Latest Publications

Make A Name Spinner Easy In PHP – Free Code

Are you a domaining webmaster?  How about adding a new feature to your site? I am posting free code to make a versatile name spinner. I built this simple to use name spinner for you to basically copy & paste the code into 2 new PHP files.

We”ll Let’s get started! Here’s a screenshot of the demo name spinner:

spinner

So as you can see, you have some fields & these fields are magically mixed up together to make lists of domains. While the domains may or not be registered is a different story. You will need to gauge your searches with what is available out there. Enough of the small talk – let’s build that name spinner ASAP.

Let’s start off with baby steps. First off, log into your favorite FTP program, CPanel.. whatever you feel is easiest. Or basically create 2 new files. It would be best if you add these to a path similar to: http://www.expron.com/namespinner/ – like the working link above.

Of course, replace “expron” with your hosted domain you are creating this “script” in.

Place in the folder 2 new files named:

  1. index.html
  2. parseform.php

Your host has to allow PHP “scripts” to run on the server. This code is basic & should not be a problem.

Ok, so by now you should have a directory & 2 empty files. The directory or folder is not required but it helps for seo & memory purposes. If you make: mydomain.com/namespinner/ It is better than tossing 2 files at the root of your domain.

Down to business.. Simply copy this code into each file.

Index.html

<title>Custom Domain List Generator – Generate Lists Of Available Domains!</title><body><form method=”POST” action=”parseform.php”>
<table width=”666″ border=”0″ align=”center” cellpadding=”2″ cellspacing=”0″>
<tr>
<td width=”15″>&nbsp;</td>
<td colspan=”2″><div align=”center”><span>Domain List Creator </span></div></td>
<td width=”18″>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td width=”318″>&nbsp;</td>
<td width=”315″>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><span>Enter Your Keywords Here </span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><span>Example: Car, Cars, Automobile </span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><input name=”keyword1″ type=”text” id=”keyword1″>
<span>Keyword 1 </span></td>
<td><input name=”keyword2″ type=”text” id=”keyword2″>
<span>Keyword 2 </span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><input name=”keyword3″ type=”text” id=”keyword3″>
<span>Keyword 3 </span></td>
<td><input name=”keyword4″ type=”text” id=”keyword4″>
<span>Keyword 4 </span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;      </td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><span>Enter Your Variations Here </span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><span>Example: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green</span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><input name=”variation1″ type=”text” id=”variation1″>
Variable 1 </td>
<td><input name=”variation2″ type=”text” id=”variation2″>
<span>Variable 2 </span> </td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>      <input name=”variation3″ type=”text” id=”variation3″>
<span>Variable 3 </span></td>
<td>      <input name=”variation4″ type=”text” id=”variation4″>
<span>Variable 4 </span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><input name=”variation5″ type=”text” id=”variation5″>
<span>Variable 5 </span></td>
<td><input name=”variation6″ type=”text” id=”variation6″>
<span>Variable 6 </span></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Domain Extension </td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><input name=”tld” type=”text” id=”tld” value=”.com” size=”5″></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><input type=”submit” name=”Submit” value=”Submit”></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</body>

Insert this this into: parseform.php

<?php
$keyword1 = $_REQUEST["keyword1"];
$keyword2 = $_REQUEST["keyword2"];
$keyword3 = $_REQUEST["keyword3"];
$keyword4 = $_REQUEST["keyword4"];
$variation1 = $_REQUEST["variation1"];
$variation2 = $_REQUEST["variation2"];
$variation3 = $_REQUEST["variation3"];
$variation4 = $_REQUEST["variation4"];
$variation5 = $_REQUEST["variation5"];
$variation6 = $_REQUEST["variation6"];
$tld = $_REQUEST["tld"];

$keywords = array($variation1,$variation2, $variation3, $variation4, $variation5, $variation6);
$variations = array($keyword1,$keyword2, $keyword3, $keyword4);

$output .= ‘<pre>’;
foreach ($keywords as $a)
foreach ($variations as $b)
$output .= $a . $b . $tld . “\n”;
echo $output . ‘</pre>’;

?>

And save the files. It’s as simple as that. Now you have a name spinner that you can customize for your website visitors to enjoy. Not to mention yourself as well.

