A domain name provides an online identity for your business and therefore is something that you want to put a lot of thought into. First and foremost, the question must be asked, do you already have a traditional brick and mortar business. If this is the case, then you will be looking for a domain name that matches the name of that business. More and more traditional businesses’ are looking at available domain names prior to registering a business name to ensure that these two names will match up.

If you do not have a traditional brick and mortar business, and have no plans to develop one, you have a wider range of options available when deciding on which domain name to register. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Which Niche Are You Targeting?

Picking a domain name such as funnyguy.net will be of no use to you if you are selling dog training information. On the other hand, it might be a great domain name for a comedy or joke website. It is recommended that the domain name that you choose is related in some way to the business that it will represent. Or, if you are willing to spend a lot of time developing a brand name, you might choose something totally unique.

A good example of a unique, branded domain name would be the GoDaddy.com domain. The phrase ‘GoDaddy’ would not normally bring to mind thoughts about domain name registration. However, GoDaddy has spent a lot of time building up the GoDaddy brand and it is now a well recognized name for someone who is looking for a domain registrar.

Normally though, you will be better off to choose a domain name that tells people what your business is about and to do this, you will be looking for a keyword rich domain name.

What Keywords Are You Targeting?

Every niche has an assortment of keywords that are used by folks who are searching the Internet for products in that niche. Unfortunately, many of the short tail keyworded domain names that are one to two words in length are unavailable for domain name registration, particularly those with the .com extension. Other possible domain extensions that you might consider are the .biz, .us, .ca, .net and .info extensions. There are, of course, other top level domain extensions available that may be even better suited for your business. As an example, dogtrainingsupplies.com may not be available. But, if you are located in Canada, dogtrainingsupplies.ca or in the United States, dogtrainingsupplies.us may be available.

It is recommended that wherever possible you stick with a .com domain extension as this extension is given a higher level of authority in the eyes of the consumer. This means that you will need to carefully research which keywords are most relevant to your business and that you will most likely be looking for a keyword phrase that is more than two words in length. Even with three or four word keyword phrases, it is not uncommon to find that these domain names are already registered. You may want to consider adding a dash between the words, such as dog-training-supplies.us. However, keep in mind that adding a dash makes it harder for people to spell and there is the possibility that someone might just type it in without the dash and end up on your competitor’s website.

Should You Use A Misspelled Keyword Phrase?

Using a misspelled keyword or keyword phrase can work against you unless, once again, you are willing to put in the time and effort to brand that term. Before considering the use of a misspelling, research the number of times that misspelled word or phrase is being used in the search engines. If the misspelling receives a lot of searches monthly, it may be a viable choice for you to register as a domain name.

How To Determine If A Domain Name Is Available

A complaint that is often seen from folks that are researching the availability of domain names is this. They input several possible domain names with a domain registration service and then take a few days to consider the names that they have found. When they return to the service to register the domain name of their choice, that name is no longer available. Because of this type of scenario, many registrars have come under suspicion of snapping up domains that have been searched so they can resell the name at a higher price. Whether this is true or not, I have no idea. I really do not think that this would be a business practice that a reputable domain name registrar would take part in.

If this is a concern of yours, there is a way for you to check if there is even the possibility of a particular name being available without using a registrar for your research. Simply type the name of the domain that you are interested in into a web browser. If the name is not currently being used, you will receive a notice that the server or website can not be found. This does not guarantee that the name you are after is available, however, your chances of being able to register a great domain name for your business will be significantly higher.

Register Your Domain Name

To Your Success,

SherryD
http://www.wbobr.com

WAIT!

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

• How many people are searching for your main keywords?
• What other words describe your site?
• How competitive isyour 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 it is 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 and 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 aresearching 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 a lot 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 accurately describe your site.

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

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

More Webmaster Tips & Tools

This has been a Guest Author Submission.
Opinions expressed by Guest Authors do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the owner/operator of WBOBR.com

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