You May Find That Someone Else Has Snapped Up The Domain Name Of Your Dreams Here Are Your Options
So you have a great idea for a domain name. It will make you millions and be the beacon by which an unprecedented amount of Internet commerce flows your way. You’re excited. You go to a domain name registrar to perform a domain name search and, you guessed it, the name you want is already taken. What now? Don’t worry, you have choices.
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.
What Is Domain Privacy And Do I Need It
Domain privacy and security is as important to us as it is to you. Without domain privacy, your private and sensitive information may be collected and displayed in ICANN’s WHOIS database when you register your domain. Domain privacy ensures that these details are hidden from the public view. Our Domain Privacy + Protection package will make ICANN display our contact information in lieu of yours.
Don’t Miss: Transfer Domain From Shopify To Wix
Backorder/bid On The Domain Name
A backorder allows you to monitor a domain name status and be notified of the start of an auction. To place a domain name backorder or bid, you will first need to sign up for an account at the auction partner you identified in Step 2.
Not sure how much to bid? Start by learning how to value generic domain names.
If the domain name has already expired and has not gone to auction at the partner auction service, then you will need to use a drop catching service.
What Is A Pre
When a new gTLD launches, it goes through a series of phases before it becomes available to the general public. In order to help our customers register the domain name they want, we’ve created the Pre-Order system to reserve a domain before it launches. Once a Pre-Order is in place, we’ll attempt to register it when it becomes available. Placing a gTLD Pre-Order is completely free, but we will pre-authorize credit cards two days before the TLD goes live.
Pre-registration, on the other hand, allows you to create a watch list. Pre-Registration is only available for domains that haven’t launched yet. When you Pre-Register for a gTLD, we’ll add the domain to your account and notify you when it becomes Pre-Orders become available. Like Pre-Orders, Pre-Registering for a gTLD is free.
Read Also: What Is A Good Da
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
How To Find Available Domains
Search for your perfect domain name with the easy-to-use IONOS domain checker and get suggestions for available domains. Just enter the domain including your preferred domain extension or let the domain check suggest a suitable extension.
The domain check tests availability, not only with classic extensions like .com and .co.uk domains, but also with a huge selection With over 400 new domain extensions, it’s never been easier to find and check the domain name that best sums up what your site has to offer. Close of new top-level domains like .global, .online or .cloud. This way, you’re sure to find the perfect domain name for your website.
Read Also: Migrate Wix To Shopify
How Do I Know If A Domain Name Is Available
In this post I will explain how to check if a domain name is available.
In order to find out if a domain name is available or not you need to use the services of a domain registration company.
They offer a domain search facility where you can do as many searches as you like in order to choose the right domain for your website.
Watch this video on the everything you need to know about domains.
Should I Add Www In Front Of Domain
This depends upon the nature of your question. When it comes to the domain checker, you dont need to add www in front of the domains that you search for.
When it comes to how you stylise your URL once youve bought it, it comes down to personal choice, although whichever you go with, you should make sure that its always consistent. If your website resolves at both http://www.yourname.com and http://yourname.com, its effectively treated as two different websites.
Historically, websites included www in front of the domain so that when their URLs were included on packaging, posters and other offline marketing materials, people knew that it was a World Wide Web address. Nowadays, though, the internet is so ubiquitous that its no longer really necessary to include the www, and many people argue that removing it makes it easier for people to remember web addresses.
Don’t Miss: How Much Does A Domain Name Cost
Extend Your Brand In The Url
Until 2016, Tesla Motor didnt own Tesla.com because it was already taken.
What did they do? They used TeslaMotor.com instead.
That URL served them well for years because the word motor was such a natural extension of their brand.
This method has the advantage of preserving trustworthiness in your URL.
The catch? You have to make sure you dont throw in just any old word to extend your brand. It has to be relevant and say something about your business.
Gogo, an in-flight Internet provider, uses air along with their brand name:
That makes perfect sense when you think about it.
On the other hand, if they used something like GogoToday, their brand wouldnt have been as obvious, and it wouldnt have sounded as organic.
The trick is to consider related words that you can add to your brand name without sacrificing meaning, memorability, or naturalness.
Some words lend themselves to certain niches. For example, if you sell software, you may be able to use the word app in your URL like Invision does:
This might be your best bet if youre after a .com and want to keep your brand name in the URL.
What Is A Domain Name What Is A Tld And What Is A Ccltd
A domain name is how users on the internet identify your website. As opposed to memorizing and entering your sites IP address, users use your domain name to locate and access your website.
A top-level domain refers to the domain or URL extension. TLDs with no registration restrictions such as a .com may also be referred to as gTLDs .
TLDs can be a streamlined way of communicating the purpose of your website. There are more than 2,000 different TLD options available some have broad applicability , while others have narrower uses cases and in some cases, use requirements or restrictions .
A country code Top-Level Domain is a domain extension reserved for specific countries or territories. ccTLDs always appear as two letter extensions, and are often used to indicate the region and language that will be displayed while using a site.
