Tons of people everyday are trying to or want to start their own business or make some kind of extra income. Normal every day citizens are sick and tired of working their selves to death just trying to pay the bills, put food on the table and especially paying for gas to go to and from work every single day. So we are all sick and tired of working so hard just to make ends meet when we’re barely breaking even.
So when thinking of starting a business and planning your business it is usually a good idea to have your own domain name and website. Where do we start when picking a domain name? Well here are a few tips I found when researching about it online. These are some good things to keep in mind when choosing a domain name for your very own website.
Keep your website name and domain name the same
When choosing the domain name for your website think of making it the same name as the website. Of course there are some website names that are different than the domain name. But I have found out that it is a better idea to name them the same. Reasons for this are because when you have a certain name for your business and some people don’t know what the domain name is then they will just type in your business name when trying to find you on the world wide web. So obviously you would want your site to come up in the top of the search engine when someone is searching for your business name.
What if someone already owns the domain name of my choice?
Well this could happen. Someone might already own your chosen domain name that matches your business and website name. When something like this happens instead of ditching the idea and trying to come up with another domain, that might mean a loss in a sale, then the best thing to do would be to try to buy out that domain of your choice. Check out the “who is” information on the site owner and contact that person. Realize though that they might want to charge a higher fee than you are willing to pay but if you’re dedicated to your business and site then it might be worth it in the long run. Like I said, same domain name and website name could mean more sales for your business.
If you’re just starting out then choose your domain name before you pick your site name.
This way you will have your chosen domain name first and then create your website with that same chosen name you already own. This, in my opinion, would be the better way to do this and I thought that is what most people did until I found out other wise during my research. But for the business owners who already have a website but are looking for another domain name then this might not be too easy to do.
Generic or brand names?
You might want to consider also picking a name that matches your product name. Say like you are selling vacuums and instead of just using vacuums.com you should probably go for something like hoovervacs.com or eurekavacs.com . Might not be an easy domain to get a hold of but it would be worth a try wouldn’t it? The reason for this is because maybe someone who is shopping around for a new vacuum might already have their preferred brand in mind and would most likely just type in the name of it instead of just vacuums.com
Long or short domain?
During my research I also found out that there are some arguments to whether or not people should use long or short domain names. The reasons for this argument is because some say that shorter domains are easier to remember and type in whereas longer ones would be harder to remember and longer to type in and some might get irritated with having to type in the long domain. Of course if you try for a shorter domain it would probably be harder to get because a lot of them are probably already taken by now so there is still a question on what to do. Maybe picking a combination of characters and also making sure your main key words are in the domain so people will find it easier when doing a search for the key words you have chosen.
Using hyphens, good idea or not?
I would have to say it is a bad idea because if you recommend the site to a friend and you leave out the hyphens they will just go home and type in the words you told them and they might get a competitor site instead of yours. Then again they also suggest that hyphenated domain names are search engine friendly so it is a 50-50 chance and one you will have to really think of.
Plural, “the” and “my” type forms.
If you are unable to get the domain name of your choice the registrar will often suggest using the alternatives such as maybe using “the” and “my” in your domain name. But should you take them or try for another one? I would personally not take them but if you did you would definitely have to make sure to promote the full name of your site. Then thinking about using the plural form of say website.com so it would be websites.com. Well the problem with this is that a lot of people won’t think to type in the “s” part so you have to keep that in mind also.
Dot com, dot net or dot org?
For choosing whether you should go with a dot com, dot net or dot org would be to think of what your site refers to. Such as, if your site is part of an organization like a non-profit organization then you might want to go for a dot org name. But also consider that when most people are doing a search and they don’t exactly know what your domain is they will usually type in the dot com instead of the dot org therefore giving your competition more visitors instead of you. Of course you could always buy the dot com extension to make sure that you will always get the visitors you’re supposed to. That way even if they type in dot com and it is a dot org name they will still end up at your website.
So just to be safe when choosing the perfect domain name try to make sure you choose and buy that domain name before anyone else takes it from you. Do this then create and name your website the same thing and things should work out pretty well. Check out www.thesitewizard.com for more detailed information.
