Picking Your Domain

[Dean]

What makes the perfect domain name?

Well, it has to be:

1. Relatively short
2. Simple to remember
3. Easy to spell

Example domain name:
www.otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

Can you spot some of the problems with this domain name?
Here's a few:

1. It's too long:

Having to type a long domain name into your browser is annoying and also increases the chances of your customers making a spelling mistake.

2. Too many keywords:

Having 4 keywords (Otway Valley Trading Company) makes it hard for customers to remember the name of the site.

Try to stick to one or two keywords in your domain name.

3. Easy to misspell:

The word 'otway' can be easily confused for 'ottway'.

4. Makes the email address too long:

An email address for this domain name would look like this:

sales@otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

... that's a mouthful for anyone to remember.

Picking a Good Domain Name:

1) The shorter the better

Having a short and snappy domain name makes it easier for your customer to remember your website address, and easier to type into their Internet browser.

2) Go for something catchy

Keep in mind that your domain name doesn't have to be boring. In fact, if you can come up with something catchy - it's a great way to distinguish your business from the competition - just ask the people at Yahoo!.

3) Avoid using hyphens

We've found that hyphens in domain names tend to confuse people.

Sometimes you'll see websites that have a hyphen separating keywords (e.g. ace-accounting.com). This is almost always because the preferred name (aceaccounting.com) has already been registered by someone else.

If the domain you want is already being used by someone else, then you're better off coming up with an alternative name then using hyphens.

4) Avoid using numbers

If possible, try avoiding the use of numbers in your domain name, as this can also lead to confusion (e.g. was that 3phones.com or threephones.com ?).

But if you have to use a number, make sure you register both the written and numerical versions of your domain name (3phones.com and threephones.com).

5) Grab a thesaurus

If you're struggling for inspiration or finding it difficult to come up with a name that hasn't already been taken - grab a thesaurus (or visit Thesaurus.com)

Say you run an adventure tour company and you want to register excitingadventures.com - but somebody has already registered the domain name.

Lookup the word 'exciting' at Thesaurus.com and you can quickly find an alternative like 'breathtaking, sensational or fascinating'.

And don't be afraid to use a little imagination - companies like Google and Yahoo! have benefited a lot by having a unique web address.

Adrian Mullan is the author of 'The Internet Demystified' and founder of WebDummy.com - a popular Internet marketing resource for small business owners.

[Shyam]

Originally Posted by Dean

What makes the perfect domain name?

Well, it has to be:

1. Relatively short
2. Simple to remember
3. Easy to spell

Example domain name:
www.otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

Can you spot some of the problems with this domain name?
Here's a few:

1. It's too long:

Having to type a long domain name into your browser is annoying and also increases the chances of your customers making a spelling mistake.

2. Too many keywords:

Having 4 keywords (Otway Valley Trading Company) makes it hard for customers to remember the name of the site.

Try to stick to one or two keywords in your domain name.

3. Easy to misspell:

The word 'otway' can be easily confused for 'ottway'.

4. Makes the email address too long:

An email address for this domain name would look like this:

sales@otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

... that's a mouthful for anyone to remember.

Picking a Good Domain Name:

1) The shorter the better

Having a short and snappy domain name makes it easier for your customer to remember your website address, and easier to type into their Internet browser.

2) Go for something catchy

Keep in mind that your domain name doesn't have to be boring. In fact, if you can come up with something catchy - it's a great way to distinguish your business from the competition - just ask the people at Yahoo!.

3) Avoid using hyphens

We've found that hyphens in domain names tend to confuse people.

Sometimes you'll see websites that have a hyphen separating keywords (e.g. ace-accounting.com). This is almost always because the preferred name (aceaccounting.com) has already been registered by someone else.

If the domain you want is already being used by someone else, then you're better off coming up with an alternative name then using hyphens.

4) Avoid using numbers

If possible, try avoiding the use of numbers in your domain name, as this can also lead to confusion (e.g. was that 3phones.com or threephones.com ?).

But if you have to use a number, make sure you register both the written and numerical versions of your domain name (3phones.com and threephones.com).

5) Grab a thesaurus

If you're struggling for inspiration or finding it difficult to come up with a name that hasn't already been taken - grab a thesaurus (or visit Thesaurus.com)

Say you run an adventure tour company and you want to register excitingadventures.com - but somebody has already registered the domain name.

Lookup the word 'exciting' at Thesaurus.com and you can quickly find an alternative like 'breathtaking, sensational or fascinating'.

And don't be afraid to use a little imagination - companies like Google and Yahoo! have benefited a lot by having a unique web address.

Adrian Mullan is the author of 'The Internet Demystified' and founder of WebDummy.com - a popular Internet marketing resource for small business owners.

Wow ! Thanks for the information.

[Sohan]

Oh yeh, don't use long or uncommon TLDs either.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by Sohan

Oh yeh, don't use long or uncommon TLDs either.

Some people might not understand that so explain that abit more.

Cheers

~Dean

[Shyam]

Originally Posted by Sohan

Oh yeh, don't use long or uncommon TLDs either.

Yes, thats what dean said. To clarify, TLD = top level domain, for example, .com, .net, .org. A ccTLD on the other hand is a country code top level domain, eg, .co.uk, .us or .de, just for future reference.

- Shyam

[Dean]

thank you for that shyam makes it more helpful

Cheers

~Dean

[Shyam]

Anytime , oh, by the way, if anyone has trouble with domains, feel free to PM with queries.

