Good Domain Name Picking Tips for Your Blog Setup

Categories: Web Hosting

The first thing that comes to my mind when setting up a blog is getting a good domain name. In this article, I have described why I think it is important to choose a good domain name upfront. I have also explained how you can pick a good domain name for your blog or website followed by some domain name picking tips and general outlines (“dos” and “don’t s”).

Why pick a good domain name for your blog

Apart from many other reasons, you want to pick a good domain name for your blog site from the start because most likely you will be stuck with that domain name for the rest of the blog’s life. You may change the domain hosting provider from time to time depending on how reliable your current domain hosting provider is but the domain name will remain the same. The reason I say that you will be stuck with that name is mainly because changing the domain name is kind of like starting all over again from the start and you don’t want to do that once your site is established and getting regular traffic. You will start with ’0′ Google Page rank and will have to work your way up again if you do change the domain name in the middle. The Alexa rank and other ranking metrics will drop too because all these rankings are associated with the domain name. So the bottom line is that you want to pick a good domain name that you can live with from the start. Now, the question is how?

How to pick a good domain name for your blog

I don’t think that there are any hard rules as to how a domain name should be picked, so use the following points as a guideline in choosing your domain name:

Use Keywords: Use keywords in the domain name that describe your site. The domain name should suggest the nature of your product or service. A good domain name describes exactly what the site is about. It is important for a visitor to get an idea of what the website is about just by looking at the domain name. For example if your site is about antiques and collectibles then try to get a domain name like “www.antiques.com” or “www.collectibles”.com not “www.foobar.com”.

Easy to remember: A domain name should be easy to remember becuase your visitors will want to type in the domain name in the web browser for revisits and if they can’t remember the domain name then you run the risk of losing potential traffic. It is also easier to spread the word of mouth when the domain name is easy to remember.

Keep the domain name short: A domain name should be short with less than 10 characters. It also helps the “Easy to remember” point when the name is short. Although, these days it’s incredibly hard to get domain names that are short. Basically you don’t want to end up with a super long domain name like “www.thisisareallybadexampleofdomainname.com”. When the name gets too long it gets confusing and the name can be easily mistyped in the browser.

Use hyphens if needed: Use hyphen (-) in between the words if needed for your domain name. If “www.domainname.com” is taken then you can try “www.domain-name.com”. Using hyphen(s) in between the words sometimes help to improve readability. It also helps in the Search engine rankings.

Domain name extension: Try to get the “.com” Top Level Domain (TLD) extension as it is the most popular. When people think about an website their mind automatically pictures “domain-name.com” as the address. “.net” and “.org” extensions can be used too if you cannot find a “.com” extension.

Some General things to be aware of

Legal conflicts: Spend a bit of time searching around to make sure you are not choosing a domain name that is similar to an already established rival. You don’t want to spend time building your blog only to find out that someone else has a similar website and wants to sue you.

Be aware of the scammers: There are a lot of scammers around so try to make sure you buy your domain name from a registrar who is in the ICANN’s (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) accredited registrar’s list.

Go Daddy offers cheap reliable domain name registration. Try not to buy hosting from them though… read the article following article before you signup for a hosting account.

Getting a cheap and reliable web hosting solution

As I have mentioned earlier that these rules are not set in stone. Don’t be afraid to add your own flavor. Use common knowledge and be sensible. Try your best and get creative. What is your best tip in choosing a good domain name? Feel free to leave your suggestions or comments below.

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#1 by Lenny on December 15, 2011 - 5:29 pm

Very useful information. Another tip is to choose keywords centered around your blog by analyzing them with Google’s keyword tool. This will show what term people search for the most.

#2 by Rose on December 13, 2011 - 1:45 am

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#3 by website name on October 14, 2011 - 1:03 am

Very good information in this blog. You covered just about everything. Another tip I believe is to pick website names with low competition but high traffic.

#4 by Cool SMS on September 23, 2011 - 11:02 am

One another thing to remember while registering for domain name is not to use words which ends and starts with same character like “jokessms” because it gives a bad impression to the user while looking to your domain.
Helpful article for me..thanks

#5 by Exabytes on September 5, 2011 - 9:30 pm

If you wish to make money with your blog.
I will said that is a “must” to get a domain name for your blog.
- U need to build own brand name with the domain name . Is better u can create a logo for your blog as well.
- Use a keyword domain name which will help in your SEO and allow google and your reader know what your blog is all about .
- I have a different opinion is don’t use hyphen while it may look like u spamming keywords. And it hard to get direct traffic which most people will search without placing the hyphen in the domain name.

#6 by tryecrot on August 26, 2011 - 2:21 pm

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#7 by PriyaMehta on August 25, 2011 - 5:29 am

Registering for a domain is one of the most basic aspects of developing a site, yet at the same time, it can be vital to a site’s success. If ranking high on search engines such as Google is of high priority, then it would be advisable to register an “exact match domain”.

#8 by Vincent Parker on February 17, 2011 - 10:41 pm

Great post and some excellent tips. In response to the last comment from John I just recently heard that hyphens in domain names will get slightly penalized by Google. They stated that non-hyphenated domains will gain priority over hyphenated ones.

So, for instance, if there are two domains looking to dominate the keyword domain name, and one is domainname.com and the other is domain-name.com, the first will have slightly more influence when it comes to ranking.

Of course, this is before any on and off site SEO work. Still, it is something to consider.

I don’t think that should really make too much of a difference when choosing a domain, but again, it is something to consider.

Thanks for the post!

Vincent Parker

#9 by John Gamings on January 3, 2011 - 11:00 am

Nice tips. Just for the record though, it’s an unspoken rule in domain flipping communities not to put hyphens in the URL, which greatly diminishes the value of the domain. for example, getting face-book.com would be just as bad as getting facebook.net instead of facebook.com. It’s considered “taboo”

#10 by shaun on October 23, 2010 - 8:12 am

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#11 by Samantha on October 13, 2010 - 6:04 pm

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#12 by richard forex trading on August 11, 2010 - 12:38 am

Cheers .. thanks mate. I wanted to get a forex currency trading blog together and was worried about using a hyphen as well for my intended domain name but feel more comfortable now after reading this.

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#14 by Michael Vargo on June 13, 2010 - 11:00 pm

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#16 by Matthew Sherborne on April 27, 2010 - 9:16 pm

Using proper keywords in your domain name is also a great idea for Google optimization of your site. I’ve noticed that having the main keyword in your domain name can really impact your natural search engine results.

#17 by Dave on April 21, 2010 - 12:50 pm