Research A Domain Name Using WHOIS
Basic Advice For Deciding Upon A Domain Name
Continuing from the previous section. After looking at possible Web Hosting Providers and Packages the next thing you should do is give your website a
Domain (www.???.com) Name. Choosing a domain name is relatively easy but obtaining it is a different story!
Common domain names usually derive from a family name, company name, product name or service name and are usually registered for one year at a time,
although you can register for longer if you wish. After spending some considerable time deciding upon a domain name (hours, days or even weeks in some
cases) you then need to make sure it is available, that no one has registered it yet, by using a domain name search engine such as
Domain Tools.
These kinds of website specialize in many areas of Domain (I will skip the technicals here! - All you are interested in is the Name of the Domain). With
domaintools you can find who owns a domain name, if the owner has made their registration details public. You can find out what domain names are for
sale/at auction and look at suggested domain names after entering some keywords amonst other things.
This example uses the Domain Suggestions
part of that website. So begin by typing http://www.domaintools.com/buy/domain-suggestions/ into internet explorer's Address Bar edit box and then
click on the blue arrow (GO) button, or press the ENTER keyboard key, to continue.
Fig 1.0 Type in your prefered Domain Name, without the .com or whatever at the end of it.
When domain suggestions appears type your prefered domain name, without the .com or whatever at the end of it, into the DOMAIN SEARCH edit box before
clicking on the GET SUGGESTIONS button. Clicking on the GET SUGGESTIONS button not only makes the search engine look for the precise domain name you
entered but it also makes it look for similar domain names and suggested domain names of its own. In this example I have typed websitecreationhelp
into the DOMAIN SEARCH edit box (above).
When the search results appear (below) you will get a better idea of the domain tool you are using. Scroll down the window a little in order to see which,
websitecreationhelp, domain names have already been registered and so on. The Symbol Keys to the right tell you the meaning of the, filled in, circle(s)
next to each domain name.
Domain Name Already Registered
In this example websitecreationhelp.com and websitecreationhelp.info have been registered. I know this because they both have a world-globe next to them. Therefore, if I wanted a websitecreationhelp domain name I would either have to register websitecreationhelp.co.uk for example, pick one of the suggested websitecreationhelp domain names or search for a new domain name.
Fig 1.1 The search results show that websitecreationhelp.com has been registered already
Hold on!! How would you know the status of a .co.uk domain name? when .co.uk is not listed. Well the short answer is you would not know.....until you
checked it with a local domain name search engine, such as the one provided by your possible web hosting provider (example below). Domain Suggestions
only looks at global domain names, not local ones like .co.uk, .fr (france) etc. You could use the
Whois Source part of the website to determine if a domain name
exists but it is better to use a local domain name search engine.
Another way to check if a domain name exists is to type it into internet explorer's Address Bar edit box. If you get to its website it exists otherwise
you will get an error. Saying this though, an error does not mean it does not exist. The website could be down (not visible) at that time. With Whois
Source (example below) you are either given the public details of the domain name or told Domain Not Found.
Public Details Of Domain Name Owner
If you want to find the public details of a domain name either click on its grey circle or click on the WHOIS SOURCE button. The WHOIS SOURCE button requires you to enter the domain name, again, into its SEARCH edit box whereas if you have the domain name searched already it is best just to click on its grey circle.
Fig 1.2 The public (Whois Source) details for websitecreationhelp.com as found by Whois Source
The public details for a domain name normally consist of a Creation Date, an Expiry Date, the Name & Address of the Registered Owner (if made public) and the Technical (Registration and Server) Details. The details of interest to you should be the Creation Date and the Expiry Date.
Preferred Domain Name Already Registered
Imagine your prefered domain name has been registered already. All is not lost. By looking at a domain name's creation date and expiry date you can judge if the owner is going to register the domain name again. If they have registered it every year, for the last ten years for example, you probably have no chance but if this is its first year of registration you may have a chance to register the domain name yourself, especially if their website is a failure or they do not like the name any more.
