ZebraDomain.com

I decided to take a look at 10 big companies around the word and checked when they initially bought their domains (and when they should expire, not that I would count on your chances of grabbing one… well maybe in the case of GM). All the data was collected using domaintools WHOIS.

Microsoft.com

Created: 1991-05-02

Expires: 2014-05-03

IBM.com

Created: 1986-03-19

Expires: 2018-03-20

GM.com

Created: 1992-01-16

Expires: 2011-01-17 (if they are lucky)

Apple.com

Created: 1987-02-19

Expires: 2011-02-20

CNN.com

Created: 1993-09-22

Expires: 2018-09-21

Google.com

Created: 1997-09-15

Expires: 2011-09-14

Nike.com

Created: 1995-03-04

Expires: 2011-03-05

Coca-Cola.com

Created: 1994-10-14

Expires: 2013-10-13

Mercedes.com

Created: 1995-03-04

Expires: 2010-03-05

Pioneerelectronics.com

Created: 1996-08-09

Expires: 2012-08-08

There are plenty of free online tools which can help you choose a good domain name – here are five (more to come later on).

Nameboy – my favorite domain name search tool. Nameboy is a very simple and easy to use tool. Just type up one word or two and the online tool will quickly display several pages (typically between 2-3) of combinations and variations of available (and unavailable domain names). One of the greatest features of nameboy is its simple way of showing which of the chosen domain name TLDs are free (it is currently checking .com, .net, .org, info, .biz, .tv). On the downside nameboy isn’t very configurable and besides typing in one or two words a user hav e very little control over the results however compared to many other online tools, this one is defiantly a victory of simplicity over features.

Domainsbot – this interesting utility checks the availability of names “on the fly”. As you type a domain name the utility checks for availability in six common TLDs. When you press enter the system displays several pages of potential options. Domainsbot is highly configurable and a user can chose to include in the displayed results only certain TLDs, hyphens, numbers, bad words and even words in several languages. Domainsbot can also show domains which are expired or for sale (the ones I found where for sale on Sedo).

Makewords – this multi-utility has lots of potential. The website actually includes 7 different domain name tools: Name Generator, Themes, Spinner, Dictionary, Randomizer, Bulk Phrases, Blender. Each of these has a different twist. For example Themes (which I found fairly useful combines your keywords with preset wordlists). Not all the results I got using makewords were good (obviously) however some had very little to do with what I was looking for making me wonder if this utility doesn’t need a bit more work.

Bustaname – one of the most advanced domain name generators around. A user types in a number of words and the utility checks for all sorts of combinations (2-3 words long). It is also possible to set prefix and suffix, hyphen combinations as well as some more interested futures such as pluralize and even dropping the last vowel. Maybe the most unique feature (although I am not sure how actually useful it might be) is to save the search to the user’s computer for future review).

Domaintools – one of the most famous domain name related websites. It includes many useful utilities including a Typo Generator, reverse IP search, Domain Monitor, Whois etc. Domaintools also has a fairly basic domain suggestion application quite similar to nameboy. The drawback is that it only displays 20 results (members can get 80 more).

In the past 6 or so years the global domain name market has more than tripled in size, from around 50 million registered domains by the end of 2002 to over 177 million in late 2008. Howevr the crisis affecting .

While .com was, is and probably will stay for years to come the dominant TLD (with about 50% of the total domain market in late 2008), other TLDs (both local TLDs and generic) have become increasingly more common.

When we look at the numbers we can see the global economic crisis reflected in the domain market. If in 2007 the total number of .com grew from about 58 million to over 70 million (an increase of about 12 million), in 2008 the total number of .com domains grew from 71 million to 78 million (about 7 million). 2009 so far seems even bleaker with a total of just over 80 million in the beginning of May (a total increase of only 1.5 million).

Other gTLDs such as .net and .org also slewed down their growth during 2008 and 2009. When we look at .mobi (the mobile gTLD) we see an even grimmer picture. The .mobi gTLD grew from about 450,000 total domains in April 2007 to a maximum of over 950,000 in October 2008. However since than the total number of domains actually decreased to about 830,000 in May 2009.

