“How do I choose a good domain name?”
If I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question…
Well, I’d probably only have about $30, but that’s a lot of gelato.
And I get it. Choosing a domain name for your website is serious stuff. It’s usually one and the same as choosing a name for your entire business.
If only you could start a website without a domain name and think about it for awhile.
But you can’t. You absolutely must have a domain name to start a website, and I don’t want the domain name to hold you up from taking action.
Believe it or not, domain names do not have to be all that difficult to choose. You can choose a great domain name in under an hour. And you will, after reading this post.
Stress free since ’93.
Why Domain Names Matter
Alright, so you might wonder what all the fuss is with domain names. Why do they matter so much?
Put simply, your domain name is the very first point of contact that your audience has with your brand, your blog, or your business.
Your domain name is part of your brand, and it’s a big part of it.
Studies show that your first and last name directly affect the success you’ll have in life. Do you think it’s any different for your domain name? Likely not.
Even if you don’t emulate your domain name, people will automatically make assumptions and hold on to those biases about your domain.
Easy-money-fast.com is going to hold some negative biases. It just sounds spammy, right? But Getrichslowly.org sounds far more trustworthy.
There are a few properties of an awesome domain name:
4 Properties of a Killer Name
Property one: Your domain has something to do with the product, service, or niche you’re in. There are examples of people who avoid this and do it effectively (for instance, Rowdykittens.com has nothing to do with Rowdy Kittens), but it’s always good to go for the obvious.
Property two: Your domain name should be short. A good rule of thumb is that it should be between 1-3 words. If you’re considering a longer domain name, think about how difficult that would be for people to remember, and for you to say, if you were to tell people about your website at a party. What’s easier to remember: Unsettle.org or Buildalifestylebusinessyoulove.com?
Property three: Your domain name absolutely must be memorable. That means it shouldn’t be spelled in a weird way, it shouldn’t use words that people don’t use in normal English, and it doesn’t have a ton of hyphens, dashes or words in it. If I had chosen Unsettle-your-career.com instead of Unsettle.org, it may have communicated what the site is about a bit better, but it certainly wouldn’t have been as memorable.
Property four: The final property that makes a great domain name is that it should be in line with your branding, or the mood you want to convey. For example; if you heard the name HelloGiggles.com, you wouldn’t expect the site to be a serious blog, right? And it’s not. It’s fun site for young girls. Consider how the bank Tangerine differs from TD Canada Trust. They’re both banks, but TD definitely conveys a more corporate, serious, bankerly type feel than Tangerine, which is fun, young and fresh.
.Com Vs. .Net or .Org
SEO “gurus” might tell you that you absolutely must have a .com domain. They say that Google favors .com domains to the point that if you have a .com, you’ll show up in search engine results more.
The logic behind this seems to be that because a .com is a top-level domain (as is a .net, .org, .gov and .edu), Google will recognize it and rank results with a .com domain higher than another.
This is simply not true. Matt Cutts, who is the head of the web spam team at Google debunked this:
So if we’re being real, the only reason that a .com is better than the others is because a .com is easier to remember.
You can work around that and rock a domain with a different suffix by using the suffix in conversation. For instance, when I’m referring to Unsettle in conversation, I always say “Unsettle dot org”, because I don’t own the .com, and I know that would be the assumption.
There are plenty of awesome domain names that aren’t a .com, and some that are very popular:
Problogger.net
Leadpages.net
Bit.ly
Fizzle.co
Unroll.me
So, while a .com is preferred, it’s not necessary and a different domain ending won’t ruin your search engine rankings.
Now that we’ve addressed that, we can go onto how to choose a domain name that you’ll love.
How to Choose a Domain Name in 5 Simple Steps
I’m going to walk you through exactly the process I used to pick Unsettle as my domain name in under an hour.
It’s simple, and I’ve condensed it into five steps just for you.
Step 1: Start Brainstorming
Now that you know what makes a great domain name, you can start brainstorming.
The first step is to brainstorm words and phrases related to your topic.
