The subject of picking out a domain name has been covered by many people in different ways. Many articles on choosing a domain name, from humorous to serious. Some pieces tell you why certain domains are popular, while others offer step-by-step guides about how they went about finding their perfect domain name. Picking out your perfect .com might seem easy, but it should be taken seriously—especially when your very identity online is attached to it.
How to find the Perfect Domain
What’s so important about having a great website? Well, for one thing, people will remember it. If someone has had bad experiences with your brand or your design isn’t up to par, you will have a hard time convincing them to come back. A good website with a solid design and a memorable domain name makes the experience of browsing, buying, or consuming your content more enjoyable for your visitors.
Before we go over some ways you can find a great domain name, however, there are a few things that should be mentioned about specific extensions. As you may know, I’m pretty fond of using .net as my extension instead of the more popular .com—but that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. In fact, I’d say that most people who pay for their domains end up having one in the .com extension. It is, after all, the original “top-level” domain name since when it was first introduced by IANA in 1985 and is typically seen as the default domain name.
However, just because it’s popular doesn’t mean that .com domains are all taken or that they’re hard to come by—especially if you consider the fact that there are over 21 million .net domains out there. As of today, there is approximately 156 million domains total, with around 2 million new ones being registered every year. According to this infographic from domai.nr , “.com” has a 52% share, while “.net” comes second at about 25%. All other TLDs hover around 8%, leaving approximately 15% unaccounted for. This means you have fewer options when picking out your domain name, but it also means you have more opportunities. Those domains that do come available might be a lot easier to snag since they’re less popular.
.org Domain Names
Speaking of “less popular”—let’s talk about the .org registry now. Being one of the newest extensions, this TLD has been around for over 11 years—which means there is a good chance it hasn’t been “taken” yet. In an interview made by GoDaddy back in 2007, 25% of all “.org” websites were actually scams. If you want to avoid buying a domain from someone who is going to make fake claims or redirect users to a shady website, then this extension might be the way to go. It’s also good if you wish to support certain organizations as well as making them easily accessible to the public. Although .org domains are used by both non-profit and for-profit organizations, you will find that most of the time, they’re usually targeted towards certain non-profits which is a plus if you’re trying to market your business around a specific niche.
Given all this information however, it’s still very important that you take into consideration what type of website you plan on making before choosing your domain name. For instance—let’s say I wanted to make a blog about travel photography. My next step would be to think about how other successful travel blogs have been named in the past and from there, I might consider something like ” PhotographingTheWorld.com “. This website is already taken but not by a travel blog so it would still be a good name. But from here, I might consider something like ” MyTravelPhotos.com “. This is short and sweet and will attract the attention of other photographers as well as those who want to see what type of photos someone takes while they’re traveling.
Get Creative with Domains
You may think that all these factors are complete nonsense—especially if you don’t plan on starting a website for anything specific since, at this point, you can make one up and call it whatever you like (i.e: PurpleNoodleInc.com ). You could very well go this route or set out to find a great domain name based on any number of things, such as; the niche your site falls under, places where your target audience is likely to search for your product, or even words that are easy to remember.
I can tell you right now—it’s not going to be easy finding the perfect domain, but in my experience, it’ll save you a lot of later headaches when you finally launch your website. So if you haven’t done so already, give some of these things a try and start brainstorming what you might want your domain name to be. Once this is decided upon and until the site is launched, ensure you secure all other social media avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. After all—you don’t want someone else snatching up your brand either.
Keep Your Domain as Short as Possible
While we’re on the subject, I should also mention that keeping your domain name as short as possible is not a bad idea. It’ll make the site easier to type out for everyone involved, and it will reduce distractions while you are trying to focus on content creation. This is especially true if you want to increase traffic moving forward since shorter domains tend to perform better with search engines.
To summarize everything said so far—make sure you choose something that makes sense or has some sort of relevance to what or who your website is all about. Also, try not to copy other websites by choosing names that have already been taken, no matter how unique they may seem. And finally, don’t forget to secure other avenues where people might find you, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
