Are you one of those struggling to find a good domain name? If you are, don’t worry too much… you aren’t alone. I already had several of my customers asking me how to find a good domain name for their site, blog or squeeze page. According to them, most good ones are already taken… which is partly true. Finding a good domain name for your site or whatever the type of online presence you’re planning to have isn’t easy. However, don’t just hurry to register a domain name but rather take the time to think about what you really need or want.
Some will say that a domain name isn’t that important… Well, a good domain name can definitely help your site rank better in search engines but most importantly it can grab your visitors’ attention and stay in their mind. A great domain name can even become one of your greatest assets! Don’t be too over excited though. A great domain name can help you rank better in search engines for example but isn’t necessarily a guarantee of success…
How your domain name should be:
– Short
– Memorable
– Easy to spell
– Easy to type
– Descriptive…
Easy to say but difficult to do… By descriptive I mean including keywords (as in viralmarketingmanuscript.com even though this domain name is a little too long), because they can help you rank better in search engines. You should avoid dashes and numbers as much as you can. Web users are now overloaded with information, so it MUST be memorable. Unless you target a specific geographic area, choose a common domain name extension such as .com, .net or .org.
Study the competition, ask around you and maybe use domain name suggestion tools like Domains Bots, Domain Tools or Dot-o-Mator. Once you have an idea of what you need or want, check the availability on a domain name registrar like GoDaddy or NameCheap. You will need to perform a search to check if the domain name you want, with the extension you want, is available or not. Feel free to perform as many searches as you want as they will help you find alternatives.
If you really struggle in choosing a domain name for your online presence, it’s still time to do a brainstorming. Most good domain names are already taken, that’s right… but with some creativity you can find a great one that will perfectly match your needs. Try to think outside the box but always remember the characteristics of a good domain name.
You can purchase your domain name from a large range of websites but I tend to purchase mine from well established companies like GoDaddy and NameCheap. They are large companies that aren’t going out of business anytime soon… which is definitely a plus. Both GoDaddy and NameCheap provide good support. Now if you need web hosting as well, make sure you check out what makes ViralHosts web hosting so good!
I'm an avid fan of your blog, and the content is always top notch - great reading. I'm always impressed with the variety of content and the way you get all the important steps outlined for processes, but still manage to keep it short and simple - few people do that quite as well.
Mike Purvis
Andy Fletcher
Todd Gross
hey ! i have my personal domain ,well iam also trying to make it more interective and thanks alot for your advise.
Colin – Excellent post and great advice. It is becoming more and more challenging to obtain the sharp, short, descriptive .com URL. I am curious about what you think about purchasing variant domain names, for example I recently purchased ViralHyperlink.com for a new project, after thinking about the name for a while I decided to go back and purchase ViralHyperlinks.com the plural version thinking that A.) I don’t want to miss out on mis-spelled searches and B.) I don’t want someone to develop the second domain and cause market confusion. The same can be said for acquiring .com, .net, etc.
What are your views?
Thank you for the great info!
James
I think the plural version is always good to register, I often leave .net etc. of domains out there for others to register and cloak when promoting my .com version of the site.
It will be silly for them to try and take on an original who has the .com in affiliate marketing circles, but i guess it can happen so registering all the TTLs can also be a good idea.
That way you can then cloak them for your top promoters and tell them they can promote that ttl for your product as it has their aff id built in 😉 Gives you more control as well
Finding a Good domain name is always tough..
I personally prefer keyword less but brandable domain which I can use as a brand..
but if Im working on any new project which is streamed down to a narrow niche..I will
prefer keyword rich domain.
Exactly, if it is a membership type site then branding is more important, if it is for SEO and niche websites and blogs, having the main keyword in or as the domain is very important
Nice views, welcome to my community!
I am not going to be original this time, so all I am going to say that your blog rocks, sad that I don’t have suck a writing skills