How to Pick a Domain Name for Your Local Business

Most local business owners spend 3 weeks picking a domain name. They want it to be clever, memorable, and SEO-optimized. They overthink it. By the time they buy the domain, they've talked themselves into something terrible.

Here is the actual framework. Five rules. Pick a domain in 20 minutes.

Rule 1: include your business name

If your business is "Beck and Co Salon," your domain should be beckandcosalon.ca or beckcosalon.com. Don't try to be clever with "hairbypeggy.com" or "thesalonpickering.com." Those are domains for businesses that are still figuring out who they are.

Why: customers will type your business name into Google. Whoever owns the matching domain wins the first click. Make it you.

Rule 2: prefer .com, accept .ca

For Canadian local businesses, .ca and .com are both acceptable. .com is the universal default - customers default to typing .com if they're not sure. .ca signals local Canadian and is fine.

Avoid newer TLDs like .biz, .info, .pro, .services. They look spammy and customers don't trust them.

The one exception: .studio (like ostra.studio) is fine if it matches the personality of your business. Creative/design businesses use it. Trade shops should stick to .com or .ca.

Rule 3: no hyphens, no numbers

Hyphens are domain killers. Customers always forget them. They type "abcplumbing.com" instead of "abc-plumbing.com" and end up on your competitor's site (or a parked domain).

Numbers are worse. "4yourplumber.com" looks like a 1998 spam site. Same with "plumbing4less.com" or "24-7-hvac.com." Skip.

Rule 4: keep it under 20 characters

Domains over 20 characters are hard to remember, hard to type on a phone, and look unprofessional. "thebestplumbinginpickeringontario.com" is a domain mistake.

Aim for 8 to 16 characters total (excluding the .com). Business name + maybe a single descriptive word if needed.

Example: "limitlesselectrical.ca" (22 chars - on the long edge, but fine because it's the business name). "goelectric.com" (14 chars - perfect length, but generic).

Rule 5: check social handles too

Before you buy the domain, check if the matching Instagram, Facebook, and Google username is available. Ideally use the exact same handle across everything: @beckandcosalon on Instagram, beckandcosalon.ca for the domain, "Beck and Co Salon" on Google Business.

Customers trust consistency. If your handle is different on every platform, you look small and disorganized.

What to do this week

Open namecheap.com or GoDaddy. Type your business name. If it's available, buy it for $15. Done. Stop overthinking.

If your business name is already taken: try variations. "yournamehq.com," "yournameco.ca," "yournameontario.com." Don't add hyphens. Don't add numbers. Don't go to .biz.

If absolutely nothing works: it's worth changing your business name slightly. A bad domain name will cost you more over 10 years than a slight rebrand right now.

And if you want help picking + setting up + pointing it to a site: I do all three as part of every Ostra build. $500 setup includes the domain consultation and pointing.