
Ask HN: How do you get good domain names? - rukshn
I&#x27;m just curious to know how do HN folks get their domain names for their apps&#x2F;products&#x2F;hacks?<p>Do you guys look for a domain name and choose the brand name? or go for the brand name and purchase a good domain name?<p>What if a .com domain name is not available? Would you rather prefer an alternative domain extention?
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fsk
Don't aim for 1 word english domain names. Those are taken and you'll pay big
$$$.

Instead, pick a 2 or 3 word phrase that describes your project, and use that.

Another tip: Don't do a "domain availability check" until you're ready to buy
the domain. I did that once and someone else, seeing I did the request,
grabbed the domain. It turns out that the list of "domain availability checks"
are sold to squatters.

Also, pick your proposed domain name and Google it. Look at the first couple
of results. If they're all low PageRank, go ahead and take the domain. Most
people use Google now instead of typing the domain into their browser, so you
want to be #1 in Google for your domain name.

~~~
jayzalowitz
I bought C.HOW for way less than a grand...

~~~
altern8
c.how?!

How is that valuable/worth $1000..?

~~~
davemel37
Because "c" is the third letter in the alphabet and how is three letters, and
3x3 is 9 which is the amount of letter in Black Mass which has Kevin bacon in
it. - plus c.how can be chow or see how or ch ow or even cho w...which loosely
translated from Klingon means "a fool and his money..."Honestly, it shocks me
to you didn't see how it's worth more right away...I guess more gold in the
TLD domain rush for me :)

~~~
altern8
Also, it could be an alternative spelling for "ciao".

That's $$$.

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larrys
This is my business basically (and have been doing it for about 20 years).

Suggestions:

\-------------

1) Choose the domain first and then brand with it. Not a good idea to brand
first and then to buy the domain name

2) Go with .com unless it's clear that if you pick something else you stand a
chance of getting the .com later (That is difficult for someone who doesn't
know the business to figure out. [1])

3) Biggest mistake you can make is getting to married to a particular name and
not have any alternatives. You will almost certainly telegraph that and pay
more.

4) Second biggest mistake is getting anything but .com and assuming it doesn't
matter and you can buy it later. In most cases (there are exceptions) it does
matter. And the price of the .com will only go up after you are established
and locked into the .whatever

Pecking order of domain sellers in terms of difficulty of completing a
purchase.

\----------------------------------------------------

A) Large corporation, say Google or General Electric. Typically won't sell at
any price

B) "Old School Domainer" \- Typically a gambler who will bet you will pay a
zillion for the name if they hold out.

C) "Domainer" \- Will sell but wants a decent price but tends to be somewhat
rational.

D) Small business owner - Will negotiate but you won't get raked over the
coals.

E) Professional domain site such as buydomains.com. Pricing is typically very
reasonable even the list prices on the site. My go to place when I have to buy
domains for others. Prices are stable they don't reflect who the buyer is ie
they don't size you up.

F) "Little Old Lady" \- Happy to get what they can.

[1] As a general rule I'd feel comfortable if the .com was owned by a small
country store that was lightly using it than if it was owned by a domainer
and/or a large corporation or the type of buyer that typically won't sell at
either a reasonable price (I didn't say "cheap" by the way) or at all. [2]

[2] Corporations (large and even small that aren't owner operated) have
typically little interest in selling because nobody personally benefits from
the sale. At least a "domainer" gets to pocket all of the money typically.

Edit: Added another seller to the pecking order.

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ecesena
Imo, if you're serious about your project (i.e. you want to start a biz, not
just run a side project), then you want:

\- .com domain name (buy also others, but you need the .com)

\- name clearly understandable, possibly even by non-native speaker

\- name without strange plays on words that you only understand

\- name without any subtle replacement/elision of letters

\- name that doesn't start with an article (e.g., the)

\- name that _you_ can pronounce very clearly

In short, any random person that you meet, should be able to get and remember
your name and find the related .com domain.

The easiest way is usually to combine 2 words, or a word and a number.

In the 2 words case, your domain name will also be your product name, I
assume. Don't try to write it in any strange way. Your name will be
ProductName, or Product Name, available at productname.com. Any other attempt
is a waste of your time, and everybody will misspell it.

~~~
davemel37
It really depends on your traffic strategy/how people will find your website.
If it will rely on word of mouth, it needs to be easily remembered and
spelled.

If it will rely on referral traffic and other online links it should be
descriptive and trustworthy (I.e no hyphens and not too generic.)

If it will rely on PR and offline ads, it should be brandable (I.e. a blank
slate that means nothing but is pronounceable, memorable and easy to spell.

The most important thing is to not fall in love with a name before owning the
dot com...otherwise you will end up overpaying for something with no real
value.

~~~
ecesena
Well, I agree on your last point, but not really on all others.

