Your domain name is essentially the name of your website. It is the part of the URL that appears before the “.com” or “.org.” When choosing a domain name, you’ll want something that is catchy, easy to remember and aligns with your business name and brand. Finding a domain name that is available and accurately represents your business and brand can be challenging, depending on how common the name is.
You can check the availability of a domain name with a domain registrar, such as namecheap, GoDaddy or Google Domains. In some cases, the domain name will be “available” but it will have a hefty price tag attached to it—sometimes up to thousands of dollars. Unless you are willing to pay a substantial amount of money to get a domain name—and most people aren’t—you should consider the name with alternatives to the .com extension. In many cases, a domain name will be available with .org or .biz or .net for free (or very cheap).
In many cases, the domain name registrar will suggest similar domain names that are available. For instance, if myperfectdomainname.com isn’t available, the registrar might suggest myperfectdomainname.biz.
Even if a domain name is available, you should check to confirm that the name is also available on social media to ensure alignment between your website and social handles.