Choosing a Domain Name

 If you're lucky, and I mean really lucky, the name you're looking for in a website isn't already taken and choosing a domain name is fun and easy.  Most people though, have to struggle or settle for a domain name that's so long nobody's going to want to type it in. Choosing a domain name that you're really going to like is tough, but there are some simple tips to finding the one you want.

Choosing a Domain Name - Keywords, Synonyms, Pluralization

So let's say you want a website having something to do with dogs - maybe dog training. Dogs are super popular and the obvious choices are gone. Dogtraining.com, dogobiedience.com, etc. So now what? Well let's take a trip back to grade school English people: What's a synonym? It's a word that means the same thing as another word. Choosing a domain name becomes a bit easier if you're okay with using a synonym. So go to thesaurus.com and type in your keywords, one at a time. The results for dog, after filtering out some of the less appealing ones are: doggy, fido, hound, mutt, pooch, pup, and puppy. Keep in mind that you can pluralize some of these as well: Doggies, mutts, pups, puppies. Now pop in your next keyword into the thesaurus if you have one. The word training returns: basics, coaching, discipline, drill, education, foundation, guidance, instruction, principles, schooling, teaching. Now I'm not good at math, but your chances of choosing a domain name has went up exponentially from adding a few synonyms and plurals to the mix.

Choosing a Domain Name - Prefixes and Suffixes

Still not happy? Choosing a domain name gets easier if you add a little something to the front or back of your desired domain name to make it unique. For example, if after playing with some synonyms, you really want the domain name poochbasics.com, but it's taken (On a side note, I just searched this out in the tool below and found that it's currently available as of March. 14th 2009! Synonyms work!). So, humour me and let's say that poochbasics.com is taken. How about poochbasicsonline.com? Or mypoochbasics.com? Or poochbasicssite.com? Choosing a domain name gets easier with prefixes and suffixes. Here's a short list of some good ones you can try:

Prefixes:

• The  (THEpoochbasics.com)
• My
• New
• Free
• Best
• Pro

Suffixes:

• Site (poochbasicsSITE.com)
• Online
• Store
• Now
• Blog
• Shop
• Today
• Forum

Again, choosing a domain name just got exponentially easier for you.

Choosing a Domain Name - When Everything Else Doesn't Work, Get Creative

So let's say you really don't like any of the thousands of combinations of website names you drummed up. Either it's not catchy enough for your tastes, or it's too long or whatever the case might be. Now what. Time to get creative. Choosing a domain name is something you should definitely spend some time on. You're stuck with it for at least a year (You cannot register a domain name for less than a year - anywhere. It would make the internet too unstable if domains just expired or changed month to month). When choosing a domain name, I like to sometimes think about what your keyword does. What do dogs do? They bark, bite, eat, poop, etc. What does training do? It helps, relaxes, de-stresses, etc. Perhaps you like that dogs bark. That's just universally dog and you want to implement that, but bark also grows on trees and you want to avoid that confusion. So how about woof. Woof is perfect, but how do you make it your own? How do you make it cute and clickable and marketable? Dogs go woof. dogsgowoof.com? Maybe, but it's lacking something. (insert 2 hours of brainstorming and a creative leap here) If I was a dog, I would go woof. iGoWoof.com. It's catchy, nice and short, and you instantly know it's a site that has something to do with dogs. Taking your time and letting your creativity flow really will help you in choosing a domain name. I registered iGoWoof.com about 2 years ago, and it's still one of my favourite domain names.

Choosing a Domain Name - .net .ca .us, .info, etc.

Do you really need a .com? The .com was originally intended for commercial use only, but it's turned into the generic 'must have' ending to a domain. If you're Canadian, you can register a .ca, American a .us, other countries have their own endings as well. .info and .net are available to anyone - .org is reserved for non-profit organizations. While yoursite.com just seems a but more universal than a yoursite.info - if pickings are slim, it might be the way you have to go, and it's an easy way to gain more options when choosing a domain name.

Choosing a Domain Name - WARNING, watch for Middlewords!!

Ok, it's not very likely, but it's good to double check before choosing a domain name. I had a customer once who wanted to sell extra batteries for cell phones, so he goes and registers cellphonesextrabateries.com. Now not only is this domain name really long, it has a hidden middleword. Look again: cellPHONESEXtrabatteries.com. Needless to say, I convinced him to ditch that domain name and helped him come up with something different. That was a funny phone call. So remember, keep an eye out for middlewords when choosing a domain name.

So brew a pot of coffee, open up a notepad, bring up thesaurus.com and use the tool below to help you in choosing a domain name that's perfect for you.

Domain Name Availability Tool