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JL503
08-19-2013, 10:39 PM
So I have spent the last week pouring over tons of internet articles, godaddy, and a host of other sites, looking for a name for my new business. Im wondering from the community here if they would have any advice on the best way to choose a business name. I know from all the sites they say to find a clever name, a name that relates to my business, etc, but all these names seem to not be available domains. Also Im wondering if anyone has used Google Adwords in assisting them with finding a business name.

Business Attorney
08-19-2013, 11:32 PM
Let me take the last question first. Lot's of people have used Adwords tools to help pick a name based on search frequency. But that is yesterday's news. Changes in Google's algorithm have reduced if not eliminated the benefit of an exact match domain name (EMD). While Adwords tools may still give you some ideas for names, I would put little or no weight on the search frequency in selecting the best name for your business.

Going back to your main question, finding a name can be a challenge, particularly if you want a URL that exactly matches the name. One option, depending upon the nature of your business, is to pick a URL that doesn't exactly match your name. For example if you have a restaurant and you really like the name "Pete's Diner" but a family restaurant 1000 miles away has already taken the URL petesdiner(dot)com, you can consider other alternatives such as eatatpetes(dot)com. I have seen that done successfully a number of times. That wouldn't work well for a business that was primarily online and it would probably never be my first choice, but it is something to consider

Harold Mansfield
08-20-2013, 10:31 AM
Using the above example, you will probably never find "Pete's Plumbing" available. The odds that you are going to get a service or industry keyword are pretty nill. So prepare for the fact that you are going to have to do some marketing and SEO if your intention is to attract business from search traffic.

So given that, you can name your business anything you want. Keep it as simple as possible based on what's available.
If you get fancy, or use a ccTLD or hack, be prepared ahead of time to come up with ways to market it so that people understand.

I like my URL because it's short. But I knew that verbally I would have to always tell people "No '.com', it's just DOT-I-T" Sometimes it's too short for people to comprehend that it's that short , there is nothing else and yes there are more extensions than just .com.

But that is far better than my old URL where I had to keep explaining that it was the number one, and not the word one.

Just follow the traditional rules:

Don't use numbers unless it's a really, really good URL using a local area code, or model number or something.
No hyphens
Don't force 2 words together, that make no sense together, just because it's available
Don't infringe on anyone's trademark or that sounds like it infringes on someone's trademark.
Stick with .com and .net unless you are perfectly comfortable marketing something else.
Remember that this will be your email address too.
No misspellings. Be careful with puns.
Stay away from .info, .ws, and .us.
Shorter is always better, unless you get a nice keyword combination or phrase. But that is difficult.

When all else fails you could always buy an existing domain from someone who is selling. Plenty out there for sale. Most are garbage, but there are some good ones.

vangogh
08-21-2013, 12:59 AM
Great advice from David and Harold. I'll try to add something.

Don't get caught up trying to find the perfect domain. The perfect domains were bought up years ago. You can usually do something like David suggest with eatatpetes or eatatpetesdiner. What you ultimately want in both a business and a domain is something people can easily remember and easily spell. If people don't remember the extension, they'll likely assume .com. If that doesn't work they may try .net. Anything else and you'll probably need to put in some effort to get people to remember it. It's something that can be done.

I wouldn't worry about creating a domain specifically to match keywords. Years ago that might have been important. Today it just makes it harder to change your business.

Ultimately your name and domain are issues of branding. You want people to remember it and easily pass it on to other people. No matter what name and domain you choose, you're going to have to work to make that happen.

One last point. Think of some of the company names you know and never forget and look at what they did.

King Akoma
08-21-2013, 01:26 AM
Hey,

I think some great advice has been brought up. I will add that in my opinion the big decision maker when choosing a domain name is whether its for an online or offline business.

If your business is online then you can do something like what I did with my domain name. I purposely Misspelled a word because I knew the phrase would sound good when I made traffic driving videos but the correct spelling of the phrase was taken. Also my domain name is pretty vague so that I can apply it to many fields.

If your business is primarily off line then I would not suggest misspelling a word the way I did just to keep the phrase. Instead just focus on something short.
Short = more people will remember = More visitors

Honestly, I wouldn't think into it too much. I would just write down 20 short names, and 20 catchy names and then start plugging them into the searcher to see if its taken.

JL503
08-21-2013, 02:43 PM
Thanks for all the advice. I think because we are going to be doing a lot of online marketing, that we are going to look to pay for a premium domain name.

King Akoma
08-22-2013, 08:02 PM
Yea I am sure it will be worth your money. Good Luck

billbenson
08-24-2013, 11:54 PM
Let me take the last question first. Lot's of people have used Adwords tools to help pick a name based on search frequency. But that is yesterday's news. Changes in Google's algorithm have reduced if not eliminated the benefit of an exact match domain name (EMD). While Adwords tools may still give you some ideas for names, I would put little or no weight on the search frequency in selecting the best name for your business.


While I completely agree with you David, there are other ways to use adwords. Write a 5 page site and look at your stats in a few days. While the days of keywords in the URL may have passed, you will get in your stats a lot of ideas for how to optimize and perhaps a site name idea.

Entreb
09-13-2013, 12:47 AM
Find a unique and short name that is not yet registered. Think of Google or Yahoo, they have no meaning before. Domain names are just names, it will be your business quality and service that will bring your business to success.

Karry
09-18-2013, 02:24 AM
The first thing is, domain name doesn't provide any SEO benefits. If you think to take a domain name as your most target keyword, you are on wrong track. Domain name should relevant your business type, so that customers as well as search engine can better understand about your products.