How To Check If Site Is Registered

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

But when you get to register the domain name you lot're fix on, y'all discover that someone has already claimed information technology. What a disappointment.

Before you surrender on that perfect name and start the whole process again from scratch, know in that location might nevertheless exist hope.

Registered domain names are sometimes still bachelor—if you know how to detect the possessor.

People invest in domain names for a number of different reasons. Sometimes, it's to start their own website at that domain. Sometimes it'south purely for investment purposes. And in a few cases, it may exist for a website thought that either never comes to fruition, or that falls off the owner's radar over time.

If the website you're interested in isn't beingness actively used and updated, then the owner may be happy to hear from an interested buyer. And fifty-fifty if the owner is conspicuously using the domain proper noun right now, if you're willing to spend enough to make a auction worth it to them y'all may nevertheless have a take chances.

In both cases, you should anticipate spending more for the domain name than if you went with something no 1 else owns still. But if you're really set on that domain name, it's worth trying your chances.

How to Find Out Who Owns a Domain Proper noun

Before you can learn whether buying your domain is even a possibility, y'all demand 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 get the ball rolling with these iii steps.

Step One: Visit the Website

In cases where the possessor bought the domain every bit an investment, they'll make information technology piece of cake for you to contact them. Then get-go by pulling up the website to see what shows upwardly.

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They may say outright that the domain is for sale, and include contact information or a form you tin fill out. Or in some cases where the domain is in active use, you'll be able to find contact data on the website'southward Contact or About page.

If you lot're lucky plenty that this step does the trick and you find the domain owner, you lot can skip the adjacent two steps.

Step Two: Bank check the WHOIS Directory

Every time someone registers a domain name, the domain registrar that processes the sale is required to collect basic contact information. In some cases, that information and then gets submitted to the WHOIS directory, so that there's a record of who runs each website online.

The WHOIS directory is therefore our side by side end for seeking out a domain name owner.

whois directory for looking up domain name owner

Put in the name of the domain you're looking for and scroll down to discover all the data the WHOIS directory lists for it. In a few cases, that may comprise the owner's contact information. If then, you can skip the side by side step.

Fifty-fifty if not though, it volition always include at least their domain registrar and domain expiration engagement. That lets you know if the domain volition be coming up for renewal presently. If so, y'all may be able to snap it upward for cheaper when it expires than if you buy it from them directly. But that but works if they don't renew, so you're taking a chance.

Either way, knowing the domain registrar enables you lot to take the next step.

Pace Three: Contact the Domain Registrar

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

That means in many cases, you won't be able to acquire directly who the owner is via the directory. But you volition exist able to notice out who they registered the domain with.

This still isn't a dead end. Become to the website of the domain registrar (simply Google the name if information technology's not included in the WHOIS record), and expect for their contact information. Give them a phone call or write them an email letting them know what domain you're interested in ownership, and enquire them to pass along your information to the owner. The registrar volition take the owner'south contact details on file, and will be able to share your interest with them without violating any privacy concerns.

What Side by side?

At this point, you have three unlike paths to consider.

1. Contact the Domain Name Owner

If one of the steps above leads yous to the website owner, it's time to accomplish out! Craft an email letting them know that yous're interested in purchasing the domain.

To avert looking similar spam, make certain your email conveys seriousness and professionalism. If you lot have a professional email address at a domain name you own, that will look more legitimate than one from a yahoo or aol account. If not, consider at least setting up a gmail address, which looks a bit more respectable.

Brand sure your email includes:

Your contact data – both email and phone, then it's easy for them to cull the method they adopt.
Language that makes it articulate y'all're willing to pay – you may not desire to include a specific offer yet (if yous don't know where they stand, you could offer more than required), just they're more than likely to respond if they know this is a 18-carat business offer
Something that shows your legitimacy – how can you show you're a real person with serious intent? Possibly that's a link to a website you already run or a LinkedIn profile.

People go a lot of spam emails, so y'all want to clarify that you're a real person with real involvement. If you tin can pull that off, the chances of getting a response are much higher.

ii. Hire a Domain Broker

If you haven't managed to observe the contact data for the owner at this point, or if you have but would still like some assist navigating the process of making an offer, wait into hiring a domain broker. Businesses like Sedo and Brannans be specifically to assistance manage deals between domain sellers and buyers.

If yous're inexperienced at buying a domain name, they can help yous figure out a reasonable toll to request, find the right person to contact, and ensure the purchasing process goes through the proper steps and then that everyone's happy at the stop of it. There are lots of scammers in the world of online transactions, and online brokers can help you steer clear of those that exist in the domain name industry.

iii. Consider a New Domain Proper name

In that location's a decent risk that fifty-fifty if you take all of these steps, the person that owns that domain now either won't desire to sell, or will only accept a college price than you tin can pay.

In that case, you're far from the first person to take to come up with an alternative to the first proper name you lot set your heart on. Consider different domain proper name extensions—if the .com is taken, the .net or .co may still be available. And brainstorm new domain proper noun ideas. Y'all may merely come up with something you similar even more than your original idea.

Conclusion

Finding a proficient domain name that hasn't already been claimed is difficult—in that location are so many websites already out there that a lot of ideas accept already been snapped upwards. But y'all may yet be able to purchase the domain you really want. And failing that, a little inventiveness or flexibility will aid you find one that works simply also.

Kristen Hicks is an Austin-based freelance content writer and lifelong learner with an ongoing curiosity to learn new things. She uses that marvel, combined with her experience as a freelance business possessor, to write near subjects valuable to small business concern owners on the HostGator web log. You can notice her on Twitter at @atxcopywriter.