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Making the decision to go ahead and purchase an expired domain name can be tough. Over the past few years, domain name registrations have increased tremendously due to everybody wanting to make money online. Add that to the fact that it is becoming ever increasingly easier to setup your own website or blog and you quickly realize that there are a lot of domains out there.

With so many people buying domains to make money from them and others setting up websites and blogs you may be wondering if there are any good domains left. There are still a few good domain names left out there that have not been registered but they are a rare breed. Sure you could do a search for a domain name, find out it is already registered and either being used or just parked. Instead you could look into purchasing an expired domain name. A domain becomes expired when the owner does not pay for the name and after a certain length of time, the domain registrar lets it expire. Buying an expired domain name is a great way to potentially save a lot of money.

Things you should consider before purchasing

Before you head out and search for a domain name there are a few things that you need to think about.

History

While you may find a great domain name that suits your needs perfectly, it’s history is something that needs to be addressed. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN keep track of a domain name and the content that has been on it. While you may think that your domain name is perfect it could have very well previously housed illegal or adult content. Although a domain name that is home to or was home to adult content doesn’t automatically mean that it has any bad marks against it as far as search engines are concerned, the possible type in traffic and backlinks coming in to the site may not suit your current plans.

Illegal content is a big red flag and almost any domain that has hosted illegal content is most likely already banned from the big search engines. This is bad news and though you can successfully get the domain name reincluded it is just extra work that is unecessary. Your best bet would be to search for a similar domain name that is expired or possibly a fresh domain name.

Domain Age

The age of the domain name can determine it’s authority within the search engines. An older domain typically will have a higher level of authority due to the fact that it has been around longer. There are however a few exceptions that can subtract from the authority.

It is suggested that the longer a domain name is registered and remains registered under one individual or company it will almost always beat out a domain that hasn’t been registered for as long. Constantly switching a domain name could lead to search engines thinking that your domain may be used to promote spam.

Backlinks

As far as Google is concerned the more relevant links that a site has pointing to it the more they will trust it. Notice that relevant links was mentioned and not all links, Google’s goal is to provide the most relevant information to it’s users so the more relevant links pointing to a site the better. Whether you tend to keep the same information on the domain name or use it for a different purpose, search engines will still place more trust in it compared to a domain name that has fewer backlinks.

Domain Name Length

In a previous guide Choosing A Domain Name, the issue of the domain name length was briefly discussed. A domain name comprised of 2 or 3 words is going to be a lot easier to remember compared to one that is 6 words or more. Not to mention it will be a lot easier to brand and market as well.

Extension

Though there are many different domain name extensions available for you to register such as .us, .me, .asia, .co.uk and so on, nothing will make your site sound more professional then a .com on the end of it. People nowadays automatically assume that a site should end in .com and will almost 100% of the time type in your name with a .com at the end. Many business and ecommerce sites that do not have the .com version of their names are potentially missing out on a lot of traffic. We have become so acclined to hearing .com that it almost seems as though it is wired into our brains. Unless you have a lot of money to throw at marketing your name, it is crucial that you find a .com version.

Where to search for and buy expired domain names

There are many sites on the internet today that allow you to search for expired domain names. One of the biggest and most trusted sites is tdnam.com which is owned and operated by the largest domain name registrar GoDaddy.com. You can typically expect to find over 20,000 expired or expiring domain names listed over at tdnam.com. It costs only $4.99 a year and you are given complete access to all the tools and features that other sites charge hundreds of dollars for.

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Many web hosting providers use cPanel for the administration and maintenance of their web hosting customers websites. If you ever needed to know how to setup a subdomain in cPanel you have come to the right place. cPanel makes it extremely easy to do this and takes just a few quick steps.

1. Login to your cPanel Account

Head on over to the login page of your cPanel account. If you are unsure of how to login or where to find your cPanel account, make sure to review the email your web hosting provider sent you or get in contact with customer service.

After you have logged into your account, your screen should look similar to the following image.

This is the main administration menu of your cPanel account.

2. Setting up the subdomain

Your screen may look a little bit different depending upon your host’s cPanel version. To start setting up your subdomain you are going to want to find the Domains section.

Click on the icon labeled Subdomains.

3. Enter your information

You should now be at the actual page where we can enter the subdomain that we would like to use with our regular domain. Go ahead and enter in the subdomain that you would like to use in the first field. If the name is available you will see a green checkmark like the sample image below shows.

Select the domain name that you would like to apply the subdomain to in the dropdown box. The next thing that you need to do is decide which folder you would like the subdomain to point to. By defuault, cPanel automatically fills in the information for you and uses the subdomain as the name of the folder. You are more then welcome to change the folder name to whatever suits you.

Once everything is setup go ahead and click Create.

4. The end

After clicking Create, cPanel well attempt to create the subdomain for you. If everything went ok, you should see a similar confirmation message that the subdomain was created.

You have now successfully setup your subdomain inside of cPanel. Click Go Back to be taken back to the main subdomain setup where you can create another subdomain as well as view a list of current subdomains.

cPanel makes it easy for anybody to setup and maintain their own website. If you are looking for a web host that uses cPanel, we highly recommend signing up with HostGator.com. Not only do they provide the latest version of cPanel, their hosting and customer service has received multiple awards throughout the web hosting industry.

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This guide will detail the process and steps you need to follow in order to purchase a domain name from GoDaddy.com. Most web hosting providers should have a pretty basic and easy to follow solution to purchase a domain name so you will most likely be able to apply this guide to any host or domain name registrar.

1. Find a domain name registrar

As stated above, we will be using GoDaddy.com to register our domain name. Click here to head on over to GoDaddy.

