You have the concept or niche. As you prepare to build your website, one of the top items to get right the first time is the domain name. Below are some tips for picking a domain:
1. ALWAYS get the “.com” extension for your main domain. A domain name should be a “.com” to have strong ranking in the search engines.
2. Keyword rich-Pick a domain that has your top keywords in the name.
3. Brandable domains– Have branding in mind when you pick your domain name. A catchy name keeps your site sticky and readers coming back.
3. Keep the domain name SHORT. A domain should have no more than three words in the domain name. The less, the better although it is very difficult to get a one name domain name unless you are willing to pay for it from someone who owns it.
4. Avoid confusion, keep it simple. Don’t choose a name with a hypen “-“. Viewers forget the hypens when typing a name and this give away your traffic to someone else. Search engines give higher ranking to non-hypenated domains. Stay away from numbers, underscores and dots.
5. Secure multiple domains- After you buy the .com, make sure to register the .net and .org so no one else grabs it. This enables you protect your niche and helps when you sell the site to a potential buyer that you have the .com, .net, and .org as a part of the “package”.
6. Easy to remember The best domain names are short, easy to remember, hard to mispell, have your keywords and are related to the core of your business.
7. Avoid legal hassles Stay away from Trademarked names to avoid legal issues. You risk being sued if you use a trademarked name in your domain.
8. Future thinking-Make sure the domain name you pick won’t date quickly. You want to find a name that will be relevant years from now and possibly gain the interest of a potential buyer.
9. Trusted advisors-Make a list of domain names and run the ideas by trusted friends and family before you purchase the domain. Your focus can be different from the outlook of another viewer and their input can give you more ideas.
10. Renting domain names is dumb-If you find someone that doesn’t want to sell you an unused domain and says they will lease it to you, find another domain. You want complete control and ownership of the domain. If you lease and your site is succesful the owner of the domain could
1. Take the domain back and use your ideas and content at the end of the lease
2. Dramatically increase the lease rate based on your success.