Examples of ccTLDs include .ca, .us, .uk .
Read Also: Wix Unlock 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.
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.
Read Also: Transfer Wix Domain To Squarespace
How Much Does A Domain Name Cost
The exact cost of your new domain name will vary based on the registrar, the specific top-level domain you’ve chosen, and the quality of the domain name. Domain.com is proud to offer more than 300 unique TLDs to help your new website stand out. Some domains may be pricier due to their intrinsic benefits, like being short and memorable, or the use of very competitive keywords such as cars.com. Browse our premium domains to jumpstart your website performance.
What Do I Do If A Domain Name Is Already Taken
If the domain name that you want is already taken then your best bet is to look at minor variants. For example, perhaps you can add another word to the name or you can switch one word out for another. Perhaps you can register it using a different extension, such as by using a ccTLD instead of the .com domain.
Another option is to hyphenate, so instead of using mywebsitename.com you could try my-website-name.com. Just be careful, though the last thing you want to do is to cause confusion by having a name thats too similar to someone elses.
Finding the right domain name requires a little bit of art and a little bit of science. It also often takes patience and a lot of trial and error. But thats okay too. Remember, the right domain name is out there, somewhere. You just need to keep searching around until you find it.
Recommended Reading: Point Godaddy Domain To Squarespace
Whats A Domain Name Checker
Domain name checkers are tools that help you to determine if a domain name is still available. Often, these tools can also suggest other related domain names, along with presenting other domain name extensions that might be available under your chosen domain name.
There are also other related domain finder tools that are more focused on helping you generate unique domain names, while at the same time searching for availability.
How Long Does A Domain Name Registration Last
The minimum length that you can register a domain name for is a year, but you can also extend your registration to three years if youd like to own it for longer.
On top of this, we encourage you to renew domain name. You will get notifications via email when its time to renew the domain name. We also allow you to set up auto renewal so that as long as your payment method is still valid, your domain name registration will automatically be renewed at regular intervals.
You May Like: How To Find Email Domain And Server
How Do I Choose The Best Domain Name For My Website
This is a tricky one with no concrete answer. The good news is that you can register multiple domain names, and so its usually a good idea to do that for every domain name that you think of. That way, no matter what happens, you own it.
To get started, youll want to use our domain checker so that you can look up the availability of your domain name including each of the popular extensions. As a default, you should start by entering your company name – or, if youre launching a blog site, the name of the blog. If thats available as a .com address then the decision is pretty much made for you. Go ahead and register it.
Unfortunately, thats not always easy because of the sheer number of domain names that have already been registered. Youre unlikely to find a dictionary word as an available .com domain, for example, and so youll need to be more creative. This is where that domain checker will come in super useful, because youll find yourself entering all sorts of combinations until you find something thats available.
As a general rule, the best domain names are memorable and easy to spell, and many of the most popular companies named themselves by merging two words together . Try different words in different combinations until you find something thats available.
Once I Register A Domain Name Can I Change It Later
Once you register a domain name, you own that domain for the length of time that you specified, although you can potentially sell it or to transfer ownership to someone else.
The good news, though, is that if you want to buy a new domain name and to use that one instead, thats not a problem. Youll simply need to follow the same steps you followed when you purchased your first domain name and point the new name to your webserver.
Finally, while its true that you can change your domain name, its best not to make a habit of it. After all, the more you use your domain name, the more powerful it becomes. Every time you change it, you lose a bit of the value that youd worked hard to instill in the old domain name.
Don’t Miss: How Much For A Domain Name Per Year
How Do I Check That A Domain Is Available Without Triggering A Grabber
A few days ago, I checked whether a domain was available by tying the name in the web browser. Also host returned not found 3
When I tried again today, some domain grabber had snatched it.
How can I check whether a domain is available without losing to some barely legal “service”?
- What registrar was it registered with? Just curious, the same thing happened to me before. KeithFeb 1 ’11 at 4:47
- 3For my own learning, how could a domain grabber know you typed in a domain in your browser that wasn’t registered and then grab it? How would you know this had happened, and wasn’t just a coincidence. Matthew LockFeb 1 ’11 at 5:00
- 1@Matthew, it’s not a coincidence. It’s called “domain name tasting” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting. Companies form agreements with registrars to automatically register any domain accessed that is not already registered. The company has several days to decide if they want to keep the domain if not they can abandon it at no charge. According to the Wikipedia article, over 90% of domain name registrations at some registrars are “tastes”. Dour High ArchFeb 1 ’11 at 5:31
- Please check my suggestion out in the answers below
I use whois, nslookup and similar tools from the command line to check whether a domain is registered.
Assuming you have access to SSH or a terminal:
In your shell .rc file add:
alias checkdomain="' & & echo -e '\033[0 32mAvailable\033[0m' || echo -e '\033[0 31mNot available\033[0m') < < < "
checkdomain < domain>