
In this article, I’m going to walk you through some excellent tips on how to choose a domain name for your website.
Choosing a domain name is much like choosing a name for your business, it’s a difficult decision that can impact your success.
A lot of excellent businesses with quality products and services suffer because of their names, a mistake you can avoid.
Remember, one of the biggest businesses in the world is called “Apple”.
When starting an online business, most people will choose the first domain name that pops into their heads.
Though that strategy can work, there are some quality tips you should know to further improve your chances for success.
How to Choose a Domain Name for Your Website?
When it comes to choosing a name for a website, most people over-think the process and spend too much time worrying about the name.
I’m here to tell you that a domain name can have a negative or positive impact on your business, but it’s also not the most important thing about a website.
There’s no need to spend months trying to think of the perfect domain name.
So many people get stuck on this aspect and never end up following through with their original idea. It’s much better to get that part of the business out of the way. Then you can focus on growing and building the business.
However, there are a few guidelines that you want to follow.
First, let’s talk about keywords.
Think About Branding When Choosing Your Domain:
Over anything else, think about your brand first. It’s great if you can fit a niche related keyword within your domain name, but it doesn’t have to happen.
You want a brand-able domain name that’s…
- Catchy
- Easy to Remember
- Fun
- Easy to Spell
- Short and Sweet
Ideally we want a keyword in our domain name that’s related to your website niche. Let’s talk about why that’s important next.
Keywords, Domain Names, and Online Traffic:
Traffic is the key to online success. More traffic equals more sales. To bring in more traffic, it’s a good idea to buy a domain name that is an exact keyword match.
Thankfully, this is really easy with our favorite keyword research tool.
I’ll walk you through the process.
First, head over to Jaaxy and create an account.
(I recommend a premium account because it removes the search limits)
You can also completely try them out for FREE!
30 Free Searches:
Login and you’ll see the search area, this is where you’ll type in keyword phrases to find keywords for your domain name.
First, we’ll want to find a keyword to target that’s related to your website theme or niche. Whatever your site will be about.
Then we’ll want to buy the exact match domain name for that keyword, if it’s available.
So think about your website and your plan for your website, what is its purpose?
What’s the goal of your website?
Brainstorm Domain Names with Keywords:
Type in something related to your niche and see what pops up.
For instance, if I wanted to make another website, similar to this one, that exposes online scams and teaches people how to make money online, I’ll enter something like, “How to make money online”.
Obviously that’s an extremely competitive keyword, but the other results and suggestions will make it easier for us to find other related keywords.
So all you really have to do is keep an eye out for keywords that have low competition and some traffic.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to have a thesaurus open to check for word variations in a keyword.
Ideally, the keyword should have a green color code and less than 100 QSR (those are competing websites).
Take your time but don’t spend too much time on this process because building your website should be your number one priority!
When you find a keyword that looks good, like the one I found in the example below, click on “Search” under the “Domain” label.
This will do a quick check to see if there is a domain name for that exact keyword.
If there is a domain available, click the “.com” option, and you’ll be redirected to a check-out page.
Here you can also choose if you want Wealthy Affiliate to host your website, something that I highly recommend as it includes a lot of awesome tools and features.
Once that’s done, you can start building the website by adding rich keyword-targeted articles to bring in traffic and cash.
So if you’re still wondering how to choose a domain name for your website, now you can see it’s really simple!
Why Target Keywords with Domain Names?
You don’t have to target a keyword in the domain name, but I think it’s a good idea because you’ll benefit from additional traffic.
Google ranks exact-match keyword domains higher in search engine results.
In other words, if someone searches for a specific keyword, a website with that keyword in the URL will rank higher.
Wanna Read More?
HOW TO MAKE A PROFITABLE WEBSITE? Read this Post!
So that will bring in some extra traffic, and who can say no to extra traffic?
Of course, if you already have a name for your website in mind, then you can skip this whole process and head straight to the domain registration.
In a nutshell, it’s better for search engine optimization to target a keyword in the domain name.
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The Perfect Domain Name:
Ideally if you can keep your domain name short and sweet, you’ll create brand name recognition and your business name will be more memorable.
I have another site I will develop in the future based on my skills as an Occupational Therapist.
I absolutely love the name and it’s also contains a keyword that I would target. The name is fun, easy to remember, and has good brand name potential.
It’s TherapyBoy.com. Not too bad right.
Try to keep it short, but if you can’t find something like my example, go with a few keywords that are integral to the theme of whatever your site is about.
Domain Names: What if the .COM I Want is Taken?
You can go with a .edu if your site is more educational based.
Dot org or net is also fine.
I’d still recommend going with a .com. I know times are changing with domain names, but for now I’d stick to the these 4.
.com
.org
.edu
.net
Got Your Domain, What About Hosting?
Normally, to create a website you’ll need to buy a domain name and web-hosting and then manually connect them both.
The prices for web hosting varies but most cost between $6 to $20 a month.
But you can avoid all that and use Wealthy Affiliate as a host.
Wealthy Affiliate grants you access to a really cool website builder that you can use to build a website in a matter of seconds.
And there are also a lot of cool tools like Site Comments that you can’t use unless you use Wealthy Affiliate as a host.
Site Comments is an comment exchange service where you acquire credits for leaving comments on people’s websites, and those credits can be spent to buy comments.
