Why this matters
Your domain goes on every card, invoice, and ad you'll run, and a confusing one leaks customers who heard your name but can't type it. It's also a fast, cheap first step — don't let name-hunting stall the rest of the website build.
What "done" looks like
- You own a short, spellable domain — .com if available at sane cost
- It passes the radio test: someone hearing it aloud can type it correctly
- The registrar account uses your business email, with 2FA and auto-renew on
- WHOIS privacy is enabled and you know the renewal price, not just the year-one promo
How to do it
- Shortlist names that pass the radio test — no hyphens, no clever misspellings, ideally under 15 characters.
- Prefer .com; if it's taken, try a modifier (get-, -app, -hq) before settling for alternatives like .co.
- Check the real price. Honest .com retail runs roughly $10–15/yr. Be wary of $1 first-year promos with steep renewals.
- Buy it in the business's own account with a work email, 2FA, and auto-renew enabled.
- Add close variants (a common misspelling, .net) only if the risk feels concrete — you don't need ten defensive domains on day one.
Common mistakes
- Registering under an early helper's personal account — domain custody disputes are a classic small-business mess
- Judging by first-year promo pricing without checking the renewal cost
- Waiting weeks for the perfect name while the rest of the website checklist sits blocked
Real-world examples
- .com pricing is publicly anchored: Verisign, the .com registry, announced the wholesale fee rises from $10.26 to $10.97 on November 1, 2026 — a renewal quote far above ~$20 deserves scrutiny.
- Cloudflare Registrar has sold domains at wholesale cost plus the $0.18 ICANN fee, with no markup, since launching in 2018 — a useful benchmark even if you buy elsewhere.
From a founder's point of view
It's easy to burn a month hunting a perfect name customers will barely think about. The domain's job is to not get in the way of people finding and paying you.
Rule of thumb
Say the name over the phone once — if you have to spell it, keep looking; if not, buy it today and move on.