Ask HN: How do you get good domain names?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9754551

by rukshn • 11 years ago

38 42 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm just curious to know how do HN folks get their domain names for their apps/products/hacks?

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?

What if a .com domain name is not available? Would you rather prefer an alternative domain extention?

andersthue2• 11 years ago

I bought 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.

mattmanser• 11 years ago

https://www.easypost.com/blog/how-we-bought-easypost-dot-com for those interested

plumeria• 11 years ago

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

seanp2k22• 11 years ago

It's not a .com so it's as valuable as a .technology domain to most people who don't know how DNS works.

andersthue2• 11 years ago

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)

rk0567• 11 years ago

I'm using .co domain for couple of my side projects [0] and they rank well. So, from SEO point of vew, it's as good as .com.

[0] http://portchecker.co

larrys2• 11 years ago

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.

ecesena4• 11 years ago

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.

larrys2• 11 years ago

"or a word and a number"

If you get a word and a number remember you need both "nametwenty.com" as well as "name20.com"

ecesena4• 11 years ago

Agreed! But if you have a number, make the spelling with the number your primary choice... I'd never type nametwenty honestly.

davemel373• 11 years ago

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.

ecesena4• 11 years ago

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.

M8• 11 years ago

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

palantir.com

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

theverge.com

- name without any subtle replacement/elision of letters

svbtle.com

google.com

ecesena4• 11 years ago

What does this prove? That these people didn't have issues with their names?

Palantir I don't get it - it seems absolutely easy to pronounce/get the right spell to me. theverge, I'd be happy to know how easy is to write marketing copies for them (as I said, I've the-theneeds' experience -- feel also free to look at our press page to see how many people spelled us "theneeds" lowercase --none--, till the point where we decided to rewrite it "Theneeds"). Finally, I wonder how many people go to subtle.com wasting their time, or how often people have to say "I just knew this awesome site, subtle, with a v" - "a v what/where?" "let me spell it, s-v-b-t-l-e".

My recommendations are not a must, they just come from my experience -- don't waste time and don't make it hard to people to remember and use your name.

adventured• 11 years ago

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.

Axsuul• 11 years ago

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.

seanp2k22• 11 years ago

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.

fsk• 11 years ago

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• 11 years ago

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

altern82• 11 years ago

c.how?!

How is that valuable/worth $1000..?

neilellis• 11 years ago

1) Get your domain name before you name your product :-) a lot cheaper that way

2) Don't break my two tweaks rule. Which is, take your ideal name, now make one change to it so you can get the domain you want. I.e. change letters, mispell it, spread over the '.' etc. But don't make TWO changes, TWO changes looks naff. One is acceptable. (Obviously this is a rule of thumb).

I'd also add, be creative, there are lot's of ways to create cool domain names (as you can see from YC companies), but as @fsk said, CHECK GOOGLE! once you're done.

Especially try not to have a valid dictionary word as a product name unless you are Apple - the reason for this is you'll want to have Google Alerts and track mentions across blogs and social media. You can't do this if you've chosen a commonly used phrase or name.

Interestingly this is why Marina and the Diamonds named her album Froot ;-) true story.

georgerobinson• 11 years ago

If you want to do a domain availability check without using one of the webforms you can usually determine whether a domain name has been reserved or not with a simple DNS query:

$ dig in any example.com

hobarrera• 11 years ago

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.

Use gandi.net for these check, since, much like they slogan says: they're "no bullshit".

sashagim• 11 years ago

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...

gfisher• 11 years ago

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.

capex• 11 years ago

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/

z3t4• 11 years ago

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.

ideaoverload• 11 years ago

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

brudgers• 11 years ago

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.

onproton• 11 years ago

I really like the site 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.

zhte415• 11 years ago

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.

puranjay• 11 years ago

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.

bronlund• 11 years ago

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

ristin• 11 years ago

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

gesman• 11 years ago

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.

oxplot• 11 years ago

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

talkb1nary• 11 years ago

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.

DevPad• 11 years ago

My behavior:

1.) Use http://www.namemesh.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 :)

akg_67• 11 years ago

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

Ask HN: How do you get good domain names?

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