Using Misspelling Domain Names

How to make them work to my advantage

[newborn]

Guys I have a big problem.

I have stumbled across several great misspelling domains. Google adwords keyword tool tells me that there are a lot of searches for this misspelling per month.

Explain exactly how I take advantage of this. Can I

a.) Register the domain as the mis-spelt phrase with a hyphen or without a hyphen and REDIRECT THE DOMAIN TO MY main site.

b.) Do I need to register the domain as a .com or can I get the .info
Guys tell me how to make the most of this opportunity.

HELP GUYS!

[edited by: Webwork at 11:04 am (utc) on July 12, 2007]
[edit reason] Tidying up [/edit]

[buckworks]

I'd see two main concerns here:

1) Stay well clear of misspellings that resemble anyone's trademark.

2) Think carefully about targeting.

If a user types in a misspelled domain that indicates they're looking for something specific, take care to redirect them to a page that will be strongly relevant to their search.

Example: if someone typed in "widgit-repares.com" and you redirected them to an expert article about widget repair and maintenance, the user would be well served. On the other hand, if you sent such a type-in to your page that tries to sell vitamins, it would be a waste of their time and your bandwidth.

If content is king, targeting is the crown prince.

Finally, you'll get a lot more type-ins with a dot-com name than dot-info.

[newborn]

Yes buck worth thanks then what do i do then. Just buy the domain name and redirect it to my main site. Say I have a site on Thailand and and there is a popular site called examplethailand...com (two dots so i dont breach WWW TOS) but people constantly misspell it and the misspell domain name is free for the taking.

Will Google actually redirect people to my misspelt domain. So we both have sites on Thailand and the browser would be well served. If so should i just buy the domain and do a 301.

What is the step by step process that you would follow?

[Bennie]

301 is a good way to go, however if you want to get search engine traffic you may want to develop the site. This depends upon the typo, does it come across as natural or is it a weird mis-spelling.

If it's a 'brandable' and good looking url use it for search and link the traffic through to your website. If ugly url, 301 redirect to something more logical.

Done right (no TM issues) the traffic can be just as powerful as any other site, just keep your traffic ontopic.

THe blackhat version would be to rank the typo (different host and whois) and redirect (cloak) humans to your logical site and gain SE rankings as well (best of both worlds). This is a risk you should only take if you are either experienced, or willing to learn (potentially the hard way).

Whatever you do, experiment and testing will be the only way to find out. Good luck :D

[Bennie]

Also get the .com and avoid hypens if you can.

[newborn]

Thanks Beenie Man

[Huntster]

I hope everyone here makes as much money as they can including the topic starter - but I don't do stuff like this and I wish less did.

Not trying to be high and mighty - just my opinion.