These days, getting a perfect domain name seems like finding a magic lamp, in a pile of other non-magical lamps. Basically, it’s getting harder.
Quality domain names, even ones that reflect your exact business name, are becoming scarce. In the mid to late ’90s, a lot of people registered tons of domain names because they felt sure they would someday become rich from the amazing worth of those names. And some folks did make a pretty penny on selling domain names. But there were also hundreds of “squatters” on completely unused names.
Business owners often struggle to register a unique domain name that both represents their business and that is easy for their customers to spell and remember.
Strive for .com.
The .com top-level domain remains the most popular and therefore the most memorable. If you own a .net or less popular version, you risk leading your visitors in confusion to the .com website you do not own. This problem can also translate to email.
This need further narrows your available domains and makes the search more challenging.
In some cases, when a name is too broad or common – may be a popular name like Smith or a popular industry like RealEstate, it could be acceptable to use a .net or other top-level domain. But you will need to be consistent in educating your customers and prospects about the correct web address.
Keywords don’t matter as much as you think.
There was a day when having a perfect keyword phrase in your domain name served as “magic juice” and helped with your ranking even when the website was not very strong in content. Those days are gone. Google has since updated its algorithm and it no longer leans toward domain names with keywords.
However, a domain name with a strong and memorable keyword can still be valuable to your business, if it is easy for customers to identify with and if it is good for your brand.
Add geographic words.
Maybe your ideal business name wasn’t available: XYZcompany.com. But what if your business is headquartered and focused in Chicago? XYZcompanyChicago.com might be available and still easy to identify with. To spread your wings a little more, you can use a state name or the country (USA). When using states, I like to spell them out (Texas), but it could be helpful to also own the 2-character code (TX) and have both names point to the site.
Add industry words.
To extend the domain name and make it slightly more unique, you can choose a keyword that represents your business. XYZ Company makes Pencils, so a good domain could be XYZcompanyPencils.com.
Use slogans or catchy phrases from your marketing.
Many companies have chosen a catchy name that is easy to include in marketing but does not mention their company name at all. It often comes from a marketing campaign or company slogan. For XYZ Pencils it might be SharpenYourPencil.com.
To search available domain names, try our website tool at www.SiteReserve.com.
View Comments (4)
Many of us have a valid excuse why we missed an early wave of opportunity to invest - or invest more heavily - in Internet domain names. We may have had no idea what was happening and what we were missing out on, or we may have had a clue but could not quite grasp how to get a handle on it. People who know nothing about Internet domain names beforehand will sooner or later realize that they could have hand-registered a couple of ".com" domain names worth nothing.
Thanks for your comment. It is interesting seeing the change in domain registration over the years.
Its time to invest money in these domains.
Great post. Thank you for sharing these tips. Having an effective name is one of the secrets of achieving success in the business. Hence, you must be well-aware of the techniques on garnering different ideas for domain name.