The True Risks of Using Domain Name Generators

Finding the right domain name for your eCommerce business is never easy. It can be discouraging after searching for a while and still not coming up with anything that matches your needs. You start to consider your options and come across tools online that claim to be the best domain name generators out there and will grant you with the short, memorable, SEO-friendly domain name that you’ve been searching for with a click of the search button.

So, why is using a domain name generator a problem? For starters, you’re often just entering any keyword you can think of and the domain name generator will merely insert this keyword into any old combination it can come up with.

Brand Consistency

As Tom Treanor explained it, “[C]hanging your marketing materials, email addresses, online and offline references, and links to your old site is a long, painful, and costly process.” This is why it’s so important to generate your ideal domain name early and use reliable services like Shopify for your eCommerce business development. You never want to jeopardize your potential customer base by believing that it will be easy to transition to your ideal domain name down the road. Unfortunately, sometimes businesses are already too committed to the original one to ever transition over. In the case that you are unable to obtain your ideal domain name, use something similar to lessen the confusion down the road.

Because it’s an easy way to make a “unique” name, automatic generators often produce names that use dashes and periods in between keywords. Don’t be fooled by this. This is not a domain name that you want your eCommerce business to launch under. Instead, consider the ranking of the keywords and be sure to take out the dashes and periods if you are truly convinced that the domain name is for you.

Finding Alternatives to Existing Names

If your ideal domain name is already taken under “dot com”, chances are the generator tool will suggest you use “dot co”, “dot org” or “dot net” as your secondary choice. While you will still be getting your domain name, it is important to note that the existing business using the name under “dot com” may be a competitor. There is a risk of getting tangled in some legal matters if you register for the same domain name under “dot co” for example, should this drive business away from them. If you’re not in competition, however, then choosing your secondary option is definitely a good move on your part.

There are also risks that could potentially come with being too trusting of online tools. For the most part it is unclear of what analytical information they use to generate their results, so take all the suggestions with a grain of salt. The easiest way to avoid this problem is to look at the keyword analytics yourself to compare the results that do come up in each of the domain name tools that you believe to be trusted.

The bottom line is, like any other online generator tool, the use of them comes with their own risks. This doesn’t mean that you can’t take full of advantage of what these domain generators have to offer, but it takes some effort to consider the risks and returns to find a high yielding domain name.

Realistically speaking it is difficult to generate a high yielding domain name due to strong economic reasons. The fact of the matter is, there are only very few strategic business people that are looking to buy very specific domain names at any given time. The purpose of this is for a developed or developing brand that often has great potential. As economists would say, you need a “coincidence of wants” and the stars to align if someone is going to buy a domain name off of you after you’ve invested more than you could afford or something that was not well generated.

Choose Something That Will Never Go Out of Style

Lastly, if there is anything to think about—it’s the future. There are many start-ups and small eCommerce businesses that end up doing better than they initially expected and end up outgrowing their domain name. When this happens, investors may want to delete the current site completely and start over with a new domain name that better matches the business model. When this happens, you’ll be looking at a lot of SEO lost and the opportunity costs of starting from the ground up for another site. Never forget that domain generators are only tools that exist to service you – you’re the one who gets to make the final decision.