The one rule underneath all of them is that, for a website, the name and the domain are the same decision. A site name whose domain belongs to somebody else leaks readers forever, and no amount of good writing fixes it. Run every candidate through a live domain name search before you get attached to it, so each one comes back with a registry verdict and a renewal price beside it.
Twelve formulas
1. Subject plus a twist
The topic word, joined to something slightly off. It keeps the clarity of a descriptive name and loses the beigeness. Breaks when the twist is so clever that nobody can spell it.
2. Two ordinary words, fused
The workhorse. Two words that belong together in your subject, pushed into one. Reads instantly, spells itself, and there are far more free ones than people expect, because most searchers only ever try the single word.
3. The verb
What the reader does, rather than what the site is. Works well for tools and directories. Breaks for publications, where the reader is not doing anything except reading.
4. The place
A geographic anchor when the subject is genuinely local. Strong for trust, weak for ambition: the day you widen, the name argues against you.
5. The clipped root
A longer word cut short. Short is worth real money in a domain and costs nothing to try. Breaks when the clip lands on something that reads as a typo.
6. The compound with a small word
Adding a short functional word, the, my, go, in front of a taken name. Honest assessment: this is the weakest formula on the list. It tells every visitor that the plain name belongs to somebody else, and you will hand traffic to them for years.
7. The invented word
Sound first, meaning later. The largest untouched pool on the internet and the strongest position for trademark purposes. Costs you a few months of explaining what it means.
8. The number that is not a numeral
Spelling the number out, rather than using a digit. Avoids the classic disaster where half the audience types the digit and the other half types the word, and both end up somewhere else.
9. Subject plus format
The topic joined to what you actually publish: review, notebook, dispatch, ledger, atlas. Tells the reader what kind of thing they are landing on, and gives the name a bit of character.
10. The pairing from inside the craft
Two words that only somebody in your subject would put together. Instantly credible to the audience you want, invisible to everybody else, which is usually a good trade for a niche site.
11. The adjective that is doing work
Not a boastful one. A precise adjective that narrows the subject, and reads as a decision rather than as decoration.
12. The plain category
The exact thing you cover, if by some miracle the .com is free. Exact match domains stopped being a ranking shortcut a long time ago, so treat this as a clarity decision, not an SEO one.
Three tests before you register anything
- Say it aloud in a sentence. If you have to spell it, that is a tax on every conversation about the site, forever.
- Type it from memory tomorrow. A name you cannot reproduce a day later is a name your readers cannot reproduce either.
- Read it as one word without spaces. Compounds occasionally produce an unfortunate second reading. This is exactly the kind of thing everybody notices except the person who chose it.
What to do when the .com is taken
Look at the near neighbours first. A different clip of the same root, or one word swapped in a compound, is free far more often than the original, and it usually keeps whatever you liked. That is the fastest and cheapest route by a wide margin.
Changing extension is the fallback, not the plan. It works, plenty of good sites run on one, and you should be honest with yourself that whoever owns the .com will receive some of your traffic for as long as you both exist. If you do go that way, pick an extension that says something true about the site. A .co domain reads as company to most visitors, an .io domain and an .ai domain read as technology, and a .org domain reads as a cause or a community. Check the renewal price of each one before you choose, because the newer extensions often renew well above their first year.
Buying the name from its holder is a negotiation with a person, not a purchase from a catalogue. Before starting it, weigh what the name is actually worth to you against an unregistered alternative you have not thought of yet. The guide to domain name value explains how to read any estimate you are shown, and buying a taken domain covers the steps once you decide to make an offer.
Do the check inside the idea, not after it
The expensive version of this process is falling for a name, building around it, and finding out late. The cheap version is generating with the availability constraint switched on, so a name only becomes a candidate once the registry has answered. That is the whole difference between a list of ideas and a shortlist you can act on.
A practical way to do it is to write ten candidates, two from each of the five formulas you like best, and search all ten in one sitting. Strike every name that is taken in the extension you want, then strike every name that fails one of the three tests above. Whatever survives is your shortlist. If nothing survives, go back to formula two and formula seven, because fused words and invented words are where the unregistered .com names still are.
Once you have a winner, register it the same day. Good names that are free in the morning are sometimes gone by the evening, and the cost of holding a name you end up not using is one year of registration. If you are still weighing the choice, the longer guide on how to choose a domain name runs seven checks in the order that fails candidates fastest.