Do you think you have a good domain name in mind for your site?

WAIT!

Before you rush out register it there are a several things you need to consider.

• How many people are searching for your main keywords?
• What other words describe your site?
• How competitive is your market?
• Does the domain name describe your site’s content?
• Is the domain url easy for people to remember?

Existing Businesses

If you have an existing business you already have brand name recognition so its important to include your business name.

i.e. www.shopname.com

If that domain is taken then consider how people will search for your site.   Most people will google something like (shop name) + (city) so  why not name it www.shopnamecity.com or www.shopname-city.com these domain names will almost certainly be available.

You may find that .net .us .org domain extensions are available beware of these extensions as people type .com automatically.  You may wish to purchase these domains & forward to your main site.

Online Businesses

Very Important – Do people want what your selling?

Before you rush ahead & spend hours developing a site with no value think of 6 or more words that best describe your idea.

Go to Wordtracker (Its Free) & see how many people are searching those exact words. List the words according to the # of searches.

Now you now know 2 things;

1. Is this an idea worth pursuing?
2. What words generated the most searches.

Obviously if  very few people are searching for your main keywords then this idea is not worth pursuing as an e-commerce business.  Save your money & register for a free blog at www.blogger.com if you are really dedicated to the idea.

Do your keywords have a lot of searches if so you are ready for the next step.

Don’t worry about competition at this stage I will cover search engine optimization in competitive markets later, it is more important that there are allot of searches.

Armed with your keywords you are now ready to find the perfect domain name for your new business.

Write down some options using the most popular keyword or a mixture of your keywords.  The domain name needs to accuratly describe your site.

A person searching the internet for  E-Commerce will click
www.E-CommerceNewbie.com before  www.mywebsite.com

TIP – Hyphens as in E-Commerce are not generally a good idea however using Wordtracker you will find that more people search for E-Commerce than eCommerce.

More Webmaster Tips & Tools

This has been a Guest Author Submission.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

Now it might seem at first glance, to be an easy task to choose a good domain name for your business.  It can, however, take a bit of time to find one that fits with your business and is also listed as one of the available domain names.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to choosing a domain name.  If you sell magic widgets you might be able to find the domain name magicwidgets available.  But, chances are that when you do a domain name search for available domain names, that someone else is already using the exact domain name you would like to have, especially if you look at a .com domain name.   Domain name registration is available to everyone worldwide, so there is a lot of competition for domain names containing everyday words.

The second school of thought is to choose a domain name that is completely unique and maybe even a bit off-the-wall to create a ‘brand’ that is uniquely your own.  The name “GoDaddy” comes to mind.

You might consider a domain name that is closely related to the product you will be selling or to the intent of the web site. If you have a name such as “Articles R Us”, customers will most likely assume you market article content and if that is what they are in the market for, they will stop by to see what features and benefits your site offers.

Another consideration when doing a domain name search is that of keywords.  Wherever possible, it is beneficial for your business if the main keyword or keyword phrase that people would use to find your product is contained in your domain name.

It is generally recommended that you avoid hyphenating (-) the domain name that you choose.  It is harder to tell people the address correctly and is often misspelled.  You will also want to avoid names that are too long if you are planning on using Google Adwords to advertise.  There is a 35-character limit on the length of the name you are allowed to display in a Google Adwords campaign.  The 35-character limit begins with the www if you choose to use www in your domain name.  This is one of the reasons we have chosen to use http://wbobr.com instead of http://www.wbobr.com.

Although .com domain names are widely considered to be the domain type of choice for business, some find it impossible to find a good domain name for their business in the .com type.  If that is the case for you, you may want to consider trying a domain type that relates more to your location such as a .ca or .biz domain type.  The .ca domain type will identify your business as Canadian.  Take care to not use domain types such as .org, which identifies a non-profit domain or a .tw domain, if you are not in Taiwan.

The more specific you are in regards to your domain name, the easier it will be for your customers to find you.  Taking the time to choose a good domain name for your business will help contribute to your future success.

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com