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Tips For Deciding on Your Website’s Domain Name

Author: Deborah Anderson Published: 09/01/2015
Categories: Branding, Marketing

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Choosing the name of your website domain may seem simple until you start to go through the process. There are several things you need to consider when you are trying to find the best choice for your web page address. Here are just a few tips as you think about your company’s new domain.

Don’t spend time choosing your extension.

Although you should choose your domain name carefully, it is not advisable to get creative with the extension. There are many available, but it is still the .com extension that is by far the most dominant, and it is also the extension that new customers will assume your business is using when they are searching for your website. However, if you find the perfect name for your URL, but you find that the .com extension is already taken, you might want to consider using .net. This is clearly the second choice for commercial websites. If you are operating a non-profit website, then you should think about using a .org extension. This is the best choice for many non-profit organizations.

Don’t feel you must choose a single name.

The truth is that domain name registration is cheap. For a small amount of money, you can have the name for an entire year, and there is no obligation to renew the name. The importance of understanding this is that if you have two names that you like equally, you can register both of them. The beautiful part of it is, you can actually use both of these names if you like. The company that you register your domains with will want to know where to send people when they enter your URL. This information will come from your Internet service provider. You can have more than one name pointed to your website. For example, you may have come up with the perfect name for your site, but you want to register both the extensions of .com and .net. You can have both of these URLs pointed to your website. Either address will take your customers to your company’s web page.

Think about including one or more of your keywords.

If you are in the process of creating or have already created your website, you most likely have a few keywords that you will be using for your search engine optimization and ranking of your website. Using a keyword in your URL will augment your efforts to be found easily in a search engine. Of course, these keywords need to be directly related to what you are selling, so your new customers can find your site.

Experiment with various names.

There are several domain registration companies that have search engines to help you find what is available and what is not. Try not to assume that the name you want is taken. Domain names frequently expire and are available to the first person that pays for the registration. One example of a company that has a domain search is Network Solutions.

About the author: Deborah is the “secret” SEO ninja and internet marketer from the very beginning (and sought after by the legendary Corey Rudl, and other industry pioneering greats). For more information about Deborah (aka Deborah E), visit the “About” page.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Pawan Kumar says:
    09/07/2015 at 3:16 am

    Hey Deborah, does EMDs still in play? I’ve been thinking of launching one new blog, which will have a couple of pages, i.e., I’m looking to book an exact match domain. Does this still play a major role in getting better rankings or not? Yes, I’m looking for micro-niche website only. Thanks for the tips.

    • Deborah E. Anderson says:
      03/03/2017 at 5:47 am

      Hello, Pawan. Great question. The answer is suitable for another article (or at least discussion) on the topic. There are places where EMDs would do well if used/utilized properly. So, that answer would be “yes.” However, it isn’t always as easy as a simple “yes.”

  • Khagesh Darji says:
    09/22/2015 at 1:36 am

    Hey Deborah,
    Thanks a lot for the information, it really helped me in selecting my website domain name.
    Your blog is always helping me.
    Keep sharing 🙂

  • Vamsi M says:
    09/29/2015 at 10:58 am

    Hi Deborah,

    Great article there! Deciding on the domain name is one of the hardest job for a professional blogger. Usually, I prefer to have 3 to 4 keywords and check for available domains with the help of domain searching tools. That works for me all the time.

  • Windows says:
    10/06/2015 at 10:33 am

    i always choose the domain with most relent keyword and data , so thanks for share that knowledge

  • Kanayo says:
    11/05/2015 at 10:52 am

    Actually Deborah, I just registered a domain and I struggled with the extension as the one I wanted had been chosen. so instead I went with a domain with a hyphen (-). But I came very close to going with a .co domain, as those are becoming very popular, and will only increase in popularity in due time.

    Plus there are already many very popular domains that have the .co extension. so either a .co or a hyphen is one way to go about it.

  • Alexis Bush says:
    12/20/2015 at 1:14 am

    Thanks for the information. i also have one website with wrong domain name and i could not renew it later and i need to creta one more domain name with my keyword.

  • romanberry says:
    12/24/2015 at 1:20 am

    Thank you so much you provide best knowledge for Selecting My website domain name

  • Kevin says:
    02/02/2016 at 1:43 am

    Thanks for sharing this information

  • Dan says:
    02/02/2016 at 9:59 am

    Coming out with a new domain has always been my headache, sometimes i feel everything is way gone. But thanks for this wonderful post. will be using them for sure. thanks

    • Deborah E. Anderson says:
      03/03/2017 at 5:40 am

      Hi Dan. I’m sorry that that has been a headache. Personally, I have a brainstorm and go search for a domain to register at that point. With that approach, it is less of a headache. But, then that is simply my personal approach to it.

