HTML Help: How to Find Good Domain Names

Check the Free Ebooks section to see if it's there. In the meantime, I'll give you some tips to help you now.

While it is getting harder to find good domain names, it can be done. I recently bought i-webhost.com for a hosting company. Pretty great name with "web host" for keywords!

To find a good domain name, create a list of several possibilities. Ask friends and family for suggestions. Use a thesaurus to find other words related to the one you want.

Once you have a decent list, plug them into a domain name registrar to see if they're taken. I like to use Dynadot for that because you can search several domain name possibilities at once using the bulk search.

Good domain names have the following qualities:

• It is short and memorable.
• It doesn't contain more than one hyphen.
• It has at least one good keyword related to your site's content or purpose.
• It's easy to spell.

You can also make up your own words to use, just be careful that it's easy to remember and spell. After all, who had heard of Google or Kanoodle before they became a search engines?

Another helpful way to hunt for the perfect domain name is to use a free suggestion tool called Nameboy. At Nameboy, you type in a primary keyword, a secondary keyword is optional, and tell Nameboy to find a name for you. It will return several possiblities, some good, many not so good. Some will be taken, some not. If you're short on ideas it's a good way to get started.

One of my favorite ways to come up with domain names is to go to WhoIs and search the expired/deleted domains. Not only can you find recently expired domains related to a keyword of your choice, but the domain may also have links at search engines and other sites, as well as bookmarks, so you could get some free traffic to boot.

There are also sites that buy up domain names to sell at a profit. If they have the perfect name for your idea, it might be worth the extra money.

Something about that idea kind of rubs me the wrong way though, so I never use those services. They're Internet scalpers, good for nothing but jacking up prices.

If people would just quit doing business with them they'd have to find more useful work, because they aren't going to sit on hundreds or even thousands of domain names for long if they're unable to sell them.

There are businesses that sell lists of expired domains as well. As far as I know they get them from the WhoIs service, and I've just told you how to find them there for free!

Here's a thought since I saved you a small fortune from domain name list brokers, go buy something from me now, I have to eat too, you know. :)