Choosing a domain name for your website is like choosing a name for a pet. You invest a lot of your passion and personality into the choice and once you choose it you’ll have a hard time changing it. Therefore, it helps to know the basics of choosing a domain name before you go around shopping for one. To help you, we’ve developed this brief guide to choosing a domain name for your website.
The first thing you need to do is determine what keywords you are targeting. Don’t try to get clever or unique, just pick something that people will instantly recognize within your niche. Do some keyword research if you must, and don’t be afraid to do split testing with several domain names before you settle on the winner.
If the domain name you want is taken, then you have a few different options. You could opt for a different extension, such as .net, .info, or .biz. However, I always prefer a .net or .com over the other choices.
You can also try inserting a dash in between your keywords. For example, www.mydomain.com could become www.my-domain.com. This is a subtle change that really won’t make a difference in the eyes of your customer, and is much more preferential than a .info or .biz domain extension. As a last resort, you can turn numbers into letters, change the spelling of words, or use a combination of new domain extension and dashes between the keywords. If you try hard enough, you should be able to find a domain name that works.
Once you’ve settled on a domain name, then find a domain name registrar, such as Go Daddy, Namecheap, or 1and1, and register your domain name. I prefer private registration, but the choice is up to you. You should be able to get a domain name for around 10 bucks or less. Once you’ve got your domain name chosen and purchased, then you can start the process of building and uploading your website. One last tip, make sure that if you don’t purchase your domain name for several years, that you don’t forget to renew it, otherwise you risk losing it to another lucky person.
Choosing a domain name is very difficult but for a pet, its more difficult. but after reading this, Its a nice guide to choosing a domain name for your website.
If there are no more combination of keyword domains are available in the niche you are looking for then is it wiseable to choose a simple and brandable domain name which doesn’t mean anything and totally unrelated to your niche??
So hard to find perfect domain name this day, everybody has been rushed into domain flipping. At last we got to scrap and find the correct name for us through auction or any other sources.
Choosing the right domain names is always a difficult decision to take. As most of the time, the domain you want is already taken and you have settle for your second choice. But i always try to stick with .com extension. If at all i could not procure a .com i will go with .info
Choosing a good domain name is not so easy. Most of them has been registered by other people…
There are a lot of domain names out there, however, I think good ones must have been registered by someone else and it is difficult for us to get a desirable domain name, unless you have a very niche site or are very lucky. Otherwise, I think we have to always think of alternate domain names. This article has very useful information about choosing a good domain name for your site.
Nice article. was registering a domain for a new site and was wondering on wether to go with keyword1keyword2.net or keyword1-keyword2.com any opinions?
There are so many ways to go when choosing a domain name. I usually concentrate on the shortest .com possible that has at least one keyword associated with the niche my site will be about.
Also, dont be scared of using extensions relevant to your country e.g .co.uk for the UK, .de for Germany etc. There are a lot ofpeople out there who like to use their own country TLD.