2. Search for a domain name

Usually GoDaddy will have at least 2 boxes for searching for a domain name. You can almost always find one in the bar at the top of the browser window and most likely upon loading GoDaddy’s main page, there should be a nice big ad where you can search for a domain name.

Go ahead and enter the domain name and press enter. GoDaddy will then check to see whether or not the domain is available for purchase.

3. Domain name availability check

Hopefully the domain that you have chosen is available and ready for purchase. Should it be available you will see notice that looks similar to the image below with your domain name of course.

You should also notice a table below letting you select some of the more common extensions that you might also want to choose when registering your domain name.

If you domain name is not available, GoDaddy will give you a warning and show you which extensions are already owned for that domain name. They also offer you other domain name options similar to the name that you searched for like they do when a domain name is available.

Go ahead and choose if you would like to register more then 1 domain name extension, scroll down past the other domain name options and click the Proceed to Checkout button.

4. The upsell

GoDaddy “suggests” other domain name extensions that are available and gives you the option to purchase them. If you are interested or have second thoughts all of a sudden, you are more then welcome to register more extensions. Depending on your motive and what you plan to do with the domain name, it may be wise to register a .net extension.

Go ahead and click Continue to checkout so we can proceed.

5. Domain Name Registration Information

Ok, now we are past all of that nonsense, it is time to give GoDaddy our information for registering the domain name. If you already have a GoDaddy.com account, you can login with your existing account. If not, go ahead and select the I would like to create a new GoDaddy.com account option and go ahead and enter your information.

6. Registration confirmation

After entering your information, the next page will list the information and just give you a quick overview to make sure that everything is correct. Go ahead and click Continue once you’ve made sure that all the information that you entered is accurate.

7. Domain Registration Options

The next page will give you a few options that you can add on to your domain name.

Here you can change the registration length, whether or not the domain is certified by GoDaddy, add some hosting options along with email accounts. If you would like more information for these options, hover your mouse over the yellow question marks to receive an explanation.

Below these options you can choose whether or not you would like one of two types of registration: Business or Personal.

Business registration gives you extra options for you domain name and there is a brief explanation of what each feature offers. Decide whether or not you would like Business or Personal registration, depending on what you have planned with your domain name you may want to choose Business along with some of the added features.

Assuming you chose Personal, and that you are finally ready to checkout, select the No thanks. I’m ready to checkout option and click Continue.

8. Review your shopping cart

The next page will give you an overview of what is contained inside your shopping cart and you should make sure to check that nothing got added on accident before continuing.

Note: Go ahead and search the net for “GoDaddy hosting coupons”, you will find some coupons that will allow you to save money on your domain name.

After you make sure that everything is there go ahead and select your payment method below the shopping cart. Make sure to read and check both options listed in Step 3 of the current page and click Checkout Now.

9. Almost there!

Oddly enough, even though we already created an account, you may get asked to create another one. If you already have an account go ahead and click the Log In link and fill out your information.

After entering your information, you should be taken to one final page confirming your information one last time. After making sure that everything is correct, go ahead and proceed. Upon successful purchase, you will be taken to an order confirmation page. You should also be receiving a confirmation email very soon as well.

Hopefully you were able to follow along with this guide and were able to successfully purchase a domain name. If you are confused about any of the steps listed, go ahead and email us using our contact form with your question. We will be more then happy to help you out!

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Choosing a domain name can be a very important part of building a website or a business. A domain name can mean the difference between success or failure. There are a lot of factors you should consider before registering a domain and this article will cover a few of those.

Domain Brandability

To help in the success of your business or site, you want to have a domain name that easy to pronounce, short and easy to remember. People don’t want to have to remember a huge long name when they go to type in your site if they even remember your site’s name in the first place.

In today’s world, almost every single 3 letter and 4 letter domain name are already taken. Most of them are being used, however some of them are just being parked in the hopes that they receive type in traffic to gain revenue. So, a lot of new companies are having to go with 5 and 6 letter domain names unless they want to pay a large price on a shorter domain name. And while some of these companies have some interesting domain names (pownce.com, joost.com, plurk.com) those domain names are either easy to remember or are so unique that people will remember them.

Domain Relevancy

Another important aspect when choosing a domain name is to make sure that the domain is related to what the site is going to be about. Having a relevant name can make it much easier to market your site because if somebody posts a link on their site to yours with your domain name as the link, people are going to know exactly what your site is about.

Take this site for example. By just looking at the domain name you are going to know what it is about; web hosting deals. There should be no doubt in your mind that when visiting this site, you are going to find information about web hosting or deals on web hosting. Having a domain name that is relevant to your site can make a huge impact especially if you are advertising on search engines.

Most people will look at the URL of the ad on the search results page and that can be a big determining factor in whether or not they click on the ad. And of course you want them to click on your ad and possibly end up buying something from you or signing up for your newsletter or whatever other plan you may have.

Domain Length

This goes somewhat hand in hand with brandability because the shorter your domain name the greater your chance of people remembering it. Typically you want to shoot for 3 words or less while keeping those words as short as possible. Or you can go ahead and try to stay within a certain amount of characters as well, although you may run into the issue of not being able to obtain a name that explains what your site is about.

Don’t get me wrong, yes there are sites out there with really long names that are popular, but unless you have a lot of money to throw into marketing or you create a site that people will want to link to, you may find yourself struggling to bring traffic and get your name out.

Keyword Rich Domain

You also want to have a domain name that contains words that are commonly searched for as this can provide a small boost in the search engines. Having the keywords in the correct order is also another goal to shoot for. As an example, the domain for this site could have been hostswebdeals.com or dealswebhosts.com. The second domain name is more relevant than the first and while both contain keywords, they don’t exactly flow as a saying. The easier it is to say your domain name, the easier it will be to remember.

Those are just a few of the things to consider before purchasing a domain name. Check out our other domain name guides for even more information.