

Ask HN: How do you pick your domain name? - soho33

i started working on a SaaS project a few weeks back and finished the MVP 2 weeks ago. however i can't put it out yet because every domain name that i can think of which related to the business somehow, is taken! so this is postponing my launch.<p>have you guys had the same issue before? do you just give up and pick any random available domain?! How important is it for your domain name to be related to the service you are offering?
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corford
I bump up against this problem myself all the time and it's so infuriating
(doubly so when most of the domains you want are registered but not even being
used).

Finding a domain name that is available, memorable, easy to spell, snappy AND
which quickly gets the idea behind your product/service across is HARD but my
advice is to persevere with it. A good domain name makes a big difference when
it comes to user traction and seo (and, for me, just feels better than
inventing some random name that bears no relation to the site).

A lot of the time I find the .com is taken (but not being used) and the .net
is free. So I register the .net and then try and pounce on the .com when it
comes up for renewal (this is an art in itself). If the .com gets renewed I
occasionally (depending on how badly I want it) approach the owner and ask if
they'll sell it (be warned some people have ridiculous ideas of how much a
domain is worth).

An alternative is to try extensions other than .com (examples: .io .in .is
.to). This is what pinboard.in did and I think it works (pinboard is easy to
spell, memorable, snappy and does a good job of explaining what the site
does). I use www.eurodns.com when searching for weird domain extensions (as
you can check virtually all of them in one go).

Failing all of that, get a thesaurus, dictionary and a few bottles of wine and
just lock yourself in a room until something clicks!

~~~
soho33
thanks for the great response. i was able to use some of your advice and also
the website provided below to come up with a good domain!

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bretthellman
You can't give up. It took us (hall.com) over 6 months. You can always change.
We went from companyline, to halleo, to hall.com. Other pointer, test the
domain with users to make sure it works. Our story:
[http://blog.hall.com/post/13936429456/how-we-got-the-hall-
co...](http://blog.hall.com/post/13936429456/how-we-got-the-hall-com-domain)

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matt1
You guys might also like my new web app, Lean Domain Search
(<http://www.leandomainsearch.com>), a fast new domain search tool that pairs
your search term with 1,000+ other keywords and instantly shows you which of
the generated domain names are available.

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zeynalov
It's always a good idea to pick up a short memorable, maybe hybrid word, if
there are no available domain names what you came up with. I posted some of
short, memorable, free .com domain names here:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3422233>

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jchivers
I wrote a blog post a while back that describes what I did (and normally do)
to find a domain for my project:

<http://blog.avi.so/post/10049987762/finding-a-domain-name>

~~~
soho33
very interesting read. much appreciated.

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ohashi
I would be happy to try and help you run some names and see if I can find
anything. Contact me off my site in profile if you're interested.

~~~
soho33
Thanks Kevin for the offer! i ended up using the bustaname website and got the
domain!

cheers

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tylerwl
Can you share a little more information about your project? It seems there are
plenty of HNers who would like to brainstorm with you.

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revorad
This is a clear sign of fear of shipping. Call it anything. Just ship. Change
the name later if you have to.

~~~
soho33
it's not so much fear of shipping. i just want to make sure the brand is good.
i don't want to call the domain xobiaseaf.com to just get it out there and
have to send emails to everyone and notify them of the new name when i come up
with it.

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umrashrf
I use <http://bustaname.com/>

~~~
soho33
wow! awesome website. thanks a lot for the share. i was able to use that and
come up with a cool combination that was available.

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fabiandesimone
I might be able to help. Contact me. Email is in my profile.

