In this post I look at 17 Tools and Websites that can help you with your domain name hunt. For tips and guidelines on choosing a good domain name please read my previous post titled “18 Tips for Choosing a Good Domain Name”.

1. Instant Domain Search

Instant Domain Search (IDS) allows you to check the availability of a domain name as you type it (letter by letter) in real time. This tool can be used to search .com, .net and .org domains. IDS is very fast compared with other real time search tools.

2. Domize

Domize supports real time name search. Using Domize you can search .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info and .us domain names. One nice feature of Domize is that it provides a history of what you type, allowing you to check the availability of many names all in once. 

3. Ajax Who Is

Very similar to Instant Domain Search, but, supports other Top Level Domains (TLDs) such as .ca.

4. Psychic Who Is

Psychic Who Is is another real time search service that provides name suggestions as you keep on typing (see above picture).

5. Domains Bot

Another real time search tool similar to Domize. Based on my experience Domains Bot is pretty slow to use.

6. Bust-A-Name

At Bust-A-Name you can enter your keywords and the system will show you with different domain name combinations that are available for registration. Bust-A-Name also provides the ability to add suffixes and prefixes, look for plural version of a name and the ability to drop the last vowel (example Flicker –> FlickR).

7. Dot-O-Mator

I really like the way Dot-o-Mator generate domain names. First you pick a keyword and then you select an ending word. In the screen shot above I picked “Tech” as my first word and “Experts” as my ending word. Dot-o-Mator will generate possible domain names using synonyms for the ending word. In the above example it suggested names such as TechPro, TechSage etc.

8. MakeWords

 

MakeWords has a rich set of features to combine keywords and generate domain names.

9. Xona Domain Name Hacks

Domain Hacks are domain names that are created in combination with a Top Level Domain. Example includes “del.icio.us” and “inter.net”. Xona domain name hacks allows you to create an unconventional domain name. I personally do not like a hacked domain name primarily because it is hard to type and is confusing.

11. GoDrops

GoDrops is a cool service that shows dropping domain names in real time on a daily basis. During the drop a chatting service allows you to chat about the domain names that are currently being dropped!

12. Pool

Pool.com publishes a daily list of all expiring domains around the world. In addition at pool.com you can take part in Domain Auctions and Back Order domains that are going to expire soon.

13. Archive.org

Archive.org’s WayBack Machine is the best place to find what type of content was hosted on a domain in the past. It is a good idea to check that the domain you are going to register did not contain any inappropriate content in the past.

14. Google Banned Domain Name Checker

If you are going to buy a domain name that is already registered, it is a good idea to check whether Google has banned this domain in the past (due to spamming and fraud). By using the Banned Domain Name Checker you ensure you invest only in good domains which did not offend Google in the past.

15. DN Forum

DN Forum is the largest forum on the web that is dedicated to domain names. This forum is very active and is viewed by thousands of users. DN Forum is a great place to get all types of advice on domain names and to buy or sell domain names.

16. NamePros

Another popular domain name discussion forum.

17. DN Hour

DN Hour is a service that lets you submit news related to domain names. Each news item is ranked by the DN Hour user community.

In a recent article titled “Squatters Are Screwed; Nobody Cares If Your Domain Has That Hot New Suffix” Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch.com argues that cyber squatters who register domain names with new suffixes (such as “.nyc” and “.me”) are screwed because there will not be much demand for these suffixes.

Jason’s argument is that many people are turning to search engines to find the website they want to access.  For example, searching the website name in Google rather than entering the URL in the web browser.  Therefore, Jason claims that domain suffixes other than .com and .net are not going to be in wide spread use because your domain name is not that relevant for finding the right website.

While I agree with Jason in many aspects, I do find a small contradiction in his argument. If search engines are going to play a vital role in finding a website, the actual domain name will become less relevant.  This is true, but, this also applies to the domain name suffix as well.

In the future when search engines play a dominant role in finding the right website, it will not matter whether you have .com suffix or a .biz suffix.  Therefore in my view, the trend towards using search engines to find websites may lead to greater acceptance of other domain suffixes. I am not predicting that this will happen, but it is just a thought. If this happens the squatters who have registered names under other suffixes could be back in the game!

Personally I feel a short brandable  “.com” domain name is the best choice. While the domain name might become less relevant on the online world, the use of the domain name as a powerful marketing tool will still remain strong in radio, TV and on print.

So what kind of domain name do you prefer? A large or confusing “.com” name? Or a shorter and crisp name with a less popular suffix?

Share your thoughts and opinions.

The independence of the state of Montenegro (from Serbia & Montenegro) on the 3rd of June 2006 resulted in the creation of a new TLD (Top Level Domain) called “.me”, for the new country.

Like the .tv TLD, which is now popular in the entertainment industry, .me has a good potential to become popular among English speaking countries. Consider domain names such as “contact.me”, “remind.me” and “hire.me”, now you know what I mean. The word “me” is also found in many other languages including Spanish.

