Most marketing/web designers push "memorable" domain names. But I don’t think this works unless you come up with something really original.

It reminds me of the phone number trick where you get a number that spells your company name or a word related to your product. Research shows that most people don’t write these numbers down because they think they will remember it. Research also shows that they don’t.

Trying to build a memorable domain name isn’t so important and in many cases and may be damaging because if your customers think they will remember it but don’t they won’t get to your site. Having a site memorable for the experience and with a clear intent is - with some good SEO - easier to find. After all, most people that do remember the domain type it into a search box anyway.

So is discovering a great domain name futile?

No, it is valuable! But by pointing out some of the problems and limitations of domain name usage hopefully I’ve taken some of the pressure away from discovering the "perfect" name. Still, finding the right name for your site is difficult, time-consuming and often tedious. Once you have settled on a name for your web site you will want to protect it.