Choosing a Domain Name – 6 Tips to Help You Choose Your Next Domain Name

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Contrary to past belief, a domain name is not everything. Yes, a domain name is important and your choice should be thought out before paying money to register but website names and domain names are not what they used to be. These days we have people coming up will all sorts of names for their site that don’t really have a meaning but get plenty of traffic. Not sure if “Google” really means anything. What about flickr? And what does iwebis mean anyway?
The reason I chose iwebis had more to do with the fact that it was short and it had the word web in it. That’s basically it. It’s easy to remember and it has a web 2.0 feel to it. I did however give the name a lot of thought before choosing it. Here are some questions I asked myself before choosing a domain name.

1. Will it make a difference if I choose a domain that has keywords that will attract visitors? This is an important question to ask and the answer does not have to be yes. Now more than ever website being named “gibberish” words. These are names that don’t have a specific meaning but are easy to remember. Site such as these can do very well if the name fits the site. My rule of thumb is this. If you are targeting people who know how to use the internet and are more tech savvy then the name really doesn’t matter. If you are targeting people that are still learning how to use the internet or don’t really have a clue about how the internet works then keywords really do matter. People who are less tech savvy might be more easily discouraged or less likely to visit if the domain name does not have the specific keywords they are looking for in the domain.
2. Does my domain name need to be pronounced correctly? Do people really have to know how to say the name of your site they way you intended when it’s 100% online advertising? The internet is really completely different than “real life” advertising because most of it is read rather than said. So if most people are able to read how they think it’s pronounced then that should be enough. If you are taking your web advertising into the non-cyber world then I would recommend using a name that is easy to pronounce or at least easy to spell.
3. Should my domain name match my website name? I have strong feels about this. I believe that you should definitely use the same name for both your website and domain name. The reason is because if you remember the website name then you will remember the domain name. There are some exceptions of course. If your company name is too long or the domain is not available then an easy to remember domain name would be a better option. Abbreviations sometime work really well.
4. How much should I pay for a domain name? Since I am cheap I say don’t pay more than $6.50 for one year of registration. I often plan my sites around the name rather than the other way around. The main reason is because I would never pay huge amounts of money for a domain name. Like I said, I am cheap. However, there are those that feel they have to have a specific domain name that matches their already existing company. To those I say don’t break the bank over a domain name unless it’s really going to help your business. Don’t pay too much for existing page rank and traffic. If you market your site correctly you should have no problem building your own traffic and page rank.
5. Will the domain name I chose hurt my business or potential traffic? Stay away from domain names that are a mile long. Most people have tagged those as worthless sites. For example, discountcoffeemakers.com is a domain that most professional sites wouldn’t even consider using. Generally it’s best to stick to one or two word phrase domain names. Though I have seen more and more people using three and four word phrase domain names that seem to be doing well. Stay away from over abbreviating. For example discoffeemkrs.com. People will have a hard time remembering this type of abbreviation. It’s probably best to stick to just one abbreviated word with at least one non-abbreviated word ( example problogger.com).
6. Should I choose a .net, .com, .biz or .org? I would recommend getting a .com if you can. People remember .com best because it’s been around longest. Second choice should be .net and if you have an organization then .org wouldn’t be a bad choice either. I wouldn’t recommend getting a .biz. It seems most people that have a .biz are money making get rich quick type sites.

So there you have it. Six questions to ask your self before making your next domain name registration purchase.