Yesterday I talked about the things you need to look for in a great domain name. By now you may be thinking those things are impossible to come by. Especially since most common words in the english dictionary and combinations thereof have already been registered. So what are you to do when you can't find a domain name available for your website. In this article I will tell you how to find out who owns a domain name and give you tips on how to buy it from them.

So you have a great idea for a domain name and you found it's not available to register. The first thing you'll need to do is find out who owns the domain name you want. You can do this by going to a website like DomainTools.com, entering the domain name, and clicking search. Domain tools will return what is called the WHOIS record for the domain. It will show you the name of the person who owns the website, their address, phone number, and contact email. Many times you're going to find the domain you want is listed as private. I'll tell you how to pursue those types of domains below.

Once you've obtained the email address for the person who controls the domain you want to buy it's as easy as sending them an email to see if they're willing to sell it. There's a few things I suggest you do in your email to give you the best chance of getting the domain name for the right price. I recommend in the first email you try to establish a line of communication only. Don't start talking about price. It goes something like this....

"Hi,

I'd like to know if you're willing to sell your domain name ________.com. If you're interested please let me know. I need to make a decision about it right away so please let me know either way. "

If the email is valid I'll usually get a response right away saying they're willing to consider a sell. I haven't discussed price yet because I want the person selling it to get excited about the idea of cashing in on a domain they're not using but still giving me an opportunity to offer them a reasonable price.

Once they've responded and indicate they're interested in selling I'll send a second email offering them a fairly low price. I good starting point for a domain depends on the domain name but don't be afraid to start with as little as $100. They may be thinking thousands and this will knock them back into reality. If you can get a good domain name for $500 you're doing really well. And you need to be thinking of your domain name like a great piece of real estate for your business.

If you'r going after a very good domain it's not unusual for the price to run into the the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. If you find yourself in this situation don't give up on the domain. Think about creative ways you can work with the domain owner to get control of the domain. You can do this by renting the domain, offering the domain holder shares in your business, or maybe offer to give them a percentage of the money you make.

Above I mentioned I would tell you how to pursue a domain where the registration information is private. To do that you'll need to contact a domain broker like sedo.com. If you go to sedo.com you'll be able to enter the domain name you want to purchase and they will contact the owner with your offer. There's been a few times where I've been able to purchase domain names through the aftermarket in this fashion.

Once you've purchased the domain you want you'll need to configure it with your website. Although normally this process can be a bit complicated at WebStarts we make it easy. All you have to do is update the DNS to ns1.webstarts.com and ns2.webstarts.com. If you haven't yet built a website be sure to make one at WebStarts.com.