This short example highlights the importance of using the Wayback Machine when researching sites you might want to buy. I happened by chance on a parked domain with a notice on it saying that it might be for sale. It was a domain in a niche that interested me and it sported the usual acquirethisname link so I registered my interest with a low bid. In case you're not familiar with acquirethisname, they are domain brokers.
I received the usual "sorry your bid is too low" response and countered deftly with a "well how much do ya want then??". It was only then that I commenced my research into the site's past and discovered this, via the Wayback Machine (click to enlarge):
Oh dear. The purchase of this domain doesn't look good for the following reasons:
- Microsoft may happen along at any moment during my site's career and issue me with a cease and desist for the same reason the previous owner received one
- The previous owner has relocated their content to somewhere else, taking with them their loyal followers
Laughably, seller's price, relayed via the domain broker, was... $200,000!
I'm rebranding the internet (internally) as "Try It On Land". Hats off to you Lenny.
Moral: always check the Wayback Machine. It may save $200,000 of your hard earned.
Update: I'm currently bidding at Godaddy on an 8 year old expiring domain that has a plethora of really good links from .edu sites etc. Godaddy claim traffic of around 1,600 unique visitors / month, which isn't bad. However, on checking the Wayback Machine, I find a page dating back to January 2006 displaying the proud boast that every year the site receives 4 million visitors! Now that's compelling! Godaddy are experiencing such low traffic because there is only a parked domain - no site - and this domain has been parked for nearly four years now. I reckon that with a bit of work, I might be able to coax boatloads of traffic out of it. Now I'm more inclined to go crazy with the bidding!
Moral 2: as well as finding dark secrets in the Wayback Machine, you can also find some nice surprises.
Hey there, I loved your post on renovating a dead website. I recently bought an expired domain from freshdrop and godaddy. It has good links and even some google rankings. I used the wayback machine to create pages of similar content.
My question is can you give a tutorial on how to equivalent pages to the old urls in google. P.S. A link to a tutorial on how to install google would be greatly appreciate. My site is myspacemodz.com. Thanks
Congratulations on the expired domain purchase! Glad you like the post. I’ve seen quite a lot of Myspace related domains expiring and up for auction recently.
>>P.S. A link to a tutorial on how to install google would be greatly appreciate.
Do you mean how to install Google Webmaster Tools?
Good luck with myspacemodz!