What Makes An Effective Domain Name?

Now that almost everyone has access to a computer, it is essential for a business to have its own website. Most people are going to go to the internet when searching for something. The goal is to have them come across your website while they are completing their search. While it is fairly easy to get your own website, the only way that you are going to get traffic on your site is if you have an effective domain name. There are several ways that a domain name can be effective, but these are the three best ways to get people to visit your website.


finding the right domain name for your blog

Easy to Pronounce and Spell

This is essential to getting traffic on your website. If nobody knows how to spell your domain name, then it is nearly impossible for you to get a lot of visitors on your website. Word of mouth is also a great way to build a lot of visitors. If someone discovers your website and has a quality experience, then hopefully they will tell their family and friends about the website. The only way this is going to get more traffic on your website is if they actually no how to pronounce your website.

Make it Memorable

The only way you are going to get people to come back to your website is if you have a memorable domain name. The best way to do this is to keep your domain name as short as possible. A combination of several common words will also work to make your name memorable. If your domain name has a mixture of numbers and random letters, then there is no possible way that anyone is going to be able to remember the name. Nobody wants to spend five minutes typing in a domain name, so it is key to use common words and make it memorable.

Use Keywords

Using keywords in your domain name is a great way to get new customers to your new website. If you are selling baseball bats, then it is a good idea to have those two words in your domain name. Someone that is looking for a place to buy baseball bats online will generally type in the words “baseball bats” into the search engine. If you have these words in your domain name, then your website is going to be one of the first websites that the search engine pulls up. The only way that you are going to get new people to discover your website through search engines is to have keywords in your domain name.

The only way to have a successful website is to find a way to get people to visit. If you incorporate all three items that are detailed in this guide, then you should be able to easily come up with an effective domain name for your business. If you can combine your effective domain name with a quality website, then you are well on your way to building a great online business.

Jerry Adams is a website designer and frequents domain name auctions to find deals on domains.

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Amy Nielson is a freelance blogger. You can follow her on Twitter @NielsonAmy

28 Responses to “What Makes An Effective Domain Name?”

  1. Sahl

    May 24. 2012

    Keyword in the domain name is very good for seo as well as usability. but its hard to do so, makes the domain name a little large 😕

    BRANDING is one thing which the domain name should provide the business or blog.

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  2. reeha

    May 24. 2012

    keywords that clearly distinguish and shows our business as well as having easy to read and spell domain name is very important for online interpreters.

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  3. Rashmi

    May 25. 2012

    Great blog post! Domain name is a crucial part when creating a new site, so invest as much time as possible in it.

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  4. Paduka

    May 26. 2012

    hell yeah..! i hate when i must deal with keyword, but something important like keyword, still keep me to do it.. lol

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  5. Dewan

    May 27. 2012

    great tips to select a right domain name for your site or blog

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  6. Ashok

    May 28. 2012

    Good brief article covering all the aspects of Makes An Effective Domain Name, it is very informative useful post, i like your’s work. thanks for sharing nice post.

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  7. wow

    May 29. 2012

    The careful selection and wording of your domain name is one of the most critical part of the initial steps in setting up any website, old or new.

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  8. Puneet

    Jun 01. 2012

    It should be easy to spell. Nice tips thanks.

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  9. Bhavin

    Jun 02. 2012

    Hi,

    Suppose, I want to target to few country that which domain extension would be best like .com, .net or .org.

    Thanks

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  10. Craig

    Jun 03. 2012

    The 2 most important tips I ever got were to make the doamin something that is easy to remember and to make sure it is relevant to the content of your site both for seo and the users.

    Great tips thanks for sharing

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  11. hadoop

    Jun 04. 2012

    Its good way to use keyword in domain name, but it is necessary to keep it small. Good information bout domain name. Must read. Thanks for this.

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  12. Becca

    Jun 04. 2012

    I went for keyword + generic in a .com and I’m killing on the SERP’s. This pieces puts everything in one place, so I’m grateful to see I went with the right advice. Other ‘experts’ were saying other things.

