Domain Reseller And Reseller Hosting Explained

As the Internet has developed, a number of new ventures and ideas have cropped up in the web industry. You would have come across the term reseller several times before. A reseller is basically a party that buys a product or a service with the purpose of reselling it later. The Internet industry also provides the user with an opportunity to start with a reseller business. The two most common reseller businesses in the Internet industry are domain name reseller and reseller hosting. Let us discuss in detail about them.

The business of domain reselling has mainly become popular due to its simplicity. It is basically a business that allows a party to resell domain names. A domain reseller basically provides domain registration services for available domains. They also engage in the process of acquiring expired domains from a drop registrar for a later resale. Becoming a reseller of domain names holds a great business potential especially for website designing companies or web hosting companies. By incorporating domain name registration service, web hosts or website designing firms can become a one stop solution for businesses that aim to set up an online presence.

Many domain registrars offer different types of reseller plans to their clients. By offering reseller plans a registrar is able to drum up more business. The biggest benefit of becoming a reseller is that it does not need the user to have any technical knowledge. The parent domain registrar takes care of all the services, including registration and customer support. Though the end-user buys the domain name from the reseller and may also access the domain name control panel at the reseller's website, the domain is actually registered with the parent registrar.

Another reseller business that has hogged limelight is of reseller hosting. This business basically allows the user to sell his dedicated web hosting space to others. In this reseller business the user has the authority to further resell disk space and bandwidth to others. In order to start with this business the user first needs to search for a web hosting company that offers a reseller plan. This is the most essential part as the reseller will basically be reselling the services offered by a web host. It is very important for a user to pick a company that offers quality solutions and has prompt support services. Another benefit of this business is that the user does not need to make huge investments.

Both these businesses offer great opportunities to users who wish to establish themselves in the internet industry.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

Making Profits By Starting a Domain Reselling Business Successfully Online

Nowadays everyone is quite aware of what domain reselling is and the profits this business can bring in. When marketing or promoting of domains is done, there is a lot of profit to gain. The business is worth dollars in millions and the best way to start is, on a small scale. Effort needs to be put in to find resellers or agents who are ICANN accredited.

Besides this you will need to see how you can get into a partnership with agents who are accredited and can offer the best of rates to help increase the income. If you are into a program of reselling domains then special care needs to be taken. In a business like reseller domains, it is also important to be strategic. Whether domains will be flipped or help will be provided to others in domain acquirement is the factor to be considered.

Consider Adequate Research and Right Keys The domain market is a lucrative one in which money can be made in many different ways. One great option is to become a domain reseller for which adequate research and right keys need to be considered for generating decent income. In this industry it has been seen that a lot of effort is taken by domain holders to position themselves.

Support can be best sought from friends and relatives by contacting them. Domains can also be selected as part of a great alternative but it is necessary to maintain consistency in the business and fast delivery should be offered to get more clients. What must you understand about the domain reselling business? Thinking out of the box helps greatly when a living has to be made through the web.

Offer Affordable Solutions Every online business needs to have a dedicated website of its own so that services and products can be advertised and promoted. Many registrars are present in the market so it is not tough to find one. Almost every business is on the lookout for affordable services in domain registration. If domain resellers offer affordable solutions then the chances of getting more customers will increase.

When this happens then the business is able to blossom well. To become a domain reseller the user needs to sign up with the domain registrar. Names are purchased in bulk by the reseller with the main intention of reselling the names later on to interested buyers.

Offer Attractive Packages When bulk purchases of domain names are made then you can get them at affordable rates. Profits can be earned by selling the names at a higher rate. An ICANN accredited registrar should be selected which offers some of the best professional services. Besides offering exceptional services, the reseller domains packages offered should also be attractive enough.

This helps in retaining old customers and identifying new customers. Effective marketing of business is also a must. If you have already been a user providing web designing, web hosting or web services then reselling domains is a perfect business for you. An identity can be built online as a one stop solution for all needs in an online business.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

How Much Should I Pay For a Domain Name? How Much Is Too Much?

When you are looking at the costs for a website there are two different costs that you need to take into account. The first one is the cost of the domain name and the second thing is cost of the website. These are two different things but in order to have a website, these are the two costs that you need to cover.

However, this article will only look at the average costs for the domain name only.

The costs of just a domain name depends on the TLD (Top Level Domain) that you want, for example a.com or a.org or a.net are all TLDs.

Basically you should not pay more than $USD11 per year for your domain name. You will find sites where the price is higher, but these are usually hosting sites that offer the domain name registration as well as web hosting.

