You have everything sorted out, your business plan, expansion, and brand building. Almost everything is in place except for a small but million-dollar problem – a domain name! Choosing domain names can be very tricky especially if you have business ambitions attached to them.
When choosing a domain name, make sure to follow our checklist below, which will help you select the right domain.
1) Keep It Short
A good domain name is always short, simple & memorable. The longer your domain name is, the lesser the chances are that your readers will remember them. A lot of bloggers try to choose a long term keyword as their domain so that they can rank for it.
This is an outdated practice that doesn’t work anymore, and the chances of getting handed with a penalty from Google is also very high. I prefer using 15 characters or less when choosing a domain.
Now keeping it short doesn’t mean super short like 3 characters or something. Too short & you will lose the trust of your readers and come across like a spammy site. Remember that having a good click-through rate is extremely important and a short domain name will help you achieve just that.
2) Check Whether It Is Available Or Not (first and foremost)
Save your time and do yourself a favor, the next time you get a domain idea first check with a domain registrar site of its availability before flirting with the idea of finalizing it or not.
Way too many times I’ve seen users thinking of a domain name without even checking its availability! It will be then foolish on your part to go ahead and make branding plans around it only to find out that it isn’t available in the first place.
So open the search box of any domain site and type the domain as and when any ideal ones come into your mind.
3) Avoid Using Special Characters
Having special characters in your domain like should always be avoided at all costs. Again if you don’t aspire your domain name to be looked on as a spammy one please avoid doing this.
A good domain name is a brandable name and a brandable name is free of special characters and is to the point. When was the last time you saw a trusted website having special characters or even numerical for that matter?
Spammy and risky sites always have special characters in their domain for some reason. And if your site has that, too then it’s a turn off for your readers.
4) Use A Brandable Name
Again, I’m guilty of focusing too much on brand when choosing a domain name and you should too. A domain name can be short and free of special characters and still not be a marketable domain.
A brandable domain name is such that you can use it without the .com extension on all the social media platforms and elsewhere as well. Think of all possible scenarios if your website grows exponentially in a few years.
Now can you use that domain name and turn it into a brand? If not then it’s time to rethink your domain strategy.
Visualize your brand name in the form of merchandise, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and so on. Does your current domain name sound cool enough to position itself in the market? You need to think in this manner for your domain name to strike a chord with your audience.
When people talk to each other they should be able to take your site name with ease and you should too.
5) Don’t Fret Too Much Thinking About Various Names
Analysis paralysis. On a given day you might get hundreds of ideas that can be turned into a domain. Not that it’s bad but limit yourself when finding a lot of domains that sound too much like each other.
Aim for a good variety so that you can choose later on. If you’re on it for days soon you’ll have so many names that it will be impossible to shortlist from them. Make sure you don’t do this as it isn’t a good problem to have.
6) Shortlist 4-5 Domain Names And Finalize From It
Shortlisting domains are good but take strict measures when shortlisting them. Don’t just shortlist everything as it will create problems. Only shortlist domains that are available for use and ticks all your boxes.
Having 4-5 strong domain names shortlisted is the way to go. Next, run a thorough check on all of them to narrow down to that one name that you think trumps all of them. Take help from your family & friends as well if you’re comfortable.
7) A .com Is Always Preferred
Extensions like .me, .xyz might sound fancy but they offer little to no value in terms of SEO, CTR & more when creating a site. .com extensions are professional and the way to go.
No successful blog/site has a domain extension other than the standard .com. Of course, there might be some exceptions but they are not a clear cut winner in this case.
There’s a reason why such extensions are cheaper than a standard .com extension. Moreover, a lot of guys use these extensions to rip off famous sites and it often doesn’t end well for them.
If you want to go strictly local then it is ok to go for a .uk or .in like domains. But if that is not the case for you steer clear from them and go the standard more professional way.
8) No Rip-Offs Please
Rip-offs are not cool let me tell you that. Too many site owners think they can leverage some traffic by messing up a few characters from a well-built site. Not only is this a wrong practice but it doesn’t serve any purpose from a traffic perspective as well.
A ripped off domain name can never turn into a good brand. It is not trusted by the audience and is looked at as a spammy site.
Chances of your site getting taken down are also high once you are on the radar of the main website you ripped off.
9) Delaying The Buying Process
The most important part. You have chosen the right domain, the one that you’re sure is a sure-shot winner. But what do you do? You decide to sleep over it and delay the buying task for some other day!
A winning domain name that is available should always be grabbed with both hands as quickly as possible. Delaying it over some other day will only result in some other chap taking it away from you. After this, you’ll have to go through your process all over again to find another one.
So buy it as quickly as you have finalized it; you can buy the cheapest domain name from Namecheap.
You can read our full review here.