These are our rules for naming your thing. Follow them or break them:

1. 1. No hyphens
   2. No more than 3 words in the name…with no hyphens. The only exception is a memorable, commonly-known sentence
   3. Make sure you can audibly say the name to a friend without them asking you how to spell it
   4. Avoid numbers in domains. If using for real estate, use the numeral i.e. 50 and not fifty. If in doubt, buy the numeral and the written number (redirecting one to the other)
   5. The first choice is always a .com
   6. The second choice can be a country-specific .com like .com.au, but only if you’re 110% sure you’ll never sell overseas (or if your branding is very focused on your product being made in a certain country)
   7. A two-word .com is better than a one-word .net (or most others)
   8. Don’t buy every dot something variation of your name until you reach 1 million in revenue…at that stage, you’ll realise you don’t need them
   9. Use a simple domain name host that doesn’t charge for domain record updates or try to upsell you on every page
   10. Descriptive or unique? Descriptive can be powerful in some categories or buried by Google in others. Unique can save you from being confused with the competition.
   11. Memorable? Animals, alliteration, emotions, imagery. Use them in your name alongside another word
   12. Suffixes or prefixes can work but be careful of using the word “the”. Start with trying verbs in front (try, get etc) and descriptive words behind (brands, marketing, studio etc)
   13. Check for trademarks
   14. Plurals can work in 10% of contexts (like if you’re a group of someones doing something) but are risky in most situations
   15. Have a shortlist? Write them on small cards or Post-It notes and carry them around for a week. Pull them out of your pocket a few times a day and answer out loud the question about what you do with “Oh, I run a company called [insert chosen name] and we provide [insert name of service or product]”

Need some help? Get in touch to discuss our naming service.