One of the more critical decisions that you will make for your success on the internet is choosing the best domain name for your site. A good domain name means your potential visitors understand what your site is about with a glance; it will make it more likely they will visit. On the other hand, a poorly chosen domain name will drag down your site, making it appear irrelevant, amateurish and poorly thought-out.
So what makes for an excellent domain name?
Sticks in the mind - The best domain names stick in the mind. Unless you havea a huge advertising budget to make your name known (as with Amazon and other similar business) you'd better chose something that people will equate to your site, your information and your products.
Matches your business - Your domain name should match the theme of your site. This mentally prepares your visitors for your information, and more or less pre-disposes them to what you have to offer. On the other hand, a domain name which doesn't match your site will not attract the desired visitors; in fact, it will actually send them away.
Name of Product - If you can register the name of your product as a domain name, you've got it made. This makes it very simple for your visitors to figure out how to get directly to your product information.
Something People Are Likely To Type - Think of common questions or phrases that relate to your business. Then put it together as a name, assuming someone might type that phrase. This is very useful for a second domain name which redirects to the first.
A name easy to say on the telephone - My wife's site is about how to survive asthma - thus, she bought the domain named survivingasthma.com. This makes it very simple to tell people what to type to get to her site over the phone. It's hard for people to make a mistake. On the other hand, making a name of xuayf.com means nothing and is difficult to say on the phone.
Your Name - If you can, it's a great idea to get your own name as a domain name. This allows you to put information about yourself (a bio page, a resume or something similar) up to service your visitors. This is espcially useful if you are famous or well known in your industry.
The word "MY" followed by something - It's very popular to register a domain name which is your company, product or service prefixed by the word "MY". Thus, if you had a wallpaper site you might register "mywallpaper.com".
A name very early in the alphabet - This is useful for listing in directories and such. The earlier you can get listed in a directory the more likely your web site is to be seen.
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Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.