How to Find Quality Domain Names
It seems that every other month, I have to sit myself down in front of a mirror and administer a 30 minute lecture about buying domain names! Sometimes its even fun to smack myself around a little! :-) I am VERY BAD about buying domain names… “just because“. I can make 642 excuses WHY I needed to buy those 42 domains this morning, but why bother?
Yesterday, Pedro wrote about finding great domains on eBay and it reminded me of a post by Elijah many months ago about his own Site Flip. Ever since the day Elijah’s post showed up in my feed reader… I have steadily dipped my feet into the waters of site flipping. I am not going to share my own results in this post, but they are coming soon… :-) What I want to do in this post is share my method for finding high quality domain names for both site flips AND niche sites!
Recognizing a Quality Domain Name
Before you can know which domains are buy worthy, you have to understand what it is that may just make them valuable to begin with! Lets take a quick look at different uses for domain names and the good, bad and ugly about each.
For my own purposes, I categorize my domains in two very distinct classes: Throwaway Domains and Keeper Domains!
Domains for Your Niche Websites or any other Strategy for only YOU!
These are the throw away type domains that you will likely never resell to anyone! You don’t really care too much about the domain quality, since you are doing your OWN thing with it.
- .com or .net, or .anything!
- It makes no difference if they are long, easily misspelled, or hard to remember.
- Hyphens are fine!
- If you use a brand in the name, you realize it may be pulled out from under your feet at ANY moment, and you may lose $10k or more if the brand owner had a bad day!
- You don’t really care if Google drops it from the index, there are no long term plans.
- Examples: buy-my-crap.net, cheap-designer-purses.info, youknowyouwanttobuythisjunk.com, etc.
The point is… YOU are the only person you have to please with these domains! As long as they fit into YOUR master plan, nothing else matters! I can tell you that in my 15+ years of domain buying experience, I have rarely ever bought a domain for my own purposes ONLY. I do my best to have an escape plan with EVERY domain I buy. Those that are not great… I tend to use for throwaway purposes, testing, etc.
Domains you Buy for Flips, Quality Sites, OR as a Long Term Investment
These are your Keeper Domains and the type of domains you truly want to focus on buying as often as possible! They are generally shorter in length, contain high volume “general” phrases, and tend to stay in the .com or .net arena. I prefer .com, but will quickly buy a .net if it is a high volume phrase or catchy in the way it sounds!
- Primarily .com but .net is great with the right words!
- Short and easily remembered are much better!
- Dictionary Word(s)
- High Volume Search word(s)
- Easy to Spell, with little to no chance of a misspell!
- No hyphens or special characters in the name!
- NEVER use a Brand name or trademark in the domain name!
- NEVER risk deindexing with these domains!
- Examples: cheapshoes .com, baseballgloves.net, ibuyit.com, etc.
In my never-ending quest to find a million dollar domain name, I tend to buy more than I should! The result however is several 4-letter domains, many 5-7 letter dictionary domains, and even more (hundreds) of domains with high volume dictionary terms! The one thing that alot folks ask me is… How do you find these great names? The short answer… is that I spend at least 1 hour EVERY NIGHT looking at expiring domain names ($5 ea) and the second answer… involves using the free tools at your fingertips!
An Easy Way to Find Quality, In Demand, Domain Names
I don’t know if I have mentioned it or not, but Google has a GREAT tool for keyphrase research, based on actual shopping and buying terms from their index. I have been using this tool for several weeks and I have to say… it is the $hit! If you have not been there, make it a point to go today! Google Search based Keyword Tool
Aside from the dramatic benefits this tool has for niche store research, it can also string together the highest volume phrases in hundreds of consumer shopping categories! For this example, I am going to choose a topic that interests me, cars. Even though there are many steps in the process below, it literally takes 2 minutes per group of 500 domains.
- Go to: http://www.google.com/sktool/ and bookmark the link!
- At the bottom of the screen, click on the link for: “See Top Keywords across All Categories” (or click here instead)
- In the left menu, click on “Vehicles”. You will see that it expands the menu into a few subcategories for you. There are thousands of subs in this tool!
- I am interested in a auto-parts domain, so I will click on Vehicle Parts and Accessories then > Vehicle Racks. Essentially, I am drilling into a niche market!