If you want a domain name that relates to a specific country then the costs can vary.

For a co.uk domain name you should not pay more than £3.99 or $USD7.00 per year. However, you also need to know that with a co.uk domain name you have to take the registration out for 2 years, which means that you should not be paying more than £7.99 or $USD14.00 per two years.

It really pays to shop around if you are looking for a co.uk domain name as I have seen sites that charge over £20 for two years and that does not include hosting.

If you are looking for a com.au domain name the most important thing for you to do it so shop around as the price differences between different providers are large for example, the most expensive price I found was $140 for two years and this did not include hosting - it was for the domain name only.

A com.au domain name must also be registered for a minimum of two years, so when you are looking at the prices, make sure that the price shown is for two years and not one year.

After comparing the price of com.au domain names at 10 websites, you should not pay any more than $AUD15 per year, making a total of $AUD30 for a two year registration.

Once you have your domain name you will need to get web hosting so that you will be able to have your website live on the world wide web.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

Protect Your Domain Name - Keep Domain Name Registration and Website Hosting Separate

Many web hosting companies offer both domain name registration (allowing you to register your domain name) as well as web hosting services (giving your website a home on the net). While this may seem like a good idea as you can register and host your domain name from one place having your domain name registration and web hosting services at two different places will give more protection for your domain name and website than having them both in one place.

Before I explain why it may be a very good idea to keep these two things separate, I will first give a brief explanation of what each is.

What Is Domain Name Registration? When you first decide on a domain name you need to register it so that it becomes yours and yours alone. This is similar to a company registering its name, or when new released in a housing subdivision is released, a new land title is issued.

Registering a domain is a similar concept. Once a land title is issued, the land belongs to that person until they wish to sell. This is same with a domain name, once it is registered it belongs to the person who is listed as the owner and no one else can sell it.

What is Web Hosting? Web hosting is the actual hosting of the website and the web pages and should not be confused with registering a domain.

There are many web hosting packages out there. Some have the bare minimum and some have many added features. What you need will depend on what kind of website you want and what the purpose of the website will be.

Problems Can Arise If Registration and Hosting Are Done At The Same Place

If a hosting company registers the domain name for you and they also list themselves as the owner: - You can not make any changes to the domain name as you do not own it - If you want to change hosts, which means that your domain name records have to be updated, they do not have to do it as they own it

If a hosting company registers the domain name for you and you also host with them: - If they go out of business you will have to go through a very long process to reclaim your domain name. In the meantime you website will be down as the hosted sites will not longer be available - If you pay for re-registration and they do not do the re-registration you will lose your domain name.

By keeping your domain name registration separate from your web hosting, you will be ensuring that you will always own your domain. You will also ensure that you have control of your domain name.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

How To Register Dot IN Domains?

On the web one of the domains at the topmost levels is .in. Just like other .com domain names, .in domain can be used for different kinds of applications, e-mail and websites. This symbol is a unique one and plays an important role all over the world. A simplified process is followed for registering.in domain name. Through a number of registrars, signing up for.in name is possible.

They are not only reliable and fast but simple to use and easy to purchase. The domain name is purchased from an official registry. The opportunity of .in domain name application before the general public was provided to owners of service marks or trademarks. The domain name.in can be obtained by anyone whether it is an organization, company or individual. This name gives the owner a sense of pride.

Accredited Registrars

To consider domain names registration it is very necessary to consider registrars that are accredited only since authority of.in domain name selling to the general public is provided only to such companies. Before you select a registrar it is important to look for detailed information, the rates charged, the background of the company and different kinds of extensions available.

For different kinds of registrants, the terms and conditions offered at the .in registry are also different. The .in registry makes amendments from time to time. You need to compare the rates offered at different registrars and try to select the most affordable rate. Steps for domain names registration are very simple.

Identifying the Right One

A domain name that is well chosen indicates that the website is professional. It just takes a few minutes to register the domain name. You need to first select the name, identify a domain registrar, register it and then finally point it to an appropriate server of a website. A selected domain name can be brand centric or keyword centric.

It can be composed of letters or numbers or in a combination. In some cases there could be dashes also. More focus is laid on keyword in a domain name that is keyword centric for the purpose of search engine optimization. Such domain types are used by smaller websites. You will first need to check whether the domain name you are considering is already taken up by another company before you buy a domain.

Avoiding Trademarked and Copyrighted Names

More focus is laid on selling and making of the brand in a brand centric domain name. Phrases that are copyrighted or trademarked should be completely avoided. If another domain name is copied, legal action can be taken by the holder of that particular name. Since there are so many companies offering services for a domain name the chances of finding an affordable company always exists.

