I have a small business I have been working on. I have everything ready to go including the website and social accounts set up.

I am just hung up on the domain. The one I originally wanted is taken and far too expensive. My business name, logo, etc. are all done so now I have to figure out a way to match the domain to it without spending a fortune on the domain itself.

How should I go about doing this? Any tips?

When I was choosing, I was overthinking. I wanted them to be perfect and no matter which ideas I had, they were taken.

I am not sure which niche you are in but you can play with words, use abbreviations, etc. just so long as it is short, easy to remember, and gives you an idea of what the site is about. You don't have to match the company name to it.

@simonsays is correct.

A lot of people tend to overthink it. You can be creative and take your time on deciding but if you overthink it and consider too many aspects of it, you will never choose a domain.

Keep it simply, short, and descriptive. As long as you have one keyword in there, you should be fine.

If the.com is taken or too expensive, check these first:

.co or.io usually available and look clean. Lots of startups use these without issue.

Add a word "get" or "use" in front works. Or "the" before your name. Something simple that doesn't change how people remember you.

Your location if you serve a specific area, throw the city or region in there.

What I'd actually recommend: pick a solid.co with your exact business name. Tell people the URL a couple times on social media and in your emails. They'll remember it. Nobody really cares about.com like they used to.

One thing though make sure the social handles match whatever you pick. That matters more than the domain extension honestly.

8 hours ago, James said:

If the.com is taken or too expensive, check these first:

.co or.io usually available and look clean. Lots of startups use these without issue.

I agree with this 100%. You want .com if you can get it but .co and .io are also great options and often far cheaper and easier to obtain.

Outside of those, .net is still valuable but it depends on your niche. Choosing the name really comes down to what you are creating. If you can post your company/brand name, I can see if I can help! :)

Maybe use the abbreviation and then add a word before or after it that falls under your niche?

So something like "PRTSoftware.com" (I hope that doesn't make a link, I don't know if is and active website or not lol)

I couldn't for the life of me get a domain that fit my one business so I had to improvise and I did exactly what @Ryyyan mentioned. I shorted it to 3 letters and added a word after it. It didn't seem to hinder it at all and it was one of my fastest growing websites in terms of traffic.

On 6/17/2026 at 9:20 AM, Ryyyan said:

Maybe use the abbreviation and then add a word before or after it that falls under your niche?

This is what I was thinking of leaning into because I am not sure how else to work this out without the domain being almost entirely unrelated.

My brother suggested something like LPBMarketing as an example. Not my business abbreviation or niche by the way. Just using it as an example.

On 6/24/2026 at 10:27 AM, dannydobbs said:

My brother suggested something like LPBMarketing as an example.

This is exactly what I was talking about. It makes it easier to remember, you still get a keyword, and your business is right there in the domain. Wins all around. Don't waste too much time trying to make it perfect. These days domains aren't as important as they used to be.