Categories
SEO

How to Buy Expired Domains in 12 Steps

Here are 12 ways to buy expired domains

This guide will show you how to filter expired domains prior to buying them. It’s actually quite long, at more than 2000 words. But it is really useful information – I swear. This article can be ignored if you are already familiar with the key metrics I’m going below.

Customers often ask us the first question: How can I choose which domain to purchase? There are many domains that promise high page ranks but then people end up finding out that they were worthless. This led to the creation of this series of articles that help to know what to consider before buying a domain.

The following questions will be answered in this article:

  • These metrics are important to me.
  • How can I assess an expired domain? What price should you pay?
  • How can I tell if an expired domain is a fraud?
  • How can I be sure that my domain’s page rank or any other metric will not drop after I buy it?
  • What metrics should I focus on?

A website that expires domains can import 300,000.00 new domains each day for sale. This is a huge number of domains to search through for website sales domain estates. To filter through this vast list of domains and find the most valuable, you will need metrics. Filtering through the huge daily list is the first step in finding expired domains with traffic to purchase.

Page Rank is the most popular filtering tool. Others use Domain Authority Tool while others use Seo Trust Flow. One thing you should know is that any metric can be modified. While manipulating some metrics is easier than others (DA), manipulating others is more difficult (TF). Relying solely on one metric is a mistake.

Below is a list of metrics that you should be looking at. If any of these domain metrics seem unusual, it is best to either throw the domain away or dig deeper into the backlink profile and do further research.

1. Domain Age (Age is more than a number)

Because older domains are more trusted, search engines prefer them. It is possible that the domain may still be relevant to search engines if it hasn’t been deleted.

You must display three “ages”.

  • From the WhoIs details, you can find out the domain age. This is the date that the domain was registered. This number is usually reset if a domain goes down.
  • Wayback Archive provides the domain age. This is the date the Wayback Archive first crawled the site. This age may be lower than the WhoIs age if a domain didn’t have a website.
  • Wayback Archive shows the website age. This is the age of the domain’s last website. This number is extremely useful to determine if the domain was used regularly.

Tip#1 – Look for domains that are at least a decade old, as it takes time to build enough authority. But don’t worry if the domain isn’t decades old.

2. Page Ranking (PR) (Time to get rid PR?)

The default metric that most people use when assessing the domain’s value is Page Rank. Google claims that the Toolbar Page Rank won’t be updated for several years. However, this is false. We still like it. However, this number will eventually become meaningless.

Most people don’t know that the PR displayed on the toolbar does not reflect the PR Google uses internally. The page rank internally is continuously being calculated and used for web ranking search results. Google does not push this data to its toolbar every year, and may not do so in the future. This data is often outdated and therefore not useful for making decisions. It is also possible to fake the PR by forwarding domains to websites with high PR. Dropl ensures that the PR is authentic.

Tip#2 – Be cautious of expired domains that have a PR higher than 6. These domains are most likely fake. We wish that the industry would just discard Page Rank and instead use Majestic Trust Flow.

3. Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA), a metric that ranges from 0 to 100, predicts how well a website will perform on SERPs. DA can be used for comparing domains. Page Authority (PA), a metric that indicates the likelihood of a page ranking in the SERPs, is used to compare domains. Similar to the Domain Authority (DA), this metric is for the homepage of the website. These two values should be identical in an ideal scenario.

DA/PA are a popular way to measure the domain’s value. They are also very easy to manipulate. The other metrics, such as Web Rank or Trust Rank, which are equally valuable, have not been popularized by domainers.

Tip#3 – Look for domains that have a DA of 30 or more. Domains with good domains have at least this much.

4. SEO Metrics

Over the past few years, Citation Flow and Trust Flow have grown in popularity. Citation Flow, which is a measure similar to Page Rank, is easy to manipulate. Trust Flow is a more difficult metric to manipulate. Trust Flow has become the default metric.

An even more difficult metric to manipulate is the relationship between Trust Flow and Citation Flow . Real domains will have a TF/CF ratio of slightly less than 1. Scammy domains, however, have a much lower ratio. This is the number Webandrank looks at first, followed by Trust Flow.

SeO Metric also offers the Topical Trust Flow category, which is a great metric. This provides information about the niche from which the back links to the domain came. Real domains are more likely to have backlinks from one niche, while scammy domains may have links from multiple niches.

Tip#4 – It is almost impossible to manipulate the combination TF/CF ratios, Topical Categories, and Trust Flow. These three numbers will allow you to filter out fake domains.

