How to pick a domain name

How to pick a domain name

“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Dale Carnegie

Just like selecting a name for your business, picking the perfect domain name for your business is a big step. For many of us, it can mean days, weeks, or even months trying to come up with the perfect name. We suggest you do not spend more than a day mulling over domain name options.  Here are some helpful tips to follow:

  1. Pick 5 Keywords and start pairing. For example, if you’re starting a flower shop, you might start with words like “flowers, gifts, bloomers, flower shop, flower market” then play around until you can find a good match.
  2. Make it unique. Stay away from trying to find a domain that’s similar to already popular domains. It’s a bad idea for marketing reasons, but you can also be held liable for cybersquatting. It’s not worth it.
  3. Does it pass the radio test?  If it’s difficult or confusing to pronounce, or if you have to spell it out, you’re making it harder on yourself.
  4. Don’t forget branding. Consider your domain name as a key piece in your marketing. It’s great to incorporate keywords into your domain, but simple, brand-tied domains are easier to market. For example, omegaplumbing.com will be far easier to promote than cheapplumbingserviceelpaso.com.
  5. .com isn’t the only option. There’s no denying that a .com domain is definitely the ideal. But don’t sacrifice a great name just because .com isn’t available. Other domain extensions are becoming increasingly popular, and many people will find you by clicking on a link, not typing your domain.
  6. Avoid hyphens and numbers. People forget to use hyphens and numbers, and domains with hyphens also trigger spam filters, making it more difficult for your site to earn credibility and search ranking.
  7. Be creative. You’ll be hard pressed to find a single-word domain name, or even a domain with 5 characters or less, so be creative. Pull out a thesaurus or a dictionary to help stimulate ideas. Here are some examples provided by Entrepreneur.com:
  • Compounding two whole words: FlightsCity
  • Affixing a word with a prefix or a suffix: Travelocity
  • Tweaking a word: Travelocity
  • Blending parts of two words together: Microsoft
  • Making up a completely unique name: Etsy, Odeo

We highly recommend Namecheap.com* for domain name registration and checking to see if your domain name is available.

You can use a tool like domainr.com to explore different alternatives.

Still working on your business name? Read this article here.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click 8 Signal may receive a small commission at no cost to you.