I’m still amazed at how many people have bought domain names with no thought or understanding that once a domain has been bought before, it lives out there in various places in its old form. It might never have any of those references updated.
So you’re buying the history of the site as well. This is why many domain squatters buy expired domains as they want all that residual traffic and mentions in search engines and on people’s sites. They don’t care if the information those sites have is valid, they just want the traffic.
But what about the sites who are prepared to shape a distinct and protected brand around their “new” domain name? Shouldn’t they do their due diligence early on? I recall reading an article about Intel’s new technology/product in Wired Magazine many years back. It was for their VIIV technology (still don’t recall what it was/is supposed to be) but I remember immediately trying to check out the URL when I got to work (Wired is good reading while riding MUNI to work) and low and behold, the corporate proxy was blocking the site. Why? Because it had been a former adult domain.
Hmm…
So, for quite a large segment of the corporate audience, that site failed to exist just because no one really took into account that buying a domain name which had been a former porn site could cause some problems even if your site was wholesome and clean.
Live and learn (at $100,000 an hour?)
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