Now I have this list of more than 800 phrases in front of me. It includes the exact searched for phrase, as well as the monthly volume, and a few other metrics. The only thing I pay attention to right now is the volume! If a phrase has more than 500 monthly searches… it’s fair game, as there are MANY related searches you can find in the keyword sanbox tool! - Click on the “Export” button just above the listings, and choose to export ALL words in the list.
(I use Excel, but any spreadsheet, including Google Docs will work!) - Open the Export list in a spreadsheet or whatever, highlight the first column… the one with ALL of the phrases in it, and copy the entire list! (No need to remove the spaces)
- Now that you have a list of words with no spaces, head over to GoDaddy and use the bulk register tool to see if any are available. To get to the bulk tool, hover over the link for “Domains” in the green menu bar and choose “Bulk Register” from the drop menu. Its about 8 links down the list. This tool will allow you to check 500 domain names at a time!
- Paste the list of phrases from your spreadsheet with MORE than 500 monthly searches, into the bulk register box. (The bulk tool only handles 500 at a time, so you may need to split your list into a few parts)
- Choose .com ONLY for this step, complete the captcha at the bottom of the screen and click on Search.You will quickly be surprised at just how many of these phrases are already registered! I ended up pasting 181 terms into the box… of those, more than 45 phrases are available in the .com version!
- Repeat the same process starting at step 8, but this time, choose only .net domains and search.This time, there are more than 124 of the 181 terms available as .net domains!
- Eliminate EVERY DOMAIN that has a manufacturer or brand name in it… you don’t want these!!
At this point, I usually get over excited and have to walk away from the PC for a few minutes or I will get in trouble (Including, as I write this) … Take a look at just two of these domains that are were waiting to have niche sites built on them:
carbikecarrier .com – “car bike carrier” – 1200 searches per month for the exact phrase! imagine all the brands of car carriers you could build a site around! (I registered it already, along with the plural)
carbikerack .net – “car bike rack” – 8200 searches each month for the exact phrase! (I bought it and the plural as well!)
As you can see… I have a serious domain addiction!
The point is… instead of guessing for domains to buy, head over to the authority on search, Google, and use the tools at your disposal to grab some high volume, keyword driven domains!In the last 60-90 days, I have found more than 60, 4-7 letter HIGH VOLUME domains like this, and I have not even scratched the surface yet!
What Other Method do You Use for Finding Domain Names?
Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:
- Domain Names With PR
- Build a Niche Store Empire Series in 12 Weeks – Finding the Right Domain
- Registering Your New Domain Name
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I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.
What about using.info’s these days, do you believe that they’re alright to use again, especially since Google might de index your BANS site anyway?
Awesome ideas for domain names Mark! I will definately try this out!
Hi Mark,
Recently I bought two domain names with key-phrase search numbers of around 50,000 (and of course a high profitability along!) per day for both, though with hyphens and .net and .org top level domains; among others that I bought only in the .com top level domain.
I constructed these two (of course with 10 posts in the beginning each!) and they were INSTANT HITS both with google and yahoo.
It does matter… the way you choose your domain name!
Sorry, not 50,000 per day… it is to the tune of 5,000 per day – of couse one to its minus side and the other almost double of it… around 10,000!
A slip of finger that was!!
Humm. How Do I Find Domains?
After buying more than I can make sites for I’m in Domain rehab.
One of my favorite ways is CNBC. They always talk about new technology. When I see something I think will be popular I immediately start checking if its available. Then I think of generic words for the product. If it is I start buying
I always have the Google tool,and word Tracker open too.
I’m almost ready to do some buying and will try this method
Thaks Mark
well, i’m not finding any domains.. but i AM finding some killer ideas for ads and additions to my current niches!
GREAT info Mark!
Great post – again!
Didn’t think of using Google tools for domain purpose.
And yet again Im slapping my head wondering why I cant think of stuff like this. Ya now, this post is like throwing fuel on the fire for all of us that have the same “Domain Buying” addition as you. Thanks for a great post
Neo
That’s brilliant. Thank you for that.
i have been using this strategy from what i learned from youtube’s 45n5.com
Really great post! But does Google still give as much weightage to the keywords in the domain as it used to?
@ Steve –
I truly don’t think the .info extension was ever the issue many experienced several months ago, it was more of the thin affiliate sites that were being built on them. You can always spot a .info in the top 20 serps… as long as the content rules, the site will too!
