How to Choose Your Domain Name

Choosing a domain name is kinda like choosing a business name.  Most of us end up taking a super long time to pick one — agonizing trying to find that perfect .com — and ultimately it doesn’t really matter as much as you think. This page will help you hurry up and just pick a name already.

First step is to head over to Whois.net, where you can search for your ideas to see if they’re already taken.  (Don’t buy your domain there though, because they’ll probably charge you too much.  Buy it from my recommended domain registrar instead. You’ll thank me later.)

At this point, if you haven’t already realized, you’re about to find out that your first 10 awesome domain name ideas are probably already owned by someone else.  Shit. Now what do I do?

Here’s the deal, y’all — choosing an absolutely perfect domain name isn’t really as critical as you’re led to believe.

If your name is Mike Stevens and you own a consulting business, you’ll immediately discover that stevens.com and mikestevens.com are both taken, but mikestevensconsulting.com is available!

Maybe you register that last one, and then a couple years later mikestevens.com becomes available so you buy that one too.  But mikestevensconsulting.com is already all over your letterhead and advertising.  Don’t worry — it’s pretty simple to redirect users to your new domain.

So don’t overthink it, okay? What’s more important than taking forever to decide, is actually registering that domain and moving on to other stuff like getting fast web hosting.

General Guidelines
  • Dot-com is Still the Best
    Domains that end with .com are the most common, and therefore the top choice.  Next best are .net and .org.  If you absolutely must, then .us, .info, .io, and .ws are okay, but not quite as ideal. Stick with .com if you can.
  • Shorter is Better
    Shorter domain names are easier to remember.  Two words is great, and three words is okay.  More than three words is a mouthful.
  • Keep it Easy to Remember, Say, and Type
    Don’t pick weird or obscure words, and avoid hyphens and numbers.
  • Don’t Be Too Restrictive or Specific
    If you register SeattleNewFurniture.com and then later you decide to start selling used furniture… you’ll probably wish you had picked something more “expandable” at the beginning. SeattlesBestFurniture.com would have worked better.
  • Just Do It!
    In the end, selecting a “good enough” domain name is better than overthinking it and not getting any domain name at all.  Take imperfect action — just pick something and move forward.

🎉 CONGRATULATIONS 🥳 — you’ve settled on a good-enough-yet-still-awesome domain name, and you’re ready to move on to your next two steps:

  1. How to actually register and set up your domain name
  2. How to sign up for super-fast cloud hosting