How To Get a Great Domain Name

31st Thursday, 2011  |   Blog, Website Management  |  no comments

If you’re willing to spend a ton of money on a good domain name, then you don’t need to read any further. Simply find out who owns the domain name you want and make them an offer. There are plenty of services out there to help you do this, including Godaddy’s Domain Buy Service.

You can use the InterNIC website to find out who owns a particular domain name. Read further if you don’t happen to have a bundle of money to spend on a domain name.

What Makes a Great Domain Name?

Smashing Magazine says “…a good domain name is an important part of the overall design of a website”. Rather than go into detail into answering this question, I suggest you read Smashing Magazine’s article on the subject titled “The Effective Strategy For Choosing Right Domain Names”. Here’s the main idea.

  • Make it relevant to your product or service
  • Make sure it’s memorable
  • Keep it as short as possible
  • Make sure it’s as easy to pronounce and spell as possible
  • Avoid trying to make it similar to someone else’s domain name or trademark
  • Avoid trying to make it similar to someone else’s domain name or trademark

Domain Name Finding Tools

Here are some tools to help you find a domain name that will establish your brand on the internet.

Instant Domain Search

Instant Domain Search is a free service that instantly checks .com, .net, and .org domain name availability. It’s one of my favorite tools for finding out if a domain name is registered or not. Simply type in the name you want and Instant Domain Search will ‘instantly’ tell you if it’s available… easy.

Nameboy Domain Search

Nameboy describes itself as “the ultimate domain name generator, website name generator and the best way to search domain names”… Fair enough. Enter a few keywords and NameBoy will generate domain names based on the keywords you enter.

JustDropped.com

JustDropped.com is a tool similar to Nameboy and like Nameboy includes a Whois domain name search. There are a few options that are different from Nameboy; give both a try and see which one you like.

DomainsBot.com

The interface on DomainsBot.com is dead-simple. Just type in a keyword and the sweet ajax tells you if it’s available as a domain name and generates some available alternatives… one of my favorite tools.

Naque’s Word Mixer

Naque’s Word Mixer will help you generate a domain name that isn’t necessarily a real word, like flickr or google. You provide up to five words and Word Mixer will mix them to produce something unique. This tool is definitely worth a try.

When you find your perfect domain name, we recommend using Hover to purchase it. The prices are good and they won’t bombard you will extra add-ons at checkout. Thanks for reading and the best of luck in your search!

Leave a Reply