Choosing a Domain Name

Domain names are not only web addresses. Domain names are the foundation of your online business, so choosing a good domain name is extremely important. Choosing a domain name carelessly is much like building a house on a foundation which was never inspected – you could get your bottom pulled out right from beneath you.

There are many things to consider when choosing a domain name.
They are:

• Is my domain name easily memorable?


• Are there similar variations of my domain name?


• Does my domain name represent what I am selling?


• Does my domain name have keywords in it?


• Is my domain name likely to perform well in the search engines?


• Does someone hold a trademark on my domain name or a word within my domain name?

Domain names should be easy to remember. After all, you may put a decent amount of advertising and investment into promoting your domain name; so you don’t want people to be confused with your domain name and possibly wind up on a different website as a result of YOUR advertising. Make sure you choose a domain name that is easy to remember and is not confusing to spell.

You may also want to make sure your name is not a plural or singular of another domain name. For example, if you decide that you are going to sell vacation packages online through an affiliate program, and you buy the domain name cheapvacations.com (plural), you may want to pick up the domain name cheapvacation.com (singular) as well, because some people will mistake one for the other, so it’s always better to make sure you have both. I have watched many people make this error, and regret it – don’t be one of them!

Having a domain name which represents your products is much better than having a name which fits your company title. SmithInsurance.com is not going to be as effective or valuable as CheapInsurance.com. There are a few reasons for this. Reason one is that the whole concept of the internet is about connecting with people you would ordinarily never have had the opportunity to do so. Having the domain name SmithInsurance.com would be great for the people who already know about the Smith Insurance Company, who are likely to know just where to go to find Smith Insurance online. The problem is, you’re not looking to connect with those who already know about you. You’re looking to connect with the rest of the world who doesn’t yet know about doing business with you, and you would be much better off with a generic domain name like CheapInsurance.com - where you’re likely to connect with new people just looking to buy or get a quote on some cheap insurance, but they have not yet chosen with whom to buy it.

Another reason to use a domain name which contains keywords is that they tend to perform better in the search engines based on their relevance. A domain name like cheapinsurance.com is much more likely to come up in a search engine if someone was searching Google for the term “cheap insurance” than the SmithsInsurance.com domain name. So it’s about visibility. The more you’re seen and found, the more likely you are to sell product, services, etc.

Last but not least, if you’re registering a new domain name for the first time, it would be a very good idea to make sure you do not start building a business on a name that could get taken from you sometime in the future, after you have put an immeasurable amount of sweat and equity in the name. An Example of this would be if you were in the business of selling mini, soft, chewable candies that were imported from Germany, and you decided that the domain name MicroSoftCandies.com would be a great name. Sounds pretty good, but when Microsoft threatens a lawsuit unless you immediately surrender the domain name, you would be thinking differently as this could turn a much anticipated successful business venture into an absolute nightmare. There are strict rules in place that protect domain owners from having to give up domains just because someone else believes it belongs to them, but you can help avoid problems by checking first.

Some domain names also have immeasurable value attached to them. Many people earn a good living simply buying and selling domain names. I have done this for years and currently own hundreds of domain names, most of which I hold for future purposes, but they can be sold or traded at any time for a profit. If you think domain name brokering is for you, look into buying and selling domain names. You can buy and sell domain names free on any domain forum or domain message boards, as well as domain auctions and through other domain brokers.

You can buy domains here at http://domains.searchen.com/ for as little as $6.95 and with a little creativity, a buyer could be right around the corner.

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