Choose A Domain Name Extension That Fits
Extensions are suffixes, such as .com or .net, at the end of web addresses. These can have specific uses, so make sure to choose one that works for your business. The .com domain extension is far and away the most popular, but it can be tough to get a short and memorable .com domain name because its been around for so long.
A bevy of new generic top-level domains like .app, .photography, .nyc and .guru offer a great opportunity to register short and highly relevant names. And here are some other top extensions and how theyre often used:
- .co : an abbreviation for company, commerce, and community.
- .info : informational sites.
- .net : technical, Internet infrastructure sites.
- .org : non-commercial organizations and nonprofits.
- .biz : business or commercial use, like e-commerce sites.
- .me : blogs, resumes or personal sites.
Related: Domain extensions guide What you need to know before you pick a domain name
Snag Your Domains Matching Social Media Handles
Lets face it, your presence on the web doesnt start and end with your domain name.
Social media plays a HUGE role.
And not just in terms of engagement, but in respect of search too.
Did you know that in 2017 Facebook surpassed 2 billion searches per day?
That makes Facebook the webs fourth most used search engine.
And, its not just Facebook, millions of consumers search on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok too.
The point Im trying to make here is that you want a consistent name across the web, so however users search for you, you are findable.
A great tool to check the availability of a name across the webs most used platforms is namechk.com.
Pop your desired name into Namechks search function, and youll instantly know if the name is available.
Try it before committing to a domain name.
How To Choose The Perfect Domain Name For Your Website
Boast your chances of success by picking the right digital marketing domain name for your website.
Naming things is always fun, be it your newborn baby, a Wi-Fi-router, your pet dog, a start-up business or even your domain name. It can also be quite challenging.
Whether its for your business or a personal brand, putting thought into a domain name is important. After all, its what your audience will be typing to get to your website.
It can mean the difference between appearing to be a spammy, out-of-date website or a reliable and functioning one. Simply put, it can mean the difference between earning and losing a client.
When was the last time a website with four exclamation marks in its domain name aroused you to visit it? Thats right. Never.
Which is why your domain name needs to be given a lot of thought. It is your identity on the web you want to make sure you choose a name that not only fits your business, but is also easy to find and promote.
This post will walk you through four types of domain name strategies and other indispensable tips, which will help you pick the perfect domain name and also introduce you to some tools that can help you find the perfect URL.
Now lets dive in!
Also Check: How Much Does A Domain Name Cost
Choose The Easiest To Remember Combination
Domain names came to be because humans have limits on their memory. While you can skip digging into the neuroscience, you should keep these limits in mind when choosing your domain name.
Specifically, the more stress you put on working memory, the more humans struggle to complete tasks. Theres a buffer limitation on the information the working-memory can retain.
And while this seems like a pretty common sense limit, its not as clear-cut as it sounds. How items fall in human memory depends on the items themselves and whether they associate with any other memory systems.
Which means that, although a website address like www.catsdogs.com is significantly longer than www.animalia.com, its probably going to be easier to remember for most people.
Why? Because cats and dogs make up two items, while animalia will require most people to remember three distinct items:
- The word animal.
- The letter i.
- The letter a.
Obviously, this example falls apart if someone has a background in biology, but it illustrates the point I mean to make.
Whats easy to remember isnt always about concision, as recognition can trump concision. The more recognizable the elements of your domain name are, the easier and therefore more usable your address becomes.
As a rule of thumb, try to keep the elements involved limited to no more than seven.
Especially for our next strategy.
How To Check For Domain Availability
Avoid using low-end domain registrars to check domain availability. Ive seen instances where we checked on a domain name with one of these low-end registrars only to have it temporarily registered to a domain name squatter the next day offering to sell it to us for a lot more money.
You can typically check domain availability through Network Solutions, GoDaddy, or a similar well-known registrar on their home page. Just enter your desired name and they will let you know whether or not it is available or not and will also offer suggested alternatives.
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Go Ahead And Get Your Domain Name
Whew, okay, that was a lot of reading! Still, I dont want this list to be intimidating. Even reading through it just once and then noting down the most important takeaways will give you more than enough insight to be able to obtain your perfect domain name and do so safely.
Just to help you out, heres a cut-out-and-keep version of everything thats been said above:
- Wondering whether or not to buy a domain from your web hosting company? See: Should I Buy a Domain Name From My Web Hosting Company?
Did we miss anything? Thoughts?
How To Register A Domain Name For Your Blog
A safe and reputed source is Bluehost, which offers domain registration and web-hosting services. It is also an ICANN accredited , meaning it is trusted to use.
Usually, a domain would cost you 10 to $15 a year.
I assume youre a beginner who would accept a little financial saving When you purchase any Bluehosts hosting plan, you can register your domain for free of cost for the first 12 months.
Type in your desired domain URL into the following box to check its availability:
After the free offer term, you will be asked to renew your domain name at a regular price. If it lapses, then you may lose the domain, and your efforts go into vain.
I believe it is important and makes sense to let your hosting provider manage your domain so you can manage everything you need in one place.
Read Also: Find Email Server For Domain
Odabir Najboljeg Mjesta Za Registraciju Vae Domene
Nakon to ste odabrali naziv domene, potrebno je da odaberete registrara domena, a to je kompanija u kojoj ete ga kupiti. Prilikom kupovine matiara, evo nekoliko stvari na koje treba obratiti panju:
- Transferi domena. Provjerite politiku prijenosa registratora. Ako je komplikovano ili skupo, nastavite traiti.
