Buying & Manageing Domain Names

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Did you know that a domain name is registered every two seconds?

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find the perfect domain name for your site but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try! Although there is no scientific 'best' method when choosing your domain name, there are a number of different factors to consider. The goal is to achieve a balance between the different expectations and objectives you have for you domain.

You should be clear in your mind what your objective for you domain name is. Without this clarity you may end up with a domain name that will hinder your business instead of helping it. Ask yourself, "What is it I am trying to achieve with this domain name?" Are you building a long-term online brand, or maybe your focus is on building traffic immediately? Understandably, you will most likely have more that one objective but be clear as to what these objectives are and be aware that it may be difficult to achieve all these objectives with the one domain name. Remember, it is better to have two domain names point to the same site than to have a confusing domain name.

Branding

Whilst a domain name is a technical necessity for a web site, a good domain name will also serve as your identity, brand and personality online.

As with all things, first impressions count. When people encounter you domain name for the first time, whether through a search engine or advertisement, a good domain name will immediately create a good impression and increase your credibility. A bad domain name will always form a bad impression that your site may have trouble recovering from.

Choosing a domain with a unique brand (eg www.google.com) has has a number of benefits:

You stand out from the crowd
You can promote it more easily offline
You are easier to find (a search on your brand name is more than likely going to turn up your site)

On the downside, people will not immediately recognise what it is you do unless you have done some serious marketing (long-term branding). Additionally, the text that people use on other sites that link to you will not be keyword related.

Handle

It is possible and even likely, that people may encounter domain names in places where the do not have immediate access to the Internet. For this reason, the domain name must be memorable enough to stay with them until they get the opportunity to use the Internet. The best domain names catch the eye immediately.

Traffic

Another aspect to consider is the behaviour of search engines. There has been a case in the past for including keywords in your domain name. The idea being that search engines will see that your site is immediately relevant to the keywords in question. Whilst it is likely that this is still the case, the extent to which this occurs is unknown.

There are some other benefits for having keywords in your domain name and these include:

Instant recognition of what your web site is about
Easy to remember

A word of warning:

Try and avoid being overly specific with your keywords, in other words, don't limit your market. For example, www.red-cars.com maybe fantastic for now, but what if you want to sell blue cars later?

Also, don't go overboard and include every single keyword relating to your site, it looks unprofessional and will be hard to remember!

Keep it Simple

Make it easy for somebody to find you! Shorter domain names are best, and the words that make up the name should be simple and easy to spell. A good rule of thumb is three words long - if it won't fit on your business card then it is probably to long.

As a general rule avoid hyphens. Hyphens are easy to forget, especially if your potential visitors have only heard or read about your site. Often, the hyphen is only there as the non-hyphenated name was already taken! If your visitor forgets the hyphen it may send them to a competitor's site.

.com

Always try for a .com domain name. The only other consideration would be if your company was located outside the US and having a country specific domain name was beneficial.

For example, if you sold high performance car engines in Australia, www.fastengine.com.au is probably a better name than www.fastengine.com.

Balance

Ideally, you should find a good compromise between all the aspects discussed above. Remember your objectives!

"All the best names are taken!"

Despite what resellers and name auction sites say, there are plenty of good names out there. It just takes some imagination, a clear objective and time to find the right domain for you.

If you haven't already got a name for your site, go do it now. Spend some time brainstorming with your partners or bounce some ideas off friends.

Hostgator.com is a great site that will combine keywords for you and make suggestions for you domain name.

Side note: So do you want to know what domains are going for in today's market? Click here to view recent domain name sales.

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