Having a perfect domain name is one of the essential elements for the success of one’s site.
Domain names are very important. They have a lot of influence all over the web.
Choosing a domain name requires a lot of thought and consideration. It’s not something that you can do without proper research.
So, What’s exactly a domain name? ( if you don’t know )
In simple words, A domain name is the address of your blog on the internet. For example – BloggingLoop.com is the web address of this blog.
Domain name is the identity of your blog on the web.
Getting a right domain name will save you the hassle of changing it again and again. Even I’ve got into this trouble. I worked on a blog for 4-5 months but later found that my blog name was just like another blog from the same niche.
I stopped working on that blog and then 8 months later started this blog. Not doing proper research cost me around 4-5 months of work. At that time I didn’t know about redirection so all of that was for nothing.
But as saying goes, People learn from their mistakes. Right?
And also, people should learn from others mistakes. I’ll let you learn from my mistakes, I’ve done many of them.
Back to the topic, In simple words, you should have a good domain name. Now, you might be thinking how to find them? (that’s why you’re here)
Finding a great domain name for your blog can be one of the most challenging tasks. So, I’m going to tell you 10 tips that will help you find a good domain name.
10 Tips To Find A Perfect Domain Name
Easy To Type
Your URL should be easy to type if it’s hard to type then people will not type it. Why?
Let’s assume your URL is “rhythm.com” now most of the people may type “rythm.com” and they will go to some other web page.
The worst thing that can happen is – that your end users will be frustrated with difficult words and will never come back again to your site.
Your domain name should be easy to type and appealing at the same time.
Keep It Short
What’s easier to remember – Blogging Loop. com or A Random Blog About Blogging. com?
It’s the first one. Right? We tend to recall short words more often.
Shorter domain names (or URLs) are much easier to remember. Due to the fact that good domain names less than 6 characters are hard to find. The best domain name is when kept under 10 characters.
By any means, your domain should not exceed more than 20 characters.
It’s better to have a short URL for your site.
Easy To Remember
Even if you have found a domain name that is short it’s not complete. It must also be simple to remember.
There are hundreds of millions of domains what makes a great domain stand out is that it’s catchy and memorable.
Let’s take an example of a popular website – “BuzzFeed.com” it has a short yet attractive URL. It’s also different from others.
If the end user’s aren’t going to remember your URL how will they become a loyal reader?
It’s of no use to have a short domain if it is hard to remember.
Avoid Numbers & Hyphens
Adding numbers to a domain is a bad idea. Why?
Let’s assume someone asks you about your site and you tell them “FromHere2World.com”. The person asking will surely be in a great confusion about what’s the exact address.
Whether it’s “FromHereToWorld.com”, “FromHereTwoWorld.com” or “FromHere2World.com” the person will never visit your site and it’ll be your loss. No one in the world has time to all the three different Urls.
Adding numbers to domain names creates confusion in the mind of the others. It also makes the URL less attractive.
Stay away from numbers & hyphens unless it’s necessary.
Buy a .COM Domain
It’s important to own a .com domain if you’re serious about building an online brand. Even if today there are 1543 TLDs, .COM extensions are still the most trusted.
Many of users are unaware that there are other TLDs and hesitate to click on them.
You can own a .COM and still redirect it into other TLDs like .net, .org etc. but owning a .COM extension is very important.
It’s easy for your users to trust your site when you use .COM extension.
Make It Unique
Your domain name should never be the same as another brand. It’s your brand and it should always stand out from the rest because it’s the best. ( Wow, What a Rhyme)
Your domain name should not resemble another brand because it’ll create confusion.
Google just love uniqueness whether it’s content or a unique brandable domain name. You can even use your name as a domain name to make it unique just like Matthew Woodward did.
Uniqueness makes your domain name more attractive.
Use Keywords
Keywords, when used correctly in domain names, can be helpful from the point of SEO. Only include broad keywords in your domain name. It’ll help to tell people what your website is about.
However, Google has been penalizing sites with exact match and partial match domains. Stay away from using targeted keywords in your domain name.
Use broad keywords, like in this blog I’ve included the word “blogging” this gives peoples an idea that this blog is about blogging tips.
But never stuff keywords into domain names in hopes of getting better rankings. That’s a thing of the past, it doesn’t work now.
Perfect Match With Site’s Niche
What do think when you see the domain name – BloggingLoop.com?
You may think – Here we go.. another blog which teaches about blogging. Right?
Yup… It’s exactly that. Your domain name should also by itself explain what’s the site about. It should match with your site’s niche.
Let’s assume you are interested in making a blog about mobile reviews. “MobReviews.com” is a better name than “Reveiw123.com”. Your domain name should always be intuitive.
In simple words, always select a domain name according to your niche.
Avoid Trademarks
You think of a great domain name, it’s available, you’re on the 9th cloud and can’t tell how much happy you are feeling. Then you instantly buy it. BOOM!
You have got a case of trademark infringement. Your dream story becomes a nightmare.
The domain name of your dreams was already trademarked by some big company. It has got you a fine of thousands of dollars.
This happens when you don’t check for trademarks before purchasing a domain name. Make sure to always check for trademarks before buying a domain name.
Make It Brandable
What’s the thing that Google, Twitter, NetFlix, and Facebook have in common?
It’s their uniqueness and brand identity. There is no meaning behind the words yet everyone knows about them. Avoid numbers and hyphens as they make a domain name sound strange.
So, what’s the meaning of making your domain name brandable?
Here, it means whenever someone will see or hear your domain name, it will feel like a brand. These types of domain names provide an appeal to your visitors and set up a brand image.
However, you need to put in a lot of effort to turn your blog into a brand. Bloggers like Neil Patel, Darren Rowse, Harsh Agarwal and many more have done it perfectly.
Final Thoughts ..
If you can follow all the above points, you can come up with some great domain names for your blog. Finding a perfect domain name requires creativity. You’ll need to put hours to find a good domain name.
You may not be able to come up with domain names at the start or the domain names you like are already taken. But don’t worry what you should do is to – keep a notebook with yourself and whenever you get an idea for a good domain name just write it down.
It’s easy to find great domain names with domain name generators. Some of the popular domain registrars (from where you can buy domains) are NameCheap, GoDaddy or BigRock.
After buying your domain you can start a blog with this step by step guide.
Make sure to take your time in selecting a proper domain name. It’s going to be the biggest element that will define your brand forever.
That’s the end of this blog post. Feel free to suggest more tips or comment on the issues regarding selecting a proper domain name. I’ll try to solve your problems. Thanks.