Choose a Domain Name That Works

You've decided that you need a website, but you don't know what you want your domain name to be. Well, you might know what you WANT it to be, but that name might be taken. Here's a few tips that will help you choose a domain name that will help you leverage the internet.

Unique

This is first and foremost because it is likely going to be the most difficult to accomplish. Of course, the obvious is to use your business name. But what if yourbusinessname.com is already taken?

You could add a number to the end, but that will hurt you in two ways (looks like spam, and doesn't make sense to customers). If you really insist on using your business name, I suggest adding your state abbreviation to the end. However, if you read the following tips, you might be able to come up with a better solution.

Memorable

This should be obvious, but some people forget this (especially law firms, from what I've noticed). Even if people get some marketing materials with your URL printed on it or they write it down, most of them will attempt to commit it to memory. If your URL can't be committed to memory, your potential customer may commit to go somewhere else.

If you sell a single product or service, you might go for a domain name that contains the name of that product or service. This can help you both in being memorable and in search results for that particular phrase.

.com

Last, unless you are in an industry where doing otherwise is normal, try as hard as you can to get a .com domain name. As a last resort, a second choice would be a .net domain name. Most people assume that URLs end in .com, and this will make it easier for them to remember.