8 Answers
How to Select the Best Domain Name
Below are some tips for selecting a domain name:
Register a name that contains your major keywords, such as you design a web site to guide people how to find the web hosting solution, it would be better to include ‘webhosting†or “hosting†in the domain name, such “webhostingclueâ€, “hostingclueâ€, etc. This should be followed if being found in the major search engines (Google, MSN, etc.) is extremely important to you.
Think about it. The average surfer searches by subject, not by proper name. So why it may seem cool to have a name like RaysTool.com for Software development site, you’ll want to choose a name that includes keywords that your target audience would likely use when they search.
So with that in mind, a name like RaysDevTool.com would be much better than RaysTool.com.
If the domain is for a company, you might want to put your company name in domain. I think it’s fine if your company is famous or attracting free traffic to your web site is not important. But keep in mind that you need to advertise the whole domain instead of the feature of your site. Such as if you create a site for webhosting with domain name “whcâ€, please make sure you promote your site a lot as “whc.com†to increase the influence of Brand “whcâ€, and usually, it take money and time.
2.
Very often that you can’t get the domain name you want, someone else has got it registered. You can try to add “theâ€, â€myâ€, or “your†to your favorite domain name, it’s still a good choice. But people are likely to forget to affix the necessary “the†or “myâ€. For that reason, you need to advertise the site with full domain name, such as “thewebhostingclue.com†instead of “webhostingâ€.
Try not to use the plural form of the domain name, it’s more possible that the visitor failing to type the “s†than affix “the†or “myâ€.
3.
Don’t register domain names that are too long and have too many syllables if you can help it. Yes, you can register names up to 67 characters long, but that doesn’t mean you have to use all 67 characters.
You want your name to be easy to remember. Not everyone will bookmark your page initially so try to think of something that can be easily remembered — although I realize this may be tricky since a lot of names are taken these days.
Try to register the short name which is meaningful, don’t make it too abbreviated, such as make webhostingclue to whc, it would be hard to remember and nobody will know what the site is for unless you want to promote whc to be well known brand, and it’s usually very hard and need a lot of money.
Meaningful web site is very important even sometimes it make domain name longer, since it have an advantage in that they fare better in a number of search engines. The latter give preference to keywords that are also found in your domain names. So, for example, if you have a site on web hosting with a domain name like cheapwebhosting.com, it might fare better in a search for “cheap web hosting†than the site like onlinemoneyclue.com.
4. Try don’t use hyphens as much as possible. Beside it’s a pain in the neck to type, the user tend to forget to type hyphens, and when they forget it, it’s very possible that they will be directed to your competitor’s site.
But in the other word, the non-hyphenated form may no longer be available. At least this way, you still get the domain you want. And search engines (such as Google) can distinguish your keywords better and thus return your site more prominently in search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name.
So Personally, I prefer to avoid hyphenated names if I can, but I guess it really depends on your domain name and your situation. Before you register a domain with hyphens, try to think about a alternative domain name.
5. Register the appropriate domain extension for your web site. The answer for it is not as straightforward as you might think. If your website is to local community, such as you target at the people living in UK, it would be better that you register after co.uk. And actually, you will benefit from having such a local domain because the people there know that they are dealing with a local entity, which is what they want. Such as: they might tend to order a pizza from pizza.co.uk and not pizza.com.
But if your website is to international, it would be better to get a extension as “.comâ€, “.org†etc. You will get some benefit from it, for example:
If you get a country specific domain, people might think that your business only caters to that country. But for others, we know it’s internalized.
Each extension has their own meaning, such as .org actually describes the non-profit nature of their organization. And .com is a common extension for all, if you type webhostingclue in browse, it will automatically direct to webhostingclue.com before attempting other extension like “.netâ€, etc.
As you can see, there are actually good grounds for accepting any domain extensions. My personal footnote to the above arguments is that if you get a domain name with an extension other than “.comâ€, make sure that you promote your business or website with the full domain name. For example, if your domain name is “onlinemoneyclue.netâ€, make sure that when you advertise your site or business, call it “onlinemoneyclue.net†not “onlinemoneyclueâ€. Otherwise people will assume a “.com†extension and travel to the wrong place.
6. Protect your name by registering multiple extensions (.net, .org, etc.) This deters people from copying your name. For example, if you own garden-tips-for-us.com you can also register garden-tips-for-us.net and any other extension that’s available.
To make yourself familiar with the kind of domain names that your users might prefer, it is expected that you take into consideration the opinion of others about your domain name choices.
I would like certain things that you need to fight shy of while registering a domain name to be used for your main company web site:
*Avoid the use of hyphen because it enhances the possibility of forgetting your domain name while typing your name into the browser or even at the time of sending e-mail to you. This is problematic.
*Strive not to use digits in your domain name. For instance, if it is 3.com, you have to make everybody aware that it is not "three" but "3".
Quote:
Originally Posted by mesas
There are ten specific methods for choosing the best domain name.
Pick a relevant name
Easy to type
Easy to remember
Find a unique name
Only choose specific extensions
Brainstorm keywords
Eliminate hyphens and numbers
Create a short name
Avoid infringement
Differentiate
Totally agree. The domain name should be small, catchy and relevant to the business.
The first method of selecting the best domain name is to think of an idea that will be easy for users to type. If a domain name requires extra attention for correct spelling and grammar, length and words that are not memorable, you should not select this name. Instead, think of an idea that can easily be spelled correctly, is not long and with words that jump off the screen. Also, attempt to incorporate letters like q, z, c, p and x as these stick out.
There are ten specific methods for choosing the best domain name.
Pick a relevant name
Easy to type
Easy to remember
Find a unique name
Only choose specific extensions
Brainstorm keywords
Eliminate hyphens and numbers
Create a short name
Avoid infringement
Differentiate