How To Choose A Domain Name For Your Website or Blog?

Choosing a domain name is the first thing that you do when you plan to create a new website or plan to start a new blog. Picking the right domain name is one of the most important things you’ll do for your website or blog and it will really make a big difference in your online business success.

Is it really important to spend time choosing a domain name?

Well, many people think that if they have a quality website or a reputed well-known business and they have great content, people will visit their website, no matter what the domain name is. That’s true up to some extent, even alone a great domain name can not help you make your business successful.

But, having a perfect domain name for your website or blog can help you as well as your online business in many ways. Your domain name is the first thing your visitors will see. A good domain name can make a positive and lasting impression on your website or blog visitors, which can actually make or break your online business.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a unique address of your website or blog on the internet. You can buy a domain name and it will be yours as long as you continue paying the annual fee of your domain. It is also known as URL (uniform resource locator) people can simply type your domain name in their browser’s address bar, and they are sent to your website or blog. You need a domain name if you want to start a website or blog.

A domain name is more than just an online address. It is your website or blog, your business and maybe your online identity. That’s why you should invest some time in choosing a perfect domain name for your online business. Choose a domain name that is recognizable, easy to remember, and represents you and your brand. Examples of domain names are Amazon.com, Apple.com, and Google.com.

How to Choose a Domain Name for your New Website or Blog?

In this post, I will walk you through how to choose the right domain name that will benefit your site in the long run. These are the 8 tips for choosing a perfect domain name for your website or blog. Also, at the end of this post, I will tell you about some of the online tools (domain name generators) that you can use to generate the domain name for your new online business in just a few minutes.

#1 Brandable

A brandable domain name is creative and unique which stands out from the competition, while a generic domain name is usually stuffed with keywords and unmemorable for your website visitors.

For Example – healthinsuranceadvisor.com, it’s a very generic domain name, people are not going to remember this domain name, you will never see people talking about such domain name or even such business. Also, the slight variations in the spelling in the above domain can make it even more competitive and worse.

A brandable domain name is always better than any generic domain name. The simple rule is, if you can print your domain name (or logo) on your t-shirt and it won’t look weird, that’s a perfect brandable domain name. For Example: Google.com

#2 Short & Simple

When it comes to domain name, short names are always better. Try for 6-14 character domain name, and remember the shorter, the better.

But, most likely you won’t be able to find a good short domain name, as the shorter domain names are taken a long time ago. In that case, choose the one that is more brandable or you can try with a different domain extension.

My own blog – WebRecourse.com is exactly 11 characters.

#3 Easy to Type

A domain name should be easy to spell and type so that your website visitors would be able to type your domain name without a problem. If you need to tell the spelling of your domain name multiple times then that’s a complicated one.

Think of these brands (domain names) Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, the one thing common in all these domain names are that they are easy to spell and type.

Also, avoid those domain names where there is a high chance of mistyping, that will lead your website visitors to some other website. To test how easy your domain name is to spell and type, just tell your domain name to 10-12 people if most of them can spell your domain name correctly, you are choosing a good domain name.

#4 Easy to Pronounce

A domain name should be easy to pronounce so that your website visitors can easily share your domain name by word-of-mouth and even it will be easier for you to share your website with your friends and potential customers.

You can test this, the same way as we did with spelling, ask your 10-12 friends to pronounce your domain name. If they struggle to pronounce your that then you need to reconsider and simplify it. These two things (easy to spell and easy to pronounce) are very important if you want your website or blog to go viral.

#5 Avoid Numbers & Hyphens

We just discussed, a good domain name is the one that is easy to spell and pronounce. Having numbers or hyphens makes it difficult to spell and pronounce both.

If you have numbers in your domain name, you will always need to explain that, if that is numeric or text. For Example – the domain name top10mobiles.com can also be written as toptenmobiles.com, it will always be confusing to your website visitors.

Same goes with the hyphens, you always need to tell people that there is a hyphen in between the words. The bottom line is, just stick to the letters and avoid numbers and hyphens in your domain name.

#6 Keywords in Your Domain Name

Keywords in your domain name can help you win in search engine optimization (SEO) so that your website or blog posts rank high in search results. But you should be very careful while choosing a domain name having your main keyword(s).

If you try to awkwardly stuff keywords into your domain name, it won’t be brandable then, it will become a generic domain name (which we discussed in the beginning). If you choose to use keywords, try to put the keywords at the beginning of your domain name. That’s where they’ll be the most powerful for your ranking.

#7 Choose The Right Domain Name Extension

Well, “.com” is the most popular and easiest to remember domain extension. When someone tells their domain name without extension, first I always open that with a “.com” extension, it’s same with every one of us.

As per the research from domain registrars, “.com” is the most popular domain extension, followed by “.net” and then “.org”.

I suggest: go with a “.com” extension and if that is not available then go for “.net” or “.org” extensions. Some country specific extensions are also good, for example, in India, you can go with “.in” or “.co.in” domain extensions. Strictly avoid those weird extensions like “.club”, “.blog”, “.space” and so on.

#8 Check Availability on Social Media Sites

When you are creating your website or starting a blog, you are definitely going to create social media pages as well. Having a social media presence for your online business is very important for the success of your business.

And you won’t want the domain name (brand name) you are choosing is already taken on social media sites. As to build your brand, it’s ideal to have the same name across your domain and social networks.

You can use this tool, Knowem to quickly check the availability of names on all popular social networking sites. Avoid the domain name that is already taken on popular social networking sites, as it will be confusing for your site visitors.

Also, to avoid legal issues, stay away from those names that already have trademarks registered. Above tool will help you in that as well, but do check manually also.

Best Domain Name Generator(s)

By now, you have got the idea, how to choose the perfect domain name for your new website or blog. Once you are finalized with some keyword options, it’s time to brainstorm ideas for your domain name. While you can do that manually without using any special tools, it’s often difficult because you’ll end up choosing the domain names that are already taken (lot’s of time wastage).

Using a domain name generator will help simplify the process by brainstorming for you and making sure that all its suggestions are actually available for purchase. Here are my favorite tools that I always use when I need to buy a new domain name.

#1 Lean Domain Search

It’s my favorite domain name generator tool, I always use when I need to buy a domain name for my own use or for my clients. It’s a completely free tool from Automatic Team (the same team that created WordPress and many other amazing plugins and tools), you can use to find the best domain name for your new website or blog.

All you have to do is, enter your keyword(s) and press enter and within a second it will list you all the available domain names having your keywords in the beginning or at the ending of the domain name.

Also, you can sort the result alphabetically or with popularity or with domain name length. Choose a domain name that is short, brandable, easy to spell and pronounce and having your main keyword in the beginning.

Below are the other popular domain name generator tools you can use.

#2 Domain Wheel

This is another popular domain name generator tool to find a new domain name related to your keywords. You just need to enter your keyword(s) and press enter, it will list you all the available domain names having your keywords in the domain name either in the beginning or in middle or at the end of the name.

#3 Wordoid

This tool allows you to put in a keyword, it will come up with ideas that either contain that word, begin with that word or end with that word. Again a very easy and useful tool to find and generate a perfect domain name for your new online business.

Conclusion

Believe me, your domain name will have a significant impact on the success and potential of your online business. It is completely worth spending time on choosing a perfect domain name for your new website or blog.

Make sure to put some careful thought into choosing your domain name. Use the domain name generator (tools) and the tips I have given above to choose the best domain name for your new online venture. All the best.