[All you need to know about domains] 63 useful tips on how to choose the best domain name, which suffix to choose, what to be careful of, how to promote the domain, take care of it and protect it.
Before your WordPress website becomes officially available on the Internet, you need to choose the appropriate domain name. The domain name is actually your company name, so you need to think carefully about it before deciding.
Here you are, the promised tips based on my experience:
Table of Contents
1. Rememberable domain name
The best domain name should also be easy to write. Long sentences with word phrases can be difficult for a visitor to be able to correctly enter your domain name. Remember that an incorrectly entered domain name will redirect a visitor to a completely different website.
2. It doesn’t have to be the name of your business
One of the things to consider when choosing a domain name is whether it fits your business. However, the domain name should not be the business name at any cost. For example, your business name could be FinServices Ltd, but for the website you will find more appropriate name like finances.com.
3. Use keywords
If your business offers a specific service or product, you can also include it in the title. For example, if you are offering a rental of limousines, you can choose the domain title as RentLimousine.com. Including specific keywords makes it easier for people to find your website through a search engine. In other words, the use of keywords in the domain name will increase your SEO rating as well as your website traffic.
4. Include your location
The domain name can also contain a target location. For example, if your limousine business is in the London area, you can give it the name like RentLimousineLondon.com. This option is ideal if your business is local and you want local customers to find you easily.
5. Choose a lasting name
Are you planning to expand your business to offer more related services in the future? If so, you should think about the correct domain name in advance. For example, if your domain is RentOfWeddingLimousine.com, you will be limited to providing wedding limousine services only. But if you plan to offer general limousine rental services in the future, you’ll be forced to change your domain name later.
Therefore, always use a general keyword that allows you to expand your business without changing your domain. Remember that changing your domain may adversely affect your overall search rank and will also cost you additional expanses.
6. Use it as a logo
For example, if I have a wproom.com blog, I would rather put wproom.com than whole name Vladimír Juroško to my logo. This way, the visitor will remember the domain name after the first visit and will be able to associate it when next googling and seeing it in the results.
7. Include the domain suffix to your logo
I want the reader to remember the entire domain name with suffix – wproom.com. I need to consider that there may be other sites such as wproom.de/jurosko.eu and the reader may forget which from them was mine.
8. Watch out for numbers
Better avoid numbers. If the visitor knows the domain only from hearing, he does not know whether to write 10tips.com or tentips.com.
9. Avoid dashes
If you have the wordpress-blog.com domain, a visitor may accidentally try wordpressblog.com. Also avoid double letters in the title, which may be confusing.
10. Beware of capital letters
Personally, I try to avoid combining capital letters with lowercase. In my opinion, it is more natural for the reader (and more memorable) to see the logo the same way as it will be entered into the browser – thus, wordpressblog.com instead of WordPressBlog.com.
11. What about diacritic marks?
The use of diacritical marks in the title of the website is at your discretion. I personally avoid it, but of course it depends on the particular situation.
12. Be original
Instead of a generic name that can be misleading with other domains, try to think of something original. For example: instead of loansforpeople.com invent a branded domain name yellowmelon.com.
13. Prefer a short domain name
The short domain name is more memorable. There has been some research and the top 100 most visited sites in the world have the longest name of 12 characters, most of them up to 8 characters. See brands like Google, Twitter, and so on.
14. Avoid defamatory terms
Beware of inappropriate/vulgar expressions. And not only in the language in which you select the domain but be careful not to choose vulgar terms in foreign languages either.
15. Beware of funny expressions
In order not to be laughed by mistake (if it wasn’t your intention). See, for example, analabs.com 😉
16. Propagate it uniformly
Once you’ve selected a domain name, promote it uniformly everywhere. It should not happen that on Facebook you have it as juroško.sk, on Instagram like wproom.com and on twitter even without suffix, only jurosko. Your domain is your brand.
17. Try a name generator
If you have no idea how to choose the appropriate domain, you can use domain name generator services. Use domain generators to get suggestions for available words. These generators include domains like: Bluehost.com, Domainhole.com and leandomainsearch.com.
18. Beware of grammar
If you’re not sure if your idea is grammatically correct, better check it out.
19. Be careful of mistypes
Beware of typos from inattention. Especially when buying a domain.
20. Spell it
Spell out the domain name in English first, for example, if you want to dictate it to someone 😉
21. ORG for organizations
For organizations, I would choose .org suffix.
22. CO.UK for British company
The suffix .co.uk seems to me the most valuable for the British audience. People are used to it.
23. COM for commercial website
I would choose the suffix .com for a multinational commercial site.
24. Consider the creative suffix
Consider using one of a number of new emerging suffixes. To create a blog or personal website, consider using an original suffix like .me or .blog.
Tip: I look for a list of existing domain suffixes here.
25. Include suffix to your title
Consider incorporating the suffix into the name. Take an example of Matt Mullenweg’s personal blog, the founder of WordPress. He incorporated his name in the domain name: ma.tt.
