Picking Domain Names -3.
7. It should be Search-Engine-Optimizable.
This is one of the most important issues affecting the success of your web-site. The search engines give a great deal of importance to your web-site domain name matching the contents in the web-site. IF your domain name says "GreatCars.com" and your web-site is about history of racing or some such, the search engines consider neither "Racing" nor "Cars" as important when considering ranking.
8. Avoid using a domain name that is similar to an already existing one. Especially so, if it is in the same business. You don't want people going accidentally to your rival better-eggs.com instead of coming to your better-eggs-today.com. This gets a bit weird as most companies in the same business tend to name their domains almost exactly the same.
9. Avoid having the same name as someone else's offline business.
If you already own Lawns And Gardens in the brick and mortar world, you can have lawnsandgardens.com, but somebody else owns it and he can uphold it in court that it is his trademark, you are better off straying far from using that as your domain name.
10. Consider using a hypen to separate multiple words.
This is one question I have been asked many times. As internet domain names get taken by the bucketfuls, we are seeing very few single word domains left over.
If you have two distinct words making up your domain name, use the word with a "-". It not only makes your name clearer to users, it makes for better Search Engine Optimization.
If the name is already taken without the hypen, leave it for now and add the name to the end of your list. Consider other words/combinations.
If possible, you must get the name of your domain without the hyphens and point it at the other name with the hypens. This is called redirection. When users type in either name, they are taken to the same web-site. This can be done with multiple domain names.
11. Consider using an acronym if your offline business name is too long. IBM.com is easier than International Business....
12. The shorter your domain name, the more people can remember it. Especially if your full name is too long to be typed out. Anybody knows what WWF.org is?
13. Consider using adjectives like "best", "hot", "Great", "powerful" etc. Evoking a strong positive emotion in your customer is of paramount importance to making a sale at your web-site.