5. SEM Measurements (These are very useful)

SEM Metric offers domain SERP data. This information tells you whether the domain ranks for any keywords. It also gives you an estimate of how much traffic it can generate. These data include the keyword cpc, volume, and cost of monthly organic traffic.

Tip#5 – Traffic is a great way to justify the domain’s value. To verify that the SEM data is correct, you can run some keyword queries on Google.

6. SimilarWebMetrics

SimilarWeb offers metrics on domain traffic and rank in comparison to other domains around the world and within its niche. Although the traffic numbers may be slightly off, they are a great way of comparing two domains.

Tip#6 – Webandrank prefers SimilarWeb Rank over Alexa Rank when comparing domains.

7. Compete Metrics Only for the US

Compete gives an estimate of the number of U.S. users visiting the top one million websites. This data is directly derived from ISPs or application service providers.

Tip#7 – If you’re looking for traffic from the US, Compete traffic data might be worth a look.

8. Alexa Metrics

Alexa keeps ranking data for all websites around the globe. The algorithm calculates the ranking based on the traffic to each website over the past three months. They use data from a representative population to build the rankings.

Because the sampling population is biased, the rankings may not be accurate. Data is taken mainly from users who have the toolbar installed. They can also be easily modified by increasing the number visits to a particular domain after installing the toolbar. They are popular because Alexa rankings have been around for a while.

Tip#8 – Don’t take traffic and ranking too seriously. While ranking is nice to have, it’s not enough to base your purchase price. Instead, you should use your experience.

9. Back link data (This includes everything)

The page rank of a domain’s domain is determined by its back links. Therefore, it is important to check the back links to any domain in order for you to determine its true value. But back link count alone is not enough. Many domains will have many back links that will vanish soon after they are purchased. It is important to determine which back links will remain once the domain is purchased.

Webandrank can show you the back links. Google is our first choice. Big G doesn’t provide very precise data about back links. Sometimes, it might not show any links at all. You should give more importance to links found through the Google link operator.

The following information will help you determine the worth of a back link:

Is the link actually there? To verify, you need to visit the website that links to the domain to view the html source code. (Right click -> ViewSource/View Page Source). You can search for the link within the html code. If the html link is not found or it is a JavaScript URL, you can ignore the link and all the other steps.

Follow v/s – It is important to verify that the link allows page rank juice to flow through to the domain. The domain’s page rank will not be affected if the link contains a rel=”nofollow” attribute. While it is good to have the URL, this should not be taken into account in the page rank calculation.

Contextual link – Does the link have text or many links? It is possible that the entire link set was created to increase page rank of various domains. The link should be surrounded with text and part of an article. This will indicate that the link is authentic. It is likely that the link will still be valid six months after purchase.

Outbound Links (OBL) Check the total OBL number on the page. If the OBL is very high, the PR juice that would flow would only be a fraction of the domain PR. Search engines also categorize pages that have 100 OBL or more as back link farms.

Website Category Check if the website appears to belong in the same category as your domain. This link might not be worth much if the domain looks like it is a blog about computers, and the link is from an article about golf.

Tip#9 – This is the most difficult step. This step should be done after you have filtered your list using other metrics.

10. Google Penalties – Beware of the Animals!

It is important to check if Google has indexed pages on the domain. Some domains, such as those listed in GoDaddy auctions, will have one page indexed. However you should be cautious of domains with zero pages indexed. This could be because of a penalty (algorithmic or manual) placed on the domain for black hat SEO tactics. It is also possible that the domain has expired long ago and the site was completely removed from Google.

Tip#10 If a domain has been de-indexed and there aren’t any clear indications that it is black hat SEO, you can register it and create a one page website. You can wait for it to get indexed over a few weeks. Do not put any effort into it if it does not index within a few days.

11. Domain industry/sector

Many people purchase expired domains that are not relevant to their industry or sector. Before you buy a domain, it is important to find out what type of websites were on the domain. You might find a website that is not in the industry or category you are looking for. This can be easily analysed by going to WayBack to see all versions of the domain that have been available since its first appearance online. Check the Topical Categories to see if the links to domains are in the same niche that shown on the Wayback machine.

Tip#11 Google gives contextual links greater weightage. You should consider buying an old domain to link to your money site.

12. Social Statistics (Sharing Is Caring?)

Social sharing has a significant impact on SEO and domain rankings. We don’t know the exact percentage, but it is estimated to be around 3%. It is possible that a domain has been shared on multiple social networks, which could indicate legitimacy to search engines. However, it is important not to be swayed by domains with high social counts. These are easy to fake.

Tip#12 – Not all social media networks are created equally. Pinterest shares are great if your website is heavy on images. LinkedIn, however, would work well if you’re business-oriented.

