Domain Name

[Guy Germaine]

Help me think of a Domain Name.
I'm thinking about setting up a site to sell some of my stuff.
How about Big-Dawg.com?
I need some more ideas.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Try to get a URL that contains terms that your shoppers will use on Google.

medicinecabinetmaker.com
tablesforthehome.com
pensandpencils.com
missionfurnishings.com

Make it easy to remember, professional and to the point and looks good in printed ads. Avoid dashes and mandatory spaces - they're tough to remember and a PITA to get straight over the phone. Your site name paper-clips.com will lead shoppers to paperclips.com because people will type it without the dash by default.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Unless you are selling "Big Dawgs" it might be vest to take Mitchel's advice and make the name key-in to the product line.

Just for the hell of it I plugged http://www.Wood.com and http://www.wood.com
And the only think I get is the Wood Company in Czechoslovakia ( http://www.wood.cz/)

So you might think about grabbing that Domain.

[Art Mulder]

Avoid dashes and mandatory spaces - they're tough to remember and a PITA to get straight over the phone. Your site name paper-clips.com will lead shoppers to paperclips.com because people will type it without the dash by default.

Yes, avoid dashes and underscores and such.

But spaces are forbidden anyway, so that is not a concern.

[Guy Germaine]

I grabbed:
NewfGuyWoodworks.com
Now, I need to get a site built.

[AL Ursich]

If you search for it be ready to buy the name. A few years ago I searched for my business name and found it available. Next day I had my Credit Card out to buy it only to find it taken and a cover page offering the name transfer for $1000.00..... Some Dumpster Diver or Employee of the search company Network Solutions had the name. I picked a new name....

AL

[Frank Hagan]

I grabbed:
NewfGuyWoodworks.com
Now, I need to get a site built.

Are you building it yourself, or going to have it designed by a web guy?

[Guy Germaine]

I'll probably do it myself.

[Joe Hardesty]

This might be too late since you said you already bought a name, but I would have suggested guygermaine.com. It's easy to remember for anyone who know you and generic enough to be adopted to whatever interests you may have. And it appears to be available.

Just a thought.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

If you search for it be ready to buy the name. A few years ago I searched for my business name and found it available. Next day I had my Credit Card out to buy it only to find it taken and a cover page offering the name transfer for $1000.00..... Some Dumpster Diver or Employee of the search company Network Solutions had the name. I picked a new name....

AL

Isn't internet squatting illegal now ( at least in the US)?

[Frank Hagan]

Isn't internet squatting illegal now ( at least in the US)?

I think the restriction only applies if you are using an already-copy righted name.

I've had people tell me that's happened to them, and then when I check just a few days later the domain is available. I can't explain how it happens, but I've heard of it happening several times. The minimum term for buying a domain name is 1 year, so perhaps someone is putting a cookie on your machine and then forging a "sorry, that names taken" page. But that seems like a lot of work. (Full disclosure: I have a reseller account at DirectI, a large registrar).