By Mark O’Neill
One of the things I like to do is research and buy web domain names. I am NOT a cyber-squatter mind you but I like to think up creative URL’s, see if they are available, buy the domains for a year and see if I can make a project out of them or not. If not, I release them out into the wild for someone else to snap up.
But I have never been able to find a decent domain searching tool. I have been using Yahoo Small Business‘s URL search engine and on occasion, I have also been using WHOIS. But I’ve been wanting something else, something with a bit more….of a punch I guess.
Today, Web Worker Daily pointed out a really interesting domain searching tool called Domize which is rather interesting. But I still feel kind of unimpressed with these tools. For a start, where is the support for foreign domains? What if I want a German .de domain? Next, where’s the skimpy bikini model on the screen cooing and complimenting me on my domain name choices? I mean, come on man! Do I have to do everything around here?!
Does anyone know of a really fantastic free domain checking tool that they use personally and would recommend? Preferably ones that don’t push you towards GoDaddy afterwards and just tells you instead the availability of domain names. Real time checking-as-you-type is a plus as well as foreign domain support.
Plus I seem to vaguely remember that there was a service or a webtool a couple of years back that alerted you when certain domains were released back onto the open market. So if you were waiting for a certain domain to be freed up, you could put a watch on it and you would be alerted by email when it became available again. Does anyone know if such a service still exists?