Domain purchase decisions are usually hard work and something that many startup business owners focus on. Accomplishing a domain name check can take time, and it can even delay a product from launching sooner. A perfect domain name is worth it.
So, what happens if you finally decide on a domain name and it isn’t available for purchase? Millions of websites go up daily, so another entity or individual can likely snap up your perfect name.
It’s worse if you’ve started building assets around this domain name when an existing business already owns it. You can try domain name check again and change it to see if that’s enough, but changing it can harm your business performance on the web.
We’ve created this short guide to show a couple of options when your domain name is taken so that you can still take advantage of your hard work.
Alternative if your domain name is unavailable
Logical Alteration of Your Domain Name
We know you don’t prefer changing your domain name since it’s what makes you unique. You can then make logical changes to your domain name to still convey your brand. This tip will not change your domain name’s the unique point, just logically modifying it.
For example, say you sell have bakery supplies, you want the domain name bakerysupply.com. If it’s unavailable and whoever has it won’t give it up, you can add a modifying word.
So you could go for getbakerysupply.com, which still says exactly what you do and is still easy to understand. The ability of users to easily comprehend your domain name is a factor of a great domain name. This small change gives you a usable domain name.
Consider Country Domain Name Extension
This is a great solution that can work without changing the content of your domain name. There are a couple of options that you can use. In our bakery supply issue, you could easily pick the domain name bakerysupplyAU.com, which still conveys the message of bakery supply.
Consider Other TLDs
This isn’t the first thing businesses think about, but it is a nice option to consider.
TLD stands for “top-level domain” and is the label of the last three characters in your domain name after the last period. These are your .com, .org, .net, .edu, .gov, and other domain organizers. .com is standard, but other good options exist. There are dozens more that most people don’t even know exist, but the ones above are just the most common.
Try Tiny Alterations
This time we’re talking about minuscule things like characters or abbreviations to make the domain uniquely different, making it a new domain name but relatively the same as what you’re seeking.
The most alteration is the hyphen, so to go back to our bakery supply example, it would be bakery-supply.com. Unique domain name with the exact same words. Doing this makes the domain still easy for users to understand and recall; as a bonus, you also won’t lose any valuable SEO either.
You can also play around with abbreviations or word substitutions, though take note of your brand and ensure that you keep it short and easily understood.
That’s it! These are some of the most basic alternative solutions when your domain name is taken. Remember to accomplish a domain check as soon as you lock into a good alternative and snap it up before others do it again!
