As you may be aware, I am a big fan of the new gTLD domain name extensions, there are hundreds of them already in General Availability. So, I was hunting around today, using the technique below, to find available domain names and names that I wish to pre-register.
I found that the first owner of Bill.Ninja failed to renew the domain name, so I was able to pick it up at a minimal cost. I consider that a huge win for me, as it’s a great, short, domain name. I even set up a short email address on it, as well.
Here is the technique that I used to find some available names, especially ones that I can purchase with my name or preferred “beginning”:
How to Find Available New gTLD Domain Names
1. Look at the list of new gTLD domain names that are now in GA (General Availability). Decide which ones you’d like to check, or make a list of all the extensions.
2. Copy that list into Notepad or a text editor.
3. Copy the list again, from Notepad, and paste it into a column in MS Excel.
4. Insert your preferred beginning (such as “bill”) in the column before the list you just pasted.
5. Drag the first cell down so that you have two columns: one with “bill” and the other with the extension.
6. Copy both columns, then paste those back into Notepad.
7. Use the search and replace option to search for the “tab” and replace it with nothing. You’ll now have a list of a bunch of domains, bill.xyz, bill,ninja, bill.website, etc.
8. Pasted that list back into Microsoft Excel, and you’ll have a new list.
9. Use this list to do a “bulk check” of available names over at 101domain.com, like this:
You can search up to 100 names at a time for availability, and then register them at 101 Domain or your favorite registrar. Some registrars don’t have agreements with certain extensions, so you might need to check around. But for bulk lookups like this, I prefer to use 101Domain.com.
This is how I found that Bill.Ninja was available. There are others I’ve registered, but for now I am really happy with this one.
