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Comment by mikejarema | Hacker News Reader

My domain name and social media handle search tool has been humming along nicely for 5+ years now and produces a modest amount of profit each month.

https://namevine.com/

It makes money from domain name registrations it refers via affiliate links.

I've been playing with the idea of adding "pro" features for a couple of years now but I worry anything that detracts from its simplicity may hurt sales.

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I'm a fan of namevine. I use it when I'm brainstorming projects or figuring out names.

As for a pro feature - I think that notification when something becomes available or a domain/account marketplace might be useful.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it and use it. If you've got a moment, I have a few Qs that would help me understand what you're describing here.

What would be an example of the notification you're thinking of here? Like domains matching a keyword? Or a specific one?

The idea of a marketplace definitely does make sense. Were you thinking as a buyer or seller?

This site is very helpful -- can't believe I didn't hear about it before!

Question: Have you thought about on-boarding LinkedIn vanities? Ex. linkedin.com/in/[vanity_name]?

No I hadn't thought about LinkedIn, I honestly have no idea why I hadn't, though it strikes me that it'd be a great addition to the site.

I'll take a stab at in when I've got some spare cycles, thanks.

Just a note on twitter - it looks like there is a false positive for the availability of 'wood'

There isn't an (obvious) account with that name, but twitter doesn't let me register it. I don't know if it is a blocked keyword or private or what.

Yeah the false positives are such a pain.

I've been maintaining a manual list (thanks for the @wood addition) but otherwise haven't really figured out a way to definitively sort through these.

I think that's because it's too short

I didn't know of your site. Very cool and useful idea. I just tried it for 'boxing' and your suggestion engine came up with quite a few .com name that are still available!

Thanks.

The domain suggestion engine was a fun component. It's not all that complicated... it really just tries a bunch of prefixes and suffixes on your keyword (plus some geo suggestions, if it can "find" you) and shows you what is (probably) available.

I've also found some gems using it as well.

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