A domain name is the first step in starting your website. If you have a company name already or if you are an artist and you want to showcase your personal work, then having your name as a domain name is a very good option. If these apply to you, check their availability at godaddy.com; otherwise, put your thinking cap on and get creative.

• Make it short and simple,
• Brainstorm,
• Hyphens or not, numbers or not,
• Make it multilingual,
• .com, .org, .net, .ca?
• Purchasing your domain name,
• Buying off an existing domain name.

Make it short and simple

The idea is to have a domain name that will be easy to remember, easy to say, but mostly easy to find. Something unique like a made up word or an acronym might be ideal, but will be harder for search engines like Google or Bing to find you unless these made up words or acronyms are well known.

Brainstorm

Here are three websites that can help you brainstorm while checking if your choices are available:

• www.panabee.com: Simple and to the point. Write a couple of words and it comes up with a bunch of possible domain names, other suggestions and you can even buy the domain name from them.
• www.domainhole.com: This site has a few more features like a domain generator depending on the length of characters, a name spinner that combines sets of words together with suggestions and even a system to search recently expired domains. Some services require you to create a login.
• www.dotomator.com: You can brainstorm endlessly with a combination of two suggested and/or your own terms.

Hyphens or not, numbers or not

Generally hyphens and numbers are not recommended, but if used in moderation I see no harm in them as long as the domain name is easy to remember or easy to say. Try the domain name without either, see if they are available. See if your domain name passes the “radio test”–meaning, if someone says your domain name on the radio or over the phone, will the person listening be able to get to you website.

Make it multilingual

If your target audience is francophone and anglophone, for example, choose words that work in both languages. If this is impossible, consider purchasing two domain names, one in French and the other in English.

.com, .org, .net, .ca?

As a convention, .com is used for companies, .org for organizations, .net for networks and .ca for Canadian sites. The most common is .com, so even if you don’t have a company, .com is a sound choice for any website. I chose .ca, because my target audience is in Canada and .ca domains are managed by a Canadian agency, unlike the other domains which are run by American agencies. You can buy as many domain derivations as you like, but one is enough.

Purchasing your domain name

Use a well known domain provider like Godaddy. It is better to register your domain name with a different company than your web hosting provider.

Buying off an existing domain name

If you have your heart set on a specific domain name, you can always try to contact the owner of this domain name to buy it off. This can be an expensive option since domain names are sometimes considered as real estate.