For an already established business making its first step online, you may find that your original business name does not suit the web. It may be too long or too generic. It may not reflect the product or service. It may be impossible to find the appropriate domain name.

In this situation, we suggest you register the original business name so you don’t lose that traffic, but also register a name made up of popular keywords that would attract more targeted traffic, perhaps a name that focuses on the product or service as opposed to the company. You can use this keyword-rich domain name as your main address and redirect the traffic from your original ‘company name’ domain name to the same address.

If the business is completely changing to an online focus, or your brand is not well established, you may want to consider changing the business name altogether.

Don’t feel restricted by an existing business name in order to purchase a good domain. Even what may seem like a perfect keyword domain name, is not a guarantee for your web page design.

Tools for Brainstorming Domain Names

• ‘Who_is Source’ (www.whois.sc)

This is a great tool for finding available domains and brainstorming different ideas for domain names.

• Word Tracker (www.wordtracker.com)

Word Tracker has a free trial version of their service, which shows you detailed information about what keywords people are searching on and how many web sites are competing for rankings on those keywords.

• Overture’s Term Suggestion Tool (www.overture.com)

Overture is similar to Word Tracker and has a free version of their tool that will show you information about the keywords people are searching for on Overture.