How To Choose The Best Domain Name

In this article we are going to look at the thought process you should go thru to choose your domain name.

First of all let's define what a domain name is.

A unique name that represents each computer on the Internet. (Some machines do have more than one domain name.) The DNS converts the domain name requested by an Internet user into an IP address.

The Domain Name System (DNS) helps users to find their way around the Internet. Every computer on the Internet has a unique address ? just like a telephone number ? which is a rather complicated string of numbers. It is called its "IP address" (IP stands for "Internet Protocol").

But it is hard to remember everyone's IP address. The DNS makes it easier by allowing a familiar string of letters (the "domain name") to be used instead of the arcane IP address. So instead of typing 64.65.51.245 , you can type www.team-schuman.com. It is a "mnemonic" device that makes addresses easier to remember.

So what makes the best internet domain name?

First of all don't pick a name that has nothing to do with your Web site. If you are selling flowers don't pick a name like apples.com. Picking an oddball name makes no sense and it will just confuse your audience.

Don't make your new domain name too long. The longer it is the harder it becomes to remember. Can you remember myflowers.com or lookatmyflowerswebsite.com?

Short names are not the way to go either. It is to your benefit to try and buy a domain name that has a few keywords that relate to the topic of you Web site when possible.

Keyword placement when choosing your domain name is helpful as your site develops a higher placement with the search engines. Having the name jeffsflowers.com will do better with a search engine than jeffssite.com. With jeffsflowers.com you know I have a flower website where with jeffssite.com you don't know what kind of Web site I have.

When registering your domain name in some cases you will need to determine if you want to use hyphens in the name itself. Personally I have found this to be a great way to get a domain name that otherwise my not be available. The domain name myflowers.com might already be taken whereas the name my-flowers.com might be available.

Everything I have read says try to get a .com domain name first before going to a .net or .org etc. As more and more domain names are taken this becomes harder to do and I think you are better off getting a keyword rich domain name like my-flowers.org than you are to buy a .com domain name like jeffssite.com.

Is buying a cheap domain name a bad idea? Absolutely not. I do it all of the time. I get all of my domain names here:

http://www.godaddy.com

Then I transfer them to my hosting company here:

http://www.team-schuman.com/host4profit.

I can buy a domain name for less than $10 from Godaddy.com and transfer it for free to Host4Profit. This saves me $20 on buying it from the hosting company itself. A domain name is a domain name and you might as well save a little money where you can.

Finding out what names are available is very easy to do. Let's use Godaddy.com as an example.

Decide what one you want and buy it One last thing to consider. Protect your name by registering multiple extensions (.net, .org, etc.) This deters people from copying your name. For example, if you own my-flowers.com you can also register my-flowers.net and any other extension that's available. As you build up traffic to your site if someone types in an version other than the .com version you can forward it to your .com site and not lose any traffic.

In closing it is important to spend a little time when choosing the best domain name for your website. Try and get some keywords in your domain name. Don't stop at choosing just a .com version and save a little money by buying a cheap domain name whenever possible as long as it still contains some keywords.

Copyright 2004 Jeff Schuman

About The Author

Jeff Schuman is the creator of several websites. His Sites-Plus.Com website is a small business website that contains the best of everything you need to start and run your own small business. Visit it here today:

http://www.sites-plus.com

http://www.team-schuman.com

In The News:

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Unsolicited Offer For My Personal Domain Name?
Slashdot - Sep 2, 2008
The submitter has a legitimate cause to use this domain name. He's also free to sell it to anyone at whatever price he/she wishes. by ArTourter (991396) on ...

123-reg Boosts Security for Domain Name Customers
HostSearch.com - Sep 5, 2008
COM) – 123-reg has increased security for its domain name customers, offering a WHOIS Privacy service. WHOIS Privacy hides domain owner information from ...

1&1 Giving Away 25 Free .Biz Domain Names
webhostdir.com, UK - Sep 5, 2008
Web hosting company and domain registrar 1&1 is giving away free .biz domain name registrations for the first year. The promotion allows you to register up ...

WELT ONLINE
Google Chrome Domain Names
Domain Name Wire, TX - Sep 2, 2008
There have been rumors of a Google browser for many years, in part because the domain name GBrowser.com was registered back in 2004 (the domain is currently ...
Video: Tech Test: Google Chrome Lacks Polish AssociatedPress
Google Chrome versus Microsoft Internet Explorer TMCnet
Could Google Chrome Actually Be Good for Domainers? Domain Name Wire
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Would You Rent A Domain Name?
Blogger News Network - Sep 4, 2008
by Allen Taylor in Blogosphere News, Business News Professional domainers have been buying and selling domain names since at least as early as 1994. ...

A third of big companies buy [their name]sucks.com domains
Neoseeker - Sep 5, 2008
Some companies really went far out of their way to purchase potentially unpleasant domain names: for example Xerox has purchased 20 unkind domain names, ...

168 million domain names
DaniWeb, VA - Sep 4, 2008
According to the VeriSign Domain Report for the second quarter of 2008 which has just been published, there were some 168 million domain name registrations ...

EstDomains, Inc: Transfer Domain Name to EstDomains, Inc Before ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Sep 4, 2008
EstDomains, Inc (http://www.estdomains.com), one of the leaders among domain name registration services providers, offers a unique opportunity to the domain ...

The Private Domain Registration & Google Dilemma
WebProNews, KY - Sep 6, 2008
Jim Boykin's Blog post is still very pertinent in this context today as the number of web scammers trying to make money out of the domain name scam seems to ...

How to Ensure Targeted Traffic to your Website
Corsavoo.com, France - 11 hours ago
The service that Targeted Traffic offers is focused mainly on offering links from purchased expired domain names. When domain names are abandoned, ...

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