If you are still in the planning stages of your website and you haven’t even got your domain name in the bag yet, now is the time to make sure you pick one that won’t embarrass you at a later date.
An Appropriate Domain Name
We all know that all the good ones have gone – allegedly – but it’s still important to make sure that the one you do finally decide on is easy to read, easy to understand and doesn’t need to be spelt out when you say it out loud to someone.
Here are a few good ways to see whether you have chosen the right domain name:
• Write it down – complete with the http:// bit – on a piece of paper. This sounds a bit mad but if you can see what your domain name looks like written down you’ll get an idea of whether it will work or not
• Tell a few other trusted people what domain name you are thinking of using. If you get comments like ‘Huh?’ or ‘Say that again?’ or ‘Can you spell that?’ then it might be worth having a rethink
• Try it with and without hyphens if you have more than one word in your suggested URL. Hyphens can be a pain but a longer URL can look totally confusing without them
Think About Keywords
In the end it’s just as much a matter of personal taste as it is anything else. You will have to live with your choice so make sure it’s a good one. You also need to ensure you think about keywords – don’t go for an obscure title that won’t help you in the search engines just because it sounds good. Put traffic flow first – you won’t get many visitors without it.
Ok? So go and choose a great domain name – and then grab it before someone else does.
About Sean Rasmussen
Hi Sean,
You’re right. We need to carefully consider which domain names we run with because they’re going to be around forever. It generally takes me a while to choose a domain name because the one’s I want are usually taken.
I definitely think having keywords in your title are a must. Also, it’s important to check how much traffic you would be getting for those keywords before you make your final selection.
I agree that it is wise to choose the domain name carefully, as it is the one you can’t change or influence anymore later on. So first pick your niche, a good keyword and only then the domain name.
I have picked my domains for my two sites and also have a domain for my company name which I will use once I have the site developed. I plan on using the company site as the hub
Hi Sean
I find choosing a domain name as difficult as doing keyword research at the moment.
I realise that the domain name must relate with the content on my blog and vice versa but one needs to be very good at key research I think in order to get together a really good domain name in the beginning.
Most of the really good the names I selected for one of the sites I was creating were taken so that one was difficult. I guess experience and research will help me to build keyword knowledge. I would love to become and expert in keyword research!
If you’re having trouble choosing a domain name, Google Domain Samuuria. From the same company that brought you Market Samurai.
As you may have guessed, that should be Domain Samurai.
Alot of url’s are very hard to read/ understand and I tend not to click on the unreadable ones, and I wouldn’t think that many other people would either…let alone purchase anything m/
A domain is like the title of your book and needs to grab the readers attention as we dont have the pretty pictures to go with it. What domain name you choose also depends on what type of Internet Marketing strategy that you are planning to use.