When considering a domain name for your website, there are many factors to take into consideration. Believe it or not, buying a pre-owned domain name can be an incredibly smart choice when launching a business on the web. As so many of the best names are already taken, what surfers often fail to remember is the fact that each week, hundreds of thousands of sites disappear. There are many ways to go about acquiring one of these expired domains, and if you’re smart, you can get one for next to nothing.

The benefits of purchasing a pre-owned domain can be tremendous. Do you feel you had to settle for a less-than-great domain name for your business? By keeping an eye out for names that are more suited to what you do, you could end up acquiring a domain that nails down your, your business, or your service to a T. What you want, of course, is a domain name rich in the keywords that best describe what your company is all about. This will also greatly improve the rank of your site and thus do wonders for your business. Remember: the more accurate, the better. There is an alternative to settling for second best!

What’s more, another benefit that many pre-owned domains boast is steady traffic flow. Oftentimes, a site that expires will still be receiving hundreds of hits a day. By snapping one of those sites up, you are effectively increasing your traffic by bringing that site’s customers to your site.

As those familiar with SEO (search engine optimization) already know, one of the most meddlesome aspects of owning and operating a website is getting other sites to link to yours. This increases the site’s ranking and popularity with major search engines, such as Google – but who has the time to focus on this aspect of running a website? When you purchase a pre-owned domain name, chances are that site is already linked to at several places all over the Internet. You can find out for sure by entering link: followed by the domain name into Google. For example:

link:http://www.mynewdomainname.com/

This should bring up a list of all the sites online that link to the pre-owned domain name. These links don’t disappear when you acquire the name! By purchasing a pre-owned domain name, you are also purchasing that site’s ranking on Google and other major search engines.

Some individuals and companies even purchase pre-owned domain names with the intention of re-selling them at a profit. This can be an effective way of making money…just make sure you do your research beforehand, or you might wind up with a lemon on your hands.

Of course, searching for the right domain name can be a time consuming process. If you’ve looked through list after list of new and pre-owned domain names and still aren’t satisfied, one viable option is to backorder a domain name. There are many services operating on the Internet that will do this for you. Once a particular domain name becomes available, the service will attempt to negotiate for the domain name on your behalf. Some are more effective than others.

Undoubtedly the most useful and popular backorder service is Pool.com. Pool monitors expiring and deleted domains every day and maintains a massive database on their website of expiring domain names. The great thing about Pool.com is that it’s completely free to register – you only have to pay if they actually succeed in acquiring the domain on your behalf. Once this happens, you will be notified and the domain is all yours, in exchange for $60. This price includes domain registration for a period of one year. The only time it is not 100% certain is if several other people have registered for the same domain name. When this occurs, Pool.com will auction off the domain name to the highest bidder.

Pool.com offers a number of useful services for those caught up in the backorder game. One of those is “Catch and Release.” This service allows you to evaluate the marketability of a particular domain name over a four and a half day period. In other words, Catch and Release basically helps assure potential buyers that they’re not buying a stinker. This does require that you have funds in your Pool.com account, but the cost of evaluating a domain can be as low as ten cents. Using the Catch and Release order tool, you simply add all desirable looking domains to your list. When a domain becomes available, it is added to your “Domains in Evaluation” list. For a period of approximately four and a half days, that domain is yours to evaluate. If you decide you want to keep this domain, select “Keep” in the “Domains in Evaluation” interface on your Pool.com account. If you do not select “Keep,” then it will be deleted in the displayed Time Remaining. And if you decide in advance that you definitely do not want a particular domain, there is a “Discard” option on the menu.

Another essential Pool.com feature is their Keyword Alert service. It is a free service that compares your list of vital keywords with domains being deleted and domains on the marketplace. Surfers who participate in this free service are alerted by Pool.com as soon as domains that match submitted keywords become available. You can register for this free service on Pool.com by simply submitting a keyword along with your e-mail address on the “Keyword Alert” page of their website.

When shopping for a pre-owned domain, it is important to keep in mind the features of your business, and match those features to a domain name that boasts those keywords and as many valuable links as possible. But be careful! Don’t backorder a domain just because it has a lot of links but nothing to do with your business! Chances are, Google will figure it out over time and penalize you for spamming their index. Go with a name you can trust. Backorder the name that is right for you.