When you have found a domain name that is available for registration, backordering or purchase there are a few simple things you can do to value it.
1. Check by a search in Google how often the word, frase or name is listed. By this you will often find out which laguage the word commonly is used in and whether it is spelled correctly. Sometime you will already se which other similar domains there are registered.
2. Make a search on the other TLD’s, to find out whether it is attractive to others. I often use whois.sc, because I get a nice intuitive view of the gTLD’s and can make a fast and informative whois lookup by clicking the symbol for the specific domains. By this I find out whether the other owners are speculators or companies. If you need a view over the number of global registrations I sometime use speednames.com, because they have a lookup function for impressive many TLD’s. But I wouldn’t register my domain there, because they are quite expensive. If the whois information where ever you lookup seems unreliable (which happens often, especially around the deleting time of a domain) I would use the whois of the domains official registration authority.
3. A quick lookup at sedo would reveal how many similar domains are for sale, and for what prices.
4. A lookup in archive.org could show wgat the domain could have been used for before.
5. A lookup at urltrends.com could show earlier listings in Alexa, dmoz and incoming links showed in Google and Yahoo.
6. A simple search in search engines like Google for the whole domain with extension can sometime show interesting things.
7. Lookup the word in answers.com or dictionary.com.
8. Use Overture. Select your country, and find the Keyword Selector Tool in the section for advertisers. By using this tool you can find out how many times there has been made searches in Yahoo, MSN and Altavista on keywords relevant to the subject a specific domain could be about. For example has there in the US been made the following amount of searches in September:

Count Search Term
1192657 domain name
520683 domain hosting
456211 domain registration
390780 domain name registration
288384 internet domain registration
226570 domain
209178 domain registration hosting
119151 cheap domain
114233 internet domain name
64015 register domain
48361 domain name register
39293 domain web hosting
32175 domain name search
31292 free domain appraisal
29415 domain name hosting
23055 free domain hosting
22697 free domain
19723 car domain
17858 buy domain
16609 domain host
16523 web domain
16065 eminent domain
14878 domain search
14311 domain registrar
13464 free domain name
12546 buy domain name
12439 computing domain name
12416 public domain
10903 email domain hosting
10444 yahoo domain
9199 kid domain
9163 domain name registration service
8940 domain transfer
8907 domain registry
8828 domain name legal
8480 exchange 2000 multiple domain
7917 web site domain
7843 cheap domain name registration
7759 internet domain name registration
7658 domain name lookup
7078 australian domain name
7036 domain host search
6945 web hosting domain registration
6889 sell domain name
6875 domain furniture
6579 domain name check
6528 domain sale
6408 cheap domain registration
6036 personal domain
5913 domain controller
5858 domain name web hosting
5574 australian domain registry
5515 domain check
5296 personal domain name
5098 yahoo.com domain name
4991 domain name for sale
4749 web site domain name
4655 web hosting domain name registration
4649 web domain name registration
4322 window 2000 domain controller
4206 australian domain name register
4199 available domain name
4186 game domain
4096 com domain
4093 expired domain name
4037 multiple domain hosting
4035 domain registration 8.95
4004 purchase domain name
3976 domain name registry
3939 domain name registrar
3821 yahoo domain registration
3785 web domain registration
3748 domain whois
3701 domain name registration check
3601 free domain name registration
3601 yahoo domain name
3349 cheap domain hosting
3324 internet domain
3296 quality domain
3265 domain name dedicated server
3234 expired domain
3204 domain lookup
3191 domain name registration and hosting
3073 domain registration verisign
3038 domain name service
3011 transfer domain name
3008 premium domain
2955 free domain registration
2795 domain name rumor
2760 cheap domain parking
2649 sound domain
2535 web site domain search
2513 window 2000 domain
2509 registering domain name
2495 nom domain
2488 australian domain registrar
2446 domain r
2406 bulk domain registration
2377 free domain web hosting
2337 domain name services
2297 domain name r
1904 domain name uk
1860 domain name server
1679 low cost domain name registration
1582 new domain name
1530 web domain name
1461 domain name backorder
1369 australian domain name search
1358 egister domain name
1356 add domain link name
1325 find domain name
1254 free web hosting domain name
1244 domain name canada
1225 free domain name hosting
1207 domain name research
1162 domain name system
1118 bulk domain name registration
1097 domain link name suggest
1028 domain name reseller
992 canadian domain name
992 domain name registration uk
975 domain name availability
956 affordable domain name registration
953 get domain name
890 domain name auction
882 register domain name free
867 domain name web site hosting
852 ca domain name
852 gateway domain name
835 domain name appraisal
834 domain domain idealurl.com name sale
827 discount domain name
822 cheap domain name register
806 domain name owner
778 web site domain name registration
763 ca domain name registration
758 top level domain name
732 domain name dispute
727 biz domain name
713 canadian domain name registration
703 domain domain domain idealurl.com name sale
700 domain domain domain idealurl.com name name sale sale
695 who owns a domain name
692 domain name forwarding
690 business domain name
678 cheapest domain name registration
669 cheap domain name and web hosting
666 cheap domain name hosting
651 domain name registration search
647 domain name generator
637 domain domain domain idealurl.com name name sale
628 domain name look up
620 domain name registration company
608 domain name registration canada
606 domain name registration australia
601 global domain name registration
593 filipina domain name
562 domain name registration info
522 domain name registration price
520 register domain name australia

YES, I bought a for me attractive domain for only $ 2.99! I bought the domain name KNUT.INFO.

