Deciding on a Domain Name - A Huge Cross on My Shoulder!
Not until I have joined WA and have taken the business of building a website seriously have I realized just how difficult it is to decide on a domain name.
I remember my days at Blogspot when I instantly plucked names left and right out of thin air to name any blog I fancied to start!
Now I am on my second week as a premium member and I just had to leave lessons after lessons uncompleted because I could not put a check mark on segments of the lesson that are dependent on me having decided on a domain name and have started building a website on it.
Why the Difficulty?
Foremost of all, it is due to the difficulty of deciding what niche I want to be into. Of course I know the basic principle -- choose a topic and from there drill down much as how Democritus hypothesized the existence of an atom by postulating that if you divided and continued subdividing a material object, you will arrive at a point where you cannot subdivide it anymore. And at that point, you would have reached the smallest unit of the material object -- the atom.
The problem with drilling down a topic to find a niche is as I drill down, my mind becomes emptier and emptier until the point when I believe I would have already found a niche, there is nothing left to write anymore in a meaningful and engaging way.
In the case of Democritus, there is much that can still be said and written written about the atom. If Democritus were alive today and joined affiliate marketing, the atom will probably his niche.
But drilling down from "carpenter's tools," for example, what can I possibly write about nails? That nails come in various sizes - one inch, two inches, three inches, etc., and that the carpenter hit nails with his hammer. That is only an attempt to illustrate the predicament.
Oh gosh!
The clock is ticking. The days are running fast off the calendar. And I will reach my monthly renewal soon.
Will it be a Good Friday for me?
Recent Comments
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I would not drill down too much. Sooner or later you will get in the situation that you have no material to write about and your site will die out. Make it broader both by the name and by the niche and do not listen to the nonsense of going narrow. You can ignore this what I am saying but I have made such mistakes a few times already; and such things cannot be rectified after you build a site. So forget Democritus and nails.
I am glad you said this! I am so tired of hearing everyone insist a niche must be SOOOOOO narrow! That can work for some but it certainly doesn't have to be the only way to succeed! I ignored the advice on that when I started my sites and I am glad I did. I would rather have plenty to write about. Of course I still think it is good to have a central focus for a site. It should not bounce all over the place between totally unconnected topics but as long as there is a theme, then good SEO practices should carry it!
Going very narrow makes no sense, expanding later is bad as you may have very different and unrelated subniches while the name remains related to only one. I have such Frankenstein sites.
For example, one problem which I see every day - subscribers for sub-niche A will unsubscribe when they receive newsletter with the topic from sub-niche B, and vice versa. I see this in my site. Going narrow is simply wrong, it is very difficult to keep such a site running properly and in long terms.
It is refreshing to hear this very unconventional opinion around here! Thanks! I like the Frankenstein analogy!
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This is a little late but perhaps this could still help you. Generalization vs specialization in choosing a niche and domain name.