26. Beware of trademarks
Check whether the name you have chosen is not owned by another company. In addition to the risk that you could be sued for trademark infringement, this may lead to other confusion. For example, using the wordpressblog.sk without consent is illegal because WordPress is a trademark.
27. Choose it by yourself
In the end of the day, I would recommend going through the suggestions and choosing the domain you personally like. Because it is you who will write and work on it for years.
28. Encourage the right emotions
Marketing specialists advise that it is essential to encourage the right emotions for the product. Try to do so with a domain name too.
29. One-night rule
Do not broad about the name unnecessarily too long. On night rule says you should take a sleep before buying a domain, and if you still like the idea the next morning, don’t hesitate to buy it.
30. See domain history
See what, if any, is the history of the domain at web.archive.org. Avoid domain with inappropriate history.
31. Check its authority
If the domain has a history, check its authority via moz.com. For example, this blog currently has an authority of 16/100, with 100 being considered the best result.
32. Contact the owner
If you like the domain that is already occupied, try contacting the owner with purchase offer. You may want to do this especially if you see that there is a content on the site that has not been updated for a long time. A contact can be found on the website or via the who.is service.
33. Buy it at auction
Many good domain names are already occupied. The good news is that many of them are for sale or can be auctioned off.The world’s largest market for these services is sedo.com.
34. Backorder
If you like the domain that is already occupied, you can try to capture expiring domains, which is also called backorder.
35. Check the availability through a trusted service
I recommend that you check the availability of domains through a trusted provider so that someone does not take it before you. I’m doing it through bluehost.
36. Buy it straight with hosting
I buy a domain from the same provider I have hosting from. This way I have it automatically connected, which saves me time.
37. Ensure its prolongation
I’m setting up an automatic domain prolongation to not accidentally expire.
38. Register it under your name
If you want to own the domain directly and not through a hosting company, become a registrar.
39. Increase strength of your domain
If you already own a domain, develop its strength (rank) by improving SEO, link building (retrieving backlinks), and so on.
40. Don’t change it
Length of domain history is a significant factor for google, so don’t change it unnecessarily.
41. Beware of domain transfer
If you need to transfer your domain to another provider, be careful that this transfer takes place correctly, so you don’t lose it.
42. Set up SSL
SSL certificate is an important factor for SEO and security. Currently, there is also a free certificate availablt (letsencrypt.org), so there is no good reason not to have the site on https.
43. Decide whether with or without www
Decide whether your domain and website will be submitted with or without www. Make sure to redirect the second version.
44. Turn on indexing
Let the domain and website index as soon as possible.
45. Promote it
Promote your domain everywhere you can. Talk about it to your friends.
46. Registration on social networks
After buying a domain, register your fan page / groups / usernames on social networks as soon as possible so that someone doesn’t swoop it up before you.
47. Set it up as an email suffix
It’s good to set the domain as an email suffix, for example, vladimir@wproom.com. It will help the promotion.
48. Put it in your email signature
I have a link to my blog in my email business card and it brings me traffic.
49. Put it in a business card
Having a domain name on business cards will help you too.
50. Beware of penalties
Avoid methods (such as black hat seo) that could lead to a ban or penalties from Google.
51. Redirect your original domain
Be sure to redirect the original URLs to new ones so you won’t lose your position in Google searching.
52. Set a nice URL
Watch out for general slugs like /wproom.com/p782/. Instead, set a nice url such as wproom.com/wordpress-backup/.
53. Set your homepage without slugs
Optimally, the homepage does not contain nonsense phrases behind the slash. For example, clear wproom.com is better than wproom.com/home.php.
54. Make a slogan for it
It’s a good idea to think of a suitable slogan for it.
55. Add a link into profiles
Many social networks and services allow you to insert a link to a user’s website. Take advantage of it.
56. Coming soon
If you still don’t have a website on the new domain, show your visitors at least a ‘coming soon’ page.
57. Use subdomains
Remember, you can add any sub-domains to your domain for free. For example, I can create an ebook.wproom.com subdomain for the purpose of selling e-books.
58. Make it faster
Speed up web loading. It greatly helps in terms of SEO.
59. Park it
If you do not know how to use the domain, park it with some service like sedo.com and make money on it.
60. Check whois records
To be sure, check whether whois records are fine for your domain. Consider whether and what contacts you want to list there.
61. Get rid of it profitably
If you have decided that you no longer want a domain, try selling or auctioning it before it expires.
62. Protect it
If you need extra protection for your brand, purchase all other domain extensions and misspelled versions. This way you will direct visitors to your website. This will prevent your competitors from wasting your traffic. See, for example, the incorrect gogle.com domain that Google has redeemed and redirected.
63. Register it as soon as possible
Once you have chosen the best domain name, I recommend you register it as soon as possible because it is quickly sold. Personally, I buy domains through my webhosting provider.
? Tip: Choosing the right hosting is crucial for a fast website. I recommend betting on verified quality: Bluehost, SiteGround or WP Engine.
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