After spending weeks thinking about it, you think you have the perfect domain name for your blog. You finally get the nerve to spend the $10 or so to buy it but it’s not available. You knew there was a chance of that happening so you reach for your backup domain name and that’s gone too. So is your third choice. You end up buying one that you don’t love but you tell yourself that it’s good enough. But is it?
Look, we’ve all been there. As much as we’d all like to think that we’re unique and have a unique idea, the reality is that it has likely already been done many times over. We still have to make do with what’s available though. Here are some tips to making the most out of your domain name.
- Use keywords in it. There are exceptions, like johnchow.com, but for many of us, having a domain name without keywords hurts, especially in the early going. I know you might be building a brand and that’s perfectly fine. As long as you weigh the pros and cons, and you know that one con is a slightly uphill battle when making a name for yourself (or blog). For example, do a Google search on free blog help and you’ll see that this site comes up pretty quick. It took only a few days for that to happen!
- Stick with a .com name. Unless you’re not planning on making any money because you’re working for a non-profit, in which case I would recommend a .net or .org, your domain name should end with .com. You will lose too many people because they won’t remember that your site is .biz instead of .com.
- Keep it short. I know, almost everything is gone! Over 90% of any combination of any two words with less than five letters are gone! Even made up words are gone! Still, don’t be tempted to use a long phrase unless you have to. Get creative if you must. Instead of projectmanagementtestcenter.com, go with pmtestcenter.com, which is easier on the tongue and the fingers.
- Don’t use numbers, hyphens or strange spellings. There are countless sites with success using these, such as suite101.com, but generally speaking, if you have to explain that learn2blogtoday.com has a number 2 in it or mygoodfriendz.com has a z in it, then you’ve already dug yourself a hole.
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I agree. We started a website several years ago and learned many of this ideas the hard way… that is by not doing them. Our first website domain was so original… even my husband would type it wrong. You could tell we were novices. Fixed our errors using these tricks and not our website gets plenty of hits. Oh how I wished I would have read this 2 years ago!!
Domain names are tricky, partially because people aren’t always thinking of their audience when creating them. As a general rule, if I have to do more than say it once, explain it, or spell it for someone to “get it”, then I need to find a new domain name.
People don’t realize how important getting this first step right is. A domain name is a big part of your brand and sometimes choosing a bad domain is irreparable. Hopefully this will help a few people who are just starting out to think real hard about what they are willing to live with.
I agree. We started a website several years ago and learned many of this ideas the hard way… that is by not doing them. Our first website domain was so original… even my husband would type it wrong. You could tell we were novices. Fixed our errors using these tricks and not our website gets plenty of hits. Oh how I wished I would have read this 2 years ago!!
Really great article if you’re wanting to start a website. It’s hard to think of a good domain name.
[...] help on picking a domain name? I have a brief article on what makes a good domain name that you should read. Come up with a short list since it’s likely that your first choice is [...]
Good domains ARE available , if you have an eye on it
For example my site http://www.Webiyo.com ! I got this just 20 days back !
♥ 6 Letters
♥ Keyword in name
♥ Short and Sweet
♥ Easy to type and Remember
.-= rakesh Waghela´s last blog ..Best Facebook Desktop Client Application =-.
Yes, there are still lots available. One just has to be a little creative!
It has no seo/ranking significance whether or not the domain has keywords. It is only for the psychological benefit of your target audience and market.
Actually a domain name does have SEO benefits. Google “free blog help” (no quotes necessary either) and see which site comes up first. Anything that helps bump search engine rankings counts as a SEO benefit.
The same goes for your site. If someone searches for “survive divorce”, you’re at the top.
I like the post…
nice post and Really great article.domain name does have SEO benefits:-)
Thanks for sharingyfuf
i like your point “don’t use hypens”. I don’t like to use it neither. you have covered all seo point of view while choosing domain name
That last one has always irritated me the most. people getting creative just because it’s cute and different, meanwhile losing who knows how much business…K in place of C is a big one.
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I agree, domain names should be spot-on and professional.
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I trust that all the good names are gone. Usually the name of the business is also the name of the domain, unless the business has a name with a strange spelling.
Personally I think a domain name should be easy to remember. Although having a long-tail keyword in the URL may be useful, it can be quite difficult to share when speaking.
