We’ve encountered our fair share of people who buy domains like they’re hot cakes (I “may” be a little guilty of said compulsion myself). They do so without any real active strategy in place for using them. The most common reason is that they’ve noticed a new competitor or two using keyword-rich domains and begin wondering what else is available out there. They do some digging, and realize that they could have 20 more keyword-rich domain competitors by next week.

So you (I mean “they”) buy one, ten, or twenty domains. You feel a sense of satisfaction from having ripped the opportunity straight out of the clutches of unforseen competitors, only to realize you now own valuable real estate and maybe have no clear plan to use them. I’ve heard questions like, “Should I copy my website onto each domain?” or “Should I redirect all of these other domains to my main website?” or “Should I just create a dozen splash pages?”

These are valid questions deserving adequate answers. But more information is needed before we roll out the suggestion carpet. Did the domain have content on it previously? Just because you bought it on the cheap from the registrar doesn’t mean it wasn’t used and let go in the past. And the past matters. Does the domain have backlinks pointing to it? If the answer is no to both questions, there’s no need to immediately redirect to your main site.

Here are three reasons you MIGHT redirect domains to your main site:

1. Links pointing to pages of that domain. 301 redirecting to the main site will pass the link juice (search value of those links) over to the other site.

2. Previously an exact copy of your main site. 301 redirects will pass the link juice over and also automatically redirect any visitors who have bookmarked a page of that domain or type in the domain name directly.

3. One-word domains or tw0-word domains that are popular terms could send some direct type-in traffic to your site.

Before you launch into implementation mode, a question that needs to be answered about unused domains: “What is the strategic purpose for owning this domain?” Is it for branding? Seasonal promotion? To gain another spot on the front page of Google? To rebuttal a negative claim online? To promote involvement in a charity? A preventative measure to keep others from purchasing it? To redirect to another site and therefore gain the type-in traffic?

Once we know your original strategy, we can offer some suggestions on how to move forward. It really is a waste to let a domain sit dormant. At the very least, parking the page and putting AdSense ads on it might yield a few cents per month.

We’ll cover some additional domain ideas regarding micro sites, landing pages, and more in the weeks to come. We’re always around to help if you need an extra brain or thirty!

Have a great weekend, and may you and yours enjoy a warm and safe holiday season!

Daniel Dessinger
MarketNet, Inc.