Finding a perfect domain name is always a challenge. Most common dictionary words and short phrases are already registered. What are your options? We came up with a proven and battle-tested set of rules, that will help you find a perfect domain for the standard price even if domain name matching your company name is already taken by domain squatters.
The checklist
Easy to remember
Your domain name should be remembered easily. Use the beer test, tell your friends about your domain during a beer talk, ask them about it the next day.
Spelling
Make sure words in your domain are spelled right. Some brands are misspelled on purpose, only misspell if your name is already taken and check for trademarks in the same industry class.
Trademarks
Check whether your name is not already registered as a trademark, you may risk losing your domain name or lawsuit. The easy way to check is using the WIPO Global Brand Database.
Social media
Check if your name is still available on social media like Facebook and Twitter. While this is not the most critical factor to consider, it may help you decide between the two final candidates.
Troubled letters
Check for pronunciation rules, sometimes “s” sounds like “z”, “c” like “k”, some words ending with letter “e” sound the same whether “e” is present or not.
Register other extensions too
If you are planning to go global and you have the budget, don’t go just with .com, buy .net, .org, and other country-specific domains, at least for English speaking countries or countries that are essential to your industry and market.
Choose the right extension
We recommend .com for global business, country-specific like .co.uk or .ie domains are limited to Google search only in the country of domains origin, on the other hand, Google treats generic domain names as global domains.
Originality
Original domain names have the chance to become a big brand one day. Small chance of trademark infringement, hard to confuse.
Pronunciation
How is your domain name pronounced in English? If you mention the domain name to your customer over a phone call, is it easy to reproduce?
Length
Long domain names are hard to remember and not easy to enter into the browser’s URL bar. Try finding a domain name no longer than 10 characters.
Google it first
Enter your desired name into Google search and look for potential pitfalls.
Meaning in other languages
Use Google translate to make sure your name is not something offensive in other languages.
Tools to consider
While there are many tools out there that will help you check whether a domain name is available, the following tools can be used to refine existing unregistered domains and some tools even offer suggestions.
The following tools did well with suggesting domains while making sure these domains are free for registration. There are hundreds of websites doing the same, but most of the tools we tried failed the test by suggesting domains that were already registered. Some interfaces look outdated; they are, but serve the purpose quite well.
Nameql Domain Search
Nameql Domain Search helps you look for a combination of the phrase you enter adding combinations of letters before and after the phrase. You need to enter one phrase and it will search for available .com domains by suggesting endless combinations of suggested domains. Use the arrow down to show the next results and arrow up to go back.
Lean Domain Search
LeanDomainSearch helps you look for word pairs. You need to enter one word and it will search for available .com domains by suggesting another word to the one you entered. You can sort results by length, popularity, alphabet, or choose whether the domain should start or end with the word you entered.
https://www.leandomainsearch.com
Expired domains
You can search domains that just expired too. Be warned, these domains are no longer wanted. Usually, expired domain names contain a misspelling, infringe some trademarks, use foul language, are too long to remember. There is a minimal chance you will find a good domain name amongst the expired, but why not give it a try. If it is too good to be true, be careful.
King of tools to filter expired domain names is https://www.expireddomains.net. With ExpiredDomains you can save your searches, filter domains by strings, whether it contains specific strings, length, and much much more, see the image slider for more filtering options.
Check if your domain is available …
To check if your domain is available, try our free domain availability tool. It is fast and supports all domain extensions.
