Choosing the perfect domain name is crucial to your site's survival, no matter what type of site you want to create. Quite often people get so lost in the design process that they forget that their domain name will be the first thing people will see (and remember). Whether you want to create a blogo, forum, or e-commerce site, there are several things you should remember while choosing the right domain name.
Steps
Step 1. Know what a domain name is
Step 2. Learn about the association between domain name and site
When choosing the right domain name you should always make sure that this and your site name are as similar as possible. You don't want to confuse users just because your domain name appears to be totally different from your site name, especially if you have an e-commerce site.
Step 3. Don't overcomplicate things
Choose a name that isn't too short or too confusing that it's hard for users to remember. In most situations, the shorter your domain name, the better it will be for you. This is because people will remember the URL and will continue to visit your site in the future. Also, always try to avoid acronyms, dashes, or other symbols as they may still confuse first-time users.
Step 4. Think about your users / customers
For most sites when it comes to choosing the perfect domain name remember that it is not what you like, but what you have researched and know that it will attract your users / customers. Just because you like a name and it sounds good to you doesn't mean everyone would like it.
Step 5. Always prepare a couple of back ups
when you start registering your domain name it would be a good idea to have a couple of different names on hand just in case your first option is already taken. Many times the names are already busy, so the more unique your domain name is, the more chances of success you will have. Also remember that there are more domain extensions than (.com). Depending on the type of site you have or want to create there are other domain extensions you might consider, such as.org,.net,.co, or.mobi (for mobile phones and PDAs).
Step 6. Short and impactful - domain names can be really short or really long (1 - 67 characters)
In general, it is much better to choose a domain name that is rather short. The shorter your domain name, the easier it will be for people to remember. Remembering a domain name is very important from a marketability standpoint. When users come to your site and are comfortable using it, they will likely tell others about it. And those people will tell others about it, etc. As with any business, word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool for driving traffic to your site (and it's free too!). If your site has a long, hard-to-pronounce name, people won't remember the name, and unless they bookmark the link, they may never come back.
Step 7. Consider the alternatives - unless a user reached your site via bookmarks or a link from another site, they typed in your domain name
Most of the people who hang out on the net are terrible at typing and continually make typos. If your domain name is easy to go wrong, you should think about alternative names to buy. For example, if your site is going to be called "MikesTools.com", you should also consider buying "MikeTools.com" and "MikeTool.com". You should also make sure of the different major domain names beyond the one you will use for professional purposes ("MikesTools.net", "MikesTools.org", etc.). You should also check to see if there are several sites based on the grammatically incorrect version of the domain name you are thinking of. "MikesTools.com" may be available, but "MikesTool.com" may host an explicit pornography site. You would hate the eventuality of a user entering your site and finding something totally different than what they were looking for.
Step 8. Also consider domain names that may not include your company name, but rather what your company offers
For example, if your company name is Mike's Tools, you may want to consider a domain name that relates to what you sell. For example: "buyhammers.com" or "hammer-and-nail.com". Even though these examples are alternative domain names that don't include your company name, they do give users direction on the market you are dealing with. Remember that you can own several domain names, all of which lead to the same domain. For example, you could register "buyhammers.com", "hammer-and-nail.com", and "mikestools.com" and have "buyhammers.com" and "hammer-and-nail.com" redirect to " mikestools.com ".
Step 9. The dashes:
your friends and foes - the availability of domain names has become increasingly scarce over the years. Many single word domains have been taken, which makes it increasingly difficult to find a name that you like and that is free. When choosing a domain name, you have the option to include hyphens as parts of the name. Hyphens help because they allow you to clearly separate the different words of a domain name, making it less likely that users will misspell it. For example, you are much more likely to misspell "domainnamecenter.com" than "domain-name-center.com". Piling words together makes them difficult on the eyes, increasing the likelihood of typos. On the other hand, dashes make your domain name longer. The longer the domain name, the easier it will be for people to forget it altogether. Also, if someone recommends a site name to someone else, they may forget to specify that each word in the name is separated with a hyphen. If you choose to use hyphens, limit the number of words between hyphens to 3. Another advantage of using hyphens is that search engines are able to recognize every single word in the domain name as a keyword, helping to render your site more visible in search results.
Step 10. Point what?
- There are many major domain names available today, including.com,.net,.org, and.biz. In most cases, the more unusual the domain extension, the more availability there will be for the name. However, the.com domain extension is by far the most commonly used domain on the entire web, because it was the first domain to be used commercially and received tremendous media attention. If you can't get a.com domain name, look for a.net one, which is the second most popular domain for commercial use.
Step 11. The long arm of the law - be very careful not to register domain names that contain registered names
Although legal disputes over online domain names are complex and have few cases, the risk of a legal battle is absolutely not worth it. Even if you think your domain name is untouchable by a company that has a registered name, don't take the risk: the cost of disputes is extremely high and unless you have a bulging wallet you probably won't have the resources to defend yourself. to a judge. Also stay away from domain names where part of the words are registered - the risks are the same.
Step 12. Search Engines and Directories - All search engines and directories are different
Each has a unique process for being part of the search results or directory listing, and each has a different way of organizing and listing domain names. Search engines and directories are the most important thing for online marketing channels, so consider how your domain name choice affects your site's position before registering your domain. Most directories simply list sites alphabetically. If possible, choose a domain name that starts with a letter of the alphabet next to the beginning ("a" or "b"). For example, "aardvark-pest-control.com" will be found much more on "joes-pest-control.com". However, check your directories before choosing a domain name. You may find that the directories you would like are already overflowing with domain names starting with the letter "a". Search engines crawl sites and sort results based on keywords. Keywords are the words a person usually types to search for something in a search engine. Having keywords in your domain name can give you better results.
Advice
- Just because the name you've chosen for your domain is already taken doesn't mean you should give up. Many people buy domain names and abandon them until someone decides to buy them from them - at a higher price, of course. Make sure you search for the domain name you want to see if there really is another site with that name. If it's not there, try contacting the owner and see if it's for sale.
- Do not register the domain name with the first server you find. There are hundreds of sites on the web that you can register a domain with. Before you do anything, do a little research to find out which Registrar meets your site's needs.
