In this post we will show a few scenarios on how to use the WhoAPI domain checker—WDC— (discontinued) so that you can find incredible .com and .net domain names that are available for $10 registrations. This domain checker was built using our Domain Availablity API, so if you have plans of building such a domain availability checker, you can certainly do so! In case you are interested in other bulk domain availability checkers, we have you covered, you can check them here.
If you want to jump in and check out different scenarios of how our tool can help you, you can certainly do that (just scroll to the 1-4 titles highlighting different scenarios); but if you need more convincing or would like to pick up some knowledge in the process of reading this post, read through everything and let it all sink in before you start taking action.
Unless you have been sleeping under a rock for the past few years, you’ve noticed that finding good .com domain names is incredibly hard. Obviously one of the solutions is to go with the new extensions, or as they call them “not-coms”. They are basically the generic top-level domain (gTLD) that is on the right side of the dot that comes after your name. There’s a .hotel, .berlin, .tattoo, .club, and a couple hundred others. If you are a new hotel, or if your business revolves around the city of Berlin, this makes the decision and the process of finding a good domain name easier for you. But if you are a small business that doesn’t have an extension that represents them, you will most likely stick to the .com.
Then again, let’s not lose focus on the thing we are really after. We are not after a “good domain” or a “good name”, we are after these 4 results:
- Staying ahead of the curve, staying on the edge
- Getting found (these days it’s mostly through search engines)
- Making it easier for our potential clients to remember our business,
- Connect our name with a certain type of “problem-solution”
That’s where this problem gets complicated. We are looking for a company name that will help us solve those issues, but at the same time it has to abide by the rules (trademarks, history) and be available, or registration that won’t cost us an arm and a leg. Therefore we could say that domains need to address two issues: technical and practical.
Technical characteristics of a domain name
- Yearly price
Obviously, if you have 100 domains and you pay $12 each, it adds up in 10 years compared to paying $8.53. $12,000 compared to $8530. - Registrar user interface
Time is money, and losing time and nerves with a simple task of changing your nameservers, or transferring domain names is never something anyone wants. - Trademarks
Hopefully, it goes without saying you can’t build a viable business on a domain name like cokedrinks.com or microsoftware.com. Trouble is, there are “smaller” businesses out there that still have a registered trademark and a domain name, and you have to be careful. Use a Trademark API to check. - History
You have to be aware of whether the domain name you purchased had any history or prior usage. If you are buying a fresh domain name for a base price, there’s a good chance it doesn’t. - Search engine friendly
You probably knew this, but the majority of website traffic still comes through search engines. Yes, Google confirmed domain extensions do affect SEO. More on that, see my Quora answer. Also, putting content on a subdomain is not the same as putting content on your main domain (confirmed by Rand Fishkin here).
Practical characteristics of a domain name
- Short, pronounceable, memorable
Domains should be easy to remember (shortness and pronunciation helps with that). With all the distractions, you don’t want to give your users a hard time remembering your name. - Differentiation
This was pointed out to me during the research on Repsly rebrand (you can read more about that here). If everyone is using highly technical names, a name like “Apple” will go a long way. - Use different domains and extensions
If you think a product with a different domain name will be more relevant, and that it will perform better then on your company website (for testing purposes, or as lead generation strategy) then use a second domain. If you think people accidentally type the wrong letter, then register that typo. If you were working locally under a ccTLD, but want to start shipping globally, then get off that ccTLD (country code top-level domain like .es, .jp, .ar, .br). Although this post is about finding incredible .com domains, if you find a “not com” that hits all your goals, go for it. Be practical about it.
Now that we have that covered, we can show you the tool that will make it easier to find available .com domains. It will help you find different types of domains that can serve different purposes. You can use them as your main domain, for your AdWords campaign, or your SEO effort. Remember, although “exact match domains” (EMDs) are not as popular as they were years ago, they can still be beneficial. Their relevancy is strong both in search engines’ algorithms and in people’s brains. What do I mean by that? Well if you click or see “plumbersanfrancisco.com” you expect to find a plumber in San Francisco, not a hotel in Iowa…. And also, on exact match domains like “plumbersanfrancisco.com”, other websites tend to link towards that website using the keywords “plumber San Francisco”, and usually the titles, description, headings, and other on-page signals again revolve around “plumbersanfrancisco.com”.
Consider exact match #domains and their value when performing #SEO – https://t.co/CDiAJ6zH1Z
— alvinbrown (@alvinbrown) February 7, 2016
I am not saying that’s all it takes to get to the top position, and that just registering those domains will get you a top position, but it is easier in some cases. This is definitely a large topic that I can’t go into here, but hopefully, I made my case in the value of exact match domains. The most popular exact match domains are “geo-targeted” domains, so let’s start with that one.
1. Scenario – geo domains for SEO and AdWords
If you are still debating AdWords vs SEO, we wrote a great article with some thoughts you may have missed.
In the first box inside WhoAPI domain checker enter cities, countries, streets, neighborhoods, boroughs, or any type of keyword that represents a certain location.
Example: US, Germany, Japan, France, Australia, Rome, Stockholm, Rijeka, Brooklyn, Hollywood, TwinPeaks. Note that if it consists of two words, type them together.
