I bought the domain, pointed the nameservers and put up a one page site covering the site re-design and including three outbounds, one of which I own, the others I don't own, but all are related to the theme.
The general theme is "credit", which I'm well aware can be both lucrative and competitive. I really don't have a lot of time to spend on development, but my gut feel is that I need to make the time to turn the acquired domain into a resource, even if full development takes six months or more.
So what's the smart move? Dump the two outbounds I don't own and just ride with whatever juice gets passed, or make the time and develop the site into something users will find value in?
This is the first domain I've ever acquired, so I'm really interested in thoughts on what should be the next rational step.
Plus these days, it's quality, rather than quantity that counts.
I'd get a site up there as soon as possible, that is at least relevant to those links, even if it's not what was there before.
It may be worth identifying key linkers, writing them saying 'thank you' for the links, and you are under new management (others may strongly disagree on that!).
But links to a used domain should be considered 'at risk' - it's up to you to 'earn them'. And quick.
There is no archive of the site that I can find so I'm at a loss as to exact content and file naming, I did however find a thumbnail of the old index page so I now have at least some idea of the previous visual presentation.
I'll work on quick development, at least as quick as I can, which isn't saying much. The point is taken though that quick development will justify some of those links and slow/stop link erosion.
Unless you are keeping the content that the site previously displayed, then your links will decay almost overnight.
Hi, what do you mean by links decaying overnight? I've noticed that old links pretty much stay pointing at the domain and that Google counts that backlink anchor text towards a domain you 301 redirect to...no?
I (generally speaking) agree with you on 301s; what I think is at stake here is not 301s, but a new site replacing the previous one; I'm suggesting that links to that domain are likely to lose value if the site is rebuilt as a new one.
I'm not referring to the same site on a new domain, but the same domain and a new site :)