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In my opinion a good domain name should be short and very easy to read.
I think a domain name should be easy to remember. It is most important of the domain.
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Nice advice and if we came to know earlier we may try to get new domain name of our website anyway good to know how to keep the domain name to keep everything clean
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These are the most importat rules when choosing the domain name, however you can’t always follow all of them.
Short domain names are now almost impossible to find on .com
Agreed… even the most random urls are taken!
Great Post, I’ve tried domain names with keywords and domain names for branding. The keyword domains definitely get more traffic quicker and rank on google better. While i like the idea of short domains if branding like trulia or zango; something easy to remember.
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Great post, I had to buy my name from a marketplace but it was worth it
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good domain is good site…..
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there is no such thing as good domain name. In beggining it’s important to have domain with your keywords, but in long term it’s not neccessary. There are many big sites, whom domains are with numbers and so on and so on…
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I disagree with having keywords in domain name..I was thinking this is a good idea, but lately, i change my mind.
It is good information to us,When we choose domain name there are many rule and we followed it.A domain name is a big part of our brand and sometimes choosing a bad domain is irreparable. and domain name must be easier..
Nice post.
but domain smaller 8 character.
I think good domain is main keyword in domain name and domain dot com
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I would say that while the points are valid for most of the people that would be reading this, it isnt essential. Look at the “big boys” such as Amazon, eBay, Google, Yahoo…none of them use Keywords. Infact, most of the large sites I can think of do not have keywords in their domains.
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I agree with your article, I actually just posted an article on how to choose a domain name that have a few more ideas: http://www.elevatedthird.com/blog/whats-domain-name
These are all good tips. I’ve heard exact match keyword domains are the best ones to target as they rank very well with very little effort.
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sebenarnya susah juga mencaro domain! bukan cuma itu saya juga susah dalam cara pembayaran!
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i am owning my own web design company and i have plan to start a job portal related to web industry kindly help me out for a good domain name
Great post, I had to buy my name from a marketplace but it was worth it
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I totally disagree with your .com domain name only theory.
Not having a .com doesn’t alter your chances of getting good rankings in the SERPS and in addition localised domains like .co.uk or .nl are very useful for blogs and websites which are specific to an area.
Unless you are planning a million dollar advertising campaign, which I doubt many startup bloggers are going to be doing, having a .com isn’t necessary.
People are often very simple creatures – they struggle to remember things that may be a little confusing or contain ambiguity. This is why it is essential that before you even start your community site, you spend a good amount of time choosing a suitable domain name, Always keep your domain name as simple and as short as possible. The longer your domain name, the larger the chance of a visitor entering a typo and not being able to find your site. longer domain names are often more difficult to remember, too..
nice.. thanks for sharing..
Keywords are the life blood of traffic from the search engines although it is important not to be seen as “spamming” when using them. Proper keyword density and targeting certain keywords to build traffic to your site are important building blocks as you describe here in your article.
People don’t realize how important getting this first step right is. A domain name is a big part of your brand and sometimes choosing a bad domain is irreparable. Hopefully this will help a few people who are just starting out to think real hard about what they are willing to live with.
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I don’t know of any registrar that offers domain names for free. But here is a really good registrar I use and tell my friends,
Thank you for sharing this with us,Thank you for sharing this with us, very appreciated I will return for more of this blog.
i really like it.
Yammer is a great tool. I strongly feel that tools like these help an organization grow. Social networking within a corporate environment allows for the exchange of GOOD ideas. We use this with http://www.zoho.com in our company to make us a more competitive company.
keywords but also make the name something catchy. I think if it’s short, easy and catchy you have already won the first battle.
If you can somehow incorporate keywords while keeping it short and catchy, then you are really ahead of the game.
My website name (http://www.privatehealthinsuranceproviders.net) is long but then I had no other choice. What do you all suggest.
the only problem all the possible keywords are taken already by others..really hard to find the one. but the long domain name can make actually more harm than good. it is hard to memorize and therefore it impacts the reputation
Choosing a domain name with our name also good for seo ..
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In addition, a good domain name must not have a hyphen like your-site.com
Also don’t repeat vowels like this betaalpha.com. As you can see their are two letter a’s.