You found the name and the .com is gone. Before you settle for a worse extension, work through these in order — the first three solve it most of the time.
First, find out what kind of “taken” it is
- Parked or for sale: the page shows ads or a price. This is a negotiation, not a wall.
- Active business, same industry: stop. This is a trademark risk, not a domain problem.
- Active business, unrelated industry: you may coexist, but you still need a different domain.
- Dormant for years: worth an offer, and worth checking the expiry date.
Seven moves that work
- Add a short, real word. “Get”, “Try”, “Go” or your category: the name stays, the domain becomes available.
- Change one syllable. Generators are good at this — run the name back through ours and look at the near variants.
- Use a compound. Two short words often beat one clever invented word for memorability anyway.
- Consider a country extension if you are local: many customers read
.de,.seor.co.ukas more local, not less professional. - Make an offer on a parked domain — many sell for less than a month of ads.
- Check the expiry date and set a reminder; dropped domains are the cheapest good domains there are.
- Change the name. If the name was chosen in five minutes, it is not worth six weeks of negotiation.
What to avoid
- Hyphens and deliberate misspellings — both cost you type-in traffic and look unfinished.
- Novelty extensions for a business that takes payments; trust drops, and some email filters are harsher on them.
- Buying a domain with a history of spam. Check it in the Wayback Machine before you pay.
Generate alternatives with live availability: business name generator.