When it comes to ccTLDs .cn (China) is defiantly the hottest name to look for. During 2007 the total number of .cn domains (including .com.cn, .net.cn, .edu.cn etc.) grew from a about 1.8 million to an unbelievable 9 million. In 2008 .cn continued to grow but in a slower rate (from about 10 million to 13.5 million domains). However 2009 seem to hit the .cn pretty hard with an actual decrease in the total number of .cn domains (from a maximum of just over 14 million in February to 13.5 million in April).

So what can we learn from all of this? The sad and rather unsurprising truth is that the domain market was hit by the economic crisis. The more shocking news is how deep the domain market was affected. The drop in .mobi domains might not be a surprise (many experts have been asking whether this TLD is doomed) but the drop in the .cn is unprecedented and even it could be explained as a result of several factors it is clear that the status of the world economy had much to do with it. If the economic situation will not improve in the next few months we might actually see a drop in the total number of .com domains.

One last point. When looking at the internet as a whole (not just domain names but actual new websites) things look pretty much the same with a 50% drop in the number of new websites.

Some good general internet statistics could be found on hosterstats. .cn specific statistics can be found here. We shall keep tracking this topic for changes over the next months.

The WHOIS service is basically a sort of yellow pages for domain names. You put in the name of the domain and you get information on who owns it (full name, physical address, e-mail and even details such as when the domain was purchased and when it should be renewed).

Sound simple enough? Well, think again. The WHOIS service was created in the early 1980s when all the domain registration was done by one organization (DARPA, which coincidently also created the internet as a secure military network capable of surviving a nuclear war). At the time it was fairly simple to keep track of all the domain name information however as the internet grew it became apparent that some sort of outside management will have to be introduced and in 1993 the National Science Foundation appointed several companies including General Atomics and AT&T to manage the Internet domain registration. Five years later the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was formed and took over the domain name registration which is done by many accredited private domain name registrars.

But enough with the history lesson. The problem with what happened since the 1990s is that the WHOIS data not only increased tremendously in size with millions of domain names registering each year (24 million in 2008 alone) but the information is no longer stored under one roof but in many different locations with no centralized body which has access to all of them.

As a result of this mass there are currently many many WHOIS search tools out there (here is one partial list). However after testing quite a few of the sites on this list I can say that most of them failed to find information on Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs – like .uk, .de etc.). This situation is far from ideal and we can only hope that some order will be done with the WHOIS data in such a way that in the future users will be able to search for information on any type of domain in one place.

However, after looking for a long time I was able to find one fairly comprehensive WHOIS service which seems to work well for many ccTLDs (you can test it for yourself and let me know what you think).

There is no denying we are in the midst of a green revolution. The rising costs of fossil fuels, growing pollution and green house effects are a matter for global concern. This revolution also influences the domain name market (which typically follows global trends very quickly). The terms “green” and “eco” have been almost completely sold out in most TLDs (especially true for the .com extension).

Actually there are even special websites offering to buy green related domains (here are two examples – one, two), but as with other topics the demand for good domain names far exceeds the supply. For this reason exactly a group made out of scientists, entrepreneurs and artists created in 2008 a campaign intended to promote the idea of a new green TLD – .eco.

This March former Vice President Al Gore and his philanthropy, the Alliance for Climate Protection, publicly promoted the .eco top level domain. However despite the opportunities the new TLD could offer there are many who oppose it (and basically any sort of addition to the fairly short list of gTLDs). Many large companies spend big money maintaining their existing domains any new TLD could force them to buy even more domains. Or at least this is what the people of the .eco initiative claim is their main opposition. To be honest even with the current economy most big companies should have no problem buying a few extra domains. The real problem is legal fees which companies need to pay to win back domains they feel fall under their trademark. In this respect each new gTLD can indeed add substantial costs to some companies.

To the rest of us however the possible addition of a new gTLD could indeed spell an opportunity and I promise to keep monitoring any developments on this front.

Here is a list 10 of highly searched terms according to Google trends for May 2009 which might be relevant in the context of domain name monetizing.

• Bipolar symptoms
• Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• smoking candy
• queen kong
• usb missile launcher
• r2d2 in star trek
• worst movies of all time
• cell phone plans
• gm dealerships
• cracked screen

As always you can browse the full list on Google trends website.

