If you’re establishing an online presence, you know how difficult it is to find an available domain name that communicates who you are and what you’re offering (the keyword being “available”).  You’ll likely run into lots of dead-ends before finally settling on one that works.  Many of the best domain names are already registered and sell or auction for a pretty penny.  Unless you’re willing to fork over the money to make the acquisition, you’re going to have to settle for a good alternate.

We’ve assembled a list of our favorite domain research tools.  With great features like bulk checking lists of domains, management tools, and suggesting alternates – they eliminate a large chunk of the inevitable trial and error you’ll endure.

Check out these 5 web tools designed to help you discover your best domain:

1. Domainr — What’s innovative about Domainr is that this service makes it easy to explore the entire domain name space beyond the .com, .net and .org.  Great examples include burri.to, del.icio.us and last.fm — How creative can you get with the end of your domain name — if a .com is not essential (and more and more these days it isn’t) — Go for something unique!  I already own the .com for my own name – Whew! As I am 100% certain it’s gonna be worth a gajillion dollars one day (yeah right) — but  I was seriously impressed by all the additional variations I didn’t know about that domai.nr uncovered for me.  Who knew?

2. Dotomator — If thesaurus’s were magical rings — Dotomator would be like the Ring of Power — The one wordsmith to rule them ALL – Seriously – because it does the heavy lifing in the name suggestion department.  You can narrow your search by prefix or assign a suffix to the cue.  You can even tell it to provide a list of suggestions based on category- Dotomator takes brainstorming to a whole NEW level.  Looking for the latest Web2.0 name for your startup?  How about Kiblix or Yozoom – Hmm…

3. BustaName — Now this is a tool after my own heart.  Intuitive and helpful, not only will BustaName help you find a suitable (and available) domain name, but it also provides a management interface so you can come back later and pick up right where you left off.  Not sure where to begin???  Watch the video tutorial!   BustaName’s DomainFriend feature makes life easier for the busy person.  Hey BustaName I’ve got this massive pile of papers that need filing — can you come over later?

4. DomainTools — Useful because it aggregates all available information about a domain name in one interface.  DomainTools is your one-stop shop for finding a great name, researching ownership information, scanning lists of domains  ‘for sale’ and ‘for auction’, and for conducting your own search with the help of their suggestion tool.  If you haven’t got a lot of time to invest in the process of finding the perfect domain name, or if you’re willing to spend the going rate for acquiring it through auction or sale — this is the tool to use.

5. Domize — These guys tout themselves as the “Fastest Domain Name Search Ever” but what I really like about them is their iPhone app and their widget.  Domize just gets it.  People aren’t always sitting in front of their computer when they think of great domain name ideas, also they shouldn’t have to find you to use your services.  Spreading the widget and iPhone love to make accessibility a cinch is just the smart way to trump the competition.

What other Domain name search tools incorporate neat features?  Let us hear about them in the comments.

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It’s a fact.  There’s no such thing as Twitter spam.  If you find yourself getting annoyed by the number of tweets someone you’re following is creating everyday — then stop following them.  Twitter is completely opt-in.  Aside from those pesky DMs some of the spam bots send you — there’s really no exucse for following someone who annoys you.

Oxymoron – a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect.

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Funny cartoon about how Twitter takes hold of people and their lives. Ever notice how Twitter gets overloaded every day around 6pm? Man I hate that Fail Whale!!!

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Webinars as a platform for training and education are quickly becoming mainstream.  More and more companies are recognizing the value they deliver in the form of qualified leads as well as for generating new subsets of prospects.

This is the first in a series of articles about webinars as a business tool.  It does you no good to have the greatest product in the world or the best presentation in the world if nobody shows up to listen to what you have to say.  Here’s a formula to help you forecast how many registrants and attendees you can expect when you set out to plan your next web event.  It’s a good idea to work your way backwards through the funnel to assess your needs.  Just how many people do you have to invite (or atleast expose to your invitation) to ensure a “good” (relative to your individual requirements) turnout?

Size of Audience (# of people you invite) x Number of contacts (# of times you invite them) = Total Contacts
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Total Contacts x Typical Response Rate = # of Registrants
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Registrants x .4 (40% is the typical attendee to registrant ratio) = Total Attendance
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Let’s say you have a database of 5,000 subscribers, you send them 1 invitation and a response rate of 2% – Let’s apply the formula:

5000 subscribers x 1 invitation = 5,000 contacts
5,000 contacts  x .02 response rate = 100 registrants
100 registrants x .4 attendance ratio = 40 attendees

Applying this formula to your own situation will help you plan your marketing efforts to ensure a successful event.  Have I missed anything?  Let me know how you forecast attendance if you do it differently.

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