How To Choose A Domain Name For Your Business

We recently went through the process of choosing a domain name for our business, Website Mojo, and I know many others are in the start-up process, as well.  Whether you are like us, and have been around a while and it’s time for a make-over, or if you are starting a brand new business, here are some ideas that will help you through the process.

This is the process we have used with several businesses we’ve owned and it has been good to us.

1. Start by asking yourself some questions about what you do and how you are different.  What is unique about your business?
2. Then we like to brainstorm. This is where we just throw out ideas and write them down without judgment or considerations.
3. When we have done this we go back through and find the names we like the most.
4. We then go to register.com to see which of the names that we like are available as a domain name.
5. If nothing is available, we go back to brainstorming.  And we continue to do this until we settle on something that we like and that’s available. This could take a few days.

Some things to consider when choosing a domain name for your business…

• It’s never a bad idea to have the core work you do in your name.  We do websites, so Website Mojo works perfectly for us.  This will help you greatly in search and your potential clients won’t require further explanation to know what you do.

• Your business name needs to communicate your uniqueness, we feel the websites we build for our clients are empowering because they include features that bring them business.  Mojo is a term that means power, fire, energy, and it fits for us.

• Choose something that’s simple and easy to understand; you want your potential clients to understand what you do without the need for explanations.

• Don’t copy what someone else is doing.  Find something unique so that your business can stand out.

• Check with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ or any other social platforms you’d like to use and be sure your name is available.

• We bought websitemojo.net, which is the name of our site, for 5 years.  This sends a message to Google that we are serious and here to stay.  You’ll want to also purchase other top level domains such as .org, and .biz, but one year at a time is enough for these.

• It’s not necessarily a good thing to name your business after yourself.  You may want to sell it at some point and not having your name tied to it would be a plus.  Also a name other than your own does a better job telling your story.  Ken and Anne Partain doesn’t mean anything to anybody except our Moms and our friends.

• There are also some offline considerations when choosing a name for your business, such as making sure it is not trademarked by someone else.  And if the name is available in your county for filing your dba, you’ll need to go to your county clerks office and do this in person.  You’ll want to make sure of this before you spend any time or money with your chosen name.

We know creating a business is both exhilarating and frightening.  There’s one more thing, and this may be the most important of all.  Trust yourself and your ideas, sleep on decisions that aren’t quite a fit and most importantly don’t strike until you are ready!

If you find yourself in need of a kick-ass website that brings you business, check out our website development page, we offer everything you need without the high prices.