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How to Choose Domain Name - Ideas and Tips for Choosing SEO Domain name
This article covers how domain names work, helpful ideas and tips on how to choose domain name that is good and SEO friendly, best domain name registrar and how to register a domain name with Godaddy.
What is Domain name
A domain name is like the address for the house where your website will sit.
Look at it like there are many houses, to direct someone to yours you need an address.
But Buying a domain name is not like buying a house where after buying you have complete ownership.
For domain names you only buy the right to ownership for a stipulated period ranging from 1-10 years.
If you don't renew your ownership right when the first part you paid for expires, the domain name immediately becomes available in the domain market and someone else could pick it up (expired domains) at a very low price.
Look at registering a domain name as paying a rent for a place where you wish to live which requires you keep renewing your rent to keep living there. The day you fault your payment, you become homeless.
Domain names are registered and sold by domain registrars. And they come with different extensions such as .com, .net, .org, .biz, and .info.
How to Choose Domain name - Understanding How it Works
Since you're considering picking a domain name now I will assume you know how to find good keywords .
And you've done effective keyword research on the topic you want to blog about and picked your site overall concept keyword and related content keywords.
If you haven't done your keyword research then please I advice you to suspend this article and first go do your keyword research; because this is very important especially if you hope to make money from your blog.
Even when you hope to start a personal blog, doing proper research to be sure of your topic before creating a domain is still advised if you want to be found by the search engines.
I emphasize this because a domain name that contains your overall site concept keyword (SEO domain name) is a plus to your site and gives you some edge in search ranking against competitors who don't have their keyword in their domain name .
Aside search engine benefits it also helps search engines and visitors alike to immediately know what to expect on your site even before visiting it.
What makes a Good and SEO Friendly Domain name
The features of a good domain name according to experts are:
- Short and sharp
- Meaningful (should carry a clear message)
- Easy to spell and to remember
- Unique and descriptive
- Have a nice spin to it
- Solid and classic
- Contains keyword for the search engine spiders
- Attractive to humans
- Should be either of the extensions .com, .net and .org
Domain name Ideas and Tips
Short Domain name
It's not always easy to find short and sharp domain names. They are almost always already taken. But you can still have a good domain name even if it is not short and sharp.
Meaningful and Descriptive
After adding your keyword in a possible domain name, the next thing you should ask yourself is: "Does this make sense?"
If I saw this domain name what will I expect on the site?
Your domain name should have a meaning. It will be better if it describes the overall goal of your site.
Take this website domain for example, blogging-the-beginners-complete-guide.com (I know it's lengthy and not the best). Every word included in this domain has a purpose.
"Blogging" is the site's overall concept keyword.
"Complete Guide" included gives a descriptive totality of the entire site content goal or purpose.
That is why if you go through all the articles here, they are always detailed. It's the site's goal to give a complete guide on any topic discussed.
"Beginners" is the target market of the site. You must have an angle you want to address a topic from. You can not target all market. You have to be specific.
That's also why my articles where necessary starts with definitions and include tutorials because I expect those reading to be mostly beginners.
The "the" included in the name brings a complete meaning to the domain name and makes it read better.
My explanation should tell you that this website was not born by accident rather it resulted after a serious planning.
If you read the article effective keyword research (link above) you will see how you can research deeply into a topic you wish to write on
Only when you are done and have your goal clearly defined should you sit and create a domain name, because then you can make it reflect the complete goal of your site.
Choosing Domain Extensions
.com extensions are always the best.
You should also know that because you bought a .com extension of a domain name doesn't mean that the . net, .org, .biz, or .info versions of that same name are also yours.
If you only bought .com version of a domain name, that means some other person can be using that same name with any or all of the other extensions.
It is working smart when you buy all versions of your domain name.
This is because when your site becomes successful with thousands of traffic, some people who want to ripe where they did not sow could go buy a different extension of your domain name and start adding content similar to yours on the site. If that happens you could lose a good amount of your traffic to them.
Domain names are not expensive just approximately $11 for a .com name. Other extensions vary in price.
When registering your business site domain name if you can spare some extra cash, buy all the different versions of the name in different extensions.
