1. Domain Name Analyzer Review (freeware)

This is one of my most used tools. I have it saved as a shortcut on my start menu so I can launch it anytime I want to brainstorm domain names. Its fast, free, and uses few system resources. I simply start it up, click Names/Add Names from the menu, and start typing in as many name ideas as I can come up with. I then let it check those while I leave the ‘Add Names’ dialog open so I can continue to add names while the first batch processes. It checks names in real time, so its very reliable and uses smart timing so as not to get your IP address blocked by the whois services. Unlike many freeware tools for domain names, its well thought out , relatively intuitive, and overall very well developed (There’s nothing worse than suffering through what looks to be someone’s visual basic 101 homework assignment).

2. Enom Review

I continue to be astonished with enom’s incredible ‘instant on’ DNS system that literally takes your site live in a matter of minutes after registration. No more 2 day wait for the registrar’s dns servers to kick in. I can find a name, register it with enom, create the site at site5, and browse live to it in 5 minutes - the longest part of the process is creating the site at site5’s admin panel. With some simple publishing tools, I can have decent content in under an hour. In a future post, I’ll detail my workflow and all the tools I use.

I wouldn’t recommend enom’s online tool set for finding domains, but it can’t be beat for registration and administration. It is definitely more expensive than most, but its won my loyalty for quality of infrastructure, DNS administration interface, API, and in my opinion, a relatively low noise factor for ads (unlike GoDaddy) , and minimal hassle for transferring domains after a sale (probably 2 clicks).

For all you *domain tasters, they also offer a low $.25 fee for cancellation through their API within the grace period.

3. DomainsBot.com Review

DomainsBot (with an s) - An improved NameBoy … I just started using this tool , but already it has proven worth the time. Use the ‘Advanced Search’ feature and limit your search to 2 or 3 max keywords, and it will find high quality available domains.

4. PremiumDrops.com Review

I started using this site because of the recommendation that it supported *domain tasting (which it effectively doesn’t since every request err’s out with a message that they have maxed their 10k limit) If you can ignore the expired certificates, buggy login (continues to tell me my email address is invalid) , confusing UI, and cranky list results it can actually find you bankable domains. I primarily use it for its ‘Pre-compiled list results’, not its search features, which appear either outright broken, or not worth the effort.

They also have a useful domain terms page which explains things like LP (link popularity, link saturation,etc) : http://www.premiumdrops.com/terms.html

5. ExpiredDomains Review ( freeware expired domain finder)

This is a freeware program that will find expired domains . Its UI is clunky and not intuitive for the casual user ( you need to create search ‘rules’ that you then apply against a downloaded set of expired domain names) , but its relatively fast and uses few CPU resources.

Others…

NameBoy

Not used so much anymore, but one of my old time favorites, if for no reason because it was the first ‘name spinner’ tool that I used that actually created bankable domains. Its still worth a shot, but I don’t think the algorithm has been updated in years.

*Domain tasting is something that I’ll delve into in a future post, but essentially it is a rather controversial but completely legal and legitimate process that allows you to register a domain for a few days for free or very low cost