Hello…I was going to get back on the website train and I wanted a .com domain. I want the domain to be about myself, CSS articles, sell web design services. I just can’t think of a name. Ryanreese.com is taken and I don’t know any other clever ideas to use. Can anyone help?
Every time I want to start a new website, I create a spreadsheet with a bunch of domain name ideas. I basically brainstorm and put into the spreadsheet anything that comes to mind over a few days. Then I use Namecheap’s bulk checker to check 50 at a time. 90% or more of my ideas are usually taken. Of the few that were not taken, most were not any good. Last November I had a spreadsheet with over 700 ideas. Most were already taken. I ended up registering 3 domain names. One was to squat on a variation of another, so I effectively only got 2 domains. In May I registered another domain name. I registered 1 out of 265 possibilities I brainstormed. As usual, 90% of my ideas were already taken and most of those that were not taken were not very good.
The worst part of starting a new website is trying to find an available domain name. That is the hard part for me. There are times where I had an idea for a site but never went forward because I could not find a suitable domain name. Then there were times where I thought I bought a good domain name then a few days later I come to think it is not so good. Of my ideas that are already taken, the strong majority are nothing more than parking pages or for sale, not active sites. So there are many good domain names being wasted. One domain name idea I had is for sale for $700. I am thinking about buying it.
Rather than trying to cram a bunch of keywords into the domain name, I’d recommend coming up with a unique name that will become your brand. This is something you need to put thought into, though. I don’t think anyone can do it for you. There are lots of well known web professionals out there with quirky but memorable brand names, like headscape, simplebits, clearleft and the like.
Yeah that’s just the problem though, and I’ve had it for years, ever since I started into this business. I am not creative AT ALL. So it’s been a struggle. I want it to easily be identifiable back to myself. Something with Reese in it would be preferable. Perhaps ReeseDesigns.com or something similar.
Genious, GENIOUS I DO SAY!
I’m actually tempted to do ReeseDesigns. Would Designing or some other end-word variation be best? Any thoughts?
Sounds fine to me. 
It’s easy to say and has a nice rhythm to it. The fewer syllables, the better.
We have a winner then Ralph. I’ll blame you if my site doesn’t take off though :D.
.coms are over rated. Go for shorter better names.
RyanRee.se (this one doesn’t look available to international, but you get the idea)
.io is pretty trendy right now and I like it a lot. It’s open on a lot of registrars. RyanDesigning.io or [URL=“https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration/results.aspx?domain=RRDesigns.io”]RRDesigns.io or [URL=“https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration/results.aspx?domain=ReeseWeb.io”]ReeseWeb.io
You get alot more flexibility when you think outside the .com box. They are old and stale anyway.
Why is .io trendy right now? And when I tell someone a website, .com is usually the end extension they think of.
@lillybrent890, that website is actually taken. Does sound good though.
Edit-ReeseDesigns.com is actually taken as well… Ugh. I’ll keep thinking like that mawburn.
Yeah, I guess you’re right about the .com if you’re targetting small businesses.
I’m not sure why .io is trendy, it just is. Easy to remember (at least for a geek I/O), it’s shorter, and you-dont-have-every-english-word-or-phrase-taken-like.com
RyanDesigning.com is available and it rhymes.
I’ve always used Bluehost and they are a great host, although they have limited domains. What other good hosts are there that offer more options?
NameCheap.com, not sure about their hosting. I believe in keeping Domain Registration/DNS and hosting separate.
Well it’s going to be a personal site to attract some clients, have my portfolio up, and I’ll also be writing articles pertaining to CSS. So just something easy for people. I’d do RyanRee.se I I could find a great host that offers it. My usual BlueHost.com doesn’t. Which is disappointing. Their interface is amazing and have always been good to me.
Have you personally used that? Again, they don’t have .se
I probably want to do the RyanRee.se option. RyanDesigning has a lot of domains similar to it and it would be easy for clients to go to the wrong one.
I could just register somewhere that offers .se and transfer it to bluehost I guess?
That’s an international domain, it’s Sweden’s extension. The link above points to the wiki on it. It doesn’t look like it’s open to international registration and it’s only available to specific registrars. Sometimes some of them you have to go through specific places to get the country code TLDs, even though they are open to international registration. Each one can have their own rules and regulations around them, any rules and regulations they want. Some are open to full international registration and available on namecheap or godaddy or bluehost, like .io which is actually British Indian Ocean Territory.
I probably should have came up with a better one, but that was just the first one that popped in my mind.
Here is a full list of ccTLDs
Yes, that’s who I use. Their control panel is very straightforward and easy to use.
That’s frustrating that it isn’t international. It’s nearly impossible to find a unique domain to use these days…
Yeah, another thing that can be extremely frustrating is a lot of them don’t allow private registration. Which if it’s for your personal freelancing business it’s fine, but if you do anything where people may try to retaliate (like people being banned from community websites), it’s good to keep everything privately registered. *.io is one of them. 