Domain Lookup extension for FireFox

Richard Kershaw contacted me regarding his Domain Lookup extension for FireFox. It works by taking any text you highlight and parsing it to remove any spaces etc and then submitting it to the registrar you choose from the list provided.

“It’s super-simple: select the text for your domain search and hit the keyboard shortcut (CTRL + SHIFT + D by default). Alternatively, you can right click for the contextual menu and hit “Domain Lookup for…”.”

I took it for a joyride to see how it helped the process. I went to the American Bar Association (ABA) Technology Management section to browse for possible domain names. Being able to highlight text and look it up at my registrar was so simple.The lookup opened up in a new tab and often I would run several lookups and then click on the tabs to check on them.

I won’t go through all the terms I checked but the extension worked like a charm. The only quibble I would have is that for text that is hyperlinked, the extension chose the whole link text as opposed to the highlighted portion of the link text. Really this was a very minor issue and something I am passing along to Richard to see if it can be fixed.

What to do if there is no website on a domain?

Along the way, I came across the term “your practice”. When I looked this up, the .com and .net were taken. I have a habit of looking for websites if the domain names are taken. This gives me an idea if owning one of the other tlds might be of interest to me. In this case, there was no website, nothing in fact.

So do I walk away? No, I look up the contact information. The above screen shot is from Moniker.com but registrars usually have a WHOIS lookup tool where you can find the contact information for the registrant. It turns out the same company owns both domains, neither of which are parked or developed.

You can contact the registrant using the administrative contact information from the WHOIS lookup either by email or phone if provided. This is effectively cold calling and do not be surprised if you get no answer or are rejected. You have to develop a thick skin to do this and you should always remain polite. Good domains get many inquiries and for some it can become tiresome.

Maintain a list of the domain names, domain contact information, date you contacted them and answer you received. I keep a log in Excel so I do not bother people repeatedly. I will contact a registrant again in 6 months to a year depending on how desirable the domain is but always make sure the contact information has not changed before you try to contact them again.

When this approach does pay off, it can pay off big. I have made some of my best acquisitions this way. Many new domainers and even some experienced domainers do not take the time to check all of this. It is much easier to do the domain name lookup and if registered, then move onto the next one. There is a lot of domain name real estate out there that is unwanted, undervalued, underdeveloped or even forgotten about by registrants.

So do try Richard’s FireFox extension and let both he and I know how it works for you. It will definitely be staying in my browser.

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