What makes a good domain name?

1. Good extension - If a person is surfing around looking for a site, and they know its name, most people will try .com. So, for the web site owner who wants their site to be found, the rule is: if at all possible, get a .com name.

2. Short - Less than 7 characters, ideally. A simple name will roll off the tongue more easily in conversation, look more professional, and have less chance of being mis-typed.

3. Easy to spell - Make sure it passes the phone test: if you were to say the domain name of your website to a friend over the phone, would your friend be able to spell it correctly the first time without your having to spell it for them? If not, you’ve failed the phone test and should likely try a different domain name. Also, be careful about double letters. Take CyberRodeo, for example.
Their domain uses a double R, as you might expect, but there is an uncertainty there. The two R’s together look a bit strange if written without capitalization, and a good name will not force the user to assume anything about the name. If you must have a double letter, the best solution is to buy both versions of the domain. Avoid using dashes in your domain name.

4. Descriptive - A good site or business name will describe exactly what the site is about. In most cases it's important for a person to be able to get some sort of sense what the website is about just by reading the domain name. Of course that logic doesn’t work for sites like ebay, amazon, ivillage, etc, but then again you likely don’t have a multi-million dollar budget to help you brand your name and teach people what it means.

5. Keywords – Include descriptive keywords that describe your business, product or mission in your domain name. This will play a very small part, in some cases, in increasing your search engine ranking for search phrases that include the keywords used in your domain name.