Domainr Blog

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5by5 In Beta Shoutout

Many thanks to Gina Trapani and Kevin Purdy for including Domainr in their In Beta #64 podcast, which discusses trends and tools related to naming things.

We created Domainr in order to make the process of naming online things easier — projects, companies, products, apps — and are thrilled that people all around the world are still using it for this, five years after we launched it.

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Announcing Domainr for Android

The official Domainr for Android app is now live in the Google Play Store.

Huge props to Connor Hindley for his work on it — like the iOS and Windows Phone apps before it, Connor hacked it together in his spare time and got in touch with us about possibly shipping it. According to Connor, who's currently wrapping up his CS degree at Northern Illinois University, "A clean / straightforward API goes a long way."

And like our other mobile apps, we've released the source on Github in case anybody wants to learn from Connor's work.

Special thanks to the folks who contribute to these open source libraries, which we're using in the app: ViewPagerIndicator, ActionBarSherlock, and HoloEverywhere.

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Domainr for Windows Phone 8

The Domainr for Windows Phone app has been updated for Windows Phone 8, courtesy of Scott Lovegrove. And like the previous release, its source is available on Github (in the WP8 branch).

Thanks Scott!

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dNominator: Domainr-powered iOS app

Congratulations to the team at [Alpis Design](http://alpisdesign.com/) for shipping their iOS app, [dNominator](http://dnominator.com/) — it's a fun little utility for brainstorming project names, and it uses [Domainr's API](http://domai.nr/api) to show domain availability. Check it out [in the app store](http://bit.ly/dNominator).

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New Feature: Autocomplete

We just added something incredibly useful to Domainr: TLD autocomplete. [](http://domai.nr/greetings.c) To try it out, add a `.` to the end of your search, then a letter, like `c` — the search results will show every TLD that starts with a `c`. It also works for second-level domains, like `.co.uk` — type `.co.` in your search to see all of them. This functionality also works in [Domainr's API](http://domai.nr/api). **Bonus feature:** Keyboard Shortcuts — Domainr's intern/hacker extraordinaire [@connor](http://twitter.com/connor/) added Up and Down arrow-key support, so you can use your keyboard to navigate up and down search results.

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Domain advice from Dan Martell of Clarity

Our friend [Dan Martell][1] gave Domainr a shoutout in his [Quora post][2] about how he named his new venture, [Clarity][3]: [][3] ### "Why did Dan Martell choose a .fm domain name for Clarity's website?" > "Here's the reason behind the `Clarity.fm`… I was using [http://domai.nr/][4] to test different words that I felt were on topic, and I didn't expect anything Clarity `[dot]` would be available, but when I saw `Clarity.fm` - I realized that it could work. The `.fm` represents the broadcast nature of the first version of the app when I use to share my link [http://clarity.fm/danmartell][5] on Twitter and take calls from my followers." > "One thing I've seen over time is that domains - in the early days - don't matter. Evan Williams made that argument [here][6]… So yeah, I didn't want the `.fm` - I wanted a great word that would represent the essence of the product, and I couldn't believe `Clarity.fm` was available for $70 bucks." > "Now, the better question (which I won't cover) is, should you have the extension in the logo ex: Clarity.fm, or not: Clarity. We did both, for me - it came down to a personal audio esthetic and I hated hearing "Clarity dot fm". It's Clarity." [1]: http://www.danmartell.com/ [2]: http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Dan-Martell-choose-a-fm-domain-name-for-Claritys-website [3]: http://clarity.fm/ [4]: http://domai.nr/ [5]: http://clarity.fm/danmartell [6]: http://evhead.com/2011/06/five-reasons-domains-are-less-important.html

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Announcing Domainr's Registrar Directory

We just published a new page on Domainr: the [Registrar Directory][1]. [][1] Comprehensiveness is one of our core product goals, and this collection of Registrar-Domain coverage is what makes Domainr's search results both *useful* and *actionable*. The directory currently lists 228 Registrars and Registries, most of which support domain registration. We also show how many top (and second) level domains they support, as well as whether or not they support [IDN][2]. [1]: http://domai.nr/about/registrars [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name

