Finding Available Domain Names

Domain names are not all taken yet. Finding available domain names which are good, striking or have the potential to be valuable can be hard though.

With all words in the dictionary now already registered by speculators (most without accompanying web sites, of course) you will not be able to buy a 'single word' domain unless the owner is willing to sell, or unless it is a deliberate misspelling of another word. You are not going to get pizza.com, but how about pizzzza.com, or peatsa.com? You get the idea, but a surprising number of such contrived names will also be already registered. Most people are now well aware that domain names are big business, and that acquiring one great name could set you up for life.

So, how do you find or create a good, available domain? You have several options here. You could combine two or more words, based on the subject of the web site you want to create - latest-insurance-leads.com. Alternatively, you could simply make up a word which 'sounds' good - think of how many of the top sites have nonsense domains like yahoo, kazaa, bebo.

Other options which enterprising people are using include registering a familiar geographical name, registering a short phrase from a song lyric, or simply using their main site subject combined with a descriptor like mall, store, guide, directory, source, services, solutions, media, lounge, fan, tracker and so on. Check the domain auction sites for more examples.

One of the most interesting things you can do is to look at the prices which domains actually sold for on auction sites, and try to work out why they are worth what was paid. Here are some examples - GoMo recently sold for $11,000, automobileinsurancequote.com for $6,500 and wfk.com for $8,800. While the automobile insurance related domain's value is obvious, what about the other two meaningless domains? What they have in common is their shortness. While ALL the three-letter combinations of the alphabet are now registered (believe it or not) some four letter ones may not yet be. In the domain name industry, less is really more.

Another interesting insight can be taken from the recent sale of the name carbonless.com for $25,000. Even five years ago, such a name would have been worthless, but with the current interest in sustainable living, this name has become a valuable property. If you can anticipate a trend like this, you could register an available domain name for $10 and wait until it becomes an asset.

If you want to try another option, country-based suffixes like .us, .uk, .ca and so on have not been taken up and registered by speculators to the extent that .coms have. If your local country extension would suit your market, check if shorter names are still available for you to buy.

What about actually checking the available domain names - exactly how do you do this? Simply visit a domain name registrar and use their search to see if the name you want is still free. They will be delighted to register it for you.

Got a domain name idea? To see which domain registrar we use, and to check if the domain name you want is still available, go to my page - available domain names . Dee Buteland writes about domain names, registering them, and making money from domains.

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