Domain Name Case Studies
Friends of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
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The campaign did not renew its domain names after the election. A person in Pennsylvania registered the domain name and put up advertisements to make money from the left-over traffic.
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After her unsuccesful run for Maryland Governor in 2002, Kathleen Townsend did not renew her domain name, FriendsOfKathleen.com. After it expired, the name was registerd in the name of Chris Sloan of Matamoros, PA.
Like many others opportunists around the world, Chris purchases recently expired domain names that still receive traffic. During the course of a campaign, many websites and directories link to a candidate's website, and very few websites remove links after the campaign is over. Links from other websites equals traffic. Left over links provide a busines opportunity for those who want to purchase traffic, any traffic.
The Friends of Kathleen website makes money for its new owner by promoting gambling, debt consolidation and sex websites.
For less than $10, the expired domain name is purchased, a website with advertising or other money making ventures is put up and the new owner waits for his/her commission check. With both gambling and pornographic websites willing to pay $100 or more for each new paying customer, the expired name business can be lucrative.
Don't let this happen to you!
If you no longer need a website that has been actively promoted, don't just let the domain name lapse. There are several things you can do to avoid embarassment and lower the chance that your old domain name is registerd by an opportunist:
- Keep the name registered, if there is a chance you might want to use the name in the future. It costs less than $10 per year, or only $40 between Maryland State elections.
- Remove your website well in advance of the time your domain name expires. This gives time to the other websites and directories to see that your site is down, and remove it from their listings.
- Un-promote your site, by identifying the webpages that link to your site and asking them to be removed. The fewer websites that link to yours, the less likely that an expired domain name will be grabbed by an opportunist.
Remember, the higher your website's profile when it was in use, the more likely that your site will be grabbed by an opportunist with hopes of making money. If you don't want sites with questionable advertising to be associated with your name, you'd better act before the domain name expires.
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