How to pick a domain that doesn't embarrass you in five years.

The single best test for a domain name: can you say it out loud to a stranger over a noisy bar without spelling it twice? If yes, you're 80% of the way there. Everything else is technical detail.

The five tests a good domain passes

1. Short (under 12 characters when possible)

Every character is a chance for someone to mistype, forget, or shorten incorrectly when typing on mobile. Twitter survived because twitter.com is 7 letters. thefacebook.com was 11; they bought facebook.com as soon as they could. Aim for 8 or fewer. Accept up to 12 if necessary. Anything over 14 is asking for trouble.

2. Pronounceable in one try

If a customer tells a friend "check out [yourname].com," that friend has to type it correctly the first time. Names with unusual letter combinations (think xfflrm.com) or homophone traps (foureyes.com vs for-eyes.com) lose customers in the gap. Read your candidate out loud. If you have to spell it, kill it.

3. No hyphens, no numbers

Hyphens scream "the .com I wanted was taken." Numbers create transcription errors ("is that the digit 4 or the word four?"). Both signal "second-choice" or "spam" to the average reader. Outliers exist — but you're not building Glassdoor or 99designs unless you're Glassdoor or 99designs.

4. No trademark traps

Don't include another company's trademark as a substring, even cleverly. appletoolsguru.com will eventually get a cease-and-desist from Apple's IP team. linkedinhelp.com from LinkedIn's. Even if you win the legal battle (you probably won't), you'll have spent a year of weekends on it.

5. Future-proof your category

If you name your company iphoneconsulting.com in 2026 and Apple announces a different product strategy in 2028, you're rebranding. Pick names that describe what you do at a category level (swiftmobile.com), not what you do for a specific product. The category outlives the product.

Three common mistakes to avoid

Mistake 1: Cute compound words that don't compound naturally. gigglypony.com works for a kids' brand. gigglypony.com for a B2B accounting SaaS does not. Match the name to the audience.

Mistake 2: The "we'll fix it later" rationalization. Founders register a placeholder domain in launch week, then can't justify the rebrand cost for years. The placeholder calcifies into your real brand. Pick the right name in week one.

Mistake 3: Buying the .com whatever the cost. Premium .com domains can run $5,000-$50,000+ on the aftermarket. For most pre-revenue businesses, that's not money well spent. yourname.io or yourname.ai at $50/yr is fine until you have customers; then you can decide if upgrading to .com is worth it.

When you can't decide between two names

Run both through this filter in order:

1. Type both into Google. Whichever has the cleaner first-page is the more available name in customers' minds.
2. Search Twitter and LinkedIn for the username. Available handles strengthen the brand consistency.
3. Check trademark databases (USPTO TESS for US, WIPO for international). Anything in your industry class is a hard pass.
4. Say both names out loud to three people who don't know your business. The one they remember 5 minutes later wins.

Tools that help

• ModusAI generates 10 brandable suggestions for any brief, with live availability — try it.
• WHOIS lookup tells you if a candidate is registered and when it expires (sometimes the owner is sitting on a name they'd let go) — /whois.
• Search across all 10 TLDs at once on our main search to find available extensions.