How Do I Pick A Domain Name?

I’m thinking of producing some information products (web, ebook, affiliate), and the question is: am I better off getting a .com or another extension (i.e. .info, .edu)? I’m not sure how the search engines treat extensions, or do they focus on the content?

Thanks in advance!!

Cheers, Jon :)

Hi Jon!

There are 3 main components to picking a great domain name:

  1. Conveys Trust

    2. – When choosing a domain, make sure that the domain builds credibility. For example, a domain like “InstantOnlineMLMSalesLetters.com” really screams low-quality spam. A better choice would be “SalesLetterSuccess.com”

  2. Easy to Remember

    3. – Try to find a domain that’s short in length. Domains with lots of characters are hard to remember. Spend $50-$300 to buy a quality domain name if necessary, or check for dropped domain names. Avoid odd domain extensions such as .info or other country extensions. These unfamiliar domain extensions confuse the visitor. Stick with a .com — or if you have a highly informational, somewhat non-commercial based site, you may consider using a .org

  3. Easy to Brand

    4. – Branding on the internet is very important, so instead of going with a general keyword domain, find one that can be branded.

Domain Tools:

IDN Research Tool – Find expired domain names with type-in traffic, pagerank, and alexa rank. See my previous review of the domain tool.

Domains Bot – Great tool for brainstorming domains.

1and1 – I use 1and1 to buy my domains for $5.99, then I switch the nameserver over to Mediatemple for hosting. Mediatemple hosts many big name servers such as Techcrunch. Packages start for as little as $20/month which can host up to 100 domains. Unlike shared hosting, they use a type of distributed hosting which can handle Diggs and quick bursts of traffic. Their support is great and they are the best online host I’ve found, hands down.

Additional Domain Resources:

Domain Forums:

DNForum.com
Namepros.com
DNElite.com
DnTango.co.uk (UK)
AcornDomains.co.uk (UK)

Domain Organizations:

DNOA.org

Domain Blogs

DomainingBlog.com

Domain News:

DomainNews.com
DNJournal.com

Domain Registrars & Domain Hosting:

1and1.com
Bluehost.com
MediaTemple.com
Yahoo Hosting

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 11:05 am and is filed under domaining, Q and A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “How Do I Pick A Domain Name?”

  1. What's the Best Domain Name Extension? Says:
    February 1st, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    [...] blogged about buying a domain in the past, please read that post [...]

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