How Do I Check If The Domain I Want Is Available
There are few different ways to verify if the domain you want is available.
While all processes are kept secure and confidential, the most straightforward is the domain name search tool. Simply type your desired website domain name in the search bar, and youll be presented with a list of results.
The search results will show the domain you want along with its availability, as well as options in other extensions and related suggestions. If the domain is taken, youll be able to review the WHOIS record to see information on the current owner and when it is set to expire, along with a link to our domain brokering services in case youre interested in acquiring that domain.
In addition to Webnames domain search, you can also check out our domain wizard or our domain marketplace to discover more great options.
Why A Good Domain Name Is Important
A domain name is your unique identifier among billions of other websites on the web. Thats why having a memorable and easy-to-type name is essential for having an online presence.
Your domain name serves as an extension of your personal or business name. In that sense it:
- Improves recognition and awareness.
- Adds extra credibility to your venture.
- Eventually boosts visitors recall.
Also, choosing a good domain name is important for SEO. Several years ago exact match domains were all the rage, but today most people choose brandable domain names.
Memorable domain names get typed to Google more frequently. Algorithms keep track of that and assign more authority to your website. As the branded search volume grows, your domain name earns extra authority points, so that it gets easier to rank for related keywords.
With that being said, lets move on to the how-to part.
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How Do I Find Available Domains Through The Whois Database
You can check the availability of a domain name by searching for it on the Whois database. It will give you the status of whether the domain name that you are looking for is available or not. Doing this for multiple domain names over time can help you build a list of available domain names.
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How To Find Your Registrar
- It’s likely you have received invoices for your domain name by email it is best to search your email history for these emails to find out the registrar/company you are using. Try searching for your full domain name as a starting point. You should have an email from them with the original account creation and billing information which you can use to log in and gain access.
- Failing this you can do a WHOIS lookup, the easiest way to do this is through the lookup website , enter your top-level domain name, for example, “mydomain.com” and click search. Look for the Registrar information this shows the company that the domain is currently hosted with. If this looks foreign check the Admin, Technical and Billing contacts and email addresses for any company name that looks familiar. You may also find a colleague’s details which you can use to track things down further.
- Some WHOIS lookups don’t return the results you might be looking for, instead, they return a link to a provider website where you can then search for the specific details. For example, most Australian .au domain names are like this. In the public WHOIS results, you might receive a message like “Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web-based WhoIs” which requires you to go to that website to perform the search and get the full results. It just depends where your domain is registered and how much information they make publicly available.
Add Your Site To Your Hosting Plan
Now that your hosting plan has been added, it’s time to add your site to the plan. This adds the website to the DreamHost webserver so it can be seen on the Internet. View the following article for information on how to add a domain to your hosting plan.
This only tells the server to serve this domain name. You must still point your DNS to the server so it displays online.
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Contact The Domain Name Owner
If one of the steps above leads you to the website owner, its time to reach out! Craft an email letting them know that youre interested in purchasing the domain.
To avoid looking like spam, make sure your email conveys seriousness and professionalism. If you have a professional email address at a domain name you own, that will look more legitimate than one from a yahoo or aol account. If not, consider at least setting up a gmail address, which looks a bit more respectable.
Make sure your email includes:
- Your contact information both email and phone, so its easy for them to choose the method they prefer.
- Language that makes it clear youre willing to pay you may not want to include a specific offer yet , but theyre more likely to respond if they know this is a genuine business offer
- Something that shows your legitimacy how can you show youre a real person with serious intent? Maybe thats a link to a website you already run or a LinkedIn profile.
People get a lot of spam emails, so you want to clarify that youre a real person with real interest. If you can pull that off, the chances of getting a response are much higher.
How To Hide Your Information From Whois Lookups
Online privacy is incredibly important and some people do not want their contact details publicly available on the internet. For anyone who does not want to sell their domain or be contacted by those browsing the Whois directory, we highly recommend purchasing Advanced Security for all of your domains, which includes Whois Privacy, Domain Lock Plus, and a free SSL certificate. It masks your contact information and prevents spammers and telemarketers from using your information for no good.
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Identify Your Domain Host
A domain host is an internet service that manages your domain name, such as, example.com. Domain hosts use Domain Name System records to connect your domain name with email, websites, and other web services. Popular domain hosts include GoDaddy, enom, DreamHost, and 1& 1 IONOS, to name a few.
Google Cloud uses DNS records to set up online services. For example, to use your domain with Google Workspace, add DNS records with your domain host.
Search For Your Domain Name’s Availability
Once you have found the right domain registrar for you, you’ll need to search for your domain name using the registrar’s search bar. There are millions of domain names out there, with thousands more added daily.
If you have your heart set on a domain name before doing a search, you might be disappointed to find it is already taken. Keep an open mind and incorporate important keywords into your domain when appropriate.
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How To Register Your Website’s Domain Name
The first domain name in history was Symbolics.com, which was registered on March 15, 1985. Today, there are more than 300 million domain names, with millions more added each year. A domain name is essentially the address that visitors will type into their browser address bar to arrive at your website.
Domain names allow users to easily connect to other computer IP addresses by typing in an address like “Google.com” instead of Google’s numerical IP address of “74.125.239.116.” In other words, domain names make our lives a lot easier.
