How to choose a good domain name for your web site.

4. RESEARCHING YOUR CHOICE

Unfortunately most of the good names are already taken, so you may have to settle for second best. And sometimes you can get a good name, but you'll have to settle for .net or .biz instead of .com.

It's always best to go for .com if it's available, however, since most people think .com when they think of websites.

You may also want to consider buying mutiple versions of the name -- .com, .net, .org AND .biz -- especially if your domain name is made of generic words or your company's trademarked name.

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A. WHOIS SEARCH

There’s an online tool called WHOIS that is used to tell if a domain name is already taken, and if it is, by whom. Click here (popup window) and see this tool in action.

If the name you want is already taken is, try variations on the theme. If “herbgardens.com” is taken, try “herb-gardens.com”, then “herbgardening.com”, then “herb-gardening.com”, then “herbgardens.biz”, etc.

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B. ALREADY TAKEN

What can you do if the name you really absolutely wanted or needed was already taken? The first thing you should do is to type the domain name into your browser and see if there’s an actual web site there, or if it’s just a “coming soon” page.

If there’s already a web site there and it looks current, there’s probably not too much you can do. The exception is if the name is your registered trademark, then you may have some luck in court (assuming the “domain squatter” is under your court’s jurisdiction).

If there’s no web site, or it looks rather outdated, you might have luck contacting the owner of the site and offering to buy the domain name. Prices range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars or more.

When you look up an existing domain name in WHOIS (see previous section) there will usually be enough information provided to track down the owner of the domain. Don’t sound too desperate, however, or you may get gouged.

There’s a whole minor industry that revolves around domain name speculation. People will buy up domain names that they think other people will pay lots of money for. If the domain name you want falls under this category, you may be able to pay lots of money for it. In fact, some web sites consist of only one page that says simple “Buy This Domain Name!”

Why not hire the author of this article for your next web site project?

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