(source : google.es & edited by myself)
Hi there ! hope you all are fine. First of all I want to thank you all for liking my blogs posts and appreciating my efforts. Thank you very very much. So here I am with an other informative post for you guys. With out wasting anytime on bla bla bla.. hahaha... let get to work.. Are you thinking of creating a website but do not know what domain name to choose?
It is an important decision because once the page is assembled and running It won't be easy to change domain.
Now, the choice depends on the purpose of your website. Which means, that it depends on the destination you plan for your domain (blog, product page, business page, niche site, etc.).
Having said that, there are certain rules or good practices that can help you to make your choice.
Note: Finding a good domain name is not a mathematical formula. That is, you can follow the rules and have a bad domain and vice versa. That does not mean that in most cases be preferable to follow these recommendations. In other words, none of these rules is unbreakable.
lets see these recommendations:
Use or not to use keywords
In terms of SEO today is still very beneficial that your domain consists exactly the word or phrase for which you want to be well positioned in search engines.
Does that mean I should include keywords in my domain? It depends on the goal of your page. I clarify.
Depending on the destination you intend to give your domain you should more or less bet on one of the following options:
1. Brand name domain
With this option you do not look for SEO benefits but to create a brand that you like for your page and you believe it will work with your audience. Do not include any keywords related to the theme of the page.
For example: Mashable.com, ViperChill.com, Squidoo.com
These domains do not contain any keywords that deliver them benefits in their web positioning. Now, those names sound good, are easy to remember and have potential to become major brands, as it has happened.
Within this same option domain name they found. The blog author uses his own name as a domain name and because he wants to publicize his personal brand. SEO receives no benefit but your personal brand power.
2. Keyword Domain
The domain is the key word or phrase for which you intend to be well positioned.
The advantage is that will help you appear in the top pages of search engine results for that particular keyword or phrase.
The disadvantage is that doesn't sound like a true mark but simply as a word or phrase. Furthermore, they are difficult to find available for most of these domains are already taken.
Example: Digital-Photography-School.com or PesoIdeal.com
This option is ideal for niche sites. A niche site is a site that is mounted around a specific keyword phrase (usually low competition) in order to monetize the visits that come from the same search done on search engines.
3. Combined Domain
This domain contains one or more keywords but another word or a prefix or suffix to sound better is added.
The advantage is that the domain will sound more like a real brand and not as a simple phrase. In addition, as containing one or more keywords SEO continues to receive benefits that will help you be well positioned. The disadvantage is that these domains do not weigh the same as a keyword domain when positioning.
Here we include two options depending on the degree of keywords the domain contains:
3.1 - Combined keyword domain
This becomes a keyword domain with a prefix or suffix. As the domain keyword (e.g. pesoideal.com) was not available it has added a prefix or suffix.
For example: Engadget; PesoIdealClub.com; Cheap Laptops Now.com; GoArticles; etc.
Very common in niche sites. It is very difficult to find domains that consist of exactly the word or key phrase for which you want to be well positioned, so you add a prefix or suffix. They do not usually look good but still have enough weight when positioning for that keyword or phrase containing. Some domains like engadget, problogger, smartpassiveincome or other remaining well. It all depends on the combination to accomplish.
3.2 - Combined brand domain
Here, although the domain includes a keyword, it is prioritized to give a own sign to brand's identity that differentiates it from the rest.
Which means, the use of the keyword is not so much to obtain benefits in positioning (but also) to get a brand that sounds good and has potential but that also contains a word that describes your topic.
For example: TechCrunch; thinktraffic; manvsdebt; mediahacks; incomediary; tabletmaniac; Shotools; seomoz.org; writetodone.com; lifehacker.com etc.
It depends on what the goal of your website you decant for one or another option.
Domain length
The shorter your domain the better because it will be easier to remember. The problem is that today its hard to find short domains that sound good.
See how most pages most successful Network have short domains: Mashable, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Digg, Tuenti, Amazon.
In principle the best domains containing 8 or fewer letters. Below 12 is still a good number. The average is usually around 11 letters.
That said, have a long domain does not prevent you have a popular blog. See for example: smartpassiveincome.com or the aforementioned digital-photography-school.com.
(source : edited by myself)
Make it easy to remember and pronounce
For reasons of marketing your domain should be easy to remember and pronounce. Try it, tell someone a couple of times and after few hours ask him to spell it out for you. Some recommendations are:
- Avoid using letters as y, z, x, h, q, w.
- Avoid using words that contain the ñ origin. For example: InigoMartinez.com; EscalarMontana.com; etc.
- Avoid using hyphens: peso-ideal.com.
- Prevents the domain contains two or more repeated letters, except in the case of a word with two letters that is widely known as tools. That is, prevents things like Splittime.com; sorpresaamigo.com; fitnessstore.com; mediaactive.com; etc.
Twitter originally was called Twttr. Aptly they added 2 vowels but left the double tt. Flickr, instead, probably should have been pursued from the beginning by flicker.
Not sure if your domain is easy to remember and pronounce? Tell someone once and ask him to repeat it and spell it out. If he/she can not do, bad business.
As every rule has an exception here you have a difficult blog not being able to remember and pronounce but it is very successful: ChrisGuillebeau.com.
Using numbers
Your domain should not contain numbers. To the extent possible avoid include numbers that do not fit and can confuse people if the number is in letters or not. They also tend to be less easy to remember.
Exception: 99designs.com
Dot-com (.com)
There are many reasons to prefer a .com domain over the other possibilities available. The most obvious are: greater brand recognition, SEO benefits and avoid confusion that send traffic to another site. In addition, some people still believe that there are only .com.
After .com they are other preferred options, in order: .net and .org. For example, if you find available very good .net domain name I would pick. It is preferable a good .net domain than bad .com.
If you have a .org or .net domain already running you can also buy the .com and redirect your the traffic that comes to your original domain. Check out how SEOmoz does. If you go to seomoz.com it redirects you to seomoz.org.
Exception: ZenHabits.net and ProBlogger.net.
(source : google.es)
Avoids confusion and legal problems of domain
If there is a .com domain active you should avoid using the same .net domain. In addition, I would also avoid using for my page a very similar domain to another very popular domain page running. Basically what I am trying to say is that you do not try to buy or create a domain which already exist. For example, I would not use a domain like Mashabler.com because it is a well know domain among Spanish users.
2 Tools to find your ideal domain
There are 2 most useful free tools that I use myself when I need to find a good domain.
BustAName: Allows you to combine words automatically and tells you that there is availability of different combinations. In addition, it shows alternatives to the words you've added for new combinations.
Within BustAName you'll find a second option called Domain Maker. You put your main word that starts or ends your domain and let the application do its work. Application will be generating domains based on that word you added by adding suffixes or prefixes respectively. After adding word or words choose a limit for characters of your domain and application will generate various possible domain and you can choose one you like the most. See the picture shared below.
(source : bustaname.com/word_maker screenshot)
Dot-o-mator: Allows you to add a list of up to 15 prefixes or suffixes, automatically combine them with a word you've put and see that there is availability to register those domains.
Here is a video where its explained how these two tools work:
(source : youtube.com)
Where to register your domain
There are many domain registrars you can use. I currently use for my new domains NameCheap. It is very economical and reliable. Do not hurry to find a good domain name you feel proud of. If you have spent time and haven't just be able to find what you are looking for then choose one that more or less meets your needs and works better.
And that concludes blog post, i hope it helps you to choose your domain name and please let me know if something is missing or you have any confusion about anything by commenting. Thanks for reading and all the very best. I'll be back soon with an other interesting and informative blog post till then take care and Goodbye.!!
-Toshi