Dreamweaver adds a bunch of: &nbsp; tags which basically hold a small white space in the design.

Feel free to modify the code as you wish!

Using Antique Drop Data To Find Gems & Follow Domaining Trends

As I have written before – I started up the domain: AntiqueDrops.com. Mostly it was a project that started off as a way to find antique expired domains. Especially expired domains with traffic and valid google pagerank. Well the project has really taken me by surprise. I am convinced that by simply creating an organized and searchable index of antique drop data – I can register valuable domains.

The secret lies a few main things. One being that all the info packed into the database consists of drop data that someone once regged & it dropped. Second being that the older the data is, the quality of the drops gets better. Older dropped domains just make a lot of sense. If you compare today’s junky drop lists with those of years ago you will see what I mean. The aged drop lists now are full of available domains that were just forgotten about.

Years ago, domains would simply just “drop”. There was no DRT software or domainers checking stats on the drops. There’s old drops that still get traffic! There’s also many that sound great and still hold value.

I am noticing domaining trends in registering domains and the drops. Mostly just popular phrases back on 2003 & with history and events. These trends relate to domaining because as of around late 2006, there was a surge to purchase domains that started with the letters: “DN”. Before ’06 there was not a lot of domains which began with “DN” – Example: DNStuff, DNSales similar examples. This trend to this day has been a domainer’s favorite. Other trends include spikes in bingo & lotto related sites (as laws changed I imagine), news, events and celebrity figures in the news. To wrap up my trends topic, the biggest trend has been post 2002. Pre 2002 has quality drop lists & data. After 2002, there has been a huge spike consistently growing of garbage  registrations and drops.

Here’s some sample data I have collected. I have not been drop catching the live pending delete domains lately because I am acquiring domain names via historical drop data. Here’s an example:

For this example, I am searching only up to 4 years ago. I am also searching aggressivly. I am only interested in .com domains which must contain words, no numbers or hyphens. The search pattern I am using is the domain must start with – keyword: “Domain”.

The results are as follows. These names caught my eye & are available for hand reg:

Sorted By: Domain Name, Drop Date, Status & Days since each domain has been available.

DomainAffiliation.com      11-Oct-2008      Available      299 days
DomainBackLink.com      13-Oct-2008      Available      297 days
DomainBarracuda.com      16-Feb-2007      Available      902 days
DomainBuds.com         07-Jan-2009         Available     211 days
DomainClustering.com     03-Jan-2006      Available     1311 days
DomainClutch.com     14-Jul-2006      Available     1119 days
DomainCriminals.com      21-Jul-2006      Available      1112 days
DomainerChoice.com     24-Jan-2009      Available     194 days
DomainerGlossary.com     06-Jan-2009      Available     212 days
DomainingSmarts.com      10-Oct-2008      Available      300 days
DomainMonolopy.com      02-Jul-2007      Available      766 days

So there you go. Imagine mixing around various keywords like Forex, Mortgage & Money.. So on.. the keyword combinations are endless to find great available domains. The best thing is that someone already did all the work for you ;) – Someone at one point has owned the domains at AntiqueDrops & dropped them.

Have fun with your domain acquisitions.

The Importance Of Hosting Redundancy & Backups

I was recently hacked (about 48 hrs ago) – I cannot begin to explain how important backups & server redundancy can help! It seems like someone had it out for me & they decided to hack some of main sites. These included (but not limited to) This blog, DNKO.com & TasteDrop.com. I guess I have been flapping my gums too much, giving away domaining drop catch secrets and just been a negative domainer.