This helps you get your posts ranked faster, google loves comments and social shares.
The best part is that the hosting is included in the price of a premium membership!
Not to mention the fact that connecting a domain name to a hosting service can be quite a hassle and it usually takes a few days for the connection to register.
With Wealthy Affiliate, it’s instant, and the site builder is all click-based.
To Learn More About Wealthy Affiliate, Read this In-depth Review >>
So hopefully you now can see how to choose a domain name for your website is quite easy!
And with the tricks mentioned in this article, you’ll have a website up and running in a matter of minutes.
Did you learn something new about how to choose a domain name for your website? Leave a comment below and socially share this post!
You never know who you may help.
Hi Todd,
I agree with you that targeting a keyword in the domain name will benefit you from additional traffic. And also a mention of Wealthy Affiliate makes me feel the worth of my life.
Wealthy affiliate is comparable to no other. Wealthy Affiliate is the best place to be for anyone who would like to succeed in online Marketing Business/Business.
Now, according to your comment, you don’t recommend anyone to use dot Net right? Could you tell me more about this please?
Great post and thank you for sharing !!!
Hi Pat,
Thanks for your feedback on choosing a domain name using keyword research as well as your testimony to the Wealthy Affiliate training center.
As far as a.net domain name goes, that wouldn’t be too bad. This aspect of online business is changing and will evolve with time. In general, I feel you should still go with a .com. If that domain name is not available, try to stick with a .edu or a .org domain name.
That seems to be what most of the current evidence supports, but again this is an evolving field, so you might be fine with a .net name.
I think the decision on what you choose as your suffix domain is based on how the public perceives it more so than on search engine optimization.
Thanks,
Todd
Thanks for your take on this Todd. Domain name sufix importance may change in the future. I can see where the keywords are more important for the search engines. While the comfort of familiarity is important to users, meaning the .com thing.
But I think this is changing as well.
Yes, totally agree. The last marketing guru I worked with insisted on .com’s in her clients domains. Time will tell.
Best
Choosing a domain name is everyone’s nightmare when starting an internet business. I agonised over mine and wasted so much time overthinking. My son rang me up one night and said. “Dad! call your website flourishing father online”.
He said that my dad skills had an impact on him being a father. I felt a bit choked after that comment and listed all the keywords to flourishing and dad. Seventy blogs later I get emails from Dad who needs advice on being a Dad. I agree keywords are crucial and Jaaxy certainly is a great tool to have in your website toolbox.
Thanks for sharing your experience in choosing a Domain Name for your website Richard. That’s a great story and offers a bit more meaning than my cold keyword approach. But that’s the cool thing with site domain names and business names, sometimes they’re inspired.
Good stuff, cheers,
Todd
Hello Todd,
Thank you for sharing a very informative article about choosing a domain for a website. You wrote an in-depth article that can be very helpful for anybody who is struggling to choose a right domain for his website.
It can be a challeng to figure this out sometimes. Great post with plenty of really helpful information. I really learned a lot and will be checking out some keywords using Jaaxy to help me decide my domain name.
Have a great day
Karlo
Awesome Karlo, happy to help. If you want to learn more about keywords, keyword placement, as well as some other awesome ranking tips, check out our Free eBook on Targeting Traffic.
It’s perfect for whatever niche your in and for any online business that needs more Free Traffic!
Cheers,
Todd
I like what this article mentions about what you should do if the “.com” version is taken. It makes sense that you can either contact the domain owner to buy it or choose something like “.org” or “.edu” if appropriate. It’s something to remember because if it could help get the domain it could be good to do.
Thanks Tyler for your feedback. It’s always a bit of a pain to think of a good domain name, but fun when you get it right.
I think keyword research should always be considered. With Jaaxy, you do this all at once. I pay yearly for Jaaxy, so for 50 cents/day and it’s one of the most used tools for me, I think it’s well worth the value.
Best,
Todd
I agree with you when you say some people really overthink this step.
Ok yes, it is important, but it is not the most important thing to develop your business.
I think with a little research using a tool like Jaaxy that you mention can get you some good ideas flowing in a short space of time.
The main thing is to keep it simple. Would you agree?
To the point and relevant to what your business is about.
I think you offer some excellent advice here and it is good guidance for those that are starting out.
Great work!
Thanks
Chris
Hi Chris,
Totally agree. Think of your brand, keep it simple, have a keyword based on your niche then back to the main focus, building out the foundation to your online business.
For those that don’t know which direction to take, I recommend Wealthy Affiliate because the have step by step directions on pretty much everything related to an online business.
Cheers,
Todd
I went the branding route and took my own name as my domain. One of he reasons I did this was because in the beginning I kept changing my mind about what I wanted my site to be about. I didn’t want to have to keep starting over again because I know that Google doesn’t rank new sites very well. You can brand the site with your own name and then use a key word (phrase) in the title and of course in the title of the posts. I also think it’s important that your domain gives you room to grow. If it’s too narrow you’ll get bored and I think Google reward sites with lots of content over exact match key words in the domain.
Great points Deb. Sounds like your getting your white hat info from Wealthy Affiliate. Good for you.
You might also want to check out my Free eBook on Targeting Traffic.
There’s a few more white hat seo tricks that will boost your ranking organically.
Thanks for your feedback on choosing a domain name, this will help others as well.
Cheers,
Todd