Step 1: Choose a good domain name

This article is different from the many articles that you would see on the net on the topic of choosing a domain name. Most articles on the same topic would just highlight the do’s and don’ts of choosing a domain name which seems to apply to all situations.This I believe is too simplistic and in most cases would not meet the needs of the web site owner.

Before you start to choose your domain name, it is important that you must firstly determine the objective that you want to achieve with your domain name. You must therefore need to answer this important question: “Do you want to brand your domain name or you choose a domain name solely for search engine purposes.” The answer to the above question will determine the type of domain name that you should choose.

Domain names for branding purposes:
1. Domain name should be as short as possible. This would make it easy for people to remember and type into the computer e.g. sony.com or bbc.com. You would have realise that these domain names by itself do not give any hint as to the type of business they are involved in or sometimes the domain name, according to language usage does not have any meaning attached to it e.g. ipod.com. It is only through constant branding that such names eventually get associated with a particular type of business or product.

3. Get a domain name that is unique that people can remember easily.

4. Get a .com domain name. A .com domain name gives the perception that it is the original site as compared with other domain names that ends with e.g. .net or .us. I have a suspicion that search engine tend to give a higher ranking to sites that end with .com

5. A domain name with two or three words (e.g. myhomebusiness.com) joined together generally is not good for branding purposes and should be avoided.

6. Domain names with dashes (e.g. my-site.com) or numerals (e.g.101wordpress.com) should not be used as it is difficult to brand.

Domain names for search engine purposes:
1. If the purpose of your domain name is to enable your site to rank high on search engines, the domain name to be selected must contain a keyword that are related to the type of business your site is involved in. For example, if your site is about home business ideas, you should have a keyword that are related to home business. This is important as search engines will rank a site higher if your domain name matches the keyword that are typed in by the web user. The reason behind such higher ranking is that search engines generally and correctly assumes that your domain name would refect the type of business your site is involved in, which is what the web user is searching for. It is unlikely that you would have a domain name e.g. dogs.com when the site is all about information on cats.

2. Get a domain name which contains keywords that are commonly search for by web users. If your site is ranked high by the search engines, it will bring loads of visitors to your site. To find out the keywords that are commonly search for by web users, you may try the following tools: http://www.wordtracker,com or the google keyword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. Some internet marketers may purposely select a domain name which contains a keyword which are not so commonly search in order to avoid competition from similar web pages in search engine rankings.

3. Your domain name can be long (unlike for branding purposes) as long as it contains the keyword that are commonly search for by web users.

4. If your domain name that you want is unavailable, you should use a dash to separate the words in your domain name. For example, america-home-business.com or even america-homebusiness.com can be used if americahomebusiness.com domain name is unavailable. Search engines will not treat the above three domain names any different.

Sometimes you may want a domain name that you can brand and at the same time want the domain name that will help you to rank high on search engines. In this case, I would suggest that you look for an existing word that is related to your business and also commonly searched for and then add additional letter or letters to it. A good example would be my domain name: xwordpress.com which is specifically selected for branding and search engine purposes.

As you can see from the above, it would all depend on the objective that you want to achieve with your domain name before you can start to choose your domain name.

I hope the tips on this article is helpful which will guide you in choosing a good domain name for your web portal.