Choosing the Right Domain.
Sunday, June 28th, 2009![]()
Whether you are an advertiser, blogger or small business owner there are several things to consider when purchasing a domain.
Keyword Research:
Best to brainstorm 5 keyword terms that most people would search for that best describe your domain. Then once you have those you can add prefixes an suffixes to find an good domain. So if you are looking for Flowers for one might consider the words: Flowers, Bouquet, Gift, Arrangement, Delivery..etc
Top Domain Level:
If you are at all concerned with obtaining “type-in” traffic, branding, or name recognition then it is best to use a .com domain versus .net, .biz, .info. Most people type-in .com so if you have a .net people will visit the .com version first. It is also a good idea to buy up all the other versions of your domain so that others cannot benefit from your traffic or branding - so if you choose MyBouquet.com it is smart to buy up MyBouquet.net, Mybouquet.biz…etc. Also the general rule of thumb - use .org when you want your site to be associated with non for profit.
Make it Easy:
You want your domain to be easy to remember and easy to type. If you want to get clever with play on words and creative spellings just remember people will type it as they heard it and will make it difficult for word of mouth to work. Best to avoid hyphens and numbers for this reason. For example getflowers4someone.com is long, difficult to remember and some people will type in getflowersforsomeone.com.
Use of Intuitive Names:
Domains that tell the user exactly where they are going tend to get more clicks than ones that are creative or ambiguious. For example these domains tell the user exactly what type of content to expect: AutoTrader.com, CareerBuilder.com, WebMD, Cheaptickets.com. Domains such as Monster.com, Amazon.com, Orbitz.com are all very successful examples of non-intuitive domain names, however they more reliant upon their branding.










