I have wrote this kind of post before that included specific tools like software or just sites that I use, but I wanted to do an updated one to include some “new” and more recent things that I use and specific features I use them for.
~ RegistrarStats.com FREE. If you are a long time reader of DotWeekly, this is the site that I would use to find the data for my “Off The Wall Domain Name Stats”. Simply by understanding who uses what domain name servers can tell you a butt load of useful info. It’s a great tool to see insider type info. You really need to think outside the box when looking at these stats. I use it to find trends or hot sites and services, domains sold, purchased, expired etc all the time. The pages I visit the most are Most Active, Top Movements, Market Share and Movements By Name.
The more you use the site, the more you will understand it. I often use the site and Whois.sc together. I also grab lists and use DRT software with the specific domain lists that I grab.
~ DnCleaner.com FREE or Estibot’s Domain Extractor. These tools are very simple, but extremely powerful all at the same time. I use either one of these tools when I take a large list of domain name from an auction site (copy). Since most auction sites do not allow you to export the domain names, you need to copy the domain name, price, auction end time, buttons and whatever else is on the page for the list of domain names you want.
After you copy all that stuff and only want the domain names in a list, use one of the two to filter what you put in. I do this often with auction domains and again use DRT to scan domains for metrics. I also use these tools to help me build my lists that I put in the blue bar to the right.
~ Estibot Domain Name Keyword Parser. 10 at a time FREE with a free account. This is a major under rated tool IMO! Any domain name owner that lists a large list of domain names either on a personal site, blog, domain forum etc should be using this keyword parser to “Make Your Domains Look Good”. It’s the Small Details that make the biggest difference. The tool is not 100% perfect, but will save you an ass load of time if you are capitalizing all the keywords in your domain names. The only problem with this tool, the “free” one only allows you to put in 10 domains at a time… $4.95 a month allows you to put in 500 domains at a time.. (you also get access to “other” Estibot tools.
~RankingCheck.com FREE If you develop websites (or have somebody else do it for you) you should be keeping track of how your site ranks (SERP) for specific keywords. Using this tool allows you to check up to 3 keyword phrases at a time for Google, Yahoo and MSN. This tool is simply a time saver but can help you discover keywords that you should be ranking for and are not, so you can make some adjustments.
Google Trends. FREE Yep, I check it hourly! You can look at this amazing resource any way you want! It could be considered a News Source, Trend Watcher, Product Finder, Hot Site Finder or whatever. Be sure to click the More HOT Trends link to see the top 100 and refresh it hourly for the latest trends. Again, an amazing tool and with mainly all of the above… Totally Free!!!
DRT Software ($129) I use this software for A LOT of stuff. I mainly scan large domain name lists simply for Domain Age (creation date) but also use it for DNS info. The other major option that I use the most is the File Splitter. (File/File Splitter) It simply splits up very large domain name lists to “fit” into Excel for me. Any domain list over 65K ish will not load.
I often download the daily Pending Delete domain list at Namejet.com (downloads) and have to split the list depending on it’s size.
WordPress Plugin Page. FREE If you use WordPress, you should be watching the plugin page from time to time. If your not using WordPress (what DotWeekly.com was built with), I suggest you check it out. IMO, WordPress is one of the best SEO style sites on the web. I highly suggest using 2 plugins that will help SEO with wordpress Headspace2 and the All In One SEO.
Domaining.com FREE Catch all the domain name happenings! News, tips, tricks, bitching, development tips etc, mostly about domain names.
Very helpful list of domain name tools Jamie!