Your domain is the one piece of your online presence that is genuinely hard to change later. It is worth twenty minutes of thought.
Rules that hold up
- Say it out loud. If you have to spell it every time, it is the wrong name.
- Avoid hyphens and numbers. They get lost in speech and in typing.
- Shorter is better, but clear beats short.
- Check it does not read as something unfortunate when run together as one word.
Which extension?
A .com still carries the most instinctive trust, and people type it by default. If yours is gone, a relevant alternative such as .co, .io, .studio or .live reads as deliberate rather than second-best. Avoid extensions with a spam reputation for anything customer-facing.
Before you buy
- Search the name as a trademark in the countries where you will trade.
- Check the social handles you need are free.
- Look up the domain's history. A name previously used for spam carries that baggage into your search rankings.
- Check the renewal price, not just the first year. Some extensions jump tenfold.