This Christmas you are probably thinking about what to buy for your wife and kids, besides the typical toys and sweaters. This year I have a surprise for my wife and kids, although I imagine even my oldest, a 6-year old, will have no clue as to its value. I bought name domains for my wife and kids!

No, not .name, that’s a lame domain extension. I bought the best .tld I could with their names, which for all 3 of my kids meant .org’s but for my wife, a .com!

Imagine with me the value in 10 or 15 years when my kids are old enough to be in college, fine tuning a resume, and of course making money online. The domain availability has to be even worse than it is now for generic domains. But my kids will each have their own .org of their firstlastname for their own resume, blog, family page, etc.

Unfortunately for me I have one of the most common names that ever existed, and I didn’t get into domaining until my name’s domain, michaeljensen.com, was taken. It’s some book author, so I don’t foresee ever getting it…

As an alternative, I did get michaeldjensen.com (nothing there right now) which just adds my middle initial in the mix. Better than nothing.

I think its worth the money to buy a domain for your kids and hold onto it. They’ll thank you for being so intuitive, 10 or 15 years down the road probably.

Further reading: I found an interesting post about domainers owning domains for their names, it’s a good read for seeing what others have done (or not done) with their own name.

If you are thinking about getting into domaining, this post from domainbits has put together quotes from several top domaining experts.

One of my favorite quotes is from Mark Fulton of DotSauce:

“I believe the most important tip that I would give to any beginning Domainer would have to be “Sell, sell and sell some more!” I believe many people in this industry place too much emphasis on the “priceless” value of their domains. Beginners need to focus on making a profit from buying or registering domain names for cheap and re-selling them at a reasonable profit. It is essential to go through the process of registering and re-selling a decent quality domain a few times. Each sale is a unique learning experience.”

Great advice, don’t go out on a registration binge without buying a few and selling a few. It’s great practice. Just like don’t run 8 miles until you’ve run a couple of them a couple of times. Domaining has an addictive element, and it is way too easy to go overboard.

Some other advice talks about having a domain budget each month, and once you hit that budget, make yourself stop, even if you find a good one. There are a ton of great snippets of domaining advice to be found in the post from domainbits, it’s a great read.

Looking to start up your own Web 2.0 company? One of the most difficult aspects (besides the idea, funding, marketing, and profits!) is actually finding the perfect domain name. It seems like all the best domain names are taken already… or are they?

Tools to Find a Web 2.0 Domain Name

1. ClassyDomains.com - Straight and to the point, this site lists a small pool of catchy, short, web 2.0 domains. The price is right there, nothing to negotiate. Prices are in the $2000+ range, but many of them are short 4 or 5 letter domain names.

2. PickyDomains.com - This service is one of the best I have found out there. After submitting information about your website and $50, a team of domainers go to work to find you the perfect domain. You can specify how many words, the number of characters, no dashes and numbers, TLDs, etc. Then you just check in and watch the domain name ideas come pouring in. If you don’t find one you love, your $50 is refunded.

3. Dislexicon - Starting with your seed word, this tool tweaks your word into interesting and usually pronouncable words that may make a great Web 2.0 domain name.

4. DNForum.com - This forum has lots of postings every day, and some are pretty good domains for good prices. I always see lots of 4 letter and other interesting domain names. Use the RSS feed to make it easier to stay up to date on new domains being sold.