Little Expiring Domain Hunting Tips and Tricks

Here's one. Anyone else care to share some with the Noobs?

[Webwork]

Things are getting a bit crazy lately, with many new entrants into the game, more big money players, and certain firms "test registering" millions of domains.

Still, it's not entirely game over. There's still a few things you can do to get a little domain strategy advantage.

Here's one little tip, for openers, when going about your domain search and mining.

You know those little expiring domain search programs that allow you to search for domains deleting/on-hold by keyword, word in beginning, word at end, etc.?

Consider the following list (below) as "ends with" letters for your domain search queries.

Consider the number of words that "end with" the letters below. It's a list I crafted some time ago.

Limit your expiring word search to words of "no more than" a reasonable number of letters, the amount of letters max that would make of most words of any value. I lean towards 9-12 letters max. Above that you'll find a number of 2 word domains.

Dump the hyphens in your search query.

Dump the numbers too and you'll eliminate a lot of trash.

Have fun using the list below. It's worked for me for a number of years. Some nice little gems were mined. Used wisely it will save you some time and unearth the occasional gem.

ab
ad
ak
al
am
an
ap
ar
as
as
at
aw
ay
ba
ba
be
bo
bs
ca
ce
ch
ci
ck
ck
co
cs
ct
ct
cy
da
da
de
do
ds
ea
ea
eb
ec
ed
ed
ee
ek
el
em
en
eo
ep
er
er
es
es
et
ew
ex
ey
fa
fe
fs
ft
ga
ge
go
gs
gy
ha
he
ho
hs
hy
ia
ia
ib
ic
id
ie
ie
ik
il
im
im
in
io
ip
ir
is
is
it
iy
ka
ke
ki
ko
ks
ky
la
ld
le
ll
ll
lm
lo
lo
lp
ls
ly
ma
me
mi
mo
mp
ms
my
na
ne
ng
ng
ni
no
ns
ny
ob
od
og
oh
ok
ol
om
on
op
op
or
os
os
ot
ow
oy
oy
pa
pe
pi
po
ps
py
ra
re
ri
rl
rl
rm
ro
rp
rs
ry
sa
se
sh
si
si
sk
sm
sn
so
sp
st
sy
sy
ta
te
ti
to
ts
ty
ty
ua
ub
uc
ud
ue
uk
ul
um
un
up
ur
us
us
uy
va
ve
vo
vy
wa
we
wo
ws
ws
wy
ya
ye
ym
yo
ys

[fish_eye]

You know those little expiring domain search programs that allow you to search for domains deleting/on-hold by keyword, word in beginning, word at end, etc.?

Hi - sorry - no I don't know them - sounds like fun - can you please explain, post a search string of how to find freebies or sticky me one :) thanks.

[martinibuster]

If you are looking for software, tucows, download.com, hotscripts.com are some of the top places for finding it. Search for "expired domain."

Or else go to Google and search for something like, expired domain software, or you can use quotes, "expired domain software".

Another way to find stuff on Google is do a search for expired domain software and then do a search on the name of the top bidders and see who are bidding on those names. Those adwords ads are sometimes more relevant than the serps. But, it wouldn't be what you're looking for if you're looking for a freebie.

[Webwork]

"expired domains"

"deleted domains"

"domain lists"

"expired domain lists"

"domain backorder"

"backorder domains"

"expired domain search"

[jmccormac]

Webwork,
a lot of the letter pairs in that list are the country codes for various countries. Perhaps a list of the country codes might be a useful addition?

Regards...jmcc

[gamb]

in his example above I don't think these letter combos represent country extensions - they are just letter combos that have some good words ending with them.

[jmccormac]

gamb - I know they are and I am aware that some of the pairs are endings for common words. (codebreaking was part of a former job of mine ;) ). I have the ccTLD codes from the latest root zone file one in a window on this PC as I am doing some work on tracking all hosters back to 2000 to produce a publication on each country's hosting business.

