* Domain Name that´s 10 years old... Worth it?

[Kneb Knebaih]

Hi Warriors,

I´m considering purchasing a 10 year old aged domain for $200, with my keyword in it, but no PR, no backlinks and no traffic.

So it is worth it?

It´s a .com.

The domain is very short, very similar to HQVideo.com, but instead "Video" it has my keyword.

Please, let me know what do you think about : )

; )

[TruWebPro]

I'm sure some others' thoughts on this are worth more than my own, but since you asked...

$200 is not too much to pay for a domain if it's the right one. You already said it's short and has your keyword in it, which are two of the absolute most important considerations I look at when choosing domains. The fact that it is 10 years old doesn't mean anything, really, unless Google and the other SE's have had it indexed the entire time. Even if so, Google doesn't seem to be putting the emphasis on age that they used to. More than anything else, it probably just means the domain was never developed to its potential.

I believe that a great domain cannot bring success to a bad business model, but a bad domain can kill an otherwise great business model. That said, the domain is likely worth $200 to you if you are confident in your plans for it and it perfectly suits what you intend to do; particularly if that involves a heavy reliance on name recognition and/or SEO. That's assuming, of course, that you've done your research and concluded there isn't an equally suited one available for $10.

Just my $200...er, 2¢ worth.

Cheers,
Neil

[Voasi]

"Age" is typically relative the amount of links going to the site. If it has never been found by Google (hence, no links) then it has no "age value".

[Kneb Knebaih]

Thanks for the responses.

So the better things to look for in a domain are?

PR?

Backlinks?

Existing Traffic?

Age?

A good mix of the above, I suppose, but what are the key things to look prior to buying an aged domain?

[warrior123]

It's impossible for anyone to give you an answer without knowing the exact keywords in the domain.

As the 2 posters have already stated, an aged domain doesn't have much value if it's never been found in Google and has trusted, aged links pointed to it. That is where the real value lies in an older domain. One can purchase expiring 10yr old domains everyday for under $200 with no traffic or PR.

But if the domain was developed into site from the beginning, has lots of backlinks from other aged domains and has never been expired then the value goes way up. I've seen people buy 10yr+ old developed (poorly designed 90's style) with sparse content sites for under $10k and turn them into million $$ sites within 1 yr. As long as the previous content is related to the new content that is added you can begin to get high rankings for extremely competitive terms (1 keyword phrases).

[Kneb Knebaih]

Originally Posted by warrior123

It's impossible for anyone to give you an answer without knowing the exact keywords in the domain.

As the 2 posters have already stated, an aged domain doesn't have much value if it's never been found in Google and has trusted, aged links pointed to it. That is where the real value lies in an older domain. One can purchase expiring 10yr old domains everyday for under $200 with no traffic or PR.

But if the domain was developed into site from the beginning, has lots of backlinks from other aged domains and has never been expired then the value goes way up. I've seen people buy 10yr+ old developed (poorly designed 90's style) with sparse content sites for under $10k and turn them into million $$ sites within 1 yr. As long as the previous content is related to the new content that is added you can begin to get high rankings for extremely competitive terms (1 keyword phrases).

Nope, as I said, it has no PR, no backlinks, no nothing, except is 10 years aged and is a great name by itself (very similar to HQVideo.com).


Aside of this, the things that really add value to a domain are backlinks?

[Kneb Knebaih]

Originally Posted by option

It also depends on the value of the keywords that are in the domain. If there is a lot of traffic there then the $200 does not seem like much in comparison.

Well, the keyword is generic, very similar to "Video" or "Audio"...