Choosing the proper domain for your website can be crucial to its success. By registering the wrong domain you might find that it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to switch later. In fact, you would be putting both brand recognition and search engine rankings on the line when doing so. That’s why it’s important that you follow some simple tips (while also utilizing some simple tools) in order to make sure you choose the right domain name from the very beginning! In this article I’m going to discuss some of the most popular tips and tools you can use to get great domain ideas, and then be able to do bulk availability lookups to find one that’s already available!
When starting a new blog or website you may find it takes several hours to think and search for the right domain. It can be a very stressful situation because people don’t want to make a mistake. To make this process a little easier, keep these 10 tips in mind:
1. Stick with .COM
2. Use keywords in your domain
3. Make it easy to pronounce and spell
4. Avoid hyphens in your domain
5. Leave room to expand
6. Make it unique and brandable
7. Utilize domain generators
8. Avoid double letters
9. Try and keep it short
10. Research your domain name
There are plenty of new domain extensions hitting the market each month now. You could register a .com, .net, .pizza, or even .blog domains. However, it’s always best for new websites to try and stick with .COM. That’s because it’s easiest to remember and still the most credible extension to date. As for keywords, these can be a great idea to include because it’ll be harder for users to misspell them and at one time keywords in your domain could help with search engine rankings. Domains that are easy to spell and pronounce can be great when doing things like radio advertising. You want your domains to be as simple as possible for people to remember anytime they want to visit. At the same time, by making them somewhat brandable it sets you apart from the competition and assures someone looking for something will always think of you first! Tools like domain generators can be great for getting ideas and checking availability. A simple Google search will reveal hundreds of domain generators you can use and most are free. Simply enter in a term or two and the generator will come up with several ideas you can use.
Hyphens and double-letters can be difficult for people to remember and type into the address bar. For that reason, I also recommend you try and avoid putting those into your domain name. Think about it, what would be easier for someone to remember and visit: WebHosting.com or Web-Hosting.com. There is definitely a big difference there! Finally, you should try and research your newly discovered domain before registering it. Use tools like Web.Archive.Org to see if the domain you’re thinking about registering was previously developed. Then, use sites like Majestic to make sure the domain wasn’t used for spammy purposes and has a clean link profile. Once you’ve done all of that, you should be all set to complete your registration and begin developing your new website.
Some domain generators won’t automatically check domain availability for you. If that’s the case, I recommend using Notepad to create a large list of domain ideas you like. Then, use the bulk domain availability checker at DynaDot to see which ones are available for you to register.
