How to choose a winning Domain Name

Choosing the right domain can be crucial to the success of your site.  All this might seem obvious but many people end up seeing their sites suffer in the rankings because of a poorly chosen domain name.. and yes, that has included me!

However, here are some tips on how to pick the right name for your site.  This list is by no means complete but if you, at least, follow these simple rules you won’t go far wrong.

1.  Before choosing a domain name, make a list of all the keywords/phrases that people might use to search for you.  To help you, think of things such as your industry, your target market or niche, a problem your target market has, or a solution that you can offer.
2.  Try to get a domain name that has your primary keyword/phrase in it. But, that said, don’t repeat it!
3.  Ensure that the keyword phrase is as specific as possible and that you get it at the beginning of your domain name.
4. Don’t use too many keywords in your domain name but don’t use unrelated phrases either.
5. Keep it short and memorable, don’t be too clever either and don’t-use-too-many-dashes! Your domain name can contain up to 67 letters and numbers, but remember, keep it short!  If you’ve ever had to type out a really lengthy e-mail address you’ll have got the picture.  Also you cannot use any special characters only hyphens “-”
6.  Add commonly used phrases like “tips”, “tricks” and “news” and attention grabbing words such as “free”, “warning” and “stop”
7. Choose top level domains like .com, .net, .org etc.  Get .com if you possibly can, it looks much more professional.  Consider also, buying other versions of your primary domain name.  People often type in the right name but the wrong extension, so if you own other common versions, you can have them pointing to your primary domain so as to not lose any potential customers.  You might also want to invest in domain names with alternate spellings or miss spellings for the same reason.

Don’t forget, your domain name represents your presence on-line.  Put some thought into choosing it. It should represent what you do or what service you provide etc.  It should give any visitors a clear indication of  what they will find on your site. A well chosen domain name will serve you well for years and can be an effective way of bringing more people to your website, therefore gaining you more customers.

Below is a link to the site I use to buy my domains, Godaddy.com.  There are many others but Godaddy is competative and simple to use.  When you have chosen your domain name, click through to Godaddy, sign up for a free account and use their search tool to find your domain.  If you can’t decide exactly what you want, just type in your keywords/phrases and Godaddy will offer suggestions.

Hope this helps now, go get a winning domain name!

Richard