Then forward the rest to the main .com version that you want to use. See how this is done in the article forwarding domain names
More Tips on How to Choose Domain name
Your domain name should sound professional, no vulgar languages. And make sure you add a nice spin to it.
In truth, no matter the topic you are writing on, you wouldn't be doing anything new. There are likely thousands of pages on that topic already on the internet.
One of the things that will set you apart is your ability to add a nice spin to your topic. Approach it from a different and unique angle.
You will notice that some domain names include dashes such as the domain of this website and some don't.
When to Use Dashes in Domain name
There are domain names that are just two words. What is called short and sharp like bloggingtips.com , famousbloggers.com , and so on.
If the name you desire for a domain has just two words like the example given and it is available for registration then you don't need dashes. It is clear enough to read.
But when your domain name consist of three words and above, like bloggingthebeginnerscompleteguide then it becomes necessary that you add dashes to the domain name.
As you can see if I hadn't added dashes to my domain name it would have been difficult to read by humans and search engines. The dash version of that is blogging-the-beginners-complete-guide.
Now this version presents a clear message for humans and the search engines, since the search engines treats a dash as a space.
How to Get Domain name
Best Domain name Registrar
There are a good number of domain registrars out there but I only use Godaddy like most internet marketers do.
Godaddy is synonymous with domain names because they offer a good services though poor interface.
How to Buy Domain name : Godaddy Domain name
Go to Godaddy or just use the find a domain name box by the side.
By the right hand side of the Home page under "I want to" click on "Search for a domain name". The domain name search box appears with the header "Start your domain name search here".
Enter the desire name you want to buy . There is a drop down arrow at the side where you can select the extension you want. Click on the "Search" button to start your search.
If the domain name is available it will be the first ticked on the list displayed followed by other available extensions of it.
If you want to add more extensions of the name, do so. If not, click on "Continue" to start your registration.
If you were trying to buy a domain name and found it is not available, try adding dashes.
If the dash version is still not available, and you really want to keep the words in the domain name, then try playing with it. Like 'paid-online-surveys-guide', can be re-written as 'the-paid-surveys-online-guide'.
The thing with playing with domain names is that you can turn up with an even better name. So when a domain name you wish to buy is not available, do not feel bad. It might just be an opportunity to perfect the domain name.
Back to Registering a Godaddy Domain name
After you click on "Registration", a page will appear where they try to get you to add more extensions of the name.
Like I said before, if you are looking to build a business on the domain, and you can spare the money, it's recommended. If not, click on "No Thanks" to move on.
You are then taken to the log in page and asked to log in. It's time to create an account with them. There is a form by the right hand side for this purpose "Create a domain registration information".
After entering your information, you are taken to a page that asks you to confirm the information you have entered. If there is anything you'll like to change, do so. If not, click "Continue".
Choose the length of your domain registration from the drop down menu (between 1-10 years) and click "Continue".
You will be taken to the Privacy and Domain protection page, just click "Continue" below.
Buying Web hosting from Godaddy for your Domain name
Godaddy also offer web hosting. So it will be suggested to you during your registration, but I wouldn't recommend you use Godaddy hosting. Instead use hostgator .
Hostgator is the webmaster's choice for hosting. They have a great service. And the best of hostgator service is their live chat. There are standby technicians willing to help you out within minutes anytime you run into a problem.
Plus they have all the tools you will need to get going quickly, like one click Wordpress installations and superb backup tools.
So ignore web hosting, click "Checkout" to make your payment.
Choose your payment method. Options available are Expresscheckout, Credit card, Pay by check, Paypal and gift cards. After choosing your payment option Click "Continue" to check out.
It takes you to the billing page with your personal information automatically entered.
Just enter your card details or the one applicable to the payment method you choosed and tick the "Alternate payment method for my account" right below the already ticked Expresscheckout.
That way when you are ordering product (s) next time, you won't have to re-enter your payment details as long as you choose Expresscheckout as your payment method.
Click "Place your Order" to complete your registration.
You get a confirmation which displays your Customer Number along side your Order Number for the purchase. You are to note this information down or save it somewhere.
Check your email for your receipt.
That's it for how to choose domain name.
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