New sites appear on the Web each day at a blistering pace. Just as thousands of new sites are born each week, one hundred thousand other domains will disappear. What happens to these domain names? Unless the owner continues to pay rent on the defunct domain, the name will eventually expire and be offered back to the public.

If you know where to look, you can often purchase a pre-owned domain name at a bargain basement price. There are at least five benefits to buying "used" rather than "new" when it comes to domain names:

A Better Name - With so many of the best domain names already taken, many businesses settle for a domain that is less than ideal when they first get started. However, there are services that can watch for the availability of your ideal domain name and can then grab it as soon as it becomes available. Keep reading, as I'll explain more about this soon.

Better Rankings via Keyword-rich Names - While you may have a great domain name now, it may not include all of your best keywords in the name. Sites with the keyword in the domain tend to rank higher than domains without the keyword. Many search engine optimizers will divide their content among various keyword topics with each topic hosted on it's own domain. This allows you to improve the focus and theme of each Web site, along with the ability to cross-link the sites for improved link popularity.

Existing Traffic Flow - Many active domains still receive a steady stream of traffic when they expire. If you snap up a previously active domain that is relevant to your business soon after it expires, you could benefit from an instant flow of free traffic.

Reselling Domains for Profit - There are individuals and companies that turn a profit from domain name speculation. This is similar to someone purchasing land in a certain area believing that it's value will increase over time or when offered to the right buyer. There's risk involved of course, but if you're careful, you can make money.

Built-in Link Popularity - If you've had a Web site long, you know building link popularity takes time and dedication. Previously active pre-owned domains often have dozens if not hundreds of existing links to them. Those links do not disappear as soon as a domain expires. Acquiring such a domain can save you a lot of work if you can find a domain that relates to your type of business.

It is very important to find a domain name that is relevant to your industry. For instance, if you own a Web site design company, don't try to purchase an expired domain name that was once hosting a clothing site just because it has a lot of incoming links. Remember, search engines rely heavily on "relevance" when calculating your link popularity score.

If your pre-owned domain has a number of sites related to "clothing" pointing to your Web design site, the traffic will not be targeted and the links will not be relevant. This could hurt your link popularity score and visitors traveling from these links would feel deceived, and thereby will be unlikely to buy anything. In addition, Google and other engines may frown on such a tactic, declaring it a form of link spamming. However, if you're in the clothing business or are planning to start one, then a pre-owned domain like myclothing.com could be an excellent buy for you. For example, you might be able to acquire such a domain for $20 that includes several dozen incoming links and a flow of existing traffic. In this scenario, everyone wins.

Some of the most valuable pre-owned domains are those that are already included in Yahoo and DMOZ with a description relevant to the new site you have planned. These directories are great for improving a new site's link popularity and traffic.

In this article, I will supply you with the resources needed to help you locate and purchase pre-owned domain names that already have built in traffic and link popularity. Armed with the proper tools and knowledge, it is possible for you to find a "hidden gem" for no more than the cost of a regular domain.

Our first step is to become familiar with the actual domain name life cycle. This is the cycle of a domain from the time it is first registered through the time it is finally deleted.

Below is an outline of the important phases of a domain's life cycle:

Active (1-10 years) - After purchasing a domain, it becomes active for 1 to 10 years depending on the length of the subscription. Most people purchase domains for one or two year terms and then can renew at the end of that term.

On Hold (1-45 days) - When the registrar receives no response from the owner of the domain after the subscription ends, the registrar may send the delete command to the registry at its discretion. The domain could continue to operate for 1 to 45 days depending upon the registrar and other factors. The domain is still in the Shared Registry System (SRS) during this time.

Redemption Grace Period (30 days) - After the "on hold" period, the domain name is held in the registry for 30 days during the Redemption Grace Period (RGP). During this time, the general public cannot purchase the name and the Web site no longer operates. This gives the original owner a grace period when he or she can still renew it. Sometimes domains accidentally expire when the owner had meant to renew it.

Deletion (5 days) - After the final deletion command is sent, there can be 5 additional days where the domain remains in the Shared Registry System and cannot be purchased by others. The original owner can still renew the domain during this time.

Available - Once the deletion completes, the name is released for purchase by the general public, normally on a first come, first served basis.