Recently GoDaddy was given the rights by the Government of Montenegro to manage the .me TLD allowing anyone around the world to register .me domain names.

But you have to wait for some time to secure your dream .me domain. This is because when a new TLD becomes available it is released in 3 stages as follows:

1. Sunrise Period

During the sunrise period any owners of a trade mark can register a domain name with that trademark on it.

2. Landrush Period

During the landrush period everyone can apply for a domain name. Landrush pre-registrations takes place on a First Come First Served basis or using auctions. People who apply during the landrush period pay premium prices for their domain names.

3. General Registration

When general registration commences, everyone can register a domain name for the standard price.

The .me domain roll out schedule can be found at www.buymedomains.com, a blog completely dedicated for .me domains! What do you think about .me domains? Do you think that they will become popular? Or will they flop like .biz? Please share your opinion.

If you do not want to spend anywhere from 4$ to 10$ per year on a domain name, you can register one for free at www.freedomain.co.nr. Your domain name will have the format of www.yourdomainname.co.nr. Actually you are NOT getting a domain name, instead getting a sub-domain on the domain name co.nr. In order to get this free sub-domain you have to satisfy certain requirements that are stated in the website. If you are serious about your web projects I recommend getting a paid domain name. But for any toy projects or experiments you can consider registering a free sub-domain at co.nr.

1. Match website name with domain name

Choose a domain name that will be the title of your website. Many people make the mistake of having different website title and domain name. For example, one might register the domain name as “TheGPSGuide.com” and name the website as “GPS Buyer Review”.

Having inconsistent website and domain name will confuse the average user. In the above example there is a good chance the user might refer the website as “GPS Buyer Review” to a friend. The friend can mistakenly visit the website “GPSBuyerReview.com” which can be a competitor’s website!

2. Generic vs. Brand name

Your domain name can be either a generic name (e.g. “cars.com”) or a brand name (e.g. “Toyota.com”).

If you already own a business with a very reputable brand name then choose your brand name as your domain name. Brand name is not limited to a business. A brand name can be successfully developed for any website, building a community of loyal readers around the brand.

On the flip side brand based domain names might rank slightly lower on search engine results especially when searches are performed using common keywords (e.g. searching for the word “car” instead of “Toyota”). During an Internet search, a search engine like Google will consider hundreds of factors to determine the most relevant search results. The presence of a keyword in the domain name is only one of those factors. Therefore the impact of not having a common keyword in your domain name is minimal.

Generic names have the advantage of instantly letting the user know what your website is all about. For example, if your domain name is called “CarCareTips.com” it is very obvious that your website is about tips on maintaining your car. In addition, generic domain names rank better when internet searches are performed with common keywords.

3. Keep it short

Domain names can be up to 67 characters long. But that does not mean you take the liberty of using as many characters as you want for your domain name. To make the domain name memorable and easier to type, try to keep it as short as practically possible.

Short domain names reduce the possibility of typing errors and reduce the risk of sending the user to a type squatting website (a website that is intentionally created to benefit from misspellings in your domain name).

At the same time do not over short your domain name. For example, if the name of your organization is “Snowy Mountain Skiing and Snowboarding Club”, do NOT shorten it to “SMSASC.com”. This abbreviation is very hard to remember!

4. Avoid hyphens (i.e. dash signs “-“ )

Avoid the use of hyphens in your domain name. Using hyphens can be confusing when the name of the domain is told verbally. For example, consider the domain name “in-car-gps-navigation.com”. When you say this name verbally it will be something like “in hyphen car hyphen gps hyphen …” get my point?

I also find domain names with hyphens lack credibility because there are so many doubtful marketing and money milking websites on the internet that use hyphens in the domain name. Credible sites tend to avoid using hyphens in domain name.

Hyphen based domain names do have some advantages. They include the ability to rank well in Internet searches, because search engines can easily identify the keywords using the hyphen as a separator.

Hyphen based domain names can easily stand out in print. Non-hyphen domain names can be harder to read in print. But you can over come this problem by using capital letters for the first character in each keyword so that they will stand out when printed. For example, “car-care-tips.com” is more readable than “carcaretips.com”. But “CarCareTips.com” is equally readable as “car-care-tips.com”.

5. Avoid numbers

Having numbers in a domain name is not a good idea unless the number is part of the business name. For example, “1800Flowers.com” is good domain name because the number 1800 is actually part of the business name. In this example the phone number and domain name are the same!

6. Try your best to get .com

Try to get a .com TLD (Top Level Domain) for your domain name. It has more credibility than .org or .net. The only exception to this if you are involved in a non-profit operation where the .org TLD can be used to reinforce the non-profit nature of your operation. For example, .org is very popular among charity groups.

But if you really want a domain name and the .com version is already taken, you can still consider .net and .org. But considering other TLDs such as .biz is not a great idea (at least in my own opinion) because hardly anyone knows about them.