In Fig 1.2 above you can see websitecreationhelp.com was created 2nd June 2009 but then renewed every year. So does this mean you can register
websitecreationhelp.com on the 2nd June 2012? Answer. It depends. The normal procedure is that a week or so before expiry your web hosting provider should
renew (re-register) your ownership automatically, if they are a good company. However. This is normally when you have been paying your web hosting provider
by debit/credit card.
If you have been paying them by cheque each year for example and the cheque is delayed or lost in the post your web hosting provider might not renew your
domain name, for business reasons rather than loyalty. This does not mean your web hosting provider is bad, it just means from a business point of view
renewing an uncertain customer's domain name again, in advance without payment yet, would be business suicide.
Fig 1.3 The public (Whois Source) details for microsoft.com as found by Whois Source
If you scroll down the WHOIS SOURCE results page you will come to the Ownership details for that domain name. Comparing the Ownership details of websitecreationhelp.com (Fig 1.2 above) to microsoft.com (Fig 1.3 above) microsoft.com has made its Name & Address (contact) details public whereas websitecreationhelp.com has not. This is mainly due to Microsoft being a business and needing/wanting its name & address details made public. This websitecreationhelp website is a personal website that does not want/need its name & address details made public.
Protect Domain Name Details With WHOIS GUARD
websitecreationhelp's contact details are protected by a service called WHOIS GUARD, which means the domain name registrar has been given instructions not to make any contact details public. WHOIS GUARD is set up by your web hosting provider and costs between £1.50 and £7 a year (depending on the domain name and web hosting specifics) - Some web hosting providers give you the first year for free, but either way when you register or re-register a domain name you should inform them that you want WHOIS GUARD Protection for that domain name.
Over the years your web hosting provider should know what you want each year without asking you, if you have built up a good rapport with them.
Search For A Local Domain Name
Going back to the local domain name search. If you want to search for a co.uk domain name for example use a UK-based web hosting provider's search engine
to do this. You might have to go through an hosting package ordering procedure before getting to their domain name checking search engine, because they
are expecting paying customers and not searchers, but do not let that put you off. You are not going to pay anything because you are only looking, so even
if you see an payment page just cancel out of it once you have the domain name search results.
In this example I had to click on the EMAIL HOSTING link in order to get to the domain name search engine, but once there I simply typed websitecreationhelp
into the Search edit box and then clicked on the CLICK TO CONTINUE button next to it. From there, the search results appeared (I had to scroll down the
page a little) showing that websitecreationhelp.co.uk is currently unavailable for registration.
Fig 1.4 Type your prefered domain name into the SEARCH edit box and then click CHECK AVAILABILITY
Fig 1.5 websitecreationhelp.co.uk cannot be registered, but websitecreationhelp.net can be registered
So now you know about the Domain Tools website, Whois and Whois Guard Protection it is now time to look at practical domain name advice.
Practical Domain Name Advice
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Research Without Keyword Tools
As you learn more and more about website creation you begin to realize your mistakes and then blame it on "The Learning Curve". Unfortunately sometimes
the learning curve cannot be blamed, especially when you were given the correct information/advice in the first place! Your chosen domain name might be
your personal name for example whereby you thought it was excellent at registration time only to realize later that you might of picked the wrong domain
name. This is a classic mistake to make.
As you learn more from the internet the infamous "Keyword Tool" will appear in the articles you read, in promotional e-mails, advertisements and so on. A keyword
tool is basically a program that "suppossedly" researches many website statistics for you, including rankings of keywords and keyphrases, so you don't have to. I
say supposedly meaning the keyword/keyphrase results you get back don't always tally with reality, for whatever reason(s), and are normally misinterpretted and
misunderstood.
As a beginner, perhaps on a budget, you can get away with a D.I.Y approach to keyword and keyphrase research; which is just as effective if not better
than keyword tool (program) research.
In these lessons I will show you how to use the Google Search Engine and Google Insights to gather up information, so you can base a domain name, web page
file name, link, meta tag and so on around that information. One method for example is to pick the keywords you want in your domain name and then check
its popularity and results within the Google Search Engine. Another method is to investigate your competition's website to see what keywords they use. So
don't think your learning of domain names and more precisely keywords ends here!