I admit to be the one to swim up the stream against the water & current. But tough work pays off & I must say that I was blessed to have a full redundant backup plan – in place.. just if.. worse case scenario just incase I was ever hacked.

I am a sucker, as I should have noticed thousands of requests trying to login to some of my paid & serious sites. That should have been a flag as my hosting account was brute forced in.

The logs clearly demonstrate the depth & dedication this hacker had. Lol, eventually he or she gained access to a database connection file. This file has since been deleted & may have been compromised via email messages. Long story short, The breech happened around 10AM CST Time. By 1PM I had restored the nightly backup (from the night before). Some of my databases are hefty & around 20 – 50GB in size. Hence the 3 hours to restore my sites back.

Luckily, the hacker only deleted all my databases (even wordpress) with a combinaton of SQL Execute strings.

I restored everything and removed the files in doubt – changing all passwords. So far, so good.. But next time it happens – I will be more prepared. It’s nice to prepare yourself for such “hits” as there’s no telling who does something or what will happen next in this “nutty” domaining world.

The Future Of: TasteDrop.com? Who Knows

I am bouncing around various ideas regarding what I should do next with Tastedrop.com.

As many of you fellow domainers know, TasteDrop which I will call TD was sold almost a year ago. The buyer and I developed the best domaining tools available & it was a really cool suite of drop catching tools & simplified lists at your disposal.

It all ended when my partner / buyer suffered a mild heart attack. Well you can imagine how that can make you feel about life.

Long story short, I am trying to run multiple sites – flying solo. I am sure TD would have been a nice paradise – but it may become my intranet portal. Or an elite club of domainer’s portal. Not sure yet, but to those who enoy free lists, you might as well grab it while you can.

I myself – find that the lists are priceless & I was giving them away for free. The server resources the site consumes is more than just 1 dedicated server. Even offloading between 2 servers, the domain has reached the point where the public users exceed what 2 servers can provide.

Stay tuned, but for now – I will be planning an EOL (End of Life) for TD. I find I may be better off using the drop databases I have collected for my own drop catching & flipping. TasteDrop may soon become a paid service – or for my personal use only. I will keep everyone updated when the EOF is near.

Backorder Partner Domain Registrars = Rubbish

I am here to De-Myth a very popular Myth that Partner Registrars will catch your expiring domains through their network. Weather it be snapnames, pool or namejet.. They all stand the exact same chance. When the registry “drops” a domain name – it’s dropped. It doesn’t matter if the previous registrar kissed the president’s behind (well maybe.. lol).

The misconception in this “Partner Registrars” is that a partner registrar can only secure the name while it’s Status is: REDEMPTION PERIOD. If it’s in Redemption, yes, a Partner registrar can simply renew the domain – like an auction scenarion. GoDaddy for example auctions off all domains in redemption period & auto renews the domains if there’s a bid.

Once a domain slips from: REDEMPTION PERIOD, it’s game over. There’s a hefty price tag to renew that domain. To the tune of approx $180 at some registrars. But it can be saved or auctioned & simply renewed.

Basically when a domain hits: “PENDING DELETE” It’s a free for all. I don’t care what registrar is partnered with what, that domain will be available for hand registration to anyone. IMHO This “Preferred Registrar” Hype was a creation of the auction houses to spike up their backorders. It created a new “Need” to have to backorder at xxxx backorder service.

These are just my opinions of real life backorders I put in & hand regging a drop which I thought I backordered at the major backorder services – which were expiring out of a “Preferred Partner Registrar” that it belonged to before the drop. I find that the pending delete list shows the drops and it doesn’t matter which registrar they belong to before expiring.

I will often watch domains with an instant drop catcher tool I made & I am free to grab a few names in my drop list. After I refresh the tool every 1-3 seconds, I notice the “Preffered Partners” or the major backorder houses have scooped up a domain or more in my watch list. So this proves that if you had a fast enough drop catcher or real-time whois monitor – you can beat any of the preferred partner that provide the backorders for the big boys.