- Shyam

[HupaH]

Thanks for the tip!, but i don't really need a domain, im not so super good with html,

[Shyam]

You dont need to always develop a domain. You can keep them as an investment ie: parking. Sedo.com, research parking domains and if you like what you see, purchase a domain. I register mine through NameCheap.com.

- Shyam

[reckless]

Originally Posted by Dean

What makes the perfect domain name?

Well, it has to be:

1. Relatively short
2. Simple to remember
3. Easy to spell

Example domain name:
www.otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

Can you spot some of the problems with this domain name?
Here's a few:

1. It's too long:

Having to type a long domain name into your browser is annoying and also increases the chances of your customers making a spelling mistake.

2. Too many keywords:

Having 4 keywords (Otway Valley Trading Company) makes it hard for customers to remember the name of the site.

Try to stick to one or two keywords in your domain name.

3. Easy to misspell:

The word 'otway' can be easily confused for 'ottway'.

4. Makes the email address too long:

An email address for this domain name would look like this:

sales@otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

... that's a mouthful for anyone to remember.

Picking a Good Domain Name:

1) The shorter the better

Having a short and snappy domain name makes it easier for your customer to remember your website address, and easier to type into their Internet browser.

2) Go for something catchy

Keep in mind that your domain name doesn't have to be boring. In fact, if you can come up with something catchy - it's a great way to distinguish your business from the competition - just ask the people at Yahoo!.

3) Avoid using hyphens

We've found that hyphens in domain names tend to confuse people.

Sometimes you'll see websites that have a hyphen separating keywords (e.g. ace-accounting.com). This is almost always because the preferred name (aceaccounting.com) has already been registered by someone else.

If the domain you want is already being used by someone else, then you're better off coming up with an alternative name then using hyphens.

4) Avoid using numbers

If possible, try avoiding the use of numbers in your domain name, as this can also lead to confusion (e.g. was that 3phones.com or threephones.com ?).

But if you have to use a number, make sure you register both the written and numerical versions of your domain name (3phones.com and threephones.com).

5) Grab a thesaurus

If you're struggling for inspiration or finding it difficult to come up with a name that hasn't already been taken - grab a thesaurus (or visit Thesaurus.com)

Say you run an adventure tour company and you want to register excitingadventures.com - but somebody has already registered the domain name.

Lookup the word 'exciting' at Thesaurus.com and you can quickly find an alternative like 'breathtaking, sensational or fascinating'.

And don't be afraid to use a little imagination - companies like Google and Yahoo! have benefited a lot by having a unique web address.

Adrian Mullan is the author of 'The Internet Demystified' and founder of WebDummy.com - a popular Internet marketing resource for small business owners.

Thanks so much for the tips to make the domain worth!!! This for sure going to help people like me who are new to Webmaster stuff and still learning. It was really nice stuff from you!!!

[soul]

Originally Posted by Dean

What makes the perfect domain name?

Well, it has to be:

1. Relatively short
2. Simple to remember
3. Easy to spell

Example domain name:
www.otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

Can you spot some of the problems with this domain name?
Here's a few:

1. It's too long:

Having to type a long domain name into your browser is annoying and also increases the chances of your customers making a spelling mistake.

2. Too many keywords:

Having 4 keywords (Otway Valley Trading Company) makes it hard for customers to remember the name of the site.

Try to stick to one or two keywords in your domain name.

3. Easy to misspell:

The word 'otway' can be easily confused for 'ottway'.

4. Makes the email address too long:

An email address for this domain name would look like this:

sales@otwayvalleytradingcompany.com

... that's a mouthful for anyone to remember.

Picking a Good Domain Name:

1) The shorter the better

Having a short and snappy domain name makes it easier for your customer to remember your website address, and easier to type into their Internet browser.

2) Go for something catchy

Keep in mind that your domain name doesn't have to be boring. In fact, if you can come up with something catchy - it's a great way to distinguish your business from the competition - just ask the people at Yahoo!.

3) Avoid using hyphens

We've found that hyphens in domain names tend to confuse people.

Sometimes you'll see websites that have a hyphen separating keywords (e.g. ace-accounting.com). This is almost always because the preferred name (aceaccounting.com) has already been registered by someone else.

If the domain you want is already being used by someone else, then you're better off coming up with an alternative name then using hyphens.

4) Avoid using numbers

If possible, try avoiding the use of numbers in your domain name, as this can also lead to confusion (e.g. was that 3phones.com or threephones.com ?).

But if you have to use a number, make sure you register both the written and numerical versions of your domain name (3phones.com and threephones.com).

5) Grab a thesaurus

If you're struggling for inspiration or finding it difficult to come up with a name that hasn't already been taken - grab a thesaurus (or visit Thesaurus.com)

Say you run an adventure tour company and you want to register excitingadventures.com - but somebody has already registered the domain name.

Lookup the word 'exciting' at Thesaurus.com and you can quickly find an alternative like 'breathtaking, sensational or fascinating'.

And don't be afraid to use a little imagination - companies like Google and Yahoo! have benefited a lot by having a unique web address.

Adrian Mullan is the author of 'The Internet Demystified' and founder of WebDummy.com - a popular Internet marketing resource for small business owners.

Quite a informative tips for the the new comers!!! I would also like to use these nice tips while creating the domain and look for the results.

[Skyler]

good tips. i usualy don't follow any rules before i buy a domain. when it pops up in my head.