TheLastReal.Com

June 5, 2008 8:20 AM

Domain Naming Troubles - I have spent the last week and a half trying to come up with a clever dot com for my web design company. I am looking for suggestions on keywords that I can use to form a good domain name.

.COMs are hard to get a hold of using standard dictionary words, as it is, but it seems that all domain names concerning web development are gone. I know this isn't true, I just need help being a bit more creative when it comes to naming this particular domain.

Please give me a list of words that work well for a web dev site. I am not necessarily looking for you to name my site (although, if you have something great, that is available, I may just snap it up), I am more so looking for words that I can play around with to name it myself.

Thanks MeFites.

p.s. Using part, or all, of my name really isn't an option as it is pretty common and just not something I really care to do. I also don't care to use my state or geographical information as I feel it limits my target audience.

posted by B(oYo)BIES to computers & internet (16 comments total)

www.(Word from list A) + (Word from list B).com = profit?

List A:
Site
Website
Homepage
Portal
...

List B: (in the vein of flickr)
Makr
Creatr
Authr
Designr
Codr
...


Or you can go the whole www.wordsthathavenothingtodowithwhatido.com route
posted by o0dano0o at 8:38 AM on June 5, 2008

• Play around with anagrams - http://www.anagramgenius.com/server.html

• Play around with acronyms:
BWDIT (Best Web Developer In Town)
posted by cainiarb at 8:41 AM on June 5, 2008

Is there something that's forcing you to want it to be a .com? There's plenty of TLD's out there, most people don't use the address bar anymore, unless they're copying it off a business card.
posted by Static Vagabond at 8:44 AM on June 5, 2008

In the "answer is in the question," category, "cleverdotcom.com" is available and kinda, well, clever.
posted by Shepherd at 8:45 AM on June 5, 2008

Dunno if ishoulddesignyoursite.com is "something great", but it's available.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 8:55 AM on June 5, 2008

What kind of web design/development do you do? Making pretty templates for pre-existing blogs? Writing custom CMS systems for small businesses? Developing portfolios for artists? Some more information about your business plan or your skill set will help people find you a better name.
posted by bcwinters at 9:08 AM on June 5, 2008

Do not use a Networks Associates website to check availability of any URL you're interested in. If it's free, they claim it and hold it for a week.
posted by Class Goat at 9:12 AM on June 5, 2008

"Is there something that's forcing you to want it to be a .com?"

I will be picking up the .COM .ORG and .NET to CMA. - If I have to resort to getting a .NET or .ORG, it is because another person has the .COM, which is something I am trying to avoid.

"What kind of web design/development do you do?"

I build everything from personal web blogs, to business websites, to wedding portfolios. What I am focusing on right now, is getting businesses without websites, online. But really, what I need is domain that pretty much just says, "this guy does web design."

...and no, thisguydoeswebdesign.com is not going to cut it


Thank you all for the suggestions so far.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 9:16 AM on June 5, 2008

So my thought is portalcraft.net. It is available and portalcraft.com is a private server and not a developer it looks like.
posted by skewedoracle at 9:44 AM on June 5, 2008

You'll definitely want to avoid .net/.org. That's bad ju-ju when you're building a small business—you're lucky enough if people can spell your name right. Don't create a confusion vector by potentially driving traffic to a .com.

Domain naming is one of those ridiculous things. I shot around about three dozen names and terms and then got into science/biological terms...

The two it came down to were Diffusion Media and Synapse Studios. Guess who won?

Use Ajax Whois for lightning fast lookups. It'll let you toss out a bunch more ideas.

Of course, now with Synapse, no one can pronounce it (SCI-naps? SIN-APSIS? Christ, it's a real word people.) but I like the name and the imagery of "bridging the technology gap" or some such, so there's some meaning in it for me.

We didn't have the .net of our name for some time because someone else had snatched it up in the year or two where I had the domain but hadn't built anything around it.

I liked the science/bio route because I thought it sounded futuristic and those who got it got it, and it was a bit different than everything else out there. Unfortunately, you have the pitfalls like mispronunciation and spelling, but we do alright.

If not science/bio, take a bunch of vocab words from another field you're interested in that you think would work well.

But remember to absolutely ensure that you're never embarrassed telling people your domain. There's no reason to have a domain that makes you sound like an idiot and there are still plenty of concepts that you'll do fine with. End it in "studios" or "labs" or "media" or "design" and you'll see a world of new domains open up.
posted by disillusioned at 10:40 AM on June 5, 2008

Ok. So I came up with an idea, purchased a few .COMs and now have a few additional questions, or calls for advice.

What I purchased was:

EUPHORICREATION - Wordplay (missing a C)
EUPHORICREATIONS - Wordplay (missing a C)
EUPHORICCREATION - (two C's)

I really like EUPHORICREATIONS (plural, one C), BUT EUPHORICCREATIONS (plural, two C's) is already registered to a web host. If I were to use EUPHORICREATIONS I would have liked to have EUPHORICCREATIONS, so I could redirect back to EUPHORICREATIONS if anybody decides to try to spell it as it should be.

What I did find available was EUPHORICREATION and EUPHORICCREATION. While I would like to use the plural, this gives me the ability to redirect if anybody decides to try to spell it as it should be.

I could just use the correct spelling of EUPHORICCREATION, but the wordplay option already gives me an idea for my logo ( EUPHORI aligned top + big C + REATION aligned bottom).

So... what are your thoughts on this?


disillusioned - You have some great advice there, and I actually found another domain that is acceptable (after I purchased the above mentioned, by using some of the follow-up words you suggested. It is a possible that I will talk myself out of this current idea and go with one that I found using your advice. Thank you.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 11:05 AM on June 5, 2008

I would avoid any of the Euphoric ones, because it is going to involve a lot of spelling when you, or a customer, is relating the URL to someone.
posted by mikepop at 12:39 PM on June 5, 2008

i can't give any advice on the domain but this tool will let you search very quickly
http://instantdomainsearch.com/
posted by wangarific at 12:45 PM on June 5, 2008

I like Bust A Name for coming up with/checking for available domain names based on key words I already have. Just a helpful generator if you're still stuck after euphoricreation.com (which I like).
posted by self at 2:23 PM on June 5, 2008

I found out the other day that interestingly, nearly every two-word combination of non-rhyming English words are still available as .com addresses.

I got the list from Wikipedia, and used Dot-o-mator to mash up combinations of the words. Some of them are pretty neat. Also, Dot-o-mator has some pretty slick word lists in general. I spent a good four hours one day tweaking word list after word list and combining them, and finally came up with three solid domains that I liked for my blog.
posted by joshrholloway at 3:02 PM on June 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Glad I could help. :-)
posted by disillusioned at 3:09 PM on June 5, 2008