Want to find great domain names to invest in, but don’t want to pay bigger fees in the domain aftermarket? Don’t worry there’s always opportunities in hand registration, the question now is where do we find these websites who’ll share such information. Here’s my list of my favorite available to hand register domain names list…

… Whether it is you’re looking for domains to invest in, short and memorable domains, or domains that have been deleted (see domain life cycle) and available, there are different websites that will help you find what you’re looking for.

Available Domain Names (a.k.a. Name Clerk)

Available Domain Names is one of my favorite available domain name list (all .COMs), as a matter of fact, I’ve subscribed to their newsletter when I first started in domaining. What’s great about this list is that the owner, Bill, is an expert domainer and the domains have at least a good exact search term, which means that the search engine traffic for those site is there. It is also well researched and could be resold at a higher value to end users. These type of list would usually take me around 1/2 a day to produce and dig deep.

Domain Pigeon

Domain Pigeon was one of the first automated available domains list that I’ve ever encountered. Why it is great is that you could search short, memorable and brandable domains that is available online. Some of these brandable domains costs a good few hundred dollars on other sites, but in domain pigeon, it’s given for free. So if you’re looking to start a new web 2.0 startup, it is definitely worth taking a look at domain pigeon, especially if you don’t have an idea of what domain should you call your project.

GoDrops

GoDrops is one of the specific dropped domains, what I like about it is that it is also given in an domain investors point of view. Featuring .ORG and .US great available domains list, some that is worth investing in ourselves. While featuring .COMs that has just been dropped (which are a mix of brandable and keyword rich domains).

FreshDrop

Fresh Drop is a bit more complex than all the websites mentioned here, not only does it list all available domains for hand registration, it also lists domains in the aftermarket. To find the available domains for hand registration, you should click “Reg Fee” on the dashboard and it should filter all the available for hand registration. What’s great about it is that you could specify the type of domain that you want, whether it is Language Based, Vowel-consonant combinations, Geo, IDN, length, Premium, Adult etc. It also includes .NET, .BIZ, .COM, .US etc.