In recent years some people have argued that since single word .com domains have all but run out and good two word domains are disappearing faster than beer in a college party its time to start looking for longer domain names. Today the average domain name is said to be about 11 characters (interestingly ZebraDomain is 11 characters, well 14 if you count the .com TLD), so keep that in mind when you go looking for your next domain name.

Of course as time goes by domain names will inevitably get longer but each additional character means a substantial increase in the number of potential domain names so this process will take time.

Moving away from combinatorics, some people have suggested that it might be time to look for longer domain names. What is a long domain name? well, if the current average is around 11 characters, anything above that should be considered long (or at least above average). Of course some people have decided to take this advice to an extreme like:

thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com

or

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochuchaf.org.uk

or

iamtheproudownerofthelongestlongestlongestdomainnameinthisworld.com

These are all gimmicks as no sane person will ever bother typing them. So out of the 63 max characters on a domain name (67 if you include the TLD) what can still be considered reasonable?

Lets look at some examples:

renewableenergyworld.com – This is a 20 character domain name (on a very hot topic). In this case not only is the name too long it is also fairly difficult to spell (renewable).

digitalcamerareview.com – Is 19 characters but is also much easier to spell.

technologyreview.com – Is 16 characters (still about 5 characters above average) but a significant improvement (going down to 2 words) with very simple spelling.

These are just 3 examples. It might be possible to find a 20 character domain name which is still simple enough and memorable but for the most part I would suggest looking for names no longer than 16 characters or at worst just under 20.

Of course all of the above is relevant to .com domains. Different rules apply to different TLDs (and for the most part you will be able to find shorter domain names on any non .com TLD).

To sum things up – try and follow these basic guidelines:

1. Shorter is still (usually) better.
2. The average domain name has about 11 characters so try not to move to far away.
3. If you do decide to pick a longer domain name look up to around 16 characters and in any case try to avoid 20+ character domains.

Everybody knows that finding a good domain name is important. But actually finding one isn’t simple especially if you are looking for a new .com domain name.

Here are a few tips that might help you find what you are looking for:

1. Know thyself – Define for yourself clearly what you are looking for. Is it a personal website, a news site, does it focus only on one topic or maybe several, if it’s a business – what products are you going to sell.
2. Know your competition – If this is a commercial website its important to know who you are up against. When it comes to picking out a domain name you don’t want your name to be too similar to your competition, otherwise readers might get confused and you will have a hard time branding your business.
3. Pick up keywords – After you figured out who you are and who’s your competition you need to pick up a few keywords to start play around with. This could be very simple (like pizza – if this is your intended business) or slightly more complex (like software integration).
4. Pick a TLD – if you are starting a local business (maybe outside the U.S.), looking to start a website for an organization or supply some sort of a mobile service it could be a good idea to look for a domain name which doesn’t necessarily ends in .com (here is a list of other TLDs). However in most other circumstances .com is still the best way to go.
5. Look around – now its time to start looking around. The most straight forward way many people use is think of a name and see if it is available. You can do that by looking on domain name registrar websites such as GoDaddy.com, namecheap.com, Moniker.com etc.
6. Use thesaurus – so far everything was more or less straightforward, however chances are that other people already came up with all the great names you just thought about. Your next step will be to try and expend your keyword search terms. You can start by opening a real paper thesaurus and look for relevant terms or use an online thesaurus (here are three options thesaurus.reference.com, merriam-webster.com and visualthesaurus.com).
7. Use website name generators – if everything so far didn’t do the trick you can try playing around with some robotic domain name generators. Basically what these sites do is use one or more keywords supplied by the user along with an internal database of frequently used terms and try and create new domain names. The algorithm will then check for the availability of these domains in various TLDs. Here are a few name generators: nameboy.com, domainsbot.com, bustaname.com and makewords.com.
8. Look for expired domains – if even the robots have failed you there might still be a few options left. One of those is to search for expired domains. This isn’t easy and the few good expired domain names that reach the market get snatched usually very quickly. However if all else failed it might be worth checking out. Here are a few expired domain websites: justdropped.com, networksolutions.com and domaintools.com.
9. Get expired domains –buying an expired domain could be tricky as the good ones usually get snatched very quickly (simply too many people around the world are going over those about to expire domain name lists). Some users have suggested using special services which can secure a domain name for you the minute it becomes available. This comes at a price (typically several dozen dollars or so) but it could mean the difference between getting this great domain name and having the other guy get it. I do suggest you practice caution when using these services as scams are common. Here are a few such services suggested by readers from around the web (didn’t try any of them yet) snapnames.com, clubdrop.com, and pool.com.
10. Buy aftermarket domains names – buying second hand domain names might be the last thing you will want to look at (after all why pay hundreds of dollars for something you can buy for less than $10) but in some cases it might be worth it to check this option as well. Some internet centric businesses are dependent on having very specific domain names, others might feel that having a three latter .com domain name might help their business and don’t mind spending the extra $20k+. In some cases buying a good domain name might also be a good investment (after all nobody is making any new good .com domains). There are several aftermarket websites where you can buy second hand domain names including afternic.com, sedo.com and namejet.com.