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SideProjects eBook

If you're curious how profitable side projects work behind-the-scenes, be sure to check out this new eBook, [Side Projects][2]. We're excited that Domainr's story was included, from our humble HTML + JS beginnings in 2008 (which @[rr][3] prototyped on @[case][4]'s Mac Mini), to when @[ceedub][14] joined and we formed our LLC, to its current state as one of the web's premier domain search destinations.  (Domainr v0 screenshot) A few updates to the story told in the book: - re: the section about our team, "had two partners" = "[have two partners][5]," as the three of us still actively work on Domainr together. - re: the tech stack, we finished our Ruby port earlier this year, so Domainr is currently a Rails app (hosted on [Heroku][6]) that uses a [Node][7] backend for doing DNS checks (also on Heroku). And regarding Domainr's [API][8] ecosystem, a bunch has happened beyond our [iOS app][9], for example: - @[connor][10] got in touch with us about the [Domainr Chrome extension][11] he built, which led to his "nights and weekends" internship with us in San Francisco this summer — he's since made [API wrappers][5] for Objective-C, Node and Python, as well as a CLI and Twitter bot. - @[scottisafool][12] emailed us about the Domainr client for Windows Phone he built, which led us to [partner with him][13] and launch it officially. We thoroughly enjoy working on Domainr, and are thrilled that it's turned into such a popular and useful tool for entrepreneurs worldwide. [1]: https://twitter.com/laksman [2]: http://www.sideprojectbook.com/ [3]: https://twitter.com/rr [4]: https://twitter.com/case [5]: http://domai.nr/about [6]: http://www.heroku.com/ [7]: http://nodejs.org/ [8]: http://domai.nr/api [9]: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/domainr/id366250105 [10]: https://twitter.com/connor [11]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ckimnhkhhfcedianojdljjgpgachccpf [12]: https://twitter.com/scottisafool [13]: http://blog.domai.nr/post/22783548783/domainr-windows-phone [14]: https://twitter.com/ceedub

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Explore the New gTLDs in Domainr

Domainr now supports searching [ICANN's 1,400+ new generic top-level domains][1], which were publicly revealed on June 13, 2012. Here are some example queries: - [mash.able][2] - [starfleet.academy][3] - [centralintelligence.agency][4] - [in.da.club][5] - [monkey.patch][6] - [ham.radio][7] - [srsly.wtf][8] - [bikram.yoga][9] ICANN intends to [evaluate][10] the new domains for the next 9-20 months before launching them, so it will be a while until they're live and registerable. In the meantime, have fun exploring them — the full list is on Domainr's [TLD page][11]. [1]: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en [2]: http://domai.nr/mash.able [3]: http://domai.nr/starfleet.academy [4]: http://domai.nr/centralintelligence.agency [5]: http://domai.nr/in.da.club [6]: http://domai.nr/monkey.patch [7]: http://domai.nr/ham.radio [8]: http://domai.nr/srsly.wtf [9]: http://domai.nr/bikram.yoga [10]: http://archive.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/gtld-facts-31jul11-en.pdf [11]: http://domai.nr/about/tlds

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Domainr Chrome Extension

Domainr's official Chrome Extension is [now available in the Chrome Web Store][1]. Install it to search Domainr directly from Chrome, and use your Up and Down arrow keys to navigate search results — the Enter key will open a new tab with your search. According to Google Analytics, Chrome is currently used by 55% of Domainr's monthly visitors, so we're excited to make it even easier to use inside Chrome — huge props to [@connor][2] for his work on the extension. [Check it out][1], and let us know what you think [on Twitter][3] and in [our forum][4]. [1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ckimnhkhhfcedianojdljjgpgachccpf [2]: https://twitter.com/connor [3]: https://twitter.com/domainr [4]: https://getsatisfaction.com/domainr