In the second box enter keywords that you would use to describe your company, product or services you provide.
Example: hairstylist, hairdresser, shampoo, scissors, hair, hairextensions.
Put in as many words as you can think of, and if you aren’t feeling creative try finding some synonyms or use Keyword planner in Google AdWords.
End result: This will check geographical domains within an industry, such as ElectricianLosAltos.com, PlumberDallas.com, LawyerSydney.com and any other you are interested in.
GEO domains for SEO and AdWords
What are these domains good for?
1. These domains can help you with your SEO strategy, or in reducing the cost of your Google AdWords campaigns. Yes, it can help with both SEO and AdWords! I know of two separate studies that showed that people would rather click on an exact match keyword domain than on an unknown brand name domain. You can find them here, and here.
2. If you are a domain investor, you can build websites on them, generate relevant niche content, and offer to local businesses to advertise to their targeted audience, or just sell the entire project to them. The end result would be finding a domain like HollywoodHairdresser.com or HairdresserHollywood.com. If you are not in that industry, you may think that’s not valuable, but ask the hairdressers in Hollywood, or people that pay $200 there to get a haircut. This brings me to point number 3.
3. Build a website with great content to attract niche traffic, and then offer to local businesses to display their ads. I am sure the hairdressers of Hollywood would like to advertise their services at HairdresserHollywood.com if that website had 1000 visitors per day. Not just hairdressers, but surely shampoo makers, professional scissors companies, hair extension providers, and other utility manufacturers that cater to that industry.
4. If you are a hairdresser in Hollywood, hopefully, it’s self-evident why it might be a good idea to own a domain name like hairdresserhollywood.com and sell your services online.
2. Scenario – short brandable domains
In the first box enter 2 letters, a consonant and a vowel.
Example: go, ti, ka, le, du, mo, bo.
In the second box enter 3 letters (since we know we can’t find any 4 letter .com domains) with the last letter being a vowel .
Example: pri, tra, bru, kse, mno, vri.
End result: This will check 5 letter .com domains gopri.com, gotra.com, gobru.com and so on.
Brandable five letter com domains.
In the first box enter 2 letters, a consonant and a vowel.
Example: go, ti, ka, le, du, mo, bo.
In the second box also enter 2 letters a consonant and a vowel.
Example: pi, ta, bu, ke, mo, vi.
And then add a third box and enter 2 letters a consonant and a vowel.
Example: pi, ta, bu, ke, mo, vi.
End result: This will check 6 letter .com domains bovivi.com, lekemo.com, tibuta.com and many others.
Six letter brandable com domains
What are these domains good for? Depending on your language and pronunciation, it is different which domains sound better. You will also see that the majority of those domains are already taken (even bad ones), but there are a few gems out there that are still available. Having a brandable five-letter .com domain in today’s world can give you that edge ahead of your competition. Again, you may not like those mentioned here, but there are so many combinations, I am 100% sure you will find at least one that you like and that is available for base price. I think they are certainly better than many domains that you have to explain why they are good (to say the least). Like nwplyng.com or unbxd.com mentioned in this TheNextWeb article.
You might not think much of domains like gomopi.com, tipike.com and dumota.com, but try comparing them too other less intuitive domains you saw, and have in mind that dukeke.com, lebupi.com and bovimo.com and hundreds of other combinations are already registered by someone else.
3. Scenario – “fun combo”
In the first box you enter fun and witty words.
Example: go, fun, ultimate, killer, major, full, free, fresh, best, mega.
In the second box enter keywords that you would use to describe your company, product or services you provide. You can also add a third box with a location keyword.
Example: golf, ace, birdie, bogey, caddie, carry, divot
Fun domains for domain investing
Fun geo domains for niche blogs
What type of domains do you get? You could find domains like funbirdie.com or killercaddie.com which are spectacular $10 investments if you are in the golf industry. I am no expert in golf, and I am sure you can do better, but it’s so much fun, and it’s so easy! It took me 1 minute to find $10 domains such as ultimatedivotusa.com, majorgolfeurope.com, fullbogeyusa.com and a handful more!
4. Scenario – You
Head over to WDC and start thinking of new ways to look for great affordable .com domains, and please share with us how you are finding those awesome domains. Remember, if there are more awesome domains out there we are together improving everybody’s online experience. Better domains mean better conversions, better user experience, and better productivity. This last scenario is called “You” because there are no limits to human creativity, and what you can think of.
So why not try it? You can make several checks for free, but if you want to test more (which I definitely recommend) you are going to need a paid API key.
What to do when you find a domain name with WhoAPI Domain Checker?
Once you find a domain name that you like, and it’s available for registration according to WhoAPI Domain Checker, I recommend double-checking using our Website Checker (discontinued) or perform a whois check using our Console. If you are 100% sure you found a great domain name, visit your favorite domain registrar and register that domain name. However, I do recommend couple of things. Write down on a piece of paper all the domain names that you find, and if you can remember them tomorrow morning, then register them. I call this the “one-night test”. Secondly, if you find a great domain name, do not check it elsewhere for availability because you might fall victim to front-running. You are safe checking with us, but we can’t guarantee hundreds of other domain checkers do the same.
