How to Choose Your Domain Name

Choosing your domain name can be tricky. There are a number of guidelines, but many contradict each other. When you finally find a good one, you're likely to find it was taken. Then you need to do "word gymnastics" to find a reasonable substitute.

Here are some examples of typical guidelines and how they contradict one another:

• Your name should be short, yet it should also convey what you do.
• Some say you should be able to tell someone your domain name over the phone and they should be able to remember how to type it easily. Hyphens go against this guideline. Yet others say someone should be able to see the name and know what it means, therefore you should use hyphens.
• Some say you should use the name of your business. Others say you should use keywords that many people are searching for (see the Niche Research section and subsections for more on keywords).
• Ideally you should use the ".com" extension. But I've encountered the opinion that you should use your business's name even if someone else already has ".com" and you need to take another extension, like ".org" or ".net".

To help you along, I've included some ideas of my own regarding several typical situations. I hope you find them helpful.

If you're starting a new internet business

This is a great position to be in. You have lots of flexibility here, as well as more confusing choices to make. Don't worry, though. This can be fun.

If you're interested in making profits or getting traffic, you should have already done your niche research. If not, go back to the Niche Research page and do that work before you even think about choosing a subject for your business, let alone a domain name. You'll thank me later.

Once you've done your niche research (aka keyword research) you should know which keywords have reasonably high demand and reasonably low competition.

You can use those keywords in your domain name to help you with the search engines.

As for the guidelines at the top of this page, they're easier to follow with a new business than with an established business.

The most important thing: you can create a name for your business that's short, conveys what you offer, and uses good keywords. That would be a great name for your business and your domain name.

It's not as important that your name can be remembered over the phone, because it's an online business. So in most cases, people will be finding you on the internet and using a link to get to your website.

And it's fine to use hyphens.

So once you've got your list of good keywords, play with them to find some good domain name options.

Once you've done that, you're ready to move on to the next step, checking domain name availability. And when you do, hold out for that coveted ".com" extension!

If you own an established local business

If you already have an established business, your ideal domain name is the name of your business. So if your business is called "Smith Landscaping" your ideal domain name is www.smithlandscaping.com. This name also tells people what you do, which is excellent.

Just one problem (especially if your name really is Smith). It's not unlikely that there's a Smith Landscaping in Kalamazoo that already took that name. What do you do? You need to play around with the name a bit.

If your business is based in Concord, Massachusetts, you can try:

www.smithlandscapingconcord.com

www.concordlandscaping.com

www.smith-landscaping.com

www.smithlandscaping.net

There are advantages and disadvantages to each alternative. The first is rather long. As a local business, you'll want your website address on your business card. So be sure that name will fit before you choose it.

When I was choosing the domain name for this site, I visited VistaPrint , which offers good, low-priced business cards. I checked out several designs using the names I was considering. One was definitely too long. A long name is also a bit harder to remember.

The second name is pretty general. Ideally, you want the name of your established business in your domain name. But if all else fails, this is a suitable alternative. Again, it's a bit long, so be sure to see if it fits on a business card, unless you don't use them at all.

The third alternative is my favorite. Although it includes a hyphen, there's only one. So it wouldn't be that hard to tell someone your domain name over the phone and have him or her remember it.

As for the last, it ends in ".net" rather than ".com". I made that mistake with my first website. It wasn't a big tragedy. It's still up and getting traffic. But I felt bad about taking someone else's domain name, especially since this was a new business for me, and I could've simply changed the name. I wrote to her and let her know. She was quite gracious about it, and even told me about a client who had been looking for my site but ended up at hers, even though we do the same kind of work.

Ideally, you should avoid the ".net" extension, because people tend to automatically type in ".com" and they'll find it harder to find your website. Yeah, I can say it with authority now. ;-)

It's possible that none of those will be available, too. So, unless you hit it just right, you need to be creative and patient.

Once you've got some domain name ideas, you'll be ready to move on to the next step, checking domain name availability.

If you're starting a new local business

Your best bet is to follow the advice above for a new internet business, with a couple of exceptions.

First, you are likely to be telling people your domain name over the phone, so choose something that's easy to convey over the phone.

Second, your likely to need to put it on a business card, so visit VistaPrint and be sure it will fit on a business card.

Once you've got some domain name ideas, you'll be ready to move on to the next step, checking domain name availability.

Other options include:

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