domain and also a few other domains which include variations of your main keyword. You go ahead and park them all on your main hosting account...Each domain serving the content of your main website.

Then what happens? You sit back and enjoy the extra traffic your other domain acquisitions have brought, right?.

Wrong! In fact, panic sets in. Your rankings start to drop dramatically. You can't find your site anywhere in ANY major search engine! Your site has literally dropped like a stone.

What happened? Where did you go wrong?

Well, the answer is duplicate content and the solution is the magic and very simple 301.

Huh?

Yep. By registering a bundle of domain names and parking them on your main domain you have created a group of web sites with EXACTLY the same web content It's called duplicate content and in the eyes of all major search engines it is just plain "BAD" and for sure your site WILL be penalized.

So does that mean you need to create different websites for each of the domains that you purchased. Well, you could if you wanted but that would be a lot of hard work.

The solution is a simple 301 direct. Using a 301 direct on each of your domain names you are able to redirect the domain to you main website address and will not be penalized by the search engines. In fact they like the good old 301. It will actually IMPROVE your ranking.

So remember, registering multiple domains is an excellent strategy for driving extra traffic to your site BUT just be sure to use the 301 redirect command on each otherwise you will be penalizing yourself!

Colin Hartness is the Sales Director Of Web-At-Work Ltd T/A Cheap Domain Names UK specializing in providing fully inclusive domain packages with 301 redirect options free with each and every domain registration. Visit: http://www.cheapdomainnames.uk.com for more details

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colin_Hartness

Expiring Domain Names - Understanding the Process

By Karen Gorham

How can finding expiring domain names lead to a profitable business? As thousands of users are setting up shop on the internet every day, good keyword domain names are getting scarce. The importance of a catchy domain name should not be underestimated in today's online world of advertising. Businesses end up forking over thousands of dollars to buy already owned domain names that meet their market needs. In order to go about finding soon to expire domain names, you should know more about the overall process of how a domain name actually expires.

A domain name doesn't really expire on the expiration date. There are stages it goes through before becoming available to the public again.

First stage: This is a 40 day grace period, and during these 40 days the owner can still renew the domain at the normal renewal cost.

Second stage: Next is the redemption period, and again the owner can still renew the domain (while paying an additional fee).

Third stage: Now enters the 5 day deletion period, where on the last day the domain name will become available for all.

The overall process is about 2.5 months. Finding and capitalizing on expired domain names isn't exactly rocket science, but there is a learning curve to it and the right knowledge can help you be successful.

Let's say you've come up with a brilliant product, and want to set up a website to sell it. Unfortunately the best keyword domain names for your product are already taken. This happens more often than not, which is why it's important to understand how domain names expire. Once you understand what you're dealing with, you'll be better prepared to capture that all important domain name for your product or business.

While monitoring the three stages of domain name expiration, you should be considering how much you'd be willing to spend to claim it. Sometimes the competition outweighs your ability to pay top dollar, but other times you can find some great gems. Remember, you have to measure the cost of the domain name against the forecasted loss of sales you can endure when people aren't finding your website properly. It's difficult to put a price on branding, but that's exactly what you're trying to do by capturing a strong domain name.

The Domain Profiteer -- The necessary tools for anyone serious about buying domain names.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Gorham

Best Places to Sell Domain Names

By Zach Bastick

Domain names are the new real estate. They are cheap, which makes them a low risk investment, and they are unique, which makes them valuable. This is a great reason to jump on bandwagon and sell domain names. To start investing and then sell domain names successfully, you need to go out and register a domain name first, and base this registration on keyword research and domain valuation techniques (I suggest that you read an informative ebook). But the one thing that most people wonder is where to sell domain names. In this article I will go over some of the most popular places to sell domain names.

The large majority of high profile domains sell on domain brokerage sites. These are specialized sites which sell domain names in exchange for a share of the profits. This commission generally ranges between 2% to as high as 18%, depending on the services that you use from the brokerage. So what services do these brokerages offer in order to justify their commission? Firstly, they make it easier to sell domain names by putting buyers in contact with sellers. Your domain names will be included in a searchable database of domains. The high prominence of these sites attract many high profile buyers and big investors, who are attracted by the large selection of domain names and the ease of finding domain names through search. Secondly, brokerages make it safer to sell domain names by providing escrow services.

Escrow services are an important element of the process to sell domain names, especially for large transactions. The way that escrow services work is that when you sell domain names, the buyer sends the money to the escrow company, instead of sending it directly to you. Upon receiving notification from the escrow company that it has received the money, you then transfer the domain to the buyer. After informing the escrow company of the transfer, the money is transferred to you. This is an important process for anyone wanting to sell domain names at high prices.

Once you are comfortable with brokerages, you should look for other, less formal places to sell domains. Domain name forums will help you sell domain names while gaining knowledge on the industry at the same time. But beware: domain name forums offer no escrow services, and scams are pulled off often. When you use forums to sell domain names, never transfer your domain before receiving your money. Always check the domain forum to grasp an understanding of the buyer’s attitude: does he post informative posts? Is he a constructive member of the forum? Has he scammed anyone before? Finally, favor forums which offer a rating system for domain name transactions. Most forums do, but stay away from those who don’t: if you sell domain names, you need to be sure of your buyer before starting a transaction.

Where ever you sell domain names, you need to invest in the correct domain name from the start. There is no point in selling bad domains, no matter where you plan to sell them. In order to be sure that you chip in on the best opportunities, I highly suggest that you invest in, and obviously read, a domain ebook. Good Luck!

Check out http://www.DomainCashSecrets.com and you won’t be disappointed.

Zach Bastick is an administrator of a major domain forum and an active investor. He recommends http://www.DomainCashSecrets.com as a good ebook for learning how to sell domain names. Check out http://www.DomainCashSecrets.com now!