If you are planning to venture into the digital entrepreneurship world, one of the most vital decisions you need to make is selecting a domain name. This might seems of little importance but the name you chose for your website might have a great impact on the success of your venture.
In this post, I will show you why is it imperative to choose the right domain name, and why a selection tool is essential for doing this. Then I will go on to provide a list of domain name tools that you can choose from. In the concluding part, I will let you know my top 3 tools and the reasons why I prefer using them.
Choosing the Right Domain Name
I know from experience that choosing the right domain name will impact on several aspects of the website’s success including SEO, SEM, type-in traffic, offline marketing, and branding.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In the past, many webmasters chose domain names that contained their main keyword. However, Google’s 2012 exact match domain (EMD) update has reduced the impact of keyword domains on ranking in search engine results.
However, a study conducted by Memorable Domains showed that search engine marketing (SEM) adverts that featured a domain name with an exact match performed better than an identical advert with another generic domain. For instance, an advert with a domain name like ElectricBicycles.com had a higher click-through rate than an advert with a name like YourBikes.com. This higher click-through rate also applied to search engine result page listings.
In the same vein, a study, on how domain names impact search engine marketing campaigns, shows that adverts using a domain name like DivorceLawyer.com had a much higher click-through rate than a domain like JohnsonLaw.com. This indicates that users respond better to domain names that seem to give them a better expectation or indicate a more definite solution to their problem.
Type-in Traffic
Your domain name will naturally attract more traffic if it is easier to type and easy to give out or spell in person. That is why the name you choose should not be more than 15 characters. I discovered from personal research that most of the top ranked domain names on Alexa.com are not more than nine characters, e.g. Google.com, Amazon.com, Yahoo, Bing, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc. If your domain name needs a lot of attention to type it correctly, either due to length or spelling, you could lose a considerable amount of your branding or market value.
Branding
Creating a memorable brand with your domain name requires quite a bit of research and understanding of what will stick in the minds of your target audience. Even though, generic domain names may work for SEM adverts; it is far better to create a brand that will make you stand out. That is why names like Twitter and Facebook provide better long-term recognition than names like “mortgageforyourhome.com” or “shoesandboots.com”. Obviously, short and snappy domain names are more likely to catch on with your audience than lengthy ones.
Unfortunately, most of the great single-word and two-word combinations have been taken for most industries. But you can still get a good domain name with minimal effort by using a domain name tool. That is why I will provide a list of some of the well-known domain tools in the next part of this article.
The Ultimate List of Domain Name Tools
To overcome the challenges involved in choosing a domain name for your online identity, you should use some of the tools that I have outlined below to create a short, memorable and SEO friendly domain name.
BustAName
BustAName enables you to discover the most suitable domain name for your website with its powerful word mixer. It also uses a built-in thesaurus to find similar words. You can use this website to search for available domain names.
BustAName allows you to save domain names for future review, to swap the order of the words to create new names and even mix up to 3 words together. You may also use plurals, hyphens or drop the last vowel in each word.
DomainHole
DomainHole provides a variety of tools to help you locate or generate a perfect domain name. For instance, you can use it to search for expired domains, combine one keyword with hundreds of other words to generate domain names, or do a real-time availability check to locate a suitable domain name.
The name generator on this website produces unique, brand-friendly and easy-to-pronounce domain names. You can also use the web apps domain alert to get notified as soon as a domain name’s Whois status is changed. Also, you can discover new domain ideas by using the innovative brainstorming tool.
Domainr
This is an innovative domain name tool that enables you to explore the entire global domain name space beyond the popular top-level domain names that end with .com, .org, and .net. Domainr provides instant DNS and Whois data along with the ability to search for name availability.
Therefore, in addition to the popular top-level domain names, you can also explore short and creative names like “last.fm” so your brand and website can look unique.
Domains Bot
DomainsBot provides a powerful name spinner that allows you to locate domain names that contain words similar to the ones you enter. It also permits you to purchase suggested or available domain names from several other websites.
The domain search engine provided on this site has several features that enable you to refine and customize your search. For instance, you may specify the maximum number of characters you want, so the search engine can drop all long names or even eliminate names that have hyphens in them.
Domain Puzzler
Domain Puzzler provides several modes for spinning domain names. For instance, you can find exceptional domain names with the easy, advanced, or magic options. The “easy” option enables you to carry out a general check for availability.
You can use the “advanced” option to combine several words and select various extensions apart from .com. The “magic” option takes the keywords you provide and combines them with hundreds of other popular words.
Domain Typer
With this domain name tool, you can enter a domain name, find several alternative suggestions and some domain name hacks. The interface of Domain Typer is unique because of the speed at which it searches for availability. While you are still typing, you can see whether it is available. It also provides several randomly generated names.
