How to choose a domain name for your business

A good business domain name is one a customer can hear once, over the phone or from a neighbor, and type correctly without asking how it is spelled. That usually means your business name or something close to it, a .com ending if you can get one, no hyphens, no numbers and no clever spellings. Before you buy, say it out loud to three people and ask them to write it down. If all three get it right, you have a good one.

Start with your business name

The simplest domain is your business name with .com on the end: harborbakery.com, millerroofing.com, brightsmiledental.com. Customers who know your name will guess it, and it matches your sign, your van and your invoices.

If your business name is long, you can shorten it, as long as the short version is still recognizable. "Johnson Family Heating, Cooling and Plumbing" might become johnsonheating.com or johnsonhvac.com. Drop the "LLC", "Inc" and "and Sons" unless customers use them.

The phone test

Most small businesses get their domain passed on by voice: on the phone, on a radio ad, from one customer to another. So test it out loud.

Say the domain once, at normal speed, to three people who have not seen it written.
Ask each of them to write it down.
Compare.

Anything they get wrong is a problem customers will have too. Common failures:

Homophones: "for" or "four", "right" or "write", "knight" or "night".
Double letters at word joins: smithhomes.com gets written as "smithomes".
Unusual spellings: "Kwik", "Xpress", "Kreations". Clever on a sign, painful on the phone.
Words people abbreviate differently: "and" versus "&" versus "n".

Rules that save trouble later

Keep it short

Shorter is easier to type, easier to fit on a van and easier to remember. There is no fixed limit, but two or three short words is a good target. Long domains also make long email addresses.

Avoid hyphens

miller-roofing.com sounds fine written down but terrible spoken: "miller dash roofing dot com". People forget the hyphen and land on a different site, maybe a competitor's. If the hyphen-free version is taken, it is usually better to change the words than add a hyphen.

Avoid numbers

Numbers raise the question "the digit or the word?" every time. The exception is a number that is part of your well-known name and people always say the same way.

Prefer .com

For a US small business, .com is what most customers assume. If someone hears "harbor bakery" they will try harborbakery.com first. Other endings work, but they need saying every time. .com, .net or .biz: which ending to choose goes through the alternatives.

Think about email too

Your domain becomes your email address. Say "orders at harborbakery dot com" out loud. If the email version is awkward, the domain is too.

Adding your town or trade

If your business name alone is taken, or your name does not say what you do, adding a word can help:

Your town: harborbakeryportland.com, portlandharborbakery.com.
Your trade: millerroofingco.com, millerroofer.com.
Both, if short: dentonplumber.com.

Adding the town helps customers recognize you, and it can be handy if there is a business with your name in another state. The downside: if you expand or move, the town in your domain may stop fitting. Think about where the business will be in ten years. Domain names for businesses that serve one town looks at this choice in detail.

Do not cram keywords in to be found on Google. A domain like bestcheapplumberdenver.com looks spammy to customers and does not earn any special treatment from Google. Your domain should name your business, not describe a search.

Check before you buy

Once you have a favorite, check five things:

Is it available? Type it into any registrar's search box. If it is taken, see what to do if the domain you want is taken.
Is it close to a well-known brand? A domain that resembles someone's trademark can lead to a legal complaint later. The US Patent and Trademark Office has a free trademark search, and if anything close comes up, ask your attorney before buying.
Is there a business with a confusingly similar domain nearby? If harborbakery.net belongs to another bakery in your town, customers will mix you up.
Is the matching social media name free? Not essential, but nice if your Facebook and Instagram can use the same name.
Does it read well in lowercase, with no spaces? Run the words together and read them fresh. Some names accidentally spell something else.

When you already have a domain

If your business already has a domain that customers know, keep it, even if it is not perfect. Changing a domain means forwarding every old page, updating every listing and changing every email address. It is worth it only for a real reason, such as a new business name or a domain that customers keep getting wrong. A slightly long but familiar domain usually beats a perfect new one.

Buying it

When you are ready:

Register it in your own name or your business's name, with an email address you control. Not your web designer's.
Turn on auto-renew so it never lapses.
Consider registering for more than one year at once.
Decline add-ons you do not need. Registrars often offer extras at checkout; the domain itself is the part you need.

What to do this week

Write down three to five candidate domains, starting with your business name.
Do the phone test on each with three people.
Cross out any with hyphens, numbers or spelling questions.
Check availability and look for similar names in your trade and town.
Register the winner in your own name, with auto-renew on.

Once you have the name, the website behind it is the next step. If your business already has a site under another address, you can see it rebuilt first and point your new domain at it when you are happy.