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If you’re haven’t read Tools For Finding Domain Names – Part 1, you probably should start there and go through the checklist for selecting a good domain name.

More Free Online Tools For Finding A Domain Name

NameTumbler

NameTumbler is a domain search tool that combines one keyword, which you provide, with various lists of other types of words such as Animals, Business Verbs, Computer Terms, etc. The main thing to remember with this tool is that the majority of the names you’ll see aren’t available. Until you do the second step in the process and check their availablilty with GoDaddy, don’t get too excited about anything you see.

MakeWords

Another domain name generator to try is MakeWords.com. It’s not as easy to use, and I found it was challenging to get usable results, but you might find it particularly helpful in a couple of specific situations. For example, if you want to create a new, unique word to name your site and business, try the Wordlist Spinner tab. Put in a few keywords relating to your industry, products, even clients, and set it to show only available domains, with a max of about 50. Press the button. If you don’t like any of the results, press it again. Keep trying this and perhaps throw in some new words… you might get lucky and find a comprehensible “invented” word or phrase that would work for you.

Another case in which MakeWords can be useful is if the area in which you’re trying to find a domain falls within one of its specialized word lists. I found the Keyword Domains tab the most useful. You enter one keyword, then use the dropdown box to pick the types of words you want to combine that with. There are options for Banking and Finance, Emotions, Fitness and Diet, Verbs like Teach, or simply the Top 500 Keywords on the Web.

There are also specialized word lists by language, so this is the only site I know that can help you name a domain with Klingon words, for example. I just don’t think there’s a lot of demand for that … Go to the Domain Name Generator tab, drop down the Language option, and you can choose from a wide selection.

Expert-Marketer’s Domain Name Tool

There’s an interesting domain name generator over at expert-marketer.com. It’s designed for finding local domain names, and also has a very useful list of suffixes and prefixes you might find useful. There are even some latin prefixes, complete with translations. It’s straightforward to use and worth checking out, particularly if you need to find a variation on an existing domain name.

Webconfs Keyword-Rich Domain Suggestion Tool

This one is a little specialized, but it’s simple, quick, and might be worth a try if there’s a specific keyword you know you must have in your domain name. Try the Webconfs Tool and see if you have any luck. The majority of your results won’t be available, but you might get a few hits on names that could work for you.

If you know of any other good online tools for finding domain names, please mention them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list.

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Can I Still Get A Good Name For My Website?

Sometimes it’s hard to get the domain name you want. Like finding a spouse if you’re single, it may seem that “the good ones are taken.” However, there are some really amazing tools out there to help you with the job (at least for domain names!), and you’d be surprised at how many good site names are still out there. Your business website or blog needs a really strong domain name with keywords that work for your business. Read on for how to find it.

For our purposes, we’re going to look only at .COM names. There are some reasons for that, centering around building authority and search engine optimization. I’d advise you not to build your business on a .NET, .ORG, or any other extension, unless you have a specific business reason for doing so. For example, there are a lot of entertainment industry sites built on the .TV top-level domain, which is actually the country code for Tuvalu.

Why Your Choice Of Domain Name Matters

It represents your business to your prospective customers. Ideally, it illustrates your company name, or something that you do for your clients. It becomes part of your brand.
It adds to your business image, credibility and reputation on the web.
A good domain name is memorable, which helps people find their way back to your site.
It can help significantly with your site’s SEO. Having a keyword or phrase in your domain name helps you get found on search engines for that term.
It can build the resale value of your company. A good website name increases in value, as we discussed in How To Register A Domain Name.

How Do I Find A Good Name?

Let’s have a look at this checklist for selecting a good domain name first:

Short
Pronounceable
Spellable
Ends with .COM
Easy to remember
Contains at least one of your keywords
Describes what you sell
Not easily confused with similar words
Isn’t someone else’s Trademark
Appeals to the emotions of your prospective client
No embarrassing words or acroynms tucked away in it. For example, we wouldn’t want fartuvalu.com if we were writing about those Polynesian islands… Although far-tuvalu.com might be fine.

Free Online Tools To Find A Domain Name For Your Website

BustAName

My personal (huge!) favorite tool for finding good website names that aren’t yet taken is BustAName.com. The majority of the domain names I’ve purchased for myself and my clients have been found here. You drop in a few keywords, and the tool attempts to combine them to find domains that are still unregistered (available). You can limit it to just .COM domains, and restrict it to 1, 2 or 3 word combinations. It will sort available names by length, syllables or readability. It will even do tricks like dropping the last vowel or searching for combinations with hyphens. It also has a thesaurus function that helps you identify alternate words to try. I’m not going to add a ton of “how to” about this tool, because there’s a video below that demonstrates it very well… and it’s so intuitive you won’t need many instructions. Hop over to BustAName and check it out. It’s free to use and fun to play with, although it can certainly lead you into buying a few more domains than you intended.

NameBoy

NameBoy easily takes second place on my list of personal favorite tools for finding domain names. It’s easy to use, and has one trick up its sleeve that no other tool I’ve seen has. It will look for domain names that contain rhymes for your favorite keyword. I’d like the tool a little better if I could limit it to available .COM names, but it’s not bad in its current form. Just enter a main keyword and an optional second one, decide if you want to allow hyphens and see rhymes, then hit the Go NameBoy Go! button. On the resulting list, you’re looking for the names with green in the first column. If there’s no green box there, the name isn’t available. Just ignore all the neat names you cannot get. Sigh.

More Domain Name Finding Tools Soon In Part 2

The tools above are my favorites for finding new domain names, but in part two I’ll cover some additional ones. I warn you, they’re a bit specialized. Do you REALLY need to know how to find domain names in Klingon? If you’re all ready to go with registering a domain name now, I strongly suggest you use GoDaddy. For reasons why, as well as more information on how to do it, read How To Register A Domain Name.