Related or random?

[chimaera]

I'm in the process of setting up a new business ... which I hope and think could be huge.

Of course, as all people in this situation, I am struggling with a domain (and therefore company) name.

Do I go for something related to my business, but relatively "dull"? Or something meaningless but brandable, like meebo.com or flickr.com.

Ideally of course, it would be both - but having searched for a LOT of domains, I am of course not finding many available that I like!

I am currently leaning towards the latter ... ie meaningless and brandable.

 

[yesonline]

Brandable domains seem to be more popular now than they were.

 

[chimaera]

They definitely are, but at the same time most globally successful companies have a related (but usually brandable) name.

I've found a couple that I am going to consider and have made enquiries about some more, so hopefully I'll come to something that hits me!

 

[accent]

Two other possibilities -
Consider alternate extensions - you will have to stress that it is not a .com in your advertising, but it works for some businesses and alternates are gaining recognition - as time goes by there will be less confusion. Not the best answer, I agree, but the best answer sometimes is not possible.

Consider using two names. That is what I have done - a brandable .com, that I use anytime I ask someone to type it in, that forwards to the base website located on keyword-keyword.net . This second name is for the search engines, I think it helps a lot to have the keywords in the domain. Yes, that is a hyphen - search engines like them. I also have the no-hyphen version (name number 3) which I use for a related informational site linking to the base site. Three names = ~$24 per year. Such a deal.