How Do I Buy A Taken Domain Name

Why Is My Domain Taken

Some businesses or entrepreneurs make a living on domaining. They purchase a list of domain names to make money by following current trends, interests, or habits. For instance, if someone purchased www.KanyeforPresident.com, theyd be domaining on the chance that Kanye West will actually run for President of the United States in 2020.

A domainer takes a small risk by investing in the domain and paying for its annual fee, but theres no promise he or she will be able to profit from that domain. In this case, someone domaining is betting on the chance that Kanye West, a big star with millions of dollars, would pay him or her thousands to secure that domain name.

Making An Offer For A Domain Name

Now that you have the owners email address, your next step is to make an offer. As the one who needs something, you may want to be polite in your approach. For example, dont tell them that they have no right to the name because they havent setup a website for the domain name. They may just be using it for their email addresses.

You can let them know that you are interested in the domain name, and you may want to make an offer or even haggle. Prepare yourself for some rather outrageous prices. Many people tend to overestimate the value of their domain name, and some may even have already turned down other offers before.

If youre lucky, you can agree on a price, have it transferred to you and you can use it for your own purpose. If not, then perhaps you can use a brokerage service like Sedo. These services can buy the domain name you want and the fee will then depend on how much they got the domain name for, if they are able to get it at all.

Recommended Reading: How Much To Purchase A Domain Name

Couldnt I Just Get A Username On A Big Web Platform

Having your own domain name, even if its not perfect, is a far better option than building your online presence on top of another services URL, e.g. yourshop.shopify.com or facebook.com/yourcompany. This practice of building your brand, service, or web presence on another organizations platform is an example of sharecropping, and can be problematic for a number of reasons.

With this sharecropping setup, the platform youre hosted on:

• controls how your presence can look or function .
• can change services or raise rates, leaving you little recourse, since not accepting/paying could mean losing your site.
• can control how much exposure you get. Thereve been lots of articles about issues with brands on Facebook getting ever-lessening exposure of their content to their fans if they dont pay for advertising.
• can limit your access to analytics, making it hard to know how large your audience is, what theyre doing on your site, or where theyre engaging when theyre there.
• can simply take your site offline without much notice, explanation or recourse if you are deemed to have violated terms of service or other issues. It can take a lot of time and frustration to get these issues sorted out, and all the while your site is unavailable to anyone.

You can always switch domains later, but its a good idea to start with a web address you control while you build up your search engine visibility.

Also Check: What To Do After Buying A Domain Name

How To Buy A Domain Name: Domain Registration Guide

What you need to know about domain names, how to choose the right one, and the steps to take to check if a domain name is available and to register your domain.

If you want to start a blog or a new online business, youll need to register a domain name, the name for your website. Getting the right domain for your needs might sound technical at first, but the process is pretty simple.

This domain registration guide will tell you what you need to know about domain name extensions, how to choose the right one for your needs, and the steps youll need to take to check if a domain name is available and to register your domain.

Wait For The Domain To Be Transferred To You

Since youre purchasing a domain name through a platform that handles the auction, theyll usually take care of the transfer as well. This means its up to the seller or the platform to initiate the domain transfer to you.

The process can be a bit more involved if you and the seller use different domain registrars. In this case, you might need to ask your registrars support to initiate the domain transfer on your behalf.

Once the transfer is over, youll be able to update your new domains settings through your registrars control panel. Now, youre ready to link the domain to your website as usual!

Read Also: Transfer Domain From Shopify To Wix

Ready To Buy A Domain

As with anything else in business, getting started is often the hardest part. But now that you know how, I encourage you to jump into buying the domain you always wanted. Even a no from the current owner doesnt mean you have to give up situations change, so its always a good idea to check back in from time to time to let your dream domains owner know youre still interested.

Want an expert to handle it for you? If all this domain aftermarket stuff sounds too complex or if you just dont have the time to deal with it, consider turning to a professional service like GoDaddys Domain Broker Service. A broker will contact the domains current owner and negotiate for the domain on your behalf. Done and done.

Pay For The Domain And Transfer Ownership

If you successfully end up making a fair deal, you can move on to the next step, which is to make the payment. Always avoid direct electronic transfers with services like PayPal or TransferWise. This will not only make you appear unprofessional but will also put your transactions at risk.

Thats because it requires either the seller or buyer to put up their end of the bargain first and trust that the other party will complete the deal.

So make sure you rely on a trustworthy site like GoDaddy Auctions or Escrow to complete your transactions.

These third-party platforms will ensure a secure transaction and will hold your money until the domain name is accepted and confirmed.

Also Check: How Much Does It Cost To Buy A Website Domain

Lookup Your Domain On Domain Auction Sites

Theres always a good chance that the domain youre looking for is owned by someone and is listed for sale. There may be several reasons why the owner would want to sell the domain.

• They may not be doing well as an online entrepreneur
• Theyve lost interest in their project
• They may be domain merchants who buy and sell domains to make money
• Somone may have purchased the domain for them as a gift

And more. The reasons can vary, but the point is that your domain name could currently be up for grabs on these auction sites.

So before you reach out to the owner, make sure that the domain name isnt listed on sites like Flippa, NameCheap, GoDaddy Auction, or other domain registrars like them.