Your domain name is an important part of establishing your brand. No two domain names can be exactly alike, although they can be similar. Ideally, your domain name will be unique and distinctive, so users don’t confuse it with other domain names or different businesses.
You might be wondering isn’t a domain name, then, simply a website? Although they are similar, domain names and websites have important differences. Your domain name is the address for your website it is what people use to find your website, which consists of pages, images, and other files.
Choosing and registering a domain name is often the first step when building a website. Read on to learn how to register a domain name.
How Long Does My Domain Name Registration Last How Do I Renew My Domain
How long your domain registration lasts can vary depending on the domain you purchase. Many domain name registrars will allow customers to register domains for 10 years at a time, but typically customers will register domains for one to three years.If you want to extend your registration, its easy to renew your domain with GoDaddy. You can choose to manually renew or set up auto-renewal, so you ensure it stays registered to you.
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Why Do You Need To Register Your Domain
With billions of people using the Internet each day, its important that everything is handled in an organized way. The concept of domain name registration has been around for many years, and its what determines who owns the rights to which domains. Without this process, it would be impossible for the Internet to function properly.
When a domain name is registered, its filed with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers . This is the organization that has been tracking who owns which domains since 1998. While registered domain names are filed away with this organization, you pay a third-party provider to handle the actual registration process.
Once you register your domain, you are listed as the owner of it for a set amount of time. In most cases, you can purchase domain names for a period of at least one year. After the year has expired, you need to renew your ownership. Some domain name registration companies allow you to pay for multiple years at a time if youre sure that you want to maintain ownership for a long period of time.
Keep in mind that if you fail to renew your domain, you lose your ownership of it. This means someone else could purchase the domain name and be able to replace your website with something different.
What Is A Whois Ip Lookup
An IP is a unique address of a server on the internet. Similar to how a telephone number allows you to connect to a specific phone on the telecom network, similarly, an IP address allows your computer to connect to a specific server on the internet.
Domain names and IP numbers are the framework upon which the entire world wide web is built.
IP numbers are assigned to networking organisations with a record maintained by governing bodies for each IP number and the organisation to which it has been assigned. A whois IP lookup allows you track the above mentioned details for a domain.
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More Tips About Domain Registration If You Aren’t Sure Who Your Domain Registrar Is:
Your domain registrar may be the same or different from your web host. It’s possible to buy these services from the same company, but they are actually different services. So you may want to check with your website host to see if they can help you figure out the company you bought your domain from, or if they are your registrar as well as your DNS hosting provider or domain host.
If you are not sure who your web host is, you can find that out by examining your DNS record, specifically your nameservers. Our favorite tool for this is LeafDNS. If your nameservers are, for example, “ns1.bluehost.com”, then Bluehost is your web host.
Domain names can be difficult or impossible to get back if you lose them, so you want to make very sure to renew it with your current registrar before it expires. Expired domain names are often snapped up by companies who just sit on them until someone is willing to pay a hefty price to get them back.
And while you are at it, you may want to add domain privacy if your registrar offers it. This prevents you from getting spam from your public WHOIS data listing your administrative contact and other personal details.
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More FAQ in Domains
How Do I Search For Expired Domain Names
Expiring domain names are just what they sound like: Domain names that were unavailable because they were already registered but are about to expire, making the website name available for purchase again. You can search for expiring domain names using keywords or you can check the list of about-to-expire names. Search domains expiring now
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Choose A Domain Name Suffix Such As Com Or Net
After settling on the domain name, consider the suffix. The most popular suffix is .com, although .net and .org are also popular. These are considered to be top-level domains, or the highest-level domain suffixes in the domain naming system.
There are also other varieties to consider, such as country code top-level domains. These domain names end in a suffix that is particular to a specific country. A website in Germany might end in .de, for example.
Finally, there is another class of domain name suffixes called “sponsored, top-level domains,” which are sponsored by a specific community related to the domain name. For example, .gov is for the U.S. government and .edu is for education organizations.
For most websites, .com is the best suffix for its ease of use, but if you have a specialized website, you might consider a country code or sponsored top-level domain.
Can I Register For New Domains Via Whois Domain Lookup
You can use the Whois lookup service to find the registration status of a domain name. If the domain has not been registered and is available, you can use Whois.com to register the domain name.
Alternatively, if the domain name has already been registered, you can either register similar available domain names that we suggest, or use the contact information provided in order to get in touch with the owner and respectfully negotiate a sale. Do note that unsolicited contact is forbidden using the information provided via the Whois lookup service.
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Who Should Control My Domain Name Registration
Your domain name is one of the most important parts of your online presence. It is your “address” on the Internet, and points to your digital home base: your company website.
The domain name system is not terribly complex, but it’s just complex enough that not everyone understands how it all works. For this reason, many organizations turn over all control of their domain name to an agency or web firm to manage. This has some pros and cons and I’d like to offer a brief overview of how domain names work and then offer some perspective on who should control your domain.
A domain name is an address that defines a “realm of authority” on the Internet. It can be thought of like a physical address for your office. Your address is where mail is sent and where people drive if they want to visit your office. A domain is similar. If someone wants to visit your website, that person will use your domain name to access it. Your domain name “points” to your website just as your physical address “points” to your office.
Yes, very basic stuff. Just setting the stage.