To buy domain names there are other kinds of extensions available besides .in, like .org, .net, .com, .biz etc. Major domains at top level include .edu and .gov especially for schools, universities and sites of governments, respectively. Staying away from.info domain names which are also less costly is advised since spammers could use them and this is the last thing any owner of a website would want.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

All You Need To Know About Domain Hacks

Though the word 'hack' may not bring to mind anything good, today domain hacks are very popular. They do not involve the breaking into aspect that we might suspect and instead mean a creative play with words that uses extensions in order to make words and phrases. An example can be seen with the ccTLD.it for Italy. There are domain hacks available such as 'say.it' and 'welove.it' that make use of the pronoun 'it' which is widely used in the English language. They can be very useful for your company/organisation due to their memorable nature but, if not used or marketed right, they can have a wide range of difficulties.

How can you obtain a Domain Hack? Registering a domain hack is the same as registering any other domain name. You must still abide by ccTLD/gTLD restrictions that come with your extension of choice. Some countries will require a local presence before you can register. It is important to make sure you read the terms to avoid disappointment. Prices of such domain names are usually cheaper than using the generic.com that is so widely used. The reason for this is that they make use of international domains. BB-Online had a massive range of such international domains available for purchase.

How to choose the right name? It can be difficult to choose a good name, but here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Keep it short. This will help it be more easily remembered. An example is with 'blo.gs'. 2. Remember you can use sub domains. The best way to explain this is with the website 'del.icio.us' who registered 'Icio.us'. Once they had this domain name, they added the sub domain 'del.'. 3. If possible, acquire a name that is also present in other TLDs such as.com..com will have higher traffic and will be more easily listed in Google. 4. Make use of keywords where possible, especially keywords with a high PBR percentage. 5. BE CREATIVE! Most of the simple or 'easy' domain hacks have already been taken so don't expect it to be easily. Jot down ideas that you come across and don't give up.

What if my desired Domain Hack is taken? Don't panic. Like previously said: Be creative! However, if you have a domain hack in mind and are unwilling to settle for anything else, there are some options available. Firstly check whether the domain is on auction. Prices for good domain hacks can rise up to frightening prices so be careful. You can also sign up with a domain backorder service, such as provided by Domain Recover. This allows you to monitor the domain name and when it is not renewed it is 'caught' as soon as it becomes available. You only have to pay if the domain name is successfully backordered.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

What You Should Know About Domain Flipping

Presumably you know the basics of domain flipping - buy a cheap domain, sell it for profit. Buy low sell high. Simple. But there is more to the process than just that. Here are some of the things you should know to make a profit in domain flipping.

You already know that you are going to need to spend money to make money. However, you need to decide how much money you are going to spend. Some people like to buy cheap $10 domains and then sell them for $20. This is only a small profit, but these people sell hundreds of these on a monthly basis. It's a lower risk, but more time consuming as you have to purchase and sell each individual domain.

Other people like to buy more expensive $1000 domains and sell them for $2000. This is a lot more risky, and you have a lot to lose if you make a bad investment, but it takes less time, less effort, and there's a higher payout. It is up to you which one you decide to go with.

You need to have a little criteria list for any domains you might purchase. Check each domain against this list before you buy it. If it doesn't meet one of the criteria, you shouldn't buy it. This criteria list should include things like how short the domain is, whether it is made up of real words, whether it is a popular keyword and any other things that are going to be important.

Domain extensions are tricky. Popular extensions, like.com and.net, are ideal. But on occasion, you can go for other extensions..com.au is an Australian extension and that would be fine if you could find an Australian buyer. The same goes for other country's extensions. On the other hand,.bz is a less popular extension that is only used by very small business owners who can't get or afford the domain that they want. They won't be able to pay very much, and so it won't be worth very much.

Very importantly, look out for scams. Occasionally you will come across a seller who is offering to sell you a domain cheap, but then it turns out they don't even own the domain or the right to sell it. Be cautious of this. If something seems wrong, stay away. You don't want to get conned.

It is important to note that this is not a passive income. You have to buy and sell each individual domain, so this whole process is quite a lot of work. When you start making money from it and gathering a bit of profit, you can outsource the work to someone else and create a small business from it. This is how you make a passive income from domain flipping.

