It is very important to have not just a general idea, but to have a specific game plan in place. The common advice goes to start small, and grow over time. Now that you have your niche in mind, let's talk about grabbing that all-important domain name to direct traffic your way. Before I get ahead of myself, lets start with the basics... what exactly is a domain name?
"Domain Name (noun): A series of alphanumeric strings separated by periods, such as www.hmco.com, that is an address of a computer network connection and that identifies the owner of the address." -Dictionary.com
So a domain name is that all important "example.com" that you use to direct people to the place on the internet where your website is stored, or your web hosting. Some people think initially that domain names are big and expensive purchases, they aren't. A domain name can be bought in seconds, and readied within 24 hours, for under $10 by a domain name client like GoDaddy.com, NameCheap.com, 1and1.com or Register.com.
Before I take you through the process of finding and registering that winning address, I want to define the two types of domain names: private and public. No, not referring to who can and who can't see your website... I'm talking about the information you register with. I recommend 1and1.com to register domains (for now) because they offer free private registration with every .com name. When you register a domain name, you are required to submit all your contact information... which becomes publicly available to anyone who looks. So basically, unless you register privately (anonymously), you are going to be sharing your contact information with the world. Most places tack on a few bucks for a private registration, but some will give it to you for free... so be aware!
Know What Makes A Good Domain Name
Okay, so you know what your website is about... but "money.com" is already registered, eh? Time to dig deep and find that diamond in the rough domain name that nobody has registered. Great domain names exist, you just have to look for them. I want to give you an idea of what you are looking for, before you actually start looking. Here's a list of good and bad domain name formats:
Great Domain Names: Really good domain names are going to be the one-word and two-word domain names that aren't separated by a hyphen, space or anything (word.com or wordword.com). Of course, the words should always be somewhat related.
Good Domain Names: Take those two word domain names and add a hyphen in between the words if it isn't available. If it's short (like ebook-rich.com), then you have a good domain name. If it's longer, I'd suggest going back to the drawing board and looking for one without a hyphen as it lowers value.
Poor Domain Names: I would only recommend ".com" domain names. If the ".net" version of your favorite name is available, keep it on standby and continue looking. You don't want more than two words (unless its a prefix or suffix like "thenetfool.com" or "webhostingpro.com") in any domain name.
In all, you want a domain name that search engines will pick up on easily, giving you better rankings. Have your keywords in the domain name if possible, and try to limit the length of your domain name to 16 characters (not including .com, .net, etc) max.
Finding A Winner
There are a lot of domains taken, but don't think there aren't a lot of good ones available. You might have to be creative to get what you want... so there are quite a few tools to get the creative juices flowing. First of all, open up a word document and load up a domain name website like GoDaddy.com. This will be for checking if a domain name is available, and recording the ones that are in the word file. We want to start building a list of available domain names that you can look back on when you are done to choose your favorite.
Basically, I recommend sitting down and plugging in different word combinations until you get something you liked. You can see my thought process in the text file above. Here is a list of tools to get you on your way:
Dislexicon - A great tool that takes common words like "money" and generates short domain names that look like they could be real words.
JustDropped - This site gets you a great list of domain names that have recently expired and are fresh on the market.
DomainsBot - A popular search engine that is geared specifically to helping you come up with good domain names.
The most important thing is to keep at it, you'll know when you found a good one. Keep tracking the names that are available, add them to your list, and keep searching. If you can build a list of 15-20 available domain names, you are sure to find a keeper!
I hope you enjoyed this lesson on finding a good domain name. Some people stress the importance of a domain name far too much for anyone's good. And while it's really important to have a brandable, easy to remember, and search engine friendly domain name, in the long run it is up to your content to get your blog popular. Part three of our series here is going to take you through actually "registering" that domain name, as well as web hosting... so stay tuned!
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