Finding the right domain name for your site has become a greater challenge than before as more and more domains are taken.
The good news is that the domain name with a keyword in the primary name is less important than it has ever been. Of course you still want to get it if you can, but having the keyword in the extended part of the address for a specific page is usually sufficient.
Your goal when searching for a domain name to register should be to find one that is easy to remember and won’t be misspelled. Some of the simplest domain names are capable of being incorrectly spelled.
A good example would be a domain I used for my primary site “sbenco.com.” The domain is short and simple, but no matter what I did, people would want to go to “spenco” instead. What’s worse is that people that were sending mail to the company that had “spenco” were actually sending it to “sbenco” instead.
That’s when I decided to dig out my personal domain and have everything go there instead.
Another domain that I was using was “edentrerpeneur” which stands for educating entrepreneur. People incorrectly assumed my name was Ed, and then the second problem is that many people, even smart people, don’t know how to spell entrepreneur.
I’ve been using GoDaddy for my domain name registrar and have been pleased with the performance. They know how to do it because they have more than half of all domains registered worldwide. Even though GoDaddy has other products, the only one that I use is domain registration, with all other services through other vendors.
If you’re having trouble determining a domain name, just go to GoDaddy and start entering your keywords. GoDaddy will automatically let you know what names are available and what names aren’t.
Remember to always go for the .com first because if someone were to enter your domain without the .com you’re likely to have the browser assume that you meant .com.