These key hints will help you on your way to becoming a professional and profitable domain flipper. Keep them in mind as you start up in this business, and you should be successful.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

The Basics Of Registering A Domain Name That Works For You

Even in this day and age, there are literally endless combinations of words and phrases available to register as domain names for your new website. But which domain name is right for you? First, you need to think about what it is exactly that you will be wanting to achieve with your website.

There are many different approaches to selecting a domain name. Are you building a brand name, or do you already have a brand name established? Do you anticipate most of your traffic coming in from Google, perhaps for a product you will sell? Maybe you are looking to make money through advertising, or just want a hobby website to provide information to people. There are plenty of topics to cover, so let's get started on a few of the basic ones.

Creating a brand name

If you are Walmart or McDonald's, it's obvious what.com domain name you would want. Many people will often search for a specific brand name in the search engine, knowing exactly what website they want without being 100% sure of what the URL will be. Many people want to create their own brand name, and so you may want to start by finding out what domains are available and going from there. In the age of the Internet, you almost want to base your brand name around being able to get the.com address for it. You can start by going to GoDaddy, which is where you can register your domain easily and for cheap. They have a quick search there which you can try all your potential names out on and see if you can get the domain that is catchy and sounds right. By rule of thumb, it is best to keep your domain name under 20 characters, so be sure to keep that in mind.

Going for the keyword approach

Many people opt to go to keyword approach when registering their domain. What you want is an Exact Match Domain, or EMD. By this, I mean the.com,.net or.org domain for an exact phrase that people search for often on Google. If the term "dalmatian dog training" gets searched for thousands of times per month on Google, then having dalmationdogtraining.com would give you an instant big edge on the competition in that field. So where do you go to find out what exact phrases are being search for each month on Google? Open a new browser window and Google search for "Google AdWords". Register, and once inside, go to their Keyword tool. By default it will have "broad search" checked, and you'll want to change that to "exact". Now, go ahead and search for a phrase related to what you are thinking of for a potential domain name. You will now see how many times people search for that on Google, and below that a list of related terms.

Now open GoDaddy in a separate window and start finding your domain name! If possible, try to find an exact match domain that is searched for several thousand times per month.

What to do when your EMD is already registered

Ok, so every domain name you try to find is already registered! This is a common scenario, considering how many people have already done this process for years before you. Here are some final tips for registering a domain name that will get you results:

Try shuffling the words in your phrase. Instead of birdfeedingandcare try birdcareandfeeding. Even if the phrase isn't searched for as much, you'll still score points with Google by having the same keywords in your domain. When possible, get the.com extension for your domain. However,.net or.org is also good. Avoid more obscure extensions that those three. Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

Is Parking Devaluing Your Domain Investment?

As a domainer your investments and their value should be your number one priority. After all, the number one benefit of domaining is having the ability to control and improve the value of your holdings. So, if your mind is on your ROI, you should be looking at potential value leaks.

For many domainers, parking their investments is the extent of their investment strategy, and when you have hundreds or even thousands of domains, anything else would just be to overwhelming.

Let's look at a couple IF's (Influencing Factors) for domain values:

Content - Quality and relevant content on a developed site can greatly improve the value of the attached domain. History/Reputation - The history and reputation of a domain has power to influence the value of a domain in either direction. Clean history and good reputation = improved value. Spotty history and poor reputation = degraded value.

The typical parked domain has minimal if any relevant content and will usually include some form of advertising. Can you see where this is going?

Every IF or Influencing Factor that determines the value of a domain or website has the ability to increase or decrease value depending on the contents of those variables. So if a parked domain has no content, the IF of Content is not working for you. If the content is poor or not relevant, than the IF of Content is working against you.

A parked domain consisting of no, poor, and/or irrelevant content is building a spotty history and poor reputation. Search engines, directories, WhoIs, and various other sites will cache your parked site and rarely if ever update. They will make a record of your domain/site of the moment they encounter or crawl it and this record will be the foundation of the history and reputation for that domain.

Is parking devaluing your domain investment?

Yes.

The good news is that reputations can be repaired and improved and even though history can not be rewritten, it can be balanced with current and positive actions that will become part of the history.

Now, I know that creating quality and relevant content for hundreds or even thousands of domains is impractical or even impossible, but you can do this for some of your more promising investments. Ignoring the IF's that you can control is the same as throwing away money.

Pick a few of your domain investments to dedicate some time in controlling the IF's, plugging your potential value leaks, and improving your ROI. You don't need to develop full blown websites with hundreds of pages of content, mini sites with a few pages of relevant content and periodic updates is infinitely better than parking. You will not only plug your potential value leaks, but you will begin to build and increase the value of your investments.

