How To Find A Quality Domain Name For Your Site. 16

Just about any money-makin’ plan you might pick online requires that you start a web site. And if you’re like me, you’re starting new sites all the time.

So I wanted to share with you how I, as a copywriter, find the perfect domain name.

Pretty much every word in the dictionary is taken. There are plenty of two word combinations available… but the most obvious ones are usually taken. A lot of what’s left over doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense without good marketing.

MySpace.com, FaceBook.com and YouTube.com might seem like self explanatory domains to you now… but if you didn’t know what the sites were. They’d be a mystery.

Those two domains are a good example of what’s left.

BUT… those domain names aren’t bad at all. I just helped a client find the perfect domain name for his new product. It’s two words. Easy to remember. Easy to spell…

Well, why don’t I just go ahead and tell you my rules for selecting domain names.

1. They must be extremely easy to spell. Short words like… cat, hat, free are great. Stuff like “genius” isn’t good. You may think it’s easy to spell, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to mess up.

2. I like to avoid double vowels between words, and sometimes double consonants. For example, giveeasy.com is a domain name that I once considered, but that double “e” in the middle. It’s a little confusing. This can happen with consonants when double l’s or t’s get involved.

3. Less than 3 words. You can get away with breaking this rule every now and then. But in general, keep working ’til you find something that doesn’t take an hour to type in.

4. Benefit-laden. IF POSSIBLE, it’s great to have a domain name that states the benefit of your product or service. Why? Because the domain name can act like an ad for your site. It’s almost like a headline!

I bought a domain name a while back called snackawaypounds.com. Check out that benefit. Putting a benefit in the domain ALSO helps people remember the name.

Ok, those are my 4 biggest tips for selecting domain names. I could have said, always go for a .com. But you should know that.

16 thoughts on “How To Find A Quality Domain Name For Your Site.

  1. Reply John W. Furst Jan 5, 2009 5:33 am

    Thanks for the tip. Saves me some time. I am just writing up a list with tips on a small social networking blog.

    Guess what? I don’t write much just put a link to this post there.

    Thanks, man.
    And Happy 2009.

    John W. Furst’s last blog post..Twitter Nonsense

  2. Reply Bobby Carroll Jan 5, 2009 11:54 am

    When consulting with our real estate agent clients I suggest many of your recommendations. Besides selecting a domain name that is free of ambiguous characters like dashes, numeric characters and goofy spellings, I also recommend the domain name be memorable, and contain some reference to the agent’s targeted geographic audience, demographic audience or a combination of the two.

    While I understand the reason agents buy a “vanity domain” and why it is wildly popular, at the same time we recommend agents avoid using it as their primary URL. At some point the agent will leave the industry and finding another individual to sell your website/domain to that matches your name will be extremely difficult. It’s all part of an exit strategy many people overlook.

    Bobby Carroll – Dakno Real Estate Marketing
    Twitter Me: @Realestatecoach

    Bobby Carroll – Dakno Real Estate Marketing’s last blog post..Contrary to Reports – The Google Sky Isn’t Falling!

  3. Reply Gary Harvey Feb 17, 2010 4:56 am

    And there’s always the unintended oopsies to AVOID.

    Things like AnywordSecretsExposed.com
    ‘coz without thinking about it, he’s got SEX in the domain name.

    On the other hand, that could work in some arenas… I guess.
    .-= Gary Harvey´s last blog ..The POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK virus alert is a HOAX =-.

  4. Reply Kristi Daniels Feb 20, 2010 11:31 am

    I had a friend who owned AnAlbumCover.com which was often mistaken for AnalBumCover.com.

    Another friend registerd Web n Ads dot com to be short for “Web and Ads”, but of course everyone read it as WebNads.com which is a bit funny, but not his intention.

  5. Reply Stephen Dean Feb 20, 2010 3:08 pm

    Haha, I was extremely close to buying DeansHat.com once… until I caught it.

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  8. Reply Domain name registration india Oct 17, 2011 9:35 am

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  9. Reply Sarah Nov 18, 2011 5:02 am

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