How to acquire a London 2012 Olympics domain name

As soon as the decision to announce that London would be the host city for the 2012 Olympics, there was no doubt a rush to snap up London 2012 Olympics domain names. Many people will be developing sites in the run up to the games, yet others will be hoping to strike gold by asking for big bucks to any businesses or organisations wishing to take advantage of the world's largest sporting event.

However, there are still ways to try and get hold of a domain name associated with the London 2012 Olympics.

Try various extensions

• Search for a London 2012 Olympics domain using all the various extensions starting, of course, with the most common one, a .com

• The Internic Registry has increased the number of characters allowed in a domain to over 60. This would allow some leeway, so you could possibly use slightly elongated name but including the vital ‘London 2012 Olympics' part of it.

• You could spell the 2012 in letters instead of using the numbers in the domain

Buying from existing domain name holders

• If you are a big organisation and plan to use the 2012 Olympics for marketing and to drive sales, and want the most appropriate domain, then you may need to spend a lot more money than usual for acquiring a domain name. You can find existing London 2012 Olympics domain names on sale. The registrars will possibly ask for thousands of dollars. Some people make a living from buying and selling domains, and as existing domain holders, they are in a privilege position.

Find out the going rate

• How much they ask for will depend a lot on how much demand there is. It is your imperative to find such information and make an offer that you feel is appropriate.