If you’re anything like me, you’ve got at least four million ideas flying through your head at any one time. Whether they’re ideas for a business, a new app, a new type of fork or a blog about how to make the perfect bowl of porridge, the one thing you’re going to want is a snappy name.
And with a snappy name comes, of course, a domain name.
We get this question asked quite a bit during our mentoring and one-on-one sessions, so here I will answer: how to find your perfect domain name and where to buy it.
Top Level Domains
Gone are the days of only being limited to .com and .net domains. With the recent explosion of new Top Level Domains (TLDs), there is a domain name for pretty much anything.
Getting married? Buy a .wedding domain.
Doing movie reviews? Buy a domain finishing with .reviews.
You get the picture.
Namesilo and Namecheap are our favourite (and cheapest) places for domain registration.
They’re also super easy to search through some of the new TLDs.
Searching for a domain name
If you came up with the business name of Perfect Porridge, but the domain name of perfectporridge.com wasn’t available, then you’d be in a bit of a pickle, wouldn’t you? As it happens, that domain name is not available, but by searching namecheap.com, we can look for other options.
I can search and see that perfectporridge.com.au is available. If I’m only looking for an Australian audience then I could be ok with that and buy the domain right there and then.
Or I could buy one (or more) of the myriad of different TLDs available for that business name (.net, .app, .co, .io, .ventures, .support, .bike etc).
Really want a .com? No dramas – keep searching. Swap out a word for something similar, and see that Awesomeporridge.com is available, so have at that.
Buy domain variations and protect your name on the web
Another great thing about having access to domain registrars like NameCheap and NameSilo is that you can purchase all your business domain variations in one place.
For example, we don’t just own meeum.com. To protect our brand and identity on the web, we also own other popular domain suffixes as well, like meeum.net, meeum.com.au, meeum.net.au and so on. If we didn’t do that, we run the risk of someone else pretending to be us by buying a different TLD. For those sorts of cases, I really only think that you need to buy a few of the major ones to be safe (.com, .com.au, .net, .net.au).
Register your actual name
Even without a business name in mind, a great thing to buy is your own name. Yes, I own samhemphill.com (and .net, .com.au and .net.au).
At the moment they all just redirect to meeum.com, but in the past, samhemphill.com was my folio site for job applications and freelance work. Having a domain name set up for employment purposes is an impressive thing for an applicant to have, even if you’re in a field completely unrelated to digital.
How much is a domain name?
Depending on the TLD, domains can start at a couple of dollars to register, so not that much. Depending on the domain, the subsequent registration years may be more expensive.
At the time of writing, .tech is $12.25 per year, .is sits at $34. Something like .careers will set you back $4.66 while .dentist climbs to $60.54. Those prices are from NameCheap. To be fair, NameSilo is often a little cheaper than NameCheap but bills in $USD, so comparing can take a little effort.
Have a go and search for your new domain as you’re brainstorming your ideas, and you’ll soon be having a grand old time working out what could fly when you see that crap.apartments is available for only $8, as is ineedmore.beer ($36). Own a coffee shop? Why not pick up fabulous.coffee for only $11.70?
Head over to NameCheap or NameSilo and find your new perfect domain name!
Now a digital veteran, Sam Hemphill initially trained as a drummer and high school teacher and spent 10 years as a touring musician and tour manager.
During that time, he...