2 tools I use to track my domain portfolio

Watch My Domains Pro and DomainTools Domain Monitor work in tandem to keep a watchful eye on my portfolio.

Yesterday I reiterated my appreciation for Watch My Domains Pro, a tool I’ve been praising since 2007. Rob Sequin seconded my approval for the software in the comments.

Watch My Domains Pro is one of two tools I use to monitor my domain portfolio.

Watch My Domains Pro

I use this to track the master list of domains I own. You basically add your domains and then can update the domain data whenever you want.

It works by running whois checks. After you pull in the whois you can view your domains by expiration date, nameservers, registrar, contacts, etc.

It has been very helpful for me to make sure I don’t let a domain expire. It also helps me keep track of where my domains are parked/hosted. It’s easy to spot outliers, such as domains that still point to a registrar nameserver.

The downside is that the desktop software has to pull whois records from your IP address whenever you want to refresh the data. Depending on your registrar this can be a problem. Many registrars rate limit the number of whois checks that can run from one IP address. Even though Watch My Domains Pro has controls to space out your queries and use proxies, registrars such as Go Daddy have very strict limits that you’ll likely run into. (Remember, regardless of where you run a .com whois check it needs to get data from the registrar because .com has “thin whois”. Verisign doesn’t keep data about the owner; only your registrar has that.)

DomainTools Domain Monitor

I use the DomainTools Domain Monitor to be alerted to any changes in domain status for my domains.

You input your list of domain names and the monitor pulls in status and expiration information. If anything changes (e.g. a domain expires or becomes unlocked) then you get an alert. You can be alerted via email or RSS.

Domain Monitor is also a good way to monitor other domains you want to keep an eye on.