Domain Typer is also available as a web app for the iPhone. If you need to do a very quick search for a domain name, Domain typer offers you a very fast search facility.
Domize
Domize has a fast and effective name search system. Immediately you begin to type a domain name, Domize will give you details about its availability. It also provides alternative names that are similar to your original request.
Also, you can take advantage of the secure encrypted environment. You can use Domize to check when a domain name was registered and discover when it will expire or if it is available for sale.
Dot-o-mator
For instance, you can choose categories of prefixes like “Games” or “Tech” or suffixes like “Web 2.0 words” or “hardware”. And this tool will provide several interesting names. I found out that this tool can be really good for brainstorming domain name ideas.
Impossibility
This domain name tool helps you to discover several options for domain names that may have been “impossible” for you to quickly think up by yourself. Once you provide a keyword, this tool will combine it with several verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Then it will display a list of several .com domain names which you can register.
Impossibility is connected to several name servers. So it can provide scores of name suggestions within a few seconds. This also makes it an excellent domain name brainstorming tool.
Instant Domain Search
Instant Domain Search does exactly what it says on the tin, so it will help the most if you already have a domain name in mind. Type the name you want to grab in their search box and this domain tool will tell you if the domain is available.
If your name of choice is not available it will show you alternatives which are available to register immediately as well as those who are up for grabs on online auctions.
IWantMyName
IWantMyName works best if you already have a name in mind. All you have to do is to add the name you want on their search box and IWantMyNam will let you know if it is available, but if it is not, you will see a list of alternative names and prices.
Lean Domain Search
The name generator provided by LeanDomainSearch uses prefixes and suffixes to create quirky and unique domain names. But you can also use it to search for available domain names and confirm if a particular name has been registered.
LeanDomainSearch makes it easy to quickly filter and sort the results it creates to find a suitable domain name. If you like a particular name, you can add it to your favorites and monitor it.
NameBoy
NameBoy helps you to generate domain names from primary or secondary keywords. It also gives you the option to include hyphens or allow rhyming of the words.
For instance, if you type the word “web” as the primary keyword and “superhero” as your secondary keyword, NameBoy will suggest names like supermanweb, webhero, and supeweb. The rhyming option may also be used, but it may not work well in the example given.
NameFresh
NameFresh is a unique domain name generator as they have a proprietary domain search algorithm that generates a wild variety of domain names to help you find the perfect domain.
NameMesh
This domain name generator will give you best results when you have several keywords in mind for your domain name. Combine 2 to 3 keywords at a time into the search box and NameMesh will generate a list of ideas based on the various categories.
On the results pages, you can filter results based on domain name length, type of extension, and registrar availability.
NameStall
NameStall can generate thousands of keyword-rich domain names for your website or brand names for your business or projects. It does this with your selected prefixes, suffixes, and word groups. NameStall offers you over 180-word groups.
NameStall automatically suggests thousands of eye-catching combinations of two or three words in 5 separate domain name categories.
NameStation
Namestation is a one of a kind domain naming tool as it offers a free domain name generator with instant availability checker but it also offers a premium feature which allows you to create a public name contest to crowdsource your domain name idea.
Domains can be filtered by length, extension, and more. If you find it challenging to come up with keyword ideas, give a try to their industry catalog as it is full of ideas.
Panabee
Panabee has an intuitive and simplified user interface that enables you to search, not only for domain names, but also for company names, app names, and personal names. This makes it a good tool for both name creation and branding. You can make use of this tool to avoid unnecessary copyright violations.
Panabee also helps you to generate great domain names. For instance, if your intended name has been taken, it will make recommendations that are based on your original idea. This tool will generate alternatives based on popular trends, prefixes, suffixes, syllables, and abbreviations.
Wordoid
Wordoid is a unique web app that enables to create a new word that looks nice and sounds natural in 5 major European languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.
The word will not be longer than ten characters, and you can mix or match words from different languages. Wordoid also allows you to adjust the quality level. As you increase the quality level, the word gets closer to the natural words of each of the languages you selected.
The Top 3 Best Domain Naming Tools
After going through the list of domain name tools I have listed above, you may be wondering which ones you should try out first. To help you save time, here are the top 3 tools I use and recommend:
Domainr is one of the best tools to discover unique, eye-catching short domain names that people can easily remember. If you want to be able to take full advantage of domain names such as last.fm or del.icios.us, you should use Domainr.
DomainTyper is extremely fast. It literally provides an instant response as you type. So it saves you precious time (and money) any time you need to brainstorm or search for information on a particular domain name.
Panabee is one of my favorite domain name tools because of its unusual user interface. This user-friendly tool puts me in the right frame of mind to do the creative mental work required to select a suitable brand name for a blog, project, product or company website.
Well, that’s it guys, the best domain tools on the web, why don’t you go ahead and try them out now.