Start small with just one or two domains and put together 4 - 8 pages of quality relevant content for each of them. Decide to make periodic updates with fresh content at regular intervals. This is not something that has to be done everyday or even every week, just putting something new on the sites will give the crawlers something to feed on.

When you get a spare moment, create some fresh content, and prepare to bring more of your investments into the profit zone and out of the dead zone of domain parking.

Enjoy knowing that you are actively improving the value of your holdings and that a positive ROI is completely in your hands.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

How to Promote Your New Domain Name

Most people have no problem coming up with a name for their new website and then registering their domain name, but then comes the tough part. You want to send traffic to your website and start promoting it. But just how do you do that?

Most people start off with a shoestring budget so here I will address low cost and free ways to start sending traffic to your new domain name. Hopefully, after finishing this article you can begin to promote your new website and start getting visitors to build your business! Good luck!

One of the first stops to make is to let the major search engines know your site exists. This is very quick and easy to do. And once you get your site listed and indexed in the search engines it can be found when users search keywords matching your domain name.

First, make a quick stop over to Google and simply type in the search box "Google site submit" or "submit url". You will find a link on Google to where you can easily fill out a form and submit your website url to them. They do not guarantee inclusion into their search directory, but usually if they do your site should start showing up in search results within seven days.

Next, head on over to Bing and do the same thing as you did with Google and fill out the form and submit your domain name to their search engine as well. Bing and Yahoo! have now combined their search efforts so there is no need to submit to both sites, as when you list your site at Bing it will show up in Yahoo's search results as well.

The next thing you can do is to start writing articles, such as this one based on the subject and/or content of your website. Whatever you are knowledgeable about will suffice. When you do this, it can position you as a credible expert in your field and also generates additional exposure for your website as well.

You can also start hitting the blogs related to your site. Simply type in the keywords related to your site into a search engine followed by the word "blog" and you will be returned a list of blogs related to your subject. Start contributing useful information to these blogs by visiting regularly and posting comments and replying to them. Just be sure you do not spam these blogs ever! This will not only hurt your reputation, but will get you banned from these blogs for good.

Similar to blogs, forums are another great place to help get the word out about your domain. Again, start searching online just as you would for blogs except replace the word "blog" in your search with "forum". Just as you post comments in blogs, be sure to contribute useful, interesting information to the community and be sure never to spam!

By building these relationships online with readers of blogs and forums you will start to gain traction and recognition within those communities and your website will benefit from this in the form of repeat and increasing traffic!

So start implementing at least two of the above recommendations right now and you will be on your way to establishing your new domain name online.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

Tricks to Do With Your Domains - Make More From Your Domain and the Truth About "Authority Sites"

Hello, in today's article I will discuss some effective ways to use your domain. If you're like me and have many different domains that aren't being used, here are some tips and tricks you can start implementing today!

Also I will briefly share what an authority site is and what you need to do in order to have one of these precious jewels.

Buying a domain name

There are many different reasons someone buys a domain name. I will list and discuss some of these reasons below and maybe it will give you some ideas of how you can use it in your online business as well.

Use it as a redirect: This is a very popular way to use domains as an affiliate. If you just need a domain for a quick test campaign, you can either purchase a new one or use your existing one. Redirect the whole site to wherever you'd like.

It looks like this - "http://www.example.com" redirected to your affiliate link or anywhere else.

Also if you buy an aged domain that has page rank you can give any website a massive spike by redirecting the whole site to wherever you want to boost ranking. Use it as an extension farm:

Another way to use domain is to have one that you do massive extension redirects with. So it may be some generic domain name that does all your extensions. It looks like this - "http://www.example.com/superman/" redirected to your affiliate link or anywhere else.

Use it as an authority site:

Another Powerful way to use purchased domains is to have one main site that you show love to. This is better known as an "authority domain"

What makes a site an authority site are a few main things. The amount of pages or post - daily actions on the site - how targeted the site is on one subject - how many backlinks are pointing to the site and having key pages on the site, the about us page, the sitemap, the main tabs to navigate the site and the privacy disclaimer.

Your sites are seen as an authority site by Google once it has the full details in the search results. It's a bit too hard to explain without an image or something so just type wiki. com into the search engine. That's how it ought to look.

Work at it.

Just like riding a bike it takes practice and some falling down and bruising of the knees to learn and master it.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

How to Select an Appropriate Domain Name

Choosing a proper domain name for your site often seems like to be an easy task. However, it is perhaps among the most important things that you'll have to undertake while creating your website. You domain name would be the first thing that people would see along with your site. It could have a big impact on how good your website ranks in search engines. While choosing a domain name, you need to take several factors into consideration all through the process.

