Is the Domain Name I Want Available?
Good question. There are lots of domain names that are already taken. You never know until you check to see if someone has already “registered” it.
So, who registers domain names? ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is ultimately responsible for coordinating a group of Domain Name Registrar organizations that help people regisiter domain names.
Let’s say you want to obtain the domain name “greenduckeggs.com”. You could have many reasons for wanting the domain name:
- You have a business that sells green duck eggs.
- You like collecting green duck eggs as a hobby.
- You want to start a blog to discuss green duck eggs.
- You think lots of people may eventually be interested in green duck eggs, and you want to invest in the domain name because it will be a valuable domain property in the future.
One easy way to check if it’s available is to type “greenduckeggs.com” into your web browser software (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) and see what happens.
- If a web page comes up up with lots of information, that probably means your domain name is already taken by someone else.
- If you get a “Server Not Found” error message in your browser, that’s a good sign — BUT, that doesn’t mean your domain name is available.
The best way to check if your domain is available is to check with on of the registrar organizations, for example, GoDaddy. You simply go to their home page and type in the name that you are looking for (greenduckeggs) at the top of the page.
When you hit the “go” button, they will then tell you if your domain name is available.
Another good tool for determining if a domain name is available is the Whois lookup on DomainTools. Again, simply type in the domain name you are looking for into the textbox.
After you click on the search button, domaintools.com will tell you if the domain name you’re looking for is available to register.
Written by admin on May 27th, 2007 with
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Read more articles on Domain Monetization FAQ and Domains 101.
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