[Dave M]

I'm trying to buy a domain name, and two of my preferred options are taken. One of them is owned by a company who don't answer emails, and the other has expired - the registrar state that they drop registrations 90 days after expiry and that's a few weeks away.

In both cases, the owner appears to be in a business completely unrelated to the name, there is no site configured, and there is no archive.org history.

I don't (can't) end up spending thousands of pounds on either one, so does anyone have any advice?

[WanSum]

A close match that is available or use of hyphens (eg the-domain.co.uk) is not so bad, especially of the names you wanted are inactive or not related to your business.

Anyway unless you are going for instant brand recognition (eg bbc.co.uk)
on a big scale, it's no big deal as long as you market your web site correctly - SEO (search engine optimisation), PPC (pay per click), etc.

A web site with an unrelated name that is well marketed can be just as effective as having the perfect name and poorly (as many web sites are) marketed.

Hope this helps

Steve

[Merlin83b]

QNIM:

A number of companies offer a service that will grab that domain as soon as it becomes available again. There's a fee for this, obviously, but if you really want it then this can be done. Or you can wait and register it as fast as you can once it becomes available (usually early AM)

[Dave M]

In this particular case, using a close match, a new brand name or an address with a hyphen in it would be a problem because I am hoping most of my visitors will hear about the site by word of mouth, so an obvious, simple and memorable name is important. I also needed it to be fairly generic.

Needless to say, those requirements make it hard to find something suitable. Very luckily, I did find the perfect name with uk.com, so I have "domain.uk.com". The two addresses I'm after are the corresponding .co.uk (expired) and .com.

Steve, I agree that the inactivity of the .com means I won't lose much of my traffic. I do hate to see good names go to waste!

I'm considering using a domain grabbing company. Expirefish are not currently monitoring the name. Merlin, do you have experience of these companies, and can you recommend one? What are the odds it will actually work?

[WanSum]

I use Network Solutions for my .com, etc. They have a backorder system for expiring domains which works through a partner company SnapNames.

You can also bid for an existing domain through them.

S.

[Keef]

I got the domains I wanted by browsing what was/wasn't taken and picking .com or .org or .co.uk - and then more of the above as and when they came free.

If you use the right people, they will get the domain for you without the need to pay a silly price.