You’ve just come up with a great idea for a new business, or maybe you just had an idea for a new website to build. Either way, you do what everyone does or at least should do: you go to register a new domain.

Unless you came up with an incredibly unique domain idea that is not built on common dictionary words, you will likely discover that someone – possibly even a domain squatter – has already registered the .com version of your domain.

After all, there are more than 1 billion websites in the world and that number grows every single day.

A good percentage of those are on .COMs. What’s more, if somehow a domain name became popular on a different TLD (top level domain) – you can bet someone went and snagged the .COM.

Don’t despair just yet on your naming idea! You have plenty of options available to still turn it into a great domain name.

What Should You Do When Your .COM Isn’t Available?

Before digging into alternative ways of registering your domain name, it’s important to take a step back and think about your plan on bringing traffic to your website.

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If your website will primarily be used in offline advertising like TV commercials, billboards, or business cards, it is critical that your domain be easy to spell.

Inventing a new word might seem like a fantastic idea and an easy way to get your perfect domain, but it can have unintended consequences. One older yet infamous example is that online photo service Flickr lost 3.6 million unique visits a year to Flicker.com.

On the other hand, if organic search is going to be the primary way visitors will find your website, having that perfect domain might not be as important.

On mobile search, domain names aren’t even visible in organic search results, so that great domain idea won’t even have the opportunity to factor into the decision to click on your results.

Even on desktop search, the domain of a result isn’t listed in the most prominent way.

For paid marketing channels – social or search – the domain name will be a very minor factor in the performance of a marketing campaign.

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Iterate on Your Domain Name Idea

Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

1. Consider not using a .COM if most of your traffic will come from sources other than direct type-in traffic.

Many users are agnostic to what your domain is and will likely not even notice if it’s a .net, .org, .us or even info.

Additionally, the lack of availability of .COMs has lead many prominent companies to build their web presence on non .COM domains.

2. Consider using one of the new Top-Level Domains (TLDs) like .agency, .jobs, .online, or similar.

While there seem to be downsides for people that are unaware that these TLDs even exist, it still won’t matter if your traffic is primarily from search and referral sources.

3. Look for synonyms.

Use an online thesaurus, like Thesaurus.com, to come up with word alternatives similar to your original idea.

4. Try using domain name tools like NameMesh.com or BustAname.com which even have alternatives in other languages.

You may not like the suggestions that these tools recommend, but they will at least give you some creative ideas. You had one creative idea and can certainly come up with others.

5. If there are several words in your domain name, try rearranging their order if you can.

Sometimes one specific order may not be available as a domain name, but another may be. NYCmarketingagency.com may not be available, but marketingNYCagency.com could be.

If you don’t have several words in your domain name, you may want to consider adding one, which brings us to the next suggestion…

6. Add another word to your domain name.

TopMarketer.com not available? How about trying AmericasTopMarketer.com?

Sometimes just adding some fun descriptive words will not only make your domain and business name more unique and available but also take your business name’s marketing from “OK” to “WOW!”

You can also just add words like “online” or “best” if you are short on other concepts.

Domain Best Practices

No matter what domain name you ultimately land on, you may want to stick to the following best practices:

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Your Domain Name Should Be as Short as Possible

Shorter domains are easier for direct-type ins, don’t overflow on business cards, can be fully visible in search engines, and are social-friendly (they can be easily shared from one person to the next).

Don’t Buy a Dropped Domain Unless You Aware of the History of the Domain

I once saw a real estate website that had formerly been a Japanese adult site. Even if any penalties or negative association had been scrubbed in search engine ranking algorithms, you can imagine that the backlinks to that site were not pretty.

There’s no reason to be affiliated with negative topics when there are so many potential domains in the world.

Don’t Put Hyphens in Your Domain

They are easy to forget and confuse with the version of the domain names that don’t use hyphens. Imagine having to spell out your domain on a phone call or in a podcast.

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Don’t Use Domains That Are at All Related to Someone Else’s Trademark

This is illegal and can land you in hot water quickly if someone finds out and decides to sue you. Any brand equity that you build into the domain will be lost as soon as you get that cease and desist notice and have to turn over the domain.

Use Keywords, if at All Possible

There is very likely little SEO value to a keyword-rich domain. It will still build better keyword-to-domain associations with your customers.

Having the domain name be clear to potential customers exactly what you do will only help.

Don’t Stuff Keywords!

It will look terrible to users and not help with search engines. Even if there is value to keywords in a domain name, definitely don’t overdo it.

Think About Your Social Presence

If you’re naming a new business, it is ideal to make sure you can get some other social media accounts with the same business name.

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Before you settle on the domain use KnowEm.com to make sure that the most popular social media handles are available.

It would be so unfortunate to have a great domain name but then to have to append something like “TheReal” to your name on a social media

Buy Similar Domain Names

Purchase easy misspells and other popular TLDs if they are available to keep anyone from squatting on your business name.

This could be costly later once you have built up a brand and the domain squatters know that you don’t really have any negotiating leverage.

I once worked with a global brand that had to spend a couple of thousand dollars per domain name to successfully reclaim domains that could have been purchased for a few dollars when they first launched.

Don’t Settle for the .co TLD of Your Brand Just Because It Might Be Available

Although, there are many popular products and companies like calendar.co, angel.co, and pocket.co, they still likely lose large amounts of traffic to the .com versions of their domain which are completely unrelated to their business.

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Don’t Append “The” to a Domain Name Unless You Own What Comes After, Too

Facebook originally started as Thefacebook.com but had to purchase Facebook.com to avoid confusion. Many users will forget to add “The” in a domain and you will inevitably send traffic to whatever domain name doesn’t have “the” in it.

