In addition to a variety of domain news sources, there are a number of domain tools that I use daily when buying and selling domain names, and I wanted to share some of them with you. If you use other tools, I would be interested to know what you use, and what they do for you. Below are my favorites – although this list will probably grow as I think of other tools I use:
Whois Lookup (Whois.sc) – I think everyone has a favorite Whois look-up, and I use Whois.sc/domain.com in order to see who owns what. On my Blackberry, I prefer iWhois.com because it loads faster for me.
Domain History Tool (Domain Tools) – This is imperative when buying an older domain name in order to make sure everything looks legit. The last thing you want to do is buy a stolen domain name, so this tool can help you see if something looks fishy.
Website History Check (Archive.org) – This allows you to see various websites that previously existed on a domain name.
Keyword Popularity (Google Adwords) – See how many searches are done monthly and on average via Google to see how people are searching and the exact terms they use. This tool is also great for development to see what long tail keywords people are looking to find.
Domain Sales Data (DNSalePrice.com) – Although recorded domain sales don’t always mean that similar domain names will sell for the same prices, it’s a good sanity check. DNJournal’s sales data is also great, but this tool has many more sales, as DNJ records the biggest sales.
Bulk Domain Search (Moniker) – Easy to use and register – and I don’t have to go through 10 pages of upsell junk that I don’t need.
Escrow (Escrow.com) – If I am 100% certain about the domain name’s provenance and not concerned about the seller, I like to use Escrow.com. It’s simple to set up, I don’t have to wait to sign forms and fax paperwork, they’re very quick, and they clearly know a thing or two about great domain names. Escrow.com is also trusted by non-domainers, making transactions even easier.
Reverse IP (Domain Tools) I secretly love using this tool when buying domain names. Frequently, people have multiple domain names on one IP address, and if I can see several great domain names owned by one company, I can make a larger bulk offer.
What other tools am I missing?
I’d like to recommend a couple of our tools. Our Type-In Traffic Finder combines keyword traffic data from the Adwords tool with domain availability checking to make it easy to find keyword domains.
We also have a bulk keyword domain availability checker in Beta that allows user to input lists of keyword phrases and see if the corresponding domains are available.
John
The ones I most use:
DomainTools.com for whois search and whois history (daily use).
DomainScore.com To check and compare the metrics of domains I may buy/sell (daily use).
I also use Estibot.com and Google Insights (but only a few times per week).
Escrow.com or Moniker Escrow for escrow service (few times monthly).
NameBio: To search for specific domain sale prices (few times monthly).
Can look likes self promotion, but it’s true, I no longer check Sedo,… as I use to do in the past. Now I check daily Domaining.com for review the auctions closing today (hope the last auction actors be added soon to have a full tool).
For sure, I also use Domaining.com daily to check new domaining blogger headlines like your, doon’t use any other RSS reader.
It’s recent but I also started around a month ago to check Twitter in a daily basis. But I am not still fully comfortable with his use, learning…
I just register few names per year (only buy in the aftermarket) so I don’t visit registrars bulk availability tools.
I don’t play in the drop game, so I don’t use any expiring tools/sites.
Use to consult domain forums but there are months that I only check a pair of time weeky at best and shortly.
I was a big fan of Alexa but as I use IE7 and Vista and Alexa is not compatible so I lost my addiction. Annyway it’s not a main factor for domains (yes for sites).
Didn’t know about DNSalePrice.com. This is very cool. That makes a great understanding of comps. Not that it should be the only data point – just a great addition.
I started looking at Namebio as a supplement to DN Journal, but I guess I’ll have to add DNSalePrice, too. Thanks, Elliot!
Well http://www.hosterstats.com provides free historical DNS lookups on domains in com/net/org/biz/info/mobi/asia/ie and a few million .co.uk and .eu domains. It also shows if a domain has cross TLD history. The stats on approximately 2.6 million hosters back to 2000 will be added soon.
Friend of mine runs DomainAuctionCleaner.com . I think it’s pretty good for sifting through ebay, afternic and other sites.
I would add :
Sedo.com and afternic.com for domain auction,
DomainAppraisal.pro and Estibot.com for appraisal and dn ideas lookup,
I don’t know if this is really considered a domain tool, but
for me a daily must is the “lowdown” at DNjournal.com
Ron Jackson has done such a great job for this industry and
I had a chance to have lunch with him and his wife at DomainFest and they are even greater people.
Thanks, Jim
Hi Elliot,
You inadvertently left out http://www.IPinMYpants.Com
You are welcome!