How To Choose A Good Domain Name For Your Blog

How To Choose A Good Domain Name For Your Blog. Choosing a domain name for your website is one of the most important steps when starting your online business. Not only is it the beginning of your online brand.

Your domain name is going to make you stand out from everyone else so you need to take some time choosing the right one. Your domain name can attract people. And if done incorrectly can turn people away from your site.

So, in this post, I’m going to share with you some tips on how to choose a good domain name for your blog.

But first, let’s talk basics.

What Is A Domain Name?

Think of your domain name as the address of your house. It’s where you live. Your domain name is your address on the internet where your website lives.

Your domain name is also commonly referred to as your URL. So, if anyone types in your domain name (URL) they will be taken directly to your website. And when people are at your website your domain name will appear in the address bar of the browser.

Now, your domain name consists of two parts.

First is the domain name itself. For example, my website is NetWiseProfits.

The second part of your domain name is the suffix which is what comes after your domain name. So, .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, etc.

Now, there are two different directions you can go with when it comes to choosing your domain name.

1) You Can Have An Exact Match Domain Name

An exact match domain name would be your domain name that has your main keyword(s) in the domain name. So, for example, if you were in the relationship niche and your main keywords were “how to find love”.

Your exact match domain name would be – HowToFindLove.com

Now, in the past exact match domain names used to be very powerful because these domain names used to get ranked at the top of the search engines very fast because the keywords people were using in Google search were the keywords of your domain name. And that’s why people used them.

However, after many updates that Google has done, they do not have the SEO power they once had.

A recent article on the Search Engine Journal website quoted John Mueller from Google and he said…

Now with that said, if you can get an exact match domain – that’s great. But if you can’t don’t worry about it. Just remember it offers no SEO advantage.

Also, if you’re going to use an exact match domain name, make sure your domain name reads properly. Don’t get an exact match domain name that makes NO sense.

So, having this an exact match domain name that makes sense would be:

How To Make Money Online

But the following exact match domain name makes no real sense because you’re talking backward:

Make Money Online Free

You want the exact keywords people would type into the search engines.

2) You Can Have A Brandable Domain Name

I prefer brandable domain names over exact match domains. The reason is unlike an exact match domain which can limit your business growth and make it very difficult to pivot to a new domain name.

With a well-thought-out brandable domain, you can avoid these challenges. Plus, a brandable domain name allows you to stand out from the crowd.

Now as an online marketer, you can brand yourself. Or create a brand (name).

If you were going to brand yourself the best way is to use your name as your domain name. So YourName.com would be your domain name.

TIP: I own my domain name leoemery.com. So, if your name is available as a domain name buy it.  Even if you’re not going to use it now, you may in the future. And even if you never use it. At least you own it. Like my mom used to say.

“It’s better to have it and not need it. Then need it and not have it.”

If you’re going to create a brand and be the person behind the brand, not the brand yourself then you need to create a brandable domain name.

Now I have several niches that I’m in so I have domains that are brandable to each niche.

For example, this site’s brand is Net Wise Profits – the name speaks for itself. How to profit wisely online.

With a domain name like this, it would be very easy for me to pivot within the make-money-online niche if I needed or wanted to.

How To Choose A Great Domain Name

Before you can start brainstorming a domain name let me ask you a question.

What niche are you going to be in? Because depending on what your niche is, will influence the name of your domain.

So, what’s a niche?

A niche is a distinct segment of a market. So, for example. A blog (website) about Dachshunds is a niche within the dog market.

So, this means everything on your site is going to be focused on Dachshunds as well as other related dog topics.

Brainstorming Your Domain Name

The best way to get started brainstorming your domain name is to choose 12 of your favorite blogs (website) and write them down. Preferably within your niche.

Now visit each website and jot down what you like and don’t like about each website’s domain name. Are there common words being used by these websites? Maybe it’s a word you could incorporate within your domain name.

Is there something that catches your attention right away? Are there things that stand out?

The point of this process is to give you some overview ideas for your domain name. This is your jumping-off point.

Now that you have your creative juices flowing. From the information you gathered from the websites you visited. Write down 10 potential domain names.

Now if you’re struggling to come up with ideas you can use a Domain Name Generator to help you along.

Now there are plenty of these domain name generators to choose from. Now please keep in mind these name generators use AI (artificial intelligence) so they are far from perfect. But they will help with those creative juices.

The domain generator I’ve used many times is one called Nameboy. It’s one of the most respected name generators in the market.

7 Key Factors To Consider When Choosing Your Domain Name

1) Make It Easy

Make your name is short, catchy, and memorable. And also make sure your domain name is easy to spell and easy to pronounce.

2) Avoid Similarities

Make sure your name is not too close to someone else’s domain name (spelling and sounding alike) and make sure you’re not violating someone’s trademark.

3) Aim For A Dot Com

This is the best top-level domain name you can have. But if for some reason the .Com is taken you can use .Net.

I own a .Net domain and it and much of the related content is ranked on the first page of Google. You could also use .Org, but those are typically associated with charitable organizations.

If you’re selling specifically in one country. For example, the UK.  For that you would want a .Co.Uk domain extension.

4) Be Creative

Having a single word domain is getting harder and harder to find so this is where you can have fun.

You can fuse two whole words together like “YouTube” or how about blending parts of two words together like “Microsoft” Or you could play around with a word and tweak it such as “Flickr”.

Maybe affixing a word with a prefix or a suffix. That’s how “Shopify” was born, or you can even do a play on words with the spelling like Freedym.com.

5) Make Sure Your Domain Name Can Pass The Radio Test

When you’re listening to the radio you can’t see anything (duh). And being on the radio when you have to spell something can cause problems, and that includes domain names. So you want your domain name to pass the radio test.

For example, let’s say I said this domain name over the radio Easy Help For You. If you heard me say this over the radio and I did not spell it, how would you spell it?

You would probably spell it easyhelpforyou.com. But you would be wrong because it’s spelled like this ezhelpforu.com.

And because of that it would need to be spelled and that can cause problems because a lot of people could get the spelling wrong.

My point is you don’t want to have to spell your domain name every time you tell people your domain name.

6) Avoid Hyphens And Numbers

More often than not hyphens and numbers are misunderstood and forgotten.

As I mentioned in the radio test if your domain name has the number “5” in it, when people hear it, they may not know if it’s the number or the word five. And as for hyphens, people usually forget them all together.

7) Make Sure Your Name Indicates Your Niche

Now ideally your domain name should at least hint at what your blog is about. Now while this is not an end-all to be all rule. It’s something you should strive for.

Of course, plenty of blogs have had great success with names that gave no indication of what the blog has to offer. But again your domain name gives people an idea or flat-out tell people what your blog is about.

Check Your Domain Availability

Once you’ve gathered a list of domain names. Now it’s time to see if they are available to be purchased. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I found the perfect domain name just to find out someone already owns it.

Now if you are dead set on a domain name you may be able to buy the domain name from the person that owns it. But be prepared to pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.

But at this stage of the game when you’re just starting out, buying a domain name is not an expense you need to incur. This process can take time, but in time you will find a domain name that works perfectly for you.

As an alternative to buying a domain name is to use a different domain extension. So, instead of a .com, you can use .net.

There are plenty of very successful .net blogs (websites). I even own a .net website that does very well.

Here’s a little trivia. The very popular website ProBlogger started out as ProBlogger.net and later on they bought the .com. And now they are ProBlogger.com. So don’t fret if your .com is taken.

Now there are many places you can check domain availability. I use GoDaddy to check for domain availability.

Once you’ve found your domain name it’s time to buy (register) it. Now there are plenty of places where you can register your domain for under $15.00. And many registrars will offer you a first-year discount for registering with them. Such as GoDaddy and Namecheap.

Now if you already have some online assets hosted with a company you can register your domain name with that company and keep everything all under one roof.

You’re All Set

I’ll wrap up by saying please don’t get caught up in finding that perfect domain name. There are plenty of blogs that have found huge success with odd domain names. Crazyegg.com comes to mind.

Simply start the process of brainstorming ideas and get the ball rolling. I would even suggest putting a date on the calendar as to when you want to have your domain name. The point is you want to choose your domain name within a reasonable amount of time.

Because the longer you wait the longer it’s going to take getting your blog up and running. So, start brainstorming, and use a domain name generator if you need to. And if you’re still unsure of your choices ask for feedback from your friends and family about your choices.

Now picking your domain name is just one of many steps required to get a successful blog up and running and making money. Now, if you’re not sure what to do next, such as building your website, and how to get targeted traffic to your website.

Then you may want to take a few minutes and check out Wealthy Affiliate. They have a very easy-to-follow blueprint that will walk you through each step needed to build and grow a very successful niche website.

I hope this article has helped you in your quest to choose a domain name for your blog.

And as always if you need a hand with anything or have questions about a domain name you’re thinking of getting you can email me anytime. You can also leave any comments or questions you have below and I’ll get back to you right away.

I believe in you!
Leo