@ GB –
I like hyphenated domains as well… but when it comes to flipping or resale value, they don’t have the same value as a non-hyphenated domain. They DO WORK GREAT for building sites on though!
@ Ave –
I didn’t know Mark @ 45n5.com had the same thing… but you hit on a GREAT resource for everything related to site building!! His site is always a good read…
@ Anand –
The weight from G for the named domain really makes no difference to me. Its the volume of the keywords and the likelihood that they may even get type in traffic that matters.
That said – I have read and experienced that keyed domains do make a difference!
Thanks all for the comments!!
Mark
Mark,
Sorry, but I’m missing a step.
When I put these phrases into the tool, 500 first and 301 the next, select .com and do captcha and search, it only shows me all are taken and removed.
Where are the ones that are open?
Unless your post caused ALL of these domains to be bought I’m missing the result I need.
Jeff
Mark,
Sorry about that.
I didn’t realize the .coms left IN the search box WERE the results.
Got it!
Jeff
@ Jeff –
“IF” any are available, they remain in the form text box where you pasted the original list. If I have more searching to do after the initial 500, I usually copy that list into a separate notepad file, and save it while I continue researching.
IF all are taken… the text box will be empty!
FYI – I assume GD also watches these searches… When I was researching something for the JV we are doing, I found a 3 letter .me domain that was absolutely perfect and available.
Within 10 minutes of further research, it was no longer available.
M
Mark,
That would really be crappy of them if it’s true. Pulling searched for domains for their own lists(possibly high dollar parked)would really suck.
I’ll make a point of registering anything as quickly as possible to avoid this.
BTW, ground-breaking post. Good work!
Jeff
Great post…and I thought I had a domain buying problem. Now I don’t feel so bad.
I think you may be right about GD monitoring the searches. I’ve had the same thing happen to me on more than one occasion. By the time I go through my list of available domains and finally narrow it down, I find that some are no longer available after only an hour or so. Maybe it was just a coincidence…
Its an addiction for sure!!
In ref to the coincidence of being available then poof, gone. It actually happened again within the last 10 minutes as I was searching through 2-letter .me domains.
There one minute… gone the next!
Mark
Welcome back from vacation.
On ebay a lot of times you see the same name listed multiple times. For example, crazyfellow.com. This concerns me about what you are actually getting from your purchase.
@ Brent –
Thanks for the welcome home! We got back in early Jan from the trip with 13 teenagers! Kim and I are leaving for a 7day Cruise on Saturday to decompress from the year! We do this every year with the kids… a family trip at XMas… a trip for us right after! LOL
I have found you really need to watch what you get on eBay, and for that matter, ANYWHERE.
M
Great finds Mark, I do somewhat the same kind of research but had forgotten about the skool tool. Thanks for refreshing my brain for it.
Just what I needed Mark, another way to mass buy domains…! LOL!
I have a pile of domains I bought in my early days at this that I haven’t developed, and now realize that they were bad buys. I’ve used this tool before, but didn’t notice the link at the bottom – maybe I was blocking it out in case I was tempted to buy more domains.
Are you still using BANS on your new sites? I’ve been concentrating on building up existing sites which already have BANS installed and not doing new ones, so I’m curious if others have backed off BANS or not.
Thanks for the post Mark. Hope to use it in the near future.
Alice:
I’ve been de-indexed by google on most of my bans sites so I’m building WP and Weebly sites and adding ebay to them as well as Amazon and video to go with them. Also put in a few CB things and have a bunch to chose from.
Some would say too much but we’ll see.
I have a question about domain names, especially for bans stores. If you can get a domain name like http://www.at-sportauctions.com, or at-cheap-prices.com, or for-cheap-prices and then build stores with subdomain names, like http://www.hockey.at-sportauctions.com
or cars.at-cheap-prices.com, would that be a good idea. You could make the real domain name sport auction with information about online auctions, the privacy policy and other info, and then you could put a link in the BANS stores you build to this site.
If I look at the categories in eBay and put a sentence behind it like at auction prices, then you have a lot more opportunity to find a good domain name. what do you think of this?
Oh dear, looks like I’ll be buying (yet) more domains! Thanks for this, a great and easy way to find brilliant names,
[...] Besides, I blogged about the niche on my Niche Store Builder site in January, when I talked about How to Find Great Domain Names. Yes, its been collecting dust since [...]
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