I’m happy about that purchase because the domain is nice. It is nice because my name is Knut, it is short, international and I would like to use it as a business card entry to my different websites. And I am also happy, because it is quiet hard to find a free knut-domain. All gTLD’s (generic Top Level Domains, see my vocabular about Domain name glossary with terms and abbreviations) and many ccTLD’s (Country Code TLD) are already taken.

So I had only two possibilities: either buy a nice knut-domain that is already registered and wait until one gets available. And because I am to stingy to buy from a domain name trader, there was only left to wait for a registration to get deleted.

But for my purchase last week I got a little help from some of my favorite tools. Long time ago I made a list of attractive domain names, and put them in to my monitoring list at whois.sc. And off cause I had also put in my name Knut. Because I have ticked the radio button for getting Monitor Alert Emails I get quiet a few emails every time there are changes in the registration of my monitored domains.
Now a little more than one month ago I got a Domain Monitor Alert-mail telling that there was a change ins registration for knut.org. I clicked the link in the mail, and saw that there was no deleting taking place for the domain. But at the same time I saw that knut.info was in the so-called redemption period (the lesson from this is, that if you are interested in all extensions of a name, you should put them all in to your monitoring list). I clicked the cross for the .info name and saw that it had expired on September the 6th. The Redemption Grace Period for .info names lasts 30 days and after 5 more Pending Delete (Redemption Hold Period) days the domain will be available (See about this at the official registration authority for .info Affilias. Note: while the period from expiration date to drop of domain is 35 days for .info, .org and .biz, it is 75 days for .com and .net domain names) . So I calculated that I could register it about October 11th. In the mean time I put a bookmark of the whois.sc entry in my Firefox toolbar to remember the domain and to check it once in a while.

As the time for the deletion came closer to my calculated date, I went to the backorder site pool.com, and made an advanced search for .info domains with 4 letters. Looking trough that list a few times, I found that knut.info would be deleted on October 12th. I didn’t look up the specific domain because I was suspicious about wether Pool.com would track the interest for a specific domain and maybe buy it or announce it. But maybe I am just paranoid. Now the question was: at what time of the day will I be able to buy knut.info?

I knew that .com names usually get free for registration at 2.00 PM EST (meaning 20.00 of my local time). And I thought that it would be the same for the .info domains. So my plan was to wait until around 20.00 on October 12th to try to register the domain. The day before I started to be excited, and just for the heck of it I got the idea to check the time for .info names registration. I took some of that days attractive short .info names from Pool.com, and checked the whois information at whois.sc. And I was very lucky to do that, because it appeared to be a very different time of the day that the .info names were registered, compared to the .com, and therefore also released. The few I checked were released between 9.50 UTC to 10.15 UTC. A quick look at timeanddate.com and I realized that I had to bee ready at my computer the day after at about 12.00.

The next day 11.40 I was sitting at my computer logged in at Registerfly to be ready for my hunt. I started checking the domain every minute while trying to find my login data for Godaddy, so that I could minimize the risk of being banned for too many whois searches or that one of the registrars had a bad day. I looked up and looked up, answered a telephone call while looking up, and also use my Domain Name Analyzer (see previous post) to support my effort. With the DNA I also tried to look up some of the other .info names, and saw that quiet a few of them were released.

The time was about 12.30, and I started to regret that I hadn’t used a domain backordering service like Pool, Enom or Snapnames (See an interesting story about these here), and not been worried about the horrible auctions systems. I thought that somebody else must have grabbed the domain by now. What a pity, I had quiet fallen in love with the thought of owning the domain knut.info and making that business card site, was what I was thinking. disappointed I started surfing around the net, rutinely checking the domain in the DNA, wondering what was happened to my beloved domain. I also checked Affilias whois database to see who the lucky owner of the domain would bee. But the whois information kept being the same old entry which was expired. Strange. While sitting there rutinely checking the domain in DNA, suddenly, at 12.53, it said with red letters “AVAILABLE”!

I quickly entered “knut” at Registerfly, added the available .info domain to the cart and checked out faster than mostly and I had registered the name. I was a bit worried because I wasn’t asked about my creditcard number, so I didn’t really believe the success. But very soon after I saw my own name in Affilias whois database, and I felt sure about my success. Later I found out that the reason for the missing payment was, that I had a small deposit left from a earlier missed transfer, and that the registration fee because of an special offer for .info names was only $ 2.99.

I was a bit content the rest of that day.

The DECEMBER 7th seems to be the first official publisched date for the launch of the long expected dot eu (.eu) domain name. EURid (The European Registry of Internet Domain Names) is not very strong in communications, but I expect that this date is the beginning of “Start phase 1 of sunrise” wich I have shown in a previous post.

So as a private person without registered brand name you still have to wait almost four months form now, before you can make some nice first movers deals.

I found this tool to retrieve your google page rank and predict your future pagerank. I don’t know how this may work or if it is possible, but it can give som hope.