Blogging tip #5: How to choose a powerful and successful domain name

bysmartketeer

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Updated 6 years ago

Today I'm going to tell you ...

How to choose a powerful and successful domain name

Let’s start with a simple question: why do you need your own domain name?

Well, there are many reasons. First of all, a name is unique identifier. The domain name is the very first and most powerful identifier that sets you apart from other bloggers or marketers. Secondly: if you want to build credibility and a sense of professionalism around your blog, a good domain name that reflects this can be an invaluable help. Thirdly: a wisely defined domain name will help you to enhance the branding of your blog. And finally: a good domain name can enhance your search engine rankings. As you can see, if you really want to earn money with a blog or you want to make a living with blogging, you are going to need e really good domain name! According to Local SEO Guide …

Businesses that have a strong keyword in the business name rank 1.5 spots higher than if there is no keyword in the name.

Unfortunately, choosing a bad domain name is one of the most common mistakes I see bloggers and marketers make. Fact is, there are many factors to consider in choosing the perfect domain name for your website. There are many different theories and concepts about what is right or wrong, and each approach is flavored with a certain dose of “personal taste”. Still – with these disclaimers in mind -, let’s take a quick look at a few important considerations:

make it short and memorable; don’t choose long, tough-to-spell domain names! take your time and try to be creative in order to find a short and euphonious domain name; what do you think, which one is better: “smartketeer.com” or “smart-marketing-methods-to-become-a-successful-marketer.com”? a short domain name is memorable, leaves less room for mistyping errors, and is good for word-of-mouth marketing; finally, make sure there is only one way to pronounce and spell it
make it unique and descriptive; do your best to find a name that truly reflects who you are and what you care about! a name that perfectly describes the main purpose of your blog; a unique name that will help you to build your online identity
use a trustworthy extension; the best solution is to use a “.com” extension; other extensions like “.net” or “.biz” are less trusted; and for God’s sake, avoid any crazy or ridiculous extension like “.rock”, “.venture”, “.coach”, “.website”, etc
try to incorporate your main keyword; it’s a well-known fact, the domain name is an important ranking factor; a smoothly, elegantly incorporated keyword will help search engines to decide what your blog is about
avoid using hyphens in your domain name; I know, there are hundreds of tutorials telling you that you should use them; it’s an eternal debate and everyone must take a side; and I am against hyphens; they have only two advantages: hyphens are said to identify keywords to search engines more clearly, and they can help you to create “new” names using other – already taken – good names; BUT, a hyphenated domain name is logically longer, it’s difficult to memorize or communicate, often correlates with spammy websites and leaves more room for mistyping errors; the point: you’ll have to pick a side, but I recommend you to avoid those-ugly-and-annoying-hyphenated-domain-names
avoid using numbers in your domain name; another debated issue; when a topic is very crowded, and you are trying to create a good domain without hyphens, the next very obvious solution is to include a number at the beginning or end of your domain name; my opinion: there is no difference between hyphens and numbers; it’s pretty much the same thing
don’t neglect the future-factor; I’ve seen many cases where a blog simply outgrow the initial domain name down the track; try to find a domain name that will suit your needs even if you’ll have to expand your topics! a name that will reflect your identity even if the industry has changed! and of course, avoid any domain name that is time-specific in any way
avoid using previously registered domain names; spammers often buy up domain names just to abandon them later (once they’ve used them up), and usually these domain names are already banned by Google! launching your blog using a domain name which is already banned by Google, probably won’t help you in your SEO efforts …
always keep it legal; avoid trademarked names and pay attention to any possible legal implications of the words you use in your domain name!