Categories
Blogging

Four Valuable Tools to Make Guest Blogging Simple for Small Businesses

Guest blogging is a great way for your business to increase its search engine visibility and to reach niche audiences. It involves finding relevant blogs and writing original articles to submit to them. Although it can be time-consuming, the process is easy: you search for blogs, write an article, pitch it and wait for editors to give feedback. Wash, rinse, repeat.

These tools will help you manage guest blogging more effectively if you are a small business owner.

Also read: Top 15 Tools to Help With Blogger Outreach and Guest Writing

Ann Smarty, Search Engine Journal author, created MyBlogGuest. You can connect to other bloggers looking for guest-written articles on a variety of topics. MBG’s article gallery allows you to upload articles to a database. This database is filtered according to category, and allows blog owners to choose articles for publication.

BloggerLinkUp is another tool that allows guest bloggers to create guest blogs. It offers simple solutions for guest bloggers who want to increase traffic and exposure. There are three contact forms available: one to offer guest posts, one for reviewing products/services and one for announcing contests or giveaways. Once you have completed the form, a message is sent to BloggerLinkUp, which generates leads that will allow you to find bloggers who will publish your guest article.

GroupHigh can be described as “blogger outreach software”. It allows you to create and manage your own network of publishers and bloggers. It personalizes your pitch and automates the process for researching blogs (based upon topics, content, and location), to which you can submit articles. You will also be notified whenever your brand is mentioned in a post.

HARO stands to help a reporter out, which is exactly what this online public relations service does. It can be used as a guest blogger tool. However, HARO can facilitate media pitches and expose you brand/business to media companies and national news agencies. Packages start at $19 per month. This sends you real-time opportunities for publicity directly to your inbox from journalists looking for sources. You can respond to these journalists, tell your story, and promote your business if they recognize you as a suitable match. Bite Size PR can help you outsource this for $89 per month. They will monitor services such as HARO and respond to reporters for you.

Categories
Instagram Marketing

How to get more followers on Instagram

If you’re just starting out on the social media sphere, posting photos on Instagram can be pretty disheartening. Post an image and you’ll only get a few likes from a small number of followers that you have, which mostly consists of your friends and your family. I get it, it does suck. Sometimes when you think you’ve taken the most amazing shot, whether it is an incredible shot of a sunset, a colourful array of food, or a really hench picture of you at the gym, you’re just not getting the likes that you want.

I started off that way. But as the months went by, I applied a few simple techniques that saw my followers and engagement skyrocket! I couldn’t believe it, but what I used and implemented actually worked. Not only in gaining followers, but also increasing user engagement. So, in this article, I will be sharing with you my top tips on how to increase your Instagram followers!

1. Post good pictures

I cannot stress how important it is to post good pictures. If you want people to like your picture, and give you a follow, your pictures have to be ones that people want to see in their news feed every morning when they scroll their Instagram feed. I’m not suggesting buying an expensive camera (I use a Canon DSLR for my photos on Instagram and my blog), though that can really help with getting good quality photos. But if you are low on a budget, you can simply use an iPhone. Here’s an example of how to shoot great pictures with your iPhone. It might seem like a lot of information to take at once, but don’t sweat it. You have to simply take into consideration a few factors: lighting, colours and composition. By lighting, I mean, use natural light. It’s your life-saver. Take pictures facing the light, not against it (unless looking like a silhouette is your thing). Even for food photography, make sure you have lots of natural light, and your food is positioned directly in the light. Cloudy days are good, but too much direct sunlight isn’t good as it creates too much light, making your pictures look overly bright. Also, picture editors are your best friends. My favourite apps are Photoshop Express and Vsco Cam. I use these two apps to edit all of my photos on my Instagram. And they work wonders! Play around with the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows and vibrance. These few things will definitely make your pictures pop so much more!

2. Create a theme

I know you’ve seen this all over Instagram: Instagram feeds that are super cool and rad, and every picture just seems to match. Alot of people tend to go for a simplistic theme, or a rustic vintage thing, or maybe even a theme that resembles a certain colour, for example, an all pink Instagram. Like, how on earth do they do it right?!? How does every picture seem to match? I mean, you can’t simply be taking pictures in the same place all the time. Or be taking pictures of the same thing. Well, let me let you in on a secret: pick a scheme. Think about what sort of vibe you want your Instagram to have. Do you want a fun, colourful feed? A simplistic and minimalistic one? Or maybe you’re a bodybuilder and you want a hardcore, gym sorta feel? Then, think of your colour scheme. Stick to 3-4 colours and no more. Then, make sure all of your pictures fit these colours. If you’re using a filter, make sure you use the same filter for all your pictures. For example if you take a look at Lauren Conrad’s feed, all her photos have a warm and hazy vibe, with pink undertones. Steve Cook’s feed seems to have brown, grey, blacks and whites. One of my favourite grammers is Choosingchia, and her Instagram pictures consist of a white/greyish background and a pop of colour. I know this might seem like a lot to take in.. But just remember: pick 3-4 colours, choose the same filter for all your pictures (if you choose one), and take your pictures in the same light (if you can). No one likes a feed that has a million colours, it’s too confusing for the eye and everything seems cluttered. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just get colourful and organised!

