DomainTools offers a nifty tool for tracking domain names.
DomainTools has a lot of useful features, but most people just barely scratch the surface of its capabilities. One of the tools I find particularly useful is Domain Monitor.
Simply put, Domain Monitor monitors domain names and lets you know if changes are made to the whois record. Changes can include expiration dates, lock status, registrar, registrant, etc.
It’s pretty obvious how this can help you with your own portfolio.
DomainTools sends alerts to you when changes are made, and this can help you spot a potential domain theft or alert you to a domain you forgot to renew.
One other interesting alert is when a domain name you let drop is registered by someone else. I find this intelligence to be interesting. How many of the domains that I deem not worth $10 to renew are picked up by others? What do they do with them? Do they ever sell them?
Here’s an example email from the monitoring service:
Here’s what each alert is telling me:
1. Domain name has expired and entered the redemption period at the registrar. If I meant to renew this one, I better hurry.
2. This domain was in the auto renew period, but that has passed, so the expiration date reverted back.
3. Domain was renewed
4. I let this domain name expire, and someone registered it at GoDaddy. I can now click the whois record to see who registered it.
To set up alerts, select “Domain Monitor” from the drop down box.
From there, you can create portfolios and add domains:
I keep a portfolio for my own domains, but also use the service to track other domain names. If you look up a whois record on DomainTools, you can easily monitor it by clicking the monitor button on the right hand side:
This can be helpful if you want to keep an eye on a domain name in case it drops in the future.
Great resource!