How to choose a domain name

Written by Joe on Monday, October 11, 2010

10 tips for choosing a domain name

Choosing a domain name, is not that difficult, but choosing a good one can be a little tricky. Don't be scared though, I have 10 tips to help you choose a good domain name.

Think of your keywords, and use them!

Research keywords and keyword phrases you will be using and try to incorporate them into your domain name. Come up with a list of 5 or 10 keywords and start pairing them together until you find a good match.

Avoid similarly spelled domains

If your domain name is being confused for a popular website owned by someone else, you could be in trouble. Try to avoid domain names that are the plural, hyphenated version, or misspelled version of an already popular website. You're just going to confuse people.

Get a .com

Using a .net or .org is fine, but owning the .com domain name is important. Most people when typing domain names, they automatically assume it is a .com. So if you don't own that .com domain, your potential visitor is going to end up on the wrong website.

Easy to type

A domain name that is hard to type is going to be mistyped and you will lose traffic. You want to make your domain name as easy as possible to type so it doesn't get misspelled and your competition end up getting your traffic.

Easy to remember

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to promote your website, but if nobody can remember your domain name you lose out on the marketing angle. A domain name that is easy to remember is hard to forget.

Keep it short

Shorter domain names are easier to type and remember. Both of which you should want. Try to keep your domain name as short as possible to allow for more characters in your URL.

Be original, come up with a brand

Come up with an original domain name. Something that's similar to another domain name is going to be mistaken for the other website.

Stay away from hyphens and numbers

Hyphens and numbers are hard to type and will be forgotten or mistyped. Do you want to make it harder for your visitors to get your website? I don't think so.

Use a thesaurus

Thesaurus.com. If your domain name is similar to another domain name, take the word you want to use and find some synonyms. You might come up with an even better domain name than the original.

User friendly language

No matter what industry you are in, not everybody is going to understand your industry specific talk. Using words that are considered industry talk can confuse users. It will also be harder to rank high in the search engines if you are using keywords that are not searched on. Do some research and choose a domain name people will understand.

Start now!

Domain names are being bought every hour. If you don't get your now you could miss out on that perfect domain name. So if you're considering starting a website, register your domain!

Need help choosing a domain name or registering a domain name? Contact us and we would be glad to help out.