Choosing the perfect domain: A quick guide

When setting up your website choosing a domain can be one of the most hardest and time-consuming things to do. You can not just pick any domain. Your domain is what people think of then they think of your website and without it you would have no visitors. Choosing the wrong domain can be a BIG mistake and if you decide to change then this can be a nightmare and bring a load of hassle. Furthermore your domain can also affect your SEO if you are not using a keyword within your domain.

Keywords

Keywords are key.  If you have a keyword reach domain then you are bound to attract a lot more visits from people using search engines. This is why I recommend you choose your keywords carefully and make sure you know what content is going to be in your website so that you can repeat the same keywords throughout. I would recommend that you make a list of brainstorm 10 keywords that you could use in your domain. You can then start to jumble them up and mix them with other words to see if you can come up with that perfect domain.

use top-level domains

Using top-level domains such as .com or .co.uk is a must is you actually want people to take your website seriously. Using a sub-domain such as. WordPress.com just shows readers that you must not be taking your website very seriously if you are not willing to invest in a domain. People who spend a lot of time online may not end up clicking your website when it appears in search engines. This is because people associate sub-domains with less valuable content as you are simply not putting enough work into it if you do not even have a top-level domain.

is it easy to type ?

There is nothing worse than having a domain that people cannot remember how to spell if they want to return. Your domain should be short, as well as being easy to type. If people cannot spell your domain then you are potentially loosing a lot of traffic from people who are going to type your domain into the address bar and come straight to your website. As well as this if your domain is too long then people may forget what it its and it can become confusing. I recommend using a domain that is between two and four keywords long.

Use online tools for help

One of my favourite tools for picking a domain is Bustaname.com. This tools allows you to easily find a good domain with the keywords you choose and is well worth checking out if you are lacking some inspiration  and need help finding the best domain name. What i like about this tool is that it checks what domains are available so saves you time when you think of a killer domain and then find out that it is not available and you are back to square one again.

Pick something that will last

Time and time again i have seen websites with domains which have trending items or the year in their domains. This should be avoided at all costs as after a year then the trending items will be different and you will be in a different year so your domain is no longer relevant. Your domain should be strong and versatile  so that it will always be of some value to you.

Buy misspellings 

This is a popular tactic which is used by many big organizations online today. Buying misspellings of your domain allows people to still reach your website;even if they have spelt it wrong. This makes sure that all of your potential traffic is actually going to reach you.  On the other hand if you have a lot of competition that you are competing with then it may be a good idea to buy misspellings of their domain to try to grab some extra traffic off them.