How to Choose Domain Names (Part 2)
Today I continue the same topic that I compiled from various sources on the Internet.
- Brainstorm top 5 keywords. Usually a good domain name is a result of combination of various keywords. Try to come out with the top 5 keywords and try to combine them, pluralize them, etc. For example, if you want to have a domain name related to “tuition”, you can think of “tutor,smart,school,teacher,subject”.
- Dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia are your good friend.
- Make it easy to type. Avoid number 0 and letter O, number 1 and letter L, etc., since they look similar and cause confusion to your site visitors.
- Avoid words that are difficult to pronounce. People won’t mention your web site name to their friends if they are not sure how to pronounce it. They will feel it is better to be safe rather than embarrass themselves.
- Keep the name as short as possible and domain name with energy sounds appealing, e.g. Yahoo!
- Make sure the domain name represents the value you offer to your customer, i.e. deliver branding.
- Avoid copyright infringement. Although it doesn’t happen too often, you make sure you do research, e.g. visit copyright.gov, before you buy the domain name.
- Use a reputable company for registration. Personally I use Aplus.net and the roll-royce-price NetworkSolutions.
- Last but not least, be careful with domain name search service offered by some web sites. Some of them buy the domain name that you’ve entered. As a result, the domain name you want to buy is not available anymore and they hope you will buy it from them with high price. This happened to me before.
How to Choose Domain Names
Choosing a good domain name is not easy nowadays. You need to spend time to think through and research for you domain name because short and memorable domain names are usually taken.
Some tips when you choose a domain name:
- Domain name must be highly brandable or it has your primary keyword in it. You can research the keywords using free services available on the Internet, such as Keyword Discovery, Word Tracker, or Google Keyword Tool.
- If you cannot find a domain name with your primary keyword, then you choose a domain name that is short or easy enough to remember. A memorable domain name is a key to success.
- You might want to consider .net if your desired domain name in .com is not available.
- Important: don’t forget to research the domain name using Google or Yahoo, find out whether the similar domain name or similar keywords are already taken or used for other purposes. Also, check the meaning of the domain name in foreign languages.
Bust A Name is a free service on the Internet to help you to choose domain name. It allows you input several keywords and it will generate list of domain names based on keywords you entered. It can even check whether the domain name is available.
