OK... so I admit it... I am a domain junkie. I think I have about 150 different domain names that are all either in use or I'm planning to use them.
I like to market products and services with specialty names, so grabbing the domain name that corresponds with what I'm intending to market makes sense. At about $7/year, it's good business to grab it before someone else does. If I decide later that I'm not going to use it, I simply release it and I'm only out 7 bucks.
Over the years, I've picked up a few tips about domain names. In fact, a catchy domain name can help people remember who you are and easily find you to give them what they’re looking for. By contrast, a bad domain name can make your website hard to find, so they’ll find someone else or give up trying.
Here are some quick and easy tips to help you pick the name that’s best for you.
Do's:
- Make it easy to remember. If people remember a website, they’re more likely to go to it. Our brains process tons of information in a day, and most of it we forget. Just because someone’s friend tells them about a great website, doesn’t mean they’re going to remember the name when they get home to check it out.
- Make it related to your site. When you start choosing your domain name, the best place to start is with a few keywords related to your topic. Take these keywords and try to turn them into a name. While you might be able to find an awesome catchy word or phrase, if it’s not related to your topic, people aren’t going to remember it.
- Make it easy to type. There are certain letters that are just harder to type than others. While it may not make the biggest difference, try to avoid letters like q and p. And avoid difficult combinations. If it doubt, have a friend who isn’t the best typist try to get to the sites. If one takes a lot longer or is harder for them, it’s probably best to throw out that option.
Don'ts:
- Names that are hard to spell.
- Misspellings. If you misspell a common word, people are probably not going to spell your domain name right. Correct spellings are easier to remember. If they don’t get it on the first try, they may try again, but more likely they’ll either find another site with the correct spelling, or simply give up.
** If you do need a name that you think people may have trouble spelling, also pick up the misspelled version. For example, I do this whenever I have to purchase something with the word "entrepreneur" in it... I get the correct version and the incorrect version.
- Names including numbers. While it might be clever, it’s hard for people to remember, and it’s hard to spread the site name by word of mouth.
- Names that are too close to a popular website. Sure, you might get the traffic from misspellings, but that’s not going to be enough to sustain a quality website.
I'm partial to Go Daddy (http://www.godaddy.com) for my domain services. Yes, there are a TON of sites out there that you could use to reserve a domain, but I've had a LOT of clients come in after LOSING control of a domain... simply because the provider they were using suddenly went out of business. Domain names are too important to risk doing business with a no-name domain reseller who is operating out of his basement. It's ALWAYS better to work with a well-established, reputable company.
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