How to Choose a Perfect Domain Name for Your Business

by Zach Browne on August 5, 2010

Choosing a DomainOn your quest for a new domain, here are the most important four to remember:

1. It should be easy for users to remember.
2. It should suggest the nature of your product or service.
3. It should serve as a strong trademark. This prevents competitors from using your business name or buying a domain name similar to it in order to steal customers.
4. It must be free of legal conflicts with trademarks belonging to other businesses.

Your domain name should be easy for users to remember.

One-, two-, and three-word domain names are at a premium. But with a little imagination, you can find short domain names that are easy for users to remember. You might consider adding “The” or “My” to a short domain name just might be available (thevideoplace.com or myvideoplace.com, for example). Adding a number at the end can also help you find short domain names that are available (rosegardening101 or photography101 for example).

Your domain name should suggest the nature of your product or service.

Your main keyword should be in your domain name. If you have to take a longer domain name in order to include your keyword, take the longer domain name. This makes it easy for your customers, and the search engines, to find you.

Your domain name should serve as a strong trademark.

This will ensure that competitors won’t be able to use a business name or domain name similar to it to steal customers.

Trademarks are invaluable, and companies go to great lengths to protect them. Trademarks are what make a business memorable, and your domain name needs to establish your trademark. You can do it with your own name (“videosbymark.com,” “backyardgardeningbyleon.com”). Names can also be placed at the beginning of a domain name (“johnsphotos.com” or “johnsbackyardgardening.com”)

It must be free of legal conflictswith trademarks belonging to other businesses.

There are laws that forbid using brand names that are owned by others. You might find out that tvsbybestbuy.com is available. It might even attract a few customers. But you can be sure that it will come to the attention of Sears, and it will be brought to the attention of their attorneys. You’ll spend a lot of time and money in court defending yourself.

And one additional note:

When you’re choosing a domain name, be sure to print it out exactly like it will be used in the address bar and see whether any double meaning can be attached to it. For example, “therapist.com” can be interpreted as “The Rapist.com.” Write “Speed of Art” all as one word and see what you get.

Domain Name Suggestion Tools

Here are a few resources to use when looking for a name.

1. Instant Domain Search
2. Ajax Whois
3. NameBoy
4. DomainTyper
5. Domai.nr

Availability and Registration of Your Domain Name

Every single domain name is different. While on the surface it might not appear that many of them are different, there IS a difference in every domain name. Remember that a domain name is your business’s Internet address. In the same way that there are no two houses in the same town with the same address, there are no two websites on the Internet with the same address.

The trick is to find the unique domain name that differentiates your business for your customers. When you’re looking for your domain name, the easiest way to check availability is to go to the website of a domain registrar. One of the best known of these domain registration sites is GoDaddy.com. While GoDaddy might be the biggest, it certainly isn’t the only domain registrar out there. You can quickly do your own name search on Go Daddy to find what is available. When you have found a domain name that suits you, GoDaddy and other domain registrars give you the option to buy it and similar domains.

The search results will indicate the extensions for which the domain is available. Of course, we recommend that use .com for your business. While it depends on your budget, if you can afford it, you should also buy the .net extension as well as hyphenated versions of your domain name. You should register your new domain name for at least two years. Google and other search engines view domains that are registered for a lesser time as “fly-by-night” operations. When you pay for your domain, it is registered to you.

Choosing the right name for your business is one of the first and most important decisions you’l make. The NAME of your business will lead customers to your business. Learning how to search for domain names and find the right name for your business can greatly improve your chances of success.

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