Choose the Right Domain Name

Brad Pineau is founder of domain brainstorming tool DomainHole. In this Q&A, Brad explains how to choose a great domain name and how his (free) app can help create an awesome domain.

Brad: DomainHole provides a set of tools to help you find a great domain. If you've ever tried to find a domain name, then you know the pain of not being able to find anything available. Each of our tools take a unique approach to help you discover domain names that are unique, brandable, and keyword specific. By offering these different tools, we find people are able to find a wide variety of available domain names, and they can choose which they like best.

Our site is completely free to use, and isn't cluttered with advertisements. We are continually trying to solve the problem of "how to find a great domain". In fact, we currently have three additional tools in development.

Brad: The naming of DomainHole started started several years ago. The first domaining tool we developed was our Expired Domain Search tool. At the time, it was a simple tool that we used internally for finding keyword specific domains for our affiliate marketing sites. One of the first searches we ran was on the keyword "domain" and "domainhole.com" happened to come back in the results. We liked it lot at the time, so we called the tool DomainHole.

Years later, when we decided to launch the tool with a suite of other domaining tools, we started brainstorming on what to call the new site. We decided to stick with "DomainHole" in honor of the first tool we created. We've had mixed reactions on that choice. Some people love it (like me) and some people don't, but it has all the elements of a good domain name so I have no regrets on the name choice.

Brad: I use the Expired Domain Search tool every day, regardless of whether I'm looking for a domain name or not. I find the best domain names by accident, and the expired search is a great way to discover these domains. There's three main searches I run:

First, I look for all new short domains that are expiring (.COMs less than 4 characters) - if there's any pronounceable ones, I'll usually grab them. Next, I look for all new dictionary domains that are expiring (1 word .COMs) - these domains are real English words are often rank well in search engines.And lastly, I'll run a keyword search for a list of niches I'm interested in (2 word .COMs) - I've found some great brandable domains with this search.

Brad: All of the tools we offer at DomainHole are completely free to use. You don't even need to create an account, unless you want to set some favorites or create some alerts. Our business model is based on affiliate commissions with domain registrars such as GoDaddy. If a user clicks on a "register" link for any domain on DomainHole, they are redirected to their registrar of choice. If they go ahead and register any domains, we make a small commission.

There's a few other business models we're considering, such as offering Premium Accounts with additional tools only available to Premium members, a Domain Marketplace where people can buy/sell/trade domains, and even a Domain Buy Service where we'll help people find a domain for their business.

Brad: There's three main points I like to consider when choosing a domain.

Can say it over the phone without spelling it or giving any explanation. Example - try telling someone to go to del.icio.us over the phone.Short, and easy to spell. Aim for 10 characters or less.Memorable, so that someone will remember the domain a week later if they want to get back to the site.

If you can hit all these points, you're dealing with a good domain.

Brad: The most important secondary factor to consider when choosing a domain, is the marketing that you'll be implementing for your business. Your domain should match the brand you are building. For example, mailchimp.com branding is based around a chimp, which makes sense. If the founders of mailchimp didn't want to be associated with a chimpanzee, mailchimp.com would be a terrible domain to choose. If you're using specific words in your domain, you should be comfortable and proud to include those words in your branding.

Brad: No one knows for sure how search ranking algorithms work, but it is a common belief that length of domain registration does indeed play a factor in page rank and search ranking. The theory is that spam or "blackhat" sites will only be registered for a year at a time, as there's a high risk of the site being blocked by search engines. Whereas legitimate sites that plan on being around for a while will register for longer periods. Longer registration periods give domains higher credibility. The same theory applies to SSL certificates (ie, https://) - if a site has an SSL certificate, there's a good chance it's not a spam site.

Brad: When searching within the United States, it is commonly believed that .COM domains do carry some priority over foreign country-code domains (such as .LY, .BE, etc). However, they do not have priority over other extensions that are also commonly used in the United States (such as .NET, .ORG, .TV, .INFO, etc). All of these extensions have an equal chance to rank well for your desired keywords. Each country-code domain has the same advantage over .COM on their own international search engines. For example, if you are searching on google.ca, Google will give more weight to .CA domains. Users from different countries will see different search results when searching for the same keywords.

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