How to tell a website name is available

[benjamin]

When choosing a website name, how can you tell it's not taken?
or parked, reserved.

[troyzone]

Hi Benjamin,

To find out if a domain name is available or to find out who owns it, you basically perform what is known as a whois search. What this does is tell you whether a provided domain name is available, and if it's taken, who has it (assuming the information isn't kept private) and when it will be expiring and so forth.

Here are some whois search links from an old post I made here a few years ago:

www.betterwhois.com/
www.domaintools.com/
www.enom.com/domains/whois.asp
registrar.verisign-grs.com/whois/
publicdomainregistry.com/whois/
www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp
secure.dotearth.com/servlet/GetFo....h_template.html
www.whois.sc/

Hope this helps.

Troy

[benjamin]

Thank you.
I'd seen that whois thing before but thought it was for background checks and so on.
I now find many domain names are not really available. Like what is some one doing
owning hundreds of similar domains? Must be a webhosting company behind it.

Now what should i expect to see for a site that is available?
I had to start typing random nonsense before i got a
'This domain name is not registered' message.
But it was followed by a 'buy this domain name' link

[troyzone]

Basically what you would see is a message saying "This domain name is not registered" or something to that effect if a domain name is available. I agree it is hard sometimes to find a good domain name that is not already registered...you may have to be creative and try different combinations of keywords related to the theme of your site to find one that is not already registered.

Some companies and even individuals register hundreds of unused domain names in the hopes of selling the registration to someone who wants it for more than they paid for it...in fact some even make a living just by doing this, as there are many domain names that are worth a great deal to some people or organizations.

You can register a domain name via any domain name registrar you like, you do not have to use the registrar provided by the whois site via the "Buy this domain name" link that some of them have. We generally recommend Bluehost for web site hosting and domain name registration, but there are many other good hosts and registrars out there as well.

Troy