Part 1 – Choosing a domain name

Maybe the hardest part. If you are reading this probably you had a good idea, but when tried to register the domain name for your idea that name was already registered. Even some variations on your idea were not available also. I won’t talk here about domainers and how they kill the initiative of most entrepreneurs, but I’ll try to help you find the right domain for your startup.

First of all some tips about the domain name:

1. Choose 5 keywords of your business to generate the domain name
2. The domain name must be unique (no other business with the same name or similar)
3. Your Brand should be your domain name (change your brand if necessary & possible)
4. Try to make it short. It must be easy to spell, remember and type
5. Only Choose Dot-Com Available Domains (not if you run a local business)
6. Reject Hyphens and Numbers
7. Be careful with phonetically similar names (and register them also if possible)
8. Forget about 2.0 names (unless you have big money for marketing)

Find your keywords

There are a few free keyword suggestion tools base on search results

1. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
2. https://account.uk.miva.com/advertiser/Account/Popups/KeywordGenBox.asp
3. http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com
4. http://www.selfseo.com/keyword_suggestion_tool.php

Keyword based Domain name generators

You can find several tools to help choose a domain name based on your keywords:

1. http://www.makewords.com
2. http://www.nameboy.com
3. http://www.dotomator.com
4. http://www.bustaname.com
5. http://www.123finder.com
6. http://www.rwm.net/wizard.htm
7. http://www.eyeondomain.com/search.html

Choosing the right domain name

At this point you may have at least 10 possible available domain names, now you should let other people help you. Never do this alone, make a poll between people you know (friends, family…. ). The more people involved the better will be the domain name (always include a SEO in this stage of the project)

Final notes

Do your best to avoid buying an existing domain, be creative and make up your own brand. This is just the first step and can be really hard sometimes. Don’t give up, it’s just the beginning and the best is yet to come.

Take your time, if everything goes fine this domain name will be with you for a long time.

Take a look at your competence, they can give you great ideas.

Think about the evolution of your business, Are you going international? Does your domain name suits the new market  needs? Can be translated?