  • Shweta Sharma says:
    02/14/2016 at 11:09 am

    Good, if we have right domain name so it will be helpful in SEO also.

  • Roshan Soni says:
    02/17/2016 at 10:08 am

    your article is very useful very interesting topic i am searching that kind of post thank for sharing with us keep it up.

  • Robin Morgan says:
    03/03/2016 at 11:03 pm

    Hi,Thanks for the informative post. Really helped me for my website.

  • Joevren Curmi says:
    03/05/2016 at 8:09 am

    Hi Deborah

    Great article. One suggestion that I’d like to contribute is the suggestion that before registering a domain name you can do yourself a favor and check the domain in the way back machine. Why? you want to be sure that the domain name you are going to puchase has not been used before. Again you might ask why? If it has a penalty (spam backlinks pointing to it) you will find it very difficult to get it ranked in search engines. If it has been used before you can check the backlinks of that domain name on open site explore or ahrefs.

    Joevren Curmi

  • usama says:
    03/15/2016 at 4:18 am

    very welll explained thanx for this article

  • Jai Krishnan says:
    04/07/2016 at 2:35 am

    thanks for your information,

  • atish says:
    04/26/2016 at 11:42 pm

    so nice and informative post keep it up for us..

  • dhivya a4n says:
    08/10/2016 at 12:59 am

    how we choose unique domain name.?
    how we check that ?
    what are tools are use for that?

  • promil pandey says:
    09/23/2016 at 7:29 am

    couldn’t agree more. domain name is important and it takes time. I took 2 weeks to find perfect domain. Now i am regretting i should have seen this post before deciding my domain…anyways thanks for the awesome post

  • Fontslake says:
    09/25/2016 at 2:44 am

    You are right, the Domain is the main core of business. Thanks for the information.

  • Razzak says:
    10/26/2016 at 12:15 am

    Thanks for sharing this post.

  • Bhavik Solanki says:
    03/08/2017 at 10:34 pm

    Thank you for sharing this great information. In this post give good information for choose domain name and for that in this post give information in detail that helpful for choose a good or better Web site’s domain name.

  • boltol says:
    05/05/2017 at 1:43 am

    thanks for sharing this types of valuable information

  • tombale says:
    05/09/2017 at 11:28 pm

    Thanks for sharing this information

  • john allen says:
    05/13/2017 at 11:15 pm

    Thanx for giving this information

  • jonrush says:
    05/19/2017 at 3:02 am

    Thanks for sharing this post, it’s really helpful

  • larasmith says:
    06/09/2017 at 10:25 pm

    This post give good information for choose domain name , so it’s useful for everyone.

  • Kriti says:
    06/28/2017 at 3:34 am

    Hi Deborah,
    Thanks for the article. It’s important and also confusing for anyone to decide domain name for the website. All thanks to you for easing our efforts.

    • Pawan Kumar Sep 7, 2015 @ 3:16

      Hey Deborah, does EMDs still in play? I’ve been thinking of launching one new blog, which will have a couple of pages, i.e., I’m looking to book an exact match domain. Does this still play a major role in getting better rankings or not? Yes, I’m looking for micro-niche website only. Thanks for the tips.

      ∞
      • Deborah E. Anderson Mar 3, 2017 @ 5:47

        Hello, Pawan. Great question. The answer is suitable for another article (or at least discussion) on the topic. There are places where EMDs would do well if used/utilized properly. So, that answer would be “yes.” However, it isn’t always as easy as a simple “yes.”

        ∞
    • Khagesh Darji Sep 22, 2015 @ 1:36

      Hey Deborah,
      Thanks a lot for the information, it really helped me in selecting my website domain name.
      Your blog is always helping me.
      Keep sharing 🙂

      ∞
    • Vamsi M Sep 29, 2015 @ 10:58

      Hi Deborah,

      Great article there! Deciding on the domain name is one of the hardest job for a professional blogger. Usually, I prefer to have 3 to 4 keywords and check for available domains with the help of domain searching tools. That works for me all the time.

      ∞
    • Windows Oct 6, 2015 @ 10:33

      i always choose the domain with most relent keyword and data , so thanks for share that knowledge

      ∞
    • Kanayo Nov 5, 2015 @ 10:52

      Actually Deborah, I just registered a domain and I struggled with the extension as the one I wanted had been chosen. so instead I went with a domain with a hyphen (-). But I came very close to going with a .co domain, as those are becoming very popular, and will only increase in popularity in due time.

      Plus there are already many very popular domains that have the .co extension. so either a .co or a hyphen is one way to go about it.