In order to find expired and pre-owned domain names, you need to know where they're listed. There are many services that maintain large databases of domain names that have expired each day. Below, I have compiled a small list of the best services I could find:

DomainsBot.com - This service offers an extensive list of expired, high traffic, and pre-owned domains that are listed in Yahoo and DMOZ. They have a light version that you can try for free. Alternatively, you can subscribe to their pay service for $34.95 per month which offers unlimited access to all areas of their site such as automated email notifications of expired domains and much more. There's also a search function to help you find the domains most relevant to your business. I subscribed to the service and was very satisfied with the results.

Pool.com - This site also offers an expired domain names list via its searchable interface. Best of all, it's FREE. You can view their list here.

DirectNic.com - They offer a list of expired and pre-owned domain names. You can sign up for free.

Domain Name Pro - In my opinion, this $59 software tool is an absolute must to save time in locating the best pre-owned domain deals. It can be used in conjunction with the services listed above, which is what I would suggest, or it can be used on its own. The program is feature rich and after trying about every expired domain software program on the market, this one is by far the best I've found.

For example, Domain Name Pro gives you the capabilities to import domains from an external text or html file. Or, you can copy and paste a list of domain names into the program. It then reports the link popularity of each domain as well as the Alexa rating and the status of the domain (i.e., the WHOIS information).The Alexa rating gives you an idea for how much traffic the domain may receive after you purchase it.

Another great feature of Domain Name Pro is its ability to intelligently parse through text that may contain both domain names and extraneous text. This is extremely useful when you're trying to quickly copy and paste from a Web page or text file produced by another program or service.

The whole point of Domain Name Pro and services like it is to help you efficiently sift through the tens of thousands of expired domains and zero in on only the most attractive ones.

You'll also find Domain Name Pro to be a great domain name brainstorming tool. Just plug in a couple of words related to your business, click "Search" and you have a list of thousands of domains that are available for purchase within minutes!

If you are thinking of purchasing an expired domain to resell for profit, be sure to learn how to estimate the value of a domain. You'll also need to have a good plan on how you're going to resell it later. There are many helpful resources on the Web for this, including a free guide at domain-research-labs. While you can turn a profit reselling domains, you must be careful not to purchase a lemon, or to pay too much for the domain.

So you've searched the list of new and pre-owned domains and found nothing? If you haven't found that perfect domain, there are several services that will allow you to backorder any domain name for a fee. If the domain does become available, each of the following services will attempt to register the expired domain on your behalf.

SnapNames - At $69 per domain name, SnapNames will attempt to register a domain name as soon as it expires, on your behalf for a period of one year. If the name becomes registered to someone else within that year or if you want to pursue another domain name, SnapNames will allow you to modify your subscription as many times as you like.

Pool.com - This is probably the best and most successful service I tried. Unlike many similar services, they only charge you if they actually secure the domain for you. However, there's one catch. Once Pool.com secures the domain for registration, they will notify you and if there are other people whom backordered the same domain through their service, then they will auction off the domain name to the highest bidder.

Enom - Enom offers a service called "First Dibs." The service costs $35 per year, which includes the price of the domain registration for one year, assuming no one submits a higher bid than you. Unfortunately, you pay the $35 fee upfront even if they aren't successful at securing the domain. When and if they secure the domain name, whoever previously submitted the highest bid wins the domain.

GoDaddy - This can be the least expensive of these services, but from my experience, the least effective. I tried GoDaddy's service and unfortunately didn't have any luck securing expired domain names. You pay only $18.95 per domain name. However, they keep that money until they finally secure the domain that you originally requested or another domain if you should change your mind later. Your odds of securing a domain increases if the original registrar for the domain is GoDaddy.

Backordering services should be used with caution. The reason being that many people are utilizing the same or similar services to try and register those same domain names when they expire. Competition can be fierce for the better domain names that have not yet expired. Whichever service manages to register the domain first, wins. Therefore, there isn't any guarantee that you will be the one to successfully acquire the name assuming it ever becomes available at all. That's why using any service that requires a non-refundable fee upfront is a gamble.

On the other hand, an automated service will give you the best chance to grab a domain you really want as they monitor availability 24 hours a day. Many will also notify you when any changes are made to the WHOIS record.

Of course a back-order service is not always needed. There are thousands of pre-owned domains available today without having to wait around for availability. Therefore, try to find that hidden gem from the lists of currently available domains before considering a back-order service.

You might be asking yourself, "Does this really work?" or "Is this worth my time?" For me at least, the answer was a definite yes. I tried it and found it very possible to discover those "diamonds in the rough." Through my research, I found and registered several domain names that had expired or were about to expire that were already included in Yahoo, DMOZ and/or had high link popularity.