You might believe that choosing a domain name is a simple thing to do and you will speedily select and register a domain name for your website. However, it is surprising just how many things you must take into account. On the assumption that you wish the site to rank in the search engines you will need to consider:
Registering a new domain name vs buying an existing one
If possible it ought to be:
The Domain Name shouldn't
Registering a new domain name vs buying an existing one
- In the main, picking a brand new domain name will cost less and you get a lot more scope to get precisely what you require however, an existing domain will be less difficult and quicker to get ranked. If buying already registered domain ensure it is indexed (i.e. it appears in the search results).
- Possibly the best domain registrar is GoDaddy and they additionally have old names for purchase and for auction.
- If you are targeting a global audience you are presently best utilizing a .com domain. Should this not be practical the normal advice has been to use dot net or dot org however webmasters have reported decent results with others including dot biz and .info. Accordingly if you are unable to acquire a .com choose whatever allows you to register the best domain name.
- Should you be aiming your website/blog at a particular country you are best off using a local extension similar to .co.uk or .au. These will be easier to rank in the local variants of the search engines.
- If you are going to have a separate version of your site intended for mobile devices you may think about registering a .mobi domain as well. There is a debate as to whether or not it is better take this course or host your mobile website on a sub domain of your normal domain, e.g. m.mydomain.com. Presently it is best to see how other webmasters in your marketplace have implemented mobile sites and do the same.
If possible it ought to be:
- As short as viable - preferably not more than 20 characters.
- Have no dashes - If you happen to be having difficulty registering the name you want it is best to add a prefix (for example tips, best, secrets, top, fast, etc) or suffix (today, review, advice, tool etc). Although the search engines won't mind a dash or two, these are likely to cause confusion for human visitors.
- Explain the topic of your site - when your website/blog is shown on the search results it is beneficial for the visitor (moreover they are more inclined to click) if your domain name indicates that the website/blog is appropriate to their search.
- Contain your most important keyword - for a small tightly focused site it will probably be quicker to rank if the domain name contains a keyword. When you do incorporate a keyword it is better to put it at the beginning of the domain name.
The Domain Name shouldn't
- Incorporate any trademarks - it is not advisable to use a company's name or trademark in your domain name unless you get their permission. If you are made to change it later on you will have wasted all your hard work to promote your site.
- Be open to misinterpretation - if it can be interpreted more than one way then this is a case when a hyphen is acceptable.
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