Are you a domain maniac?

Domain names is, what i like to say, real estate of web. It’s the land where you will built your “empire”. Since the beginning of the internet people are trying to buy and own as many domain names as they afford. They try to find smart word combinations, catchy words or think the next big “word” thing which will be valuable in the near future.

Nowdays after all these years of endless domain buys, we came into a position where most of the common words are unavailable in all the major extensions (.com, .net, .org).

Most of us (the maniacs) when we look for a domain, or when we find one, we immediately think about the brand that can be built around it. We make quick thoughts about colors of the brand, layout of the website, quick business plan. It’s part of the creative process and we love it. But what about being more organized about domains. How to search about names more effectively?

It’s a talent, but…

Although finding a precious domain name is kind of a talent, there are some advices that you have to follow.

1. The most important for me is size. Your name must be as short as possible. There are no more words about this advice. You have to find it.
2. A domain name must be spelled easily and pronounced clear. Don’t combine “difficult” letters in your word. For example try not to have “kg” together, or a bunch of consonants “ncpl”
3. If you follow the first two advices then you will be close enough to the third. Find something memorable. A word that people with remember easily.
4. And of course check out if there is a domain name similar to the one you found, that is already in use be a well known company or organization. Try to be unique.

Play safe

We all would like to come up with a wonderful domain name just by daydreaming, but this process need more strategic approach and you have to put it in rails in order to play safer instead of going for the long shot.

Tools to help you

Let’s see some useful website that can help you find and choose the right domain name for you.

Domain Typer is my personal favorite. I love it for the name generator, which produces a list of beautiful names to choose or inspire from. I have to say that buzzslot is inspired by that generator’s results. You can also add some custom extensions (apart from .com, .org, .net) and search, as you type, at them.

Name Station is another generator where apart from random names, you can specify some keywords to be included and the length of the word. It’s also a powerful tool but my vote goes to Domain Typer

10 Name Types is a wonderful article talking about the different types you can think of, when brainstorming about a domain name such as (Real words, compounds, phrases, blends, tweaked words etc.)

This post is by Chris G. Chiotis, designer and blogger about making money online and internet advices. Follow Chris on twitter or Join Chris’ Facebook Page.