One of the more frustrating aspects of web development is figuring out the right domain name. Sometimes it is very easy like a company name but what do you do if that is already registered by someone else? Or what if you are starting from scratch?

Quick tips

• Aim for obvious (like your company name or what you do).
• Keep in mind the role your domain name will have on your business brand and identity.
• .com is the best TLD. If you sell stuff commercially, people will expect your site to be a .com (www.yourdomain.com). And people type ".com" by default.
• .net and .org are the next-best TLDs because the average web surfer is familiar with them, but if you are a commercial operation and there is a site with the same name as your .net site with the .com extension you are probably sending your customers their way.
• Short is better than long. Humans are lazy typers. And the domain name will be used for email addresses too. The domain name also appears on your printed literature and long domains can be difficult to fit in small spaces like business cards.
• A thesaurus is your friend. Sometimes the right domain name is just a synonym away!
• Avoid words that are difficult to spell.
• Memorable is good but not essential.
• Use a reputable company like Go Daddy for your registration. It may not be the cheapest option but do you really want to jeopardize your web site over a couple dollars?
• Avoid using hyphens in your domain name. Definitely don’t use more than one. It looks spammy (www.is-this-spam.com). And if someone owns a non-hyphenated version of your domain (www.isthisspam.com) your promotion dollars are probably sending them traffic.
• Before you purchase a domain look into its history to make sure it wasn’t used for spam in the past. These domains are often banned by the search engines and very difficult – sometimes impossible - to get reinstated.
• Domain names with energy are exciting and likable (think: Yahoo!)! The web services names may sound silly but they also bring some fun energy that is appealing.
• Action names are exciting! If your domain can be an action like "Googleing" or "hittailing" you may be in to something.
• Avoid gimmicks. del.icio.us worked because it was original. Emulating this has not seen much success.
• When registering your domain, longer is better. First, most registrars offer a discount for multiple year registrations. Second, search engines seem to trust domains registered for the long-term.