Change The Domain Ending

So maybe the .com version of your domain name isnt available. Thats not too surprising. After all, .com is far and away the most saturated domain ending, which is to say, youre far more likely to find any given .com registered versus any other domain ending.

If the domain you want is taken, then one option you have is to register it with a different domain ending. But not all domain endings are created equal. There are three main types you can choose from, and you might choose each for different reasons or to serve different purposes. Lets take a look.

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Have Your Domain Good Heres Whats Next

With your domain name registered, the next natural step to take is getting a good hosting setup, so that your future website is off to a great start.

• Heres our in-depth comparison of the best hosting options available for WordPress.
• If youre on the lookout for a cheap host, read this.

Lastly, if your ultimate goal is to start a blog, read this guide of ours. It covers all the steps to building a successful blog from 0 experience to 150,000+ readers every month.

I hope this guide on how to buy a domain that is taken has been helpful.

If any of the steps described above arent clear, feel free to ask away in the comments.

Find Out Who Owns The Domain

The first step in trying to get it is to find out who is the current owner. Whois is the best service you can use to find information about the owner, including name and email address.

To run a Whois search, you can either look up the name at the registrar of your choice or go to the who.is for domains like .com, .net, .biz and more. Simply eutype in the full domain name and you will get the domains public information which usually includes contact details for the registrant.

For other extensions like .de,.uk etc, you can use the following Whois tools to get that public information:

Theres also the possibility that youll be stonewalled by a Whois privacy protection service, in which case you wont have access to the owners information. Instead you will see some generic information belonging to the privacy service provider. In this case, you can try sending an email to the contact address listed there and hope that your message will be forwarded to the owners email address.

Now, before you get in touch with the site owner, its important you check the status of domain first so you get a better understanding of how much its worth. Things like keyword use, search engine ranking, backlinks and traffic can help you measure its value and help you determine just how much you should be paying for it.

Also Check: Transfer Godaddy Domain To Wix

How Can I Get A Free Domain For Com

You only need to register for any of the web hosting plans that offer a free domain name. However, make sure the value is enough for you to buy the .com TLD.For example, if you sign up for Hostingers Premium or Business shared hosting plans, you will get a free domain for one year with the value equivalent of a .com TLD.

How To Choose And Purchase A Domain Name

Entrepreneur

In his book Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Website, SEO and online marketing expert Jon Rognerud shows you how to build a high-performance website and get top ranking on all search engines. In this edited excerpt, the author outlines how to go about selecting and purchasing a domain name for your site that will help people find you.

Shutterstock

Choosing and purchasing a domain name is an extremely important part of designing your website, because that becomes the name of your website. To buy a domain name, you can do so directly from your web hosting provider or through a separate domain name service . If you’re using a separate domain name service for your server, make sure you choose one such as no-IP. com, which assigns you a static IP address, the numerical address that identifies your computer. If this address is ever-changing , you won’t be able to successfully assign a domain name to your server. I personally use Register.com, Namecheap.com, or GoDaddy.com because I like the independence that these services provide.

Go to GoDaddy.com/domains/searchbulk.aspx and enter keywords that you’re thinking about, and GoDaddy will format them and check the various extensions and names. It will automatically check to see if they’re registered and remove ones already taken, leaving you with a list of keyword-rich domains that are available for you!

Here’s a list of where you can buy/research domains:

Read Also: How To Switch From Godaddy To Shopify

Can You Get A Domain Name For Free

So far, weve covered two ways to buy a domain name. But can you get one for free? The answer is yes. There are three ways to get a free domain:

While you can get a good domain name for free, you should consider how professional your domain makes your website look. Your TLD conveys legitimacy, authority, and trustworthiness to visitors.

What Is The Difference Between Domain Speculation And Squatting

Theres no single, definitive definition, but generally squatting implies bad faith intent on the part of the person or company that has registered the domain.

That means they have no interest in or intentions of creating a website for the domain or otherwise using it . That person just bought it to sell it for more than they paid for it .

Domain speculation, on the other hand, involves registering domains that might be useful or of interest, but which dont block an existing trademark or brand. For example, instead of registering a variant of an existing companys domain, a domain speculator would register something more general, like weselldomains.com, in hopes that some domain registrar might want it.

Speculators are often more open about the fact that the domains in their portfolio are for sale, as well. Whereas squatters might set up a basic page to make it marginally look like the domain is in use, or create a parking page full of ads to try to get click traffic for extra revenue until they can sell the domain.

Some squatters own many domains, though some will only target a few, since the more domains you own that havent sold yet, the more money youve invested without return. Speculators often own a large portfolio of domains, targeting various industries with a selection of relevant terms.

Read Also: How Much For A Domain Name

Take The Opportunity To Brainstorm A New Brand Name

You might be thinking this tip is a cop-out.

But theres a lot of value to this idea.

Let me explain.

Imagine two entrepreneurs have just created a search engine. The working name? BackRub.

But that could be easily confused with massage services. People dont normally associate search engines with the term back rub.

So these entrepreneurs choose another name, a better one: Google.

Thats rightthe worlds most popular search engine started its life as BackRub.

So if your perfect domain name is taken, it could be an opportunity in disguise.

Youll have to hit the drawing board again, but you can come up with a different, unique name that will stand on its own.