Your domain is the one piece of this you really can’t change later without paying for it. Not in money, exactly. In every business card, every truck door, every customer who typed the old one from memory.
So it’s worth ten minutes of thinking. Here’s how I’d think about it.
Short Beats Clever
Someone is going to hear your domain over the phone, in a noisy room, and type it later from memory. That’s the actual test.
Three or four words, max. No dashes. No underscores. No numbers if you can help it, because “five” and “5” are two different websites and your customer will pick the wrong one.
Say What You Do, If You Can
A domain with a word about your work in it gives people a head start. They know what they’re clicking before they click.
That’s a nice-to-have, not a rule. Plenty of strong businesses have a name that means nothing on its own. If yours is already known locally, use it… your name IS the keyword at that point.
Make It Sound Like You
Your business name. Your own name. Something people already call you.
I’ve watched owners talk themselves into a clever domain nobody connects to them, and then spend years explaining it. Don’t buy yourself that job.
Check It Before You Fall in Love
Obvious, and people skip it anyway. Check the name is free before you print anything or tell anyone.
If it’s taken, you’ve got two moves. Find another name, or try to buy it from whoever’s sitting on it. The second one is usually more expensive than people expect.
Just Take the .com
There are hundreds of extensions now. Take the .com anyway.
It’s what people type by default. Nobody remembers that you’re the .net, and if someone else owns the .com, you’re sending them traffic every single day without knowing it.
One Last Thing
Buy it yourself, in your own name, on your own account. I have untangled more than one business from a domain registered by a nephew who did them a favor in 2011 and doesn’t answer his phone anymore.
Need a hand picking one? Call me. This one’s quick.