Discover Cheap Domains: A Beginner’s Guide to Domain Hunter Gatherer
The first time you log onto DomainHunterGatherer.com, you may feel like you’ve landed on the wrong site. There is a cartoon model that’s copying Fred Flintstone. But there isn’t anything silly about this domain hunting site.
Calling it a site isn’t exactly truthful, either. You can learn about what the tools have to offer. To use any of them, you have to download a tool to use what Domain Hunter Gatherer offers. That may turn a lot of people off, so let’s get that out of the way right now. If that turns you off, I’m at a loss for words.
Cannot use tools on the site
Let’s talk about that big elephant in the room. No, you cannot use any tools directly from the site. Domain Hunter Gatherer does not have web-based tools. Instead, you have to download the tool directly to your desktop. Not your mobile device, but your desktop. It feels old-school, as if the tool has not been updated in so long that the minds behind Domain Hunter Gatherer have not bothered to update their tool to make it usable via the web, like every other similar tool in the 21st century.
But if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. If you can get past the fact that you have to use a downloadable tool, you will find that Domain Hunter Gatherer updates its database every time the tool is opened. That means that even though the method and interface feel outdated (user-friendly, but old), they still work great. You get access to the latest expiring domains across all of the most popular domain-purchasing platforms, all in one place.
If searching for expiring domains is your primary interest and you want a search engine that does the work for you, this is the tool you need to use. No, it isn’t pretty. Yes, you may wonder why Domain Hunter Gatherer.com does not utilize web tools in this day and age. But it is what it is. It works great, and for that alone, it is worth at least trying out.
Powerful tool set
When you download Domain Hunter Gatherer and open it for the first time, you may not know where to start. Everything is on one page. Although the user interface and the tool’s overall look and design give it a dated feel, it’s still very easy to navigate the tool and click on the various sections and tools that the set has to offer.
After I jumped on the tool set for the first time, I noticed that there were tools available that would allow me to find the expiring domains I was searching for easily. Free users can use the Domain Auction Hunter tool. This device stops the hassle of digging for expiring domains and general domains currently on the auction block. If you have ever bought a domain via GoDaddy’s auction service, then you know how this works.
The tool will display the domain, accepted currency, auction price, buy-it-now price (if applicable), bid number when it ends, number of characters in the URL, and more. Additionally, it will indicate whether a hyphen is present, as well as the domain’s age. It’s a tool that makes downloading the entire set worthwhile, but that is not where it ends!
There are other tools in this set, but you will have to upgrade to the Premium or Pro tiers of membership to use them. You will have access to tools like Web 2.0 Hunter, Expired Domain Hunter, DomDetail, DomRecovery, and more if you do. While I would have liked to see even more tools included in the free version, it is easy to understand why the rest are hidden behind a paywall. It may be frustrating to some. Still, when the Domain Auction Hunter tool is so helpful and easy to use on its own, it is hard to complain about the kind of value that this excellent tool set brings to the table.
Search for new domains by keyword.
Since most of you business starters are going to want to start with the free version of Domain Hunter Gatherer, let’s stick with the Domain Auction Hunter tool for a second longer. When you begin using it, you must first search for a particular keyword to get the most out of the tool. Which keyword you choose to search by is entirely up to you. You can utilize a device like Google Trends to find profitable keywords, or explore other tools that make keyword research easier and less time-consuming.
The point is that figuring out the keyword – or a variant on those keywords – is essential to finding the right site in the niche that you are interested in. After you see the keyword you want to use – say, ‘content’ or ‘strategy’ – insert it into the keyword field. From there, add any search details you prefer, such as the extension or the number of characters in the URL. Click search, and you will find the domains that are currently being auctioned. Some of these may be expiring domain links; others may be sites that are being auctioned off by the seller.
I searched for ‘content’ to see how many domains I found. Let me tell you, there were a lot! I found over 2000 domains currently getting auctioned off that match the keyword for ‘content.’ Whether it surprises you or not, many of them were highly relevant to the digital space.
Great way to find potentially good domains
Although the over 2,000 domains that appeared were numerous to review, they weren’t full of junk domains that would never attract visitors or generate a profit. No, you won’t find domains with long characters or extensions nobody has ever heard of. But it’s easy to find domains in the rough here if you do enough searching. Because Domain Hunter Gatherer searches across all kinds of marketplaces, I came across a few domains that were pretty tempting. One of them was DigitalStrategy.com, which was available for only $20 for whatever reason. Strategy is vast, and digital strategy is a growing sub-genre in its own right. For anyone looking to make a site and needs an idea, that’s a domain that could pay the right entrepreneur back in spades.
As you can see, Domain Hunter Gatherer is not going to be the only resource you use when finding domain auctions, expiring auctions, and so on. Yet, it is an excellent resource for the entrepreneur who wants to cross-check specific keywords and see which domains are valuable, and research as they determine what kind of niche, site, and ultimately, which domain they want to purchase, develop, and profit from.
Consider Domain Hunter Gatherer just another tool in your set of business tools. Upgrading from a free to a top-tier plan may be right for some, but others may want to pass on the upgrade. At the end of the day, though, if you want an easy method for finding cheap and profitable domains, this is one resource worth checking out.
