Bought an expensive domain

....extremely good serps, different contents

[Hard_Target]

I have just bought a domain name for $3000 because it ranks 3rd in google for a single keyword that is extremely important in my business. Before saying "how silly", please hear me out. My other site ranks well on combination of this kwd and some others, but never on this one alone, no matter what I do. From my PPC campaign I know that this standalone kwd is responsible for at least 80% clicks (and approximatelu orders) on my ads. I know that statistics is not directly applicable to serps, but it does give a meaningful indication. Furthermore there is another site on which I advertise (top banner, home page), that ranks #2 for that particular kwd, and from which I earn monthly what I have just spent on the domain name. Given that only
3% visitors to that site actually click on my banner, I think I have made a good business decision.

The domain name that I bought used to be a free site, whereas mine is 100% commercial. The subject area is the same. What was amazing to me is that this site was in the top SERPs for the whole last year although it didn't have any contents! (if you click on the link, it goes to a page that says ACCESS FORBIDDEN, and that's it!). So , that tells me that SERP was based entirely on backlinks, not on the content, which I find wierd.

Now here is my dilemma. In time backlink webmasters will start noticing (although it is obviously taking them a long time) that the site does not have the same intent that it used to have - that is if I make it completely commercial. I could go to the other extreme and recreate the original content (I have the general idea as to what it was, but not the actual contents)and simply put a banner ad to my other site. This would be safe as far as backlinks and ranking (I at least assume), but extremely inefficient from the commercial point of view (because only 3-4% of visitors will click on the advertising banner).

I am assuming that I need to find a balance somewhere in between these two extremes. If you can help me with any suggestions on how to go about this logistically, I would appreciate it very much (i.e. should I just have a link at the top "here is the free stuff", should I intersperse my menu with non commercial items etc...)

Thank you very much for your input. This really is a great forum!

[encyclo]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com], Hard_Target!

It's an interesting problem you have - have you tried archive.org to get the content of the previous website? Even if you don't want to recreate it completely, you might get a good idea of the content to build something similar.

Some of the more SEO-minded members here may have some better ideas, but personally I would consider building an informational site in a similar vein to the original site, but in the style of an affiliate site with links to products on your main site. I don't know what kind of products you offer, but you could try product reviews and discussion - that kind of stuff.

[cabowabo]

Archive.org is solid advice. The former webmaster could have been incorrectly using a cloaking script to hide the actual content, to which you received the 301 error. 301 errors do not rank well for commercial keyword phrases without redirects or cloaking techniques. I wish you well.

Cheers,

CaboWabo

[Hard_Target]

Thank you, archive.com did have a copy of the old contents - this will be useful.
I am still not sure about the commercial/non commercial ratio. Promoting my other site as an affiliate seems a bit of under-use (from experience only 3% will
click on it), but maybe "better-safe-than-sorry" approach is the way to go ...any other opinions out there?...

[claus]

IMHO, you should go for the 100% commercial site. After all, that's what you bought the domain for wasn't it? Also, by doing so, you will probably create a better site (in stead of trying to mimic some ancient content that doesn't really interest you)

I should add that, as you do so, beware that you don't create duplicate content on the new site and your existing site. A good site (commercial or not) won't harm you, "dupes" will.

[mivox]

I'd go 50/50 on content...

My employer's site is set up with an informational 'library' area and a mostly separate 'online store' area. The online store is linked prominently in the top and side navigation of the 'library' pages, and we promote specific products with inset boxes placed next to relevant paragraphs in the actual text of the 'library' articles.

Most of our incoming links are to the library/informational section, but the prominent cross-linking leads visitors in a "buy now" mindset directly to the relevant areas of the online store.