How to Choose a GoDaddy Domain Name and What to Do if It’s Already Taken

Learn how to choose a domain name on GoDaddy and what to do if the website domain name is already taken.

You know, people have been registering to buy website domain names for a long time now. The first one, symbolics.com, was registered in 1985. And here at GoDaddy we've been helping folks stake their claim on the internet since 1997.

So, what I'm getting at is that if you're just now getting around to registering a domain name to check domain availability and wondering how to buy a domain name, you're a little bit late to the game. And that means you're probably gonna have to get crafty.

Remember to think of your website domain name like real estate. It's not impossible to find your dream home in your dream location, so you may find the GoDaddy domain name that you want, but it's probably gonna be a little bit pricey. So maybe you have to go for a fixer upper, a different extension, a different spelling or change a few words around here and there.

Today, we're gonna discuss all of those roadblocks and how to choose a domain name.

Let's get started.

Go to GoDaddy.com and on the homepage, type your dream domain name into the
field and click Search Domain. You know, I've always wanted to open up a little pub, so I'm gonna see if murphysirishpub.com is available. All right, the results are in, and wow, that's a hefty price tag to buy a domain. Looks like it's listed as a premium domain name.

What exactly does that mean? Well, it uses the .com extension. We know that's the swankiest
zip code on the internet and it's less than 15 characters — so short and sweet, and it's got a keyword in there, which means it's better for search results. And it's also probably got a little bit of history tied to it, so it's been around for a while. Maybe it's already got traffic going to it.

There are a couple different reasons why a website domain name can be listed as premium and it might be worth the investment if it's the domain name that you really want. Okay, so maybe you got a little bit of sticker shock or you're really not interested in paying for a premium domain.

Well, what I would do is just search for the name that you're looking for to attempt to buy the domain you want. A couple of things are probably gonna happen. One, you're either gonna find an existing business with a website up and running online. Or, you might find what we call a parked page, so the domain is taken but there's nothing really going on and there's no content related to the domain. And this could be for a couple of reasons.

Some people just buy website domain names for email addresses, they don't ever plan on building a website. Sometimes, there are people out there who we call domainers. They buy domains and sell domain names to make a living and for the right price, they might be willing to sell a domain name to you. Or maybe someone just has it already and hasn't built the content yet. Their website's just not up.

Either way, don't get discouraged. We're still gonna get you there. It's just, you're gonna have to get crafty to find the right domain name availability.

All right, I'm gonna take the fixer upper route here.

Since the GoDaddy domain name that I originally wanted is a little pricey, maybe if I modify it something else is available. I'm gonna take the Irish out and look for murphyspub.com. All right, looks like it's taken,but if I still want it, there's an option for me.

It's called the GoDaddy Domain Buy Service and this is a really awesome, unique GoDaddy service for buying domains.

We basically act as the domain broker for you and try to contact the owner of the domain name and negotiate a price that's a little more in your budget.

Now, the person who currently owns it can accept, reject or counteroffer, but we're gonna serve as the middleman and do all the hard work for you to allow you to try to buy the domain that you're looking for. But if that doesn't work out or that's a cost you also don't want to pay for, then look at all these other results on the page. There are different domain extensions or endings that I could choose, like .us or .net, maybe even murphysstreetpub.com. I kind of like that.

You know, there's a lot of different ways that I can modify the domain name to maybe fit my business better, maybe a little bit better website domain branding to find the domain availability you want. I might end up with something better than I started with.

The moral of this story is, do not wait.

If the GoDaddy domain name that you want is available right now, register it right this second.

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