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There you are with a great idea for a website, or maybe you want to start an online business. After spending countless hours of careful thought, working out the details of your new web venture, you come to the very important step of choosing a domain name for your site. Choosing the right name is crucial, as it summarizes the essence of your business, service, or idea you are trying to promote. After much brainstorming you come up with a list of possible names to register that best represent the type of website you will be launching, and head on over to a domain registrar, only to find that all of your desired names are taken. So you compile a new set of names, trying once again to find that elusive unregistered domain name, only to find that despite all your efforts, the names are yet again taken.

This is a typical scenario that budding internet entrepreneurs, or anyone looking to start a website for that matter, repeatedly come across. The reason for this is that truly great available domain names are becoming increasingly rare. According to VeriSign's Domain Name Industry Brief, as of the end of June 2009, there are nearly 183 million names registered, of which there are approximately 79 million “.coms”. New registrations for the first quarter of 2009 for both “.com” and “.net” are nearly 7.3 million. That breaks down to approximately over 80 thousand newly registered “.com” and “.net” names daily!

So who is buying all these domain names? Although many of these names are registered by people or businesses for the purpose of having a web presence, many of these names are snapped up by domain professionals, or “domainers”. Domainers are in the business investing and developing domain names with the intent of generating profit from the resale of the domain name, rather than the principal use as a website

You are at a loss what to do. You do not want to settle for some contrived ,boring or just any name. So where do you go from here? This is where you would want to pursue the domain aftermarket.

There are several options you can consider. If you are set on getting the name you want and no other name will do, you can check out who is the current registrant of the name that you would like to register, by doing a WHOIS lookup at your registrar, or at a freely available WHOIS lookup service such as Whois.net. The WHOIS information will contain information as to who currently is the registrant of the domain name and their contact information. You could then attempt to contact the registrant by email or by phone, and discuss the idea of purchasing and transferring the name to you. On the chance that the current registrant is willing to part with their name, be prepared to pay a fee that is more than the normal registration fees charged at a registrar, if the current owner feels the domain name is worth more than just the registration fee. On completing such a transaction, the domain would be transferred to a registrar of your choosing.

If you are open to finding a different name, perhaps a variant of your desired name, you could use the services available at domain auction websites. Domain auction websites, such as SnapNames or NameJet facilitate the buying and selling of currently registered domain names, enabling one to purchase a previously registered domain that suits one's needs, from owners wishing to sell their names. You can search for a domain name, using keywords that are related to the type of site you wish to launch or product you wish to promote, and from the available domains that match your criteria you could bid on these names, and with a winning bid, acquire the desired name.

Another approach is to try and register the name you want, when the name expires. Domain names can be registered for a period of 1 – 10 years. As the end of the registration period nears, the current registrant can renew their domain name for an additional period. If the current owner allows the name to lapse, that is, does not renew the domain name prior to its expiration date, the name will eventually become available for reregistration.

To understand the expiring domain name process, the following is an explanation of the life cycle of a domain name. Upon registering a name, a registrant has the choice to register the name for a desired period of time, ranging from 1 – 10 years. As the expiration date nears the registrar will usually notify the registrant that the name is about to expire and that they risk losing the domain name. Following the expiration date, the domain name typically goes into what is known as auto-renew grace period which lasts from 0 – 45 days, depending on the registrar's policies. During this period, the registration will be automatically renewed by the registry the first day after expiration, during which the registrant can renew the name. A registrar is not bound to offer a auto-renew grace period.

When the 45 days are over the domain will enter a 30 day redemption grace period. This 30 day registry “hold” period, is intended to allow registrars the ability to restore names that were deleted accidentally or without intent of the registrant. A registrant can redeem its registration through their registrar, by paying renewal fees plus a hefty service charge.

The final stage is a five day pending delete period, where the domain name cannot be recovered or transferred by anyone at this point. Following these 5 days, the domain name is deleted from the registry's database and is now available for anyone to register.

An expired domain name is a name during the period starting with its expiration date and ending with the name being released on the conclusion of the pending delete period.

So how does this help you? You can search at your registrar for the name you are interested in and backorder the taken name. If the current holder does not renew the name, your registrar will attempt to register the name on your behalf when it becomes available, and on success, the name is yours.

Another option for the chance of securing a domain name, is to research and find out exactly when the name will become available, by searching through expired domain names lists. There are various sources of expired domain name data, some free and others that require a paid subscription. One such free resource for deleting domains lists can be found at DropAce.com. At DropAce.com, you can research which domain names have entered pending delete status or that are available at several expiring domain name auction sites. For a fee based site, PremiumDrops.com is a great place to start your research. Premium Drops offers scanned lists of expired and soon to expire domain names.

On finding possible candidates that you are interested in, you would then back-order these names for a fee, at a deleting domain service. Such services can be found at many of the existing domain auction service websites. When the domain name is released from its pending delete status and is once again available to the general public, these companies will attempt to catch the name as soon as the name drops, using programs designed for this purpose. If the dropping service is successful in catching the name for you, you will then be the new registrant.

Keep in mind, many of these services allow for more than one person to back-order a name. In the event that more than one person has back-ordered the very name you wish to acquire, the drop service will place the name in a short private auction lasting several days, that is only open to those who have back-ordered the name prior to the name becoming available. In this scenario, the highest bidder will win the auction and become the new owner of the domain name.

In conclusion, what has been presented here are several options you could pursue to acquire a domain name that best fits your needs. Although the process may seem overwhelming, and you may not get the original names you had wished for, by being diligent and persistent you will find a domain name that will be representative of your website's intended purpose and serve as a key to your online success and goals.

Sources:

• “The Domain Name Industry Brief Volume 6 – Issue 2 – June 2009″ (file type: PDF), VeriSign.
• “Domaining”, Wikipedia

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