I will explore many of these points in more depth later on.

As we shall do here on a regular basis I decided to to have a quick look at some of the recent domain names sold online. This week I will have a look at 13 domain names sold and published (May, 1, 2009) on Sedo.com.

1. Studentprogram.com – $2466
2. Roller-hockey.com – $666
3. Worldtravler.net – $1416
4. Pana.ma – $5000
5. Ixpo.ca – 529 £
6. Allocated.com – $1212
7. Gbs.com – $25,800
8. Slowcookrecipes.co.uk – $700
9. Nexteer.com – $3500
10. Point-g.info – 2500 EUR
11. Tutoweb.com – 1000 EUR
12. Croydon.co.ik – 9000 £
13. Grunder.de – 8400 EUR

First of all we can see that only 6 our of the 13 have .com TLDs. It will be interesting to see how this will evolve over time, but good .com domain names are already pretty hard to come by. When we examine the list more carefully we can see a few interesting points. Pana.ma was sold for $5000. Interestingly I was unable to find any info on this Moroccan TLD (no WHOis info of any sort). 

GBS.com is a different story. First registered back in 1993 this is a 3 latter .com domain and its no surprise it reached almost $26k. This domain went through a lot since it was originally registered. According to Wayback Machine in the late 1990’s this was home for a computer consulting firm (called Graphical Business Systems) which than changed hands (or name) and became Green Bridge Station and finally a website for an autoimmune disease called gbs (Guillain-Barré syndrome). Apart from the history lesson we can see that a good short domain name can easily be used for any number of different websites (and different topics) and the more obvious point: a 3 latter .com domain name will probably never be cheap.

Last but not least a few words on Point-g.info. This adult domain name was sold for an extremely impressive 2500 EUR (around $3300). Why do I even bother mentioning this domain? well, two reasons actually: 1. it has a hyphen (which typically go against what most experts will tell you when it comes to buying domain names). 2. the TLD is .info – typically a fairly low value for money TLD (I have a personal story to tell about Google and .info domains but lets leave it for another post). What can we learn from this purchase – I honestly can’t reach any conclusions but I will love to hear your input.

Ever bought an existing domain and wondered which websites it held before? I recently stumbled across a nice little online tool which can help you find out what was on the domain in previous years. This tool is called the WayBack Machine and is actually a part of the Internet Archive (a non profit organization created in order to record the “history” of the entire internet). Although the purpose of the WayBack Machine is mostly academic it could actually be a pretty useful tool for domain buyers looking to invest in an existing domain.

Here is an interesting example: the domain hybrid.com is currently offered for sale on Sedo for $990,000. Using WHOIS you can trace back the creation date of the domain way back to 1992, but much more interestingly using the WayBack Machine you can view some of the websites which used this domain starting back in 1996.

When you consider buying a top domain like hybrid.com the importance of knowing everything about your potential purchase is clear (nobody spends these sums of money without doing a proper research). But even when considering to purchase an existing domain for far less it might be a good idea to check the domain “history”. After all you would not like to find out by chance that your new religious website is sitting on a domain which used to hold an adult site or that your charity organization was once a home for illegal internet gambling.

There might be another reason for using the WayBack Machine. If you are considering buying an expired domain it might be a good idea to check its history. Why? Because you might find that in the past it hosted an online business. Some people used this knowledge to create a similar website on the same domain which could help them draw in more traffic, improve their search engine ranking and eventually make them more money.

I am going to continue using the WayBack Machine and report any interesting findings as I go along.