What's in a (domain) name?So your site design's important...but what's going to get people there in the first place? Your domain name. Your content's vital, and some say so are backlinks, but don't forget that having the right domain name is also an important part of the puzzle.
What makes the perfect domain name?
1: Relatively short, simple to remember, and easy to spell (but also see point 10).
2:Go for something catchy ? original and catchy is going to get you noticed and be more memorable than the myriad of unimaginatively named sites out there.
3:Go for something unique ? people aren't gonna forget you and you're the only one out there (also see point 10).
4:Want .com but can't get it? Try .net or .org. If your anticipated audience is going to be international then possibly a .com, .net, or .org may be best for you. If your site or business caters to a more specific geographical location, then you may be better with a country-specific top level domain (TLD). Whatever you choose, make sure you market your site with the full domain name, for example master-web.org rather than master-web, otherwise you might inadvertently direct people to your competitor's site.
5:Avoid Trademarked Names. The companies that own the trademark tend to get a bit miffed and call their lawyers these days.
6:Try and get a domain name that features your keywords ? you get brownie points for keywords that are in your domain name. Search engines give preference to keywords that are also in your domain name.
7:Avoid using hyphens (yes, we know master-web.org's got a hyphen in it, but the one we wanted was taken). Hyphens in domain names tend to confuse people ? it's easy to forget the hyphens when typing a name and hyphens are a PITA to type, but there is a school of thought that says that search engines can distinguish your keywords better give you a better ranking in search results for keywords occurring in your domain name. Also, the non-hyphenated form may no longer be available. At least this way, you still get the domain you want.
8:Your domain name should be your site name. In this digital age, the first place many people look for information is the internet, and if your domain name reflects your site or business you've more chance of them finding you than if your domain name's unrelated.[/li]
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9:Think specifically, not generically. There's an argument to say that people are more likely to search for a specific brand ? for example, if you were selling a web browser, you'd use the name of your browser in your domain name ? Mozilla, Opera, etc. don't call themselves
www.thewebbrowserthatsbetterthanIE.com (though possibly they should
)
10:One or many? If it's important that your customers/visitors come to you and not to your competitors who've got the alternative TLD of your domain name, consider buying all the variations of your domain name, .com, .net, .org, .co.uk etc. You may also want to consider buying common misspellings of the domain in question and possibly common misspellings of those of your competitors ? you can always park them and redirect them to your primary domain name.
Finally - register Your Domain NOW! Don't wait until your website's ready to launch to buy your domain name, otherwise you may find your dream domain's been taken, and it's a lot easier to buy a domain you like (even if you have to compromise it a bit) than to retrofit your business name or website to match the domain name you ended up with cos everything else was gone. Register that name before someone else does!
