How to Find a Domain Name for Your Online Business

Do you have a great idea for an online store business that’s ready to be executed? If yes, then it’s time to take the first step--registering the domain name. Your web address (a.k.a domain name) has a huge impact on your branding, which in turn, affects the overall success of your eCommerce business. The best domain name for your business will rarely be a result of happenstance. Looking at the weight it carries, there are multiple strategies and approaches you can use to find the right domain name.

This article highlights two broad schools of thoughts. One suggests innovating a whole new name/word that’ll be unique to your eCommerce brand, and the second advises having your website name describe your business.

Let’s break down both of these approaches.

What is the innovative approach to selecting your domain name?

If you’re exploring this approach, chances are you have decided a brand name that doesn’t necessarily have any clear association to your business industry or the products you sell.

How to come up with an innovative domain name?

One of the ways to employ this strategy is to include a word in your domain name that indicates what your business is all about to better connect with the user. That’s where new domain extensions such as .STORE, which is apt for eCommerce and retail business, come into play.

With the constant evolution in the internet space, new domain extensions have emerged that help define your business while also giving it that extra oomph factor. For instance, .STORE helps a great deal in branding any online retail store. This domain extension coupled with a creative domain name can immensely uplift your branding activities.

For instance, when you see a domain name such as www.thatmerch.store, it creates an image in your mind. But a domain name like www.ecwid.com doesn’t necessarily conjure any image or feeling, which is an opportunity lost for you to build a connection with your customer.

With .STORE domains, even if you are creating a new brand, you can still communicate what you do.  

Brands that have successfully created innovative brands with .STORE domains

Some of the organizations that have successfully implemented this strategy include names such as:

• www.wonder.store
• www.artichoke.store
• www.faded.store
  

So, if you have chosen an innovative name for your business, you can brand it with a .STORE domain to indicate that it’s a retail or eCommerce store in order to build a

What is the descriptive approach to selecting your domain name?

Another strategy of finding a powerful domain name includes picking one that describes what the company does or what would a potential user find when they visit the website.

For example, www.yogaclicks.store is a name that gives a fair idea of what this eCommerce business is offering.

How to come up with a descriptive domain name?

The application of this approach is simple. Your company’s offering becomes the primary domain name. Something that immediately tells the user what they are likely to find on your website.

A few things to keep in mind when taking this approach:

1. Is the name scalable business wise?
2. Is the name easily understood in other languages in case you want to take it global?
3. Is the name easy to spell and pronounce?  
   

While this is one part of the equation, the challenge is to find an available domain name for the word you want. A good descriptive domain name is short, simple and easy to remember. With the internet being around for multiple decades, finding a descriptive domain name that checks all those three characteristics is likely impossible.

New domain extensions such as .STORE can be your knight in shining armor here too. Since these extensions are still new, chances of you finding your domain name on them are high. For example:

• www.silkandcotton.store
• www.lorde.store
  

Brands that have successfully created a descriptive domain name

Amazon brilliantly implemented this strategy for its product Kindle with www.kindle.store. The web address clearly describes what the user might find on the page.

Additionally, since new domain extensions are meaningful words, they help in establishing a strong brand identity. For example, www.emirates.com vs www.emirates.store. Potential customers will not only be able to tell what you’re about but with a descriptive domain name, they will get an idea of your offerings too.

What’s the best domain name strategy for your business?

Sometimes, the best option is to pick a domain name that addresses both schools of thought. There is the possibility of coming up with a domain name that stimulates a mental image of your store’s offerings while also incorporating certain aspects of a descriptive element of your company’s products and services.

A great example of this is Groupon.com. Combining “group” and “coupon” to create a new word and brand name.

Finding a domain name for your brand new eCommerce startup is all sorts of exciting. It’s the first step towards your success and therefore, it helps to spend that extra time before you zero in on a name.

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About the Author: Alisha is a Content Marketing Specialist at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .STORE and .TECH. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.