Choosing a domain name
Have you given much thought to your domain name yet?
In order to publish your website you will need a domain name, however don't get too hung up on finding the perfect name. The hardest part is actually deciding on a name which is what we'll discuss today.
A good domain name should be something that adequately describes what your website is about but you don't want it too long and you don't want it to be hard to remember, but that's not even as important as making sure it contains your best keywords, that is, the keywords that best describe the whole of your website.
For example, if I was
creating a site about 'saving money tips'
you want a domain name that has the words
'save money' or 'saving money' in it. Use a
good keyword research tool to help you find
words and phrases that get lots of searches
a day. I like Wordtracker,
you can get a free trial
here.
So for our saving
money tips, site names like these might be
appropriate:
www.moneysavingtips.com
www.savingmoney.com
www.savemoneytoday.com
www.mysavingmoneytips.com
Whether or not to use hyphens
is debatable. I've had both types of domain
names, hyphenated and non-hyphenated and I
don't feel it makes a difference, again it gets
back to how well the site is organized and it's
content, however if you're concerned, purchase
both the hyphenated and non-hyphenated
names.
I suggest
purchasing your domain name after you finish
you site's outline. This way you have a good
idea of what your site is truly about and it's
a little easier to find a name that most
adequately defines your site.
Here's a personal tip:
When I created my skin care site I purchased the domain name
'www.fine-skin-care-products.com'
I
chose this name because I was going to
sell skin care products. Seemed logical but it
was all wrong.
As I created my
outline and decided on topics for my site I
realized that a name like beauty skin care tips
would have been much more in tune with what my
site was really about. Sure I was selling skin
care products but what kind of skin care
products was I about? It was beauty skin
care products so a domain name that reflected
'beauty skin care' would have been more in tune
with what I was about. Do you see the logic
there?
I now have a domain name that doesn't adequately define what the site is about. I simply optimized the site for the words 'beauty skin care' which has worked out ok, but having a domain name with the same words would have been even better.
So selecting a domain name at the completion of your outline will give you a lot more insight to a more suitable name.
Should You Choose a .com, .org, .edu, etc...?
Look at all the choices you have...
.com
.net
.info
.org
.biz
.us
.ca
.me
.mobi
.asia
.in
.bz
.ws
.mx
.com.mx
.ag
.com.ag
.net.ag
.org.ag
.at
.be
.com.biz
.net.biz
.cc
.cn
.com.cn
.org.cn
.net.cn
.de
.eu
.fm
.gs
.co.in
.firm.in
.gen.in
.ind.in
.net.in
.org.in
.jobs
.jp
ms
nu
co.nz
.net.nz
.org.nz
.tc
.tv
.tw
.com.tw
.org.tw
.idv.tw
.co.uk
.me.uk
.org.uk
.vg
There are a lot of suffixes here, however many of them pertain to the type of business you have as well as your business location. For example if you have a shoe store in the U.S. you wouldn't want to select a .uk suffix, instead one of the first five choices would be appropriate.
Using any one of the above
won't make a difference in how popular your
site is or how well the search engines like it.
Your domain name will not make or break your
website, the search engines don't show
favoritism to a .com over any of the
others, it's your content, site optimization
and promotion strategies that are what counts,
of course .com is what most people think of for
websites.
Let's look at
this example, if your domain name
is: 'thebestwebsite.org'
and you verbally tell someone that your
site's name is 'the best website',
they will most likely search for the site
as 'thebestwebsite.com' - as a .com.
That's because most people just assume it's a
.com.
If you're not a
.com, you'll have to remember to specify that
your site is a .org, .net, .edu or whatever it
is. If you won't be doing much word of mouth
promotion then this won't be much of a problem,
however it may be something you'll want to
consider.
If you want to be sure that your domain name is always found, you can decide to purchase your domain name using all the most popular suffixes such as .com, .org, .edu, etc. This way your domain name will never by copied by someone else using a .org, .edu, net, .info, .biz etc. It may cost more to do it this way but it will ensure no one else uses your domain name with these other prefixes and it will help ensure you always get found under your domain name.
In summary,
You can purchase a .com domain name for less than about $10 a year. When coming up with a good domain name, carefully consider what your website is about and use the keywords that describe your site as a whole.
Until Next
time,
Elizabeth
Don't want to mess with domain names and hosting services? Get an all in one site builder that won't just build a website - it will build you a business !