Independently on your strategy, you'll go to events, you'll meet people,
you'll hopefully have press or in general other people referring your
project/biz.

My "rules" come from my experience of being an Italian -i.e. not mother
tongue- in San Francisco, with a company called Theneeds, that originally we
wanted to write as "theneeds" all lower case. Plus, I have a countless list of
examples of sites/projects I couldn't find because of absurd name choices.

~~~
davemel37
Those would all fit under the first point of relying on word of mouth.

------
brudgers
My opinion: picking domain names is pretend work until the point where money
is no object...or at least six figures for a domain name is rounding error.
It's easier and more fun than the real work of building something people want,
will use, and hopefully pay for. AirBnB doesn't rent air mattresses.
BingoCardCreator is "CORN" in black on a white can...as unclever as it gets.

Branding can't substitute for not sucking.

Good luck.

------
andersthue
I bought [http://timeblock.com](http://timeblock.com) for $2k, it was parked
and had a price tag at $6k.

I really wanted the name since we had named the startup so 2k was "cheap" even
though it was a lot of money for us.

Luckily I had just read the post on how easypost bought their domain and
replicated that with success.

~~~
plumeria
The highest we've paid for a .com domain name is $1.5K. We also ended up
buying the same .co domain.

In another case, we opted for the .co, since the .com owner wanted $16K. Using
a .co is a good alternative, since Google treats it as a generic ccTLD [1].

I am curious, what do people here think about .co domains?

[1]
[https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en)

~~~
andersthue
I do not see .co as strong as .com - that is why I went for the .com domain I
wrote about below - even though I did buy some other domains as .io and .net
before the deal was finalized.

There is something about a .com that signals age and trust more than any other
domains, I invariably think that it must be a new business or not as
trustworthy when they don't own the .com (especially if the .com is for sale)

------
onproton
I really like the site [http://www.namemesh.com/](http://www.namemesh.com/)
for coming up with some different options I may not have initially thought of.
Once you have an idea of what you want the name to be (or even really just a
vague idea of words you might want to use) - it generates a ton of available
domain names based on different criteria that you can adjust.

------
puranjay
This is a dilemma for plenty of businesses - do you spring the cash upfront,
or pay through your nose later for the .com if your business becomes popular?

I would say spring the cash upfront. I know domain traders and they'll squeeze
you hard if they know there's already a successful business with the same name
(but on a different extension)

You DO lose a lot of type-in traffic when you don't have your name in .com.
This traffic is also one of the best converting around.

If you're in enterprise, you HAVE to get a .com or at the very least, a .net.
I've been in enough meetings with old-school business guys who scrunch their
noses and think of you as an idiot for having one of those cool new extensions
(.ly,.io, etc.)

Think of it as an investment. Most good domain names appreciate in value. Even
if your startup were to go kaput, you'd still make money from the domain a few
years down the line.

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sashagim
For me it got to a point where looking for domains became sort of a hobby, so
naturally, I went to coding a tool to find available domains based on a
keyword, and ended up building (with a help of a designer friend) an Android
app for that [1]. Basically, you can start with a keyword, and the app offers
several options of "naturally sounding" domains around that keyword. The name
of the app (Nameble) was one of the results when I started with "name".

(edit) To address another comment on this thread, I promise we don't
steal/monitor the names you're looking for :)

[1]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nameble.ap...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nameble.app)

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adventured
My business is using a domain I've had since the mid 1990s. Having it - along
with a product to show off - made it a lot easier to raise venture capital.

When the great recession hit, I had an idea for a business I thought would
make sense with consumers being more frugal. At the time I couldn't come up
with a name that I found acceptable, matching with an available .com. About a
year ago I stumbled upon a .com that worked perfectly; it's a relatively
short, concise address, and it has just been sitting there 'waiting.' So I
grabbed it, and have been building that new product for the last few months. I
still manage to routinely find great .com addresses available for
registration, using two word names.

------
akg_67
Personally, when I am toying with an idea, I try to create a list of relevant
short words/keywords. I also use name generator sites.

I always go for .com domain name as majority of my target audience is
typically US based. If .com domain name is not available, I will not brand the
product/company with the unavailable domain name. Also, I don't buy domain
names from others.

A few years ago, Moz published an article that really helped me figure out the
tools available for name generation.

How to Hack a Dominating Domain Name for Your Website
[https://moz.com/blog/domain-name-hacks](https://moz.com/blog/domain-name-
hacks)

------
zhte415
Start with a morpheme. That is, the root form of a word. Feel free to link a
couple of morphemes together.

Then augment it into something that probably isn't a word (and is both
unlikely to be domain squatted and can easily be trademarked).

Example: Accenture. I understand it was supposed to mean 'accent on the
future' but it says a lot in one convoluted word: Acc[elerate], A[sc]ent],
[s]ure, [tal]ent, etc.

Mix around a few words and cut and chop them. The original morpheme may be
lost, but as long as you're happy with the result, that's good.

I use bustaname.com for quickly checking combinations.

------
Axsuul
Always brand first. Then check SEO terms and domain availability. A good name
shouldn't be detracted by lack of this, however, just as long as no one is
using the same name and is doing something similar to you. For example, if a
domain is taken, any variation like joinNAME.com, tryNAME.com works out. I
have two businesses using this strategy and it hasn't been an issue.

TLDs are typically determined by your audience. If it's young and hip, then a
new TLD should be ok. If it's a SaaS product, then .com is a must.

