You can spend months creating a product or a service that you know will have a high consumer demand. You can spend even more time creating your business plan, branding strategies and your shiny new company logo. But if you haven’t thought of the name for your website yet, you will need to figure it out before you get ready to launch. There are a few elements to a good website name that you will want to incorporate to make sure you can be found.
Your Brand Identity
When you first begin to explore names for your website, you will want to consider all aspects of your brand. You will want to have a variety of options available before you go to get a domain name because you favorite just may already exist for someone else’s private webpage or business. Make sure that you try to have your full company name, shorter versions of the name or your main slogan just in case one of them are already taken.
The Domain
If you have a great name and you simply don’t want to use anything else, the alternative is to try a different domain extension. Most businesses try to get the coveted .com, but there are a wide range of other domains that you can use and still be easily found by your customers. Many businesses are now using extensions such as .biz, .net and .info. If you want to have different sites for your different global locations, there are many geo-specific domains such as .co.uk, .jp and many others. A non-profit business can utilize the .org extension to show consumers right away that you are working towards a cause rather than a profit.
Owned and Expired Domains
Your brand identity needs to be unique, but if you will not settle for your second best name choice, you can always check for an expired domain name that fits what you need. These once-valid names can be bid upon and if the owner does not want to renew it, it can be bought easily. For those who are really set on a specific name, you can also try to contact the current owner to see if they will sell, but this is usually the most difficult route to getting a domain name for your business.