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  13. Meera

    Jun 06. 2012

    The first initial importance step to develop a online businesses is a choose a proper domain name, this article is very helpful to everyone, for chose a domain name.
    thanks,

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  14. Rich

    Jun 06. 2012

    I’ve been a big proponent of keywords in the domain name, but heard they may not matter as much any more since the Panda update in mid-March. Is this true, or is it just speculation by other SEO gurus?

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  15. Wanda

    Jun 06. 2012

    I have developed a website and still can not decide it’s domain name. Thanks for the wonderful tips I am sure they will help me!:)

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  16. Puneet

    Jun 11. 2012

    Catchy domain name is more preferable but sometimes keyword rich domain is also worth but for small niche websites

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  17. lubna

    Jun 12. 2012

    it is good way to use keyword in the domain name ………it is good information about domain name….

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  18. Kristinakathy

    Jun 13. 2012

    As per your post a domain name is very important thing for Web site. I am also agree for use keyword in domain name. It’s is very useful for SEO purpose. I can learn more about domain name via this post. I like to share it with others.

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  19. Matt

    Jun 14. 2012

    Nice article Amy –I\’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a good domain name and can add a few tips:- To check whether the name you\’re considering is easy to spell, verbally ask someone to go to the site. If they hesitate or get the spelling wrong, you should pick a different name.- You should avoid domain name hacks. That\’s like picking mysi.te because mysite.com isn\’t available. Also avoid hyphens. Both of these are really hard to remember and is going to limit the number of people that can find your site.- Use a .com because for most people, websites

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  20. Matt

    Jun 14. 2012

    Nice article Amy —

    I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a good domain name and can add a few tips:

    – To check whether the name you’re considering is easy to spell, verbally ask someone to go to the site. If they hesitate or get the spelling wrong, you should pick a different name.
    – You should avoid domain name hacks. That’s like picking mysi.te because mysite.com isn’t available. Also avoid hyphens. Both of these are really hard to remember and is going to limit the number of people that can find your site.
    – Use a .com because for most people, websites == .com. You’re going to miss out on traffic if you settle on some other TLD.

    If you need help coming up with a name, I recently launched a domain search tool called Lean Domain Search that might be able to help. It pairs your search term with 2,500 other keywords commonly found in domain names and instantly shows you which are available. On average, it returns over 1,200 available domain names per search, making it really, really easy to find a great .com domain name for your site.

    Again, nice article. Good luck domain name hunting!

    (Reposting because last one got messed up.)

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    • Kathy

      Jul 07. 2012

      These are some great tips you have added here! I’ll definitely be checking out the lean domain search function. Previously I would have gone for all keyword domains but now as you say I think it is important to get brandable domain names too.

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  21. Cinergix

    Jun 14. 2012

    It is extremely hard to find domains that have all these three qualities, especially in competitive niches where keywords have extreme value.

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  22. Asher

    Jun 16. 2012

    A keyword in domain name related to niche of your site can earn you a lot of benefits from search engine.

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  23. Saksham

    Jun 21. 2012

    Using keyword “used” to be important, but people these days are running after brand-able domain names and rightly so! I am sure keywords will be devalued in some months!

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  24. Clara

    Jun 22. 2012

    Keywords in domain is a best part of SEo, an im portant one also, in the mean time that domain should be a simple one and not so lenthy, thanks for the post, a great one for the newbies.

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  25. munawar

    Jul 03. 2012

    very nice article. A keyword in domain name related to niche of your site can earn you a lot of benefits from search engine. well Thanks for information.

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  26. myrtle

    Jul 04. 2012

    Great! Domain name is really important in creating a new web site.

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  27. katherin

    Aug 29. 2012

    Great tips to choose an effective domain name..
    it should be simple and easy to remember as always..
    By using keyword as domain name is good, it makes more popular among all.

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