What if you found the perfect website address, but someone else owns it? When it comes to securing a domain name, timing is everything. If you spot the perfect name for your business before someone else does, then congratulations! You can save yourself a lot of time and energy by buying the address and making it yours. However, sometimes this isn’t possible because of one big problem; it’s already taken. Fortunately, there are ways to purchase a taken website address from someone else.
What Are Domains?
A domain name is a website address, or URL, often made of words that represent a business or personal brand. Domains are considered investments that can improve your business’s brand, website traffic, and ultimately result in clients and sales. A new web address usually can be purchased for under $20, but will not have any traffic or backlinks.
Resellers often call high-interest URLs premium domains. A premium website address may be three to four letters long, use common keywords, have a .com extension or already have a significant amount of traffic. Domain resellers often buy up names they can resell at a higher price, so many easy-to-remember URL addresses are not available.
How Do You Buy a Premium Domain?
Many websites have contact information listed, but the owner may not be willing to engage in negotiations over their web address if it is in use. If a domain is for sale or owned by a reseller, you pay for the address to be transferred to your ownership, but the cost can be high. You may want to use domain name brokers to increase your chances of a better deal, even if the address is in use by a business or individual. Some domains coming up for renewal may also be more likely to sell instead of renewing, and you or your broker can put in a bid to purchase the address.
One of the most important steps in buying a premium domain is checking the worth of the URL. During this process, you should check potential web addresses for trademarks or copyrights that could interfere with your use of the domain. A broker may also be able to help you determine how the URL has been used before and how much it is actually worth. If the former website engaged in illegal activity or bad search engine optimization tactics, it can penalize your new address on search engines.
What Should You Know about Premium Domains?
You may be able to buy more than a domain name that can give you a head-start on your website. In some domain purchases, you may buy the design, email list, social media accounts or content already associated with that address. You may not be able to transfer licenses for templates and software used in the design, but you could purchase your own licenses and activate them once the website is in your possession.
Some who claim to be resellers may try to scam individuals by taking payment before transferring the domain name and then disappearing with the money. Brokers may have tools that can significantly reduce the chances of scams and fraudulent transfers. These tools hold a domain in escrow during the transfer process to ensure a successful transaction.
Domain names are a crucial part of your online marketing and this is because it’s the first thing visitors see when they come to your website. Once you build an audience, your web address becomes your identity. The domain name can identify your brand, product or business and tell potential customers what you do and why they should stay.
