Since I provide web hosting and web design, many customers and potential clients ask me how to choose a domain name. Sometimes it feels like all the good domain names are taken and it’s impossible to find a good one. Don’t worry, there’s lots of tricks to picking out a great domain name.

1) Make sure your business name is part of the domain.  Be creative and add modifiers. For example, you want the domain greenowlproducts.com, but it’s not available. You can always add an extra word to the domain like your city abbreviation so it’s “greenowlproductspdx.com”. Another tactic is adding your business entity at the end like “greenowlproductsllc.com”. Remember it’s more important if you are a business to get a domain with a .com. No one will remember .biz or .tv or any other extensions. It’s the truth.

2) Don’t pick a domain name that’s too hard to spell or too long. It’s tough if your business name is complicated, maybe it’s your family’s last name. If that’s the case, then get creative and then simple. If you sell cookies and your business name is Laurelgreddinz, focus on your product and buy a domain like “freshcookiesnow.com” or something memberable!

3) Avoid hyphenated names – most folks will forget to add it or will misspell your domain name. Hyphens work ok with search engines so it’s not the end of the world if you have a domain name with it, but it’s not recommended.

4) Avoid making your domain name a plural. Most folks will forget to add the “s”. Think about etoys.com vs. etoy.com – the worst thing you want is for someone to type in your domain name and they go to a dead page.

5) Buy more than one domain name for your website. No one says you have to just use one. Many larger site use multiple domains and point them to the same site. It’s usually little or no cost, especially if you do 3 or less domains. It also gives you a chance to have an abbreviated domain and fully spelled out domain. Here’s an example, if you have a business or non-profit that is Portland Leadership for Future Women Leaders, the acronym would be PLFWF, which is hard to remember. Instead make the full name a domain and make plfwf.org a domain. Internally you can use the acronym, but exernally spelling out the name might be easier for other clients.

Places I recommend my clients to register their domain names at are canvasdreams.com or dotster.com, both are in the Portland/Vancouver area. They don’t try and upsell you other products like other registration sites do.

Register your domains today, don’t wait till they are taken! Good luck, may the force be with you!

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