If your website is targeted for region or country you can consider country specific TLDs. For example, the .ca TLD (Top Level Domain for Canada) has got very good recognition within North America. Having a country based TLD might rank you better when searches are performed with in the country.

7. Consider prefixes or suffixes

In many instances you will find that the domain name you want is already registered. In this case you should consider adding a prefix or suffix to your domain name. For example, if “GPSGuide.com” is already registered, you can consider “theGPSGuide.com”.

8. Keep your domain name legal

Make sure that the domain name you want to register does not violate any copyrights or trademarks. If your domain name contains common descriptive words then you do not have to worry too much about any legal issues.

To illustrate the above point let me take the following 2 examples:

Example 1: Assume that the domain name “microsoft.com” is available and you were able to secure it before Microsoft Corporation. You can be sued by Microsoft for registering their trademark and most probably Microsoft will win the law suit.

Example 2: Assume that you register the domain name “sun.com” before Sun Micro Systems was able to secure it. If Sun Micro Systems sues you, most likely they will lose and you will keep the domain name, because the word “Sun” is a generic word.

If you were to end up with any domain name dispute the domain administrator (such as ICANN and CIRA) will look into the following factors:

• Is your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark?
• Do you have any rights or legitimate interests in the domain?
• Was the domain name registered in bad faith?

9. Consider registering multiple TLDs (Top Level Domains)

Just to make sure you do not lose traffic to any type squatters, register other popular TLDs as well. For example, if your register a charity called “SickKids.org”, consider registering “SickKids.net” and “SickKids.com” so that no one else can try to profit from users who might mistakenly go to the wrong TLD.

10. Consult with friends and colleagues

Once you have decided on your domain name, before registering it, ask your friends or colleagues on their opinion about the name. For example, look at the domain name “ExpertsExchange.com”, at first glance the name looks fine, but one can also read this domain as “ExpertSexChange.com”!

11. Previous history of the domain name, abuse by spammers

If the domain name you are about to register had a past history of being owned by spammers and type squatters, it is possible that popular search engines such as Google might have penalized them by lowering the page rank. Once you own the domain name you can experience a slow start in term of search engine ranking. You can eventually come out from this black list by adding good quality content to your website and make sure you do not offend the search engines by engaging in any bad practices to increase more traffic to your website.

12. Future plans for your website

When selecting a domain name keep in mind any expansion plans that you might have for your website or business. For example, assume that you are in the business of selling roses and you want to register the domain name “RosesOnly.com”. You also have plans to sell a variety of flowers in the future. “RosesOnly.com” would be a great name for the start but as you expand your business this domain name becomes less applicable to your business. In this example you might me better off with a domain name like “FlowersOnly.com”.

13. Location and user base

If your website users are from a specific region or country, then you should consider country TLDs. For example, .ca for Canada and .com.au for Australia are two TLDs that have very high credibility with in the respective countries.

Country specific TLD can rank well when searches are performed with the country.

14. Avoid confusion

At all cost try to avoid any confusing domain names.
Follow these simple rules:

• Do not pick the wrong spelling (unless you already have established brand name with that spelling).
  Example: “KoolKars.com” is a bad choice. “CoolCars.com” is a better choice.
• Numbers can confuse people.
  Example: “Cash4You.com” can be interpreted as “CashForYou.com” or “Cash4U.com”.
• Names that spell differently but pronounced the same.
  Example: The domain name “WebSpear.com” can be confused with “WebSphere.com”.

15. Easy to memorize

Domain names should be easy to remember and memorize. The name should be easy to type as well.

A domain name such “AutoBodyShopCare.com” is a confusing name since the keywords do not have a logical sequence. The user can easily forget a keyword or mix the order of the keywords when referring the website to a friend. For example, the user might refer the domain name as “AutoBodyCare.com” or might refer it as “AutoCareBodyShop.com”. The possibility of not remembering all the keywords and their order paves way to endless mistakes.

16. Use plural form

In many instances a plural form of a domain name is more valuable and preferred over the singular form. For example “CoolGadgets.com” is a more desirable name than “CoolGadget.com”. Most probably the website will deal with many gadgets not only one gadget! But to ensure you do not lose any traffic to type squatters, register and secure both the singular and plural version of a domain name if they are available.

17. Be creative and make it personal

Be creative in choosing a domain name. This is especially true when you want a brand name. Make the domain name reflect the nature of you website. Choose a domain name that can stand out, conveys a positive message. Choose a name that motivates you. At the end you should like the domain name you choose otherwise you’ll have second thoughts and may try to change it in the future.

18. Compromise – the key to success

So far I have given 17 tips for selecting a good domain name. But if you try to find a domain name that satisfies all the above 17 tips, you will be disappointed. In reality good quality domain names are already registered.

Therefore you have to compromise and choose the best possible domain name that is left unregistered.

As general rule of thumb make sure that your domain name satisfies at least half of the above mentioned tips.

Good luck with your domain name search!