~~~
seanp2k2
I would say it depends on even what your SaaS is. If you're doing CI, you can
probably do an IO domain or whatever the hipsters use these days. If you're
selling to healthcare providers or basically anything not inside the
technosphere, it'll probably be less confusing for your customers to use a
.com.

------
oxplot
This is what I've done in the past: pick a few keywords describing ideas
and/or what my project is about. I then use a reverse dictionary like onelook
[1] to find other related words that I can string together into an easy to
pronounce, compact and catchy name. It's more of an art than science but tools
like reverse dictionaries help a lot.

[1]: [http://www.onelook.com/reverse-
dictionary.shtml](http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml)

------
gesman
No. For new business I always seek available .com

There are only two gTLD's: .com and anything else.

If you launch a new business without matching .com - you're facing few
troubles down the road:

1\. .com owner is going to ride on your [potential] success

2\. .com owner might pursue trademark violation from you [in case you'll
succeed in your business]

3\. .com owner will boost price for this domain according to your success.

So to avoid all that start with .com ownership. It doesn't have to be single
word .com - it can be creative brand-ish word or 2-3 words in a short
combination.

------
gfisher
The one interesting example when I think about domains is Nissan.com. Nissan
(the auto manufacturer) was unable to secure nissan.com, but it really hasn't
hurt them in terms of searches. Of course, if people go to Nissan.com
directly, that doesn't work for them, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Having said that, I do personally find a domain first before any type of
branding or naming.

------
z3t4
Make your product a subdomain from your company domain. Problem solved :P

The cost of a domain name may seem small, but once you have a couple domains
and have to manage certificates etc you wish you would only have used
subdomains of your well known brand.

So get a good domain name, then use that for everything!

Registering domain names can be addicting, and I've already wasted too much
time on it.

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talkb1nary
there is no real reason to prefer a .com domain other than someone else might
catch it and tries to sell it to you expensive. There is no reason to think it
will rank better and there is no reason to think that a competitor could
overcome you with worse seo just because he has a .com domain.

I usually never use .com domains as it sucks looking for available domains. I
rather make wordplays and therlike with alternative TLDs. In the end most of
the traffic is coming from google anyway, so my focus clearly is on SEO.

There are non related sub-domains ranking better than any of their competitors
because they have better backlinks and proper seo.

Edit:// Also a .com domain for a local business is most likely always a stupid
choice.

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ideaoverload
Try [http://leandomainsearch.com](http://leandomainsearch.com) . Generates
hundreds of free domain names based on keywords. Usually you are able to get
pretty decent name based on that.

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capex
Namerific[0] has some really good ones with .coms available. They pre-filter
for brand-able domains and you can negotiate with the domain owner.
Disclosure: I use their service to sell my personal domain inventory.

[0] [http://www.namerific.com/](http://www.namerific.com/)

------
DevPad
My behavior:

1.) Use [http://www.namemesh.com/](http://www.namemesh.com/) ,
[https://www.eurodns.com/](https://www.eurodns.com/) and brain.

2.) Try to find .com domain first, use different words/synonyms combinations.
Choose 3-5 best, write them down.

3.) Go with those new "cool" domain zones, use creativity, choose 3-5 best,
write them down. Even if you go with .com - you still can get something
similar to your main domain symbols like HN.pics for cookie-less static
content domain.

4.) Write down all the results (~10 is enough), sort by "best".

5.) Don't buy fast! Leave it alone for a couple of days, let the idea get
stronger. Tomorrow your yesterday "cool ideas" can look foolish.

6\. If after a couple of days the idea is still looks good, - buy it!

Usually finding really good domain name is not about 3-5 hours, it takes a
couple of days of brainstorming. Since your brain CPU is always working in
background, solving problems unconsciously, - sometimes best ideas can
_suddenly_ come in strange places or during night ;)

About me: 12 Years a Webmaster :)

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bronlund
Just pick a random color and a random animal and be done with it :D

------
ristin
I scrape Thousand of Data, then Filter it Analyzed 1 of the best and related
to my niche, than register it

