How to choose a domain name: 10 rules that hold up

Pick a domain that's easy to say, spell and remember. Which ending to choose, names to avoid, trademark checks and what to do when yours is taken.

1. The short answer

Choose a domain that's short, easy to say, easy to spell and clearly yours, and get the `.com` or your country's ending if you can. Avoid hyphens, numbers and words with several spellings, check nobody holds a trademark on it, and make sure the renewal price is fair before you buy.

Your domain goes on business cards, emails, invoices and every link anyone shares. Changing it later means redirects, new email addresses and lost recognition, so a few minutes of care now saves a lot later. If you're new to domains, start with What is a domain name?.

2. 1. Make it easy to say and spell

Use the radio test: say the name aloud to someone once. Can they type it without asking how it's spelled? Names with sound-alikes (for, four, 4), unusual spellings (kwik, lite) or tripled letters where words join (presssummit.com) fail the test.

Read it written down too, all in lowercase. Some names split badly: what reads fine as two capitalized words can look like a different phrase when run together.

3. 2. Keep it short, but not cryptic

Shorter is easier to remember and to type on a phone. But a clear two or three word name beats a short string of letters nobody recognizes. mybakeryleeds.co.uk is better than mbl.co.uk for a local bakery.

4. 3. Choose the right ending

• `.com`: the default people assume. If someone hears your name, they'll try .com first.
• Your country's ending (.co.uk, .uk, .de, .ca): trusted locally and a clear signal of where you are. A great choice if most customers are in one country.
• `.org`: associated with charities, communities and open projects.
• `.net`: fine, but people may type .com by mistake.
• `.io`, `.dev`, `.app`: popular with tech products and developers. .io usually costs much more to register and renew.

If your exact .com is taken by an active business in your field, don't take another ending of the same name: you'll lose visitors to them and may run into trademark trouble.

5. 4. Skip hyphens and numbers

Hyphens get forgotten and are clumsy to say ("my dash bakery dot com"). Numbers raise the question "the number or the word?". Use them only if they're part of your actual brand.

6. 5. Make it brandable, not a keyword list

Domains stuffed with keywords, like best-cheap-cakes-online.com, look spammy and don't give you a ranking advantage. Search engines rank pages on their content and links. A distinctive name people remember and search for directly is worth more.

A descriptive word alongside a brand can help visitors understand what you do, as in mybakery.com. That's fine. Just keep it natural.

7. 6. Think about the long term

Avoid names that tie you to one product, one town or one year if you might grow beyond them. leedscupcakes.co.uk is perfect until you open in York or start selling bread.

8. 7. Check trademarks and existing businesses

Before you buy, search your name:

• in a search engine, to see who else uses it;
• in the trademark database where you trade, such as the USPTO's trademark search in the US or the UK Intellectual Property Office's search;
• on the social networks you'll use, so you can get matching handles.

A domain that clashes with someone's trademark can be taken from you through a dispute process, after you've built your business around it.

9. 8. Look at the renewal price

Some registrars offer a cheap first year and a much higher renewal. You'll pay the renewal price every year after, so that's the number to compare. Premium names can cost far more than standard ones, every year.

At Cloudzyro Domains, the price is the same every year: .com $36.99, .co.uk and .uk $21.99, .net $41.99, .org $42.99 and .io $145.99, all plus tax. A yearly Web Hosting plan includes a new .com, .co.uk, .uk, .net or .org free for the first year.

10. 9. Protect it once you have it

• Turn on auto-renew and keep the card current. An expired domain stops your website and email working, and can be registered by someone else.
• Keep the transfer lock on unless you're moving it.
• Use an owner email address you check, at a different domain from the one you're registering.
• Consider WHOIS privacy to keep your personal details out of public lookups ($7.99 a year plus tax at Cloudzyro; not available for .uk).

11. 10. Decide www or not, then move on

Your site can live at www.mybakery.com or mybakery.com. Both work fine for visitors and search engines as long as one forwards to the other. See www vs non-www.

12. A worked example

Priya is opening a bakery called Rise & Shine in Leeds. Here's how her choice goes:

1. riseandshine.com is taken by an active company. She rules it out, along with other endings of the same name, to avoid confusion.
2. riseandshinebakery.com is available, but the "and" (and, &, or n?) fails the radio test.
3. riseshinebakes.com is shorter but reads oddly.
4. risebakeryleeds.co.uk is available, clear and says where she is. It ties her to Leeds, though, and she's thinking about a second shop.
5. She picks risebakery.co.uk: short, says what she does, local ending. No trademark clash, and the social handles are free.

Five minutes, a clear name, and nothing to regret in a year.

13. When the name you want is taken

• Try your country's ending if .com is gone (or the other way round).
• Add a short, natural word: get, try, hello, shop, or your town.
• Check whether the domain is actually in use. If it's parked or for sale, you can make an offer, but budget for it.
• Treat it as a sign: a name lots of people want may be too generic to stand out anyway.

14. Once you've chosen

Register it, then point it at your site. If you buy it in Cloudzyro Domains, choose your site when you buy and we set the records for you. If it's registered elsewhere, follow How to point your domain at your site. Need somewhere for the site itself? Sites & Apps has a free plan that allows business use, and Web Hosting runs WordPress with email included. For the bigger picture, see How to host a website.