How to Think Up a Great Domain Name for your Website

Great website names are still out there...

Dang! All the good website names are taken. At least it seems that way, until someone comes up with some incredibly catchy and clever domain name, and leaves you wondering "Why didn't I think of that?" Here are some tips for getting the brain cells in gear, and generating the next great website name.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Brain
• [Optional] Brain stimulants...coffee, beer, crossword puzzles. Whatever gets you going.

1. Take a look at each step below for strategies that many sites use to develop memorable names, and well-known examples of each. Play around with each strategy, and see what develops.

2. Consider creating a Nonsense Name.

   Use a name, word or phrase that has no bearing on your company or product line. Some of the biggest names on the net have no relation to their products. Let your brain wander through names from history, literature, myth, fairy tales, and popular culture, and see if anything has a nice ring to it.

   EXAMPLES: Apple, Monster.com, Alibaba.com, Starbucks, Jigsaw.

3. Be Creative: Invent-a-Word.

   Free your mind, because made-up words always sound a bit goofy at first. But after a while, they become as natural as can be.

   EXAMPLES: Google (of course), Mozilla, Orkut, eBay.

4. Double Up.

   String together two words (usually short ones, but not always) that have a ring to them. They can describe your site or business, or just put 'em together because they sound cool.

   EXAMPLES: FindLaw.com, HomeDepot.com, WholeFoods.com, PizzaHut.com, BlueRay.com, DoubleClick.com, FaceBook.com.

5. Catch the Wave.

   Tough one, because you have to be quick. But as a new word or phrase takes hold and starts to enter common vocabulary, try and be the first to grab the domain name.

   EXAMPLES: woot.com, truthiness.com, Chrismukkah.com, longtail.com.

6. Re-spell.

   Find a new spelling for a familiar word.

   EXAMPLES: doon.com, kidz.com, Froogle, phreak.com, topix.net.

7. Suffix-it.

   Add a suffix to a word (or to a word root) to create something catchy.

   EXAMPLES: colorzilla.com, Friendster.com, funtastic.com, rentometer.com, spamdemic.com, technorati.com

8. Add-a-Prefix. (You knew this was coming, right?).

   EXAMPLES: eHow.com, Uclue.com, Xtube.com, cybercity.com, metacafe.com, miniclip.com, neopets.com.

9. Pay No Attention.

   Ignore all the rules above, max out on the brain stimulants, and see what you come up with.

   May your new domain name be memorable always.

Tips & Warnings

• Of course, once you come up with a spiffy name, you have to check to make sure it's available. See the Resources for a good domain name checker.

Resources

• More Website and Business Naming Strategies
• Good WHOIS for checking name availability