How To Choose A Domain Name For Your Blog Or Website

The type of domain name you choose is very vital for your online success. Your domain name is what you want your website or blog to bear. It must be nice, memorable, exciting and brandable, easy to pronounce and spell. Your domain name should be attractive, creative and rich in keywords so that it will be search engine optimized. It is always good if people can predict what your site is all about from your domain name.

How to derive a good domain name 

1. Avoid long domain names

A domain name that is long like a sentence can scare people away. A one-word domain name like goal.com is good. Two-word domain name like nairaland.com is also good. Three-word domain name like
onlineknowhow.com is not bad. Also, four-word domain name like howthingsworkonline.com is still good. A short memorable domain name is always interesting and result-oriented.

2. I prefer domain name with .com

The reason why domain name with .com extension is preferable is that it is the most popular and what first come to people's mind when thinking about online domain names. Most people don't bother to know
the extension at the back of a domain name once they hear the sound because to them every domain name end with .com If the .com of the domain name you love has been taken, try to do a slight change or choose another domain name that is entirely different from the one you initially choose. Sometime it will be necessary to try up to 10 or more names before you will get the one that is still available. Whichever way, always make sure your domain name relate to your niche, is keyword rich and memorable.

3. Make sure your domain name is related to your site

People should be able to speculate what your site is all about from your domain name. For instance, the name fcbarcelona.com shows that is the website of Barcelona football club. Even if you choose to use
generic name, you can choose it, in a way that a second thought can show the meaning of the site. For example Amazon.com is an online marketing website but the word ' Amazon ' does not relate to market.
Meanwhile, Amazon river is the longest river in the world, so I guess Amazon.com could mean the largest online market place.

4. Avoid domain name with hyphen

Hyphen is used to join two words together to make a new one e.g back-up. It is symbolized as (-).
If you put hyphen in your domain name it will only benefit your rivals by sending your supposed visitors to them. Domain names with hyphen is always difficult for people to remember, try to avoid it as possible.

5. Avoid using already established brand names

Using a brand name like pepsi.com is risky because the owners can sue you for trademark infringement which can attract huge sum as penalty. Though, You can register and sell it to the brand but not for personal
use.

6. Don't use anyhow domain name

Use a domain name that you love. A domain name you can promote with all your heart. If you don't like your name it will be hard to tell people what your name is, also If you don't love your domain name it
will be difficult to promote it. Don't rush into choosing a domain name, take your time. Remember : if you rush in you rush out.

7. Expired domain names are good

After trying different domain names which are not available, some people have chosen to use expired domain names that are 100 percent related to their niche. Buying expired domain name can make your site easily popular, drive unsolicited traffic and ease your chance of getting Google Adsense approval.

8. Use sociable, brandable and easy to spell domain names

People should be able to relate effortlessly with your domain name (sociable). People should be able to relate your domain name with a concept (brandable) e.g aboutonline.com can be easily liking to online stuff. Your domain name should be easy to spell and not vocabulary. By only hearing your domain name people should be able to type it in their browser and get the right result e.g Facebook.com.

The success of every online website or blog heavily depend on it domain name.

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