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Domainr for Windows Phone

[Domainr is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace][1], and its code is [open source on github][2] thanks to [Scott Lovegrove][3], a UK-based Domainr fan and Microsoft MVP.   Scott built the app on top of [Domainr's API][5] and contacted us with a few questions about it, and we asked if he'd be interested in open-sourcing it and publishing it as an official Domainr-branded app. Fortunately he was game — Thanks, Scott! Development of our [iOS app][4] several years ago happened similarly, and also prompted us to build the API in the first place — our hope was that developers would use the API to "[scratch their own itch][6]," which has happened for a [variety of different languages and apps][5]. Check it out and let us know what you think in [Domainr's forum][7]. [1]: http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=67806bb0-2461-40af-af03-ba6ac7b99b92 [2]: https://github.com/nbio/domainr-windows-phone [3]: http://www.scottisafool.co.uk/ [4]: http://blog.domai.nr/post/7465743669/domainr-for-iphone [5]: http://domai.nr/api [6]: http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Whats_Your_Problem.php [7]: https://getsatisfaction.com/domainr

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Domainr API Gallery

We launched Domainr's API three years ago, in the hopes that it would let developers and Domainr fans create functionality and integrations that "scratch their own itch." Recently it's seen a flurry of activity, so we published a simple API Gallery to showcase projects that use it:

Languages

Ruby wrapper by Steve Agalloco

PHP wrapper by Kyle Florence

Python wrapper by Dave Menninger

Java wrapper by Jake Wharton

C# wrapper & nuget by Scott Lovegrove

Node & Python wrappers by Connor Montgomery

Apps

Domainr for iPhone by Sahil Desai

Domainr for Windows Phone by Scott Lovegrove

Dominio for webOS by David Strack

Exygy Domains by Exygy

Python-based CLI by Tal Safran

Chrome Extension & Twitter bot by Connor Montgomery

If we missed any, or if you've built something you'd like listed in the Gallery, let us know on Twitter or by email at [email protected].

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How to Acquire a Domain Name (That Someone Already Owns)

Background: We created Domainr almost four years ago, and since then many people have contacted us asking how to buy domain names that other people already own. We've not yet been through that process ourselves, so we asked our friend Julian Shapiro, founder of NameLayer, to write a guest post describing how it works — here’s Julian’s advice:

1) Direct Contact

If there are no contact details on the domain’s site, perform a WHOIS lookup using DomainTools.com. You’ll either be presented with the domain owner’s contact information, or you’ll be stone-walled by a “Privacy Protection” service. If the former, contact the owner using the fantastic advice recounted in the first comment on this blog post by Fred Wilson. If the latter, you can pay for a Whois History report at DomainTools, which will give you all the WHOIS records DomainTools has stored for the domain in question. Your goal is to find a point in time where the domain’s owner had not yet set up Privacy Protection, and therefore momentarily had his or her contact details publicized to some extent. You can then proceed to contact the owner, using the guidance from Fred’s blog post.

Pros

Direct contact means you can offer a non-standard payment. For example, if you get the owner’s email address through WHOIS, you can search for their email on Facebook, read their profile details, and get a sense for who they are and how you can appeal to them. (If it’s someone in the tech industry, you might offer shares in your company like Mint did or advertise their name in the footer of your site like Firefox did in the early days.)

You can bypass the major aftermarkets (Sedo and Afternic). When you’ve come close to finalizing a price with the owner, mention using Escrow.com instead. Sedo and Afternic charge around 20%, while Escrow’s fees are much more reasonable. (Escrow.com is what NameLayer uses for all its $2,000+ sales, and we've never had any issues with them.) This way the owner will ultimately keep so much more of the sale price, that it’s as if they're being paid an extra 15% on top of the offer. It also hides the final sale price from public records, which for some people is incredibly important. Although Sedo (the largest domain aftermarket) might give you the option to hide the sale price, they'll charge you to do it. Ultimately, using Escrow.com is a huge win that might tip the owner in favor of your lower offer.

Cons

If it’s a domain that receives a lot of offers, your email may just get lost in the noise. If you're worried about your email going unnoticed, then consider using a brokerage service (discussed below), which will make your inquiry stand out. Brokerage programs require that the acquirer pay up-front fees, and brokers handle the transferring and escrow processes. It’s a huge bonus for the domain owner and they’ll consequently pay more attention to brokerage emails.