Don’t screen out a word or phrase just because you don’t like it. List any word or phrase that comes to mind.
Here is an example of words I wrote down when I was brainstorming for Unsettle. Don’t mind my messy writing.
Write down all of the words you can think of. Even if you hate them.
Step 2: Make a Date With Your Thesaurus
You have a list of words and phrases related to your topic, so now it’s time to find synonyms for those words.
I use Thesaurus.com for this. If you’re working in a Word document, you can highlight the word, right click, and see a list of synonyms.
Write down all of the synonyms. Even if you hate the word, just include it in your list.
Don’t be afraid to go on a word spree here. It’s okay to go down a rabbit hole – the idea here is quantity, not quality. Yet.
Find synonyms for your synonyms. It took me at least 5 levels of synonyms to find Unsettle. It all started with the word “redesign”.
Step 3: Let a Software Do it For You
Don’t you wish you could just wave a magic wand and have a bunch of ideas you never would have found otherwise?
Well, you’re in luck. The internet is a pretty nifty place, and there’s a website fort that.
There are many domain name generators, but my favorite is probably Panabee. Start plugging in words from your list and let the software generate ideas for you.
Write down the ones that you like.
If you scroll down on Panabee, you’ll find a list of other synonyms for your words. You may find that you discovered all of those synonyms in Step 2, but if not, include them.
Step 4: Cull the List
Now that you have dozens and dozens of words and synonyms for the original words you came up with, plus the additions from a domain name generator, go down the list and cross out any that you don’t like.
Here are some tips:
Cross out any potential names that are over 3 words long
Remove any potential domain names that don’t align with the brand you’re going for
Remove any that aren’t easy to spell or remember
If you’re unsure, run it by somebody you trust. Sometimes we get too emotionally invested in something but it doesn’t make sense to anybody but ourselves.
Narrow your list down to the three that you like the best. Then…
Step 5: Find Out if The Domain is Available
Now that you’ve narrowed down your list of potential domain names, you just need to check to see if they’re available.
There are dozens of websites you could use for this, so just try Name.com or Godaddy’s Domain Search. Unless you already have hosting and know how to change the domain nameservers over (don’t worry if you don’t understand that), then don’t buy the domain from these sites. You’re just seeing if they are available.
Check your favorite three domains. We already know that a .com is not necessary, but if you like two the same amount and one is available in a .com and the other isn’t, then let the .com availability be the tie-breaker.
And a quick word of caution: most domains that are 1-2 words in a .com are actually premium domains so will cost a lot. For instance, my name, which is very common, is almost $2,000:
If you have the budget for it, then go for it! But if you’re a normal person and don’t want to spend the amount of a (junky) used car on a domain name just to have the privilege of a .com, then you have a few options:
Take out a letter (Like Pat Flynn’s foodtruckr.com)
Change the end of the word (ie I could have chosen Unsettled, or Unsettling)
Consider a .org or .net instead of a .com.
If you’re still trying to choose between two or three, crowdsource it! Find out from a few people you trust which they prefer.
Now, It’s Time to Take Action
Lock down the domain name. If you don’t have hosting for your website yet, I would just buy the domain through the web host so you don’t have to fuss around with changing nameservers over. Again, if you don’t know what that means, that’s okay. It just shows that you should probably buy the domain with the host.
With Bluehost, your domain will be free. I use Bluehost for a few of my sites because their customer service is great, my sites are always up and they give you a free domain name when you sign up.
Sign up for Bluehost here:
http://unsettle.org/bluehost
(Disclaimer: this is an affiliate link. If you choose to buy through my link I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for the support if you do =))
If you sign up with Hostgator, the domain won’t be free but you can still register the domain with Hostgator if you prefer their hosting.
Whether you buy your domain through a third-party domain provider or your web host, I always find that when I take action on something, it helps me gain momentum.
And there’s no way you got this far and don’t want to take action.
Let me know in the comments what domain name you came up with through this process. Did you find it easy? Difficult?
The post How to Choose a Killer Domain Name in 5 Simple Steps appeared first on Unsettle.