How To Choose A Domain Name That Reflects Your Business Theme

Your Domain Name Should Define Your Website’s Identity

Oh boy! It’s time to pick out your new domain name. If you’re one of the lucky internet marketers, your creative name (you know, something to the point and descriptive like “yummybrownies” or “expertpondbuilders”) might be sitting there, available to purchase. But for most of us, the domain name we want has already been taken.

Certain niches are more saturated than others, like those dealing with the area of internet marketing. So, you might encounter obstacles in finding an available domain name that also is one you will feel comfortable with. As example, I had a hard time when I was choosing the domain name for my SEO consulting website. Every name I kept coming up with (meaning I could live with it for the rest of my website’s life) was taken. I spent hours and hours until I finally settled on one.

I feel it’s very important to do keyword research before you jump in and buy a domain name. The process of researching keywords helps you not only understand the search behavior of your target customers, but also really helps you see which keyword phrases are actually being searched for by your prospects. If you are struggling to come up with a domain name, this step should help your creative juices some. You just might uncover some keyword phrases you’d not even considered. And these phrases might get your brain to start thinking of other possible domain names that had never entered your mind.

Don’t Go and Buy Up a Domain Name Blindly … Mull it Over for Awhile

Think about this. You are going to be basing everything around this new identity you are creating, that being your new website. You might wish to use your product’s brand name, or you might pick a domain name that is indicative of what the website is about. I’ve done that with most of my websites. The domain names I chose gives a potential visitor a very good idea of the theme (or niche) of each site.

If you already have an established brick and mortar company, and a website is going to be your newest marketing arm, don’t necessarily assume your company name is the best choice for your website. It may be, and then again, depending upon the product … it might be better to not use your company name. I’ll get into that in a minute.

As I’ve already said, it is best to do keyword research first. In my case, for all the websites I own, I have used Wordtracker and the Google Keyword Tool to sift through all the keyword phrases and give my brain food for thought.

I always start with this first step. The keyword results I uncover give me a really good idea of what my potential visitors, in the niche that I’m targeting, are searching for. Then, I keep that in mind while I begin thinking up domain names I’d like to have. I refer to a dictionary and thesaurus, too. These help me find words that I may not have thought of. My sheets of paper with all possible names, and many derivatives of those names, begin to fill up.

I will then usually type in my most favorite domain names into a search engine to see: (a) if it’s already in use; and (b) what that website looks like. I suggest you do this, too. Reason being … if you end up being dead set on a domain name you feel you “just gotta have”, but that name is already in use, you might find you can purchase the hyphenated version of it. Example: “yummybrownies.com” versus “yummy-brownies.com”

To make checking lots of domain names and their availability easier, you can go to most any domain registrar website (I use GoDaddy) and type in the name choices you’re researching. You’ll find out if the name is available to purchase, or if it is already taken.

There are many domain name sellers out there. Double check on the pricing before you pay. I’ve seen .com domains for $24.95 a year down to $9.95, or cheaper if a sale is being offered. I have been quite happy using both GoDaddy and Namecheap when I want to purchase a domain name. They are one of the biggest domain name sellers so are able to offer great pricing.

Like I said, in most cases you’ll probably spend a good deal of time researching available domain names, unless you luck out and the one you want is sitting there ripe for the picking.

Here are Some Important Points to Keep in Mind While You’re Deciding What Your New Domain Name Will Be

• Keep it short and sweet whenever possible. Simple phrases work great. Think about how really long domain names can so easily get misspelled if someone is trying to manually type it in. Not everyone may have your site bookmarked!
• Don’t assume your unique product’s brand name is the best choice. It might be better to incorporate a keyword or two along with the brand name.
• Targeted keywords in a domain name are useful in making it clear what the site is about. Again this is where your keyword research pays off.
• I do not advise you try to cash in on trade-name or trade-name typos. Domain “squatting” on high profile corporate names can lead to costly legal battles.
• If possible, also buy the .net, .info, maybe the .mobi (or other variations) of your domain name. If nothing else, you are keeping them away from a competitor. And you never know when you’ll have a need to use the variation for a different branch of marketing or service for the main domain. If you don’t use them, you can always redirect them to your main .com domain, as example.
• Many people also purchase other spelling variations of their domain name. You can redirect them to the main domain as mentioned above. This is done mainly to get traffic that might have not otherwise reached you.
• Stick with a .com domain whenever possible. However, if you are a non-profit, then go for a .org. These are preferable over .net, .biz, .info, etc. But it you have to use one of these to get the domain name you are just dying to have, then OK.
• If the domain name you want is already in use, adding hyphens between the words is an option – unless that variation is already taken. There are pros and cons to doing this. However, with two of my domains (SEO-Innovation.com being one of them), I purchased the hyphenated versions as I wanted those names. I visited the sites of the non-hyphenated versions, and thought long and hard about the implications of the two of us having very similar names. You do take a slight risk in having a domain name that is identical to someone else’s site, save for the hyphens in the name.

What to Do if the Domain Name You Absolutely Positively Cannot Live Without is Already Taken

There are options you can take to try and buy a domain name from the existing owner. Since I use GoDaddy, if you check on a name and it’s already taken, there are links asking you if you want to try and buy it, and how to go about it. Most other companies offer the same service.