One of the first steps in establishing your business online is registering a domain name for your website. Unfortunately, while registering a domain is pretty easy (through any number of sites including GoDaddy.com, Dreamhost, or through Google Apps), finding a relevant, easy to remember, and available domain can be a bit of a challenge. While tons of domain names are already registered, there are still plenty of good ones available; it's just a matter of finding them.
If you ever find yourself seeking for an available domain name, Domize.com is a great place to start. The layout of the site is very similar to the Google homepage, with a big search bar and not much else. When you start typing in a possible domain name, you'll get live updating results (much like Google instant) showing some substrings of the domain, as well as their availability for common suffixes such as .com, .net, and .org. The status of a domain is indicated by the color (red=taken, blue=available, green=for sale; less.org is available for $30,000 in case you were wondering), which makes it really easy to get a ton of information in a quick glance.
If you've ever tried search for domains on a registration site like GoDaddy.com, you'll already appreciate how much easier Domize is, but there's even more power available through the advanced options. The "Options" tab lets you choose additional top-level domains to consider (such as the increasingly common .name, .in, or the increasingly popular .me), which is useful, but not nearly as cool as the "Advanced" section .
From here, Domize shows you how to perform searches that encompass a much broader scope around your search terms. You can search for various combinations of words by including them in brackets. For example "[less,more][annoying,awesome][software,blog]" would return results for LessAnnoyingSoftware, MoreAwesomeBlog, and all other possible combinations of the words. You can also search for similar words, rhyming words, and a host of other options. If your company has a common name, this can be a great way to expand your search and find new domains.
Anyway, you're probably not going to have to register a domain all that often, but on the rare occasions that you need to, Domize is a great way to simplify the process, and maybe get some new ideas while you're at it.
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