Choose your Domain name.

So you've got the idea, and you want to get that site out there and start spreading the word online. But what should we name it? That is a key step in a site's build. Pick the wrong name for a domain at the start and you may end up having to retrace your steps quite badly.

Here are some tips in order to help you pick the right domain name and set things right in the start.

Browsing around -

1) Match your offering - now that doesn't mean that if you sell cell phones, your site should be called cellphones dot com. Chances are that it's already taken too! But you should give yourself a recognizable brand name. Maybe combining it with your local region and/or top keyterms can help capture your market, like NYcellphones for instance? OR find a unique brand name that you can stand out with. Here at eSM we went with something that had a combination of branding "evolution" and keywording "search marketing" - calling it just evolution may have had more of a brand impact had we been using other mediums to advertise, but since we are looking to push our work on search marketing, we link the brand and the action together.

2) Does it look right - yeah, it might be a catchy name, but how does it look visually? Seriously, does the name accidentally spell something else because there are no spaces? Classic domain name miscalculations include - expertsexchange.com (previously an IT advice site that moved to a hyphenated version of its name), texassports.com, teacherstalk.co.uk and beatleshits.com - you get the idea.

Also make sure it can't be easily mistaken, and if so, buy the variation too. For example, if you tell the domain to a friend, will they easily spell it right?

3) Make sure its available - before you get hooked on what you think is the catchy domain idea of your choice, you may want to check if its taken. Check it at http://whois.domaintools.com or your domain selling provider just incase!

3a) Uniqueness - and if the .com is taken, try to avoid a cheap variation. adding a hyphen in the name makes it look a bit cheap (plus prone to people visiting the version without hyphens), and taking the .net when the .com is active as something else is not ideal. However, if you are concentrating on a certain market, and that variation is available, such as a UK site picking a .co.uk domain, instead of a .com (which implies international) - then that usually works fine, though you may want to see what the .com version is offering just to be safe. An .org domain can work for some companies too.

4) The domain's history - so, you think you've got the right unique domain? Well, these days, that domain may have been used before, even if its available now. The last thing you need is a domain that was a spam site a few years back, with a bad reputation. At the same time, you might find a domain that had past value and good press, and in some ways a hidden treasure.

Three ways to check on the history are:

whois.domaintools.com (which tells you about previous domain ownership)

web.archive.org (which cache's old versions of the domain homepage over the years, so you can see what the previously owned site may have looked like)

and by entering the URL into major search engines to see what sites used to mention the old version of the domain.

Ok, so you have the right domain name and passed all the check points above. Make sure you've got a name that will grow with your site, as you dont want to have to change the name later, then register it online.

Lastly, hold on to all of your registration details for all domains that you own, make sure the domains are not due to expire and cover your company's brand terms. If you are buying multiple domains, make the most of them by forwarding them over to your primary one.

Continue to our next section, about forwarding / redirecting domains and url's

Tag this page and use it for resource. share with your friends on....
 del.icio.us  Digg    Newsvine    Reddit    MyYahoo!    Facebook

or Sphinn it for the internet marketing community