How to Choose the Best Domain Name (Tips and Tools)
Domain name is the first thing which comes to mind before starting up your website or blog. The domain name is as critical as your website is. Domain name lays the foundation of a good and popular site.
So it’s not easy to find a perfect domain name but it’s not impossible too. I am here to give you an insight on what is a domain name? Why it is important? Some quick tips on how to choose the best domain name with some tools to do it.
What is Domain name and Domain Host?
Many people get confused with these two terms. Speaking in a very basic way, domain name is just like the address of you home and domain host provides the space where the home will be built.
Technically, a domain name is the web address or URL of your website. You will be known to the world by your domain name. A domain host is a type of a big computer or server having a lot of free space.
The web hosts will provide you with domain space and charge you few bucks for the space they provide. So to complete the website, the basic step is to register for a domain name and domain host.
Why choosing domain name so critical?
Domain name is as critical as an Ace in a pack of cards. A good domain name will boost up your popularity and make you a well recognized brand. As the saying goes ‘first impression is the last impression’, a good domain name is likely to attract visitors and a bad one, will surely flee them away.
Secondly, they help in maintaining SEO rankings to some extent. The keywords used in the URL will help in search engine optimization of your website. A domain name is so powerful that it can make you or break you.
Now, I will share with you some tips on domain name selection along with some online available tools to help you find your perfect one.
- Use Brandable name over generic names
Unique and creative name are always loved by people. It will still be unbeatable even if any look alike websites pops in some day. The name should be such that, people get attracted towards your website. Just like using a proper noun would do wonders rather than using a common noun. Like avoid using yourflowershop.com or myfavoritebookplace.com rather you can use Janeflorist.com or Unitedbookhouse.com. Got the difference? I am sure you have. - Keep your domain name short
Try to limit your domain name 6-14 chars. As most of the short domains have already been taken, use some clever keywords to fill the empty space of your domain name. It has been observed that, websites with short name have pretty high ranking in SEO and draw more web traffic. - Typo errors and easy to pronounce
The name should be such that it can be easily spelled and pronounced as well. If the typing goes wrong, people may end up in your competitor’s site rather than yours. The more the domain name is easy to pronounce, the more it is easy to memorize. And certainly, the easily memorable word is indeed the most shared one too. So, keep your name short, easy to pronounce and less typing error prone. - Avoid numerical and special char domain name
People generally use a hypen in between the domain name. Guys!! That’s a very bad practice. Avoid it completely. Wonder what would you like ama-zon.com or amazon.com? Avoid numbers too rather do not use any numbers or special characters in your domain name. They are more likely to be typed wrong and the user will land up in an error page. These are hard to remember also. - Preferably use .com
All smartphones come with a default .com button in the keypad. More than 80% of the websites have a .com extension. Normal people don’t even bother to see that what is written after ‘.’ In a URL, they just believe that its ‘.com’ by default. So, choose .com domain as far as possible. Rather also purchase ‘.net’ and ‘.org’ of your domain name too. That will make sure that your user will definitely be in your vicinity and you will not lose them by any chance. Avoid using .blog, .pizza etc that seriously cast a very bad impression on user. Another main advantage of using a .com domain is the trust and authenticity comes binded with it by default. People may become suspicious of domains like .pizza, .photography etc and may not click on any link treating it as spam. - Social media page available
Creating a social media profile page for your website design services is as essential as building a website in today’s era. People are likely to search for the same name in social media as your website is having. So, first visit the social sites like Facebook, Twitter etc check for the names and their trademarks or copyrights. In case the name you have planned for your website, has already been copyrighted then go for some more unique one. If you have a different website name from your social profile name, you may lose on visitor count or it may happen that people start following some completely different organization mistaking it for your profile.
There are many tools available online for your help. Here is a quick list.
- For keywords:Looking out for keywords to design your domain name. Then look for Google Adwords and http://keywordtool.io/ can help you finding your perfect keyword. Place your keyword preferably in the beginning of your domain name. This will help your website to have good SEO rankings.
- Knowem.com:will help you finding the desired name availability on social media sites. It searches over 500+ social media sites and help you check for your brand name or username or profile name so that you can create one for your website.
- Some free domain name generators are bigrock.in, godaddy.com, panabee.com, namemesh.com, wordoid.com (just enter a word and it will give you suggestions with that word which are available), Domainhole (This toll will also give information on expired domains)
Domain Registration
After finalizing your domain name, now is the time to register it up before someone else does it. There are many domain registrars available online but be careful in choosing them.
Read for the reviews and testimonials of the customers using them and then decide on. Some domain hosting companies also offer free domain name registration along with domain host. You can grab this opportunity. Some of the best are BlueHost, Godaddy, SiteGround, ipage etc.
If you are planning to create your own blog, than why not with your own name….Good Luck!!!
