Finding a .com domain name for your startup
If you’re starting a web-based business you more than likely want a .com domain name (feel free to disagree with that statement on the forums)
Quite often you might start with some other domain and once your business starts growing you want to find a .com domain for it.
But all the good .com’s are gone, right?
Not necessarily. You just need a bit of imagination to find the right one. Here are some tools and insight I’ve gathered over the years that might make things a little easier for you:
Dot-o-mator
In their own words: “Use Dot-o-mator to create domain name suggestions. Just enter a word (or words) in the left box, and choose some endings (or enter your own). Click to combine them. If you see a name you like, you can check its availability or save it to your scratchboard.”
Word Matcher
Want a nonsense-word that follows a specific pattern? Or a domain name that follows a particular pattern (like *o*o*o (i.e.: dojomo.com))
This is a great tool for generating a list of words following certain patterns. There are a lot of options so you can get quite creative.
www.quinapalus.com/cgi-bin/match
Bulk Checking of Domains
If you’ve come up with a list of possible names, it can be a pain to check them all individually. This is where a bulk name checker comes in handy. You can paste in a list of domain names and it will check them all for you. Much quicker!
Let Someone Else Do It
If all else fails, get someone else to do it. Simon Swords told me about a site he discovered called startupgods.com. They’ll come up with an available and relevant .com domain for your new startup for $100 or your money back.
Get Quirky
If you can’t find a .com you want, then perhaps you could get a quirky name using one of the other domain name extensions.
@8bitKev pointed our domai.nr, a smart service that comes up with suggestions using the less common extensions for domains like ‘kashfl.ow’ or ‘fre.sh’. It also checks whether the domains are available for you and tells you where to register them.
[Updated] In the comments below, Danny also points to crazynamer.com which is similar in concept.
domai.nr or crazynamer.com
Second-hand goods
[Updated] In the comments below, Jonathan from Anglotopia suggest checking out “dropped” domain names. These are domains that have been previously registered but the registrant hasn’t renewed it.
Don’t Rush!
Oh my god, oh my god, ohmygod, OMG!!! It’s available!!! Quick, pass my credit card.
SLOW DOWN! If it’s available now it’ll probably be available in another hour or two or even tomorrow. It’s way too easy to buy a bunch of domain names you end up not using. Or worse still, to buy an unusable domain name.
After hours of searching I fell of my seat when a suitable-looking domain popped up as available and I bought it immediately. Then I realised cojono.com wasn’t going to be much use as ‘cojono’ could be seen as the singular of the spanish plural ‘cojones’ – testicles, in English.
Good luck with your search.
Any nice tools we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments below