One of the most important first steps in starting your own blog or website it to choose a great domain name – not just any domain name – a darn right AWESOME domain name!
In this post, I've put together some pointers on how to pick a domain name for your blog. I hope you find this helpful! 🙂
The Do's
1. Take some time to Brainstorm what kind of domain you'd like to have. What kind of feeling or idea do you want to convey with your site? You can use an online thesaurus or dictionary to help .
2. Choose a dot com. Choosing a dot com domain is important since most people will automatically assume that this is part of the address. Believe it or not, many people who are not as online savvy have no idea that there is anything other than dot com available. By choosing something other than dot com, such as .tv .mobi or even .ca (shout out to my Canadian peeps!) may cause you to miss out on some traffic.
3. Make it short. Having a short domain makes it easier for readers to get to your site since there's less for them to type in – this is especially important since many visitors are viewing blogs on their mobile phones and tablets. I love my iPhone, but if I don't have your site bookmarked and I have to type in something like TheMostAwesomestWebsiteInTheWholeWideWorld.com I'm probably not going to visit. Shorter addresses also look more clean and professional in addition to making it easier to remember. This brings us to the next point… 🙂
4. Make it memorable and easy to remember. Try to come up with something unique and memorable. A domain name that's catchy and sounds neat can spread like wildfire online AND by word of mouth.
5. Make it easy to spell. Try to avoid choosing a domain name that has uses words with multiple spellings, ex. “there, they're and their”. If a reader types in the wrong address, they may end up someplace completely different. Also keep this in mind for words that are difficult to spell in general – people will be more likely to misspell them.
6. Consider using search keywords in your domain. Having keywords which are relevant to your blogs topic or niche will help you rank better in the search engines. This is not absolutely necessary however it could help people find you.
7. Double check if your domain spells something not so awesome when it's smushed together. Using an example from this article, OldMansHaven.com could also look like OldManShaven.com.  *gasp* eeeek!  Seriously though, check out that article – it's got some pretty unfortunate and funny domain names!
The Don'ts
1. Using a name similar to a competitor or something that would violate a trademark is a bad idea. You honestly don't need that kind of legal trouble.
An example of this would be with one of my favorite sites – ikeahackers.com – A few years ago they almost lost their site due to the using the company name Ikea in their domain. They were very lucky since they reached a compromise with the company but it serves as a valuable warning if you're thinking of doing something similar.
2. Using hyphens in your domain name makes it less user-friendly. ex. It's much easier to tell someone to go to “dishesanddustbunnies.com” than it is to say “dishes-and-dust-bunnies.com with a hyphen”.
3. Using numbers in your domain name can be confusing to potential readers. Do they spell it out or is it just the numeral? Make it simple by not using numbers.
4. Don't be overly specific with your domain name. By being too specific you may end up limiting what you can blog about. Let's say you want to start a blog about gardening. Having a site called OnlyRoses.com would limit you – readers would expect this to be just about roses rather than gardening in general.
And that's it! If you stick to these general guidelines when choosing your domain name you're all set!
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment at the bottom or this post or send me an email . 🙂