      ∞
      • Deborah E. Anderson Mar 3, 2017 @ 5:41

        Hey Kanayo. I’m glad you found something that works for the what you are looking for in your domain(s). Thanks for sharing.

        ∞
    • Alexis Bush Dec 20, 2015 @ 1:14

      Thanks for the information. i also have one website with wrong domain name and i could not renew it later and i need to creta one more domain name with my keyword.

      ∞
    • romanberry Dec 24, 2015 @ 1:20

      Thank you so much you provide best knowledge for Selecting My website domain name

      ∞
    • Kevin Feb 2, 2016 @ 1:43

      Thanks for sharing this information

      ∞
    • Dan Feb 2, 2016 @ 9:59

      Coming out with a new domain has always been my headache, sometimes i feel everything is way gone. But thanks for this wonderful post. will be using them for sure. thanks

      ∞
      • Deborah E. Anderson Mar 3, 2017 @ 5:40

        Hi Dan. I’m sorry that that has been a headache. Personally, I have a brainstorm and go search for a domain to register at that point. With that approach, it is less of a headache. But, then that is simply my personal approach to it.

        ∞
    • Shweta Sharma Feb 14, 2016 @ 11:09

      Good, if we have right domain name so it will be helpful in SEO also.

      ∞
      • Deborah E. Anderson Mar 3, 2017 @ 5:38

        Very true. That is why this article only covers one aspect and is not meant to be the one-article-answers-all solution 🙂

        ∞
    • Roshan Soni Feb 17, 2016 @ 10:08

      your article is very useful very interesting topic i am searching that kind of post thank for sharing with us keep it up.

      ∞
    • Robin Morgan Mar 3, 2016 @ 23:03

      Hi,Thanks for the informative post. Really helped me for my website.

      ∞
    • Joevren Curmi Mar 5, 2016 @ 8:09

      Hi Deborah

      Great article. One suggestion that I’d like to contribute is the suggestion that before registering a domain name you can do yourself a favor and check the domain in the way back machine. Why? you want to be sure that the domain name you are going to puchase has not been used before. Again you might ask why? If it has a penalty (spam backlinks pointing to it) you will find it very difficult to get it ranked in search engines. If it has been used before you can check the backlinks of that domain name on open site explore or ahrefs.

      Joevren Curmi

      ∞
    • usama Mar 15, 2016 @ 4:18

      very welll explained thanx for this article

      ∞
    • Jai Krishnan Apr 7, 2016 @ 2:35

      thanks for your information,

      ∞
    • atish Apr 26, 2016 @ 23:42

      so nice and informative post keep it up for us..

      ∞
    • dhivya a4n Aug 10, 2016 @ 0:59

      how we choose unique domain name.?
      how we check that ?
      what are tools are use for that?

      ∞
    • promil pandey Sep 23, 2016 @ 7:29

      couldn’t agree more. domain name is important and it takes time. I took 2 weeks to find perfect domain. Now i am regretting i should have seen this post before deciding my domain…anyways thanks for the awesome post

      ∞
    • Fontslake Sep 25, 2016 @ 2:44

      You are right, the Domain is the main core of business. Thanks for the information.

      ∞
    • Razzak Oct 26, 2016 @ 0:15

      Thanks for sharing this post.

      ∞
    • Bhavik Solanki Mar 8, 2017 @ 22:34

      Thank you for sharing this great information. In this post give good information for choose domain name and for that in this post give information in detail that helpful for choose a good or better Web site’s domain name.

      ∞
    • boltol May 5, 2017 @ 1:43

      thanks for sharing this types of valuable information

      ∞
      • Deborah Anderson Jun 8, 2017 @ 0:04

        Thank you for your response, Boltol. Always appreciated.

        ∞
    • tombale May 9, 2017 @ 23:28

      Thanks for sharing this information

      ∞
      • Deborah Anderson Jun 8, 2017 @ 0:04

        Thank you, Tombale. Your feedback is always appreciated. 🙂

        ∞
    • john allen May 13, 2017 @ 23:15

      Thanx for giving this information

      ∞
      • Deborah Anderson Jun 8, 2017 @ 0:03

        Thanks, John. Your response is appreciated 🙂

        ∞
    • jonrush May 19, 2017 @ 3:02

      Thanks for sharing this post, it’s really helpful

      ∞
      • Deborah Anderson Jun 8, 2017 @ 0:03

        I’m glad that you found this post helpful. Thank you.

        ∞
    • larasmith Jun 9, 2017 @ 22:25

      This post give good information for choose domain name , so it’s useful for everyone.

      ∞
    • Kriti Jun 28, 2017 @ 3:34

      Hi Deborah,
      Thanks for the article. It’s important and also confusing for anyone to decide domain name for the website. All thanks to you for easing our efforts.

      ∞

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