what's the best way to prepare a domain? I have an unused domain and when I launch the site I want it to get a head start on google. Should I put a link to the new domain (it has a paragraph of text)? will it give me a head start?
If you are still developing the site you can still get the domain hosted and throw up some text and give it some incoming links to help it get indexed while you are developing it.
Unused domains monetize best when parked. However if you want an easy, fast Google Starting, upload and index page displaying an article and put Adsense on the top and bottom of the page. There are many sites where you can get a relevant article for free republishing and Adsense will attract Googlebot for crawling/indexing. Do not forget metatags in such page, and good luck developing the rest of your content.
1. Post in some of Blogger.com blogs that are related to your site topic. Include your URL. (Google crawls blog posts within a day or so) 2. Use the Google tool bar to search for your domain around ten times in a single week. This will get you indexed within a week. 3. Post your URL to any PR7 site(including this forum) and you will get indexed within a week. Good luck.
I'm not sure, but if you start building links weeks before you start launching the site, will it give you an advantage over a new site that's building links quickly? I've seen some people buy old domains, then suddenly get a bunch of links, and now the rank higher than sites that's been in business for a long time.