Saturday 1 October 2011

Your Domain Name - 7 Tips to Give Your Website a Memorable, Searchable and Marketable Domain Name

Choosing a domain name can be an overwhelming experience, with all the choices you have to make. You must make it unique, which may be a problem if your first few ideas are already taken. And you must make it easily remembered if you want your visitors to return. At the same time, you want your domain name descriptive of your site's contents to help your visitors decide if they want to look further. If you are feeling overwhelmed by this process, here are some tips to help you get started.

• Start by making a written list of all the products or services you will be offering. Is your website going to sell one or more tangible products? Will it mostly be an informational website? And what age group or niche groups will your website benefit the most.

• Do a Google search on your product or topic to look at the domain names of websites already up on the web. This process will not only give you domain name ideas for your website, but will also show you some of the names already in use.

• Think about the keywords that potential visitors will use to find your website. Make sure your title is keyword searchable by including one or two keywords that describe what you are offering. If you were looking for your own products or information, what keywords would you enter into Google to find your website? Once you've made a list of these keywords, pick a couple of them to work into your domain name.

• Make sure you only use words that describe your business. Don't use misleading terms or you may end up losing more business than you gain. And make sure your domain name is unique so it will stand out in the crowd and be easy to remember.

• Check to make sure your chosen name(s) are available for your use. The easiest way to do this is go to a website like namecheap.com or godaddy.com and enter your ideas in the search box. You will instantly determine if the name is already taken or available for your use. And if the name is already taken, these websites will give you more ideas based on your input.

• Select a name that ends in.com. Most business websites do, and this is one area where you want to follow the crowd. You will find suggested names that end in such words as.info,.net, biz, info, etc. If you select one of these extensions, your visitors may not find their way back to your website after their first visit because they may not remember what that extension is.

• Once you've come up with a few possible domain names, try them out on your friends or potential visitors to see which one(s) they like the best. Chances are if your friends like the name, your customers will too. And you can type them into your browser, just to see if your fingers like them.

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