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Finding Domain Names – Bust a Name

DomainsI’ve never really been a big domain name collector – but in the last few weeks I’ve enjoyed seeing what names are out there and even picking up a few for a rainy day (for the distant future as I have no time for new ventures at the moment).

I’ve used a couple of tools for finding new domain names over the years – two of my previous favorites have been Domains Bot and Name Boy.

Today LifeHacker linked to a new tool which takes over as my new all time favorite – Bust a Name.

Warning – this tool is not only useful, it’s kind of fun. I just spent an hour on it and bought five domain names!

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. I really like this tool! I ended up buying 3 domain names! It’s really helpful because it gives you so many different combinations with the keywords you choose. :)

  2. Darren The Domainer

    It’s catchy!

  3. “I just spent an hour on it and bought five domain names!”

    And for that reason alone, I’m not going to try it. I still wonder why I bought retrogarden.co.uk :S

  4. “I just spent an hour on it and bought five domain names!”

    And for that reason alone, I’m not going to try it.

    Domains are like women though, the good ones are taken, unless you get one from a less developed nation ;)

  5. Sweet! Awesome tools. Thanks. I usually just use domain.com.

  6. I warned about this, we are going to run out of domain names one of these days, thanks to this sort of thing!:

    http://future-phobia.blogspot.com/2007/06/domain-names-going-going_2591.html

    Hmm, let’s give it a try: getfilthyrichofftheinternet.com – get it while it’s hot…!

  7. That is fantastic. And I thought all the good domain names were gone.

  8. I LOVE domains and a TON of them. Selling them can be great fun too. *=)

  9. oops, I meant “I have a ton of domains”.

  10. Hi Darren

    The problem with these types of tools is that they are limited to using only the keywords that are typed in, therefore, all you get are generic domain names. I believe that brandable names are more memorable, so they usually make better domain names. i.e. “Perrier.com” vs. “BottledWater.com”

  11. Hey Darren

    A little off-topic, but how do you think blogs will evolve over the next 5 years? How about discussion-type blogs, somewhat like reality TV meets blogging? Here’s the prototype I developed:

    http://whatdoyouthink.contentgeneration.org/

    I’d be interested in your thoughts, as I have other prototypes including quiz, entertainment and fun-type blogs. If any of your site visitors want to use the above prototype, they can download it from my site – totally free.

    Brad

  12. I entered in “lily” and clicked suffix “ly” and my domain will be “lilyly.com”

    AWESOME! Thanks!!!!

  13. I already own over 50 SEO and copywriting names…I can’t buy more. Cool tool though, thanks.

  14. Very cool programs. I’ve been wanting to find tools to search easily for domains. It’d be awesome if it could search for expiring domains too.

  15. Pretty cool, although I kind of agree with Hamlet. Still, this might come in handy, as I’ve been trying to brainstorm a domain name for a new venture I’m going to be launching soon.

  16. That really is an awesome tool. It will definetly come in handy for many weeks to come. Thanks for providing the link darren!

  17. Thanks for introducing me to my new guilty pleasure.

    Even my kids got into it.

  18. Thanks, Darren! Very timely.

  19. Darren, Great tool. It is very interesting. I played with it for 15 minutes. When I get my domain, I should use this tool. Very good Indeed.

  20. Maureen Green says: 07/11/2007 at 5:37 pm

    Thats a pretty rocking tool! I just used it to buy a few of the domains I had on my mind. I couldn’t get the godaddy registration to work within the site interface, so I used Godaddy code ZINE3 for $2 off each domain I bought. (Same as the $6.95 deal on bustanam) Another cool thing about the tool is it’s pretty SEO savvy about related keywords. Something to think about for all you serp-hounds out there!

  21. I was just thinking about this today. The links definitely helped, thanks

  22. Thanks for the tool. There’s also Name Spinner from domaintools.com but I like this one better..

  23. Domain Bot is very cool in the list of sites. Here is another post which gives more information
    Cool Sites to check availability of domain names

  24. Thanks Darren – I already had way too many domains and this tool has made my addiction worse. Any more posts like this and I will no longer blog about you being the boring blogger – you”ll join the John Chow evil blogger category.

  25. Wow really nice tool ;) Few days ago i found another domain tool but it was geared towards WEB2 hype and it was creating funny web2 domain names. i really liked it

  26. Darren,

    What service would you recommend we buy a domain through? I see they list a few.

    Perhaps you may be willing to let us know who you buy through?

    Thanks!
    David

  27. cool site I love it….

    I buy 1 though.. :p

    I’ll play more and buy more.. hehehe…

  28. Just a quick note regarding my previous question… Wikipedia has a helpful list:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_top_ranking_domain_registrars … which feeds from here: http://www.registrarstats.com/

  29. David: I use Cheapdomains.com.au – found them to be very good value and service

    Darren: Curse you! Yes a fantastic tool and yes i wasted a half hour on it and yes i bought 6 more names :-)

  30. Summer says: 07/12/2007 at 12:50 pm

    I should not have seen them as I ended up buying a couple. LOL The only thing I didn;t like was the list of places to buy from didn’t list Namecheap.com, which is where I register with. Not a big deal really. Then I figured out that Namecheap doesn’t list their marketplace anywhere but with themselves. So there are some awesome names for sale with them that were listed as taken at Bustaname.

  31. Thanks Darren –

    Nice new tool. Don’t forget dotcenter.com for finding expired domains.

    Lowell

  32. Where you you buy your domain names? Can you tell me any good site for German costumers?

  33. Thanks for the link, Brennan. Lowell, also take a look at http://www.afternic.com/ for domain names for sale.

  34. OMG I should have heeded the warning! I found URLs I thought would be long gone. the trick was to only buy 4… and I may be getting a new ISP now too grrr..

    in an earlier comment Hamlet said
    “The problem with these types of tools is that they are limited to using only the keywords that are typed in, therefore, all you get are generic domain names. I believe that brandable names are more memorable, so they usually make better domain names. i.e. “Perrier.com” vs. “BottledWater.com”

    you can type in a name or a brand as a keyword, and even pluralize it. I have jenniesnudes.com and jenniesart.com for example. but for SEO if you can get your favorite keywords or tagline as well then that’s gold. contemporaryfigurative.com was not taken… is now!

  35. Great tool. Thanks for sharing!

  36. Way to cool! Exactly what I needed.

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