This article will help in opening your mind to see the many issues that comes with selecting a domain name. Many people do not put much thought into their domain name. Many people will think up a few names and then try them out on a domain name checker to see if they are taken. For many people, that is the beginning and end of their choosing process. This article will expose you to the many issues involved in domain name selection.
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Prior to the net bubble bursting, people were investing thousands in domain names, buying them up because they thought that certain ones had more value than others. This turned out to be untrue, where even though some domain names are more valuable than others, it does not usually warrant the spending of thousands of dollars. You can choose a great domain name and pay just a few dollars to register it. You could also try buying a pre-owned domain name so that you may take advantage of any traffic it still has, or any links that are still pointing towards it.
Here are some things to consider before choosing your domain name.
1 – How easy it is to type into the address bar
When the Internet bubble burst in the year 2001, a large part of the reason why so much money was lost was because of the basic misunderstanding of how future Internet surfers would navigate the Internet. It was widely believed that Internet users would type the name of the item they wanted him to their browsers address bar. This is the reason why domain names such as pet.com and porn.com were sold for so many millions. Obviously, their investment was not worth the potential amounts they could reclaim, and that is where the void (bubble) came into effect.
Nevertheless, you should consider how easy your domain name is to type into the address bar. Frequent visitors to websites have been known to type the address of the website into the web browser directly. It is in your best interests to make the users’ job as easy as possible.
2 – How similar it is to your competitors
Some Internet experts will tell you that having a domain name that is similar to your competitors have potential benefits. For example there’s a chance that you will gain a few of their customers through their misunderstanding of your websites domain name vs. the competitor’s websites domain name. The slight potential advantage that having a similar domain name may bestow is outweighed substantially by the enumerate number of disadvantages and problems it is going to lend you.
Even if your domain name strikes a similarity to a competitor’s domain name, then change into something else. The inconvenience of not having your chosen domain name is nothing compared to the heaps of problems that using a similar domain name will cause.
3 – How memorable your domain name is
There are lots of ways that your potential customer is going to be able to navigate your website. For example the user may use his/her favourites bar like; RSS feed, email link, directory, search engine, and many more. You cannot ignore the fact that the user may type your websites domain name into their web browsers address bar. If your domain name is memorable, if not catchy, then it increases the chances that the web user is going to type your domain name into the address bar and navigate to your website.
Oddly enough what usually happens is that a user will remember your domain name and then type it into Google, whereupon hopefully your website will pop up, along with a number of positive websites that supports your domain name (i.e. it does not pop up surrounded by negative reviews).
4 – Is it even available for you to have?
This one may seem like its obvious, but you’ll be surprised how many people start designing leaflets and web pages for their domain name, only to find that somebody else got it. There are quite a lot of creative people out there who have probably already thought of the clever domain name that you are hoping to use for your website. You need to start checking the availability of domain names fairly early in the choosing process.
Be aware that just because a website says your domain name is available for you to purchase, does not mean that you have to purchase it from them. On some occasions it may be possible to shop around for a better price.
5 – Should you put keywords into it?
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This is a very good question and it does deserve some thought. Installing one or two keywords into your domain name may bestow a few search engine optimization benefits. However, the very act of installing keywords may be contrary to a few of the other pointers on this article, such as how easy it is to type into the address bar. You also need to consider the fact that optimizing the entire website with one or two keywords may be restrictive later on down the line when those keywords are no longer as powerful.
You may find it easier if you leave keywords out of your domain name, and then optimize your web pages for specific key words that are relevant to that specific page. This will give you a lot more freedom to experiment with your keywords, and will help you to optimize each page specifically and individually.
6 – Which keywords are going to restrict future trading?
This is an element that should also affect how you actually name your business. It is very unwise to put in certain words because those words may restrict you in the future. For example, the stores that used to call themselves video stores have a lot of trouble when DVDs took over. The same could happen with your domain name if you’re not very smart about which words you choose for it. If you are not careful, you could end up in the same boat as all those video stores were a few years ago.
7 – How much is it going to cost you?
Even though the Internet bubble has burst and people are now more aware of how much domain names truly do cost, it does not change the fact that some domain names are going to cost you more than others do. Again, if you checked to see if your domain name is available during the early stages and you should already be aware of just how much your domain name is going to cost you.
8 – How clever is your domain name?
Sometimes a clever domain name is enough to get people talking, and makes for a very memorable website. Names such as WishDiary and go2bed may be both memorable and very easy to promote. Being clever also has a novelty value which you can leverage for your own needs.
9 – Is it unintentionally funny?
A therapist in Sydney may choose a name such as Syndneytherapist.com, except that it can also be read as “Sydney The Rapist”. There are also names such as Americanscarpmetal.com which can also be read as “Americans Crap Metal”. The Who Represents site looks like (whorepresents.com) also looks like “Whore Presents”.
10 – Is it pronounced the way it is spelt?
This is vitally important because if you’re winning abroad and mixed campaign then word of mouth is going to come into play. If people are telling other people the name of your website, then you want to be sure that’s the user is typing in the correct thing. You need to carefully consider how the website is going to be pronounced, how easy it is to spell, and any misunderstandings as to how it may be written.
Over to you guys
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