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Selecting a Quality Domain Name

While your choice in a domain name will likely not make or break your new website, it is a factor that can greatly increase the chance of success. For that reason, the choice of a web domain name should be carefully considered before heading over to the domain registrar to make your purchase.

To understand what makes a good domain name you first need to consider the various ways that a well-chosen name can help your site. First I’ll list some of these ways and later in the article I will go into more depth about each. As you go down the list you will likely discover that many extremely popular sites do not abide by each of these points. Likewise if your choice of name misses a few points that’s alright, just try to get as many as possible.

• In some way let people know what your site is about
• Be easy to remember
• Contain 1 or 2 of your most important keywords.
• Be Unique enough that you can obtain Google’s “Site Links”

• Infringe on another companies trademark.
• Be too long
• Use Difficult to spell words

• Numbers
• Dashes and Underscores

In some way let people know what your site is about.

People like to have an idea of where they are going before they click a link. Choosing a name that allows them to guess what your site is about is a good idea. Before doing you domain name search write down a bunch of ideas on a piece of paper. Keep in mind the theme of your website and be creative. You can always reject the idea later (before purchasing the name).

Be careful of names that can be takes wrong. While you may be thinking “Extra Books” with your domain name booksextra.com. What most people will see when they first glance at the URL is “Book Sex”. This could keep people from clicking on your domain because they got the wrong idea.

Be easy to remember

This goes along very well with two of the “avoids”. Don’t choose a long domain name with a bunch of keywords in it, or words that are commonly misspelled. When someone asks you about your site, you want them to be able to remember it and type it in easily. Word of mouth is a great way to promote your new site and you don’t always have a business card or paper handy to give them.

Adding dashes and underscores also make a domain name much harder to remember. No one wants to try to remember if you had the dash between the first and second word or the second and third word. Avoid this if at all possible.

Numbers pose a similar problem, sis the person use the numeral or did they spell the number out? Don’t make people have to remember more then they have to.

One Or Two main Keywords

Having keywords in your domain will help you to rank well in the search engines for those particular terms as well as synonyms of the word. Many of the web domain name registration sites have tools to help you come up with synonyms that might be good. Don’t get too carried away with adding keywords, 1 or 2 is best otherwise your domain name starts to look spammy.

Be Unique enough that you can obtain Google’s “Site Links”

It’s also important that your new domain name be unique. Google adds “Site Links” to domain names that are considered the most important for those keywords. It is very unlikely a new site would be able to qualify as the most important site for the term “Car Insurance” however it is very possible you might be able to get site links for the term “Toms Car Insurance”. When people type in your exact domain name it is always nice to have those site links. It makes your site look large and important instead of one of the many similar sites on the subject.

Don’t Infringe on another companies trademark

Companies to go after people who infringe on their trademark name. You do not want to get into a domain dispute over a trademark name that you used in your site. You will likely lose. And that means losing all of the time, effort and money you put into your site. Do a careful domain name search before choosing a domain name and avoid other companies trademarks.

Finally what registrar should you use?

It’s not always a good idea to just go for cheap domain registration. Many of these are just resellers, and if they go under it becomes more difficult to get your domain name back. Also even if you pay them for the domain name, if they don’t pay the real registrar you still loose the name and it can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to get it back if you can at all. Usually it is best to work with one of the larger resellers or go straight to a regestrar.

When choosing a domain name remember that this is the most difficult area on your site to change later. Spend some time and carefully choose a name that will fit your needs. However don’t get so wrapped up in trying to get the best name that you get discouraged and never work on the site. A domain name is important but it is one of many, many items that goes into making a successful website.