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Recently we had a brainstorm meeting for branding, logo and tagline development for one of our new clients. Judd brought in a new way to try and get the creative juices flowing with a 2 hour session, which included learning about the client, brainstorming on our own, bringing ideas back and letting the thoughts spill out. During the brainstorm, we began discussing new domain names.

So much of re-branding will be determinant on domain name availability and current competitiveness of search results. Currently, there are over 200 billion domain names registered worldwide. Sure, a few good ones aren’t taken- including www.amandatobin.com- but most simple, easy to remember domains are scarce. It is so important with website marketing to have a domain that is catchy, and most importantly easy for people to remember. Many people fail to remember that with a domain it will be not only be within search engines, but also on other forms of advertising. Think about brochures, business cards, outdoor advertising, or  television. How difficult would it be for someone to remember: Didyouknowthatyoucanonlyhavesixty-threecharactersinadomain-name.com not to mention the random hyphens in the name.

Some things to remember when picking a domain name:

1. Try to get your brand name or slogan
2. Keep the misspellings to a minimum
3. Try to get a .com, unless you are an .edu or .org.
4. Make it easy to type, try to not include hyphens or periods after every letter
5. Try to avoid too many numbers
6. Watch out for O and 0, the letter O and zeros.
7. Singular vs. Plural names- determine what makes sense
8. Avoid slang and trendy terms

Remember the rules above, but above all be unique to your brand and the consumers you are trying to target.