Hey domainers! Here’s the question, how do you keep track of your domain names?
Around here it gets a little crazy at times. We intermittently go from writing, to checking stats, to email, to twitter, to news groups, to writing, to posting, to checking stats, to reading, to skypeing, to downloading, to pugins, to themes, to writing, and on and on… You do too, tell the truth.
Domaining Tools:
In between all of the above, every now and then a brainy idea pops up and we go looking at domain name availability on various subjects. Some of the tools that we keep in a bookmarked folder are NAME.com, pcnames.com, NameBoy.com, justdropped.com, wegotdomain.com, archive.org, and our favorite hosting company, BlueHost.
With all of those tools opened in tabs across the top of the screen one is able to jump from one possible resource to the other to try to snap up a real cool name.
Now none of this is a problem if you have a handful of domains to worry about, but what if you have many hundreds of them as we do, or even many thousands as some serious domaniers do? It gets confusing.
DataBase Management:
For instance I have a database with domain name ideas for future search that I just put fleeting thoughts in to, until such time as I get geared up to go domaining. Then there is another database with all of the domains owned, activated, where hosted, and where some are parked earning paltry sums of revenue sharing, and some are just plain dormant which sometimes leaves me wondering, what the hell was I thinking?
Sonoma Wine Country:
So my daughter is living in the Sonoma wine country and as I have a very popular New York State Wine website, she decided that she would like to set one up for Sonoma wine. Great !
So a couple of weeks ago I started to search for some cool names that might work good for a California wine website, found a half-dozen or so, and wrote them down in my notebook. I checked them on pcnames. All were available. Great !
Purchase Domains Today:
So today I went to NAME.com which is where I always purchase names in bulk. I have never found anyplace any cheaper. It is a little bother to point the DNS servers to your hosting companies, but it is not difficult and after a couple of days you can set up the website.
Well anyway, of the six names that I wanted to buy, every single one of them was now unavailable. some no-good-dirty-rotten-scoundrel had beaten me to them! Hmm does pcnames monitor searches?
So I said something like, shucks (ok not what I said,) and started looking for some possible alternatives. I found a couple that would work and went back to NAME.com and bought them. Then when I signed in and took a look at all of the names I own on NAME I was shocked to see that I was that no-good-dirty-rotten-scoundrel ! LOL !
I had indeed purchased all of those other names a couple of weeks ago and did not enter them into the database. I have absolutely no memory of doing so. Now I’m wondering how many more I own at a half dozen or so various registrars I have used.
How about you? Has anything like this ever happened to you? Do you have a “System” that you could share with us?
