Domaining Essentials

Domain investing is a world of opportunity and it’s something that everyone with online know-how should really delve into every once and a while. There’s money to be made, if you have the right tools at your disposal. These are all of the tools I use to buy, sell and market my domains.

Education

Domain investing is a speculation game and, while some are in this to flip their money quickly, the ones making big bank are in it for the longterm. The quickest and most efficient way to learn this game is from the experts.

DNAcademy: The best and only course you will need to become a competent domain investor. Visit
NamePros: A forum filled with people at all stages of their domain investing journeys (including literal millionaires in this thing). Visit

Availability Checkers

Where it all begins. Finding a name is the foundation of this, and these are the tools you’re probably going to need to use from the get-go.

Instant Domain Search: Rapid checker and idea generator. Visit
DOFO: Quickest way to see which extensions are registered and/or for sale. Visit
NameChk: Find out the social media handle availability across all platforms. Visit

Registering Domains

While hand-registrations aren't advised as the best route into domain investing, when you do decide to buy a fresh, unregistered domain, it's advisable that you do it via one of the following:

Domcomp: Tells you the cheapest registrar for each TLD. Visit
NameBright: My favourite domain investor-suited .com registrar, offering generous discounts on prepaid accounts. Visit

Expiring/ed Domains

You will soon learn that hand-registering a masses of domains is a bad first step in domaining, and that expiring domains offer the best way to find quality for low prices. While many marketplaces offer these domains, these are the main ones I head to.

Expired Domains: Find ALL pre-registered domains that are now available to purchase. Visit
DropCatch: Offers the most manageable way to catch pre-release domain expirations. Visit
GoDaddy Auctions: A playground I frequent before bed almost every day. Visit
Pool.com: Quality expiring domain catcher. Visit

Marketplaces

There are too many to mention. This list is far too long, but each of them are good for different ways when it comes to buying and selling your domains.

Afternic: The first place you should be listing your domains for sale. Visit
Dynadot: Modern marketplace with backlink-filtering options. Visit
Sedo: One of the biggest marketplaces, constantly filled with high quality domains. Visit
NameSilo: Another marketplace you need to frequent to find deals. Visit
DomainLore: The best marketplace for buying and selling .co.uk and .uk domains. Visit
Flip.uk: Another top notch marketplace for UK ccTLD domains. Visit

Brandable Domains

Got a made-up name that you think a start-up would value for their next venture? Head to one of the following to get it listed with a logo, which they’ll even make for you.

BrandBucket: Offer simple and effective way to market and sell brandable domains. Visit
SquadHelp: As above, but with naming competitions added in. Visit
Brandpa: Even if you don't use it's for selling, it's the best place to get an automated estimated value on your brandables. Visit

Research

The research never stops with domains. There’s so much you can, and will have to check, before you buy or attempt to sell a domain. Here’s just a handful (along with others on this page) that I often use.

NameBio: The most comprehensive data on past domain sales. Visit
Majestic: Essential for backlink analysis. Visit
Wayback Machine: See the history of a domain and the website(s) that previously used it. Visit
WhoIs: Find details of current domain owners. Visit
US Trademark Search: This will save you a lot of hassle. Visit
UK Trademark Search: Obviously. Visit

Website Selling

Now there’s a big difference between selling domains and websites, but there’s a bit of overlap in some areas. As for all webmaster-based things, head over here. The following are the best places to head to if you have a fully built out site to sell.

Flippa: Front-runner in website selling. Visit
Freemarket: Great alternative to sell websites. Visit

Portfolio Management

After a couple of decent domain sales, it’s very easy to end up turning a portfolio of 20-30 domains into a couple of hundred. In order to manage that volume and make sure that all of your names are stored safely, the following is what I use make sure that's the case.

DAN.com: Easiest way to set up for-sale landing pages for your domains. Visit
InternetBS: What I use for domain portfolio management (including all the ones I don't actually want to sell). Visit

Outbound Selling

You're only going to get so far as a domainer if you're sat there waiting for sales to happen. The quickest way to catalyse sales is to get out there and contact people that you think will be interested in it. These will make things easier for you.

Hunter: Email finder tool. Visit
Boomerang: Gmail extension for email tracking, read receipts and link clicks. Visit