At the very outset, select a domain name that can include your business name. While this may apparently look like a very simple concept, several webmasters commit the mistake of attempting something creative and selecting a domain name that's not the name of the business. If such a thing happens, another webmaster can zero in on the domain and you are likely to end up losing your traffic, and subsequently your sales, to a competitor.

Select a domain name that comprises the main keyword of your website. There are several search engines, including Google and others, that tend to attach extra importance to websites that have their primary keyword in their domain name. These often help you in garnering a higher page rank in search engines as well as bring more traffic in the long run.

Select a domain that sounds catchy as well as very easy to remember. While choosing a domain, you would surely want your visitors to remember the name of your website at a further time and while talking to friends and acquaintances. If the domain name is long, consider breaking it up with hyphens. This could make it easier for your visitors to identify the words of your domain. Besides, it helps the search engine to recognize your keywords better.

Search to see whether the domain you want is available with the company from whom you want to buy it. Most companies that offer domain names have a tool that enables you to key in a probable domain name and see whether it's available or not. If your desired domain name has already been purchased by somebody, you can consider domain names with ".org" or a ".net" extension. Once you are able to find and appropriate domain name, select it and register it for your company.

It's advisable not to change your domain name anytime in the future. This could forge a drop in traffic for your site.

Get Your Online Presence Started With An Effective Domain Name   In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

Finding a Short, Easy to Remember Domain Name - It's Possible!

I'm sure many of you have logged onto your favorite domain registrar and searched without success trying to find a domain. You may have come to the conclusion that every single domain must have been registered.

Cyber-squatters have made it a complete nightmare to find suitable domains, even the complete abstract domains with random syllables are disappearing like hot cakes! These guys have no intention on creating a relevant website but hope to make a large profit when they resell the domain to the highest bidder. They also generate revenue from these domains with pages filled with advertising links and I'm sure you've all seen them when you have mistyped your favourite websites URL.

Back to the point, finding a domain name can be tough but not impossible! There are many tools online which can make your life much easier.

When you can't find the domain you are looking for generally have two options

Expired domains Premium domains

Expired domains as you may have guessed have not been renewed and are available again for registration. One mans junk is another mans treasure! My favourite place to look for expired domains is at DomainHole.com. Click on the expired search link in the navigation, choose a short keyword and the maximum length of the domain if you wish and there you go! DomainHole will display a list of domains that have expired and which extensions are available. The only downside is that there is no option to exclude offensive words (DomainHole please take note), so be warned!

If you don't have any luck with expired domains, my new favorite domain name search is DomainsBot.com. They don't list expired domains but domains that are available or for purchase at a premium price. Don't run for the hills at the word premium, they really don't have to cost an arm and a leg. The sky's the limit when it comes to the pricing of some domains. Generic one worded domains can fetch tens of thousands of dollars but there are plenty that range from well below $100. When it comes to finding the perfect domain, paying a little upfront is worth it. Note, that this is a once off fee and you will be charged your normal domain registrars rate when it comes to renewal.

What I love about Domain Bot is that it lists so many relevant variations with the keywords you have selected. It's the perfect brainstorming tool if you don't know where to start. Just type in the keyword or if you want something a little more abstract, type in a bunch of syllables you would like to use in your domain. There a host of filters on the left hand side such as sorting by price and excluding hyphens & numbers all of which make it super easy to narrow down the results.

What to do when you've found that perfect domain?

If it's available, great! You can go to your favorite domain registrar and register your domain name immediately. Presto, you are done! If "make an offer" is displayed, you can easily do so. Generally the owners of these domains are expecting a higher price. Making an offer is usually done through Sedo and will require you to sign-up and verify who you are to make sure the offer is valid. It can be a little involved but this sign-up is only required once. Lastly if a premium price is listed you can purchase the domain immediately, usually through either GoDaddy or Sedo. Don't worry you can transfer the domain to your registrar at a later stage.

Before you purchase that premium domain!

Before you whip out your credit card you can try contact the owner of the domain directly to try negotiate a better price.

You can do this by going to: http://www.whois.com/whois/yourdomainhere.com

This will list the contact details. I've managed to save a third of the price for a domain I was interested in, so it's definitely worth it. You know what they asking so you can go in lower. Shifty maybe, but I say it's just being thrifty!

Good luck and happy domain hunting!

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