3. Post content that people want to see

Now that you know how to take good pictures, and how to create a theme, here comes the next part: Posting pictures that people like. Honestly, sorry to break it to you. But no one wants to see a million selfies. Period. Unless you’re a celebrity. Also, boring pictures of your food are a no no. And pictures of your friends? Unless you and your friends are doing something cool, then leave that for your home photo albums. Post stuff that is visually pleasing, or, that people can benefit from. I post recipes and motivational tips on my feed, apart from my daily ‘what I did today’ rants. But if you’re just starting out on Instagram, I recommend you post stuff people like to see. For example, workout tips, exercises, or if you’re a photographer, great scenic pictures. Get ideas from other famous Instagrammers, and see what kind of pictures they post. I would recommend, posting visually pleasing pictures and being engaging in your description. Write a motivation post, or ask your followers what they’re doing that day. It’s not all about you, but it’s about how you make their day a little more brighter! Also, think about your target audience. What would they like to see?

4. Hashtags, hashtags, hashtags

Hashtags are vital if you want your posts to be seen. They account for a lot of the automatic Instagram likes sent to your photos. A lot of people tell me they don’t want to seem ‘dumb’ or like they’re trying too hard when posting hashtags. But if you want your content to be seen, you gotta get on those hashtags! Check out the top trending hashtags to see which hashtags are the most searched, and add them to your posts. You can also add hashtags applicable to your genre. For example, if you post about fitness, you can add #fitness #healthyeating to your posts. If you’re a fashion grammer, adding #ootd and #fashion. Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags per post, so use all of them. Most popular hastags include #f4f, #like4like and #TFlers. Use them, and trust me, you will see a lot more likes and comments coming your way!

5. Engage with the community

I think this is the most important tip among all of them. It is the best way to get more followers, more likes and ultimately more user engagement. I cannot stress enough how important it is to really interact with the Instagram community, particularly those in your genre. If you’re really into food, interact with other food grammers. Like their pictures, follow them, and leave sweet comments on their feed. They’ll send you their love back! It’s a great way to interact with other fellow grammers, and also to get more likes and follows coming your way. Doing this can also lead to loyal followers, and you definitely want those by your side!

6. Post regularly

And I don’t mean 10 times a day. Don’t be a spammer. You should be posting at least once a day, if not twice. Your followers will then know that they can always expect a cool picture from you, and they will most likely love you for it. The best posting times, according to research, are at 2 am and 5pm. So get posting!

7. Get regrammed

After you reach a decent number of followers, and you have good pictures on your feed, try to get regrammed by bigger accounts. This means, getting featured on their page. Tag big pages on your pictures and hashtag them. If you get featured, your followers will boost like no other! I’ve gotten featured on a few healthy eating accounts, and this increased my followers by thousands. So get tagging and hopefully one day, you will get that big feature! Can’t help but try, ey? You’ll never know till you do!

8. Have fun with it!

If you see a cool, vintage wall, take a picture in front of it. If your friend is looking really fly that day, and happens to be holding a really cool artisan coffee, snap a pic. It’s all about being in the moment, and taking pictures that capture it. So get snapping, and get experimenting. It’s all about trial and error, and finding your own sense of style. If travel is your thing, get snapping on your trips! If you’re all about food and drink, take pictures of your food journeys and cafe hunts. If the gym is your game, take pictures of you working out, motivational tips, or post workout videos. If you’re into make up and fashion, take pictures of your daily make up looks and outfits. Find your niche, and have fun with it!

So, follow my top tips and you will be on your way to gaining not only more followers, but also more user engagement on Instagram!

Categories
Instagram Marketing

6 Common Instagram Marketing Mistakes to avoid

Instagram Marketing Mistakes to avoid

Did you know that Instagram attracts more than 1.2 billion likes every day? Well, Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform today with about 300 million active users per day.

Its remarkable growth rate makes Instagram perfect for online marketing. Success hungry entrepreneurs are now turning to this platform to promote their brands. Many are living their dreams after utilizing Instagram marketing well.

