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How to choose the best domain name for your startup?

Considering a new startup? These Pro tips can help you find a killer domain name easily for your startup or an existing business. Remember to keep it short, choose a .com and use pro services like sedo or killerlaunch for help.

How to choose the best domain name for your startup?

Friday June 28, 2019,

7 min Read

1. Prefer a .com

Although .com is one of the many domain names available, wherever possible go for it. While fancy TLDs like .net, .org, .co, .edu, etc are tempting, .com is classic because people are more familiar with .com than anything else. They will type ‘.com.' by default into the browser address bar and are unlikely to remember any other extension so well.



Choosing a perfect domain name

Image Credits: https://elements.envato.com/




2. Sometimes .com may not be the Best

Although .com is most widely used, there are some exceptions to the rule. If your website is designed to cater to the local audience, opt for a local TLD. This will give your users a new awareness and boost your trustworthiness by making it clear that you are in their country, due to the local TLD. However, if you want to expand your brand name in the future, you might find that someone has taken your .com domain name. So it’s advisable to get the .com version along with the local TLD as well so that no matter which addresses anyone visits, they still end up at the same website. Websites like siteground, BrandBucket, and KillerLaunch recommend your best domain as per your business requirements.


3. Consider Experimenting with Non-Traditional TLDs

These days, a multitude of different TLDs that were not previously available can be used. You can experiment with those TLDs that were originally intended to be local TLDs like .is, .io, .fm, .it, .ly, .cc, but, due to their unique appearance, they can be used for other purposes. You can try to make it seem as though the whole domain name, including the TLD, is one complete expression. The problem with these TLDs is that not every domain registrar offers them. No matter what, if you want some specific TLD, it’s smart to shop with other registrars too.


4. Consider Buying Other Main TLDs Also

Getting your main domain name extension secured is the first step. Step two is getting all of the other popular TLDs to redirect to your main TLD. Although this adds to your overall domain name bill, you are also preventing further trouble. It prevents people from creating imposter sites that look like yours but are not so. Some people might register the missing TLDs and sell them to you at higher rates. Genuine visitors will also be able to access your website, no matter what extension they use.


5. Choose a Brandable Name

Branding is a crucial factor for long term success. Various factors affect the branding name of a domain. Some of them are:

  • A good, brand name has no specific meaning.
  • It’s unique so that your competing brands do not use anything similar.
  • It’s not too wordy and easy to memorize.
  • It’s easy to pronounce in conversations.
  • It sounds trustworthy enough to increase traffic to your site.

To make the process easier, experiment with combinations of real words and suffixes. The main goal is to create a potential domain name to establish brand value over time. Try to make sure that the name has a good ring to it. Some domain providers have a special feature of recommendations for your domain as per your business; KillerLaunch is one of them so you can skip the hectic process of doing deep down research they will do it for you and come up with an optimum solution as per your need.


6. Keep It Short, Simple, and Predictable

Although we discussed the various tactics while choosing a domain name, there are other characteristics that a brand name should have:

  • The short – Domain name should be short with less than 15 characters, excluding the TLD.
  • Simple – Domain name should have no hyphens, no underscores, and no complicated words.
  • Just words - Avoid using numbers in the domain name unless necessary.

  • Predictable – Domain name should be predictable with no weird spellings.


7. Buy the Common Misspellings of Your Domain

Although buying the commonly misspelled words can grow your annual domain bill even further, it’s a smart move to do so. You will be safe if you focus on a couple of the most likely misspelled words of the domain. Once you buy those domain names, redirect them back to your main domain name.


8. Use a Thesaurus for Domain Name Ideas

No matter what tactics you try to employ to come up with a good domain name, the truth is, it is tough to find one. Sometimes, you can settle on a name easily, while other times nothing seems good enough. In that case, Thesaurus is your best weapon. This site helps you find synonyms and provide quick definitions to prevent silly mistakes and misunderstandings in name spellings while choosing a domain name. Add some modifiers to it or replace some letters of the original word to come up with a quirky new name.


9. Help Yourself to Some Domain Name Generators

The domain name generator is a helpful method to find a new domain name and consequently a new business name. All you need is a seed keyword or a seed phrase, and they will generate thousands of available domain names that you can use to register. The best among those are:

  • KillerLaunch
  • LeanDomainSearch
  • Business name generator by Shopify
  • Nameboy


10. Choose a Legally Available Domain Name

Infringing on a trademarked domain name can bring about a lot of wrong consequences. Although, admittedly hardly anyone registers a domain name with the intent to infringe on someone else’s domain name, unknowingly these things can happen in a while. Therefore, whenever you have a nice domain name idea in your mind, and you are just about to register it, it is a good idea to Google the name and looks through all of the first and second-page results. It is necessary to ensure that businesses do not already use this name and operate in the same market. If this happens, unfortunately, you need to pick a new domain name.


11. Don’t Sweat Too Much If Your Domain Name Is Taken

If the domain name you want to use is already taken, it does not mean the end of the world. There are a lot of ways to get your hands on it. If there is no website or the domain is parked or featured only in ads, then it might indicate that the domain name is not in use. There is a very good chance that the owner only bought the domain name to sell it later to some prospective customers. You are likely to find some contact information on that website. If there is no information on the website, use the site who.is to get the owner’s email id. If there is a website on the domain, try your luck and try to contact the owner to ask if they are willing to sell the domain name off. It is less likely that you will be successful, but it is still worth to give a try. If the domain is empty and no contact information can be found, try looking through the well-known domain flipping marketplaces. Some of them are:

Buying an existing domain name includes a different process from buying a new domain name, and hence, it requires some additional cautious steps. Also, remember that buying domain names from someone else requires a lot more money than buying a new name, so you must be ready to splurge some extra cash.