written by
Joe Uddeme
How to Buy a Domain Name
How to Buy a Domain Name Owned by Someone Else
Negotiating a Domain Price
What is a Premium Domain Name & Why You Should Buy One
How to Choose a Domain Name
How to Value a Domain Name
Domain Names for Startups
How to Buy a .com Domain Name
Things to Watch Out for When Buying a Domain
Domain Name Investing
Buy & Selling Domains
Best Domains to Buy
Choosing a brand name for your startup? Need a great domain name to match? NameExperts.com Director Joe Uddeme shares his top tips.
Having the right domain name for your startup sounds like common sense. However, it can be a challenging endeavor. Your organization’s name might not translate into a good domain name. Or maybe everything suitable appears to have been taken.
Regardless of the challenges, it is absolutely essential that you have a fantastic domain name so customers can find you. It can also help increase brand awareness and the long-term success of your business.
So how can you actually buy a good domain for your startup? Let’s investigate.
Key Takeaways
When acquiring a domain, you need to start by doing some brainstorming. Consider:
Develop five terms or phrases which can best answer those questions and can describe the domain name that you’d wish to acquire.
For instance, if you wanted a domain name that involved “advertising,” you could use related terms like “online marketing,” “digital marketing,” “advertising,” or “sales marketing” as a starting point.
While this may sound obvious, you also need to remember that your domain name ought to be related to your organization.
For example, if your company name is Joe’s Electronics then you would want a domain name to reflect that name.
If the website was called joesawesomewebsite.com, clients would not know that it was really an electronics site, which means you’re losing out on business because customers can’t find you.
While brainstorming domains, you also wish to bear in mind that the shorter the better. Shorter domain names aren’t just easy to type, but also easier to remember. If you heard the domain from a friend or on the radio, would you be able to spell it correctly?
Try and settle on a domain that’s unique. The last thing that you need is for your domain to get confused with another site. This will also ensure you won’t encounter any ownership issues.
Now that you’ve found a domain that fits your brand, you need to be 100 percent sure it is available. One option would be to explore checkdomain.com, Domjax or copyright.gov.
The best-known names are usually .com domain names – these are widely accepted. It also means that they are likely to have a premium cost to them if you are looking to purchase them. Check the whois information on the domain you are trying to buy, or reach out to a seasoned domain name broker who will have years of experience in sourcing owners and negotiating deals.
While you should keep away from pluralizing or hyphenating words, as that will create confusion (“best” or “top” are also a little overused, too), there could be some minor alterations to make your domain stand out.
Let’s say you have a car rental business located in Phoenix. You could search for a domain name that was on the line of phoenixrentals.com.
Ideally, you would like to secure a .com domain. It’s the best option for branding and type-in-traffic, which is essential for any site. However, there are other endings or extensions (TLDs) that could benefit your brand as well. Take the .info extension for example. It could be an alternative if you are running an informational site.
Another choice is to localize your own domain. If your site is based out of the United Kingdom, you would want to utilize the .uk or co.uk extension. Not only does this open the door to additional possibilities, it differentiates you from an international website.
A website like name.com is an excellent resource for searching for domains and extensions.
You can also hit auctions to purchase a domain name which was/is previously owned. There are numerous sites that have been acquired by investors as a means to monetize a site. They will purchase a domain and fill the website with lists and links to other sites simply for lead generation.
There are instances when somebody had a domain and did not do anything with it – or the business didn’t work out and the domain name has expired. In cases like this, the domain name is now available for purchase.
If your preferred domain is not up for auction, you could work with a domain name expert or broker to contact the current owner.
If you decide to go it alone, make sure you gather any information that can assist you in ultimately determining if this is the right asset for your brand.
If the owner is considering selling the domain, you’ll want to do a little investigating to learn how much it’s worth. Our domain broker services can complete a professional domain name appraisal to determine how much traffic is visiting the website.
It may not be the only element in determining the site’s value, but it’s a powerful indicator. Another thing we’ll look at is sale prices of comparable doman names. Some great names, such as Cars.com, have gone for astronomical sums.
Joe Uddeme is Director and Principal of Name Experts, one of the world’s leading domain name brokerage services. He has overseen domain name sales and acquisitions totaling more than $150 million and is renowned worldwide as a go-to expert in buying and selling premium domains. Contact us at: [email protected]
Updated for 2026 | Securing the perfect domain is crucial for setting your business apart –and that’s where domain name brokers come in. In this comprehensive review, domain industry expert Joe Uddeme highlights 10 of the best domain name brokerage services and explains their pros and cons.
Are you looking for hidden domain opportunities for 2026? You’ve come to the right place. In this post, domain name expert broker Joe Uddeme delves into the many possibilities that await the canny investor. Introduction: why 2026 is a big year for domain names I often think of the global domain name market as being a bit like an ocean-bound oil tanker. Not only is it bigger than many people can imagine (annual global sales are more than $2 billion), but it can seem to take an age to change course. That’s not to say it does not change course. Like everything, the domain name market evolves with time – although the fundamentals of domain name investing rarely alter. In this post, we’ll take a look at the trends for 2026 that look set to shape the market. The biggest of them is likely to be a shake-up of TLDs (the bit at the end of a domain name such as .com or .org). We will get into this fully in the post, but in simple terms, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is set to allow a whole slew of new domain name extensions in 2026. Exciting times – and if you are looking to acquire a premium domain name for your business, there has perhaps never been a better moment. Unless you can invent a flux capacitor and go back to 1993, of course! Key takeaways Why 2026 could be a pivotal year for domain investing Industry-specific TLDs make their mark New short keyword opportunities in tech The.com TLD remains strong, but faces stiff competition (and may be overpriced) Expired domains for sale – a hidden goldmine?
Most web users aren’t familiar with domain parking, yet it’s something pretty much all of us have encountered. Here’s domain name expert Joe Uddeme with the full details of why parked names exist – and why you might want to buy one. A parked domain is a domain name that has been registered but not connected to an active website. It is not currently being used but instead is set aside for future use. Most domains, like nameexperts.com, point to an active web page. But in the case of a parked domain, that address points to a “this domain is reserved” web page, a “buy this domain” page, an advertisement page, or a plain web page with no content. In some cases, it’ll point to no web page at all, and you’ll see an error in your web browser saying, “This site can’t be reached.” It doesn’t mean it isn’t there – as you’ll find out if you try to buy it. If you’re intrigued by parked domains and wonder if there’s any chance of getting your hands on one (with or without assistance from a domain name consultant), this article is for you. Key takeaways: Understand why someone would want to park a domain Turning a parked domain you own into something more useful Top tips for buying a parked domain Why Would You Have a Parked Domain? There are many reasons for domain parking, including: Reserving a Domain Name You might have a domain name that you plan to use for a website in the future. So, you buy it from a registrar and park it to prevent another person from snapping it up and disrupting your plans. A good domain name is worth its weight in gold, so absorbing the cost of holding the domain when it’s not in active use is advisable. Redirecting visitors to another domain You can use your parked domain to redirect visitors to another active domain that you own. For instance, you might have owned a website and changed the domain name for marketing purposes. You wouldn’t want people typing in the former domain name to get confused, so you redirect it to the new one. Save it for reselling Some domain names can appreciate in value, and many people hold them as investments. You can buy a domain name and park it with the intention of selling it for a higher price in the future. Site is in Development The website you want to connect to the domain name may be under development and launching soon. In the meantime, you can park the domain and only connect it to the website when it’s ready. How to Configure a Parked Domain Error Page Some parked domains return an error message when you type them into your web browser. The error message varies depending on your web browser, but it usually takes the form of “this site can’t be reached”.
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