Where Is A Site Registered

You've spent fourth dimension brainstorming domain names. You lot've tried different domain suggestion tools. And you've finally figured out the perfect name.

Simply when yous go to annals the domain name you're set on, y'all find that someone has already claimed it. What a disappointment.

Before you surrender on that perfect name and commencement the whole process once again from scratch, know there might all the same be promise.

Registered domain names are sometimes still available—if you know how to discover the possessor.

People invest in domain names for a number of different reasons. Sometimes, it'due south to get-go their own website at that domain. Sometimes it's purely for investment purposes. And in a few cases, information technology may exist for a website idea that either never comes to fruition, or that falls off the possessor's radar over time.

If the website you're interested in isn't existence actively used and updated, then the owner may be happy to hear from an interested buyer. And even if the owner is clearly using the domain proper noun right at present, if yous're willing to spend enough to make a auction worth information technology to them you may notwithstanding have a take a chance.

In both cases, you should conceptualize spending more for the domain proper noun than if you went with something no one else owns yet. But if you lot're really attack that domain name, it's worth trying your chances.

How to Detect Out Who Owns a Domain Name

Earlier y'all can learn whether buying your domain is even a possibility, y'all need to figure out who to contact about it. How much work that involves volition depend on a few factors, only you should be able to at to the lowest degree become the brawl rolling with these three steps.

Step One: Visit the Website

In cases where the owner bought the domain as an investment, they'll make it easy for you to contact them. And so start by pulling up the website to run into what shows up.

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They may say outright that the domain is for sale, and include contact data or a class you can fill up out. Or in some cases where the domain is in agile use, yous'll be able to find contact information on the website'due south Contact or Nearly page.

If you're lucky enough that this step does the play a joke on and you find the domain possessor, you tin can skip the side by side two steps.

Step Two: Bank check the WHOIS Directory

Every time someone registers a domain proper noun, the domain registrar that processes the sale is required to collect basic contact information. In some cases, that data then gets submitted to the WHOIS directory, so that in that location'southward a record of who runs each website online.

The WHOIS directory is therefore our next stop for seeking out a domain proper noun owner.

whois directory for looking up domain name owner

Put in the name of the domain you're looking for and scroll down to find all the data the WHOIS directory lists for it. In a few cases, that may contain the owner'due south contact information. If then, you tin can skip the next step.

Even if not though, it volition always include at to the lowest degree their domain registrar and domain expiration date. That lets you know if the domain will exist coming up for renewal soon. If so, y'all may be able to snap information technology up for cheaper when it expires than if you lot buy it from them directly. But that only works if they don't renew, then you lot're taking a chance.

Either style, knowing the domain registrar enables y'all to take the adjacent step.

Stride Iii: Contact the Domain Registrar

Many domain registrars now offer domain name privacy, which keeps the owner'due south personal information from being listed in the WHOIS directory. Betwixt that and GDPR legislation, the WHOIS directory is no longer a reliable way to find a domain owner's personal contact information.

That means in many cases, you lot won't exist able to learn directly who the owner is via the directory. Just you will be able to find out who they registered the domain with.

This still isn't a dead cease. Go to the website of the domain registrar (just Google the proper name if information technology's non included in the WHOIS record), and wait for their contact information. Give them a phone call or write them an email letting them know what domain you're interested in buying, and ask them to pass along your data to the owner. The registrar will accept the possessor's contact details on file, and will exist able to share your interest with them without violating whatever privacy concerns.

What Side by side?

At this indicate, you accept three unlike paths to consider.

1. Contact the Domain Proper noun Owner

If one of the steps to a higher place leads you lot to the website owner, it's time to reach out! Arts and crafts an e-mail letting them know that you're interested in purchasing the domain.

To avoid looking similar spam, make certain your email conveys seriousness and professionalism. If you take a professional email address at a domain proper noun you own, that will wait more than legitimate than one from a yahoo or aol business relationship. If not, consider at to the lowest degree setting upwards a gmail accost, which looks a bit more respectable.

Make sure your email includes:

Your contact information – both e-mail and phone, then it's easy for them to choose the method they adopt.
Language that makes information technology clear you're willing to pay – you may not desire to include a specific offer yet (if you don't know where they stand, you could offer more than required), only they're more than likely to respond if they know this is a genuine concern offering
Something that shows your legitimacy – how can you show you're a existent person with serious intent? Maybe that's a link to a website you already run or a LinkedIn contour.

People get a lot of spam emails, and then you lot desire to clarify that you lot're a existent person with real interest. If you lot can pull that off, the chances of getting a response are much higher.

two. Hire a Domain Broker

If you oasis't managed to notice the contact data for the possessor at this indicate, or if y'all accept but would still like some assistance navigating the process of making an offering, wait into hiring a domain broker. Businesses like Sedo and Brannans exist specifically to help manage deals between domain sellers and buyers.

If y'all're inexperienced at ownership a domain proper noun, they tin can help you figure out a reasonable price to request, find the right person to contact, and ensure the purchasing process goes through the proper steps and so that everyone's happy at the end of it. At that place are lots of scammers in the globe of online transactions, and online brokers can help you steer articulate of those that exist in the domain name industry.

3. Consider a New Domain Name

There'south a decent take a chance that even if you take all of these steps, the person that owns that domain at present either won't want to sell, or will merely accept a higher toll than you lot can pay.

In that case, you're far from the first person to take to come up up with an alternative to the starting time proper noun yous set up your center on. Consider different domain name extensions—if the .com is taken, the .net or .co may still be available. And begin new domain name ideas. You may just come up with something you like even more than your original thought.

Conclusion

Finding a skillful domain name that hasn't already been claimed is hard—in that location are so many websites already out there that a lot of ideas have already been snapped upwards. But y'all may still exist able to buy the domain you lot actually want. And failing that, a little inventiveness or flexibility volition help you notice one that works but as well.

Kristen Hicks is an Austin-based freelance content writer and lifelong learner with an ongoing curiosity to acquire new things. She uses that curiosity, combined with her experience equally a freelance business owner, to write about subjects valuable to small business owners on the HostGator blog. You can find her on Twitter at @atxcopywriter.