After you research the seller, you should consider the following domain aspects before the purchase of any Web site. Below, you will discover why the age of the domain is important and how well you should know the domain registrar. We’ll also talk about transferring the domain along with several other things you will need to consider.
Age of the Domain
The seller of the domain should list the age. Finding an older domain will be better than a newer one. This means it is more recognizable with more traffic, due to the longer amount of time it has been on the web. Ultimately, having more traffic will create lots of revenue and make it easier to sell the site later, if desired. Be sure to verify the age of the domain the seller is stating is correct.
Know the Domain Registrar
You will need to know where the original seller registered the domain. It’s also important to find out how many times it has changed registrars. This will usually coincide with the number of ownership transfers. If there are many changes in registrars, then this could be a red flag. Check on the current list of registrars to make sure this site hasn’t had multiple changes in a short period of time.
Transfer of a Domain
It’s best to know in the beginning if this is going to be an easy push. If the seller can’t pass the site over to you in a short amount of time, this can be thoroughly frustrating. The seller needs to change the Domain Name System settings over to you and, if this is going to take several weeks, it’s good to know this right up front.
The Number of Domain Backlinks
Knowing the number of backlinks will help you find where they rank on the search engine lists and also how well this site will do. Many high-ranking backlinks can also keep your site ranking higher for a longer time.
Where this Domain Page Ranks
Just as with any site, the higher the rank the better. If this is a high-ranking Web site, then you shouldn’t have any problem keeping the traffic rolling in and bringing in plenty of profits to keep it running successfully. You can use the research tools listed below to check for page ranking accuracy.
Research Tools to Use:
DomainTools brings up the number of registrars and changes made to this domain. It will also show the NS history, IP history, and Whois history along with the number of other sites hosted on the server. The number of transfers made on a domain name is a way to find out if the current owner is a site flipper. You can check page rank as well with this tool.
Moz is very helpful for determining a site’s rank. Simply paste in the URL and click on “Analyze domain” to get the Top Pages by Link, “Top Linking Domains” and “Keywords by Estimated Clicks”. Another way to check for ranking is by using the Firefox SEO plugin and inserting the URL into the search bar. At the bottom of the page, it will list the ranking. This is a great way to verify the page rank is correct.
Flippa.com is a great way to check stats and domain data. It will show the current registrar, the date the site was first registered, and the full WHOIS data. This section will list the name of the domain, the server information, along with site creation, change, and expiration dates. It should also give the name of the registrar and the referrer Web site.
It’s recommended to get an account with the same registrar the site is already with, instead of trying to change registrars. Changing registrars can hurt page ranking and you need to protect your revenue.
*Originally published on WorldStart April 21, 2010
