Some people are lucky: Zack, the flash of inspiration is there. Within seconds, the perfect project name is found. And then the domain check also says: Your desired address is free. However, so much luck in a double pack is rare. In most cases, good project and domain names require a lot of patience, work, and creativity. The latter can be helped with certain techniques. Today we would like to introduce you to some of the methods that we use in our search for new domain names.
1. Check out the competition
How do the others do it? A detailed competitor check should be at the beginning of every idea finding process. Look at other websites that deal with the same industry: What names already exist? What do you like about them, what not? And why does one address a domain appeal to you immediately, while you find another meaningless?
Make sure you take notes. Because when surfing the Internet, experience shows that the good thoughts evaporate just as quickly as they come.
2 One idea – many languages
Of course, every start-up consultant would advise you to do a detailed, official, and orderly idea generation. But since not everyone is the type to do this, here is a shortcut from the check domain: If your desired name is already taken, why not test how it sounds in another language and whether this domain is still free. The Internet with its translation programs makes it easy to try out a wide variety of languages – from Brazilian to Finnish to Japanese.
Caution: If you choose a word in a foreign language, be sure to check whether the word exists in other languages and what it means there – just to be on the safe side, to avoid possible embarrassment…
3. All thoughts in one pile: Brainstorming
This brings us to the first generally accepted method that office workers can regularly enjoy, the famous brainstorming. It can be exhausting in the daily work routine, but as a rule, it really leads to better results than if you brood alone in your closet. Organize a few friends/colleagues/acquaintances/people from your target group (there should be at least five), explain your concerns to them and off you go.
Everyone is free to throw ideas and associations into the room. Criticism is not asked for in this phase. Spinning is explicitly allowed. It is important that you take away the inhibitions of your brainstorming group. Basically, no idea is stupid, but every idea is good. Be open to everything that comes up. It is ideal if someone takes notes so that nothing is lost.
In a second round, all the ideas written down can be read out again and evaluated to narrow down the group of candidates.
4. Make a picture: mind mapping
Either on paper or on the monitor: Mind mapping is one of the professional creative methods. With this approach, you can either try your luck alone or you can get help. Important are in any case many large sheets of paper or a mind mapping software for your computer. Among the free versions are for example View Your Mind, XMind or You Minds Composer.
In principle, mind mapping is about creating a kind of landscape for your thoughts and thereby ideally getting from the starting point (your problem – in this case, the search for a suitable domain name) to the target point.
Mind mapping relies on letting your thoughts flow freely and using abilities of the brain that are often not called upon. You start with a keyword and write down all the terms that come to your mind. For each of these terms, you write down everything that comes to your mind. Within a short time, you should have collected dozens of ideas. In case you haven’t come up with the big one yet: Don’t despair, sometimes the journey takes a little longer – and most of the time you’ll come up with surprisingly good solutions.
5. On the off chance: the random method
Let yourself be inspired – by chance according to plan anybody can do chance? Of course, but chance can be organized in a very targeted way. All you need is an encyclopedia or a product catalogue. Alternatively, you can also look out of the window, over the desk, into a magazine… In any case, you must choose a term spontaneously. This term probably has nothing to do with your project – but that doesn’t matter, on the contrary. Because in this way you can again let your thoughts fly freely and let yourself be creative. Maybe you will come up with a catchy fantasy name right away, or perhaps a witty, imaginative term.
Online tools for finding a name
Since a domain name is and should be very individual, there are finally some online tools that can help you to find a name. Most of the usable terms under the popular domain extensions are of course taken by now and cannot be registered anymore. Therefore, it might be necessary to use alternatives or one of the nTLDs.
We can help to find your new domain name. Contact us today.