This article is based on the quality of the domain being “Mediocre” If there’s a LLL.com / or similar quality dropping from a “foreign” registry, and that registry doesn’t offer auctions or redemption period saves. That domain will be a free for all after hitting “PENDING DELETE” & the partner registries it may have been registered at before, don’t matter at all.

Predict The Drop Order Of .COM & .NET Expiring Domains

Everyday there are between 50,000 – 100,000 .com & .net domains that “drop” & become available for hand registration.

Each domain drops in a certain order and is generally available to anyone. It becomes a game of luck the micro second the domain is released. From that point on, it’s a free for all & only the best survive.

I started the service: DNMeter.com which not only shows you the order in which .com & .net domains are dropped from the central registry – but also time stamps the drops. It may be off by (5-10 minutes) but overall is very easy to follow.

Having the exact time that a domain expires helps you secure valuable names for cheap! Maybe just maybe, there’s a domain that you’d like to backorder at the major backorder services. After using the drop order list, you stand a way better chance to catch a domain for $x.xx vs paying $xx.xx for an expired domain backorder.

You’d be surprised to see what you can do with this “extra tool” to assist your drop catching ;)

My Favorite Registrar Is Dynadot.com

I always preach to fellow drop catchers to use Dynadot.com for securing expiring domain names. I like Dynadot because it tailors to a wide variety of domain extensions. This makes it very easy to catch expiring domain names on the drop. Dynadot has a beta API system that allows domainers to write programs to catch domains for us. You can be sleeping and have a “script” do your drop catching at Dynadot. All a script does is macro or automate a list of domains & attempt to catch them into your account.

Because Dynadot has a simplistic API, I have learned to use it. I have been developing tools that integrate with Dynadot’s API for nearly three years. This in turn has made it easy for me to own multiple Bulk accounts and flip domains for profit. Dynadot offers easy means to do a free push of domains between accounts. Their pricing is also not bad at all.

I have a lot of domains all over the place across multiple registries & I seem to keep most my accounts at Dynadot. A lt of the other registries don’t get it when it comes to domaining. They’re just in it for profit & don’t listen or understand their customers. That’s where Dynadot seems to fill the void and link domains with domainers rather easily.

This is just my opinion & I thought it’d be nice to share with you my experience with Dynadot.

Making A Dotster.com Drop Catcher Program

I would like your input regarding a Dotster.com drop catcher.

I see dotster working like a slave for snapnames.com & catching quality drops! I am considering writing my own drop catcher program for Dotster. It seems like there is a need for such drop catcher & it can save you a bunch of money! Let’s say next time you happen to backorder a domain at Snapnames. That domain gets grabbed by Dotster. You owe Snapnames $60… Well now you can pay Dotster directly the $15.95 per domain fee.. but you get to beat the snapnames fee & you get the domain instantly without any auction activity. Just plain & simple – your Dotster API grabs the domain to your account instantly.

If anyone is interested in a dotster.com drop catcher make sure to let me know. I expect to develop a desktop basd tool similar to my Dynadot tool that you can run on your desktop to catch valuable drops.

Some Expiring .WS Domains

These .ws domains will be dropping soon. I hope you enjoy these drop lists!

subs.ws
livestock.ws
songwriters.ws
satelites.ws
lesson.ws
forecasts.ws
farmland.ws

passwords.ws
stadium.ws
equine.ws
arrive.ws
console.ws
bunk.ws
brewer.ws

Good luck trying to catch these .ws domains that will be available for hand registration. Currently, there are no .WS domain drop catchers – so these lists are worth gold. Happy hunting!

Expiring CCTld list for .IN Domains Coming Up

These .IN domains will be dropping soon:

advocacy.in
beanstalks.in
cognitive.in
ethnography.in
euphony.in
grove.in
hurl.in
luscious.in
magnificent.in
mastermind.in
modesty.in
orbital.in
settling.in
yankee.in

Enjoy your drop catching CCTLD’s :D