Domain squatters, any way around them?

23 replies
I am trying to get some ideas for domain names and I really only need one. I had a list of about 50 written out, but ALL 50+ we taken by squatters.

Any ideas around this? It is super frustrating.

BTW.. I thought domain registration companies and service providers were NOT allowed to gobble up domain names just to squat on them and sell them at a higher price.
#domain #squatters
  • Profile picture of the author Cru
    Email them and make them offers. If you think you can make some money with it, go for it. I never pay more than $50 for a domain name though
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  • Profile picture of the author davezan
    Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

    Any ideas around this? It is super frustrating.
    Yup: be creative. It can be frustrating, but maybe you can channel that to help
    you find one still.

    Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

    BTW.. I thought domain registration companies and service providers were NOT allowed to gobble up domain names just to squat on them and sell them at a higher price.
    Generally, they don't have to. What makes you think that?

    BTW, I tend to register a domain name if I find it juicy enough to fit my plans for
    the future, although I try to keep myself open to possible interesting offers. Will
    that make me a squatter, though, and why?
    Signature

    David

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    • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
      Originally Posted by davezan View Post

      BTW, I tend to register a domain name if I find it juicy enough to fit my plans for
      the future, although I try to keep myself open to possible interesting offers. Will
      that make me a squatter, though, and why?
      No not a squatter but an owner... What I found was the domains I was looking for were owned by large registration companies and the likes.

      If I, as a company, registered domains for the public, isn't it against policy to take those said domains and squat on them?


      anyway enough of the personal rant.

      Thank you for the replies. I'll keep digging and I hope something comes up soon
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert H Cwik
    Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

    I am trying to get some ideas for domain names and I really only need one. I had a list of about 50 written out (---cut---).
    If you leave the sequence of your keywords intact, a number at the front or at the end, or an additional letter at the end will not hurt you from the SEO point of view.

    1yourdreamdomainname.com
    yourdremdomainname1.com
    yourdreamdomainnamex.com

    I know the domain doesn't look that sexy then, but it is to earn money, not look well, right?

    Another solution is to go for .net or .org alternatives.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Did you do a WHOOPS???

      If you search for domain names, find them and leave the registration site without paying and taking them....they will be "registered" when you return.

      This is third party software - it's sneaky but not illegal. They are temporary registrations and as long as you don't pay more for them, those registrations will expire in 7-10 days. At that time, the domain name will once again be listed as "available".

      I don't know if this was your problem but it sounds like it might be. When looking for a domain usew a site like nameboy.com to narrow down the search without revealing WHAT domain you want.

      When you search on a registration site and find a domain - buy it before you leave that site.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author shand
        Kay, thanks you just confirmed what I thought was happening behind the scenes when I've searched for domain names.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steve B
          Invert:

          There are always very good and acceptable domain names available for registration in every niche.

          You just have to be a little creative and not pin all your hopes on a certain name. You don't really know that squatters are sitting on "your name."

          Many people, myself included, register names in their niche that they haven't yet had time to develop but hope to someday. I wouldn't call that squatting as there really was no intention to sell it when it was purchased.

          You haven't divulged what name you're looking for, and that's fine, but just realize that if it's short, heavily searched, and the keywords have lots of competition, you may be better off drilling down further in the niche and finding a longer-tail phrase.

          For most broader niches, the obvious exact match domains are not going to be available. So re-examine your list of 50 and see if you can come up with better targeted phrase. Broad niches are the death of many would-be IMers.

          Steve
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          Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
          SteveBrowneDirect

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          • Profile picture of the author Chris Chicas
            Often times people are under the impression that big hosting companies own many of the names that are listed under them but in fact it turns out that they are just selling them on behalf of someone else - someone that has hosting with that company for instance.

            Often times people also put too much weigh on how much traffic keywords on a domain name gets not realizing that you can still compete for those same keywords by the keywords in your articles - which I think it's more important.

            I have quite a few domain names for sale and I'm willing to sell them quite cheaply - if anyone is interested.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Investing in domain is not domain squatting. Domain squatting is buying domains similar to or the same as brand company names.

    Domaining is a legitimate business, the same as investing in real estate, stocks, jewelry, collectibles ... you name it.

    Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting), according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.
    Cybersquatting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Suzanne is right - don't throw around terms unless you know what they mean.

      I have over 3 dozen domains - some of them quite good - that I'm doing nothing with so far. Some I have plans for - some I just want to hold on to for now.

      Two years ago a fellow emailed me wanting to buy one of the domains. I told him it wasn't for sale - and he sent email after email arguing about my "selfishness" in holding a domain "without using it".

      When nice didn't work - I told him to buzz off. I pay the registration fee every year and what I do with the domain is my business.:p

      kay
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      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
      ***
      Please do not 'release balloons' for celebrations. The balloons and trailing ribbons entangle birds and kill wildlife and livestock that think the balloons are food.
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      • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        Suzanne is right - don't throw around terms unless you know what they mean.
        so what, technically, is this?

        Domain Name: E-DEALS.COM
        Registrar: FABULOUS.COM PTY LTD.
        Whois Server: whois.fabulous.com
        Referral URL:Fabulous.com - Premium Services for Domain Name Professionals
        Name Server: NS1.DSREDIRECTION.COM
        Name Server: NS2.DSREDIRECTION.COM
        Status: clientDeleteProhibited
        Status: clientTransferProhibited
        Updated Date: 18-aug-2011
        Creation Date: 12-aug-2004
        Expiration Date: 12-aug-2012
        so I look up .fabulous.com- Premium Services for Domain Name Professionals

        and low and behold they are a registration company...


        Any registered domain that I own has my name on it. That example is of a registration company squatting on a domain (for lack of a better uneducated term).
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

          so what, technically, is this?



          so I look up .fabulous.com- Premium Services for Domain Name Professionals

          and low and behold they are a registration company...


          Any registered domain that I own has my name on it. That example is of a registration company squatting on a domain (for lack of a better uneducated term).
          Don't know how you did your whois search, but the domain is owned by:
          Domain e-deals.com:
          Attilio Tonelli

          Administrative contact:
          Technical contact:
          Billing contact:
          Attilio Tonelli

          Took out his contact info. That being said, registrars are businesses in the business to make money and they do register domains and sell them for a profit.

          As I said, it's called domaining and is a very large business. Want to see just how big?

          Three Domain Sales Totaling $1.25 Million Top This Week's Chart With* ccTLDs Ringing Up Four of the Five Biggest Sales
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  • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
    I used godaddy for the whois lookup.

    obviously your source differs... what did I do wrong?

    ok.. found it... sorry.. .whois.net is obviously different than "go daddy"....
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

      I used godaddy for the whois lookup.

      obviously your source differs... what did I do wrong?

      Use whois.domaintools.com for looking up. Gives better info. Godaddy rightly listed fabulous as the registrar, but they are not the owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
    ahhhh got ya.....

    as you can see that was where I was confused... most of the domains I was looking at were held by the registration company (which apparently was not the case).
    Thank you!
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

      ahhhh got ya.....

      as you can see that was where I was confused... most of the domains I was looking at were held by the registration company (which apparently was not the case).
      Thank you!
      Wish I'd bought BigTits.net
      Just sold by HuntingMoon.com for $15,000
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      • Profile picture of the author Ralph Moore
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        Wish I'd bought BigTits.net
        Just sold by HuntingMoon.com for $15,000
        Gee, I never thought of body parts. Say, that gives me an idea.

        Nah, somebody might think I was bragging... Heh, Heh, Heh...
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        • Profile picture of the author gjd6599
          I don't think the perfect domain is that important any more. Matt Cutt's said recently, that the domain name may start to have less relevance in the ranking process. I also don't think visitors focus on the domain name that much.

          Getting the perfect domain name, is a thing of the past, unless you want to spend the big bucks. When I go into a new niche now, I don't even stress over it.

          If I want to make a site on weight loss, I might pick something like weightlossplansthatwork.com or something like that. I never put anything in front of the keyword, because I have found it does not work that well.

          You can also just add a letter to the end of the perfect domain you want like http://prefectdomainnamex.com I have tried this, and it works, but I assume google will catch up eventually, and adjust their algorithm, to give less value to these types of domain names.

          I have also found that what you put in your title for the all in one seo plugin, makes more difference than the domain.

          I always do my page or post titles in this plugin, with at least two keywords in them, and I have a lot of sites on page one, with this.