Conclusion

Whatever domain name you choose, it doesn’t have to be a lifelong commitment.

You’re better off starting your web presence with the best solution you can find rather than spending weeks trying to find the perfect domain name.

With a little creativity and ingenuity, you can find a domain that works for you either temporarily or for many years to come just by following these tips and tricks on what to do when your .COM is not available.

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Why Your Links Should Never Say “Click Here”

• 6 min read
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Quick summary ↬

Have you ever wanted your users to click a link but didn’t know how to get them to act? When some designers run into this problem, they’re tempted to use the words “Click here” on their links.

Have you ever wanted your users to click a link but didn’t know how to get them to act? When some designers run into this problem, they’re tempted to use the words “Click here” on their links.

Have you ever wanted your users to click a link but didn’t know how to get them to act? When some designers run into this problem, they’re tempted to use the words “Click here” on their links.

Before giving in to the temptation, you should know how using these words on a link can affect how users experience your interface. Not to mention that having proper link titles is a major accessibility requirement since the term ‘click’ is irrelevant to many assistive technologies and isn’t descriptive enough for screen readers.

Further Reading

on SmashingMag:

More after jump! Continue reading below ↓

Web forms are at the center of every meaningful interaction, so they’re worth getting a firm handle on. Meet Adam Silver’s Form Design Patterns, a practical guide to designing and building forms for the web.

Jump to table of contents ↬

“Click” Puts Too Much Focus On Mouse Mechanics

In my opinion, using the word “click” on your links takes the user’s attention away from the interface and on to their mouse. Users know what a link is and how to use a mouse. Calling attention to the mechanics is unnecessary and diminishes their experience. Instead of focusing them on the interface and its content, “Click here” diverts their attention to themselves and their mouse. Not to mention, you might also make them feel dumb by suggesting that they don’t know what a link is or how to use a mouse.

“View” relates to the user’s task, while “Click” puts focus on mouse mechanics.

Instead of using the word “click,” you might look for a different verb that relates to the user’s task. There’s always a better and more relevant verb to be used. “Click” makes users think of their mouse; but a task-related verb would make them think of the task itself and would keep them engaged with the content and focused on using the interface, not their mouse.

“Here” Conceals What Users Are Clicking

Some links use the word “here” instead of “click.” The problem with using “here” in a link is that it conceals what the user is clicking. The text around the link might explain what they’re clicking, but when the user reads the link itself they won’t have a clue. This means that the user has to read the text all around the link to understand the context of the link, thus impeding them from taking the quick and short route of clicking the link directly. If there’s a lot of text, this could slow the user down a lot.

When your link communicates more than “here,” users can skip the verbose text and go right to the link.

Not only that, but if multiple links say “here,” “here” and “here,” the user has to go through the trouble of differentiating between each link, opening each one to see how it’s different. And if the user wants to return to a particular source, they have to remember which “here” it belongs to. This forces them to have to use recall over simple recognition. Instead, it’s better to label the links with something that describes what the user is clicking to, so that distinguishing between the links becomes easier.

Links that are labeled are a lot easier to distinguish.

Using the word “here” to make a link noticeable is unnecessary because that’s what the distinct styling of a link is supposed to do. If you feel like you have to use the word “here” to get users to see the link, then there’s a problem with how your links are styled. Are your links the same color as the rest of the text? If so, users could have a hard time identifying them. Are links visually distinguishable through color and shape? A change in color can give links higher contrast — and a change in shape, such as underlining or bolding, even more so.

What your links say can say a lot about your website. Using the right words is important. Below are a few techniques to help you make the most of links.

Link to Nouns

Instead of saying “click here,” it’s probably better to make concrete and proper nouns in a sentence the link anchors. Concrete nouns are best in my opinion because they are more immediate and vidid and give users a better idea of what they will get when they click through. Proper nouns are good because they represent unique entities that stand out in and of themselves.

Usually I prefer to avoid using only verbs as anchors because they’re vague and often don’t give a clear picture of what to expect. Rather, nouns enable the user to easily scan the link anchor and quickly grasp what they’re clicking to without having to read the entire sentence or paragraph. An alternative option would be to use verbs and nouns but with this approach some links might become way too lengthy.

Using nouns as anchors gives a better picture of what the user is clicking to.

End on a Link

You might want to try to structure your sentences so that the link anchors fall at the end. This will make links easier to spot because users will see each one as soon as they finish reading the sentence. Thus, they will be able to take action immediately, rather than having to go back and hunt for the link in the middle of the sentence.

Linking at the ends of sentences helps users to act more quickly.

Link to Specifics

It’s also a good idea to choose the text of your link anchors as specific as possible. For example, if you’re linking to an article or book, it might be a good idea not to use the word “article” or “book” for the anchor. Instead, we could use the relevant title. This will give the user more detailed information about what they’re clicking to and what to expect. Also, we could include more details about the link in brackets, e.g. (PDF, 5.5 Mb).

The next time you consider using the words “click” or “here” for links, remember the effect it will have on the experience. The challenge is to make your links communicate “click here” without actually saying “click here,” and there are many ways to do this. It will take some thought and effort on your part, but in the end, users will benefit with a better experience. So, either take the easy way out and just say “click here” or spend some time finding phrasing that really clicks with users. The choice is yours.

So how do you choose the words for your links? Do you link verbs, nouns or both? Do you use “click here”? Share your opinion in the comments! We are looking forward to your feedback!

(al)

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