Optimise for the phone call test

A good domain name survives being said out loud. If you had to spell it for someone over the phone, or explain which of two spellings you meant, that's a sign to reconsider. This single test filters out more bad domain names than any branding exercise.

Say the name to a friend without showing them how it's written, then ask them to type it. If what they type doesn't match what you registered, the name has a structural problem no amount of marketing will fix.

Shorter is a feature, not a nice-to-have

Every extra syllable is a chance for someone to mistype the address, forget part of it, or give up and search for you instead of typing the URL directly. Aim for something that fits comfortably in a sentence and doesn't need a hyphen to make sense.

Hyphens and numbers both cause the same problem in slightly different ways — 'get-my-site' and 'getmysite' sound identical when spoken aloud, and only one of them is what most people will type first.

Check it isn't already carrying baggage

Before you commit, search the name on its own to see what else shares it — a defunct business, an unrelated brand, or a name with an unfortunate meaning in another language. Domains occasionally come with reputational history too: a quick search for the name plus 'reviews' or 'scam' can reveal if a previous owner left a mess behind.

Leave room to grow

A name tightly scoped to today's product can become a limitation later. A bakery called 'LondonSourdough.co.uk' has a harder time expanding into cakes and catering than one called simply by the owner's name or a more general brand. This isn't a rule to follow rigidly — sometimes a specific name is exactly the point — but it's worth a deliberate decision rather than an accident.

When the exact name isn't available

If your first choice is taken, resist the urge to bolt on filler words like 'online', 'hq', or 'official' purely to make it fit — these read as a compromise to visitors, because they usually are one. A different, equally strong name is almost always better than a padded version of the one you couldn't get.

Traxio's domain search shows related suggestions alongside availability, which is often a faster way to land on a name you like better than the original anyway.