Thursday, November 5, 2009

For Online Success Choosing the Right Domain Name is Crucial


Author: BrianRS
So what is it exactly that makes a really good domain name, in fact to be successful on line its not just a good domain name you need it is a great domain name and understanding that will help you achieve on line success.

Getting a great domain name will take a bit of effort but there are tools available to help you find the right name and to check it's availability.

There are also do's and dont's in domain name selection which will help form the basis of putting the name together.

The Do's

* Make it easy to spell and hard to get confused
* Easily pronounced with spelling that ideally can only be done one way
* Easy to remember, usually that means short and succinct
* Can be used as a brand name

The Don'ts

* Use suffixes that are hard to remember, .com is the favorite and is what nearly everyone looking for your domain name will guess at, others options are becoming more popular however
* If possible don't use multiple dots, hyphens or underlines to break up your domain name, people find this hard to remember, trust me I know about this one from experience. Single use of these can work sometimes, this is a judgment call about whether it means the choice of getting the right words for your domain name versus having to use other words.
* Use words that end and start with the same letter, unless you decide it is worth dropping in a hyphen reference my comment above e.g. personalloans.com could have a hyphen, dot or underscore placed between the first and seond word, probably already gone though.

In order to sort out a great domain name it is worth enlisting the help of a few friends, people who understand the concept of brainstorming and who have a natural ability with words, just sit down with them and get creative.

Make a short list of potential names say about 15 to 20 and then use a domain registration website to see what is available. Remember that what you are trying to put together is your most important keyword phrase that will get traffic to your site so make sure you have researched what people enter into search engines when looking for your website theme, service or business. It is also worth remembering that the name you come up will need to be communicated verbally and in written text so if it is easy to pronounce and read people are more likely to recall it.

You also need to consider where geographically you want to do business and target your website to those locations and in the language relevant to those locations. It may even be worth including the location in the name if it can be done effectively and doesn't become to unwieldy i.e. putting UK, FR, or USA as part of the name if appropriate could make a big difference to focusing on the right audience and get the visitors to your site that are truly interested in what you are offering.

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