We're constantly visiting sites, testing software and looking for feedback from the domain community in our own search for excellence. So we thought we'd share some of our favorites with you.
We personally research or use all of these sites before we decide to list them here. And we're not saying there aren't better options out there either. We just haven't found them or are still trying them out ourselves.
These resources have helped us on our journey; perhaps they can help you too.
| Domain Registration / Website Hosting | Domain Blogs |
| Domain Forums | Domain Tools |
| Domain Snatchers | Domain Tasting |
| Domain Parking | Domain Sale / Auction Sites |
| Domain Valuation |
A great resource for the legal aspects of a domain company can be found here.
Domain Registration / Website Hosting
1) Our personal favorite is 1&1 if only for the fantastic, regular prices on domains. But the features you get with the Business and Developer packages allow you to collect a nice portfolio of domains and build websites with little effort. They even have a relationship with Sedo.
2) GoDaddy® rose to the top of the Domain Name Registrars for good reason. Their catchy (though sometimes controversial ads) were backed by good service, great options, and a fair price. Though their ".com" domains cost a bit more than 1&1, GoDaddy offers a broader suite of services like Auctions and Parking that you won't currently find at 1&1.
1) Jay Westerdal writes some neat articles on the DomainTools Blog including a periodic update of what certain domains sold for at various auctions and auctions sites.
2) Frank Schilling is one of the pioneers in the domain name industry and his blog provides lots of insight on where things are heading as well as links to other great sites, some of which you'll see listed here.
3) Rick Schwartz wear the hat of "Domain King" proudly and his thoughts can shed light on the domain industry in unusual ways. Rick's blog can be reviewed here.
1) DN Forum - This is the granddaddy of domain forums. If you're not a member, you're missing a piece of the domain industry puzzle.
2) Self-described as the "largest discussion forum of domain name owners in the World", NamePros offers another tremendous resource for the new and experienced domainer.
3) DN Journal - While technically not a forum, no list would be complete without DN Journal as a great domain news source.
1) The original keyword freebie, the Overture Inventory is essentially extinct. However, Google's Keyword Tool is in many ways much more useful and it is still free. While you won't get a count of the number of searches done using a word or phrase, Google does rank the frequency of searches on a low to high scale, shows the advertiser competition for a key word or phase, and even shows the monthly trend for search frequency over the previous year.
2) WordTracker® offers a more powerful and flexible search tool but it costs after the free trial. I always found the results to be rather different from the Overture count and I found it hard confirm or predict the results.
3) We stumbled across NicheBot by accident one day and decided to go with the trial period. While the interface is somewhat dated, the site does a good job of pulling together a number of free and pay keyword and SEO tools into one, straightforward interface. A couple of features left us frustrated like batch jobs that wouldn't run and the fact that using the Google Keyword Cruncher requires a key from Google that they apparently aren't giving out anymore. Overall, we liked the tool and it helps zero in on keywords that aren't being heavily targeted by other websites. [Latest Note: With the Overture tool gone, this site may be less useful now.]
4) The Domain Research Tool from Lezon, Inc. is a client app that provides a slick interface with powerful potential. Similar to the NicheBot "integration" concept, the Domain Research Tool offers a number of additional features like Auto-Appraised Value, the ability to move Overture results to domain scanning for availability, and more. The trial version is free but limits some of the features and you can only scan ten domains at a time. There were some kinks in the trial version (1.4.0) that we used and the $250 purchase price may be a little steep for some folks but with a little more work, this could be the next killer app for domainers!
5) We just LOVE the cool toys at DomainTools! The Whois provides a lot of useful information including whether or not a domain has been registered before. They also offer TraceRouting, Reverse IP, a domain typo generator, and more. Plan to spend an afternoon exploring all they have to offer. And the Bulk Check utility handles up to 100 domains at a time, telling you if the domain is an active website, parked, dropped, or never owned.
6) DropShark provides a powerful way to search dropping domains for key names that may look good in your domain portfolio. Developed by ClubDrop whiz, Christopher Ambler, DropShark offers some slick capability for only $30.
7) Typos are still an important part of website development, particularly because so much of the world speaks English as a second language. The wonderful, free typo tool at SearchSpell spits out a list of known typos with dynamic links to Google to verify the number of occurrences on the Internet. I like to copy the results, throw them in MS Word and add various permutations before dumping them into Google Keywords to see how frequently they are typed in.
8) Once you build a list of keywords and phrases, the Google Traffic Estimator is a handy way to determine how strong the traffic might be and what it will cost you to advertise using those keywords.
After domains expire and the waiting period has passed, they become available for purchase again. The companies below can help you compete with other domainers for the chance to snag a newly "dropped" domain as it becomes available again in the Verisign Registry.
An informative article about the drop-catching process can be found here.
1) Pool - We've used them to grab a few of our domains and have generally been pleased though we did have one problem with a registrar in Israel that took a couple of weeks to work out. Their Deleting Domains search is pretty flexible and you don't pay Pool until they grab the domain for you. However, Pool doesn't win every grab so you're better off using at least two domain snatching services if you have a domain that you absolutely must have.
2) SnapNames - Works very similar to Pool.com but they've been around longer. They now have a tight relationship with Network Solutions which appears to give them some new advantages. You also don't pay unless SnapNames gets your domain. They were the first domain snatcher that we used years ago and we still choose to use SnapNames along with Pool when we're trying extra hard for a domain. In recent months, however, SnapNames has been more successful for us in grabbing domains.
3) ClubDrop, part of the Enom family, has some creative software approaches to domain snagging and their success rate has been pretty good. Like Pool and SnapNames, you don' t pay unless they get your domain.
1) At Pool, you get 4.5 days to see how the traffic is and you pay only pennies for each domain you "taste" unless you register it for good.
1) Sedo - Anyone can register for free with just one domain or one thousand.
2) DomainSponsor - You need at least 50 domains but registration is free. Payout is stated at 50%.
3) TrafficZ - Requires at least 100 domains. Payout is based on a combination of CPC and CPM.
1) Sedo / GreatDomains
2) GoDaddy
3) SnapNames
4) Pool.com
5) Mocus / Premium Domain
6) Moniker
Keep in mind that, while certain factors do affect the marketability of your domain, ultimately it's only worth what someone will pay for it. Many domains sell each month for four and five figure dollar amounts that would normally have evaluated very low by traditional methods.
Intelligent, thoughtful research is critical for this business but sometimes you just get lucky...
Free Domain Valuation Tools / Services
1) Premium Domain - Just enter your list of up to 50 domains and you'll get a ranking within 24 hours. If your domains are already listed for sale with Sedo, you can set your account at Premium Domain or Mocus (for less than "premium" domains) to reflect your Sedo status.
2) A manual, self-test here from Webmaster World.
3) Another, improving software tool can be found at EstiBot.com.
Pay Domain Valuation Tools / Services
1) GoDaddy, Sedo, Moniker, and just about everyone on the planet that can spell "U-R-L". Think about this, a pay service has an incentive to value your domain high - they want you to feel good about your "potential" value so that you'll do more business with them.
Unless a pay valuation service is willing to guarantee that your domain will sell at the value they assessed, you're probably better off using one or more of the free options available, creating an average, and then building a little experience yourself through trial and error.