If you're looking to start a Web 2.0 service, choosing a domain name is an important first step that should be taken carefully. This article will provide you with a few pointers for finding the right domain name.

Checking for Availability

If you already have a simple and generic name for your service in mind, chances are the .com is already registered. To check on whether the domain name is available, do a Whois lookup on the domain name. If the domain is already registered, you might find the contact information of the current owner. Getting in touch with the owners directly using their listed contact information can help you avoid the fees charged by domain name marketplaces and other services.

Whois Source is a great whois lookup service that provides detailed information regarding domain names.

If the domain name owner has their contact information hidden in the Whois lookup, there is a sneaky way that might provide you with the info. Webhosting.info provides, in addition to the normal Whois service, a Reverse IP lookup. This provides you with a list of domain names hosted on the same server.

Now, if the domain name is pointing at a shared server with thousands of other websites hosted on it, a Reverse IP lookup will not be useful. However, if the server is owned or leased by the owner of the domain name, there's a good chance the other domain names on the server are owned by the same person or company. There's also a good chance the owner's contact information is available for the other domain names.

The reasoning behind it is this: Usually, aside from providing falsified contact information, the way to make your contact information unavailable to the public is to pay for a privacy service to remove the information from Whois lookups. Since this costs a fee, domain name owners might only apply this to their more valuable domain names, but leave the contact information available on their less popular ones.

Browsing for a Name

If you do not already have a name in mind, a good way to find a domain name is to look at what domain name owners are putting up for sale. DNForum, the largest forum on the Internet dedicated to domain names, has an active community of people looking to buy and sell domain names. Though the prices demanded for good names can sometimes be outrageous (at least for a poor entrepreneur), you can occasionally find great names for reasonable prices. Another large domain name forum to take a look at is NamePros.

What to Register

Always purchase the .com extension for whatever name you choose. If the price of the .com exceeds your budget, it's better to choose a different .com than to settle with the .net or .org. (Keep in mind we're talking about Web 2.0 services here, so Folksonomy doesn't count). As a Web 2.0 service, you do not want to be playing second fiddle to a stronger domain name extension, especially if the other domain name is offering a similar service.

Domain name squatters should not be among your concerns at this stage. If you can land the .com domain you desire, don't worry about the relatively obscure extensions (e.g. .tv, .ws, .info, etc...). It's not a bad idea to purchase the .net and .org extensions and forward them to your .com if they're available, but any other extension is a waste of money at this stage in your startup's life.

What registrar the domain name is at should generally not be an issue. Transferring between the major registrars is fast, cheap, and easy to do.

The Transaction

If the agreed-upon price of the domain name is lower (in the tens or hundreds), chances are a simple PayPal transaction will suffice. However, if the price goes into the thousands you'll need to use an escrow service for the transaction. Escrow.com is a popular escrow service for this type of transaction, and they offer a domain name escrow service. There is a fee involved, but protecting yourself from fraud is always worth it.

If the owner suggests bypassing an escrow service on an expensive domain, a warning bell should immediately go off in your head. We've all heard of scams where buyers wire large sums of money and the sellers disappear.

Another situation to avoid is a where a seller is offering a highly generic name for a low price that does not seem to match the value. Even if the owner agrees to use an escrow service, there might be something they're hiding from you. If the domain name was stolen, then buying it would put a messy situation on your hands if the original owner demands it back.

Registering a Domain

If the name you desire is indeed available, there's a large number of companies you can register the domain with. GoDaddy, currently the most popular registrar, is easy to use and offers low prices on domains. Other registrars include eNom, NetworkSolutions, Register.com, and NameCheap.

Parking Unused Domains

If own any unused domain names, it's a good idea to park them somewhere to make money off the type-in traffic. Professional domainers do this on an astronomical level with thousands of domain names, but even a relatively small number of domain names can collectively make a nice bit of change every month.

Sedo is a domain name marketplace, but they also offer a parking service that puts relevant advertising on your unused domains. Even if your domains only have a small amount of type-in traffic, parking them with Sedo could cover their annual registration costs.