In short, expired domain names are a GOLDMINE. Better still, this is a goldmine on complete autopilot because you are able to leverage the promotional efforts of thousands of other people.

First of all, for those of you who may not know exactly what a domain name is, whenever you see YourWebsite.com or YourBlog.net, that is a domain name. In order to get a domain name for a website or a blog you need to register it with an appropriate company called a 'domain name registrar.'

Domain names are pretty cheap (about 8 bucks a pop or so), and there are tens of thousands registered every single day.

When you register a domain name, this is not a permanent thing. Rather, you will register a domain name for a certain period of time, anywhere from one ot ten years usually.

Most people choose to register a domain name for only one year at a time, and in this case the domain name must be constantly renewed in order for the owner to keep it. Many times, when a domain name is approaching its expiration date, the owner will simply choose not to renew it.

-- How You Can Cash In On The Expired Domain Name Trend --

So that is all well and good, but WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MAKING MONEY??

Here is where the cool part comes in:

Every year or few years, the owner of a domain name must pay a registration fee or else the domain name itself will be back in the marketplace where anybody can buy it.

There are many reasons why an owner of a domain name would not renew it, including that they simply did not realize it was going to expire, they got sidetracked with other business ventures, or they simply decided that they did not want it anymore.

Here's the rub: Due to the previous owner's promotion, there is still alot of traffic and visitors being directed to a domain name when it expires!

If you can redirect the traffic going to the expired domain name to your own website, you have a constant stream of new visitors coming to your site every day on autopilot.

If, as an individual or even a small business, you set out to acquire some expiring domain names for yourself, you would have a very difficult time going about this. It requires a sizeable amount of capital to be able to get into the expired domain name game an a large scale, and it is only on a large scale that you have massive success.

This is just a simple principle from Economics 101, people! ECONOMIES OF SCALE, which means the little guy doesn't stand a chance. It's the same reason that nobody can compete with Wal-Mart, because they have such a huge amount of working capital.

But, like the title of this section suggests, there IS a great way for the little guy to cash in on expired domain name traffic. There are several big companies out there that will buy lots of expiring domain names, and over time they come to accumulate tens of thousands of daily visitors that they can rediirect.

But instead of keeping this goldmine of traffic to themselves, they will allow anybody to submit their own website address and have some traffic redirected their way, which is very affordable and efficient for the little guy with a small budget.

This can be a great option for anybody who has a quality website but lacks a steady stream of visitors, as this is among the cheaper yet still effective of all marketing options.

--Picking A Good Company To Get Traffic From --

I will say right now up front that it IS possible to be scammed in this arena. Be on the lookout for unscrupulous companies who pander to the hopes and dreams of aspiring internet marketers, and then run away with their cash.

What is it that differentiates a legitimate company from a scam in this area? For starters, a legit expired domain name company will always have testimonials on their site from the previous satisfied customers.

A legit company will also be very upfront about what their entire operation is, and they will explain it in terms that even an internet newbie can understand. A scam company will take the approach of providing little quality information, perpetuating the illusion that they know alot about this industry and you should just trust them on this point and hand over your credit card info.

Basically, if you have spent a decent amount of time surfing the web, you will have developed an intuitive sense of when a site 'just doesn't feel right.' So if you feel any internal alarms going off, simply click off the site and make sure you don't give them your money. There will most likely be no return on your investment and you will simply contribute to some cunning web scammer's Bahamas Vacation charity fund.