Finding Domain Names

Great resources for efficiently finding quality domain names that are still available.

The technique you choose to find good, available domains depends on whether your domain name search will be demand-driven or supply-driven. By this I mean, do you plan on thinking of variations of names you want or will you look at names that are on the market to see if any of them are worth buying? Generally, your method of finding a name should be demand-driven because you should already know what kind of name you want and you will have more flexibility in the name you choose so you can sculpt the branding of your web site. EBay searches, domain forums, and browsing expiring domain listings are examples of supply-driven techniques. Doing a bulk search, using a domain name suggestion tool, or searching through expiring domain listings are examples of demand-driven techniques. These techniques are listed in order of most effective to least effective:

Domain Name Suggestion Tools

These are sites that let you type in a keyword(s) and it suggests domain names for you as well as telling you if the domain is available. Nameboy is the best site to do this. I recommend checking it out if you have a definite word you want in your site but can't find an appropriate name.

http://www.nameboy.com

http://www.whois.sc/domain-suggestions/?q=&tab=2

Ebay searches

Ebay has some good domains available for cheap prices. Sometimes the ones that are in the $5-$10 range are better than the $50 ones. It seems there are people or companies who own a portfolio of names who are listing them for $50 even though they know they are not worth that much. You would be surprised what you can get for $10 on Ebay. Ebay is good if you are looking for a wide variety of names or looking for a brandable name. If you are looking for a name with a specific keyword in it then you'll be better off looking at the Name Suggestion Tools, although you can still do a keyword domain search on EBay (here is a keyword search for poker domains).

Do a bulk search

A bulk search allows you to search a list of domains all at once to see which ones are available. This is useful when you have a list of 30 or 40 names that you thought of and wrote down and want to see which ones are available without searching them individually. This is a great tool to use if you are constantly jotting down potential domain names for future projects and decide every couple of months to do some bulk searches to see which ones are available. This is what I do. Two sites to do a bulk search are signaturedomains.com and dotster.com.

Expiring Domains

Searching through expiring domain listings allows you to backorder domains that are about to expire. Backordering a domain will usually cost you about $60, so I reserve this technique for names I really want. Competition for dropping names is at an all time high and entering a backorder for a domain doesn't mean you will definitely get it. Generally, if the dropped name has no other people trying to get it then you will probably be able to buy it. But if there is competition for the name then someone else will probably get it instead of you because there are domain specialists who make their living buying dropped names by using state-of-the-art technology. The good thing is that most backordering sites won't charge you if you don't get the domain.

Backordering Registrars
	pool.com (search page).
	snapnames.com.
not rated	namewinner.com.
not rated	clubdrop.com.

Dropped Dictionary Domains
	odditysoftware.com - deleting dictionary domains.

Look on domain buy/sell sites

You can find available domains which are being sold at web sites and domain forums. This tends to be the least effective way to look for domains because you have to scroll through individual forums and you can't do an overall search for keywords.