I am starting a very new social site specialising in learning and training. I am contemplating whether to register a brand new domain or buy an existing one. My biggest challenge will be to grow traffic for the site from zero base. What I understand from internet marketing experts, having an old domain with high PR will make it easier and faster to grow the site. Can someone enlighten me on this and advice me how to go about sourcing/buying an old domain. Thanks.
Note that PR ratings can go up and down depending on the number of backlinks and any other ranking parameters Google might have. Some sites may not have good PR ratings but they can get a good amount of traffic. Of course, if you are looking at social networking or sites which requires people to come back again and again or is viral, you can count on the word of mouth and referrals to bring people to your site. I've bought domain names with high PR before but soon after I started my site, the PR rating falls. I think what is most important is to concentrate on your traffic and by making your site interesting so that people will want to come back over and over again.
Thanks eddy for your valuable input. I agree nothing can compromise on having a good site. While Im working on building the value for the site, I still think a good starting point would be to buy a ready site with good traffic. You know any good place I can go to buy?