          Weight loss Plans - Lose Weight Fast - Fast Weight Loss
          If these are the keywords I am targeting in the post.

          I also do very well with domains with hyphens in them, in spite of what some people say.
          Contact Support

          I have several that are on page one, and in some cases where I have two sites on the same niche, they are out ranking my exact match domains, that don't have the hyphens.

          Glenn
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          • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
            +1 I totally agree.

            If you think of all the BIG companies their NAME actually has very little or nothing to do with what they sell. Unfortunately in my case (not this being everyone of course) I went through 50 names and all were taken.

            It will take me a day or 2 to come up with some new names and hopefully something will match. Well, I'll keep plugging away at it...
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    • Profile picture of the author davezan
      Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

      ahhhh got ya.....

      as you can see that was where I was confused... most of the domains I was looking at were held by the registration company (which apparently was not the case).
      Thank you!
      Some domain terms to help you better understand domain WHOIS results:

      Registrar - where domain is registered at.

      Registrant - whom domain is registered to.

      So if you see something like this:

      Registrant: John Doe
      1234 Doh Street
      Los Angeles, CA 92128

      Admin/Tech Contact: John Doe
      1234 Doh Street
      Los Angeles, CA 92128
      admin@domain dotwhatever

      Domain: Domain dot whatever
      Registrar: Fabulous

      The domain name is registered to John Doe (registrant/owner) at the registrar
      Fabulous. Fabulous, BTW, caters to actual domainers instead of end users like
      Go Daddy, Name.com or NameCheap.

      Different strokes for different folks.
      Signature

      David

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  • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
    I am good at building websites... but the creative portion escapes me.

    I had one client give me a "big long name . com" and I asked him to shorten it... he told me you can call it "sh!t".com for all I care as long as we get the traffic. LOL!!

    Well obviously that domain was taken and traffic is what this game is all about. I can build some beautiful sites, but not having the domain and the traffic is a moot point, no?
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  • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
    Traffic Travis (it's similar to Market Samurai) will let you search for domains related to a certain keyword or phrase and will show you if the .com, .net or .org is already taken.

    If I type in a niche keyword, it will show you hundreds of domain name possibilities. It will even let you filter the results with or without hyphens in the domain names.
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    • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
      for cellington:

      due to my post count I can't reply to the PM.

      here are a few sites I have built:


      shirakura-shop.com <== very nice niche market site very $$$$
      invertplanet.com <== full site still in development
      s-chan.jp <== mass media site lots of traffic.. but not quality traffic

      those are my most recent but there are many more...

      S-Chan stats:

      Jan 2011 382 896 1,984 5,942 48.81 MB
      Feb 2011 353 1,253 2,675 4,274 31.78 MB
      Mar 2011 373 1,680 3,635 6,867 41.45 MB
      Apr 2011 371 1,369 2,963 4,695 20.24 MB
      May 2011 382 1,554 3,280 5,045 19.94 MB
      Jun 2011 566 1,538 3,227 5,620 27.07 MB
      Jul 2011 615 1,593 4,865 7,455 36.28 MB
      Aug 2011 512 1,505 3,264 5,887 30.16 MB
      Sep 2011 386 1,397 3,133 4,260 18.19 MB
      Oct 2011 553 1,716 3,623 5,076 27.83 MB
      Nov 2011 592 1,442 4,886 6,851 38.06 MB

      Invert Planet stats:
      Jan 2011 416 762 18,519 59,381 752.66 MB
      Feb 2011 421 1,942 17,794 43,124 503.13 MB
      Mar 2011 493 2,072 14,906 56,763 577.47 MB
      Apr 2011 1,059 3,487 17,734 49,379 685.33 MB
      May 2011 565 2,630 14,946 38,893 650.58 MB
      Jun 2011 634 2,625 12,729 31,229 553.56 MB
      Jul 2011 648 2,583 10,220 25,495 487.60 MB
      Aug 2011 800 2,972 16,536 44,794 717.83 MB
      Sep 2011 809 2,880 15,347 37,063 719.86 MB
      Oct 2011 927 3,094 33,373 71,547 1.08 GB
      Nov 2011 894 2,513 16,679 40,416 695.28 MB
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