- Cijene. Neke kompanije nude nie cijene prve godine, a onda ih poveavaju kada doe vrijeme za obnovu. Moda ak i jeste sklopio viegodinji ugovor.
- Politika isteka. Domenu ne kupujete toliko koliko iznajmljujete. Ako zaboravite da produite zakup, moe vam ga neko drugi uzeti. Potraite matiara koji nudi automatske obnove i grejs period.
- Zatita privatnosti domene. Kao vlasnik web stranice, od vas se trai da dodate svoje line podatke u javnu bazu podataka. Zatita privatnosti domene skriva vae primarne kontakt informacije kako bi va identitet bio siguran.
- Poddomene. Ne morate posebno registrovati poddomene. Meutim, htjet ete osigurati da va registrator olakava dodavanje poddomena na vau web lokaciju.
Postoji mnogo registara koje moete koristiti. Meutim, ponekad ima smisla registrirati svoju domenu preko svog hosting provajdera.
Relacionado: Zato biste trebali razmisliti o tome da registraciju domena i web hosting drite pod jednim krovom
How To Choose The Right Domain Name
Which is harder: Naming your kid or choosing a domain?
Sure, your bambino is stuck with the moniker you choose until they can get a judge to change it, but you wont need to reinvent the wheel to come up with something to call them. You can look to historical figures, literary characters, or even your favorite TV show for inspiration.
However, when it comes to a domain, youve got to make sure your digital baby is truly unique. No repeats allowed.
So what makes a good domain name?
Generally speaking, youll want something memorable, brandable, and easy for people to type and pronounce. Its also smart to avoid anything too long or overly specific. By following a few simple guidelines, you can pick out a name that helps to drive more traffic your way.
In this guide, Ill explain why your domain name matters and share 11 factors to consider when making this decision. Ill also discuss the best places to register a domain and how you can get a free one along with your web hosting. Lets get started!
Also Check: How Much Does It Cost To Buy A Web Domain
Coming Up With A Name
Conducting a good old fashion brainstorming session will be a productive starting point.
Brainstorming is about generating as many ideas as you can about a subject, without making any decisions yet. For a brainstorming to be any good you should play by these rules:
- Set a clear purpose
- Quantity is more important than quality
- Dont say no to any idea, you never know which idea will bring up a good name
- Dont be afraid to go crazy
- Dont judge
- Stay focused, dont start talking about something else
- Write everything down
If you have a friend at hand or can gather a small group of people to brainstorm with you, itll be even more fun and prolific.
You can try a variation of the classic Brainstorming by gathering a group of 4 to 6 people and make everyone say a word based on the previously mentioned word. So instead of throwing unrelated ideas in an illogical order, each idea should be based on the previous one.
You can also try other creative techniques to generate ideas. I like using two specific ones that really help coming up with new and creative names:
1. Fantastic binomial
The idea is to put together two words that arent related at all and generate a new unique idea based on the two unassociated words.
You can start by taking a base word thats related to your business and look for words from different worlds to put together with the base word. Like an animal, an everyday object, a geographical concept, a musical concept, a mathematics term, an idiom, etc.
Check Brand Name Availability
The first step is to use a domain name checker to see if your brand name is available.
Ideally, you want to get the domain www..com. So, youll first want to see if its at all available.
To do this head over to a Formal Founder and pop your brand name into their domain search engine:
This shows you which versions of the domain you can use and how much they will cost.
I need a domain for my eCommerce sports store, FitStrongBands, that I just invented right this secondHere are the results I get:
If your brand name is unique, then you should have no problem getting the domain. Next, we can scroll down and check if the brand name we want is available on social media.
The price should only be a few dollars. So if your domain is available and most of the social media handles are available then buy the domain quickly!
Now, go ahead and jump to step 2
But if its not, these are the most common roadblocks people hit.
-
The domain is taken: another company or website is using the domain name for their business.
-
Its a premium name: the domain name is short and easily brandable, so domain registration companies charge a high price for it.
- Domain sitters: these are people who buy potentially popular domain names in advance, and then ransom them off at a higher price.
Read Also: Io Vs Com Domain
How Do You Find The Author Of A Website
Author information can sometimes be found under an About section on a website. If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead. The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date.
Ive Chosen My Domain Name Whats Next
Once youve decided on your name and confirmed that its available, you need to purchase it.
Dont forget that you will also need to buy a hosting package. Hosting is where all your website content is stored.
You can choose to buy a domain name from a different company than your hosting provider if you want to. I chose to buy both my domain name and hosting plan from the same provider because I didnt want to have to keep track of two separate accounts. You usually purchase a domain name and hosting for a period of one to three years, so I didnt want to accidentally forget about one of them and let it expire. What a disaster that would be!
I purchased my domain name from SiteGround and chose them as my hosting provider because I couldnt find a single bad word written about them in comparison to other well-known hosting companies that had very negative reviews. If youre not sure how to set up a website, then check out my step-by-step guide. It includes screenshots!
Pro Tip: When you are purchasing your domain name, I recommend also purchasing domain privacy protection. Domain name registrars are required by law to report domain name registration to the WHOIS database. Having domain privacy protection means that your personal details such as name, address, email, and phone number are masked and will not appear in the WHOIS database. If your details are in this database as a domain name owner, you could end up receiving unsolicited calls and emails from companies.
Also Check: How To Transfer Domain From Wix To Shopify