29 Useful Tools For Domainers

Domain name investing has a lot of moving parts and takes some trial and error to get good at. The most successful domain investors use a variety of tools to research, buy, and sell their domains. Here are a few that come highly recommended by the domain investor community. 

What is Domain Investing? 

People who buy domain names with the intention to profit from them are called domain investors, domain name investors, or domainers. It’s similar to investing in real estate, except the property is virtual, not physical. The similarity doesn’t end there. The strategy most commonly associated with domain investment is known as domain flipping. This is the act of buying domains and selling them at a profit when the value goes up. 

What Makes a Domain Worth Investing In?

Domain pricing doesn’t have an exact formula, but there are factors that determine domain value. These include, but are not limited to:

Length

Shorter domain names are almost always more valuable than longer ones. Three letter domain names are in particularly high demand among domain investors. That’s because they are easy to remember and to type. 

Top Level Domain

The industry term for domain extensions like .COM, .NET, or .ORG is top level domain, or TLD for short. Some TLDs are in higher demand than others. For example .COM domains are typically more in demand than other TLDs, which makes them more valuable. 

Age

This one is a little less straightforward. Older domains are typically more valuable than new domains, especially if that history includes website traffic. The logic is that if a domain has been around a long time, it must be useful. The exception to this rule is domains related to future events that are likely to trend. 

Traffic History

Domains with a history of attracting traffic are more valuable.  Previous traffic is a good indicator for potential traffic in the future. If the domain had subdomains attached, that’s even better for its value. 

Brandability

People want brandable domain names that they can easily remember. This is why there is more demand for domains with:

• Common words and abbreviations
• Easy spelling and pronunciation
• Industry keywords

Doing some keyword research will tell you if the word(s) in your domain are typed into search engines often. 

Premium Tier Pricing

Premium Domain Names are domains that are priced higher than the standard cost for their TLD. In some cases, the higher price is set by a seller and in others it is set by the registry. As a general rule, new domain name registrations cost less than purchases of pre-existing ones. 

Backordering and Expiring

Backordering, the act of “catching” expired domains when they’re released to the public, is a great way to build up a domain portfolio. You can get some valuable domain names at lower prices than you would get from buying them from a seller. These tools help you find expiring domains and catch them for your own. 

ExpiredDomains.net 

A thorough database of expired, dropped, and deleted domains. 

DropCatch.com

A backorder service and expired auction database.

Park.io

A backorder and expired auction service. 

SnapNames.com

A source of expired and aftermarket domain names. 

Blogs and Forums

If you’re a new domain investor, you may have a lot of questions. Since it’s a niche community, it’s a good idea to have places online to get those answers in mind before you need them. Here are a few places to find the pros: 

NamePros

The most popular domain investing forum. 

DomainGang

A source of domain investing news and humor. 

Domaining.com

A one stop shop for domain investors.

Domain Name Wire

A blog that covers topics related to domain name industry news, wordpress, and webhosting. 

DomainSherpa

Articles and videos by domainers for beginners.

WHOIS Tools

The WHOIS directory is the source of truth for domain names. This includes: 

• The domain’s registrar and registry
• The expiration date
• The domain owner’s contact information
• Details about the domain’s status

A WHOIS lookup tool that you like is an important thing to keep in your back pocket, whether it’s your computer’s terminal or one of these: 

Who.is

A user-friendly WHOIS lookup tool. 

Whoisology

A reverse WHOIS lookup tool.

DomainTools Historical WHOIS

See the ownership history of any domain. 

Research Tools

A good domain investor always does their due diligence and researches their investments. These tools can help you find a domain’s

• Approximate value
• Availability
• Traffic history
• Sale and auction listings
• DNS information
• Updates on changes to its status
• And more! 

DomainIQ

Look up any domain’s owner, hosting information, ownership history, and more. 

Estibot

Appraise domains, check their trademark status, monitor your portfolio value, and more. 

NameBio

See data on domain sales that have taken place.

Archive.org Wayback Machine

See the history of over 669 billion web pages. 

DomComp

See where domains are for sale and at what price. 

NameFind

Automatically generate new domain names. 

DomainTools Monitors

Keep an eye on any changes in domain registrant, brand, name server, IP address, or domain. 

Trademark and UDRP Tools

Before buying and selling domains, it’s important to check whether or not it uses any trademarked words or phrases. Trademark disputes in the domain sphere are handled by a process called the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) that is set out by ICANN. Using these tools to check the trademark status of a domain you want to buy or sell could save you legal trouble later on. 

US Trademark Database

A searchable database of active trademarks in the United States. 

UDRPSearch.com

See active and past UDRP disputes. 

Trademarkia

A global trademark search engine. 

Trademark247

A user-friendly database of United States trademarks. 

SEO Tools

What does SEO have to do with domains? A whole lot, it turns out! A history of high search volume, quality backlinks, and Google indexing are great news for a domain’s valuation and future traffic. 

Majestic

An SEO service known for checking the number and quality of backlinks.  

Moz

A popular software for keyword research, backlink analysis, and domain analysis. 

SEMrush

A popular, effective SEO and SEM software option. 

XML Sitemaps Generator

Create sitemaps for easy indexing. 

Ahrefs

A user-friendly SEO software. 

Google Trends

See search volume trends over time. 

How Sav Can Help

The most important tool in your domain investing kit is your preferred domain registrar. We would be thrilled to be yours. That’s why we offer features like: 

• Wide domain name selection
• Industry low prices
• 4% commission rate
• Free SSL and WHOIS privacy
• An affordable website builder
• DNS powered by CloudFlare 
• Partnership with the Sedo and Afternic networks

What are you waiting for? Get started today!