On Choosing the Right Domain Name

Entrepreneur Magazine recently posted an article about choosing the right domain name—here's a summary:

• give some thought to what your domain should be
• it'll end with .com, .net, or a bunch of other top-level domains
• don't stuff your domain with keywords
• try to get a .com
• buy your domain from your web host, or through a separate domain service
• register your domain asap (and park it), even before building your site
• good domains should be short, not have hyphens, and contain a few-word summary of what the site/service is
• sometimes you can find good domains for sale in the aftermarket
• be careful when choosing a registrar

We'd like to clarify and mention a few things:

• don't just give the naming process some thought, give it lots of thought. It'll likely be your site's home forever, and it'll be what search engines like Google index and surface in their search results. It's also what bloggers and other web sites will use to link to your site, so you better get it right! One of the reasons we built Domainr was to make the process of finding the right domain as fast and easy as possible.
• domain names aren't preceded by http:// nor www. Web browsers take care of the http part for you, and the www is merely an artifact from long ago.
• sometimes stuffing a domain with keywords makes sense, like when you're making a single-serving site and want your domain to make a statement. We did this with Sarah Palin is John McCain's New Bicycle, and Al3x did this with Down for everyone or just me?
• we agree on trying to get the .com if possible and affordable, but keep in mind that lots of your visitors/users will be arriving from search engines, not typing in the address manually. For example, people might remember using "Domainr" but forget that it's got a funky URL. As long as they remember that we dropped the e, they'll find it in Google very easily.
• the domain aftermarket is interesting and we've recently begun learning about it. We're pondering adding support for it in Domainr's search results—taken domains would appear as "for sale" or something like that, rather than just "taken." Popular aftermarket sites are Afternic, Sedo, Pool, Snapnames, Namejet and GoDaddy Auctions.

[via DNN]

Comments

[Jonny]

I have just gone through the umms and arrrs of choosing my domain. Painfull experience for me as when I'd decided on the correct name someone pointed out it could easily be spelt wrong. Whoops. Jonnie Jhonnie? Never mind.
Good tips here though.