Regards...jmcc

[jmccormac]

The current country codes (EU is a gTLD though):

AF AG AI AL AM AN AO AQ AR AS AT AU AW AZ
BA BB BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BM BN BO BR BS BT BV BW BY BZ
CA CC CD CF CG CH CI CK CL CM CN CO CR CU CV CX CY CZ
DE DJ DK DM DO DZ
EC EE EG ER ES ET EU
FI FJ FK FM FO FR
GA GB GD GE GF GG GH GI GL GM GN GP GQ GR GS GT GU GW GY
HK HM HN HR HT HU
ID IE IL IM IN IO IQ IR IS IT
JE JM JO JP
KE KG KH KI KM KN KR KW KY KZ
LA LB LC LI LK LR LS LT LU LV LY
MA MC MD MG MH MK ML MM MN MO MP MQ MR MS MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ
NA NC NE NF NG NI NL NO NP NR NU NZ
OM
PA PE PF PG PH PK PL PM PN PR PS PT PW PY
QA
RE RO RU RW
SA SB SC SD SE SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SR ST SU SV SY SZ
TC TD TF TG TH TJ TK TL TM TN TO TP TR TT TV TW TZ
UA UG
UK UM US UY UZ
VA VC VE VG VI VN VU
WF WS
YE YT YU
ZA ZM ZW

Regards...jmcc

[Webwork]

Interesting jmcc.

Are you suggesting a use of CC info in domain hunting?

Say, something other than checking for unregistered domains in each of the country code registries?

Say, a domain naming convention that imbeds a cc in - say - a dot com domain? Like UKWidgets.com?

Or am I swimming with the red herrings?

[jmccormac]

The use of the cc in GTLDs is common Webwork,
With a strong cctld like .uk, using UK at the start tends to indicate that it is targeted at that market even if it is uk$domain.gtld but some large businesses tend use GB or UK on the end of their brand. The same patterns can be seen with US companies and businesses. Widgets might be long gone but UKwidgets.gtld may still be available. Again the value chain would run down from com to info with the com domain being the most valuable. Just a rough check on .com for domains beginning with UK shows over 27500 of them.

Regards...jmcc

[fish_eye]

On the general topic though.... UKWidgets would have to be the exception rather than the rule, surely. Not many nations / countries are known as clearly as the acronym "UK".

Even "US" in the context of a domain name prefix does not have quite the same ring due to its similarity to the personal pronoun (I think that's what it's called).

USWidgets, CAWidgets, AUWidgets, DEWidgets just don't cut it with me.... still - I take your point and the UK ones are certainly a good idea for hard-to-come-by names.

[Webwork]

Re: Domains employing the CountryCode + Whatever format.

Here's some random stats from parked domains with mostly generic landers, unique visitors as reported by 3d party, a cross section of random "CountyCode + Widget" structured domains, not hot stuff traffic (right now) but the domains have a certain curb appeal IMHO in the era of social networking, international relations, etc. I've had them for awhile. Just incubating them. By name alone they make a fairly compelling statement. Easy to remember too. :)

June 1 to Oct 12, unique type-in visitors, random domains:

106
30
20
28
37
89
268
223
49
140
70
192
26
102
18
197
100
37
41
22
248
93
113
177
84
88
514
24
20
892

Not that I want to keep giving away little secrets but the CC+WhateverWord format works, just like the City+Whatever format works. People have made some quite nice livings by following that format when they had the chance.

Me? I still have to work to make a living. :( I arrived on the scene about 15 months to late to really clean house and, even when I arrived, it took some time to figure out a thing or two - like why NoName - a/k/a UltS - kept catching all the really nice drops. Argh! If I only knew then what I know now . . . .

[fish_eye]

like why NoName - a/k/a UltS

I obviously arrived much later than you and have not read as much. What on earth is this referring to!?!

And yes - you're right. There's nothing wrong with AUWidgets etc just not quite as catchy - depends what the site's for I guess - I tend to develop stuff for bricks and mortar type businesses.

[jmccormac]

like why NoName - a/k/a UltS

I obviously arrived much later than you and have not read as much. What on earth is this referring to!?!

Ultrasearch is a noted "acquirer" of dropped domain names and is one of the biggest in the business with approximately 233209 domains hosted. Most of these domains end up pointed at advertising pages and as such get considerable traffic from type-ins and old directory and search listings.

Regards...jmcc