How to Find the Best Domain Name


Jot down five to 10 keyword phrases that describe your company. A good cool domain name is one that catches exactly what your business is about and relates to the information or products you want to share on the website.

Find a snappy name that's easier to remember than the usual long one. For example, "delightfulanddeliciousrecipes.com" is less memorable than "scrumptious-recipe.com." Think about using a clever phrase like "SeaOfDiamonds.com," or a simpler one like "ILoveCrabs.com."

Search on websites like Bizmint, a site that allows you to snap up expired domains. This can give you inspiration for your own ideas about domains. Use Thesaurus online to play with different phrases, suffixes and root words for coming up with your personal site name.

Take a ".com," ".org" or ".net" domain name. Those are the most common and used the least by spammers. If you want to go for a global name, use ".com." If you want to localize your website to a certain area like the United Kingdom, then go for ".co.uk," ".us" for America or ".fr" for France. Typically, ".com" names are considered the easiest cool domain names to remember.

Use the DomainTools.com website to find out if the name you have chosen is taken or is available. It will also show you who has taken the domain name, how much traffic it receives, the history of the domain but more importantly some variations of the name for you to choose from. Buy pre-owned names from places like Sedo, Afternic and BuyDomains. These are more expensive than unregistered names, so decide first how much you're willing to pay for a domain name.

Perform a legal search to discover if your name could be trademarked at United States Patent and Trademark Workplace online. On the home page under "Trademarks, " click "Search Marks, " which takes you to the actual Trademark Electronic Search System. From here you can search a database of registered trademarks to determine if yours has been taken already. An online trademark company like TMExpress can confirm for you if you're able to trademark your name through its own research and assist you to submit a Federal USPTO application for a one-off charge. Alternatively, an attorney can help you with this particular.