2) Brokerages

Use DomainTools.com to do a WHOIS lookup — it’ll tell you which registrar the domain is using. Visit that registrar’s website and search for their “Brokerage/Buy/Offer” service. The trick here is to always use the brokerage service of the registrar with which the domain is registered — this way the registrar knows how to contact the domain’s owner, even if the owner is using Privacy Protection. If for example you were to use GoDaddy’s service to contact the owner of a domain registered with Network Solutions (which has their own brokerage), GoDaddy might not be any more effective at getting in touch with owner than you yourself.

Pros

See Cons in the previous section.

The corresponding registrar actually knows the domain owner's contact details.

You hide your identity as the buyer. (Then again, you could also just create a random @yahoo or @gmail email address for the sake of making a Direct Contact.)

Cons

You’ll pay a fee to use the service.

The buyer will see your formal approach as a sign that you have money to spend. They’ll wind up haggling harder and you will pay more on average.

3) Legal Claim

If you believe you’re legally entitled to the ownership of a domain because it infringes on a trademark that you registered prior to the domain’s registration, or because they are misrepresenting themselves as you, or for a few other reasons, consider exploring the UDRP. Read through both of those links thoroughly before you proceed with this option, as it will cost you time, energy and money, and you might not win.

Pros

You’ll pay nothing besides the UDRP fees in order to acquire the domain.

If the UDRP decision ends in your favor, you’re almost guaranteed to acquire the domain.

Cons

If the UDRP decision is not in your favor, the owner will have largely “proven” the validity of their ownership and will accordingly be stubborn when haggling with you for it, because they know that you won’t be able to easily fall back on legal action.

4) Aftermarket Bidding

If the domain in question is listed on Sedo or Afternic, then you can simply place a bid. The only advice I can offer here is to first inform yourself of the reality of domain name analysis, research past sales with similar keywords, and get a feel for the domain name aftermarket's trends.

Pros

All bids are contractually binding, so the owner is less likely to back out.

The haggling process is systematized and straightforward.

The aftermarket in question will handle the entire transaction process.

Cons

You can’t offer non-standard payment.

You can’t easily use the power of written persuasion to talk them down to a lower price.

Julian is the founder of NameLayer.com, a domain name portfolio for tech entrepreneurs. You can follow him at @Shapiro.

Updates

Here's a related post from Gary Chou.

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Domainr's new development environment -- Installing GCC 4.2, Ruby 1.9.3 & gem dependencies on Mac OS X Lion

We're almost done with Domainr's infrastructural overhaul: we're moving from Python & Django on App Engine to Ruby 1.9.3 and Rails 3.1 — we'll discuss the reasons for this in a later post.

We ran into a few development environment hiccups while working on the port, so Cameron made this gist to automate setting up our general dependencies. The last mile just connects our Ruby application server to Nginx's reverse proxy. Here are some highlights:

Use the --with-gcc=clang flag in order to install Ruby 1.9.3 via RVM on Mac OS X Lion.

You may need gcc-4.2 (not to be confused with XCode 4.2) for database drivers or gems that don't build properly under clang/llvm, so he's included a homebrew formula to download, compile and install it.

Here's the gist:

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Looking for a GoDaddy alternative?

If so, definitely give Kevin Cheng's thorough post about his quest a read. Domainr supports most of the registrars he investigated, but let us know if there are any you'd like us to add.

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.tv = Serious Revenue for Tuvalu

The Guardian:

"Tuvalu’s GDP is so tiny — about US$37 million — that a line item on the budget measures sales of national stamps and coins to collectors... Royalties from the sale of the domain name, which by last year was used by about 110,000 Web sites, could reap Tuvalu US$40 million in a decade. Such funds largely paid for the 2002 tar-sealing and lighting of the roads on Funafuti."

Via 101domain

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Decommissioning Domainr's RSS Feeds

We will be decommissioning Domainr's RSS feeds on Monday, November 14th, 2011 — email us at [email protected] if you need them for some reason.