5 Tips For Choosing A Good Domain Name

A domain name (i.e. www.YourCompanyName.com ) also known as a web address is what people type in to get to your website. They may see your domain name on your business card, your Facebook or Twitter profile or find you in Google. Here are tips for choosing a good domain name!

Shoot For Something Brandable
Google values brands over just about anything else. You can see that they favor blogs and sites that have built a good name and brand for themselves — especially is the case in top e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Having a name that standouts as a brand can do a lot for you in the long run. Obviously, there is more to ranking in the SERPs than a simple URL, but picking a domain name that stands out will help build your brand, authority, and it makes it easier for people to recognize you and what you’re about.

Opt For The .com Extension
As far as top tier domain extensions go, the .com extension is the way to go. People and search engines alike seem to trust sites with domains that end with this extension when compared to others. As that is the case, it is almost always best to pick a domain that ends with this.

Keep It Short and Memorable
There are plenty of sites on the web that have managed to build a site and online business that are brandable and whose names are both short and easy to remember. Want some examples? Here are a few to consider:
Moz
HubSpot
ElegantThemes
WordPress
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest

That list could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. All of these sites represent well-established brands that also happen to have names that are memorable. Picking a short and memorable name is what can help you build a brand and building a brand is something that Google likes to reward.

Be Unique
Following the idea above, all the sites above have something in common: they’re unique.

Uniqueness is something to always strive for. Google loves content that is unique, so why wouldn’t she love a unique URL that is linked to a brand, blog or product? Heck, even your name as a domain name can be a good thing when you look at it from a uniqueness angle.
Avoid Hyphens
In the hopes of being unique and memorable, it can be tempting to buy a domain name that is catchy but that uses hyphens since the real name you want is already registered.

There are different schools of thoughts on this as well, but I am on the side that says that these domain names are ugly looking and really don’t help lend to that authority many of us strive for.

The other downside to using hyphens is that they tend to actually not be unique. If someone else already uses ExampleDomain.com and you register Example-Domain.com, then people who remember your name and type it into the search bar will more than likely forget the hyphen. What does that do? It takes them to another site that has nothing to do with you. Yeah — bummer!

Sharvette’s commentary: As you can see, my website ( www.Mitchell-Productions.com) has a hyphen for the exact reason the blogger listed above! Mitchellproductions.com was already taken and has been for several years. I agree that you should select a domain name without a hyphen if you can! Hopefully the other tips are helpful as well…
Article SOURCE: Ariel Rule  http://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/resources/how-to-find-a-good-domain-name-for-your-new-website?utm_source=Elegant+Themes&utm_campaign=12aff7586a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c886a2fc0a-12aff7586a-50624065