Nevertheless; others fail to taste success due to committing horrendous Instagram marketing mistakes.

Ignoring to reply to the comments and questions of your audience is the fastest way of getting unfollowed on Instagram.

User engagements play a significant role in promoting brand awareness, building brand value, better conversion rates and better sales. There is a costly price to pay for entrepreneurs who choose to ignore their followers’ comments.

The last thing you want as a businessman is to send the wrong signal to your followers. People are more likely to boycott your brand particularly if they feel that you do not value them.

The best way of avoiding this terrible Instagram marketing mistake is to keep your followers fully engaged. Focus on replying all their comments, answering their questions and elaborate on things that they don’t understand.

The only way to win over your followers’ loyalty and trust is by giving them the attention they need. Aim at building long-term trustworthy relationships with your audience to succeed in Instagram marketing.

While at it, desist from leaving some destructive remarks on negative comments to avoid wrecking your relationship with your active followers.

  • ### Making your Instagram profile private

Have you made your Instagram profile invisible? Sorry to break your heart but that’s a terrible move. For one, your Automatic instagram likes won’t come through. Two, you’re limiting your organic exposure.

Many investors commit this mistake and pay a very high price for it.For starters, making your profile locks out all non-subscribers. As if that’s not enough, your followers will think that you do not really need them.

Instagram is a very powerful social media marketing platform. The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who market their brands through their Instagram profile accounts. Make your Instagram visible to everyone. This is a smart move that all success- hungry internet marketers make.

The results of this vital decision are always impressive. It is prudent to let the existing subscribers and non-subscribers that you value them. Instead of making your profile invisible try convincing your followers that you cannot make it without them.

It is wise to refrain from restricting your audience from, enjoying unlimited access to your photos, videos, audio, and updates. You will be amazed by your effects of opening your profile to the public.

  • ### Inappropriate use of Hashtags

Hashtags really matter in Instagram. Wrongful use of hashtags can lead to devastating consequences. As a matter of fact, hashtags are a vital Instagram necessity. Instagram users must include hashtags to their posts.

This move makes it easy for users to find you online. Surprisingly, Instagram permits their users to use up to a maximum of 30 hashtags. Exciting, right? Well, brace yourself for bad news! Cramming too many hashtags on one post can dent your credibility drastically.

Limiting inappropriate use of hashtags boosts your visibility and credibility. Consider using relevant, limited hashtags to drive increased traffic to your profile. Social media users hate complicated hashtags. Overflowing your posts with irrelevant hashtags will limit your audiences’ interest.

  • ### Failure to set strategic goals

Setting strategic goals is the secret to a successful Instagram marketing campaign. All successful Instagram marketers are goal driven.

Integrate building solid brand awareness into your goals for effectiveness purpose. Centralize all your strategies, plans and ideas around your goals for major achievements on Instagram.

Lack of a goal-driven strategy results in limited opportunities and wasted effort. Focus on posting high quality and unique photos to succeed in building brand awareness. Having a goal driven strategy influences your Instagram posts, photo, and hashtags among others.

  • ### Incomplete Bio

This is one of the most catastrophic Instagram marketing mistakes people make. You need to provide a well-detailed bio to attract a large following on Instagram. An incomplete bio is always a big turn off for followers.

The first impression matters a lot in Instagram. Take your time to provide your followers with a complete bio. Provide a crystal clear description, call to call action, and top quality profile photos to lure followers to your page.

Take advantage of Instagram to create links to your business to increase your web traffic. Attracting a large Instagram following will effectively result in higher conversion rates, increased sales and better profits.

Followers need to know who you are before they can decide to follow you on Instagram. People need to trust you in order to get interested in your profile and brand. An incomplete bio will give your followers the impression that you are unreliable, incompetent, untrustworthy and unprofessional.

  • ### Duplicating Content repeatedly

Social media followers are always hunger for unique content. Followers get attracted to interesting, informative, entertaining, valuable and relevant content. In fact, it is the best way of proving your brand’s trustworthiness and reliability.

Unfortunately; many entrepreneurs don’t reap the benefits of Instagram marketing due to duplication of content. Developing great content is a powerful tool for attracting the right crowd to your profile.

People get bored easily by boring, irrelevant, and regularly duplicated content. Consequently, duplicate content gives your followers a good reason to unfollow you on Instagram.

Unique content is the golden key to driving increased inbound traffic to your profile. In addition to that, it will boost your sales, profit margins, and business growth.

Avoiding the above Instagram marketing mistakes will help you grow your business incredibly.