Guest Article By Simon Rogers
When starting a blog, arguably the most important decision you have to make is which domain you register. Not only will it be the name that people remember your website for, but it will also be an important part of branding the blog for recurring traffic. The domain you pick will be the first thing visitors will notice about your site, so you need to make it good to entice your visitors in to reading the content on your blog.
There are many factors that you should consider before buying a domain, but there are three ‘golden’ rules that you should strive to follow if you want the best possible name for your blog.
1st Rule: The first of the golden rules is to make the domain relevant to the content on your website. The amount of people who buy domains unrelated to their niche is astounding, so by incorporating keywords into your domain you have already given yourself an advantage over the other websites in your niche. As well as that, it lets the reader know what kind of site they’re visiting before they’ve even clicked the link.
2nd Rule: Another rule is to make the domain as short as possible. Recurring traffic is a very important part of blogging, so you need the domain to be as easy to remember as possible. Because of that point, the shorter the domain, the better. As a rule of thumb, try to never purchase a domain that has more than three words in it. If you can find a one word domain you should always try and purchase it for two reasons. Firstly, it will be easy to remember for your visitors, and secondly it will also add a lot of value to your blog, should you choose to sell it.
3rd Rule: The third and final rule is to choose the domain extension wisely. There are many different extensions you can buy, but the advice that all domainers will give is to try and make the extension relevant to the website. For example, if the website is about an organization, the ‘.org’ extension is the best, but if it’s just a general website then ‘.com’ would be best. Similarly, if your blog or website is aimed at a particular country, it is always advised to register the domain with the country’s extension.
In conclusion, a domain is one of the most important parts of any website, and you should consider this when registering one. You can pick a good domain by making sure it is three words or less, relevant to the blog’s niche and has a suitable extension.
This guest article is written by Simon Rogers, who blogs at Teenius, where there is currently an awesome contest where you can win loads of great prizes. To find out more about this contest, click here.
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i couldn’t agree with you more on it(three point).domain name itself is big business and you can make million if you choose one of the rare domain name not booked by anyone
Very true! I know toys.com sold recently for $5.1 million! Domains are big business and, whilst they are great for building websites, sometimes it’s a good idea to just sell it!
I agree with these points. Last week I wrote a guest blog for Blogging Tips about getting started with WordPress. It has a section on choosing a domain (#2) and covers things a bit differently but with many similarities.
Top-level domain selections is very important. And I’d recommend new domain buyers avoid dot biz domains like the plague!
really nice and informative post… this will help me in choosing a good domain name…
Glad you enjoyed the post, and good luck finding a good domain name!
I agree with your points simon, Great post altogether
Good points.
Glad you enjoyed the post!
good points
Thanks for the comment!
Good points … but why didn’t u applied the first two ?
Who? Me or Pradeep?
If it’s me, then I didn’t use number one because I thought it was too good of a domain to miss! If Pradeep, then, whilst it may be quite a long domain, it’s memorable and contains the word ‘bloggers’.
Dude (Jaspal), I registered this domain namne on 29th Jan 09 and this article was written on Nov 2th 09! So I don’t think there is any possibility for me to know these Golden Rules..
Simon, I must appreciate, this is an excellent article.. thanks!
when i chose my domain (indiancashmaker), i had two things in mind.
1. it reveals my origin
2. it reveals my blog motive and content
Yeah, it’s a pretty cool domain name as it’s brandable too – nice choice there!
the second and third point is perfect like it
Glad you liked this article mate. Cheers!
i really dont knew how to choose domains.
that’s why my domain name is not so good.
Personally I think your domain is really good. It’s brandable and also has ‘blogger’ in so has a keyword! The only downside is that it’s ‘.net’ and not ‘.com’
Nice article there Simon..
I was reading articles related to domain these days.. as I was thinking of a new domain name for my new project. Really helpful one !
Cool, glad you enjoyed the post, Enk!
Make sure you let me know when your new project is up, I’d love to check it out
I agree , the domain name is very important
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post “No teme” in your blog with the link to you?
I didn’t think much when I purchased my first domain but the newbies need to read this. Easy and well shared guidelines. Nice one there, Simon.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Glad you found the article useful!
Relevant points Simon, I agree with you on these points. Branding starts from domain name, one should think before buying one and buy that for at least 5 years to get SEO benefits.
Personally, I feel branding is one of the most important parts of any blog, so yes, a brandable domain is a must
Hi,
Thanks for this. Nice tips. I find your blog very interesting. I am very new to blogging and learning lot of things from your site.
Keep up the good work friend.
Glad you like the blog (I’m guessing you mean HellBoundBloggers and not Teenius), and that you found the article useful.
Ha ha ..Simon.. hope he meant both the blogs!
Three must follow points, but I would say, that even if the business is country oriented then too, .COM is preferred!
For me, .com is always best as it is globally recognised, and is the first thing people type in.
For example, if you heard about a website ‘Teenius’, the first place you’re going to look is ‘Teenius.com’
Absolutely Simon, I would hardly look for any other extension , First comes the .COM!
I registered a domain few days ago, and i’m going to setup my blog again, but not now, on the new year day,
.
Its http://www.blognirvana.com, but not live now..
@Simon, Nice Post Dude, I’m a Teenager too, but 15.
I choose techcats to make the group of cats MewW about technology
Tech cats.. nice name Rajesh..
I envy it!
It’s a very good post Simon
I think i have chosen the wright domain for me
Selecting the domain extension can be the important one. If you would like to target the audience of your region its better to go with country specific domains like .in, .au etc.., and having a short as well as keyword targeted URL makes it more effective.
But, many ppl. prefer TLDs.. like .com, .org.. Suppose if you are searching for a company’s website, you will automatically use these extensions..cheers!
Your right!!! Com is the most used and universal extension
I think you should also add a fourth. This is to say the name out load. Get a few friends to also say it. Is it easy to hear, understand and say? When you say it will people ask for a repeat or will they understand it.
This is very important people are often in a hurry and don’t have time to sit there and try to understand how to pronounce a domain name.
Avoid characters that sound similar. f and s, m and n, b and d etc…
That’s a valuable point Brian… even I did for my blog’s domain name..
Thanks for sharing that rule.. cheers and thanks for your first comment here!
Good Points
the domain name must be easy to remember and to spell too, and dont contain numbers & – _ ….
easy to remember, short , sweet
nice golden rules.
If we were having the option of choosing the Google.com domain name at the time of creation of Google.com how many of us would choose it.please do reply
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